So what was your solution for the "next" button issue with older Blu-ray players?

How about the related problem that you can't return from play to the most recent menu?

Peter - you asked about a solution for older Blu-ray players with the
"next" button issue -and that have expired the run of their firmware updates. I would conclude that if you are only authoring for that population of players - then John's described top menu change is probably the way to go.

These kind of problems made their appearance in the first generation of CD-writers and DVD players many years ago. The difference in the technology of the Blu-ray is that this kind of optical disc player is the most sophisticated/read that complicated type of firmware/disc ever attempted in the consumer electronics market. It is fair to say that if you buy a new manufactured Blu-ray player with firmware dated later than September 2011 - you not only get an optical disc player with mechanical parts - you also get a very powerful computational capacity in the solid state firmware of the system.

Now throw in the reluctance in licensing agreements for Blu-ray home authoring by certain parts of the industry. Well the manufacturing trajectory has been very uneven - and the kinks not taken out as rapidly as the CD/DVD evolution. Hence a large population of older (maybe obsolete?) set-top players with incompatible playing methods.

This is why I use such a large test-bed for production quality checks. If I had found otherwise such a test-bed would not have been necessary.

Doug

Thanks. I'll see if there is a firmware update for my Blu-ray box.

Do you have any comment about not being able to return directly to the most recent menu with Blu-ray although you can with DVD? My network media player also has this problem

I test every authored release in at no-less than 15 different players of different age and manufacturer. Yes, that is a large test array but it is absolutely necessary if you are serious. The upshot of that is the "Next-Button" issue goes away for newest releases in firmware for a variety of (but not all) manufacturers.
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I am not following here.

If you are testing on 15 different players then on a lot of your test players the "Next button issue" occurs?

So then what?
Do you include a note when you sell them with a disclaimer written on it?

In terms of the firmware updates perhaps you haven't read though the threads on this issue. Let me quote from DVD ARCHITECT 5.0/5.2 BLU-RAY-DISABLED CHAPTERS

dBritta1 had correspondence with Nate P from SCS after sending him a sample disc created with DVDA. Here are some of the statements from the SCS rep:

There appears to be inconsistencies in the playback of the disc.

Let's take the Samsung BD-P1200 that the disc worked properly on for the SCS rep. The last firmware update for that player was April 2010. Yet the disc played fine on that player.

Now lets take the Panasonic DMP-BD50 that the disc did NOT work on for the SCS rep. The last firmware update for that player was as recent as November 2011. That was only a little over two months ago. Yet the disc DID NOT WORK on that player.

Later in the exchange the SCS rep said:

I have done some testing with the files you have submitted. I am seeing some mixed results. Some of the players that I have tested with, work as described. Some other players work without issue after returning to the main menu.

That was last November and That's where it ended.

On January 6, 2012 Arthur.S added a post to that thread. In it he stated that he had this problem with an older Sony so he went out and bought a brand new Toshiba player and STILL has the problem.

So Doug,

I am sure your intentions are merely to be helpful to those who are frustrated with this issue, but the firmware argument doesn't seem to hold up in light of the examples I cited.

If your discs do not exhibit this problem on fifteen different players then perhaps you are authoring your discs with settings in DVDA that are different than some of us and we would all like to go over those step by step if you don't mind.

Although I hate the interface and the awful menus my three year old $50 Ulead DVD Movie Factory 6 plus software creates BR discs that DO NOT exhibit this problem.

Thanks,

John

craftech /John

My intentions are to be helpful. I never suggested that my test-bed of set-top players all pass the "next" issue. These players represent the gamut of the first generation to the latest with many in between.
What I did mean to suggest was that the trend line indicates more and more of the newest players do pass this particular test. BUT that does not mean that all new players do. Recall how I said the firmware development has not been smooth. Many a player has been "ruined" or downgraded in performance by a late firmware release.

I am convinced that those who know, know what is what (at SCS even as well). The feedback that a tech rep says research results were inconsistent is an indication in your quotation of them. What I conclude is that they are not seeing a high-priority /relative to the cost of their doing something about it.

If they realize that later generations of firmware are "erasing" the symptoms, I predict that the SCS development team may well move on to other things - maybe their new acquisiton of Blu-ray authoring tools.

Doug

I get what you are saying Doug, but as I cited above from that other thread, on January 6, 2012 Arthur.S had the issue with a BRAND NEW Toshiba player. At that rate what you predict won't happen for years.

What I am also curious about is that you say you have been producing Blu-ray discs for two years. So what are you doing about the "Next" button issue. Are you including a disclaimer with the sale?

I don't sell many of them (lack of demand), but I plan to use the method I described above to get around the issue from now on.

What are you doing with customers?

John

Has anyone checked to see if the "guy" who makes the Curtis-Mathis Blu-ray disc player is the same as the one making it for Toshiba and getting the BestBuy stores contract to sell it for $60 ? hmmmm Remember Curtis-Mathis?

Seriously, though, I do produce and sell Blu-ray as a unique hi-tech product. In doing so I do "hand-hold" customers. They get a very unique combination of a hi-definition surround sound disc play in a set-top player. They also get a disc that can be read by a Blu-ray reader on a PC that autoplays a custom front-end from which they can choose to install software, review Adobe .pdf documents, and more. The disc may have embedded slide shows that can be manually reviewed on a PC. They get a disc that has multiple audio tracks, and multiple choice of subtitle lines.

In the marketplace it is necessary to right-size the customer and design the menu interface /choices for what will work best for them.
I have not often found a value for chapter sequencing over the use of
separate video file choices (which with commands and scripting give more control over what happens). Now if the video is really long form like the Hollywood 2hour movie - yes chapter sequencing seems to be a better choice.

I have found the hand-held customer becomes a loyal customer and
that is something that really helps the independent thrive.

"Although I hate the interface and the awful menus my three year old $50 Ulead DVD Movie Factory 6 plus software creates BR discs that DO NOT exhibit this problem."

A Blu-ray disc authored and burnt with Cyberlink PowerDirector 9 does not exhibit this problem either.

If Ulead (now Corel) and Cyberlink can do it, why can't SCS?

This indicates to me that DVDA is making invalid assumptions for those players that show problems. All firmware is not the same and it is up to the authoring program to be tolerant of these differences.

Exactly Peter.

John