Blu-ray/DVD players, don't buy Sony.

I found out our old DVD players don't work on our new flat screen sets because the only video inputs were HDMI, the older DVD players only have RCA jacks and maybe optical outs. So I went to WalMart and bought a nice looking Sony DVD/Blu-ray player with internet wifi also. Get it home and found out the first 4 movies I stuck in would not play, giving a message, you are not authorized to play this movie.

So I looked in the little manual and found an interesting paragraph:

We use Cinavia technology to stop unauthorized movies from playing on this machine. I think it is the same thing used on PS3 playstations also.

It's not like I bought the DVD's from a guy in a trench coat from the back of a van in a dark alley, I got them at Walmart! and Kmart, movies in the 5 dollar bins. None of them would play.

The previews would play fine so I knew there was nothing physically wrong with the unit.

So I took that piece of crap back to Walmart and went to Best Buy and found a Panasonic unit with exactly the same features, internet and all, and 20 bucks cheaper.

Took it home and put in the first movie that refused to play on the Sony and it started right up no problem.

Bottom line: Don't buy Sony DVD/Blu-ray players!

The only problem I've had with Sony players is they won't play region one dvds. (I live in the UK - region 2). However I bought a one for all remote and after keying in a code I was able to play region one's on it.
I don't know whether trying a one for all remote on your machine might help you get round the problem. Personally I think it's worth it because of the quality of sony gear.

Originally posted by neilarini
The only problem I've had with Sony players is they won't play region one dvds. (I live in the UK - region 2). However I bought a one for all remote and after keying in a code I was able to play region one's on it.
I don't know whether trying a one for all remote on your machine might help you get round the problem. Personally I think it's worth it because of the quality of sony gear.

I know Sony makes good gear. The encryption routine is what I dislike, has nothing to do with regions. This is a proprietary scheme to prevent people from buying cheap 5 dollar DVD's like I did, they want you to pay 30 dollars or more for a DVD or Blu-ray, THAT they will let you play. Which pretty much sucks. The Panasonic is a great player too, even has the same shape case.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I know Sony makes good gear. The encryption routine is what I dislike, has nothing to do with regions. This is a proprietary scheme to prevent people from buying cheap 5 dollar DVD's like I did, they want you to pay 30 dollars or more for a DVD or Blu-ray, THAT they will let you play. Which pretty much sucks. The Panasonic is a great player too, even has the same shape case.

I have a budget Sony Blu-Ray player and so far it's played everything I've thrown at it, including recorded TV content burnt to disc. It's the stand-out best budget BluRay player according to all the websites I looked at. It's got a nice YouTube app and an app for my online film streaming subscription service. Only minor reservation is the fiddly remote control text entry, which was in fairness bettered by the faulty Panasonic I originally bought.

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
I have a budget Sony Blu-Ray player and so far it's played everything I've thrown at it, including recorded TV content burnt to disc. It's the stand-out best budget BluRay player according to all the websites I looked at. It's got a nice YouTube app and an app for my online film streaming subscription service. Only minor reservation is the fiddly rem ...[text shortened]... trol text entry, which was in fairness bettered by the faulty Panasonic I originally bought.

So I guess it boils down to the specific model. Obviously your Sony does not use Cinavia encryption. It would be nice if they said that on the box somewhere. It was buried inside the manual.

Originally posted by sonhouse
So I guess it boils down to the specific model. Obviously your Sony does not use Cinavia encryption. It would be nice if they said that on the box somewhere. It was buried inside the manual.

Apparently it's been a requirement in all new commercial Blu-Ray players since June 2009 or shortly after. Not sure when mine was released but I think it was around that year. Having skimmed a couple of webpages I'm not sure if it would pick up my TV recordings on DVD-R or not. With all this sort of thing people produce software that can get around the DRM, although I guess it might not be legal to use it (although I'm no lawyer).

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
Apparently it's been a requirement in all new commercial Blu-Ray players since June 2009 or shortly after. Not sure when mine was released but I think it was around that year. Having skimmed a couple of webpages I'm not sure if it would pick up my TV recordings on DVD-R or not. With all this sort of thing people produce software that can get around the DRM, although I guess it might not be legal to use it (although I'm no lawyer).

By requirement do you mean legislation passed by congress?

My new Panasonic unit looks exactly like the Sony I took back, same sloping front and everything. The case looks identical.

Originally posted by sonhouse
By requirement do you mean legislation passed by congress?

My new Panasonic unit looks exactly like the Sony I took back, same sloping front and everything. The case looks identical.

I would imagine there's some legislation or regulation behind it. I guess it might be an agreement between manufacturers, on the other hand. The articles used the word "requirement" but didn't go into specifics.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I found out our old DVD players don't work on our new flat screen sets because the only video inputs were HDMI, the older DVD players only have RCA jacks and maybe optical outs. So I went to WalMart and bought a nice looking Sony DVD/Blu-ray player with internet wifi also. Get it home and found out the first 4 movies I stuck in would not play, giving a mess ...[text shortened]... Sony and it started right up no problem.

Bottom line: Don't buy Sony DVD/Blu-ray players!

The first blu-ray player I ever got was a Sony around 2007. It lasted 10 months, and then the miserable little yak turd just died. Wouldn't turn on. Even while it lived, though, it was unbelievably slow. It took several minutes for it to "boot up" and frequently crashed. Then I got a Samsung player in 2009, and so far so good...

Originally posted by Soothfast
The first blu-ray player I ever got was a Sony around 2007. It lasted 10 months, and then the miserable little yak turd just died. Wouldn't turn on. Even while it lived, though, it was unbelievably slow. It took several minutes for it to "boot up" and frequently crashed. Then I got a Samsung player in 2009, and so far so good...

I wonder if it had anything to do with the encryption routine, like looking at the lines over and over till it made up its mind the DVD was safe to play and would not spook the boogie man about an illegal copy?

Sony makes some really good stuff, no doubt but they are in a lot of trouble financially and I wonder if this involvement in this anti copy scheme is part of it.

For instance, one of the best short wave portable radios EVER made was the Sony 2010. I had one which was an incredible radio (till I dropped it about 10 feet to a solid wooden floor!) That cracked the main circuit board in two and needless to say that was it for that radio! I bid on another one on EBAY the other day but they went a bit higher than my money thought it should be. I got another pretty nice radio from Tecsum a 660 model, under 120 bucks and it works pretty nice for that price but not even CLOSE to the 2010. Its a lot smaller though.

Maybe Sony quality has gone down the tubes in general after that though. I know I would never buy another Sony DVD/Blu ray player after my sour experience with the one I briefly had. I mean, 4 movies in a row, all going 'you are not authorized to play this movie'. What a pile of crap! I NEVER pay 30 or 40 bucks for a frigging movie so I get the 5 dollar specials at Kmart or Walmart and they won't play? No thanks Sony, you can keep your precious encryption and shove it up your asss.

BTW, as an aside, speaking of 5 dollar movies, my wife and I like westerns so a couple days ago I found one TEN movies for 5 bucks in one package. I don't know how in the hell they get ten movies on one or two DVD's but there you go. Then I looked further and there are a bunch like that now, action movies, shoot em ups and so forth, 8 or ten in a pack for 5 bucks.

I know a DVD is max about 4.7 gigs so that means one movie has to get laid down in less than a half gig of space. Is that possible for an hour and half, two hour movie? Is there some kind of compression going on that the DVD players already know about, like some kind of routine that figures out what level of compression is going on or can you actually put a full length movie in a half gig?

Originally posted by sonhouse
I wonder if it had anything to do with the encryption routine, like looking at the lines over and over till it made up its mind the DVD was safe to play and would not spook the boogie man about an illegal copy?

Sony makes some really good stuff, no doubt but they are in a lot of trouble financially and I wonder if this involvement in this anti copy schem level of compression is going on or can you actually put a full length movie in a half gig?

A single-sided, single later DVD has a capacity of 4.7GB. Double-sided double layer DVDs have a 17GB capacity. There is a slight pause when switching between layers, and to switch sides you have to physically turn the disc over.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I wonder if it had anything to do with the encryption routine, like looking at the lines over and over till it made up its mind the DVD was safe to play and would not spook the boogie man about an illegal copy?

As I said, the crappy Sony Blu-ray player I had took forever to boot up. Usually it was making a kind of repeated skipping noise during the process, like a broken record. I'd begin to think it would go on forever when suddenly the disc would start to play. My current Samsung will do that too, sometimes, on pristine discs with no surface imperfections, but only for maybe 5 or 10 seconds. I get the sense that the Blu-ray format is just buggy as hell and highly unstable. I hardly buy Blu-ray discs anymore -- just two a year, maybe, but it has to be a flick I really, really want. Streaming video is the wave of the future.

Originally posted by Soothfast
As I said, the crappy Sony Blu-ray player I had took forever to boot up. Usually it was making a kind of repeated skipping noise during the process, like a broken record. I'd begin to think it would go on forever when suddenly the disc would start to play. My current Samsung will do that too, sometimes, on pristine discs with no surface imperfections, b ...[text shortened]... ybe, but it has to be a flick I really, really want. Streaming video is the wave of the future.

Yes, I agree, streaming video is not the future however, it is already here. My wife pays Amazon about 75 bucks a year for the rights to watch just about any video in the system. She has a Kindle HD and watches a bunch of Irish and UK tv productions. I am not that much into TV to worry about it much. My wife will be watching an Irish production on the Kindle, doing a word game on another and watching the flat screen at the same time. But she has reason for that, having significant health issues that keeps her in bed a lot. She also goes to hospital about 6 times a year and we use a laptop there as well as her Kindles. How much space does a Blu Ray disc hold? I am seeing these movies in the cheapo bin where there are 10 movies, I imagine at least 2 DVD's though. No trouble playing them on my Panasonic though.

Originally posted by sonhouse
How much space does a Blu Ray disc hold?

From Wikipedia:

Conventional (pre-BD-XL) Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer drives.

I don't think the Blu Ray format supports double-sided discs.

In my opinion, the main advantages over streaming video are that Blu Ray discs usually come with extras on the disc like several different audio tracks, subtitles, making-of documentaries and the like, and Blu-Ray Live content, and secondly that you get something you and your family/guests can hold and read (this, of course, can also be seen as a disadvantage, depending on preference and circumstances).

Streaming video is excellent if you have an 'unlimited' broadband contract with fast download speeds (fibre optic is ideal), but I'd be surprised, albeit pleasantly, if streaming video (even in HD), is equal to the quality of a feature film on a Blu Ray disc. So to some extent perhaps it is "the future" rather than the present, but it does have massive potential and is already more than satisfactory for most people.

Blu Ray is also used as a data archival/backup media, for which it is pretty well-suited due to the high capacity and relatively small size of the discs. Maybe this function will outlast the feature film and TV series releases.

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
From Wikipedia:

Conventional (pre-BD-XL) Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs (50 GB) being the industry standard for feature-length video discs. Triple layer discs (100 GB) and quadruple layers (128 GB) are available for BD-XL re-writer drives.

I don't think the Blu Ray format supports double-sided discs.

In my opini ...[text shortened]... all size of the discs. Maybe this function will outlast the feature film and TV series releases.

What you say is true but there is one weakness of blu ray: Used as archives, it pretty much sucks because after a few years it starts to deteriorate from the outside of the tracks where the plastic shells meet, the outer layers then closer in succumb to weathering via humidity and pollutants in the atmosphere.

Not sure how you can overcome that problem, If it were stored in a nitrogen filled container maybe that would help but not many digital formats have long term survival potential. Gold embossed digital formats maybe but you are still left with the problem that if you have stuff digitized, a hundred years later, even if the media is in good shape, the technology will have changed so drastically that the media cannot be read because there are no primitive machines, primitive from the POV of 100 years ahead in time, available to read such archives.

So the problem becomes two fold: long lived media and long lived technology to access it.

If you have books written on literal stone, a thousand years on you don't need an unavailable technology to read it.