Digital Home Thoughts: My First Blu-ray Experience? It Sucked

That's a blown-out DLP bulb from my Toshiba TV. What does that have to do with Blu-ray? Keep reading. Back in November, I finally got around to re-doing my home theatre rig. I was replacing the DVD player, the amp, and wiring everything through the amp via HDMI (a first for me). After I got it all connected, my wife and I sat down to enjoy our first Blu-ray movie: Hellboy II [Affiliate]. Being the comic/superhero geek that I am, I was really looking forward to Hellboy II but never managed to see it in the theatres. So I put in the disc, and start the movie. I was puzzled to see a text overlay in the upper left corner that says "BONUS VIEW" right from the first frame of the movie. I expected it to go away eventually, but it doesn't.

On the Samsung remote control I pressed the Bonus View button expecting to toggle this text off the screen. It didn't do anything. Puzzled, I started searching through the Hellboy II disc menu, thinking maybe there was some option for Bonus View that's somehow turned on by default. I couldn't find anything, so we stopped the movie and watched a regular DVD instead. Not a great first impression there Mr. Blu-ray!

I thought that perhaps this was a bug related to the firmware on the Samsung Blu-ray player (I've heard so much about buggy Blu-ray firmware), so I went to the Samsung Web site and put the latest firmware onto a blank CD. I put it in the DVD player, and a few seconds after it loaded up the update started - and I heard a loud "pop" come from my TV! The display vanished. I've never had a DLP bulb blow up on me before, so I didn't recognize it at first. After unplugging the TV and counting the number of times the front light blinks, I realized it was a blown DLP bulb. This is a bit surprising, because I didn't think I'd watched the TV enough to warrant a blown bulb, but these things happen with DLP TVs. The timing of it blowing exactly as the Blu-ray firmware was updating is more than a little strange, but I can't think of any way in which the Blu-ray player would stress the display bulb on the TV.

$225 and two weeks later, I finally had my TV back up and running. The Blu-ray firmware update completed, and I eagerly put in Hellboy II...only to see the Bonus View text still there. The button on the remote still won't turn if off. Disgusted, I gave up. A few days later we watched Speed Racer on Blu-ray, with no such Bonus View problems - and it looked great. Three night ago, I put in the movie Wanted, and my arch-nemesis Bonus View popped up again! Pressing the button would turn on the Bonus View, unlike Hellboy II, but exiting from the Bonus View content wouldn't get rid of the damn message. This time I decided to consult The Oracle, and wouldn't you know it, there are others complaining about the same problem as me. I found the solution, which entails going into the DVD system menu, then going Setup > Display Setup > Screen Message > Off. I checked it with the disc for Wanted, and no more Bonus View text overlay.

Why would Samsung have the Bonus View text overlay appear by default and not go away when the button is pressed? I have no idea. I can't think of a single reason why someone would want to see the words Bonus View plaster across their screen when watching a movie - I chalk it up to the generally sloppy job everyone has done with Blu-ray players. Adding insult to injury, over the past two months I've had four regular DVDs that either wouldn't play at all in the Samsung BD-P1500 (Dexter Season 2), or play partially then lock up partway through (We Were Soldiers, The Sum of All Fears). The Samsung BD-1500 is more troublesome and frustrating than any previous DVD player I've owned. My first couple of months with a Blu-ray player hasn't been very impressive, and as far as Blu-ray players go, I certainly can't recommend the BD-P1500 in any way.

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He wishes HD-DVD had won the high-def wars.

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