Pioneer 810 Problem Playing Movies

[scissors]

I am having problems playing three movies: Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction and The USA vs. John Lennon on my Pioneer 810. Anybody else having these problems and is there something else to do besides sending my machine in for firmware update?

[turnipsun]

I think I might be having the same problem..

On some DVD's my tivo just freezes when pressing play on DVD..

I also have a Pioneer 810, actually I have 3, and on everyone one it freezes..

It is funny this just happened last night with Casino Royal..

I figured there was no fix for this issue.. but hopefully I am wrong..

Any thoughts anyone?

Chris

[scissors]

Casino Royale is also from Sony, so there may be something going on with the way they are manufacturing discs. Pioneer thinks I may need a free "firmware" update. I have also written to Sony and will post if I find out anything.

[rcobourn]

I would think twice about getting that firmware upgrade. Whenever anyone has replaced a drive in a Pioneer 810, the burning feature no longer works, and that seems to be tied to the unit seeing a specific firmware. Unless they have an upgraded firmware that is compatible with the burning capability (which I doubt), you'll be trading burning for the ability to watch these Sony discs. I'd take a pass on that trade, I have other DVD players.

[TR6cra]

I'm having the same problem playing Casino Royale and my kids Barnyard movie on my Pioneer Elite DVR 57H. I called Pioneer and they said they know of the issue and they would need to work with Tivo on a software update. Go through legal and all that BS. No ETA. I'm not sure if the person I talked to knew what they were talking about that's what they told me. Pisses me off a $1200.00 machine won't play a disc and my $100.00 Sony player does.

[swerdna]

I also have had a problem with not being able to play Sony DVD's, (Running with Scissors, Casino Royal, etc.). Noticed that the problem is a recent one. Have not had any problems for the 2 1/2 years I've owned the Pioneer DVR 810H.
Getting the run around from Pioneer.
What is the general process for getting "Upgrades"?

[robomeister]

I'm hoping that they do figure out a way to update the firmware in the Pioneer TiVos. This would be great. It would extend the life of my TiVos if my burner goes bad.

I've tried installing similar DVD writers in my Pioneers (DVR-105, -A05, -106, -A06, -107, -108 and -109), with no success (no burn ability). It would be great if the TiVo itself could update the firmware in the DVD writer. The software currently displays the firmware version in the DVD writer (even the incompatible ones), so it must read it from the writer in some form. Therefore, it could potentially read the firmware info, determine if the firmware is "TiVo compatible" and update it if it is not. This would let us who like fixing our own equipment to put in any compatible writer and the TiVo would self correct. But this is a dream of mine that might not happen, because it would require TiVo and Pioneer to work together on a product that went out of production years ago. Also, the number of units is relatively low, compared to other S2s. But I can always hope.

Just my 2 cents.

robomeister (hoping for a DVD writer miracle)

[swerdna]

If it is possible for Tivo to update the unit while it is just sitting there on your shelf is it not possible that an update was made that now manifests itself as a problem playing Sony DVD's?
I did not have any problems until lately.

[scissors]

Pioneer was telling me that I would have to ship my machine to S. California, if they even have a fix. They are in the process of testing the movies in their lab. Oddly the same Sony discs also crash my DVD player software on my computer. It just started happening within the past month. Everything else works fine except for the new Sony films.

It would be nice if they could update it through the phone!

[talktokyleinct]

My Pioneer 810 just started rebooting when I try to play ANY dvd... it started after I tried to watch Stranger Than Fiction and it froze and I had to unplug it to reboot... Any ideas??

[carlmuck1]

"Man of the Year" and "RV" played OK on my DVR 810 in the last week, but several others (e.g., "Zoom", "Over the Fence") do not play, the system just presents the "Please wait..." forever. Need to unplug the box to restart. Just today I put in "The Holiday" and it presents the "Please wait..." message, then the TiVo menu's start to re-build, and then the system re-boots.

This is really stupid. How can I figure out when the latest software update occurred. It seems to me that it has to be an TiVo problem. I had no issues at all with this box for 2 years, and then end of Feb this all started going south.

c.

[swerdna]

For what it is worth....I would agree that TiVo is at the base of this recent problem.

[rcobourn]

And I would point the blame at Sony. It's a good bet it's another DRM issue, and Sony has been at the head of the pack on doing screwy things with DRM. I picked up a copy of Casino Royale a few days ago and just tried it out in the Pioneer 810. Yep, Please wait.. forever.

[watstein]

Ok I have had the same problem with Sony DVD's in my 810 as well as my Toshiba SDH-400 and my regular DVD players from Toshiba. I called Toshiba and they are sending me a firmware update for my regular player but I think the sony problem is everywhere and sony is getting worse. What I noticed is in my toshiba is if i put it in it would spin and then sit and then if I hit top menu it would play but I couldn't come back to where I left it. But it's gotten worse with the release of Rocky Baloba I couldn't do that so I think sony is encoding them for blueray and not fixing it for SD DVD.

[rclark]

And I would point the blame at Sony. It's a good bet it's another DRM issue, and Sony has been at the head of the pack on doing screwy things with DRM. I picked up a copy of Casino Royale a few days ago and just tried it out in the Pioneer 810. Yep, Please wait.. forever.

Yep, having the exact same issue here with Casino Royale & Pioneer 810... a possible DRM issue was my first thought as well... :mad:

[schrambo]

Yep, having the exact same issue here with Casino Royale & Pioneer 810... a possible DRM issue was my first thought as well... :mad:

Same here... Casino Royale is permanently stuck... Sounds like there's no fix available yet??

[dsm]

I also had problems for the first time ever this weekend with my 810 playing back rented movies - Casino Royale and Rocky Balboa. Both Sony releases, so I'm thinking the problem is of their making. Of interest, I decided to use my recently connected HTPC to play back the movies. On auto-load, a new Sony screen comes up with some options. I'm thinking that they put some auto-load software on the disks that cripples the playback on certain DVD players, including the 810. Try it on your computer ...

Sony is really starting to tick me off with their antics ... :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Taldon]

I have the same problem...any new Sony DVDs do not play on my 810, however they do play on the $20 walmart special.

Not happy.... :down:

[tjkc]

I'm having the same problem. Can't play Casino Royale or Open Season, both from Sony. So far Sony owes me $9.00 in rental fees. Like I'll ever see that.

Not nice...

[Taldon]

I contacted Pioneer about the Sony DVD problem on the 810H specifically, although I'm sure it applies to other models as well. The tech person told me that it is a known issue and that Pioneer and Tivo are working on a fix for these systems.

An update will be provided via Tivo download. However, he said that they could not provide an ETA on when a fix would be available.

So all I can say at this point is hang in there, a fix is coming.


- T

[scissors]

I just called Pioneer and got sort of the same info as you. They said they still weren't sure how it was going to be fixed. It could be through a TiVo phone call, a DVD or by physically sending the machine back to Southern California for a firmware update. If you get a case number from Pioneer they will notify you when it is fixed.

[cspringall]

I can't believe they haven't fixed this yet. It's obviously a know issue, and it looks like it affects all Pioneer units. Mine does the same thing, just tried to watch Pursuit of Happyness with Will Smith, and it just restarts the Pioneer unit when I try to play it.


Come on Pioneer and Tivo, lets get this fixed!

[Dan203]

I had this happen the other day when trying to watch Saw 3. Wouldn't play on our 810H, but played fine on the Toshiba DVD+RW TiVo.

Dan

[detayls]

Just got the DVD "The Pursuit of HappyNess" from Netflix.

Put it in the 810 and pressed play. The TiVo rebooted.

Put it in my Mac G5 and it plays fine although it does not show the files in the Finder. I'm pretty sure this is some sort of Copy Protection issue.

Like everyone else I anxiously await a fix.

David :mad:

[beave1929]

I wonder if it has anything to do with the 'Autorun' feature Sony is putting on these discs for 'enhanced computer playback.' Both stanger than fiction and persuit of happyness have it. The only two discs I have on hand to try.

[rcobourn]

:down: Well, forewarned, I didn't try "The Pursuit of Happiness" in the Pioneer, but in my old Sony DVD player. It played fine there until I tried to eject the disc, and the unit froze up.. at least it wouldn't eject the disc, or do a full stop (still showing the menu, but frozen). I had to power cycle it to eject the disc. You'd hope that Sony would have at least tested their new discs against their own line of players.

[Bossoh]

I also am having the above mentioned problems with my Pioneer 810H.

It won't play Casino Royale.

It reboots the Tivo/DVD player as soon as it tries to play the Pursuit of happiness.

[Beachbum55]

I ran into the same problem. I tried playing Rocky Balboa and Pursuit of Happiness and the both consistenly re-booted my Pioneer 810H. Plays fine on the old Toshiba player and Blood Diamonds (Warner Bros) plays on the 810H.

I first called Netflix, thinking that it might be some sort of new DRM that they had implemented. Netflix hadn't heard of the problem and directed me to Pioneer.

I guess Sony didn't learn from their last DRM PC fiasco.

This really sucks. I hope they fix this soon.

[detayls]

Is there a list somewhere of which DVD's do this on the 810?

Is there some other way of distinguishing likely bad disks?

Thanks.

David :)

[rcobourn]

Any recent disc that says "Sony Pictures" on it is likely to be a problem.

[scissors]

Yes, ALL Sony releases starting from about Feb. and also ALL Lionsgate releases. I have also heard there are problems with certain new Disney releases but don't know any titles.

I talked to Pioneer yesterday and they said they are still working on the problem, but they have no estimated time for a fix, or how the fix will be delivered.

[detayls]

What is a good tech support number for Pioneer?

I figure the more of us complain, the higher the support priority.

David :cool:

[Dan203]

Has anyone got the new software (8.3?) and tried any of these movies? I'm wondering if this is something they might have fixed in the new version.

Dan

[scissors]

The Pioneer Customer Support Number is 800-421-1404. I reported Running with Scissors, Stranger than Fiction and The U.S. versus John Lennon. Maybe somebody can let them know about other titles.

How do I know which version of software I have? Or is that just for machines that are tied into home networks?

[TiVoPony]

Hi guys,

What you've described isn't unique to TiVo products - it's an issue that a number of DVD products are having with new disks manufactured by Sony. Sony has acknowledged the issue, and I've been given the following information to pass along:

Sony is providing replacement discs to customers that have had problems. Customers can call Sony Pictures Home Entertainment customer service at 800.860.2878 for replacement discs.

Sorry you ran into this (I've noticed it recently myself at home, on non-TiVo product), but it is not an issue with your TiVo box.

Here's an article discussing the Sony issue. (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070418-sony-to-replace-incompatible-dvds.html)

Thanks,
Pony