Disc Error code: 408bc504 Poll - Page 2

I do not get the error with the A2, latest firmware hooked up via HDMI @ 1080i.

funny, there was a previous poll asking similar question a while back..and the overwhelming vast majority of people were not having these playback issues (or..at least said in the poll that they were not). So...what changed?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...highlight=poll

I don't know about AVS but some forums I am on hate polls....that said there needs to be another one on this topic. We need to seperate Gen 2 from Gen 3 players (that could be the change) and I would also like to see results from each of those on HDMI vs component cables.

Have played around 40 HD-DVD's (new, used and rentals) and got the error only once with Transformers on my XA2 (2.3 firmware - HDMI at 1080P). Disc was new and looked fine but I cleaned it anyway and had no further problem.

I've got the A3 with 1.1 firmware. I've only tried playing Transformers and got this error code. I will be trying other movies to see if get the same error.

HD A2/ 2.7 firmware- I am only getting this error code when playing 300 which is slightly scratched. Most of the time the disc will not load at all saying something to the effect- non readable non DVD disc????

...interesting poll, best of luck. I bought an A2, and on my =first= disc I got the HEX error with Miami Vice, only to have it playback fine in my A1. While the A1 will barf and skip, I've yet to have a full catastrophic failure during normal movie playback, and this fact has kept me away from the G2 and G3 players to date, at least at launched retail prices.

It's the most horrid error code, totally dismissive of the user experience - how about "Disc error, please restart your system", it's not like there's anything more specific that the numbers are designating (sector of the problem, be it memory or disc, and so on...)

I got the error @ 1080i. I followed the unplug, turn everything else on method and everything is great. Have not had the issue again.

I am A3 HDMI -> Onkyo 604 HDMI -> Samsung DLP 5687

Powered in this order:
Onkyo
Samsung
A3

I get it at both 720p and 1080i via component on my A3 fx 1.1. I'm playing Superman Returns HD-DVD and it locks up and shows "Cannot play disc: Error code: 408bc504" BEFORE THE WARNER PROMO IS EVEN FINISH

What the hell does this mean? I'm about tired of these types of issues. I just got this player a week ago, looks like it will go back to Fry's.

PS- No problems playing BD on my PS3.

UPDATE: Before anyone asks, I've played this disc fine on a XA1 & RCA HDV5000

I'm new to the world of HD DVD and I just watched my first HD DVD today on my brand new Toshiba HD-A35. I was watching Blades of Glory and at around the 1:18 mark the screen locks up. I then have to turn the unit off and have re-tried several times with no success. The first time it locked up I was running with the 1.0 firmware at 1080p via HDMI. I updated the unit to the most current 1.1 firmware, still with 1080p via HDMI and it still locks up. The disc is brand new today. Anybody know why this is happening?

Just got this error code on my A2 with firmware 2.5 while watching The Matrix at about 1:15 into the movie. Cleaned the disc and it got past that point ok but now get to watch the rest of the movie to see if it happens any more.

I have an A1 with 2.3 firmware. Never had this error. In fact I've never had a single issue. It has played flawlessly right from the start. Lucky me .

This is the same for my A1 clone, the RCA HDV5000. I guess these A3's were cheap for a reason? I got it during Fry's $98 sale.

Yes, FW 1.1. My bad, should have put that in the post.

I've got it one time with my A35 @ 1080p, I restarted the movie and it worked fine. I haven't used the player bunches though, I'll have to use it more and see if it happens again.

Looks like I voted too early when I indicated I had no problems at 1080i.

As the poll begain, I had watched a handful of HD DVDs on my HD-A3 (updated to 1.1/1.1) and experienced nothing but stellar quality from the following titles in order:

• 300 (own)
• Transformers (own)
• The Last Samurai (own)
• Letters from Iwo Jima (Netflix, HDDVD, uniformly micro-scratched)

All viewed on a Samsung LNT4661F 46" LCD through a HDMI cable with the HD-A3 outputting its max 1080i setting.

Last night's feature was Evan Almighty from Netflix on a combo DVD/HDDVD disc. In the scene where the ark was loaded up, the picture froze at 1:19:05 followed by the error screen.


(Noobs: Moire pattern is due to mismatch of dSLR CMOS pixels and HDTV pixels)
For you plasma folk, be careful about falling asleep to a flick with this happening. The Toshiba displays the error screen in a static (non-moving) fashion.

I found I could hit the remote's PLAY button and it'd start over from the Universal intro and top menu. I played the scene again but this time tried fast-forwarding as it approached the problem area. Didn't work. It would still stop dead with the error code.



With SD DVDs containing serious smudges, most older players would at least trudge through it or resume at the next playable spot.

I took the combo disc out and scrutinized it more than when I first inserted it. My macro lens on the digital SLR shows an overlapping pair of scratches halfway on the HD DVD side of the disc. Whether this is the cause that coincides with my error at 1:19:05, I don't know. The movie feature length is 1 hour 30 minutes. Figure there's a bunch of extra/bonus content, but I have no clue if the authoring process adds that stuff before or after the feature.



I was able to finish watching the movie by restarting, jumped directly to the next chapter, and hit the fast-rewind on the remote to around the 1:19:15 mark.

Sorry for wandering off-topic:

I plan to indicate to Netflix the disc is bad before returning it. Netflix has been GREAT about offering high-def disc rentals at no additional charge.. but if the majority of these next-gen HD players are extra picky about the kinds of scratches incurred through repeated USPS mailings, anyone else predicting that the online rental rates will start going up? I forsee them either raising rates in order to increase the frequency of replacing a (HDDVD/BluRay) disc -or- for the increased postage from having to mail high-def discs in bulky jewel cases (as opposed to the current paper sleeves)

My best hope is that the majority of these error codes are from the way Universal manufactures their discs. (something THEY can hopefully fix)

There are three more HD DVD discs in my personal collection (fresh out of shrink wrap).. Bourne Identity, King Kong, and Batman Begins. I'll try to get through these in the next week and will chime-in if they throw error codes.

INcluded Bourne Identity disc gives me the error at 1h30m. It is brand spanking new out of the box. Both the Disc, and the player. This is ABSURD.

What firmware revision are you running and how do you have the player hooked up? I just upgraded to 1.3 and it has cleared up my previous lockups...but I haven't watched my free copy of Bourne yet so......

It appears that the $200 price + 7 to 10 free movies is a deal that lots of people will be jumping on this week from Amazon, Circuit City, Best Buy, etc. Does anyone worry that the errors will cause a lot of people to return their players? I got my A3 for a similar $200/10 movie deal from Best Buy during the weekend of the A2 $100 sale. I have had a total of 4 freeze-ups, 2 of which were with the same movie: Casino, at the exact same point each time. I updated the firmware and it seems to have fixed most of my problems, but then the other day I got a random error in the middle of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas whereas this disc has played perfectly multiple times for me before. 300 was the first disc I tried when I got the player and right out of the gate like 2 minutes into the movie it froze. But ever since then it has played just fine. I am OK dealing with this since the firmware definitely fixed whatever was wrong with Casino and it seems to make the players better and better. I just wonder how the average Joe will react to these problems.

I got this code several times watching my first movie on my new A3 last night. My firmware says 1.0/1.1 or something like that. When I try to update it I get a "can't find out server" error. I turned on DHCP and still no dice.

You will need to update via Ethernet if you want v 1.3 of the A3 player. ANyhow, you must turn on DHCP and DNS (if that is what your ISP provides), and then you MUST turn off, and on again. Only then will the changes take effect, and a reliable connection may be made. Try that and see...

I was running version 1.1 at the time. Then I upgraded to 1.3 (this is an A3 player), and the lockup disappeared at that point. However, the disc now lcks up later towards the end, whereas with the previous firmware (1.1) it did NOT lock up at the end. This is a very flaky product. I think Toshiba has decided to let these players go for $100-$200 to get a large Beta Tester user base!!!!

I doubt very much that Toshiba has loosed this angst on purpose. More than likely, it's the same old story....chinese manf who "swear" and contract for spec "A" and deliver spec "B,C,D and F"...then leave the client company holding the bag for any damages/problems/issues.

Hello - I get this error code at around 1 hour 13 minutes into Transformers, on my HD-A2. I have the current firmware, version 2.8. Any solutions?

I know this is an old thread, but this error seems to indicate a bad disc. I just had one freeze up on me on my modified A-30, and I tried it on a D-3 and an A-2, and both had trouble at the same spot- the A2 gave me that error code.

Try cleaning the disc. That clears up 99% of these types of issues for me. I use an old Discwasher type disc cleaning mechanism. It works great. It kind of looks like the attached.

The disc I had problems with (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) was being played for the very first time, purchased by me brand-new and not a single imperfection visible on the disc surface. I cleaned it anyways, but it still froze up. Looking for a replacement copy now.

I had a defective "Lethal Weapon" HD-DVD and contacted Warner about it. They had me ship it to them and they replaced it with a blu-ray of that title . . . .

I'll have to see if they'll let me do that- I've already got replacement HD-DVDs coming to me in the mail (I'm trying to collect ever HD-DVD title I can get my hands on cheap) but if I can get Blu-Ray copies in exchange for the defects that'd be cool (and I'll have more copies of the first Harry Potter than I'll ever know what to do with- already have DVDs of it with the American "Sorcerer's Stone" title and the Canadian disc with "Philosopher's Stone" which the rest of the world called it!)

Coincidentally I checked my Lethal Weapon HD-DVD and it seems fine- didn't have time to watch all of it but I chapter-skipped through the movie as I'm already familiar with it. My HD-DVD of the 2nd Harry Potter movie also turned out defective too though (and again I checked it on 3 different players, so those aren't at fault)- what are the odds of that happening?