If you've just picked up the
recently released The Descent on Blu-ray disc, hold back from tearing the plastic off just a minute. If you're using a first-generation Blu-ray player that doesn't yet support the "BD-Java environment," chances are you'll be graced with a depressing black screen instead of an action-packed thriller. Users across the web are complaining that the film isn't playing back on their particular Blu-ray player, and High-Def Digest has suggested that units that don't play nice with BD-Java extras are having a hard time swallowing (and playing) the featurette-packed disc. Sony's
BDP-S1 and Pioneer's
BDP-HD1 have been singled-out as the two most problematic players in this ordeal, and while
Sony has promised a firmware update to add BD-J support "early this year," the Pioneer users are currently out of luck. Notably,
Panasonic units,
Samsung's BD-P1000, and Sony's own
PlayStation 3 are having no troubles, although some Samsung devices may need the
latest firmware installed to overcome any glitches. Hopefully more manufacturers will get on the ball and start supporting these
newfangled extras that were supposed to make high definition discs worth more than the pretty resolution, and kudos to Lionsgate for pumping this one up with BD-J action -- even though some of us are still trying to make it spin.
[Via
High-Def Digest]
posted Oct 14th 2009 at 3:53PM 
The unglamorous but so-necessary job of making sure all those Blu-ray discs and players work nicely together has long been the aim of BluFocus, which has most recently become the first and only BDA approved site in the U.S. for Movie Player Verification. While certification and compatibility testing is usually the kind of thing we only consider when something doesn't work, it's always good to know this on someone's mind. Any recent Blu-ray compatibility complaints? Let the folks at BluFocus know on their website.
