Theories on the pervasive BD playback failures??

The huge failure rate on the new Bond movies really intensified my curiosity as to what is going on the Blu Ray world with so many failures in playback.. This is ridicuous for all BD owners. I don't care whether you have a $200 player or a $2000 player, they should ALL PLAY ALL DISCS AT THIS POINT!! I just don't know. I'm no engineer either. I wonder if this is also somehow related to the lack of DTS MA decoding in so many players?

But, my guess as to the root cuase is manufacturers putting in as little processing power as possible (to save a buck) and the machines getting hung up on these processing heavy Java menus (because of inadequate processing power). Not enough RAM or the likes.. Hence, failures, freeze ups and lock ups.

I see so many playback issues but the PS3 seemingly never fails.. Neither has my very robust Denon or 1st gen Panny BD-10. Now the Denon is known to have taken the big processing board right from their flagship receiver and put it in the 3800. So, a lot of memory there.. (but not so in the more buggy Denon 2500 - less memory).

Usually first gen machines are built like tanks.. I wonder if other 1st gen players (e.g. Pioneer, Sony, etc) have less issues, too. But then again, the Panny BD-10 which has played all discs since I bought it does not do 1080P24 or DTS MA (so no need to process those features frees up more memory). All Bond movies played in the Panny once I loaded an older August firmware update.

So, I know firmware can aid these things, too.. But why? Is it linked to processing power, too?

I always see Samsung as a problem, but they are a lower end manufacturer.. so I can see many hardware cuts and less proactive firmware releases.

I could be way off but I'd like to better understand these failures..



*** I also think it is related to the lack of on board DTS MA decoding to analog or LPCM. Few players do it (except the PS3 and Denon). Again, two very robust players... It, too, requires huge processing compared to TRUE HD..

I think with players like the new Pioneers (new Sony's), they may never get DTS MA. My bet is the skimped too much on memory and they are simply trying to figure out a way to Jerry-rig the memory usage to somehow do both DTS MA AND be able to load these heavy, intensive Java menus... That's why they say 2009 (for Pioneer) as they haven't a clue how to do it yet.

Am I right or totally out of my element as a theorizing troubleshooter??

I agree.. But in general, the PS3 is the most reliable player.. and has the most horse power. I think there are a couple issues, but I would bet processing power is #1. Firmware updates are certainly needed as an older August update got my Panny BD-10 to accept and play the Bond discs... But this firmware was from long before the Bond discs were released.

Likely a few factors.

Ironically, the PS3 has the most processing power of all. So, that may be part of the success of the PS3.

I believe it is the same ls story of manufacturers skimping on quality (or in this case CPU power) and it coming back to bite them. Again, some players have never failed to play a disc (my almost 3 yr old Panny BD-10 for example).

It could also be a proactive updating on Sony's part making sure the firmware is updated incessantly. The PS3 has been regularly updated. Firmware is certainly a related part in addition to processing power in my view. I say this because the Bond films failed to initially play in my BD-10 until I realized I missed a firmware update 3 months ago (well before the Bond films). As soon as I loaded it, all played (like every other disc I ever put into it). It may be that when processing power is plaentiful, the firmware updates are easier to write (rather than designing circuitous programs to get around anemic processing power. I am certain this is why so few players decode DTS MA.

Now the Panny BD-10a which came out at 1/2 the price of the BD-10 (replacing it), has been plagued with playback issues. It weighed less, was half the price and likely had a smaller percentage of the memory (but an equal number of firmware updates relative to the BD-10). But the list of bugs with the 10a is / was long...

Fair points but it doesn't explain why Samsung, an early player, had numerous issues (as did the initial Sony's). Likely the Sammy sold far more than the BD-10 as it had a MSRP of $1300. But your points seem reasonable but really makes the authoring houses look out of date as those initial players are almost 3 years old now and 20 or more BD players have hit the seen! You'd have to assume they only have their original players in house to test with.

The Bond menus are very graphic intensive... I have seen few Blu Rays with such sophisticated menus. A lot of Java. THe Bond discs, though they all play fine in my Denon and Panny take 3 minutes to get to the film in the Denon and 5 minutes to get to the first seen of the movie. This is about 2X the typical amount of time. Yes, it could be authoring but it could also be processing intensive, too, causing many players to hang up on them.. THe Panny showed a few 'Reading' Icons as it played the discs - usually it just shows one 'reading' icon. There was a lot of info to process these discs as it took almost twice as long to load these compared to all my other discs.