Problems with the Sony BDP-S350

[bestmanfall]

Over the past week or so I've started to have some serious problems with my Sony BDP-S350.

My two major problems are:

1) there are certain discs that cannot be played by the machine. I get an 'unknown disc' message before new discs, such as those from the recent Battlestar Galactica box set, as well as those that are older (and have been watched, perfectly, before these problems set in).

2) I'm unable to hear any dialogue when playing any disc at all. The soundtrack (score/sound effects/etc.) can be heard find, but whenever a character speaks they either can't be heard, or can be heard very very faintly indeed. Oddly, this doesn't seem to effect trailers (the trailers that appear before the Watchmen Director's Cut blu can be heard fine, soundtrack, dialogue track and all, for example), or some extra features.

I've read reports on other forums of S350 owners encountering the same issues, and how the 'unknown disc' message (along with the laboured sounds from the machine that accompany it) can be an indication of the drive crapping out.

As for the sound issues - I've been back and forth through the manual, and have no idea what's wrong.

Just wondered if any other forum members have had these issues, and what they to rectify them.

I guess I'm hoping against hope that there's an easy fix out there, and that I won't have to send my machine back to Sony.

Many thanks for any help you can give me guys.