Bad Mojo

[DennisMabry]

Saturday evening I got out my Blu-ray disc of Tom Petty's - Mojo and for some reason it would not load in my Sony BDP-S550. The player says loading and then it stops, nothing. If I hit Display it shows the audio at 24/48 but no menu screen, no way to navigate the disc. I tried again three different times on Sunday and it finally played on the third try after tirelessly messing with the search feature. Paul (dr simple) stopped by yesterday and I tried to play the disc and once again it wouldn't play. So he took the disc to his house and tried it on his Blu-ray player with no luck, it won't play. I take very good care of my discs. I didn't leave it in the sun, it isn't scratched, and it's clean. I've played this disc at least a dozen times in the past with no problems, so what has changed causing it to fail now? Has anyone else had trouble playing their copy of Mojo lately? BTW all of my other BD's play fine including the other two Tom Petty's. Could this have something to do with firmware updates?

Any thoughts or suggestions would be good!

Dennis

 

[wavelength]

When I have a disc that won't play I clean it with Pledge Multi Surface (Johnson). I'm not kidding.

 

[Bob Squires Jr]

When I have a disc that won't play I clean it with Pledge Multi Surface (Johnson). I'm not kidding.

I use Turtle Wax.

 

[DennisMabry]

Are you guys serious? I just use a slightly damp micro fiber towel. But what the hell, if it doesn't play what have I got to loose.

I couldn't see any defects on the disc, but it's probably not too good on the surface sliding it in and out of the cheap cardboard sleeve.

 

[wavelength]

I was once following a thread on another forum about "best cleaning agents for discs" or something to that effect. That's where I discovered Pledge Multi Suface. I've been using it when I have too ever since. Sorry I can't supply a link - it was a number of years back.

 

[dr. simple]

For my copy of "Damn the Torpedoes", I put the BD disc in a paper sleeve and then pried open the original case so the sleeve would fit inside. So then I'm not pulling the disc in and out of the original and it's somewhat protected by the paper sleeve.

By the way, Dennis: on my Sony BDP-S370, the disc loaded but did not respond to ANY remote commands, and then started playing the stereo layer. I believe it responded to the "next track" button, but that was all. I suppose someone who bought it for hi-res stereo wouldn't mind.

 

[Chris Gerhard]

It does sound like this disc has gone bad but the fact that it didn't play in two Sony players, BDP-S370 and BDP-S550, probably very similar players in terms of firmware status, design, and decoding chip would make me want to try it in a completely different design. A firmware change to the BDP-S550 since the last time the disc did play could be the culprit. Sony is absolutely the best with properly tested and properly developed firmware updates so that isn't likely the cause but Sony could have done something wrong this time. I own the BDP-S550 and although a big Tom Petty fan, don't have the Mojo disc.

If it won't play in another player, a request to exchange the disc would be my recommendation.

 

[DennisMabry]

It does sound like this disc has gone bad but the fact that it didn't play in two Sony players, BDP-S370 and BDP-S550, probably very similar players in terms of firmware status, design, and decoding chip would make me want to try it in a completely different design. A firmware change to the BDP-S550 since the last time the disc did play could be the culprit. Sony is absolutely the best with properly tested and properly developed firmware updates so that isn't likely the cause but Sony could have done something wrong this time. I own the BDP-S550 and although a big Tom Petty fan, don't have the Mojo disc.

If it won't play in another player, a request to exchange the disc would be my recommendation.

This was what I was thinking. Since the player is connected to an ethernet cable, it keeps the firmware updated. My suspicion originally was that a firmware update had somehow changed something that was working fine before. I will try it on another Blu-ray player soon for a comparison. If it works on another player, I will contact Sony to see if there may be a firmware update issue. If all else fails I could try to exchange the disc (through Amazon) but I have had the disc for a year and a half, so I'm not sure how sympathetic they would be.

Thank you all, for your suggestions and help!

 

[kap'n krunch]

Well, I'm not an expert, but logic dictates that if it's stored in a jewel case with a tight grip, the pits on the disc would degrade somehow just by taking it out, since it bends the disc.
I try to keep my discs loose or somewhere else.
Sorry and hope you get a replacement without hassle!!

 

[Chris Gerhard]

This was what I was thinking. Since the player is connected to an ethernet cable, it keeps the firmware updated. My suspicion originally was that a firmware update had somehow changed something that was working fine before. I will try it on another Blu-ray player soon for a comparison. If it works on another player, I will contact Sony to see if there may be a firmware update issue. If all else fails I could try to exchange the disc (through Amazon) but I have had the disc for a year and a half, so I'm not sure how sympathetic they would be.

Thank you all, for your suggestions and help!

If it won't play in a good, properly working Blu-ray player that isn't similar to those 2 Sony players, I would go directly to the company issuing the disc with a replacement request.

I do see some Blu-ray discs that won't play in specific players but I have several players and have not found any Blu-ray discs yet that won't play in any player, my second option is always my PS3 which has loaded every Blu-ray disc I have ever put in it. I have a BH200 for region B Blu-ray and HD DVD, I assume it will play Region C also but I have never had one of those. For whatever reason, it will refuse to load some Blu-ray discs on first try, I will guess about 5% of the Region A discs I have tried. I don't have the patience to try twice and just move it to the PS3 that sits close by. Other than that annoyance, the player has been a workhorse for me for 3.5 years and has played every Region B Blu-ray tried and 95% of the Region A Blu-ray discs. I wouldn't have kept it if not for the Region B playback because of the annoyance however. I will use an Oppo player for Blu-ray in both systems now and only use the LG BH200 for Region B discs to solve the issue.

 

[LizardKing]

Just as a side note - Mojo is now listed as "Temporarily out of stock." on Amazon....arghhhh.

 

[DennisMabry]

Well, to finally solve this puzzle, I ordered a new Mojo BD from Amazon back in November. They must be back in stock now, because one showed up yesterday. I put in the new disc and it loaded like a champ, played with no problem at all. What happened to the first disc? I haven't a clue. Weird huh?