Blu-Ray

I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on my
player. I have been going through Netflix Blu-Ray disks. I didn't keep a
log, but while the first ten or so played fine, I have now gone through
about 5 or 6 that either won't play, or have trouble at some point. I clean
the disks. I did the Sony firmware update.

This morning, the movie "Stargate" went fine for about half an hour, then it
stopped. After a long pause it started playing in fast forward. I could
pause the player, but when I hit "play" it would go back into fast forward.
After about 5 minutes of the movie zipped by, it started playing normally
again.

Last night the movie "Perfect Stranger" played perfectly.

Most of the Netflix Blu-Ray disks are not as scratched and fingerprinted-up
as the regular Netflix DVDs.

I'm very unclear at this point if I have a player problem, if rental disks
have damage that cannot be observed by eyeball, or if the manufacturers of
the disks are making a faulty product. My player still has factory
warrantee, so, if it is the player, I need to act soon.

Are Blu-Ray problems common?

I had heard that the newest disks are sometimes not compatible with a given
player, but the firmware update should have resolved something like that.

Cubit wrote:
I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on my
player. I have been going through Netflix Blu-Ray disks. I didn't keep a
log, but while the first ten or so played fine, I have now gone through
about 5 or 6 that either won't play, or have trouble at some point. I clean
the disks. I did the Sony firmware update.

This morning, the movie "Stargate" went fine for about half an hour, then it
stopped. After a long pause it started playing in fast forward. I could
pause the player, but when I hit "play" it would go back into fast forward.
After about 5 minutes of the movie zipped by, it started playing normally
again.

Last night the movie "Perfect Stranger" played perfectly.

Most of the Netflix Blu-Ray disks are not as scratched and fingerprinted-up
as the regular Netflix DVDs.

I'm very unclear at this point if I have a player problem, if rental disks
have damage that cannot be observed by eyeball, or if the manufacturers of
the disks are making a faulty product. My player still has factory
warrantee, so, if it is the player, I need to act soon.

Are Blu-Ray problems common?

I had heard that the newest disks are sometimes not compatible with a given
player, but the firmware update should have resolved something like that.



My Sony BD player has never had a problem playing any disk, regardless
of it's vintage. A minor nit... yes, some newer BD disks offer enhanced
playback features, and a firmware update may be necessary to fully
utilize these features, but even without the update, all disks were
still playable in the pure sense. I did update mine, and the newer BD
features play fine now.

I don't make a habit of playing rental disks, but my limited history
would indicate that some renters need to understand that using one as a
coaster or a nosh tray is intended to occur *after* they no longer want
the disk to play. I actually had to soak one rental in warm soapy water
for a bit to remove what looked like avocado dip.


--
jer
email reply - I am not a 'ten'

Cubit wrote:

I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on my
player. I have been going through Netflix Blu-Ray disks. I didn't keep a
log, but while the first ten or so played fine, I have now gone through
about 5 or 6 that either won't play, or have trouble at some point. I clean
the disks. I did the Sony firmware update.

This morning, the movie "Stargate" went fine for about half an hour, then it
stopped. After a long pause it started playing in fast forward. I could
pause the player, but when I hit "play" it would go back into fast forward.
After about 5 minutes of the movie zipped by, it started playing normally
again.

Last night the movie "Perfect Stranger" played perfectly.

Most of the Netflix Blu-Ray disks are not as scratched and fingerprinted-up
as the regular Netflix DVDs.

I'm very unclear at this point if I have a player problem, if rental disks
have damage that cannot be observed by eyeball, or if the manufacturers of
the disks are making a faulty product. My player still has factory
warrantee, so, if it is the player, I need to act soon.

Are Blu-Ray problems common?

I had heard that the newest disks are sometimes not compatible with a given
player, but the firmware update should have resolved something like that.





I have a three-month-old SOny BluRay player with all firmware updates.

I, too, am a Netflix subscriber.

I see exactly what you describe in perhaps 1 out of 10 BluRay disks.

It could be a dirty disk, except I can mess with the player and get
through the rough spot. That technique usually didn't work with dirty
conventional DVDs.

Don't try to get Sony to admit to anything, though. They are one giane
WHORE of a company.

The data for DVDs and the now abandoned HD DVDS sit up within the disc
towards the lable edge. There is a sizable protecive layer between the disc
surface and the data. This lets the laser focus through scratches and finger
prints to get at the data. Blu -Ray discs have the data sitting pretty much
at the disc surface. There is a very thin protective layer. This makes the
laser have to focus very close to the playing surface. It's the main reason
I don't like them. This may be the cause of a good amount of your rental
playout problems.

On Thu, 3 Jul 2008 12:44:48 -0700, "Cubit" wrote:

I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on my
player.

I've found alignment problems with disks on computers and TVs way
before Blu-Ray. If they are a little mis-aligned, they can read
some disks, but not others. This was especially a problem when I
burned a DvD or CD one place and read it elsewhere.

"Norm" wrote in message
...
The data for DVDs and the now abandoned HD DVDS sit up within the disc
towards the lable edge. There is a sizable protecive layer between the
disc surface and the data. This lets the laser focus through scratches and
finger prints to get at the data. Blu -Ray discs have the data sitting
pretty much at the disc surface. There is a very thin protective layer.
This makes the laser have to focus very close to the playing surface. It's
the main reason I don't like them. This may be the cause of a good amount
of your rental playout problems.


That makes sense. I read that originally they were going to sell BD disks
in a cartridge, but they decided to sell bare disks.

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...
Cubit wrote:

I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on
my player. I have been going through Netflix Blu-Ray disks. I didn't
keep a log, but while the first ten or so played fine, I have now gone
through about 5 or 6 that either won't play, or have trouble at some
point. I clean the disks. I did the Sony firmware update.

This morning, the movie "Stargate" went fine for about half an hour, then
it stopped. After a long pause it started playing in fast forward. I
could pause the player, but when I hit "play" it would go back into fast
forward. After about 5 minutes of the movie zipped by, it started playing
normally again.

Last night the movie "Perfect Stranger" played perfectly.

Most of the Netflix Blu-Ray disks are not as scratched and
fingerprinted-up as the regular Netflix DVDs.

I'm very unclear at this point if I have a player problem, if rental
disks have damage that cannot be observed by eyeball, or if the
manufacturers of the disks are making a faulty product. My player still
has factory warrantee, so, if it is the player, I need to act soon.

Are Blu-Ray problems common?

I had heard that the newest disks are sometimes not compatible with a
given player, but the firmware update should have resolved something like
that.





I have a three-month-old SOny BluRay player with all firmware updates.

I, too, am a Netflix subscriber.

I see exactly what you describe in perhaps 1 out of 10 BluRay disks.

It could be a dirty disk, except I can mess with the player and get
through the rough spot. That technique usually didn't work with dirty
conventional DVDs.

Don't try to get Sony to admit to anything, though. They are one giane
WHORE of a company.

10 to 1 seems about right. I guess the disks are getting damaged.

On Sat, 5 Jul 2008 17:31:19 -0700 Cubit wrote:
|
| "Norm" wrote in message
| ...
| The data for DVDs and the now abandoned HD DVDS sit up within the disc
| towards the lable edge. There is a sizable protecive layer between the
| disc surface and the data. This lets the laser focus through scratches and
| finger prints to get at the data. Blu -Ray discs have the data sitting
| pretty much at the disc surface. There is a very thin protective layer.
| This makes the laser have to focus very close to the playing surface. It's
| the main reason I don't like them. This may be the cause of a good amount
| of your rental playout problems.
|
|
| That makes sense. I read that originally they were going to sell BD disks
| in a cartridge, but they decided to sell bare disks.

At least they sell flash memory in little cartridges. I'd hate to thing of
all those silicon wafers being bare. Once the cost comes down some more,
these will be much more convenient for subscription tradeback (e.g. Netflix)
type video distribution than some permament optical disc.

SDHC cards can be re-recorded many times with exactly the content to be sent
to you (maybe even with the very same card you sent back). It could work
like this. The card you send back is inserted into a computer (I am sure
they will find a way to automate this). Your customer ID is recorded on it,
and the computer looks up your account and finds the next movie you want to
get. It records that movie onto the card. An envelope is printed up with
your address, and the card is ejected and dropped into the envelope. These
are all then sorted by zip code and bundled for delivery. No more optical
disc stock to go fetch.

SDHC cards are now up to 16GB and maybe larger. The price is still high,
but in just a couple years this might be workable for 16GB as the 32GB and
64GB cards come out. 16GB is fine for most HD movies. You'd just have to
make a deposit for the card or maybe supply your own. Then all we need are
TVs that have an SDHC slot (don't need a whole separate playback device for
this kind of thing).

--
|WARNING: Due to extreme spam, googlegroups.com is blocked. Due to ignorance |
| by the abuse department, bellsouth.net is blocked. If you post to |
| Usenet from these places, find another Usenet provider ASAP. |
| Phil Howard KA9WGN (email for humans: first name in lower case at ipal.net) |

"Cubit" wrote in message
...

"Sam Spade" wrote in message
...
Cubit wrote:

I've been finding that a percentage of Blu-Ray disks don't play right on
my player. I have been going through Netflix Blu-Ray disks. I didn't
keep a log, but while the first ten or so played fine, I have now gone
through about 5 or 6 that either won't play, or have trouble at some
point. I clean the disks. I did the Sony firmware update.

This morning, the movie "Stargate" went fine for about half an hour,
then it stopped. After a long pause it started playing in fast forward.
I could pause the player, but when I hit "play" it would go back into
fast forward. After about 5 minutes of the movie zipped by, it started
playing normally again.

Last night the movie "Perfect Stranger" played perfectly.

Most of the Netflix Blu-Ray disks are not as scratched and
fingerprinted-up as the regular Netflix DVDs.

I'm very unclear at this point if I have a player problem, if rental
disks have damage that cannot be observed by eyeball, or if the
manufacturers of the disks are making a faulty product. My player still
has factory warrantee, so, if it is the player, I need to act soon.

Are Blu-Ray problems common?

I had heard that the newest disks are sometimes not compatible with a
given player, but the firmware update should have resolved something
like that.





I have a three-month-old SOny BluRay player with all firmware updates.

I, too, am a Netflix subscriber.

I see exactly what you describe in perhaps 1 out of 10 BluRay disks.

It could be a dirty disk, except I can mess with the player and get
through the rough spot. That technique usually didn't work with dirty
conventional DVDs.

Don't try to get Sony to admit to anything, though. They are one giane
WHORE of a company.

10 to 1 seems about right. I guess the disks are getting damaged.

Wait 1 darn Minute!!! What was all that B.S. about Disc Coating and how it
was so much better then DVD and HD DVD format. That you can go over it with
sandpaper and it wouldn't scratch it. Yet here we are, 1 in 10 discs you
can't read??? Rental disc shouldn't matter, clean the gunk off of it and it
should be fine. I mean all the Blu-Ran fanboys are saying these things, so
I just don't understand how this can be?? I'd be ****ed if one in 10 discs
I had problems with. That's just not acceptable to me. I don't know, I
guess I have higher standards. I expect far, far better then that.

"Cubit" wrote in message
...

"Norm" wrote in message
...
The data for DVDs and the now abandoned HD DVDS sit up within the disc
towards the lable edge. There is a sizable protecive layer between the
disc surface and the data. This lets the laser focus through scratches
and finger prints to get at the data. Blu -Ray discs have the data
sitting pretty much at the disc surface. There is a very thin protective
layer. This makes the laser have to focus very close to the playing
surface. It's the main reason I don't like them. This may be the cause of
a good amount of your rental playout problems.


That makes sense. I read that originally they were going to sell BD disks
in a cartridge, but they decided to sell bare disks.

The special coating they put on the discs was suppose to protect them and
make it far, far superior to DVD and HD DVD Discs, at least all the Blu-Ray
fanboys said so!!! I always thought that was a load of B.S. Having Disc's
in Cartridges isn't really practical, but the way some people treat discs
makes you wonder sometimes. If you scratch your Blu-Ray even though the
fanboys say you can't, the disc is destroyed, you can't fix it unlike a CD,
DVD,or HD DVD just because of the way Blu-Ray discs are. You toss the disc.
It makes me wonder if this was a part of the Idea when Blu-Ray was created.
Yet another way to get you to buy another copy of the same movie. They have
been doing that with DVD for years now. Release the Movie with not much
extra content, and 6 months to a year later when sales have slowed down,
they release a new version with lots of extra content, and so people once
again buy that new version. For some they then release a Extended movie
version, unrated of course with lots of content and get you a 3rd time for
the same movie. Of course they already got you replacing your VHS
collection to DVD, now they got you with DVD to Blu-Ray, and to top that
off, now they have you with disc's that can get screwed up no matter what
the fanboys say, and instead of fixing it, you just have to replace it with
a new copy. How many copy's of the SAME MOVIE can they get you for? Think
about some you have that you really like and how many times you've already
replaced it!