Austin360 blogs > Digital Savant > Archives > 2010 > March > 30 > Entry
Mailbox: should you firmware-upgrade your Blu-ray player?
Here’s an e-mail I got from a reader this week:
I’m e-mailing about a Sony Blu-Ray player (model BDP-S360) I purchased recently. I’m having difficulty connecting it to my TV (yes, I have an HD set: Samsung 1080p), and an HDMI cable. Apparently this Blu-ray player gets “software updates”/requires Internet connection, but I’m unclear if that’s a feature you’d use only if you’re going to stream movies off the Internet or an online Netflix account (which I have no interest in doing), or if this is a feature that you don’t have to use. I just want to watch movies I’ve bought in a store or checked out of Blockbuster.Richard
My response:
The Blu-ray player should be fine as-is, but I’d install the firmware update anyway. Sometimes those updates improve video playback, speed up menus, etc. There’s always weird stuff going on with Blu-ray disc formats (like the BD-LIve features and Blu-ray profiles) and sometimes the firmware updates address that so that all discs are compatible with the player.
You don’t necessarily need to connect to the internet to do the update. There’s usually a way to download it to a USB drive from a computer, plug it in to the Blu-ray drive and install it from there (consult the manual on how to do this).
So, my advice would be to install the firmware update even if you don’t plan to use the online services or keep your Blu-ray connected to the Internet.
Good luck!
Omar
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment Categories: Gadgets, Internet, Movies & DVDs, TV
Comments
Austinites love to be heard, and we're giving you a bullhorn. We just ask that you keep things civil. Leave out the personal attacks. Do not use profanity, ethnic or racial slurs, or take shots at anyone's sexual orientation or religion. If you can't be nice, we reserve the right to remove your material and ban users who violate our Visitor's agreement. Click here to report comment abuse.
By Omar Gallaga
March 30, 2010 1:48 PM | Link to this
dajanx -- it doesn't sound like Richard is having problems with the Blu-ray player or with the Samsung TV. He just wanted to know if it's worth the trouble to do a firmware upgrade.
Sorry you're having problems with your TV.
By dajanx
March 30, 2010 11:48 AM | Link to this
His problem might not be his DVD player at all, but his TV. I have a Samsung 1080p (Samsung LNT4065F ). It has had issues with DVD players of all stripes (something about a bad chip). The current Samsung Bluray player I have is working (most of the time). Google search your television and see if your model number is having issues. Contacting Samsung's customer service seems to produce almost zero results, I have suffered in silence for the most part. This the last Samsung TV I will buy.