Blu-ray doesn't play due to encryption change

[timeschange]

Fox screwed up many players when they released Avatar and their US release of Lost In Space also stopped some players playing the discs.

But I don't think Fox can take all the blame. Over the last 10 years since I got into Bluray I've always had Panasonic players and when Avatar came out I still had a very slow very early Panny machine but while players from the likes of Sony all needed upgrades the Panasonic players all continued working so the excuse that updates are needed seems weak. How can Panasonic players carry on while others don't?

I've never updated the firmware in my Panasonic machines although I got their UHD player a few weeks back and that told me an update was available on day one although that only had to be done when I wanted to use the smart tv features.

My Bluray Disc Recorder told me an update was needed 2 years ago but its multi region mod is firmware based so any update would remove that feature but although I have never done the update I've never had a problem with any discs . But the smart tv features will no longer work