60GB PS3 playback stutters on blu ray

[richieb1971]

In the past month or so my 60GB machine has been playing up whilst playing movies. I can get to the actual movie without problems but about 15 seconds (usually just past the studio logo) the audio track gets lost (no sound at all) and the video stutters about 1/5th of the normal running speed.

I watched Hero the other night and it stuttered. Put it in another PS3 and it worked fine. Found a fingerprint on the disc (only a small one), wiped it and then it worked fine on the problematic machine after 4 attempts.

However, last night I watched Kick ASS (brand new disc) and the same symptoms happened. Lost the audio followed by stuttering 1/5th speed video.

Whatever is causing the problem is getting worse, but from what I can tell it only happens on movies. Games show no sign of taking longer to load or anything like that.

So do I have a problematic blu ray drive? Anyone else experienced this type of issue?


edit - Read up on another forum and it seems changing the 24p setting might help, although it means losing Picture quality. I also read that upgrading firmware sometimes causes the settings of your PS3 to reset lol. If thats true thats not nice. I must admit I didn't check mine.

[DavePS3]

Odd, I too have the 60g but haven't had any issues whatsoever and mine is fully updated on firmware. Hope yours turns out okay!

[bhampton]

Maybe your laser is going. Lasers tend to have a finite service life which is typically thousands of hours but they can fail at any time really just like a light bulb.

I wouldn't try repairs. I would do the exchange thing with Sony if that's still possibe. For $150 they (at least used to) swap it for a working unit for you. That's worth it to me.

There is also some extended plans you can buy on the PS Network now but I haven't read up on them yet.

(I still have a 60GB but my original one did fail about 3 years in and Sony swapped it for me because I bought extended warranty from Walmart when I bought it.)

-Brian

[bhampton]

What makes you think 24fps makes you lose PQ?

Enabling 24fps is a "good" thing as it closer emulates the 24fps seen with film.

I have mine on auto which is where it "should" be because the PS3 can tell when to use the 24fps and when to use 60fps. (Video content should be at 60 and film at 24 if it's encoded that way.)

- Brian

[richieb1971]

Sorry, you misunderstood. I meant disabling 24p.

I'm thinking its a blu ray drive problem, but as I said games don't show the symptoms. Also, the menus load up just as fast on the problematic machine as they do the machine doesn't show this problem. I will have to check the settings when I get home from work.

Its had a workout over the years, i've owned 250+ blu rays in the past 3 or so years.

[Supernaut]

These are exactly the same symptoms I had before my laser gave up the ghost completely. I returned mine to sony and eventually received a 'refurbished' model.

[bhampton]

The laser certainly does go from time to time in these.

At one point I was going to buy a "spare" but these days I prefer to just wait and see. When my 60GB fails again I will see if Sony still does the "swap" for $150 and if not I'm likely to investigate Oppo or something.

I certainly think PS3 is the BEST player available but the Oppo stuff seems nice too and they have some unique features now... I could consider them esp if I can't get a PS3 that plays SACDs because I use that feature on mine.

[Al Bundy]

I've been hearing this a lot about the 60 gig. I agree that it is worth to reapir for $150 if its launch.