zombeaner

Hmm. I just updated my firmware to play Astroboy. I have to go check my RB discs when I get home.

zombeaner

Okay, I can confirm that the newest firmware update for the 799 REMOVES the region switching ability. I just tried to play The Good The Bad and The Weird and it gave me an incompatibility message. Now, if anyone can point me to the previous firmware, I'd be very grateful. I'll be sending an angry message to Momitsu since they are the ones who sent me the instructions about region switching abilities.

ARGH!!!!!

zombeaner

Okay, I have gone from angry to FURIOUS. I just tried playing one R2 NTSC and one R2 PAL disc and BOTH gave error messages. Not only is the BD region switching disabled, but now DVD region free is impossible. I am PISSED. PLEASE if anyone has the previous firmware saved for the BDP-799 let me know! I am not going to let this be a $225 paper weight.

van der graaf

Try posting the request on another site that focuses a little more on blu-ray. I know you can put the old(er) firmware on because others have reported doing it. I am sure someone will hook you up, you just have to ask in the right place.

CritterYawn

Sounds like one more excuse for me not to go BD.

toddly6666

ATTENTION BLU-RAY REVIEWERS at DVDTALK:

Is there a way to warn people in their blu-ray reviews about certain new Blu-rays that require firmware upgrading? For example, as someone mentioned the Astro Boy blu-ray, could there have been a way to let people know that this blu-ray needs a firmware update when you try to play it? Does it depend on the Blu-ray or the particular blu-ray player that requires the firmware update? Is everyone going to have to update their firmware to play the Astro Boy Blu-ray?

If I would know such information, I would just buy the DVD.

Jay G.

If you get a BD player with a hardware mod, you can keep multi-region capabilities even when upgrading firmware.

Jay G.

It depends on both. It depends on what level of AACS security key the disc requires, and what security keys the player firmware has. If the player has a key that works with the disc, then the player doesn't need an update to work with that disc.

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?t=122363
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AACS_en...ey_controversy
http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=19861

No, see above.

Also, even if a certain player may have originally needed an upgrade to play Astro Boy, not everyone who plays the disc in that player will be prompted for an update. For example, they could've already updated the player to play a different disc, or the manufacturer may ship later models with updated firmware already installed.

So reviewers indicating whether their particular player required an update for a certain disc is only going to give incomplete data about their particular player.

The Lizard King

zombeaner is mistaken about needing a firmware update for the BDP-799. I played Astro Boy just fine with mine using the 11/18/2009 firmware.

TLK

Jay G.

And this is where the differences between two players of the same model comes into play. It's possible that zombeaner was previously still using a firmware older than the 11/18/2009 firmware when he first tried to play the Astro Boy disc. So he was prompted to update his firmware, while The Lizard King wasn't.

This perfectly illustrates why including "firmware update notification" info in reviews is next to useless.

Note that as newer discs come out, there will eventually be a disc that won't play with the keys included in the 11/28/2009 firmware.

zombeaner

The two new Summit releases are being very finicky in both my Insignia and my Momitsu. They play the audio only occasionally. Very weird. I'm sure I'll run into a more concrete problem someday. So, it turns out it was the firmware necessarily, however, it did seem to fix the problem at first.

The Lizard King

Were you able to revert to the old firmware on your own? I offered to send you the old 11/18/2009 firmware via e-mail on the other site, but you never responded.

TLK

The Lizard King

Gawd, I hope that's a long way into the future!

TLK

zombeaner

Yeah, I was, I posted my woes all over the place and someone provided it to me on Saturday afternoon. I am back in business. Thanks for the offer, though!

CritterYawn

Interesting idea. Still complicates the picture and I am not sure I want to spend too much time in researching it right now.
I'll stick to the $50 BD-ROM drive I got on Black Friday from Newegg. Obviously high-def is too much for an external drive to handle through USB2, so am now slowly building a HTPC, where AnyDVD immediately solves the region problem.

nitin77

critteryawn,

I recently got a Panasonic bd-80 with installed hardware mod. Works like a charm so far.

CritterYawn

I took a quick look online, and it seems a relatively doable procedure. I'm already waiting for a hardware mod to do the HDMI jailbreak.
Just wondering, is there any chance that a later firmware update will brick the modded player or will remove some of its functionalities, a la iPhone?

nitin77

I suggest getting it already modded unless you are comfortable with sodlering, there are ebay sellers that sell pre-modded players.

From what i understand, firmware updates should not effect it. The hardware mod simply allows the region to be changed manually, it doesnt automatically make the player region free but allows changing of regions prior to powering up.

So yes its a bit annoying to change the region if the disc you want to see is a different region to the last disc you saw but its a few seconds and that big a deal.

The Lizard King

I'm having trouble playing the Japanese release of Casino Royale on my Momitsu BDP-799. I bought it from amazon.co.jp, because it's supposedly the unedited version of the film. I don't know if it's a firmware problem, or what. It takes longer than usual for the loader to recognize that it's a BD. Then, once it does recognize that it's a BD, it goes into "play" mode, but the screen stays dark in perpetuity and the time counter never goes up past 00 min 00 sec.

I'm going to take it to my local Best Buy to see if any of their machines will play it. That should give me a clue to see if it's a firmware issue, or not.

Any other suggestions?

TLK

toddly6666

Don't spend more than 20 bucks on import Blu-rays! I'm following that rule so that I don't disappoint myself. There are a bunch of import Blu-rays that I want in which they have English subtitles, but their DVD versions don't have English subtitles. But I'm not going to take a chance till the prices come down. I don't want to spend $30-40, wait 3 weeks, and then find out that it can't even play on my multi-region blu-ray player because the multi-region functionality isn't reliable...

The Lizard King

The multi-region functionality of the BDP-799 works fine. This isn't the issue. The Japanese disc of Casino Royale, itself, is region all/ABC, anyway.

TLK

The Lizard King

It, indeed, must be a firmware problem. I took my BD into the local Best Buy and the floor associate put it in the latest, greatest Samsung 3D BD player, and it started up immediately. I asked him to put it in a 2D player, and he did so in a Sony BDP-S360 that hadn't been updated with new firmware for nearly two years; the Sony balked and stated that the disc was "invalid."

So, I guess I'm going to try that March 2010 firmware for the BDP-799 soon in order to play this disc! This means, of course, that I won't be able to switch between region settings like I used to be able to. However, I've read in this thread and elsewhere, that I can "downgrade" to the 11/2009 firmware if I so desire.

EDIT: Even the newest March 2010 firmware doesn't allow the BDP-799 to play this BD.

TLK

DirkUSA

Amazon.jp shows the release date of this Blu-ray as 12-19-2008. Is that the one you have? I can't see how this disc would need a late firmware update, unless you have a newer release.....??

The Lizard King

It's even weirder than that. The release date was 5/23/2007! To wit:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B000O58V9...9928569&sr=8-2

Anyway, I'm now on the hunt for a cheap BD player that will play this disc. Once I find one that is suitable, it will be connected to the bedroom TV.

TLK

DirkUSA

That's really strange. So far, I am lucky with my 899. Everything is playing fine (KNOCKING ON WOOD RIGHT NOW!) and I never updated the firmware. I am looking at some of the region free players at 220-electronics. They say that they are firmware upgrade save. I might have to get one of those in the future. We will see.

Did you google your problem to see if anybody else has problems with this disc?