American movie/show blu-rays play fine (as far as I’ve tested) but Sentai releases are a crapshoot. Some work, some don’t, even if the ones that don’t have the same stats as those that do, or American movies that do.
This is starting to be a real deal-breaker for me, to the point that I’m seriously considering canceling orders and returning the blu-rays that I have, namely the Gintama one that I just got yesterday. I can’t say that I really want to do that.
Any idea as to why this is, and how I can resolve it? Yes, my software player is pretty suck-tastic (they all are), but only Sentai releases have this problem. Funimation blurays play fine. This is brutal.
All this copy protection doesn’t do a darn thing besides screw over actual customers; the blu-ray rips of Gintama were already up on teh internets before the official release date, and they might be the only way I can watch these things on my PC.
I’ve long ago failed to see the reasoning in copy protection as it’s easily circumvented by anyone with who can run a search on a computer most of the time. I actually seem to have more of a issue with FOX Blu-ray’s then any other. I have two stand alone BD players both essentially the same except one has a built in memory and Wifi. I still remember all the issues those later Geneon distributed by Funimation DVD’s had because of copy protection and lets not forget Bandai Ent.
I find it sad when a outdated and useless idea ruins things. I also kind of find it sad that Blu-ray keeps having new copy protection come out. If the first ones did not do anything to stop certain people what makes them think adding a little more to it is going to do anything?
I honestly miss the good old days of having a player and game console that was not connected to the internet. Seemed to have a lot less issues. Maybe some older people that are probably the ones causing all this need to be replaced with people that know what the heck is going on in the world today.
Next thing you know we got toilets connected to the internet that won’t accept our waste.
I’ve had some issues with Bandai and Funimation blurays, but never any playback issues with Sentai. So I don’t know what to tell you. Also, looking at other anime forums, I don’t see anyone else complaining of playback issues like this either. When was the last time you updated your software?
The software claims that it is up-to-date, version wise. I’ve managed to find similar stories on the company’s support forum, but those seem to end up resolved on a per-disc basis.
The “updated” version of the software, which is available in a way I find to be pretty sketchy, costs more than the blu-ray drive itself and the only thing it claims to do that my version of the software doesn’t is play 3d blurays.
I mean, I could update the software at its exorbitant cost (more expensive than a stand-alone bluray player), but that doesn’t seem right considering that my version of the software claims that it will play any and all non 3d blurays already. What’s really sketchy is that the demo of the newest version does seem to play these Sentai releases.
In the meantime though, RightStuf was cool enough to switch all of my Sentai blu-ray orders to DVD. Sorry Sentai
I love HD but I’m really starting to hate bluray. I really wish that fans wouldn’t hate on the combo packs. If Sentai had combo packs I could buy the bluray and if it had issues on some of my players, I could watch the DVDs until I resolved it. I’d pay extra for that, but fan-rage on the internet and at industry panels makes me think I’m one of the few who would
I’m not proud to admit this, but the only way I could watch my Gintama blu-ray, since my ps3 isn’t where I am currently, was to rip and transcode the blu-ray. It took me about a minute on Google to find out how to do that. The copy protection didn’t stop potential piracy, but it did stop me from legally watching it in software. I don’t know how to describe how utterly and insanely ridiculous I think that is.
If you can hook a blu-ray player to the computer to use as the input, no copy protection will ever matter no matter how good it is. You might have to actually run the disc at normal speed to record and manually edit things, but you make one copy you can copy that ad infinitum. For a while there they were nuts with that crap on CDs and I defeated it easily on the ones I bought.
Yeah, I’ve heard some horror stories about some of the Bluray player software on computers. Another friend ran into the same problem. He can’t play any Fox titles released around Avatar and later due to newer DRM protection. To upgrade his software will cost more than what he paid for the drive.
I think I will just stick with my PS3, which is why I always recommended it during the early bluray days. There are definitely some issues with Bluray that need to be resolved. I still don’t think it should have been pushed out as early as it was.
The only blu-ray players I have are my ps3 (which isn’t usable) and the burner I bought and installed in my PC. Call me crazy, but I had this idea that blu-ray was just supposed to play without having to jump through hoops. Ripping the blu-ray took 20 minutes and transcoding the 15+ gig file (which I technically could have watched) to a much smaller 1.79 gig file took about an hour. To be able to watch the blu-ray’s content took me almost as much time as the Gintama movie is long. That’s a fail, a fail that’s totally on Sony and the blu-ray playback software. I’m betting (hoping) that Sentai is “innocent” in this.
I could pay for the rather sketchy upgraded software that I shouldn’t need, but the software costs ~3-5 Sentai dvd releases. Since I’m only having a problem with Sentai’s blurays, I’m starting to think that it is more economical to simply buy dvds.
I’ve contacted the blu-ray player’s company, hopefully they’ll have good news for me so I can spend my money on getting Towanoquon on blu-ray instead of having to pay to upgrade the software.
Every blu-ray I’ve ever had works fine on my non-network-connected PS3 which makes me annoyed that it can’t work on my PC. It makes sense that Sony would make sure that the PS3 would play blu-rays, but I still think it’s brutal that only the PS3 can play every bluray reliably. I don’t have my PS3 at the moment as I haven’t been using it much, the PC and the 360 have met my gaming needs since my online gaming crew is either on Steam or on XBL. Figures that as soon as I leave my PS3 behind I could finally use it.
Yeah, my PS3 is the most reliable BluRay player I have. I think only once in a while it has menu hiccups (can’t select things sometimes) but other than that, I’ve never had a DRM issue with it.
We had a (Samsung) BR player here in the office once that was so bad I wanted to punch it to the moon every time i had to watch something on it…(and it wasn’t even hooked up to the internet). I still have it sitting in one of my desk drawers, and I leer angrily at it every once in a while whilst reminiscing about the 12 times I had to watch Legend of the Dark King (Back when we were first messing around with the BluRay format)
I noticed that really the only player that seem to get a constant update when it comes to Sony is the PS3 it really seems like anymore once it’s more then a year old Sony forgets about the older Blu-ray players. My two I have both Sony’s I think it’s updated the firmware once since I’ve got them about two years ago. They constantly update the video services on the things though just not the firmware.
I think this may probably be why I always try to get a combo pack even if it cost a little more then the single Blu-ray release. Least that way I always have the DVD. Though in the case of X-Men First Class both the DVD and Blu-ray had issues. I traded that thing in three times before they agreed to give me store credit for the amount since they were not allowed to give me my money back unless it was the last one and I was not going to go back and forth six more times to they ran out of new copies. I think that and Star Driver disc 1 were my only Blu-ray’s that turning the BD-Live off did not fix the issue. Though in Star Drivers case the actually data layer of the disc was messed up .
Yeah, that’s why I still really recommend the PS3 when people are looking for a bluray or media player. It definitely has a lot less issues than others and Sony doesn’t ditch it.
Unfortunately, the PS3 makes for a really, really, really expensive stand-alone blu-ray player. It’s a racket…
Combo packs are such a brilliant idea. Before the Funimation lawsuit caused me to boycott their physical releases I bought a whole slew of combo packs from them before I even had blu-ray playback capability. It made sense, and it still does. Kinda bummed that I can’t really support it.
What makes a Funimation blu-ray different from a Sentai blu-ray? I’ve gone through even my friends’ blu-rays now and it really is only Sentai blu-rays that have this problem. What is being done to Sentai’s blu-rays that isn’t being done to every other blu-ray I’ve tried?
It’s not the resolution or sound or disc capacity…frustrating
The blu-ray “gods” have decided that I can watch the Eva movies and Madoka Magica, but only every other Sentai release.
Usually when there is a playback issue like that, it’s usually due to DRM software. Even when there is a certain feature on the disc that is not supported by the current software version, it usually plays, just without whatever the feature was. I know when I have had issues with Bandai or Funi blurays, a firmware update usually fixed them. Unfortunately, playback software on PC’s tend to screw over their users when it comes to software and firmware updates and often require you to purchase an upgrade or replace the software altogether. I know a lot of people that rarely use theirs anymore because of that.
Of course, we don’t know whether Sentai is choosing the DRM on their discs, or if it’s the standard protection that their replicator is using. It could also be something they are contractually obligated to use as well, especially since Sentai blurays are almost never gimped like Bandai and Funi discs that often have lossy audio or locked subtitles. It’s really hard to tell.
Like I’ve said, I’ve also checked other forums and this is the first time I’ve heard anything like this with their discs. People tend to post about even much smaller problems,like a one second click or pop in the audio, so if it was widespread, I’m sure there would be a thread or two on it. For instance, there have been several threads about the locked subs on Funi and NISA discs.
Maybe there aren’t many complaints because no one else is trying to watch Sentai blurays with the software and drive I’m using? I mean, it’s not like these things are bought by a lot of people (sadly)
I’m playing blurays that are newer or contemporaries of Sentai’s fine. I’m also playing blurays with equal or superior features and stats fine (even BD live titles work without issue). This does lead me to suspect that something done to sentai’s blurays when they’re made is causing the problem. drm sucks.
If I can only watch sentai blurays on a ps3 then that’s a major problem for me. Upgraded software seems to fix the problem, but as I’d only be upgrading to play Sentai blurays (as all others tested play without issue) it’s brutal as buying the software will cost me several Sentai blurays which kinda defeats the point. I haven’t heard back from the software company yet.
