Samsung BD-P1500 Firmware Issues

[bobotheclown]

Has anyone else had this problem ???

When using the original firmware the player came with avchd discs play perfectly, but after updating to the latest firmware 2.1 they no longer play "this disc can not be played".

I have raised this issue with samsung and they are looking into it and hopefully they will resolve it so we can make use of the extra features the new firmware enables.

BOBO...

[gimpa]

Post Firmware the BD-P1500 still supports AVCHD but no longer supports BD on DVD. Which is unfortunate

[bobotheclown]

So what format of avchd does it still support then ? avchd on BD ?
What is the point in that ?

http://www.avchd-info.org/format/index.html

That explains that avchd should be on dvd and other media

BOBO.................

[exnickoh]

I just downloaded the new firmware this morning ver 2.1 and installed it over the original one it shipped with. Now it will not play my Planet Earth blu ray disc. With the original one it would play everything properly. So hopefully the come up with a fix soon.

[exnickoh]

have you found a site to download an older version of the firmware ? I;m currently looking right now if I find something I will post it.

[bobotheclown]

No I havent found it yey I just took my player back and swapped it.

Syco54645 might have the old firmware so hopefully he will post a link to it.

BOBO...

[exnickoh]

I just got off the phone with samsung support and the operator told me to take my planet earth disks back to the store and exchange them. LOL. I explained to her that with the original firmware played the movies fine. She said if the problem keeps happening to give them a call back. Wish I could take mine back I purchased online. So i guess im waiting around for a new update. Thanks for the help

[bobotheclown]

Lol, I was mailing them over 3 days and I never had a decent response, all they kept saying was " this issue has being escalated and we are waiting for head office to respond "
They know the problem exists as they also removed the avchd playback from an earlier player (bd-p1200) with a firmware upgrade.

I draw your attention to this title in this thread
Compatibility with Blu-ray Disc players

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AVCHD

BOBO....

[gimpa]

So what format of avchd does it still support then ? avchd on BD ?
What is the point in that ?

http://www.avchd-info.org/format/index.html

That explains that avchd should be on dvd and other media

BOBO.................

It supports AVCHD on DVD.

TSMuxer, for example, creates Blu-ray discs, which is BD on DVD -- not AVCHD on DVD. Basically, you have to change the filestructure from BD to AVCHD.

BD on DVD has the BDMV and CERTIFICATE directories, AVCHD on DVD has BDMV and AVCHDTN directories. Pretty simple fix when all is said and done.

[bobotheclown]

So all that is different is the directories ??

File structure still the same ??

And if the quality is still the same then it dont really matter, why disable the feature...

BOBO.........

[gimpa]

Naw, the file structures are slightly different, but the video and audio sources are more or less the same, I agree it's a bit stupid to lose functionality when it's such a trivial switch.

Don't know what the policy on links is here so do a Google search on renameAVCHDtoDVD.bat (batch file somebody made to semi-automate converting BD on DVD to AVCHD file structure).

The file structure for an AVCHD disc looks like this:
\AVCHDTN\
\AVCHDTN\thumbnail.tdt2
\AVCHDTN\thumbnail.tidx
\BDMV\
\BDMV\index.bdmv
\BDMV\MovieObject.bdmv
\BDMV\BACKUP\
\BDMV\BACKUP\index.bdmv
\BDMV\BACKUP\MovieObject.bdmv
\BDMV\BACKUP\CLIPINF\
\BDMV\BACKUP\CLIPINF\00000.clpi
\BDMV\BACKUP\PLAYLIST\
\BDMV\BACKUP\PLAYLIST\00000.mpls
\BDMV\CLIPINF\
\BDMV\CLIPINF\00000.clpi
\BDMV\PLAYLIST\
\BDMV\PLAYLIST\00000.mpls
\BDMV\STREAM\
\BDMV\STREAM\00000.m2ts
\BDMV\index.bdmv
\BDMV\index.bdmv
\BDMV\index.bdmv

I just need to find a faster way to add black bars for 2.35:1 .mkv files

[Syco54645]

I have a fix to your avchd issue, but it requires burning all of your discs again. i just hope that the new ones that i am burning will play right once a new firmware comes out. I am going to make a guide here shortly. I broke my wrist so it is a bit hard to type.

[Syco54645]

Here we go everyone. If you have any questions, just pm me.
http://bd.splra.org/

-Syco54645

[bobotheclown]

syco54654

Post the link to the old firmware please ...

BOBO..............

[Syco54645]

syco54654

Post the link to the old firmware please ...

BOBO..............

it is on that link there

[marvel2020]

Just been onto Samsung's UK website and noticed that there is a new firmware release v2.2, maybe they sorted the problems of the playback issues with this.

I'm still on 2.0 and I'm not flashing the player with 2.2 until I get confirmation that everything is 100% with it.

[Robertiebert]

Great vigilance Marvel2020. I am also keen to see what the outcome of this update is (V2.2)! Anyone tried it yet? Does it allow AVCHD DVD playback as V2.0 apparently caused problems with AVCHD..........

[bobotheclown]

Versions 2 and onwards still allow avchd playback but not as bd on dvd as gimpa stated above.

BOBO

[Robertiebert]

OK, so if i create my AVCHD DVD to foldrers,
copy the CLIPINF, STREAM, and PLAYLIST folders and overwrite the same ones in the AVCHD_LEER.zip folder and then burn the (LEER) BDMV folder to DVD with UDF2.5 that should work should it?

[decreta]

I am trying this using files created by a Canon VIXIA HF11. I am copying files right from the SD card's BDMV folder. The method at http://bd.splra.org works so long as you also copy the index.bdm and movieobj.bdm files from the disc and rename the extensions of those two files to xxxxx.bdmv.

Also you have to rename extensions of other files as follows:

.cpi to .clpi
.mpl to .mpls
.mts to m2ts

This is a modified and scaled down version of this method: http://www.elurauser.com/articles/avchd_to_bluray.jsp.

Also, I would not upgrade to UK firmware version 2.2 because the UK has a different region code from the US and your region 1 discs may not play any longer. Other forums on that topic suggest other problems as well.

One issue, however. While the video played. It was choppy until I hit pause for a few seconds and then it played fine for about 45 seconds and then choppy again. Pause worked again, but very annoying. It is almost like the player is caching the video and the pause is needed to catch up. Kind of like watching a YouTube video over a slow internet connection.

[taylorw]

Thanks to all who helped me figure out how to get avchd to play on the BD-P1500... works great!
But what is the fix for files with a 2.35:1 ratio? I heard a mention of this in this thread earlier. When I use a file with a ratio other than 1.78:1, I get bars on the right and left of the picture (pillar-box) and the picture is stretched so that everything is way too tall.

[Robertiebert]

OK, so if i create my AVCHD DVD to foldrers,
copy the CLIPINF, STREAM, and PLAYLIST folders and overwrite the same ones in the AVCHD_LEER.zip folder and then burn the (LEER) BDMV folder to DVD with UDF2.5 that should work should it?

Just to confirm that this method works great! Thanks all.

[Samezrp]

Hi guys,
I'm fresh BD-P1500 user with newest 2,3 firmware.
I want to use this firmware because of divx support, but I wonder how to play pure mpg files?
Player supports mpeg2 files, I've tried to rename files to .mpg, .mpeg, m2ts, convert to .ts or .m2ts but it says "this file can not be played".
Is it any method to play files recorded to DVD R +/- file such as in other players?

And another thing: is there any way to play DivX AND burned BlueRay disks?
I've burned sample file from elurauser.com mentioned above, it goes on old firmware but on that old firmware there is no DivX support, oposite 2.3 fw plays DivX but there is no BR or AVCHD on DVD support

And one another thing: I've prepared AVCHD test files with Nero Vision, when i burn this project directky on DVD it works ok, but if I want to burn it with Nero Burning ROM or ImageBurn as UDF 2.5 Samsung says: can not play this disk

*********************************
3 th edit:
finally I found the way to force play AVCHD files on 2.3 firmware!
1. ImgBurn does not record proper UFD 2.5 files, I installed Adaptec UDFRead driver on my XP and it showed no files on DVD recorded with ImgBurn, the same files recorded with Nero were visible and playable on Samsung;
2. you have to burn only four BDMV folder's subfolders:
BACKUP
CLIPINF
PLAYLIST
STREAM
and of course all rest files. I create BR disks from MKV containers with TSMuxer which creates more folders:
AUXDATA
BDJO
JAR
and META
all this folders should be deleted from compilation. Existence of BDJO folder in BACKUP is not critical.
That's all.
There is still problem with 1:2,35 files, they are stretched to fulfill all screen

[TorontoXtreame]

I created a AVCHD disc with Nero Vision 5 onto a hard drive folder, then renamed as per decreta's suggestions, and it worked on my Samsung BD-P1500. The only issue is a little choppiness with motion. Pausing it for a few seconds and letting it continue does not work. Any suggestions?

[gudjong]

Does anyone have firmware v.2.4 for Europe need to downgrade from 2.5 (XEF)

[redcapeman]

okay, quick question. Will the Samsung BD-P15000 play avi files? If not how can I make it play them and still be able to play original BD's?

[mh2360]

It should, I believe one of the early firmware updates enabled XviD/DivX playback.

BD on DVD works again with the latest firmware, at least it did last time I checked before my unit decided it didn't want to play DVDs any more.

[redcapeman]

so which firmware update does allow for avi files and where can I get it?

[mh2360]

The latest firmware should be fine, get it from Samsung's support page for your region.

Here's a version history for the firmware:

< BD-P1500 Firmware Update history >

Ver 2.6 Jan. 19, 2010
1. Improves playback compatibility of some movie titles.

Ver 2.5 Oct. 07, 2009
1. Improves playback compatibility of some movie titles.

Ver 2.4 Apr.17, 2009
1. Improves playback compatibility of some movie titles.
2. Fixes firmware update error from Ver 2.2 to Ver 2.4

Ver 2.3 Jan.08, 2009
1. Improves playback compatibility of some movie titles.

Ver 2.2 Dec.19, 2008
1. Fixes a video output problem.

Ver 2.1 Dec.2, 2008
1. Improves playback compatibility of some movie titles.

Ver 2.0 Oct.03, 2008
1. Supports BD-Live
2. Firmware auto upgrade(automatically notifies availability of new firmware)
3. Divx playback

NOTE: A 1GB USB memory drive must be plugged in the player to activate BD-Live features.

Ver1.2 July 14, 2008
1. Improves playback compatibility

Ver1.1 June 30, 2008
1. Improves playback compatibility

[redcapeman]

okay, so once I get the firmware update burned to a disc, how do I do the update? I just put it in and an error came up saying it could not play the disc. Tips, advice, help? Thanks, mate. Cheers.