New Sony DVDs Not Working In Some Players

An anonymous reader writes "It seems that the most recent DVDs released by Sony — specifically Stranger Than Fiction, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness — have some kind of 'feature' that makes them unplayable on many DVD players. This doesn't appear to be covered by the major media yet, but this link to a discussion over at Amazon gives a flavor of the problems people are experiencing. A blogger called Sony and was told the problem is with the new copy protection scheme, and they do not intend to fix it. Sony says it's up to the manufacturers to update their hardware."

Re:Gee.

[celticryan]

Nothing new to see here people, keep moving...

Dammit...

[Chouonsoku]

Now I can't make fun of Microsoft for having HD-DVDs that don't play on the Xbox 360.

once...

[cosmocain]

...upon a time i believed in a fairy tale. it was called "standardization and customer satisfaction".

thanks, sony, for transporting me to the real world.

In the case of Casino Royale...

[gardyloo]

...it's obviously the universe conspiring to keep people from watching the dreck. Wish I'd got it on this new media.

Bravo

[clem.dickey]

Nothing new to see here people, keep moving...

If I had mod points, then if I had a sense of humor, ... oh, nevermind.

they've solved the piracy problem

[User 956]

It seems that the most recent DVDs released by Sony -- specifically Stranger Than Fiction, Casino Royale, and The Pursuit of Happyness -- have some kind of 'feature' that makes them unplayable on many DVD players.

Yeah, that's the copy protection feature. Hollywood finally figured out that if you can view it, you can copy it. If they simply make the content unplayable, nobody can pirate the movie!

Re:Again?

[sokoban]

There's an old saying in Tennessee -- I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee -- that says, fool me once, shame on -- shame on you. Fool me -- you can't get fooled again.

Re:Stranger than Fiction

[someone1234]

Solution is obviously: Upgrade to linux and watch downloads.

Re:Stranger than Fiction

[Eternal Vigilance]

No, the solution is obviously to upgrade girlfriends.

(I realize that around here, unlike the rest of the world, that's more difficult than upgrading to Linux. ;-) )

Re:Gee.

[iminplaya]

And they keep coming back for more. Is this a Stockholm Syndrome* thing? "Pégame...pero no me dejes!"

*TNX

Re:Bait and Switch

[ScrewMaster]

Yes, well, in the U.S. at least we'll probably have to wait until we can get in that new President and Congress we ordered. The current ones are malfunctioning and in need of replacement.

Re:Stranger than Fiction

[larry bagina]

You've got a girlfriend?

Stranger than fiction, indeed!

Re:Dammit...

[kitsunewarlock]

This is slashdot. You can ALWAYS insult microsoft for SOMETHING.

Re:Gee.

[Anonymous Coward]

Funny, it didn't seem to take longer...

Re:Bait and Switch

[miskatonic alumnus]

Just draw a line around the perimeter of Washington DC with a magic marker. That'll fix it.

Re:they've solved the piracy problem

[edwardpickman]

I thought that was the reason for all the unwatchable movies being made? If you make the movies bad enough no one will want to see them so no one will go to the trouble of copying the movie. It's like owning a beater car in a big city. If the car is crappy enough no one will go to the trouble of stealing it.

Fancy a laugh

[theeddie55]

Ive got casino royale and having read this decided to try it on all the dvd players in my house (i live in a student house of computer scientists and engineers) so having tried it on going on for a dozen different players, the only player ive found that wont play it is a... guess which manufacturer (for those who dont want to play, its sony)

Re:Just boicott Sony

[owlnation]

Can I also add, that another of their entrepreneurial errors was to merge with Bertelsmann to create their music division Sony BMG.

That's the bright folks that brought you their first copy protection scandal. And Bertelsmann were the first company to use DRM on CDs.

(as an aside it's worth noting that Bertelsmann were involved with the Nazis and used Jewish slaves during WWII - they also lied about this all the way up to 2002),

When people talk about MS being evil, it's important to realize that there are far more evil companies out there. Here, with Sony BMG you have pure evil. At least 100 years of unspeakable crimes in one of their divisions - all neatly packaged up as family friendly entertainment.

Re:Bait and Switch

[Kjella]

Would that be the blast radius? If so, you forgot step 2.

Re:Happened to me

[whirred]

Go return it wherever you bought it, say it won't play, get one brand new and shrink-wrapped. Then return it the new shrink-wrapped one to the same store, or take it to WalMart/Costco and say it was a gift.

Re:Gee.

[sycomonkey]

I guess he meant "to make it take two minutes longer for a pirate to copy a DVD first"

Re:Works For Me

[TekPolitik]

They swapped it for a second brand new model. The second brand new model came with a 3 year warranty, and we're not up to the 2 years, 6 months mark yet.

I forgot to mention the real sweet part. The cost of the new player is always lower than the old player, but the way Philips do the replacements is this: they tell the store to do the old player as a defective return and refund the purchase price, then sell you the new player (Presumably Philips reimburses the store for the full cost of doing so). Each time the DVD player breaks down within the warranty period, Philips actually pays me to get a new DVD player.

Funny story...

[wilgibson]

I hadn't heard about this until the story was put up on here. I had borrowed Stranger Than Fiction a few weeks back from a friend, and watched it on my old PS2(2nd gen, not slimline). My sister wanted to watch it so he said I could give it to her. I was talking about this tonight at dinner and she mentioned it wouldn't play on here Sony Vaio at all. She had to try two other players in her house before finding one it would work on. neither of which were Sony.

Re:Not quite, I know all about this one.

[InterestingX]

if it was 12cm wide and shiny people would put in their player anyhow

That describes my 2 year old to the tee. You'd be surprised what we find in the VCR slot also.

Re:Gee.

[Anonymous Coward]

(7) Accidentally download a torrent from a server that tracks your IP.
(8) Sony asks your ISP to give up your name for copy right infringement and they comply.
(9) Get sued by the **AA just because some crappy movie wouldn't work.
(10) Decide to fight it (go to 11a) or just pay the discount rate (go to 11b).
(11a) Spend a lot of money on a prolonged trial regardless if you win or lose because the **AA will move to drop without prejudice if it looks like they may lose (You may never see the [/End]).
(11b) Spend $2000 and prove you are guilty without them having any real evidence to prove so. If the **AA wishes, go to 11a.

Re:Gee.

[BronsCon]

This is all a part of the Sony Customer Rage Assurance Program

Sony CRAP, for short

Re:A patch for this bug can be found here:

[Viceroy Potatohead]

there was an extremely annoying faint rectangular pattern moving...across the screen almost all the time

I'm pretty sure they call that "a Hollywood movie"...

Re:Gee.

[WrongSizeGlass]

Seriously, you literal-minded milksops are destroying the Slashdot I used to know and love.

Well, it's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it. And I, for one, have nothing better to do, though you might want to put some of the blame where it deservedly belongs ... squarely on the shoulders of Global Warming.

I own all three DVDs...

[ChePibe]

And no problems on my part.

They work fine in an older XBox, newer (last 18 months) Toshiba DVD Recorder, on my wife's older iBook, and on my newer (last gen) iBook as well.

I do get a kick out of Sony making their products incompatible with the rest of their product line, though. Especially given the premium they often charge for proprietary components that supposedly have better integration.

"Fully compatible with available DVD players"

[pruss]

Amusingly, Sony claims the ARccOS copyprotection system is "Fully compatible with available DVD players and drives" (http://www.sonydadc.com/products.copy.arccos.go).

What's so bad about that?

[Manchot]

It shouldn't be that hard to undo ARCCOS: just run it through COS!

Re:Gee.

[Anonymous Coward]

One of my roommates bought Casino Royale. To test it, I just grabbed it and ripped it in DVDFab Decrypter (XP inside of VMWare, with a Linux host). It ripped perfectly, including all extras.

Just out of spite I went ahead and ran DVD Shrink on the rip. I'll probably burn a few copies and leave them various places on my way to work tomorrow.

Re:Gee.

[CodeBuster]

Sony...like no other

Re:Consumer Math

[WeeBit]

Brilliant. Is it time to put Sony to bed with SCO yet?

Hell NO, we don't need those two making babies!

Re:Consumer Math

[Perseid]

The SCOny version of UNIX would come with the rootkits preinstalled.

Re:Again?

[Anonymous Coward]

That doesn't make sense! How can me be fooled once when you're twice me to be fooled you? And shame is once me, twice you when it should be henbasket.

I think you're a communist!

Re:Gee.

[tepples]

Making copies of DVD's isn't illegal

You live outside United States soil, right? HOw is the immigration policy where you live?

Completely going the wrong direction.

[Anonymous Coward]

The problem is people will end up getting what I liked to call a visual of the movie even if it is playable by the DVD player. I think Sony should just quit beating around the bush. They need to stop these illegal downloaders and rippers where it counts. I propose they quit including the movie with the DVD they buy. Instead, consumers must be forced two watch a 2 hour long RIAA copywrite warning screen. If they can't see the movie they can't rip it, right? Some people will say no one will buy a movie they can't play but who cares? Just so long as the illegal downloading stop.

Re:Gee.

[thegrassyknowl]

Global warming? Won't somebody, please, blame the children?

Re:Gee.

[HTH NE1]

Making copies of DVD's isn't illegal

You live outside United States soil, right? HOw is the immigration policy where you live?

Hey, don't forget to ask about their extradition policy too.