Samsung BDP1200 Master/Owner's Thread - Page 105

I don't know how many people are using the disc swap trick to play LFoDH but I just finished the movie with no issues. The video was stunning and the LFE was a great workout for my HSU VTF-3 HO with Turbocharger. Between Maggie Q and Mary Elizabeth there is plenty to enjoy.

I hope Samsung realizes that the blame for all of the Standard DVD troubles that the BD-P1200 is having stems from the recent 2.0 firmware. I have confirmed this, as my recently acquired non-upgraded BD-P1200, having an older firmware of "070223.01_111F_0924_XAA", Plays every Standard dvd i have without one single issue. No more does the Matirx drop audio, and the se tomorrow never dies w/alternate angle of storyboard for the choosing works flawless! I now have ZERO standard dvd issues, as compared to when i had my other 2.0 upgraded BD-P1200. Unfortunantly, now i can't play any current Blu Ray discs due to having the older firmware!!!

IMO, it would seem that Samsung had Standard dvd's and Blu Ray dvd's playing just fine when this player 1st launched, and thus the great reviews. Now... After the 2.0 firmware has come out, it appears that Standard dvd's have taken a big step backwards in the playability / compatabilty department.

Reguardless... There is no doubt in my mind that the recent 2.0 firmware is the cause of all of the Standard dvd issues this player currently has.

On hold with Samsung CS right now, waiting for Level II technician to speak with me about SD issues with the 1200. Thank goodness for a hands-free rig with my wireless phone so I can get stuff done while I'm waiting. I'll bring up the Matrix issue, my non-playing SDs (original Apollo 13, original Vertigo), and the issues with 4:3 playback. I'll also ask again about the FW update and tell the tech about the talk here on AVS about the player. That is, if I ever come off hold. The music just stopped--not a good sign.

pls. ask then about removing the screen saver.

Well, Nathan (Saturday's CSR) was wrong: Level II folks are not in today. They're back in on Wednesday. I learned this from Lamonte, today's Level I CSR. Lamonte took down all the notes about SD issues and said he had not heard anything about them being introduced by FW updates. I referred to Sound&Vision's information about the older firmware. Lamonte said he'd put it all in the notes and would pass the information along. He was nice enough, but I usually feel like I'm pushing on a rope with these CSR folks.

I did ask (again) about the FW update for the 1200. He said they were hoping for Wednesday or Thursday, particularly because they anticipated a high call volume after Christmas (no kidding). He said he had heard the delay was because they wanted to address issues with upcoming BDs as well as those with current BDs; just roll them all in together.

I didn't take it any farther than that--didn't seem likely to have much effect, anyway. I'm still hopeful and still skeptical and still frustrated, though after finishing "Titanic" SD last night I'm also still amazed by the PQ on this unit and figure I'm in for the long haul....

Merry Christmas, everyone. Let's hope Santa brings us some shiny new FW that fixes much more than it breaks.

Well, that should be a neat trick, since they seem to have to have the disc to figure out how to fix the play issues. Maybe they can take care of all of the 2009 releases while they are at it? So this firware release will take care of all of the 1.3 profile titles? Yeah, right.

I agree with Sound&Vision above. I never had any issues with the player or with SD DVD's (except for the Deja Vu issue) until I loaded the 2.0 firmware. I Finally bought DAT a few weeks ago and it did indeed play OK. But since the 2.0 installation I have had issues with SD dvd's, issues with older BR discs and the well known stutter and A/V sync issues after pausing during playback. I don't know what they did but I think they caused more problems then they fixed. If the HQV chip was in the 1400 I would trade it out in a heartbeat. I was going to buy the 2400 when it was released, but they cancelled that so if I am going to keep the HQV chip I have to stick with the 1200. And Samsung gets to stick it to me.

I suggested that Samsung was delaying the release to roll in other issues as well a page or two back. Sony just released a new firmware for it's players to address some issue with an upcoming release...Samsung still needs to deal with the 1200 PoTC3, LFoDH and Pixar issues but they also know there are going to be more issues. So we are punished for a few weeks but hopefully (big ? with that) we will be on time or ahead with the next round.

I got $100 that says at least one of the January releases will not play in the 1200, even after the new firmware upgrade.

On a good note.. The Blu Ray of CRANK looks fantastic. The BD-P1200 handled it flawlessly!! It is definantly one of the best Blu Ray disc i have seen to date. The disc transfer screams Referance quality all the way. This is one Blu Ray title that i recommend you show your friends. The mall scene was a blast to watch (as the whloe movie was). I had the HDMI sharpness on "low", and was able to pull even more detail.

I give CRANK two thumbs up.

I also played the standard DVD (Unrated version) of "Live Free or Die Hard". A Fantastic movie!! Again, it played flawless on my BD-P1200 with the older 070223.01_111F_0924_XAA firmware. I had Zero freeze-ups.

Funny thing is I watched the SD version today on my 1200. My wife bought it for me before I bought the 1200. It looked great up converted so I can only imagine how the BR must look.

Merry freakin x-mas samsung!

They now finally have an alert on thier website about potc3, says fix in next 30 days!

From now on all other manufacturers will continue to produce new firmware's, but samsuck will forever be known as only producing FirmWhere.

Wonder how many people opened up potc3 as a gift today, moreso how many got it with a new samsuck player.

Overheard a lady at bb 2 days ago asking the csr where she could find potc in blu-ray, i couldnt resist asking what brand player she had, she said samsung, told her don't get too excited about watching it right away. Explained firmware to her, she was clueless, said she is going to take it back.

I love costing you business samsung.

I'd take mine back if I didnt get such a good deal on it, but I still have til end of Jan to decide.

This is not a post about blu ray, but about the player. You need to go buy a toshiba hd3 and sit at your computer while you watch the movie.

Better yet, plug the player into a 13 inch tube tv and place it at your computer while you post and watch your high def in 13 glorious inches.

You can also download movies on your computer and then you could watch them while you are on your computer at the same time, in different windows.

Seriously, I love to watch the movie in HD and the last thing I want to do is go back and forth to look up tidbits.

Now I know that is part of what these formats have promised, but does this really kill the experience for you?

I cringe if I ever have to pause a movie, just because I don't think it's good for the player or display (probably okay, but don't like it anyway.)

-P

We can adjust the sharpness? How? and why would we want it on 'low' versus 'high'?

can you provide a link to the posting?

http://www.samsung.com/us/support/ne...a_fl=&disp_nm=

notice it is dated 12/12/07 and then it says they noticed it "a few weeks ago".

A few weeks before 12/12?

I know I have yet to see this as an alert especially since 12/12. It was only in their faqs.

Monkeys.

I did a search using the search function on the Samsung website for "pirates of the caribbean 3" and got junk, including something in the semi conductor area. They are starting to look foolish. I really pity all of the unsuspecting consumers that got POTC3 this morning and will not be able to watch it. They mostly never heard of firmware I am sure. This notice should be prominately posted in the 1200 support area, under news or firmware updates, so people looking for solutions could see it. But I guess that is too logical for them.

The situation is bad, but the information has been trickling out a little better than that.

To the best of my knowledge, the alert saying "we'll fix within 30 days" has been up for over a week. At first they said the current FW would fix the problem. That was wrong, as was the date on the download page for FW 2.0 that said the FW was updated on Dec. 11. We all know that the FW had not been updated since version 2 was released (when--back in November?) to address problems with ROSS and others. We now know from Sound & Vision that the earlier firmware played SD fine, as well as all BD up to the latest releases as of October or so.

You and some other posters have reported that Samsung has been giving a window of about 14 days from 12/14 or so for the new FW to be posted. I talked with a CSR last Saturday (12/22) who said an email had moved the preceding Monday (12/17) that had promised FW in ten days or so. I talked to a CSR yesterday that said they were hoping the FW would be out by the end of this week.

That's not much to go on, I know, and I don't blame anyone for being furious with Samsung. This is not good customer service. And whoever is coordinating their website information needs to get some new FW of their own: the information that comes out on the web keeps changing, and the shifting dates (and the incorrect FW date that's *never* been changed) just keep getting our hopes up and dashing them again.

What's really frustrating for me is that I know that one hard-working upper-level manager could make everything go a lot more smoothly and give us much better information, but for whatever reasons, Samsung doesn't seem able to hire, retain, or reward that kind of management. Cause for concern, for sure. But that could change if enough of us contact Samsung and let them know we're not happy.

Do these guys at Samsung know about the lipsync issue when 1080p/24 is enabled? I have written several emails but not had any replies. I guess they know that I am in Sydney so do not bother to reply.

Not that it matters much or will change anything but on the samsung u.s. support page

it now shows as one of the alerts:

Latest News & Alerts

* alert

Firmware Update (Version 1.72) Released For YPT9J
* alert

The Triple Ball Effect and LNT 71 Series LCD TVs

* alert

Blu-Ray Players and Live Free Or Die Hard
* alert

Blu-Ray Players and Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Click on that alert and:

Read about the latest news, alerts or tips about SAMSUNG products.


Blu-Ray Players and Pirates of the Caribbean 3

Dec 12.2007
Getting Pirates of the Caribbean 3 To Play on Your Blu-Ray Player

A few weeks ago, we discovered that the Blu-Ray version of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 was not playing correctly on many manufacturer's Blu-Ray players including Samsung's BD-P1000, BD-P1200, and BD-P1400. We are currently working to resolve the problem.

We should have a resolution within the next 30 days. When it is ready, we will post a notice on this web page.

I have checked and scoured the site everyday and today was the first I noticed it. The only mention of potc was in the FAQ's: (which is talking about the July fw release):

My Blu-ray Player Won't Play Certain Movie Titles Such As Pirates Of The Caribbean Or Ghost Rider.

If your BD-P1000 or BD-P1200 won't play certain BD titles such as Ghost Rider, Casino Royale,or Pirates of the Caribbean, have no fear mate; this can be corrected with a firmware upgrade in as little as fifteen minutes.

Point of all of this is, If they are just now "alerting consumers" then don't expect the fix anytime soon.

Thats my 19,500 cents including tax.

Is anyone CERTAIN that all current titles play on the Panasonic machines? I am thinking about dumping this dog, or at least sending it to the bedroom, where it can wallow in its own crap. The HDXA2 form Toshiba is the polar opposite of this turkey. FW updates arrive in the mail every two weeks or so. No disconnecting, no wondering, no reading this retarded thread. I was planning on buying a Samsung 52" 120Hz LCD...but no longer. Will probably go SONY XBR4 (CNet loves it) or XBR5.

They just lost a customer who owns 2 of their TV's, 2 Directv HD Receivers (Obsolete), 1 Blu Ray and a computer monitor.

Bah Humbug

Yesterday I succeeded in getting my 1200 to output a 4:3 image over HDMI in 480p. I found that switching the resolution to 480p, then switching the display format from 16:9 to 4:3 (either letterbox or pan-and-scan; I've never found this setting to make a difference in any dVD player), then switching the TV off and back on does the trick. That is, it does the trick until I pause or stop and restart the movie, or go from forward or reverse scan to play, at which point the screen snaps back into 16:9 and thus distorts the image. Oddly, chapter advance doesn't affect the playback: the picture stays 4:3.

Seems like there's some kind of handshaking/reset issue going. Maybe that new FW will address this problem. The Panasonic DMP-BD10a I had for awhile did not have this issue. At any rate, I post this not to keep on ranting about the 1200--doesn't do much good--but to tell you all about a workaround that just barely works for me. At this point I'll take what I can get.

Is there any way to roll back the firmware? I am begining to think that I should use my 1200 for it's original intended purpose only...SD DVD playback (my initial reason for buying...see Secrets review). But with the 2.0 firmware I have run into playback issues as many others have. I would be fine with this player if it would playback SD flawlessly and give it the outstanding upscaling of the REON.

So anyone know if we can roll back?

You would have to send it back to Samsung.

Would any benefit come from logging numerous complaints with the studio that released POTC3 (Disney)? If they receive enough complaints from (potential) consumers threatening not to purchase their Blu-ray releases, as there is no guarantee they will play on Samsung machines, maybe they could help light the fire under Samsung to get on the ball with thier firmware updates? Despite everyone's tremendous efforts I'm begining to think our campaign may not be enough.

I have the Panny 10a player..no problems whatsoever..my 1200 is in my bedroom..how sad is that

I don't think there is any ONE person who has a BD30 AND all of the latest BD releases to be able to answer your question with certainty. However, as an owner of the BD30 (and the 1200) I follow the BD30 thread and there has been no reports there of any BD release not playing on the BD30. Interestingly, there have already been two FW updates for the BD30 despite no reports of playability problems from users. It is apparent that Panasonic is ahead of the curve - Samsung is way behind the curve.

I spoke with "Matt," a Tier 2 person, this evening. Very frustrating experience. He had no date for FW, no answer to SD compatibility issues ("I have no report of those but I'll pass it along to the programming team"), no answer to why the 1200 won't stay locked on 4:3 aspect ratio for SD 4:3 movies ("it may be your TV"--ok, fair enough, maybe so). At the end he asked if he could answer any other questions. I told him no, and that for the record, he hadn't really answered any of my questions at all. He acknowledged that that was true.

Here endeth the lesson.

It's not your TV. Been reading this thread since April and I don't recall anyone contradicting the many reports of the 4:3 issue.

Thanks for the confirmation. Same symptoms? Locking on but then losing lock and switching back to 16:9 if the SD is paused or stopped or scanned in either direction, then played?

Was the 4:3 issue there for the prior firmware?

Sigh.

Shoot, I've never been able to get mine to show 4:3 regardless of what I've tried, and neither has anyone else (before your brief success!), to my knowledge. Yes, the issue has been present since day one. I purchased mine very late March, within a day or so of it's release. Love the PQ and I'm willing to put up with other issues to get it. C'mon, Denon with Realta!

Edit: A funny story - When I first loaded up That's Entertainment the other night, I briefly freaked when I saw proper pillar-boxed 4:3 content, until I realized that the image was really 1.85:1 with the pillar-boxing done within the image, itself. ;-)