You just brought home your slick lookin' new BD Player and a stack of Blu-ray Discs as well. It's all hooked up, the TV powers on and the brand logo flashes triumphantly on the screen. You pop in a movie, and after a few minutes of trying to read the disc, the player says it cannot be played. What! This is brand new, there's no way it's already broken! You're right, it's not broken. However, your firmware may be out of date. Most manufacturers make it super easy to update the firmware, and best of all, it's free!
If your BD Player has internet connectivity, it's as easy as navigating through a few menus and letting it download and install the newest firmware. Check your user manual to find out if you are this lucky.
If your BD Player does not include internet connectivity, there will at least be a service USB port in the back. You will need to download firmware from the manufacturer site (usually in a zipped file) and put the data on a thumb drive. Any old USB flash drive will do, as the firmware is generally not a large file. There are plenty of tutorials out there for extracting a zipped file onto a flash drive if you need help doing so. Samsung includes instructions on their site for updating their devices' firmware, too. I use WINRAR to unpack and extract .zip and .rar files. Once it's on the drive, you simply plug it in and wait (in most cases). A menu will pop up showing the current version of firmware and the version on the thumb drive. Be sure the firmware you want to install is the latest version and select "OK." You're home free; the firmware will install and the unit will shut itself off. The next time you power up, you'll be updated and ready to go!
Keep in mind that this is a general guide and not a model or brand-specific tutorial. If you have questions, refer to your user manual, manufacturer website, or get a hold of me in the comments or otherwise. Have fun with the excellent picture quality offered by your new BD Player!
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