Is that it for firmware upgrades on s370 Blu-ray?

[NimChimpsky]

Hi there - i purchased the s370 last summer from a large Hypermarket, for my holiday home in Spain. Within a month of puchasing I was pleased to see a new firmware came out (June 2011). This improved the number of codecs that play on the machine (above the previous factory build) along with the internet content being enhanced. However, it is still very choosy and i find many things (especially 720p and 1080p) either state resolution errors or have issues with frame rate etc. Also I still cant play AVC files from my Lumix camera without first converting. By contrast, i have an LG TV in the UK that has had no firmware update since Feb 2011 and it plays all of these files without problem (via USB pen drive). I've just checked the sony site today, for the 1st time in months and there is still no updated firmware - but have seen many other Blu-ray player models had an upgraded firmware in November. It would be very dissapointing if you've stopped updating this model, as, although I understand it has been in production for a couple of years, it is still sold new in many outlets. Stopping the updates on it would pretty much render it obsolite for me, only six months after purchasing it. I look forward to your comments. Thanks

[Catmambo · Accepted solution]

Hi

The 370 was released in Feb 2010 and went end of life in Feb 2011 so its just about 2 years old now. There may be future firmware updates and other bug fixes, but these are unlikley to add significant new functionality to the device I'm afraid.

Whilst codec support might not be ideal, its DLNA enabled so you can certainly stream the majority of files to it by using a good DLNA server like Serviio, negating the need for conversion.

Thanks

[Bravia55HX]

contact Sony and wind up at a call centre in bangladesh only to be told "its within specification!!"

[G-Szah]

Hello!

I was just wondering the same thing. I've had it now for about one year and like you I was wery happy for the first firmware update. Now I see the newer BDP having features such as fb, twitter and skype. And BDP-S370 is missing. This can't be right! I thought when I bought it that I will buy a more expensive device, so that I'd receive new updates for a longer period of time. Sorry to say: I was wrong 😕

[NimChimpsky]

Hi  there - thanks for the rapid response - i've  been mad-busy, so just  got around to checking for the response. Generally i'm  disappointed  with the end of updates situation. I also have an ex600 bravia tv,   which is also awful for latest codecs (no mkv mp4 x264 - which in this  day and  age is a joke). I also fear that will go past its sell-by in  the same manor,  without ever being brought up to date. The  codec/firmware area really is Sony’s bête  noire.

Anyway,  regarding the s370bluray – i’d already tried the dnla server in   windows media player and even downloaded Servillo. Servillo was better  featured,  but the encoding was poor quality by the time it reached the  screen (defeating  the object). Also my I7 laptop was melting away with  the fans going during this  process – i don’t want that going for hours  extra in a day, just to make my  Bluray do what it should do on its own  anyway. Servillo was a real memory hog as  well – so had to get rid.

The  good news is, i found an easy solution, that i recommend to anyone with  a  temperamental  sony player. Download TSMUXER (it’s freeware 1.10.6  is the  latest) and open up your files that don’t work. You’ll almost  certainly find  it’s the profile of the file (mkv or mp4 being above 4.1  that throws the  player). I believe the PS3 has the same issue – and  i’m sure both are down to  firmware not being refreshed by sony to  understand this profile – it has nothing  to do with resolution or bit  rate or container or any of those thing you might  think. Anyway.  tsmuxer will allow you to change the value to 4.1 and there is no   recode taking place so it take about 1 minute with almost no processing  power  required. You’re left with a .ts file that the bluray plays no  problem. I  went through every video that didn’t work and this solved it  every single time.  Hope this helps someone.

****just  adding this as i've found that a tiny (200k) freeware prog called H264  level editor (currently 1.2.0) does the same thing, i.e allowing you to  change a vid file to 4.1 version. Better still it keeps the extention  the same, where as tsmuxer changes the file to m2ts which adds a bit to  the file size. Both make no changes to the audio or video though, so  quality is identical. A quick search will find you both options. (High  5.1 is the most common file setting that throws the BR player by the  way).

Message was edited by: NimChimpsky

Message was edited by: NimChimpsky