How come this Blu-Ray DVD won't play in my Blu-Ray player?

General Questions
#1

Last week, I got a copy of the new Muppet movie on Blu-Ray from Netflix. We have a Blu-ray player and have watched LOTS of blu-ray movies in the past.

I put the movie in to watch, it played the first 10 seconds… then nothing. Black screen. I pressed every button on my remote, trying to fast forward or skip a chapter or get a menu, nothing. Took the disc out, put it back in again. Turned everything on and off. Nothing. All we get is the first ten seconds, essentially the Disney Castle logo, then it stops.

I reported the disc as bad to Netflix, and they sent me another one.

Put it in last night and… same thing. Will not play.

What’s going on? Have never had problems with other Blu-Ray disks, though I admit, some can be quirky.

Edit: my Blu-Ray player is a Samsung, if that matters. This one.

#2

It may require newer features with your player (or, more likely, decryption keys/software). BluRay players are really mini computers that run software and this software is usually upgradeable via either an internet connection or by downloading a file from the manufacturer, putting it on a USB stick and inserting it into the player.

That’d be my first port of call.

#3

what is the make/model of your blueray player? How old is it?

If your blueray player supports it, its likely that it needs a firmware update. With my blueray player, I’ve had to do this once or twice before to get newer discs to play.

#4

Disney is notably hardcore at adding in copy protection gotchas on their discs to discourage people from ripping their movies. Some software can’t handle the tricks they add.

Ditto updating the firmware for your player. (It is surprising that a major brand 2011 model can’t handle it.) If that doesn’t work, then give up on renting recent Disney releases.

(One thing that works once in a while is to unplug the player for a while and try it again. But since this is a Disney disc …)

#5

Hey! That seemed to work. Thanks everyone.

(grumble grumble stoopid too-smart gadgets…)

#6

Glad to hear it.