Latest FOX movies have new anti-theft feature, Has created playability issues

[sunedaz68]

This is a continuation from a previous post about my Panasonic BD10A not playing some of the New Fox Movie titles.

I found an article in Bluraydigest.com that spells it out loud and clear.

Fox has decided in an effort to stop fraud and coping of movies to put a new security patch in thier latest movies. It appears it started around mid 2008.

Fox is pointing the finger at the manufatures stating that it is the manufactures responsibility to update thier Firmware updates so the players can play these new and improved movies. I have not had any success with emails to Panasonic regarding thier first generation blu ray players and when an update may come around.

I can understand a company does not want thier product to be copied or stolen. I am ok with that. What I am not ok with is that it appears that they did not get together with the manufactures first to allow them to create the firmware updates before these disks came to market.

Fox at this time is losing money from me if I can't play thier movies

[SatinKzo]

specific title list? I've not had any issues with any recent fox releases

[sunedaz68]

Specifically, so far that I know of:
Babylon A.D.
Horton Hears a Who
James Bond Series
Space Chimps
Home alone
Jingle all the way
Planet of the Apes
Princess Bride

I know some of these are Kids movies but imagine how excited you are as a child to watch a new movie then your told it won't play. So much for rewarding your children for being good or getting good grades.

[SatinKzo]

hmm, I own or have rented most of those (wish we hadn't rented space chimps) without any issues on my Pioneer Bd51.

I do recall the bond movies giving others problems though, but I didn't have any issue.

[wallendo]

Originally Posted by sunedaz68

This is a continuation from a previous post about my Panasonic BD10A not playing some of the New Fox Movie titles.

I found an article in Bluraydigest.com that spells it out loud and clear.

Fox has decided in an effort to stop fraud and coping of movies to put a new security patch in thier latest movies. It appears it started around mid 2008.

Fox is pointing the finger at the manufatures stating that it is the manufactures responsibility to update thier Firmware updates so the players can play these new and improved movies. I have not had any success with emails to Panasonic regarding thier first generation blu ray players and when an update may come around.

I can understand a company does not want thier product to be copied or stolen. I am ok with that. What I am not ok with is that it appears that they did not get together with the manufactures first to allow them to create the firmware updates before these disks came to market.

Fox at this time is losing money from me if I can't play thier movies

Do you expect FOX to contact every single manufacturer?

Your issue is with Panasonic. Try contacting them via telephone or regular mail. At many companies, e-mail is ignored.
If this has been going on since mid-1980, it does not appear likely that your problem will ever be resolved. You may need to upgrade your blu-ray player (This is a risk with all new technology ).

[rondanto]

I have the same problem with my Sony Vaio player. Two Fox titles , " Passion of the Christ " and " The Robe " won't play while my other discs do.
I went through a whole update on the phone with Sony and still no luck. They told me they couldn't figure out what the problem was. Thanks Fox.

[SatinKzo]

OP, I assumed you have updated the firmware on your player and are still having the problems. Panasonic is very good at updates for even minor problems.

You do realize that panasonic seems very slow to update their US website with firmware, at least I only see an old firmware out there, but if you check panasonic.jp, they seem to keep it very uptodate.

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...d10/bd10a.html

Might want to check it out if you have not.

[Captainhawk1]

Originally Posted by wallendo

Do you expect FOX to contact every single manufacturer?

Uhhh... Yes?

Not for nothing, there aren't that many manufacturers of BD players. Is a mass email out of the question?

IMHO, opinion, though, this is the price that you pay for living in a digital media world. The truth is that no matter what Fox or anyone does a certain little company out of Antigua who coincidentally has a logo of a fox is going to keep breaking any security feature they try to add.

Manufacturers are wasting time and money trying to fight this. What they should do is focus on what they have now as far as security is concerned, leave it at that and work on marketing strategies that make pirating less appealing to consumers.

If you eliminate the demand, you eliminate the crime.

[sunedaz68]

I checked the Japan site as suggested and still no update for my player.

Also, I have tried calling Panasonic and the phone number is not thier company anymore.

I know I have a first generation player but i just received the first 2 volumes of Bond movies and they are hanging up as well.

I will not buy or rent any more Fox movies and may hav to dump this player on Ebay and will never by another Panasonic player again.

Like most people out there, I am not made of money and it's hard to drop $300-$500 for another player.

[Jeff Kleist]

Are you sure you're updated to the latest version now? Planet of the Apes and the original Bonds work just fine on 2.5

When you say "all James Bonds", are you talking about the first round, or just the ones that just shipped

BD+ is a fact of life, and more studios will be adopting it in the future.

Manufacturers are wasting time and money trying to fight this. What they should do is focus on what they have now as far as security is concerned, leave it at that and work on marketing strategies that make pirating less appealing to consumers.

If you eliminate the demand, you eliminate the crime.

How do you compete with free, or $1 discs of your new releases? It's impossible.

The only thing they can do is continue to delay the inevitable with new versions of BD+

[Captainhawk1]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Are you sure you're updated to the latest version now? Planet of the Apes and the original Bonds work just fine on 2.5

When you say "all James Bonds", are you talking about the first round, or just the ones that just shipped

BD+ is a fact of life, and more studios will be adopting it in the future.



How do you compete with free, or $1 discs of your new releases? It's impossible.

The only thing they can do is continue to delay the inevitable with new versions of BD+

I'm not in marketing, it's not my job to come up with those answers but where oh where are there bootleg BD's for a buck or free? You can't even get bootleg DVD's for a buck.

[Jeff Kleist]

I'm not in marketing, it's not my job to come up with those answers but where oh where are there bootleg BD's for a buck or free? You can't even get bootleg DVD's for a buck.

There are no answers, because it's absolutely impossible

You cannot compete with free, and you cannot compete with prices that low when you actually have to pay for the content

Many places in Southeast asia, bootleg DVDs are well under $2 each. Since their cost of producing the material is virtually zero, and the cost of the disc and a paper sleeve like they're sold in is under $0.50, and the mob making the boots owns the outlets they're being sold from, you can see how this is still quite profitable for money laundering purposes. People sell public domain DVDs here for under $2 each (and often $0.99 in my supermarket)

[graf1k]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

Are you sure you're updated to the latest version now? Planet of the Apes and the original Bonds work just fine on 2.5

When you say "all James Bonds", are you talking about the first round, or just the ones that just shipped

BD+ is a fact of life, and more studios will be adopting it in the future.



How do you compete with free, or $1 discs of your new releases? It's impossible.

The only thing they can do is continue to delay the inevitable with new versions of BD+

I don't have any problem with studios protecting their copyright, but obviously what they are doing is not working. I never understood how publishers of any media think that making things more difficult for the people that pay for their product is a good idea. I guarantee you that if this affected pirates at all, it probably delayed them a day or two at most while people that buy their discs legit are going to have exponentially larger problems because of this and future updates. I think they need to accept that there is a certain group of people that just aren't going to pay for their media period and make it more desirable for everyone else to pay for the stuff, whether it's something like BD Live features, or some other form of added value, or lower prices.

[Jeff Kleist]

I don't have any problem with studios protecting their copyright, but obviously what they are doing is not working. I never understood how publishers of any media think that making things more difficult for the people that pay for their product is a good idea. I guarantee you that if this affected pirates at all, it probably delayed them a day or two at most while people that buy their discs legit are going to have exponentially larger problems because of this and future updates. I think they need to accept that there is a certain group of people that just aren't going to pay for their media period and make it more desirable for everyone else to pay for the stuff, whether it's something like BD Live features, or some other form of added value, or lower prices.

I assure you it's doing the job it's meant to do quite satisfactorally. Everyone knows a certain segment won't pay for their stuff, but the goal of copy protection is to be as big of a pain in the ass as possible, and to protect the release window where 50% of the lifetime copies are sold on your average title, not protect it forever.

If you notice, the BD10A has only had 2 firmware updates in the last 18 months (10/07 and 8/08). With 2.0 quickly becoming the standard player, and with all the major bugs in the format essentially worked out, all these problems are growing fewer and farther between.

DVD had many of the same difficulties the first few years

[Mr. Cinema]

Originally Posted by Jeff Kleist

DVD had many of the same difficulties the first few years

This is true. However, the non-early adopter/HT enthusiast, who the BDA is now trying to sell to, is not going to tolerate these playback problems. They're not going to update firmware. They will say "screw this, my dvds play fine." They don't care that dvd had this same problem. They likely didn't experience it as they are not early adopters.

This is why the studios and manufacturers need to make sure these discs work before they're released. Year 3 is supposed to be the mainstream year, right?

[Jeff Kleist]

It is impossible to test on every player, and getting more impossible every week

They send the discs to compatibility centers to have tests run, how can you really ask more?

He's obviously not updated his firmware, that's the roote of his problem since I have 6 or 7 of the discs he listed and they all work, on my BD10A running 2.5.

People will be just fine with it, just like they're just fine when their cablebox or windows updates and they never even notice it. There's a bunch of self-configuring wifi capable players out this year, within 2 years it'll become commonplace, right around the time that the mainstream notices Blu in a big way.

If Panasonic decks have an issue, their firmware update is usuallly out BEFORE the problem discs actually hit, or within days after

[andyn1080]

you know i keep seeing these posts about movies not playing in their standalone player......yea know the ps3 plays ever movie....just a fyi guys....plus you get a sweet gaming system. i dunno man, i love my ps3, plays every new and old bluray....every one.

[Jeff Kleist]

Saying "buy a PS3" doesn't solve anyone's problem, and 95% of Blu-ray players 5 years from now will not be a PS3. it's great that you love it, but it's not what's going to sell Blu-ray players to the masses like it did early adopters, because $200 players are here, and PS3 isn't going to be able to catch that

[blujacket]

Originally Posted by andyn1080

you know i keep seeing these posts about movies not playing in their standalone player......yea know the ps3 plays ever movie....just a fyi guys....plus you get a sweet gaming system. i dunno man, i love my ps3, plays every new and old bluray....every one.

My Panny BD35 has played every movie, no problem. The PS3 is great if you want a space heater for your room and you can tolerate the jet engine noise.

[PlacervilleGuy]

Originally Posted by wallendo

Do you expect FOX to contact every single manufacturer?
).

If they are doing something outside of the norm, i.e. some proprietary non-standard security code, hell yes!