6 Months Later

Well its now 6 months on and I have not had any problems with ANY new DVD’s including Sony’s since the last post in April.  Hooray !!!!!

Sony Fesses Up !

A couple of websites are reporting Sony has now fessed up to the problem (they now say it WAS a problem with the copy protection) and are re-issuing and replacing the faulty DVD’s. http://consumerist.com/consumer/sony/sony-recalls-broken-drm+filled-dvds-253470.php 

 http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070418-sony-to-replace-incompatible-dvds.html

End of story?  Maybe……

Are they going to replace all of Netflix & Blockbusters stock of faulty DVD’s?

I have just searched the Sony USA website and cannot find a press release referring to the recall /replacement…..maybe I just missed it 😉

UPDATE:

I called Sony today about the firmware update.  After getting disconnected once by technical support I was finally told to call Sony Style.  Called Sony Style repeated everything again, kept getting put on hold while the rep checked “information”.  Finally was told the firmware update is still not available and they do not have a date for release.  What annoys me most apart from the fact that my player does not work  is that Sony are still knowingly selling the player with no warning to customers.

Sony Pictures DVD’s have a new a copy protection that makes the movies unplayable on some Sony (& other makes) DVD players!

YES ! It appears that Sony have done it again.  In their zeal to make their DVD movies copyproof (yeah right) they have in fact made their latest releases unplayable on some DVD players, including my Sony DVP-CX995V DVD player. I recently rented “Stranger than Fiction” (2 copies) and “The Holiday” ( please no comments on my choice of movies) both by Sony Pictures.  Both load up to the splash title screen and then load no further,  then after about 60 secs the player turns itself off!  

ALL my other DVD’s and new releases from other movie companies play perfectly

I called Sony Electronics help line and they said to call Sony Pictures  which I did.

The following is a compression of our discussion:

Sony Tech: We know about this problem.  Its our new copy protection that’s making these discs unplayable in some players including our own,  we do not intend to change the copy protection.  The only correction to this problem is a firmware update to your player.  The electronics division know about this and should have given you this information.

Me: OK send me the firmware update.

Sony Tech: We do not have one as yet.

Me: OK (a bit frustrated) when will it be available?

Sony Tech: It could be 2 weeks it could be a month, we don’t know.

He then took my phone number and  said “they” would let me know when the firmware update is available, but declined to take my address saying that they would get that when the update was available. 

I will say that I got a live person on both support lines within 30 secs.

 Here are my questions to Sony:

After spending $350 on a Sony DVD player 3 months ago am I now supposed to avoid Sony Pictures products?

You are still advertising the Sony DVP-CX995V prominently on the Sony USA website but I notice there is no disclaimer that it may not play some new Sony Pictures DVD’s.

Would it not be a good idea to test changes you intend to make on your DVD’s at least on your own equipment so that if you find a problem you could have the firmware update available instead of not only inconveniencing, but alienating your own customers.

I believe this problem is happening on other manufacturers devices, are they working feverishly on firmware updates to accommodate you?

 Well thats my rant (yeah I feel a bit better now)