Technical Issues and Questions

Discuss North American DVDs and Blu-rays or other DVD and Blu-ray-related topics.
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domino harvey
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 2:42 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1451 Post by domino harvey » Fri Nov 04, 2016 2:22 pm

Could Sony have installed some kind of serial number tracker on their discs? Maybe the library didn't purchase institutional rights? Seems the easiest solution if it were to happen again is just to remember to turn off the internet on your player before viewing

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ZHansen
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 5:56 pm
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1452 Post by ZHansen » Fri Nov 04, 2016 2:33 pm

That's part of what's weird about it: our blu-ray player is not connected to the Internet. I've heard of issues with Sony discs in general, so I'm hoping it's just a one-off.

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jedgeco
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 11:28 am

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1453 Post by jedgeco » Fri Nov 04, 2016 4:48 pm

A DVD from a library would be protected by the First Sale doctrine, so there shouldn't be any "proper license" to use the disc. Perhaps your player needs a firmware update?

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Grand Wazoo
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2007 2:23 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1454 Post by Grand Wazoo » Tue Dec 06, 2016 9:49 pm

So I have a question regarding the Seiki player we all know and love. I just got one and whiel it generally works great, no matter what I do I cannot figure out how to get academy ratio dvds to display properly. They are stretched to fill the 16:9 screen and the option to theoretically change this is grayed out in the options menu. It also claims to be set to "auto" but I guess this auto function stretches them by default. I cannot change this either. I can't play around with my television's picture settings to remedy this either as my only choices are "full" and "zoom" while using the player.

Curious if anyone has had this issue and what the fix would be?

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chiendent
Joined: Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:32 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1455 Post by chiendent » Tue Dec 06, 2016 9:57 pm

Ugh, I remember having that same issue and finding that same grayed out option when I first got the player but can't recall how I fixed it. Have you tried going into the options without a disc inserted? I'll take a look at mine when I get home later.

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Drucker
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Joined: Wed May 18, 2011 9:37 am

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1456 Post by Drucker » Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:31 pm

Tonight, it appears the region-switching device on my Oppo is no longer operational. I tried switching regions a dozen times as carefully as possible, and it is no longer working.

Has this happened to anyone else? Has buying a new one simply worked again? FWIW this is the one that plugs into your USB and 232 port.

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1457 Post by fdm » Sun Jan 22, 2017 11:47 pm

Which device is it? (Is it connected inside the Oppo or externally? What is the region switching button sequence you use?) Which Oppo player?

Was it just one disc you tried it with or did you try a few different ones (like one that you know should work)?

Also, if you have Auto Resume turned On in the Oppo (under Playback Setup), that could confuse it, and should be Off while you're trying to switch regions.

Did you recently update the Oppo firmware? Is your device one of those that you sometimes have to update its firmware?

Anyway... several possibilities besides it's just failed. (This is the kind I use, connected externally. I don't switch regions much though.)

(Oh, and have you tried disconnecting and reconnecting the device (while the Oppo is turned off)? A chance it just developed a bad connection somehow.)

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Drucker
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1458 Post by Drucker » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:25 am

To answer all of your questions: yes, I use the same device you did on my Oppo 93.

Two Criterion discs wouldn't play. I definitely have auto reume on, though, and will turn it off (though it's always been on, and this is the first time I've ever had the issue).

Firmware auto-updates, and never before has it messed anything up. I did try unplugging and reconnecting, but will try again.

My main question at this point: is it permanently stuck in B? Would my money be better spent buying a $90 Panasonic blu-ray player just to play region A BDs in?

If I re-set factory settings and it went back to A, would I ever be able to get it back into B?

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domino harvey
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1459 Post by domino harvey » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:51 am

Where did you get your player? If it's from 220 Electronics, you should email them

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Drucker
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1460 Post by Drucker » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:56 am

Bought it from Oppo direct in 2011 or so.

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fdm
Joined: Fri Apr 21, 2006 1:25 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1461 Post by fdm » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:45 am

There shouldn't be any firmware-related issues for that device. I'd guess as things stand the Oppo will be stuck in B until you do a factory reset. Region B blu-rays still play? (Dvds?) (Remote batteries fresh?)

One last thing might be to try and put the device outside (if it's inside); or inside if it's outside (if you didn't clip off that "extra" wire). That may give you a better idea about whether the device is dead or not. If that didn't fix things up either, then me I'd likely get another kit.

I've had two players going since first being region free, mostly to alleviate the wear and tear on the region free players, since most things were playable on the region 1/A locked player. But also with the Oppos so I don't have to change them back and forth all the time (it's a pain). So option of getting an additional player not a bad idea either.

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Drucker
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1462 Post by Drucker » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:52 am

Yep changed remote batteries, and region B blu rays play fine. A few weeks ago I ran through all the 2016 Criterions for the Forum Awards, switched it to Region B to go through the Woody Allen box set, and yesterday it wouldn't switch. So it's definitely a recent issue.

I'm definitely nervous about going inside the machine, so we'll see about that. I did not clip off anything, the device exists as I received it.

Right now I have a working Oppo (which is also important to me as a big CD buyer) and a fine region B blu ray player.

If I buy a new Panasonic for $90, then I have a region A player. Done. If I do a factory re-set and the Oppo never switches back to region B, then it's much harder for me to get a region B player than a simple region A. So I'm tempted to just do that.

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Michael Kerpan
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1463 Post by Michael Kerpan » Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:56 am

I just leave my Seiki set to Region B, use my Oppo DVD player for CDs and out of region DVDs, and my Sony Blu-Ray player for Region A (and often Region 1).

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jindianajonz
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Joined: Wed Oct 12, 2011 8:11 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1464 Post by jindianajonz » Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:24 pm

Drucker wrote:If I buy a new Panasonic for $90, then I have a region A player. Done. If I do a factory re-set and the Oppo never switches back to region B, then it's much harder for me to get a region B player than a simple region A. So I'm tempted to just do that.
For what it's worth, I accidentally installed an update on my Oppo-103 from 220-electronics a while back, and lost my region free capability. I contacted their tech support, and they had me simply perform a factory reset to get that capability back. Now, it sounds like you have different hardware than I do, so it's not surefire, but it may be worth considering.

Have you tried contacting the manufacture of your region free device?

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Drucker
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1465 Post by Drucker » Mon Jan 23, 2017 10:16 pm

I did and they said to just see if it's dusty, but considering its age (and that I've moved twice since buying it) it could just be dead.

And I think I've confirmed it's dead. I turned off the oppo, unplugged the device, then unplugged the Oppo, turned it on, and I was able to play region A blu-rays. Upon re-installing the device, it went back to region B, but still would not switch to region A, so it was stuck in B.

Seems like for now I can get the player to play both, and that's good enough for me for now.

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Adam X
Joined: Thu Apr 16, 2009 5:04 am

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1466 Post by Adam X » Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:17 am

On checking (because you're question got me curious about mine), there's not been a firmware update for the 93 since 2014, so I doubt that's the issue, and it sounds like you've solved it anyway.

I bought a mod kit for my Oppo 103 that was sourced from this site in 2013 - not had any issues with it and the kit's only required one firmware update shortly after I bought it, due to a FW update for the player that messed with the region switching.

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Drucker
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1467 Post by Drucker » Tue Jan 31, 2017 10:29 am

I actually avoided doing any firmware update until early 2016, but it had no adverse effect on the mod kit. This definitely all started happening within the last few weeks.

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domino harvey
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1468 Post by domino harvey » Fri Feb 10, 2017 12:02 pm


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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1469 Post by bottled spider » Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:35 am

What causes new DVDs to stick or freeze, a problem I normally associate with worse-for-wear library/rental DVDs, not new discs? I just purchased the TCM Astaire and Rogers collection (Top Hat/Swing Time/Gay Divorcee/Shall We Dance on two double-sided discs). I don't see any scratches, but the Top Hat / Swing Time disc sticks on both sides in multiple places.

artfilmfan
Joined: Wed Nov 03, 2004 9:11 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1470 Post by artfilmfan » Sat Feb 11, 2017 10:24 am

The first printing of the Criterion Blu-ray of Walkabout got stuck at one place when played on some players. So, try the disc on another player.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1471 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Feb 11, 2017 1:18 pm

I just finished watching MoC's blu ray of The Thief of Bagdad. Then I put in Arrow's Network and I kept getting screen about it only playing on region B players. So I tried setting it again for region B and the same screen came on. Then I put in Arrow's Ox Bow Incident and it started up with no problems. Then went to MoC's From Caligari to Hiltler again it started up perfectly, then went back to Network and got the region B screen again. Anyone know what that is? Am I screwed with this disc?

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rockysds
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Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1472 Post by rockysds » Sat Feb 11, 2017 2:17 pm

Have you tried pressing "stop" immediately as the disc starts to load?

Some players (my Oppo for instance) will automatically resume from where the disc was when either ejected or the machine was turned off, including at region locked screens, unless stop is pressed.

David M.
Joined: Sat May 10, 2008 1:10 pm

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1473 Post by David M. » Sat Feb 11, 2017 2:32 pm

FrauBlucher wrote:I just finished watching MoC's blu ray of The Thief of Bagdad. Then I put in Arrow's Network and I kept getting screen about it only playing on region B players. So I tried setting it again for region B and the same screen came on. Then I put in Arrow's Ox Bow Incident and it started up with no problems. Then went to MoC's From Caligari to Hiltler again it started up perfectly, then went back to Network and got the region B screen again. Anyone know what that is? Am I screwed with this disc?
This comes up every so often. As FrauBlucher says, the player is resuming to the region locked screen. If you can clear your player's memory, perhaps by leaving it unplugged for a while, you can try loading the disc again.

For newer releases, I changed the code on the region lock screen to re-run the region check every few seconds - so if you end up at the region lock screen, it'll frequently check to see if it should still be in the 'dead end' part. I'm not sure how this works in practice though since region modified players will have their own way of doing things.

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FrauBlucher
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 8:28 pm
Location: Greenwich Village

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1474 Post by FrauBlucher » Sat Feb 11, 2017 4:15 pm

rockysds wrote:Have you tried pressing "stop" immediately as the disc starts to load?

Some players (my Oppo for instance) will automatically resume from where the disc was when either ejected or the machine was turned off, including at region locked screens, unless stop is pressed.
Thanks. I tried your recommendation before David M's unplugging and it worked.

BTW...Arrow's Network looks much better than the MGM bluray.

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bottled spider
Joined: Thu Nov 26, 2009 2:59 am

Re: Technical Issues and Questions

#1475 Post by bottled spider » Sat Feb 11, 2017 11:13 pm

artfilmfan wrote:The first printing of the Criterion Blu-ray of Walkabout got stuck at one place when played on some players. So, try the disc on another player.
Thanks for the suggestion! Like others on this thread I've had some problems switching regions on my region-free player, so I bought a backup non-region-free Blu-ray today, and the discs play fine on it. I was quick to blame the flipper discs instead of the machine because they were so cheap.

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