Can't load the extended KING KONG...anyone else? (1 Viewer)

The new Universal Blu-ray plays fine for the theatrical version, but the moment I press "play" to get to the extended version, I see a flash of the Universal logo, and then the screen goes blank and the entire disc re-loads. Is this a glitch I have to download some friggin' firmware for?

That sounds like you need to update your firmware. Both cuts worked for me.

Mine worked on my Sharp BD 20 (one of the most finicky players ever) so I don't know why it wouldn't work on a good machine.

1. What player do you have?
2. Do you have the most recent firmware?

Can't really go much further into trouble shooting until these get answered.

OK. I needed firmware. Since posting this thread, I downloaded and installed the firmware (for the Sony BDP S300) and, not only does the KING KONG extended version play, but BARAKA - which wouldn't play at all - and the James Bond titles, which had serious issues accessing special features - all play back now. I really wasn't looking forward to having to buy a PS3 just to get these discs to play correctly. Anyway, thanks for your input.

Nice timing, as the 4.50 firmware for that player came out today.

I needed to do a firmware update for my Panny BD-10 this week, Dick...in order to get the audio to play right on Mamma Mia!

While some might argue that the audio on Mamma Mia! will never play right...even when it plays correctly ()...I guess these are examples of why it pays to keep things up-to-speed. I understand that firmware updates are a PITA for some people..but it's pretty cool that the hardware can continue to be updated to stay even with software advancements.

I really think it's just your player telling you that watching an extended cut of a film that was ALREADY an hour too long was just not in your best interest. ;-)

Brian

No, Mike... the audio quality of that title is excellent. The content quality is highly suspect, as is the purchaser's taste. Not that I don't love Amanda Sefried [sp?] but Pierce Brosnan's singing voice wasn't meant for lossless audio.

(Love you, buddy )

Good one, Brian! In fact, I have always hoped that one of these versions would eventually delete the Bronto stampede, which I find exponentially inferior to the rest of the movie in terms of effects work and believability. It's hard to just skip over it without losing desirable material. Jackson, evidently, did not listen to the cries of many like myself who found the sequence to be unacceptably over-the-top and poorly-executed. I know the sequence has its champions, but to my mind it sucks, and its elimination could cut the runnings time by about ten minutes.

I really found the film schizophrenic, in that one minute I was watching King Kong, then the next I was watching Jurassic Park IV, and then KK again. I can't fathom what an extended cut would add to the narrative.

I think others have offered the theory that when someone makes one of the most profitable sets of films in history, then that person has earned the right to flip off anyone that tells him how his films should be cut.

Brian

I put this disc in last night for the first time just to sample some scenes, and the first menu that pops up to choose the extended or the theatrical version demonstrated one of my big menu pet peeves.

When you have a menu with only two selections, there needs to be some kind of external indicator (like a dot or something) that shows you which item you have selected! Simply changing the color on one of the options tells me nothing, since I don't know what color is the "active" selection. Moving the selection simply reverses the colors on the 2 selections, and doesn't give you any more information as to what is highlighted. I ended up picking the wrong one, and thank goodness they had another option on the next main menu for "Go to X version" or I could have been watching for an hour before I realized I was on the wrong version.

7+ years on the HTF and I've never seen this verbalized before...but it is, indeed, one of the dumbest things that's done in the creation of movie software. Thanks, Jeff! Maybe you should start a separate thread on this (if you haven't already)!

I cannot tell you how many times I've experienced the exact same thing. I sit there and do not have any idea which of the two items has been defaulted to. And I sit changing the colors around having no idea which one I will actually end up selecting.

This is not rocket science.

Note to all disc creators: Put a cursor next to the intended selection and get a clue!