I just bought District 9 online on blu-ray and whist the sound plays like normal when the blu-ray menu comes up, the actual film gives me no sound which is strange. It's not my player because other DVDs and blu-rays run flawlessly so does this mean the blu-ray disc (which I believe was brand new when I bought it from the seller) is a faulty copy? Is there a way I can fix this? or would I need to get a new copy because this ones a fault?

Eh...cuz I'm one w/ no patience..I'd exchange it online somehow. If it's Amazon..you'll get the new one friday...

Before you return it, go to the menu, click "settings" and scan through all the sound settings. Make sure it's on English DTS HD, click it just to confirm that it is in fact on the correct setting. If that doesn't work, take the disc out of the player, then put it back in, maybe it just had trouble loading in the first time around. If that fails then you should find out how you can return it to the online store you purchased it from. Good luck.

I'm having the same problem with my Battleship Potemkin Blu-ray....

I must clarify I don't have a sound set-up, but anyway I tried again and tweaked the audio settings, still nothing. I tried other blu-rays and they run fine. This disc must be faulty because I'm having no problems with other dvds and blu-rays.

District 9 has a DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. Do you have any other discs with that format, and do they work properly?

How is your player connected for audio?

If he doesn't have a sound setup, I'm guessing it's going straight to the TV and neither his TV or player has a DTS decoder built in.

Unless of course, the disc is just bad.

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet, is to change the player settings. You're probably ouputing the audio via bitstream. Change that so you are outputting lpcm... that let's the player do the decoding for you.

Blu-ray discs are not required to provide an English Dolby Digital audio track. And most recent releases are now using DTS-HD MA encoding for the flick (while the Menus could be in Dolby Digital and/or PCM.) So you need an A/V receiver that at least provides DTS decoding. If this is not available on your receiver then you should go to the Audio SETUP for your Blu-ray player and instruct it to convert DTS-HD MA bitstream to surround-encoded PCM. Blu-ray discs utilizing Dolby Digital encodes can still use bitstream.

In all probability the Blu-ray discs you played up to this point were encoded with Dolby TrueHD, high bitrate Dolby Digital 5.1, or lossless PCM. But almost all the Blu-rays released in the last 8 months use DTS-HD MA.

This sucks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've tried changing the output audio settings on my player from bitstream HD to PCM 5.1, PCM 7.1 and PCM Stereo and neither of them work!!!!! Same bull crap. Along with this I even change the audio option on the actual Distinct 9 blu-ray menu from DTS-HD to the other option and still nothing. I don't have the money for a freakin' reciever let alone a home theater system. This is shit all my other blu-rays play and sound fine!!! Any other suggestion because according to you guys its not the disc which i thought was faulty its that I don't have the proper audio equipment.

My 32" HD TV has a built-in Audio Amplifier, well that's what it says on the sticker located on the side of the screen.



List of blu-rays that work

Rambo First Blood II
Blade Runner
Raging Bull (a recent release)
Wall E
A Clockwork Orange
Hulk (2003)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I'm sure the films in which I listed above in my post previous to the one I'm writing now included DTS-HD audio options for those who had the actual equipment and they work fine with just normal sound through the HD-TVs normal speakers. I'm using a HDMI connection which is a single cord that delivers both picture and sound.

Edit: I put in Rambo First Blood II, and obviously the sound works just like every other blu-ray expect district 9. Anyway I clicked on the audio button and it was set on DTS-HD Master Audio and it was playing. Distirct 9 is set on DTS-HD Master Audio as well, and even after tweaking with the sound menu on the district 9 blu-ray disc menu as well as with the audio menu on the blu-ray player (I've tried all your suggestions) and it still doesn't work.

Three questions:

Where did you buy the disc? Are you sure it's not a bootleg?

What are the brands and model numbers of your TV and Blu-ray player?

How is your player connected to your TV?

1. I bought the movie off a seller on http://www.oztion.com.au/ It was brand new and the menus come up ok and sounded fine and everything. So it looks real enough. It's just when I play the actual film the picture comes up with NO SOUND AT ALL.

2. Soniq QSL322T 32" HD LCD TV - QPB301B Soniq Blu-Ray Player. There both cheap but quality products and I have had no problem with them in till now with this District 9 Blu-Ray of course,

3. The Blu-Ray Player is linked to the HD-TV via a HDMI connection

If other discs with DTS-HD Master Audio work, there are three possibilities:

1) The District 9 disc is defective. Exchanging it for another copy should fix this.
2) You were sold a bootleg disc that looks like the real thing. You will have to take this up with the seller.
3) Your Blu-ray player has a firmware problem that is causing compatibility issues with this particular movie. You should check with the manufacturer to see if they have any recent firmware updates available. If not, you should report the problem to them and see if they respond.

Unfortunately, #3 is a very strong possibility at this point. And if this is a budget brand model, the company may or may not be responsive to you.

Do you have any friends with Blu-ray players who can test the disc on their machines?

I had a similar problem with my Momitsu. I had to change hte player settings for audio output to "Bitstream Legacy" in order to get audio because my receiver does not decode DTS HD MA. It was on Bitstream Mixed. That solved my problem. Give it a shot.

How many times do I have to say it: I don't have a receiver or any audio equipment!

but thanks josh. I emailed Soniq and asked if there was a firmware update I missed out on. Hopefully its just a faulty disc so I can get a replacement.

I remember you...don't you live in a different country (Australia?)? Is it possible you bought a BD from a different Region and while the Menu loads, it just might not be compatible?

I doubt it Gizmo. I bought the blu-ray from an Australian online auction site, and the front cover clearly has the Australian rating classification, and although it doesn't say REGION B on there, it does say Sony Home Picture, Australia. So I doubt its a different region disc.

Edit: Actually the disc print reads: ALL REGIONS.

Well you bought it from an auction site... wuh-oh.

But, i'm with Josh on this one. It's probably a firmware issue. There are certain discs that some peopel can't play because the current firmware on their machines just aren't compatable enough. District 9 gave some people issues with the text placement throughout the movie for example, in which firmware updates fixed that issue. I am not familiar with the quality of Soniq products though, and if they actually care enough to continue frequent firmware updates or not. Good luck in contacting them though. Just browsing another forum or two though, it seems that it may be possible that you have had to use a code to make your player play region free discs? If this is the case, there have been reports that the code hadn't been working properly. Somebody wrote this:

"I picked up one of these units on the weekend and overall I'm impressed for $96.

The Blu-Ray and DVD playback seems flawless. It only supports Region B Blu-Ray and Region 4 DVD. I was hoping to be able to make it Multi-region for DVD but I just spoke to Soniq technical support and they don't have a code to unlock the DVD region and the codes that worked on the Allure player don't work."

Soniq themselves states:

"QPB301B only supports DVD from region 4 and BD from region B. It doesn't support DVD or BD from other regions."

Try this though:

"The 8520 code thing works for me. The guy on the tech support line asked if i wanted it, even though i was asking something totally different lol

open tray
press setup button
press 8520
select region 0
press setup button to exit

easy as"

This makes me suspicious that it's a bootleg, but I could be wrong.

I really hope its not a firmware issue because I'm not sure if Soniq keep updating there players.

And has anyone else had or know somebody that has had a similar problem to me? as in the disc plays the menu ok but gets the picture with NO SOUND for the actual film?

Also I'm thinking about renting a separate copy of District 9 tomorrow and see if I get the same issue. If I do, then its a firmware problem, if I don't the copy I bought was in fact a bootleg/faulty copy.

BTW - The blu-ray player isn't wireless for internet so I'll have to download via USB or CD. Can you use just any USB to download the firmware update onto the player?

Take it to your friends house with a player or your nearest electronics store to test it out for you.

I should add: In addition to the fact that I don't think Sony markets its discs as being multi-region capable, even though they often are, what makes me really suspicious about this is that Blu-rays don't have regions, they have zones. I would think the main company behind the format would get that right.

It's not a faulty disc :Z

I rented another copy of D9 on blu-ray, and it does the same thing, NO SOUND. Any advice? is there a firmware upgrade I need to download for this Soniq Blu-Ray Player? or any other solution?