When can we expect a new firmware?

[Andreas]

A few months ago Philips was able to reproduce the problem the BDP-8000 has when you play an .avi file (even those in an .mkv container). It will not respond to any buttons for the first 20 seconds and if you do not hit pause and then resume play during the first minutes it will sort of lock up and keep playing untill it reaches the end of the folder. Pause, stop, ff/rw and all other buttons no longer work. It should be an easy fix.

Another big gripe with the current software is the ability to actually work with other media server software than the very latest version as most NAS units contain slightly older version. As it is, it is only useful together with a PC and not a NAS unit. I god an external USB HDD, but would love to go back to streaming from a NAS unit. It should be an easy fix.

When browsing a folder you have to click one item at a time, you cannot browse by pages, or even use the up arrow to start browsing from the end of a folder. It should be an easy fix.

When there is a disc in the unit and you power it on, you simply have to wait for the disc to start playing before you can eject it. Most other units allow you to at least eject the disc before it starts to play, many also allows you to disable the autoplay feature altogether. It should be an easy fix.

When playing audio CDs/audio only files, could you not bypass the EasyLink feature? As it is now, you either have to disable it or have the TV on when listening to music. It should be an easy fix.

To sum things up, it is a capable and good unit, but when can we expect a new firware?

What annoys me the most is the first point, and as the support team acknowledged the problem I sort of hoped it would have been corrected by now. So, bring on the good news!

[kvic]

I second it. Especially on this point

A few months ago Philips was able to reproduce the problem the BDP-8000 has when you play an .avi file (even those in an .mkv container). It will not respond to any buttons for the first 20 seconds and if you do not hit pause and then resume play during the first minutes it will sort of lock up and keep playing untill it reaches the end of the folder. Pause, stop, ff/rw and all other buttons no longer work. It should be an easy fix.

I see the same happening on BDP 9600 with MKV files.

[Paulo Roberto Elias]

When playing audio CDs/audio only files, could you not bypass the EasyLink feature? As it is now, you either have to disable it or have the TV on when listening to music. It should be an easy fix.

This is not, in my opinion, a flaw. Whenever one plays audio files, such as MP3, he or she needs the information displayed on the TV set or on a monitor, in order to increase control of which file is being played. This is especially handy after a long list of folders and sub-directories.

At any rate, I personally find Easy Link and similar resources quite dispensable, to the point where none of audio and video gear is commanded at this level. In fact, when I needed to update the firmware of my A/V receiver the manufacturer recommended disabling the feature, so as to avoid trouble.

I too find that Philips is slow to produce a new firmware, based on pending and unresolved issues. However, on the other hand, I have yet to see one single Blu-Ray disc that cannot be correctly played with latest firmware (version 1.56). It could be that I am just lucky, but with over 200+ discs it may not be just a coincidence.

In the not so distant past, my former Blu-Ray player started from firmware version 2.4 and ended up in version 2.9, i. e., five firmware upgrades in a row.

[kvic]

Hi Paulo

I'm hearing you using Wifi-N at home to connect 9600 to the rest of your home network.
What's the speend you see on the Wireless Networking Status page in 9600?

Mine as described in another thread on this forum only gets 65Mbps max.

thanks

[Paulo Roberto Elias]

Hi, kvic,

I take it that you are referring to my comment posted at Blu-Ray.com regarding the BDP9600. There must be some kind of misunderstanding, because I don't own the 9600.

Nevertheless, I do indeed use the BDP8000 on a wireless N network, and the rated nominal speed is 150 Mbps, actually half of what the network is capable to sustain.

For wireless LAN I use the Dlink DIR-655 router. I found it necessary to use a router of this range in order to maintain full speed for trafficking data wirelessly. However, it all depends on which wireless adapter is in use and in the case of the BDP8000 I believe that will not go any further from 150 Mbps. In addition, the actual throughput is normally a much lesser value, so I don't bother much measuring anything.

For streaming HD video from my PC the BDP8000 is not as good as my TV set, and although this player is described as DLNA compliant, the PC is not able to identify it and send anything to it. As far as DLNA is concerned, it works the other way round, and that will impose restrictions on what the 8000 can read from the PC, under Windows Media Player.

[kvic]

Hi Paulo

if your 9600 gets something close to 150Mbps, you're actually pretty good off.
I believe most blu-ray players with built-in Wifi-N only has the basic 802.11n chipset and attenna design. So 150Mbps is impressive. Mine being at 65Mbps is a bit unlucky. I explained the situation in a bit more detail in my other thread on this forum.

cheers

[Andreas]

I hope the silence from Philips's representatives here means they are very busy finalizing the next public firmware.

[Paulo Roberto Elias]

kvic,

Although 150 Mbps is quite standard in n adapters a lot of the actual speed on any given chipset is derived by the driver used by it and, of course, the router that you use in your wireless LAN.

Wireless adapters are more easily controlled in your PC, in this regard. 300 Mbps can be achieved by simply upgrading the adapter's driver in certain cases. Surely, I don't know how feasible that is in a Blu-Ray player firmware.

I agree with you that 65 Mbps is already on the lower side, but perhaps you would better off by contacting Philips regarding your 9600.

I regret that you can't count on me on this one, because I am not a 9600 user, unless the LAN chipsets are the same.

[Andreas]

Again, the Philips team must be very busy working on a new firmware since they have gone silent here...

[kwinnie]

A few months ago Philips was able to reproduce the problem the BDP-8000 has when you play an .avi file (even those in an .mkv container). It will not respond to any buttons for the first 20 seconds and if you do not hit pause and then resume play during the first minutes it will sort of lock up and keep playing untill it reaches the end of the folder. Pause, stop, ff/rw and all other buttons no longer work. It should be an easy fix.

For this have you tried to turn off the screensaver?
it works for the other users using bdp5000, 7000, 9000 series...

i have bdp5100, previously sent a media file (a mp4 in my case) to Philips for study...they cannot reproduce the problem on bdp5100...
but i think you can try uploading a file for them to study (Kvic as well, can have a try send yours to them) ...

pity that they don't have an official way for me to upload the file... i use www.wetransfer.com...

[Andreas]

Kwinnie, thanks for your input. In my case, I have not tried disabling the screen saver. I will do that later tonight.

But, Philips have confirmed that they have been able to reproduce the problem, so it is known to them.

Now, there is a new firmware available for our BDPs, so I will give that a try.

[Philips - Remko]

closed, due to no activity