Tuesday, August 24, 2010

DRM Strikes Again: Samsung Blu-ray Firmware Update Means No Warner Or Universal Movies

This story struck a chord today, though my distaste for DRM is not a secret.
"owners of Samsung Blu-ray players have been discovering that the latest firmware update means that movies from Warner Bros. and Universal don't play. Instead, they just lock up thanks to the DRM built into Blu-ray."
My Panasonic DMR EX75 DVD recorder has decided it doesn't want to play my DVDs any more.

I tried to copy something from my HDD to a DVD, the first time I’ve ever attempted to do this.  After 2 hours of apparently copying the programme to the disc, the machine indicated the DVD disc was damaged and it had not copied properly. I pressed the ok button and removed the disc.

The system still registers that there is a disc in the machine even though there is not. Now it will no longer play any of my DVDs. It gives a clunking and whirring noise followed by a No READ error when I insert a movie DVD disc.


I've tried switching it on and off, unplugging the machine for 20 minutes and plugging it back in - standard simple fixes. The problem remains. If it is just a case of dust in the DVD head I'm not averse to lifting the lid and cleaning it.  The clunking and whirring, however, suggests the disk drive may need replacing - ridiculously expensive and a bit of a cheek that it should fall over the first time I try to copy to it from the HDD.  On the other hand if it is the DRM in the machine throwing a wobbly I'd be equally irritated.  In either case I've now got a less than fully functional HDD/DVD gadget sucking electrons out of the wall.  Any suggestions on possible simple fixes gratefully received.

No comments: