Fox points to hardware for Silver Surfer Blu-ray problems
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 10/4/2007
OCT. 4 | 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment is aware of consumers experiencing playback problems on Oct. 2 Blu-ray Disc release The Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but the studio believes the issues are confined to a limited number of players.
According to postings on home theater enthusiast sites such as www.avsforum.com, complaints are arising from people running the disc on Samsung’s second-generation BD-P1200 model and LG’s first-generation dual-format BH100 player.
It’s unclear what specifically is tripping up the players, Fantastic Four does boast some of Fox’s most advanced technology yet, including BD-Java-powered extras and BD+ copy protection.
Steve Feldstein, Fox senior VP of marketing communications, points out that overall reviews have been favorable for Fantastic Four. He advises consumers having difficulties to contact manufacturer support lines directly.
“We are releasing more and more advanced interactive titles, and consumers should lobby their hardware manufacturers to release firmware upgrades post haste,” said Feldstein. “The title was well-reviewed and playing well on updated players.”
Samsung “should have something up soon,” according to a support line staffer, who said he had received some complaints from those viewing Fantastic Four on the P1200.
The LG dual-format player is already considered weakened by the fact that it can’t fully playback HDi, the interactivity technology for the HD DVD format.
