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New Blu-Ray Player Problem – Crank 2

September 14, 2009 By Doogie - Copyright - All Rights Reserved

We just ran into a new Blu-Ray player problem. The problem manifests itself during the boot process where only a small window of the video is visible in the center of the screen.

We tried to play Crank 2 on our Sony BDP-BX1 Blu-Ray player. The boot process appeared to work fine until the first full video scene is supposed to appear, which is a movie preview. Only about a 10 inch by 10 inch square of the image is displayed in the center of the screen on our Sony 52 inch HDTV, and the same phenomenon occurs if you try to switch to the main menu. Only a small area in the center displays any video.

The BDP-BX1 is Profile 2 player and is supposed to be fully compatible with all new Blu-ray features, including BD Live. It is connected to the web and all player updates have been done.

We did find the solution, but it was through trial and error and “best guess” troubleshooting. The Crank 2 disk touts the introduction of a new BD Live menu system. That was the first clue. One would naturally assume that performing all of the firmware updates would resolve the problem, but we were wrong about that. All the latest firmware updates were installed. The clue was a message that appears during the Blu-ray disc boot process for Crank 2. We saw a message that displays in a box that reads, “Checking for updates.” At first we assumed that this meant that it was checking to see if all firmware updates were downloaded for the player. What it appears to mean is that it is checking to see if all BD Live updates have been downloaded to the memory in the player.

Profile 2 players have a USB port in the back, which is typically labeled “EXT.” This is for adding memory to the player and appears to be memory reserved for special Blu-ray disc features. We used a standard 1 gigabyte Cruzer USB flash drive, cleared the drive of all programs and files, and inserted it into the Ext slot. You do not need to buy any special memory from Sony or any other player manufacturers. Almost any standard USB flash drive should work.

After installing the USB drive, the next time we booted Crank 2 and hit the “Checking for updates” message, the message changed to “Downloading update.” This was not a standard player update, because while those occur a message displays on the front of the player. No message appeared on the player display. The download took about one minute. After completing, the boot process resumed and then the full video display appeared. We watched Crank 2 without any further problems.

This was one of those strange and unexpected technical problems that may only appear on players with insufficient onboard memory for storing updates or those that have run out of available onboard memory. The good news is that it is easy to resolve simply by adding additional memory with a USB flash drive. USB drives are very inexpensive. The manual for our Sony Blu-ray player says that the USB drive should have at least a one gigabyte capacity.

Some of the newer players from Panasonic and other manufacturers use an SD card for extended memory. If you are having problems with Crank 2, check the back of your Blu-ray player and if a memory slot exists, add the appropriate memory. A one or two gigabyte USB drive or SD card is all that you need. You also need an Internet connection to perform the appropriate update.

Filed Under: Home Theater

Comments

  1. Chris says

    September 26, 2009 at 11:02 am

    Thanks for this! I have the same player and I wanted to watch the same DVD — I happened to have a spare 2GB usb drive, and I got it to start downloading the update, but it didn’t finish successfully. However, I was still able to watch the movie! I never realized I had this external memory slot before — that will allow me to check out more of those BD-Live disks.

  2. Doogie says

    September 26, 2009 at 11:18 am

    We received a notice from Netflix indicating that the discs are the root of the problem.

    “Due to a technical problem with the Blu-ray version of Crank 2: High Voltage, some Blu-ray players have not been able to play this title.

    We are working with our distributor to get replacement discs as quickly as possible and expect to receive them within a couple of weeks.”

    This has to be one of the biggest screw-ups in the short history of Blu-ray movies. If you bought the disc and cannot get it to work, you might want to check with the retailer you bought it from to see if the studio is offering replacements.

  3. Cliffy says

    October 4, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    Thanks for the info, it solved the problem. Just had to run out and buy a USB stick! Nice of the Blu Ray disc producers to tell us about the problem.

  4. Jim says

    October 12, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I have a Sony BRD-S350 & I have the same problem. With the Crank 2 brd all I get is a tiny box in the center of my screen. The video store clerk told me I have to connect my brd player to the internet while playing the disc. I talked to Sony support & they confirmed I need to connect the ethernet cable to the internet & plug in a flash memory device to the USB port. That sounds like a drag? I’m concerned that it affect my blue ray disc player & all future blue ray discs will have the same problem?

  5. Jean-Claude Beland says

    November 3, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    I have a Panasonic SABT200 Blue Ray & the same problem was happening with my bleu-ray. I buy my self a SD card with 4 GB, put it in my blue ray and guest watt every thing work OK.

    Thanks for your help.

    J-C.

  6. Chip PA says

    January 19, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    Good, so I am not crazy.
    A friend linked me to this page, I got the EXACT same issues and messages etc on my BDP-S360. I exchanged one disc for another and that did the same thing so returned to Best Buy not knowing then that it was not an isolated issue.

  7. Chris AZ says

    February 8, 2010 at 7:22 pm

    Had the exact same issue, lol…my brother returned the BD disc because we thought the disc was bad. Added the Ext. memory and all is good. Thanks for the information, it really helped.

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