When is a Blu-Ray not a Blu-Ray?
Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:31 pm
Hello to everyone
Before a recent inter-club challenge match I was contacted by a knowledgeable member of the competing club to ask if some of their entries could be supplied on a USB memory stick. My stock reply was yes, but with the ever expanding range of codecs being employed we couldn't absolutely guarantee playback 'on the night without prior testing' so it would be best to bring along a Blu-Ray disc as well.
Along came the night of the competition, and Blu-Ray discs were duly presented, and to my surprise (and not a little embarrassment) one of the Blu-Ray discs would not play back. It appeared to register in the machine, showing the film's menu page, but a generic error message along the lines of "unrecognised format" (can't remember the exact wording) was displayed. After several unsuccessful playback attempts were made, we continued with other sections of the competition whilst one of our club members, on a whim, nipped home to collect the club's 'old' Blu-Ray player. The previously errant Blu-Ray disc played back perfectly in this player.
We have a special club meeting next week where we discuss all manner of club aspects, and I know this issue will come up, especially in the light of recent expensive equipment upgrades to enable us to (try to) play films on media other than Blu-Ray discs. I believe the software used to burn the Blu-Ray disc in question was a number of years old, possibly of a similar vintage as the club's older Blu-Ray player, but I was surprised that the new upgraded equipment appears not to be able to read what purport to be older Blu-Ray 'codecs/standards'.
This is the first and so far only time a Blu-Ray disc has failed to play, but I think it's something worth mentioning. Do any of our more knowledgeable members have any idea or comment as to this potential issue? It would be useful to at least try and present a plausible explanation at next week's club meeting before all hell breaks loose!
John
Before a recent inter-club challenge match I was contacted by a knowledgeable member of the competing club to ask if some of their entries could be supplied on a USB memory stick. My stock reply was yes, but with the ever expanding range of codecs being employed we couldn't absolutely guarantee playback 'on the night without prior testing' so it would be best to bring along a Blu-Ray disc as well.
Along came the night of the competition, and Blu-Ray discs were duly presented, and to my surprise (and not a little embarrassment) one of the Blu-Ray discs would not play back. It appeared to register in the machine, showing the film's menu page, but a generic error message along the lines of "unrecognised format" (can't remember the exact wording) was displayed. After several unsuccessful playback attempts were made, we continued with other sections of the competition whilst one of our club members, on a whim, nipped home to collect the club's 'old' Blu-Ray player. The previously errant Blu-Ray disc played back perfectly in this player.
We have a special club meeting next week where we discuss all manner of club aspects, and I know this issue will come up, especially in the light of recent expensive equipment upgrades to enable us to (try to) play films on media other than Blu-Ray discs. I believe the software used to burn the Blu-Ray disc in question was a number of years old, possibly of a similar vintage as the club's older Blu-Ray player, but I was surprised that the new upgraded equipment appears not to be able to read what purport to be older Blu-Ray 'codecs/standards'.
This is the first and so far only time a Blu-Ray disc has failed to play, but I think it's something worth mentioning. Do any of our more knowledgeable members have any idea or comment as to this potential issue? It would be useful to at least try and present a plausible explanation at next week's club meeting before all hell breaks loose!
John