Blu-ray – I thought it was a standard

After a hard day's work yesterday, I decided to go to the trouble of getting my projector out, dropping the screen and firing up the Blu-ray player to chill out with the new Futurama movie. Once the projector had warmed up, I was greeted with the unexpected error message 'Unknown disc', which changed to 'Cannot play this disc' as I furiously mashed the buttons on the remote control.

Checking the disc revealed no scratches or fingerprints, and The Dark Knight played fine. I figured a firmware update might solve the problem, so checked the Network Update menu to see if one was available. Surprisingly, considering I'd updated the player – a Sony BDP-S350 – just recently, there was one.

Ten minutes later, the update was installed and I tried the disc again. Same error. With nothing left to do, I gave up and stuck the disc back in its wallet ready to return to LoveFilm with the 'faulty' box ticked.

Whether the disc is faulty or simply incompatible remains to be seen, but it prompted me to vent my anger about the need for firmware updates. My DVD player never needed updating to add compatibility with certain discs. In my view, and I'm sure plenty of others will agree, that Blu-ray should be a standard just like DVD, and this should be finalised before discs and players are released.

Not everyone has a convenient network connection behind their TV, and for some it would be nigh impossible to update their player. It's only thanks to a pair of HomePlug adaptors that it wasn't a major hassle for me.

While firmware updates can be a pain, I can appreciate that there are benefits as well, such as new features. It would just be nice if those updates could happen automatically without my intervention, just like my Freeview PVR does. Even my Philips TV has required a manual firmware update since I bought it less than a year ago. At least the updates are free, unlike Apple's. I still can't quite bring myself to shell out £6 for the latest 3.0 firmware for my original iPod Touch, given most of the benefits only apply to second-generation Touches or iPhones.

Getting back to the point, if anyone knows why Futurama – Into the Wild Green Yonder won't play on my BDP-S350, I'd love to hear from you.