New Sony DVDs Not Working In Some Players [whyI don't buy Sony]

Slashdot ^ | 4/16/2007 | kdawson

[sionnsar]

An anonymous reader writes

"It seems that the most recent DVDs released by Sony — specifically Stranger Than Fiction, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness — have some kind of 'feature' that makes them unplayable on many DVD players. This doesn't appear to be covered by the major media yet, but this link to a discussion over at Amazon gives a flavor of the problems people are experiencing. A blogger called Sony and was told the problem is with the new copy protection scheme, and they do not intend to fix it. Sony says it's up to the manufacturers to update their hardware."

[sionnsar]

Sony strikes again. From the blog (of the same name!):

Sony Pictures DVD’s have a new a copy protection that makes the movies unplayable on some Sony (& other makes) DVD players! Posted March 19th, 2007 by Mick B
Categories: Uncategorized

YES ! It appears that Sony have done it again.  In their zeal to make their DVD movies copyproof (yeah right) they have in fact made their latest releases unplayable on some DVD players, including my Sony DVP-CX995V DVD player. I recently rented “Stranger than Fiction” (2 copies) and “The Holiday” ( please no comments on my choice of movies) both by Sony Pictures.  Both load up to the splash title screen and then load no further,  then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!  

ALL my other DVD’s and new releases from other movie companies play perfectly

I called Sony Electronics help line and they said to call Sony Pictures 1-800-860-2878 which I did.

The following is a compression of our discussion:

Sony Tech: We know about this problem.  Its our new copy protection that’s making these discs unplayable in some players including our own,  we do not intend to change the copy protection.  The only correction to this problem is a firmware update to your player.  The electronics division know about this and should have given you this information.

Me: OK send me the firmware update.

Sony Tech: We do not have one as yet.

Me: OK (a bit frustrated) when will it be available?

Sony Tech: It could be 2 weeks it could be a month, we don’t know.

He then took my phone number and  said ”they” would let me know when the firmware update is available, but declined to take my address saying that they would get that when the update was available. 

I will say that I got a live person on both support lines within 30 secs.

 Here are my questions to Sony:

After spending $350 on a Sony DVD player 3 months ago am I now supposed to avoid Sony Pictures products?

You are still advertising the Sony DVP-CX995V prominently on the Sony USA website but I notice there is no disclaimer that it may not play some new Sony Pictures DVD’s.

Would it not be a good idea to test changes you intend to make on your DVD’s at least on your own equipment so that if you find a problem you could have the firmware update available instead of not only inconveniencing, but alienating your own customers.

I believe this problem is happening on other manufacturers devices, are they working feverishly on firmware updates to accommodate you?

 Well thats my rant (yeah I feel a bit better now)

[Covenantor]

After the rootkit debacle, ALL Sony products have been declared PNG in this household.

[sionnsar]

It’s already cost them a few hundred in a camera purchase here, not that they’d notice it.

[ken5050]

What’s the over/under on how many hours before a class action lawsuit is filed?

[Covenantor]

Much I as I like the Sony DSLR specs, it’s a no go. Besides I very happy with the Olympus E-Volt 500.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

My wife and I rented Casino Royale, and it played just fine on our four year old Toshiba DVD player. However, Sony’s attitude, as well as its latest DRM fiasco, is just further reason why I will never by another of that company’s products. It deserves all the angry criticism that it has been reaping lately.

[Sans-Culotte]

On the Home Theatre Forum, this has been discussed since Casino Royale was released. However, NOBODY who reported the problem had a Sony player. The most common players that had a problem were Toshiba and JVC, though some owners of those players did not have a problem. Some Toshiba owners even got a firmware update and it still would not play.

The one player that seemed to do best was SONY. I think the article was being a bit overly glib by describing the problem with the SONY player. Sony discs are the problem, not their players. I have a Sony player that plays it fine.

[william clark]

I’ve not had problems with Sony discs in any of my DVD players. I have, however, had fairly frequent problems with Universal discs pixilating, freezing, or, in the case of their Abbott & Costello collections, locking up when going from the menu screen to playing the movie. My original Apollo 13 disc wasn’t even recognized as a DVD by my primary player, though I haven’t had a problem with the newer edition.

[steve-b]

You are still advertising the Sony DVP-CX995V prominently on the Sony USA website but I notice there is no disclaimer that it may not play some new Sony Pictures DVDs.

This is a clear violation of what legal eagles call the Doctrine of Implied Suitability (e.g. if product fails to perform the functions that would normally be expected from that product when used as intended, the product is considered defective).

[dighton]

Akio Morita is spinning in his grave.

Me: OK send me the firmware update.

Sony Tech: We do not have one as yet.

[bobsatwork]

I have a Sony player that plays it fine.... I have a 3 year old Pioneer DVD player - no problems with Casino Royale.

[jiggyboy]

After the rootkit debacle, ALL Sony products have been declared PNG in this household.

"PNG"? "Product Non-Grata?" "Probably No Good"?

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

"Sony DSLR specs" ? Sony is not a real camera company, they are in the business of making electronics, not cameras. They purchased Minolta's SLR division and are now trying to pass themselves off as legitimate dlsr manufacturers, but they are not. The Alpha 1, manufactured before their purchase only looks like a camera but in reality is one of the worst designed ever, even though it takes ok pictures.

Real cameras are made by Canon and Nikon, and even Olympus.

[Sans-Culotte]

Universal Discs seem to have lead the way in defects and “DVD rot”. Several of their discs have the “Wiped clean” problem (I’ve had 2). However, there does appear to be some sort of copy-protection BS going on with Sony discs.

[jackieaxe]

SCADs don’t work in my Sony machine that are suppose to. Also, once I bought a digital recorder for $300 to record my Celtic Circle (me & friends all public domain) and I could not digitally transfer the music to my computer and had to do in analog, in other words, second for second with a loss of quality. The box didn’t tell me this, I found out on page 38 of the owners manual as a footnote. I couldn’t take it back because stupid me, I used the quick start guide and opened too much stuff. I refuse to ever buy another Sony product again. I just upgraded my computer and TV and am looking for another TV. No Sony products. Never again. From the penthouse to the outhouse.

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

If you own a legitimate copy of the DVD you can always remove the encryption and make a backup copy for yourself. That's legal. DVDFab (free trial version available) will not only remove the encryption, it will also compress it so you can burn it to a regular DVD-R

[stuartcr]

Using DVD-43 and 1-Click DVD Copy, I heard from someone that it was copied with no problem...

[HarmlessLovableFuzzball]

Well recorded SACDs are great, but they will ONLY play in players that are capable of playing SACDs. Also most SACD players will only output 5.1 Analog because Sony is paranoid about copy protection.

My personal preference is for DVD-Audio, not because its made by manufacturers other than SONY, a company I despise, but DVD-Audio actually sounds better. Sony has been campaigning hard to push DVD-A out of the market(Sony's direct competing format headed by Matsushita) with all kinds of bogus numbers, but DVD-A has a much higher dynamic and frequency range than SACD.

[Covenantor]

First one. ;>)

[sionnsar]

Also, once I bought a digital recorder for $300 to record my Celtic Circle

This happened to my minister too. You might look into AnalogHole as a solution; not perfect, but it may be better than what you've been doing.