Samsung Sued Over Blu-ray Players That Won't Play All Discs

[deacongreg]

I hear you kenny. Waiting for what, I hear you. It should be load and play. And like I said, I`m not picking on Blu-Ray, its just that this problem is more inherent in their players.

Overall, I`m just saying this whole fiasco, and thats what it is, format war, firmware updates, load times, movies that will not play, which stores have inventory of which format, now this suit, it just speaks of what a mess this whole thing has been. There are no real winners here. And, once again, unfortunately, the consumer, who might want to delve into the high end, is left mesmerized. And, that is all I`ve been trying to say for a couple of months now.

Not to mention that in 2009, all things are really going to HD, right? Things need to get cleaned up awfully fast.

[DaViD Boulet]

The need for constant firmware updates will become less and less as the format matures. My PS3 hasn't needed an update to play a disc since Pirates. Of course, I updated it to get the PIP functionality of profile 1.1 because I want to access those features.

The samsung was a poorly designed player from the start. It's even more pathetic, of course, that Samsung refuses to support it and its consumer base. Samsung deserves a financial slap for that.

[deacongreg]

Its funny you mention the PS3, I have maintained all along, when you consider everything, despite its very small short comings, the SONY PS3 is the most reliable Blu-Ray player out there. I don`t what SONY did with those PS3`s, but while others were getting updates, having slow load up times, overall, the PS3 kept chugging along.

However, it does not stop this whole mess that this format war has caused. The aftermath of this, especially for the mainstream consumer, and all those HD DVD owners, is not a sweet one.

[seanthebrit]

I own a Samsung BDP-1200, and have had nothing but problems with disc playback. A firmware update came out Feb.8th, but still the player stops playing movies halfway through! Blockbuster rentals (pukka condition) and new purchases. Payback stopped 20 mins in; the Prestige 1hr and 22mins in, Cars 55 mins in. Even ejecting the disc, power cycling the player, re-inserting and selecting a chapter after that point gives the message 'Disc cannot be played'. Let alone other discs that flat-out won't play (Underdog, the Transporter)

The way I see it, if there's a Blu-Ray logo on any player, then it should play that format. Period.

If manufacturers cannot guarantee this, then the Blu-Ray logo should be removed from their machines. Otherwise isn't it false advertising? I'm spending $30 on a disc (hundreds on the player) to find it's 'incompatible' with my disc player that bears the same logo? I am in full agreement with the lawsuit in principal (should they refund the purchase price for non-functioning technology?), and will never buy Samsung anything again!

Remember the early days of CD and CDR? Both logo's couldn't be used on a player by a manufacturer if it didn't work. What's happened to that idea?

[kennyt]

seanthebrit,

Sounds like you got a bad player, my BDP-1200 has worked well and never acted like this. I won't work with my Sony TV as I get this wicked purple screen (some HDMI issue, it's fixable but you have to go through the set up menus each time you turn it on so it's in the bedroom now) but it's always played discs, including some of the ones you listed.

If you can, you should return it but I suspect you are out of that time frame, call Samsung and tell them you got a bad player and see if they can help.

[JerryDelColliano]

My Early Samsung BR player (the BDP-1 or 1000, I can't remember) was a total POS. Wouldn't play discs. Froze all the time. Wouldn't connect very well using HDMI and ultimately froze up and died.

THANKFULLY the AVAD guy took it back and gave me a Panasonic.

j