PS3 Owners Report Blu-ray Problems
After 1.5 Upgrade
An unusually high number of reports of intermittent playback freezes during Blu-ray movies and some
games have been posted to Sony's PlayStation 3 forum, as well as to the AVS Forum and other sources,
after PS3 owners upgraded to version 1.5 of the system firmware.
Tests run by these users since having noticed the bugs appear to eliminate Blu-ray discs themselves as
the cause of these freezes, most of which are said to be momentary and not terminal. Time codes
displayed at the time of freezes are dispersed, indicating that the discs are not defective.
The common elements among those reporting problems appear to be the use of the wireless controller
for navigating the BD, and wireless connection to the Internet. Though Sony itself has given no official
justification for the problem or suggestions,
expert forum contributors are suggesting that users
reconnect their wireless controllers, and attach their PS3 to their Internet router with a direct Ethernet
cable.
The key purpose of the v1.5 firmware patch was reportedly to eliminate scaling problems users
experienced when playing PS2 and older games in compatibility mode, with lower resolution being
scaled up to high-res displays. The firmware also adds new support for online functionality - which,
ironically, may be the indirect cause of the freeze problem.
The level of exasperation expressed by some users only two months after the console's North American
release reveals that patience among early adopters in consumer electronics doesn't compare with the
levels of ten or twenty years ago.
"We shelled out $600 big ones for this console and were loyal to buy the console as soon as we could
get our hands on one,"
one owner wrote on Sony's forum. "We should not have to rig the PS3 by
making sure we have our controllers off and the wireless setting is set to work only on Tuesdays and
the sun has to be shining and it can't be colder than 30 degrees outside then our Blu-Ray reader should
work properly."
Users who have already contacted Sony's technical support report that agents told them this was the
first they'd heard of the problem, and are being advised to disclose their troubles to the PS3 forums
online to see if expert users can help.
One contributor to the AVS Forum wrote, "I just called in [to Sony] and got the same soft reset
recommendation. I assume this is their standard script, as I got no sense this was a recommendation
tied to this particular problem. I probed on whether they were aware of or tracking the problem, but I
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