Sony BDP-S! BD-J Update Available

[GJN]

I received thefollowing e-mail from Sony earlier today:

Dear BDP-S1 owner,

Congratulations on your purchase. We hope that you have been enjoying all the great high-definition Blu-ray Disc™ titles currently available, as well as the great picture quality the BDP-S1 provides for DVD playback.

A firmware upgrade is now available. As you have registered for this and future upgrades, Sony will be sending you an upgrade disc and installation guide (at no charge) approximately within the next three weeks by mail.

If you wish to download the firmware upgrade yourself, you may access it through the link below. By downloading the firmware upgrade at the following location and following the installation guide, you will quickly be able to enhance the performance your BDP-S1. More instructions and requirements will be detailed in the guide, but please make sure that your PC is equipped with a DVD burner and a compatible (blank) DVD DVD-R/RW disc close at hand (other types of recordable DVDs may work, but -R/RW is preferred).

Please click the following link to start the download process. If you’d like to learn more about the upgrade, please continue to read below.

Download upgrade

The firmware upgrade will make your BDP-S1 work better by…

· Improving its BD-Java compatibility to enhance interactivity with some BD-ROMs

· Enhancing playback compatibility with certain BD-ROM format discs

· Correcting the output signal status information for audio output and display when Linear PCM 5.1 channel soundtracks are played back via HDMI

Please carefully read the online installation guide – the steps are very simple but it’s critical that you follow them to ensure that your upgrade goes smoothly.

We are also developing a second firmware upgrade which will allow you to playback BD R/RE discs (these are discs burned by a PC). As soon as we have a firm date for its release we will be notifying you via email at this address and sending out that upgrade disc as well.

Thanks again for choosing Sony and Blu-ray Disc.

Sincerely,

The Sony Blu-ray Disc Team

[glocks out]

Sooner than I expected.

[resevilfan86]

anybody download the fix and experience any problems?

[crazyick]

I downloaded/installed the firmware update yesterday. Sadly, I had already sent the movie descent back to netflix. I did play the movie “the Omen” and it played fine. I will re-order descent from netflix so as to test if the fix did indeed work for me.

One thing about the update that concerned me was that when it ended it left the draw to the player open and the player off. In the instructions it said that once it got to this point that you were not the touch anything since the update was still ongoing. After staring at the player for like 25 minutes (with nothing happening) I decided that it must be done and turned the player back on. Luckily for me, that was the case (the player displaying the “dl ok” on the front of the player), it had completed the update and left the player in that state. It would have been more reassuring if the instructions had pointed that out.

[Legobricke]

Rumors are that the upgrade fix in fact fixed the issues with the Descent....

But only a quick fix....

Some are reporting that even though the disc does now in fact play, it takes up to 4 minutes for it to load.....

Lego

[Murilo]

I updated my player yesterday and it was easy, everything works fine.

I used Nero 7.0 to Burn the DVD-R.

But, Sony says:

A series of different messages will appear on the front panel display. After approximately two to three minutes the disc tray will open.WARNING!! Do not remove the disc from the player and do not close the tray. The update is still in progress. The disc tray will close itself as the update process continues.

When I was updating the tray did not open...

After, I went to see the version of firmware, and it was changed to 1.50.

I have tested many BDs since yesterday and all works fine.

Now I´m waiting the next firmware, to read BD-R and BD-RE

Someone have any idea about when Sony will release the next??

[wkharris]

I updated my the day I got the email. Update worked fine but have not tried anything yet to test it. The update did take longer than the instructions suggested..... to the point that I initially had thought that someting went wrong

[Legobricke]

Well...

Just to confirm on MY player.... The firmware was installed....

and The Descent still has problems....

Long load time (3 - 4 minutes) and although will now player, it doesn't respond well to menu changes on the fly.... If I try to change versions of the film.... PIP version or Unrated version or Rated version, the player breaksdown and goes to black screen...

Then I am dead...

[phil]

Do you mean that THE DESCENT will play fine so long as you do not give it any commands? That is, can you just watch it as a normal movie on the Sony stand-alone player? Can you pause it if you need to take a break?

[Legobricke]

Looks to be so.... as long as you don't make changes on the fly, you should be ok...

Just be ready for a 3 to 4 minute load time.....

Lego

[phil]

Thanks. As I have a Mac, I'm waiting for the disc to arrive to update my player and then watch THE DESCENT.