Panasonic SA-BT200 firmware upgrade question.

[Puppets86]

I'm posting this for a friend that is a little older, and not tech savvy at all, and I'm ok with stuff like this, so I'm trying to help him out.

His issue is that some newer Blu Rays that he rents won't play at all. Nothing shows up on the screen, and he gets the 'NoRead' on the player's display.

He tells me that the people that work at the video store said it might need a firmware upgrade to player the newer formats. Made sense to me, so I checked, and he has Version 1.0, and on the Panasonic site, they're up to 2.1

First of all, it does make sense that this might be the issue, but would he get more than the the display on the player saying 'NoRead' if this was the case? Just curious.

Anyway....he doesn't have internet, otherwise I would have tried to update it that way. So I went home and made an update disc, and followed the instructions here
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/bd/download/bt200/north_america/index.html
to the letter. I know this is basic stuff, but it's still.

Went back, following the instructions on that page, I tried to update it. It re started, like it said it would, and then I got the message on the display showing the firmware was loading, and it was supposed to go to the "W***", meaning that it was writing, but it went from the "L***" to "E Disc" after maybe 10 seconds, and ejected the disc and shut down. It never updated the firmware.

I tried several times, and even made another disc, this time using ImgBurn, just for fun.....same thing.

Would anyone now why it wouldn't write the update, and does that mean if I brought it to my house, and tried updating it via the internet, that it would do the same thing or????

Any input/advice at all would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

[jman98]

While it is theoretically possible that he needs a firmware update to fix the disc issue, there are no guarantees that his problem is really firmware related or that an update will even fix it. Rented discs aren't always in the best of shape. I rent BluRays via Netflix and they sometimes arrive cracked. Most consumers have no idea to even check for that kind of thing.

Nobody likes to hear this, but the reality is that consumer DVD and BD players are disposable and aren't designed to last. If you put them in a place where they have a lot of open air to cool, and I mean a lot like on a glass and metal stand with no back, sides or front, they live longer. Most Americans put them in "entertainment centers" and those are just the death of players. Heat buildup and damage is common in those kinds of things. It could be that his player is a few years old and it's just been heat damaged by now and needs to be replaced or he just got a lemon and the one he bought just didn't last even though he didn't hasten its death.

I don't know why the update didn't work. You did use a CD-R, right? CD-RW is probably OK, but I'd suggest Verbatim for that. Unlike DVD and BD blank discs, all CD-Rs are honestly pretty much the same so the brand you used shouldn't matter, but I suppose if you have a different brand you could try that or if you used CD-RW you could try CD-R or vice-versa. That fact that it didn't update may mean that the player has a serious problem with its playback laser and you won't be able to fix that via a firmware update. Yes, updating via the internet should work, but I have a feeling that this is likely to be a hardware problem that can't be fixed that way.

[Puppets86]

Thanks for your input!

Yes, I did use a CD-R. Verbatim, to be exact. I actually did a couple, just to be sure. I burned one with windows, just like the Panasonic site recommended, and another with ImgBurn. Neither worked.

He said this problem has only been with newer Blu Rays. Even with my limited knowledge, I agree that the update could be a waste of time, but I guess I could bring it to my house and give it a try.

[Puppets86]

It does seem like if the player couldn't read a newer Blu Ray do it being some different format, that there would be some sort of message to that affect on the screen, as opposed to the player display just saying NoRead.