I bring this up because a lot of people don't realize that what they need is an update, not a new player, not a different player, and not to return it to the store. Sure, you may have to wait in some cases for your problem to be resolved, but isn't that better than living without blu-ray or (gasp) living WITH HD-DVD.
I have done firmware updates for pc's, cd-roms, and even my DVD burner. In general, even if you don't notice a difference, they are good things to do to improve stability and performance.
I'm interested in hearing about the firmware updates you have done for your blu-ray players. Did they fix your problem, did performance improve, etc.