I recently purchased a SVR-HDT500 PVR and immediately upgraded the firmware from the factory installed version (4.10.r7993) to the latest version (4.21.r8585). I tried to play some MP3 audio files loaded on a FAT32 formatted USB hard drive and in all cases the unit couldn't play them. This is the first Sony product I have come across that cannot play my MP3 audio files. The unit can play my XviD encoded AVI videos which contain MP3 audio streams. It is therefore strange that the unit cannot play my MP3 audio files. The main difference between the MP3 audio in my AVI files is that the audio stream is CBR (constant bit rate) whereas my MP3 audio files are VBR (variable bit rate). I therefore re-encoded some of my audio files using CBR. These CBR MP3 files are playable on the SVR-HDT500. Is the new firmware responsible for this restiction in MP3 audio playback or has it always been present with this device? If it is an inherent restriction then why haven't Sony made it clear in the user manual that the SVR-HDT500 cannot play VBR MP3 files?
Message was edited by: stnorth78
Message was edited by: stnorth78
