Sony S300 needs upgrade for "IronMan"

[Smokin' T]

Hate to bring bad news, but there it is. This will be my third update in 8 months of owning the Sony BDP-S300. First it was "3:10 to Yuma" that wouldn't open, then after updating it was "Batman Begins." Now version 3.95 isn't up to the "Iron Man." The industry is cutting its throat with these tech tucks. It will never go mainstream until it is reliable and user-friendly.

Does anyone know if the firmware can be DL'd and burned to disc on a Mac and still be used to update firmware? Otherwise, I'm stuck waiting for Sony and the postman.

ST

[jw]

good news, the Sony BDP-S350 will be 299.99 the first of October at Circuit City

[mrgreed202]

you know...there is a version 4.20 for it here http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/...2921665088000#
oh but i guess your looking for a mac version. well, good luck.

[uptheirons]

Iron Man does not play in Samsung 1500 player, even with the 1.3 version upgrade.

[PCiAM]

Argh. I have the S301, which is pretty much identical to 300, and my copy of IRON MAN was just shipped yesterday. This sucks if I have to wait for a firmware update to watch the film.

[vin1013]

Originally Posted by Smokin' T

Hate to bring bad news, but there it is. This will be my third update in 8 months of owning the Sony BDP-S300. First it was "3:10 to Yuma" that wouldn't open, then after updating it was "Batman Begins." Now version 3.95 isn't up to the "Iron Man." The industry is cutting its throat with these tech tucks. It will never go mainstream until it is reliable and user-friendly.

Does anyone know if the firmware can be DL'd and burned to disc on a Mac and still be used to update firmware? Otherwise, I'm stuck waiting for Sony and the postman.

ST

I updated my S300 two weeks ago to firmware 4.2. And when I tried to play "Iron Man" last night, it wouldn't load! The screen's all black and nothing happen! Then, I tried to play "Transformers" and it worked without a problem! So, what's the deal? Both discs have BD Live and my S300 was able to play one but failed to play the other? Or is there something extra or special about "Iron Man" disc that S300 fails to load? Or is it just my bad luck that I had purchased a bad copy of "Iron Man"?

[mikesoba]

Originally Posted by Smokin' T

Hate to bring bad news, but there it is. This will be my third update in 8 months of owning the Sony BDP-S300. First it was "3:10 to Yuma" that wouldn't open, then after updating it was "Batman Begins." Now version 3.95 isn't up to the "Iron Man." The industry is cutting its throat with these tech tucks. It will never go mainstream until it is reliable and user-friendly.

Does anyone know if the firmware can be DL'd and burned to disc on a Mac and still be used to update firmware? Otherwise, I'm stuck waiting for Sony and the postman.

ST

This is true. Joe Sixpack is not going to spend Sunday afternoon burning discs with the exact specifications required by Sony and updating his player. I can't imagine that what the publishers are placing on discs is so earth-shattering that we need to go through these frequent updates.

[TheIgster]

Well, and there you have it folks. It's not just Samsung. Sucks for owners of any type of BD player that has to go through this. Constant updates and discs that don't work like this will end up hurting Blu-ray adoption big time. They need to get their act together.

[hardcorefrokid]

I'm in need of some help. I'm trying to update my BDP-S300 firmware to 4.20. Now, I've attempted a few times. I burned the firmware update on Nero 8 and it was successful. I popped it in to the player and to loading -can not play disc. If anyone can help it would be much appreciated.

[JasonR]

You have to burn the disc as an image. You should see it in Nero.

[hardcorefrokid]

Originally Posted by JasonR

You have to burn the disc as an image. You should see it in Nero.

Never mind, I figured it out. Thank you though.

[vin1013]

Originally Posted by Smokin' T

Hate to bring bad news, but there it is. This will be my third update in 8 months of owning the Sony BDP-S300. First it was "3:10 to Yuma" that wouldn't open, then after updating it was "Batman Begins." Now version 3.95 isn't up to the "Iron Man." The industry is cutting its throat with these tech tucks. It will never go mainstream until it is reliable and user-friendly.

Does anyone know if the firmware can be DL'd and burned to disc on a Mac and still be used to update firmware? Otherwise, I'm stuck waiting for Sony and the postman.

ST

Just called Sony Technical Support (I live in Hong Kong) and they confirmed with me that S300 even with the latest firmware 4.2 doesn't support "Iron Man" Blu Ray. Other users had already reported it to Sony. Sucks!!!

[jw]

Originally Posted by mikesoba

This is true. Joe Sixpack is not going to spend Sunday afternoon burning discs with the exact specifications required by Sony and updating his player. I can't imagine that what the publishers are placing on discs is so earth-shattering that we need to go through these frequent updates.

too bad there wasnt a way to include it on the bluray disc like they do with games but with all the different players its impossible. The other aspect is that the new players have a ethernet connection but how many people have a hardwired network in their home? Its great and all if you have a router close by the TV but there are also areas that still dont have broadband and only have dial up(my sister is one of those people)

The whole update process is a PIA because if you sell a disc on ebay etc and it doesnt play, people automatically assume I sold a defective disc. I have successfully explained it several times, providing documents with similar problems to this site and those people corrected the problem without having to return the disc. Others just wanna argue

[vin1013]

I have just tried "Iron Man" Blu Ray on my PS3 and it played like a charm! Weird! S300 can't play the disc but PS3 can? And both S300 and PS3 were made by Sony!!! What the hell?

[X400]

yeah these player updates are really gonna deter the average guy from keeping their blu-ray player



edit: i should probably rephrase... these movies not playing and requriing a player update are really gonna deter the average guy from attaching to blu-ray

[Link]

This concerns me having only bought my BDP-S300 6 months ago - I had no interest in 1.1 or 2.0 - I really just wanted an HD picture and better audio. I was under the impression that my player would continue to be able to play movies - just not access bonus content that required a newer model.

I have no interest in purchasing Iron Man, however, chances are, this could continue with future releases. I hope Sony does something about this otherwise they should probably take the model off the market ASAP because it's being sold without making the customer aware of the problem. I don't recall ever reading anything official saying the player might not be able to play new releases but I do remember reading that about bonus content.

Updating my firmware doesn't bother me in the least - it's easy and not a big deal - but I guess it would be to somebody who doesn't understand why this would be necessary. I even read an online review from somebody saying that they felt their product was "out of date" due to having to upgrade their firmware and just returned the product.

[PCiAM]

Originally Posted by Link

This concerns me having only bought my BDP-S300 6 months ago - I had no interest in 1.1 or 2.0 - I really just wanted an HD picture and better audio. I was under the impression that my player would continue to be able to play movies - just not access bonus content that required a newer model.

I have no interest in purchasing Iron Man, however, chances are, this could continue with future releases. I hope Sony does something about this otherwise they should probably take the model off the market ASAP because it's being sold without making the customer aware of the problem. I don't recall ever reading anything official saying the player might not be able to play new releases but I do remember reading that about bonus content.

Updating my firmware doesn't bother me in the least - it's easy and not a big deal - but I guess it would be to somebody who doesn't understand why this would be necessary. I even read an online review from somebody saying that they felt their product was "out of date" due to having to upgrade their firmware and just returned the product.

I agree. I bought the 301 just 2 months ago because all I wanted was for my movies to play in HD. I didn't really care about PIP commentary or anything like that. I don't mind updating the firmware either but the average non-techy consumer is either a) not going to be aware of this b) not feel like bothering with this.

[JasonR]

Every player needs firmware updates.

[Link]

Originally Posted by PCiAM

I agree. I bought the 301 just 2 months ago because all I wanted was for my movies to play in HD. I didn't really care about PIP commentary or anything like that. I don't mind updating the firmware either but the average non-techy consumer is either a) not going to be aware of this b) not feel like bothering with this.

Well I guess we'll see what happens - if Sony continues to update the S300 so that we can continue to watch new releases, then I think that's great - but if they don't - I certainly will have a lot to say when I contact them and would rethink buying another Sony product if they allowed this to happen.

[TheIgster]

Originally Posted by JasonR

Every player needs firmware updates.

Yes, of course. We have grown accustomed to this being early adopters, but the issue with what many are saying is that adoption will hurt if this sort of thing continues. Maybe the ones to blame are the studios and their releases not being backward compatible with older players?

How many times have you updated your DVD player? I have bought many SD DVD players over the years and never ONCE did I have to update firmware before being able to play a DVD I had bought.