Mr. Bean HD/Combo problem (not usual one). Anyone else??
 

Actually 2 problems. The strangest is that the subtitles (not foreign language or SDH, but non-removable ones for the French parts) are missing at one spot of the screen. If it's only a word or 2, I can see it fine. If the sentence is longer, part of it is missing on the left side. But it's like it's blocked at that spot. The words all the way to the left are there & the words to the right of the spot. And if a letter is on the spot, it only shows a protion of the letter. I've tried turning the subtitles on & off & restarted the player a few times & it still happens. The picture under that spot is fine & not weird at all. So if they're burned-in, they must be missing, because a glitch couldn't reproduce the part that would be obscured by the letters.
Anyone else have this on HD? Also, if you pause it more thatn a minute, it gives an error code (304bc877 or something that looks like that), and when you hit play it reloads & starts the disc again. It also gave me the error right after the movie's credits finished, or very shortly after. Boy, do I LOVE combos. I can't wait until they try to use a triple-layer disc. I'm sure there won't be any problems with those.

My copy would not load at all. Had to watch the SD side.

Nice. I forgot to mention that my firmware is up-to-date as of last week, but I don't think a firmware issue would cause this problem. why do they keep making these combo discs?

Rented it from Netflix. Played fine on A1 with 2.4 firmware.

Damn - I thought Universal might have had their combo problems behind them.

Luckily my fiancee loved this so much she shelled out for the import. Yet another combo dodged.

Sorry you guys are having problems.

I may rent this just to see what happens on my machines.

I had a strange experience with this disc. Bought it from Wal-Mart on Nov. 27th, played most of the movie with no problems (HD-A3 - more specifically the HD-D3 from Costco, no firmware upgrade at the time of that viewing). Didn't notice any subtitle problems, but certainly could have missed some since we'd seen it theatrically and I probably didn't pay really close attention to the subs this time around. A few days later while trying to watch the final third of the movie, it begins to stutter when Bean is walking toward the beach and then it stops playing - "Not a DVD Disc" error. First combo I've had problems with, so I take it back to Wal-Mart to get another copy and they tell me that I should not have been able to purchase that title because they've removed it from their shelves until its "new release date" of Jan. 8th. I ask if there's been a recall or something, and they say they have no other information and refund my money, giving me back the full price of $29.96 instead of the sale price I paid - $24.96. I'll think I'll be using that profit to get the non-combo import disc from Xploited.

Is this requirement for the most up-to-date firmware for the HD-DVD player only applicable for HD-DVD combo discs, or HD-DVD discs in general?

It depends on what the firmware update does. There were a few updates that specifically dealt with combo discs but the most recent ones have dealt with network connectivity.

Thanks for the info. I'm new to HD-DVD myself. So just to be clear, the HD-DVD combo format is just a disc with HD-DVD on one side and SD-DVD on the other, correct? I plan to stay away from such discs myself, due to their high tendency to get smudged/scratched and the lower tolerance of HD-DVD players for smudged/scratched discs.

I don't understand the complaints against combo discs -- granted, I've experienced no problems on any of the HD DVD combos I own. But is it really that difficult to avoid scratches/smudges when transferring a disc from case to player, other than not being able to place it artwork down on a surface? I still think these are a plus to people who are thinking of entering the hi-def market, or those who only have one HD DVD player.

I like the concept of combos, having the SD-DVD side for playing in portable players, etc. But considering I'm having approx 50% severe failure rate with Universal Combo-discs, I'm to the point of avoiding them now (passing on Bourne Ultimatum for now).

My pleasure!

I actually love the idea of a combo disc. What I don't love is the fact that it's a flipper. IMO the ideal way to do it would be the TWIN disc with the HD DVD & DVD layer on the same side. The Freedom discs are TWINs but are limited to only 15GB on the HD DVD side.

I haven't had one problem on any of the 40+ (an estimation) combo discs I own.