HD-DVD Player Returns (1 Viewer)

[David Allen]

I stopped in to Best Buy yesterday, and did a double-take when I saw a table full of "open box" items: stacks of Toshiba HD-DVD players. Is this happening across the country, in lieu of the WB defection and Paramount/Uni/Dreamworks switch gossip?

 

[Alfonso_M]

Last Friday I saw in my local BB a stack of Sony's S300 marked as 'open item" selling for 299.00. (still to expensive)

I guess the buyers , just like me, found out this players are not only expensive and buggy, but also obsolete.

 

[Patrick Sun]

You know the retailers would have rather Warners delay their bombshell until after the 30 day return window (or the extended holiday return period). It's probably not going to get any better for the retailers in the next month or so.

 

[Steve Schaffer]

I work in the electronics dept. of a major Sears store. The last HD DVD player we had returned was shortly after Thanksgiving--it locked up at layer changes and the customer swapped it out for another A3 and hasn't been back since.

During the couple of weeks prior to Christmas that we had the A3 on sale at $199 and the Sony BD for $299 the A3 outsold the Sony about 3 to 1. So far none of either have been returned.

 

[Doug_H]

I just came back from BB and saw an equal size stack of Tosh and Sony on the table. Clerk said they keep getting returned by folks who don't understand or don't care to go through the pain of doing a firmware upgrade.

I can understand this after spending 2 hours on the phone with my Dad helping him burn a disc. Talk about painful... and he is fairly computer literate, the ISO image concept was too much for him during the holidays I guess.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

They really need to improve the firmware situation on *both* sides, if they're serious about market penetration. Heck, I hate the idea of having to burn a disc for firmware update every now and then too -- and I'm one of the more tech-oriented people around (as a computer software developer). If I know/believe I'll have to do it more than just once -- the very first time I bring the player home -- I'd probably just pass on the player.

_Man_

 

[Patrick Sun]

Heh, and just wait when someone non-tech-savvy bricks their HDM player with a firmware update CD (never know when a power outage might just rear its ugly head). Grrr....

 

[Kevin. W]

Can't talk for standalone BR players that don't have ethernet, but my Toshiba A1 has had no issue updating when I ask it too.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, that's one of those things that worries me. And really, firmware update can fail w/out a power outtage too.

In general, I avoid it like the plague. I still haven't tried a firmware hack on my Denon SD player for region-free playback even though I had intended to do so when I bought it a year ago. And haven't done any firmware updates for our various cameras either. I'll get to the updates when I decide I absolutely need them -- and then, go for the most stable, feature-full updates when the time arrives. Same thing w/ anything Micro$oft puts out, including the latest version of IE. Don't fix what ain't broke.

_Man_

 

[bigluigi]

Hi Man,
Frankly, the whole idea of my doing the firmware update scares the hell out of me. Just too afraid of turning it into a brick! But, at least the manufacturer does provide updated firmware via cd on request. *whew*

 

[Doug_H]

I have to wonder how many people have bricked or will brick their units because they don't even know that can happen????

Power outage, accidently hitting a button on the remote, corupt file, and so on... I am depressing myself now :frowning:

 

[nolesrule]

Cheer up! owning an expensive paperweight can be considered a status symbol.

Seriously, all electronics with updateable firmware should be required to have a simple reset/restore to factory settings accessible by unbent paperclip.

 

[Doug_H]

That would make me smile again.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Hehheh. BTW, anyone know how the PS3 would do such a reset/restore (other than using the restore function *after* successful startup)? With all this talk of bricking the player, maybe I really should use a hard connection whenever I do a software update for the PS3, instead of using WiFi. I'm probably just asking for trouble using WiFi for that...

_Man_

 

[nolesrule]

Does the PS3 stream the update directly, or does it download it and verify filesize and checksum before processing?

 

[Shane Martin]

You download it. Then unpack it then accept the license, then it installs.

 

[Scott-S]

Maybe the B&M places should offer to upgrade the players to the latest revision before you take it home? That would be a nice service and a way to distiguish them from the online retailers.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

That would probably make too much sense. I suggested something along those lines on a broader scale elsewhere. But I guess everyone can just pray that the situation will settle down soon enough so that this won't really be necessary anymore...

_Man_

 

[nolesrule]

You really want to give Best Buy a shot at bricking your player?

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, at least if they brick it at the point of purchase, you don't have to keep it and presumably won't incur whatever 15% restocking fee for it...

_Man_