Fox And Blu Question...

[E-Dogg]

If this question was already asked then Mods please close immediately....

After reading this article on Highdefdigest.com


Fox Speaks Out on 'Silver Surfer,' 'Day After Tomorrow' Blu-ray Playback Problems
Fri Oct 05, 2007 at 10:00 AM ET
Tags: Technical Glitches, Fox (all tags)

Fox Home Entertainment acknowledged playback issues with its 'Rise of the Silver Surfer' and 'Day After Tomorrow' discs on select Blu-ray players late Thursday, but layed the blame squarely on the shoulders of hardware manufacturers.

As we first reported yesterday, the new BD+ encrypted discs are apparently incompatible with two Blu-ray players (the Samsung BD-1200 and LG's BH100), while delayed load times of up to two minutes have been reported on other players.

Although Fox had no comment when we first broke the story yesterday, a studio rep told Video Business that Fox was aware of the problem, but emphasized that it was confined to a limited number of players.

Steve Feldstein, Fox senior VP of marketing communications advised that consumers having difficulties should contact manufacturer support lines directly.

"We are releasing more and more advanced interactive titles, and consumers should lobby their hardware manufacturers to release firmware upgrades post haste," said Feldstein.

Calls placed to both Samsung and LG customer support revealed that both manufacturers are working on firmware updates to correct the problem. Samsung promised a firmware update within "a couple weeks," while LG said an update is expected in 2-3 days.

We'll keep you posted on any further developments in this story. In the meantime, we've set up a dedicated thread in our Forums area to discuss playback problems with both the 'Silver Surfer' and 'Day After Tomorrow' discs.



My question is that if this problem is not avoided in future Fox titles do you think this could cause some type of negative attitude from Fox towards Blu? What could we do to avoid this problem ever happening again?

[SS316SRV]

This problem is happening on two players only. TWO! One is a dual format player. The ability to read HD DVD is corrupting the quality of blu-ray. Future hardware will have had BD+ in mind and will be manufactured to run smoothly with it. Fox knows where the quality (and money) lay, they aren't going anywhere.

[stockstar1138]

profile 1.1 will be mandatory in weeks, hopefull no players debuting after 10/31 should have any problems. as far as current players go hopefully all companies can issue a one time only firmware update, so at least the flick plays, maybe not bonus features, but at least the movie. i think there is already resentment against FOX from blu-ray supporters as they left for nearly 6 months.

[PaulGo]

Some studio had to be the first. After the firmware patches their should not be any more problems with BD+ discs. This extra layer of security is why Fox became a Blu-ray exclusive.

[Moefiz]

Originally Posted by SS316SRV

This problem is happening on two players only. TWO! One is a dual format player. The ability to read HD DVD is corrupting the quality of blu-ray. Future hardware will have had BD+ in mind and will be manufactured to run smoothly with it. Fox knows where the quality (and money) lay, they aren't going anywhere.

I have to agree with you after a 6 months of not releasing title and then releasing 2 with BD+ there was bound to be problems,probaly thats the reason Sony had that firmware update for the s300/301.

I don't think there is anything to worry about....

ENJOY BLU...

[WickyWoo]

The problem was in the BD-J, not BD+. Got that direct from Fox

Samsung and LG have the same company design their players for them, and that company has been....sloppy.

[E-Dogg]

Good to hear your faith in the format. I don't personally think they are leaving either, but let's hope that this doesn't occur with any future Blu-Ray players after the 31st as you all mentioned.

[Luis_A51]

As soon as they release the firmware update the problem will be eliminated. So I wouldnt worry about this causing ANY long term issues.

[supersix4]

if they were smart they would have put updates on there disk for people who need it and if the disk found you had that kind of player it would prompt an install or something to help run everything .... with an msrp of 34.99 for a movie they should have been better prepared. even tho I own neither of those 2 players!

[dobyblue]

It is the players fault - the Panasonic Hollywood Lab is there for manufacturers to present all their players and check for title compatability. Obviously LG and Samsung were not on the ball, but everyone else was.

[dakota81]

Could also be test players have a firmware not available to the public yet? Master & Commander was delayed due to player incompatibilities on a small number - Fantastic 4 is a day & date release it was going to be released anyways, but The Day After Tomorrow is a catalog title and could also have been delayed but wasn't.

[Luis_A51]

Originally Posted by supersix14

if they were smart they would have put updates on there disk for people who need it and if the disk found you had that kind of player it would prompt an install or something to help run everything .... with an msrp of 34.99 for a movie they should have been better prepared. even tho I own neither of those 2 players!

The issue is that the firmware update itself isnt available yet. How can Fox put something on a disk that doesnt exist yet? Also since BD+ was finished a long time ago they probably assumed all the manufacturers had sent the required firmware updates out already. I Blame samsung and LG, not fox.

[zombieking]

Yeah I have the 1200 and this sucks. I don't mind a 1 or 2 day wait, but a firmware update should be available in a couple weeks? Bullshit. C'mon Samsung, get your heads out of your asses. NOW is NOT the time for this stuff to be happening. I for one have a dozen titles coming in the mail next week, half of them FOX titles. Now I have to wait even longer because of Samsung's incompetence, and I wonder how many more of us have to do the same.

I posted this on another thread. My biggest concern is the new consumer who might walk into a B&M store, buy a Sammy 1200 and some FOX titles, and have none of them play! Someone unaware of firmware updates will just take it all back, then maybe pick up an hd-dvd player instead. Or worse, be turned off on hidef movies altogether.

[E-Dogg]

Originally Posted by zombieking

Yeah I have the 1200 and this sucks. I don't mind a 1 or 2 day wait, but a firmware update should be available in a couple weeks? Bullshit. C'mon Samsung, get your heads out of your asses. NOW is NOT the time for this stuff to be happening. I for one have a dozen titles coming in the mail next week, half of them FOX titles. Now I have to wait even longer because of Samsung's incompetence, and I wonder how many more of us have to do the same.

I posted this on another thread. My biggest concern is the new consumer who might walk into a B&M store, buy a Sammy 1200 and some FOX titles, and have none of them play! Someone unaware of firmware updates will just take it all back, then maybe pick up an hd-dvd player instead. Or worse, be turned off on hidef movies altogether.

That would obviously be the worst case scenario. Hopefully this doesn't happen and Samsung gets that update sooner rather than later.

[tron3]

As someone posted a few weeks ago, this is the kind of thing that happens when you are an early adoptor.

But here is the advantage I did not get with DVD - firmware updates. Remember, these things are basically customized "single purpose" computers. As long as the hardware supports it, they can make these machines do almost anything. With DVD, that was it... no way to deal with playback issues where the disc is not at fault.

Firmware fixes all and I rest easy in that belief. Making BDP's firmware upgradeable was one of my suggestions way back in the early days of my membership. Not saying they saw my suggestion and took it, they are smart enough to know it fixes the longevity of the product.

With the 2.60 firmware my Sony BDP-S300 now loads faster, is more responsive and handles Java discs better. The next patch will probably give me stable BD+ playback if it hasn't already.

It's already like having a new machine. Don't sweat the updates. Most ANY device could use them - just not all devices have them. Their loss.

[jamclaur]

When 1.1 comes out there wont be any problems.

Will either of these be able to update to 1.1 to get rid of the error?

[bootman]

There is a communication problem among the BDA members with their S Korean partners. Samsung has also said that they were having issues getting their players 1.1 tested because they had not yet received the official test disk.

I don't know what is going on, but these also happen to the the only two format neutral CE partners also.

The ability to read HD DVD is corrupting the quality of blu-ray.

While funny, this is a silly statement.

Do you think both LG and Samsung want to be caught with their pants down like this?
Last thing we need is that they both drop Blu and join Toshiba in making players.

Again better communication between all of the BDA partners will avoid stuff like this.

[WickyWoo]

With DVD, that was it... no way to deal with playback issues where the disc is not at fault

Actually since about 2001 or so user-upgradeable firmware was pretty standard