What's new

Players with user upgradable firmware? (1 Viewer)

Terry H

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Messages
316
I just cannot understand why manufactures have not made this a standard feature. There have been a few... I read about one nuon enhanced player that allowed the buyer to download and install updated firmware. Naturally, nuon was a flop and I suppose the player was also. I would guess that the majority of "disc problems" could be "fixed" with updated firmware. I have updated motherboards and other upgradable hardware with no problem. Face it... this isn't exactly rocket science. So where are the user upgradable players? This would be a major selling point for me. Can anyone comment? Thanks.
 

GlennH

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 28, 1998
Messages
2,155
Real Name
Glenn
Couldn't agree more. ALL DVD players should be this way. Experience has shown that certain players have problems with specific discs and it's a real pain to have to send the whole player away just to update the player, assuming a fix is created.

Philips-Magnavox started the trend of creating user upgradeable players, but sadly it seems there is very little actual manufacturer support for the process, even though they have touted this feature in marketing. I've read many stories of people who tried to get the manufacturer to send them an upgrade disc and they usually get stonewalled.

The manufacturers should make the firmware update files freely available on their website support pages, with clear instructions on how to burn a CD-ROM to perform the update or how to request a disc from them for a nominal fee. It's insane that us RP91 users have had to rely on some guy who fixes them to rip the firmware files for us and post them on the internet. If the manufacturer updates the firmware there must be a good reason for it and they should make that available to their customers. This would build customer loyalty and trust. What a novel concept.
 
E

Eric Kahn

they are afraid that people will use the firmware upgradeability to do things like turn off macrovision or other "features" that they have to put in under license

which is what is happening with the korean and chinese players
 

Terry H

Second Unit
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Messages
316
The manufacturers should make the firmware update files freely available on their website support pages, with clear instructions on how to burn a CD-ROM to perform the update or how to request a disc from them for a nominal fee. It's insane that us RP91 users have had to rely on some guy who fixes them to rip the firmware files for us and post them on the internet.
Exactly. I won't buy an expensive player because manufacturers don't provide an easy firmware upgrade. They could, but they would prefer you purchased a new player or pay a minimum of $50 to an "authorized service center" every time a dvd chokes your machine. You RP91 users know how easy a firmware upgrade can be. Would you have preferred to send your player away to a service center and paid a minimum of $50 plus shipping? Why shouldn't the guy with a Toshiba that chokes on "Dinosaur" be able to do the same thing you did? Why don't manufacturers make newer firmware available?

I'm surprised there has been no uproar over this. I can only assume that most people don't know that they should be able to do this simple upgrade at little to no cost in terms of either money or effort. I thought early adopters of new tech, and many members of this forum were early dvd adopters, would be the same guys who build their own maximum performance computers and flash their mobos. I guess I was wrong.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Forum statistics

Threads
356,808
Messages
5,123,537
Members
144,184
Latest member
H-508
Recent bookmarks
0
Top