The Official Sony BDP-S550 Owner's Thread - Page 129

Glad to hear it. My Sony players have been outstanding performers, so far, including my BDP-S550.

Anyone having problems playing Captain America BluRay that just came out?

It apparantly will take you up to the main menu but won't play the movie.

Had some people over last weekend to watch it. No troubles at all..

Thanks.

In the past, has the same behavior been fixed by clearing BD data?

Been awhile since this player had an update.

.....oh yes. It's my future father in law's and probably hasn't had an update in a couple of years.

Is there a direct link where I can download it and burn it or does it have to be networked? Many thanks.

Go to Sony support:
http://esupport.sony.com/perl/select..._software:esup

and enter the model number of the player you want firmware, manuals, etc. on (ie. BDP-S550).

Be very careful with the firmware update process. Sony used to offer an image for download that you burned directly to CD-R. It was a very reliable process. Now they list files for you to burn to CD-R. A fair number of folks have bricked their players using this new process. Sony is perfectly willing to let you ship them your player for repair - for a price - not a trivial price. They used to offer a firmware update disc for the asking. It was always 100% reliable in my experience. Now they want $6.50 for it. I will let you draw your own conclusions regarding Sony's customer support in this area . .

Hello,
I have a BDP-S550, firmware version 07.4.024. According to the settings menu, this is the most up to date version. I verified this on the eSupport website.

The problem is that the S550 won't loop the menu audio on BD-R discs. I've tried a lot of things to isolate the problem and haven't had much success. For a number of different BD projects, BD-R's, ISO images, and players, here's a summary of what I've been doing and what I've determined so far:

Configuration info
* Sony BDP-S550 firmware version 07.4.024 (05/2011)
* All BD ISO images authored by Sony DVD Architect 5.2 Build 133 (Menu "End Action"
set to "Loop")
* ISO images burned to BD-R using Sony DVD Architect or Ashampoo Free Burner SW
* LG BD-RE GGW-H20L drive used to burn/play BD-R's on PC
* Daemon Tools Lite virtual drive used to play ISO images on PC
* PC player software is Cyberlink Power DVD 10 "Mark II Ultra" build 3322
* Two BD-R blank brands used: Verbatim 6X , Memorex 4X (RITEK BR2)

Results:
* BDP-S5500 loops BD-R menu video but not audio (plays once, stops; video continues
to loop, chapter buttons continue to work)
* Using Cyberlink PowereDVD 10 build 3322 player software, menu audio loops correctly
when BD-R's are played on the LG drive and when BD ISO images are played on the
Daemon Tools virtual drive
* NOTE: the previous build of Cyberlink PowerDVD 10 (build 1800) had same problem
as the BDP-S550 - menu video looped, menu audio would not. Build 3322 fixed the
problem.

I thought maybe the info about PowerDVD 10 needing an upgrade might be relevant, since it fixed the same menu audio loop problem that the BDP-S550 is having.

I haven't noticed this behavior with commercial Blu-Ray movies.

Anyone have any ideas? Anyone else see BD-R menus not doing what they were programmed to do on the BDP-S550?

Also, is there additional information I should be providing here? I've been through lots of test permutations and didn't quite know how to filter all the info for a post here.

Thanks for your time, and have a Happy New Year!!!
Alan Mintaka

Please what is the latest firmware for bdp s550

Read the post above yours.

I cannot believe what seems to have happened. It just isn't possible. My BDP-S550 died AND my PS3 both died approximately the same time. The PS3 was in use last night to watch Charlie Chaplin on Netflix. The girls used the BDP this evening to watch a movie for school. Now, after dinner, neither will work. This just does not happen.

Neither will show the on-screen menu on power up. Neither will output video or audio via the HDMI output. The BDP will not output video via its component video outputs (the PS3 does not have these).

The player seems to be functioning properly - opens/closes tray, plays disk upon closing, front panel displays elapsed time siince start of playback,...

No, there were no power surges or outages. All the clocks in the house are running properly.

The AV receiver seems to be working fine. When I plug in my TV tuner and select that as the input I get audio and video as expected. I tried this as source material on several different inputs to the receiver and they all work (plays the audio and transmits the video via the HDMI output to the TV display).

The TV display is working just fine.

Ah, that is some bad luck Have you tried plugging the player directly to the TV to make sure its not the HDMI cable?

My S550 doesnt get much use any more, but it still trucks along nicely when required.

When I got home tonight, I tore the whole system apart. I have reassembled everything out in the open on the living room floor. Guess what? Everything is working fine. Im not sure if I should be happy or sad.

It all works = happy

Two days of debugging = sad

I'm going to use this opportunity to improve the wiring runs and add some features I've been thinging about. That way, I get something positive, a benefit, out of all this hassle.

Well you've saved on the cost of a new BR and PS3, so it can't be all bad.

Much like a PC, there is something to be said for checking all cable connections and "rebooting" or resetting a blu-ray player. I clear out the BD-Live memory space periodically also.

Overall, I am pleased it's all working. It is puzzling, though.

Why did it stop working all of a sudden?

Why did my initial attempts at repair fail? I re-plugged and rebooted everything.

Why is it working now that it's ripped apart on the living room floor?

The complete absence of a cause is not inspring of confidence that all really is well.

I am going to use this s an opportunity to make some mods to the rack and wiring. Maybe in that way I will get some benefit from this two day debugging exercise.

Another quick thought . . make sure there is adequate space around the player inside the rack to ensure proper airflow and cooling?

Yes, that's another good tip. There is and always was unimpeded air flow. It sits on a shelf by itself, thermally isolated from the receiver and all o6ther heat sources. I take care to keep it dusted, too, especially the vents/fan grill.

I remain truly puzzled but am "moving on". I am taking advantage of the down time to clean up the system wire routing.

SONY BDP-S550 Bump to the top.

UPDATE, we have owned our SONY BDP-S550 for quite a few years now and it still works exceptionally well. While it does not have WIFI or 3D capabilities, it is amazing how solid and reliable it has been. Not only does it work flawlessly, it continues to produce a great picture and audio.

One more thing: Kuddo's to SONY for continuing to provide firmware updates to prolong the longevity of this outstanding Blu-ray player: the latest update being version 024 released on 2/10/20!

Damm!!!! I gotta wait another 8 years for an update lol? Kidding aside my 550 has been flawless as well.

Rented Mr. Popper's Penguins but it does not play.

Disc loads, displays generic notice about Blu-ray players/firmware updates etc. then goes to a black screen. After several minutes, splash screen for 20th Century Fox plays with music, then goes to black screen.

Film never plays, never goes to a menu, shows no previews and LCD counter on Blu-ray player shows no numbers/progression. Got another copy, same issue.

Sent email to Sony, waiting for response.

I am getting the dreaded 'unknown disk' error. Last night I took me 30 minutes of eject/reload until it finally accepted a rental.

A google search turned up someone saying that even cleaning the reader doesn't help. Any reports of fixes here? Or am I just do to buy a replacement player every few years? (Is data ensity just too high on BR? CD players don't do this...)

Things to try:
Try cleaning the offending disc. I use an old Discwasher disc cleaner with fliud - it still works great on DVDs & BDs in addition to the CDs it was originally intended for.
Make sure there is plenty of airflow room around the S550 so that it is not overheating..
Clean the S550:
1. open the tray, use a compressed air can like made for computers and blow air through the player to clear dust out.
2. as a last resort . . . get some long handled q-tips and a small bottle of denatured alcohol and use them to very gently clean the laser lens and surrounding area. Use your compressed air to blow out any residue and evaporate any remaining alcohol.
3. send the S550 to me - I'll use it for parts for my S550 . . . :-)

Thanks for your reply.

0- Disks are clean, and cleaning them has no effect.
1- Tried compressed air from a can and my compressor into the open tray. Looked like it worked once but problem came back with another rental.
2- Q-tips... Can we see the laser lens with just the tray open?

I opened up the player once and got as far as the tray assembly, which looked sealed, so I didn't go further. Didn't see how dust could get in there if that assembly was sealed, plus there was surprisingly no dust at all within the player. Time to try again I guess, or simply buy a lens cleaner disk for $20 and try that. The Sony S590 is $140 and could play my few SACDs, allowing me to remove one player from the rack...

I have a small supply of very long handled q-tips that can reach pretty far in with the tray open. You would have to turn on the player, open the tray, then pull the plug on the player - so the tray stays open with the power off.
A flashlight to spot the hub assembly inside, and a gentle cleaning motion with the q-tip dipped in denatured alcohol.
It is easier to do with the player opened, but if the drive is a sealed assembly, that complicates matters. I am happy to report I have not had to take my 550 apart - it has been fine. But I have done this cleaning on other optical media players with success. If the laser is heading south, cleaning won't solve the problem, of course. But maybe you can pick up a replacement drive somewhere. It is probably the same drive in both the 350 & 550.

Thanks. I'll get a few of those long Q-tips from the electronics techs at work and see what I can do...

FYI for people who don't have their player connected to the internet.

New Firmware available 6/21/12 026

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/model-home.pl?mdl=BDPS550&LOC=3#/downloadTab

This utility upgrades the Blu-ray Disc player firmware to version 026 and provides the following benefits:

Improvements over firmware version 024:
Improves disc playability

Has anyone determined if this firmware update is infected with cinavia?

I went ahead and updated mine.... Didn't really notice any changes.

Do you have access to any backup copies of a cinavia infected title to play under the new firmware as a test? We really do not know if this player is even capable of supporting cinavia based drm, but being careful cannot hurt.