Per The Digital Bits, Sony will be issuing a new firmware update next week for Bond playback issues on the BDP-S300.

Now we only have another 8 or so players to worry about.

Finally caved in and bought three of the Bond steelbooks.

I'm a little bummed that there are some scratches on the front and back of my Dr. No set :(

I had bought three of the Steelbooks on release day, then went to one of my local Best Buys and did the Magnolia theater demo to get a fourth one for $14.99. Today I went to a different Best Buy to do the Magnolia theater demo again to get another for $14.99. We have two other Best Buys, but they don't have Magnolia Theater rooms, so I got the sixth one at the $24.99 price. I noticed today at one of the Best Buys, the price had gone up to $29.99, but the Best Buy where I did theater demo today still had $24.99 tags up even though it rang up at $29.99.

So I got four at $24.99 and two at $14.99 . . . and I can't play a single one of them. I just figured I better get the steelbooks while they're available, since they probably won't be available for long.

Picked up all six Steelbooks via in store pick up at my local Best Buy today. Paid $24.99 each but they were well worth it. Watching Dr. No now and it looks/sounds great.

I did the same. I'm betting we bought the same three. :)

Has anybody had problems playing the new Blu version of Casino Royale? I couldn't get Dr. No or From Russia to play, so I wanted to know if Casino suffered the same problems before buying...

Works fine apparently. Of course we don't know what Blu-ray player you have...so...

Casino Royale is released by Sony, while the other Bond titles are released by Fox. The authoring issues affecting the Fox releases should not affect a Sony disc.

Got Dr. No today and it would not play on the Sony BDPS-300 with 4.2 firmware. The disc slowly got to the menu and the screen went black while attempting to play the movie. I have the other Connery discs on order, but will not open them until new firmware CD is received. Hopefully, another firmware update can fix this.

Also, the slipcover looked like it had been shaken and not stirred after I attempted to remove the stickers. Needless to say, I tossed the slipcover in the trash.

I mentioned this in at least 3 different threads, but maybe not here. If anyone is still in the market for the Bond BR steelbooks at BB, and you can't score the Magnolia coupon, the $5 pre-order box for the videogame Quantum of Solace contains a $10 coupon on the Bond BRs. So you can at least save $5 on each title.

Have they announced when the rest of the Bond films are going to be released? Kind of odd that they would only release a portion of them... I've been working with Warner Home Video on blu-ray projects lately and I've become totally hooked on the format.

I don't find it odd at all. The market for BD is still developing, and they really can't just put out 20 titles at once like they can for DVDs.

They did this exact same thing when they were first put out on dvd. It was 3 different box-sets of 6 and they were spaced out about 6 months apart in release (IIRC)

this is the response I received from Sharp concerning bond not playing and no firmware update since June

Thank you for contacting Sharp Electronics Corporation.

Unfortunately, the problem lies in the fact that the production companies will sometimes change formats when they record the movies to improve quality etc. Blu-Ray is still a fairly new technology and regretably not yet perfected and the reason that many Blu Ray manufacturers are experiencing issues. This is the reason behind the firmware updates. Sharp is working with production companies and consumers as well to ensure we can resolve issues as they arise. Sharp is aware of the issue with the "boxed" set of James Bond movies and yes we are working on this update to be released soon.

If my memory is right the first box had 7 films, the second had six films, and the third box had five films. The third box also had an extra space for TWINE when it was released.

I still can't wait for the next set of releases. I hope it's March.

You got the second and third boxes reversed.

email your playback issues to BluFocus, who is the quality control for BD.

www.blufocus.com

My Amazon order for one of the Bond 3-paks appears to have been lost, so I got a refund and went to Best Buy and found the 3 movies from Vol. 2 in steelbooks. Got a pricematch to Fry's for $16.99, so I'm a happy camper. 2 of the steelbooks have the 2 disc insert which I was kind of disappointed about at first. But it is so much easier to get the disc out of those than the single disc that I'm actually OK with it.

Watched Dr. No over the weekend and it looked excellent. Scanned FRWL, Thunderball, and FYEO tonight and they all look very good, with the earlier ones particularly excellent.

Did the new Casino Royale BR ever come with the movie ticket? I bought it earlier using the $10 coupon and the online price match but none of it had the movie cash.

I bought the new Casino Royale at Best Buy and it had the sticker with the movie code on the shrinkwrap.

But do they have "street cred?" ;)

Actually, the VERY FIRST releases of Bond on DVD were before the Box sets.

The first Bond box set (Volume 1) was released at the end of 1999, with Volume 2 and 3 initially released in 2000.

The initial 6 Bond DVDs were released in 1998:
Dr. No
From Russia With Love
The Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
Goldfinger
GoldenEye

All 6 were quickly replaced with the "Special Editions" included in the Box sets. So ... a double-dip of the first six just a year later.

The Box sets were slightly updated (different box artwork, possible variation in the movie mix and included TWINE) and re-released AGAIN in 2002/2003 ... but it was still the "Special Editions" from 1999/2000.

Last came the Ultimate Edition Box set releases in 2006/2007.

I should know, I have owned them all (except for the 2002/2003 re-releases) at some point.

It doesn't help most of you with unplayable discs but I am able to fully play Dr. No on my BDP-S300 with the v3.8 Firmware.

I'm glad to see Sony issuing a revised firmware for the BDP-S300 with these errors in mind.

I wish Casino Royale was in the steelbook -- oh well.