I believe I am onto a problem with players(specif bluray) freezing,or every so many frames pausing. I have searched many sites on this issue and I am forming an opinion that this may be a industry wyde problem. I experienced this with a $250 model purchased new 3 years back. The problem seems to affect only a percentage of players. I have other bluray players I have purchased since,but out of sheer stubborn I never gave up on this unit. I ran the full gambit of checking discs,static charge, connectors and getting a disc firmware update directly from manufacturer. As many others have commented on in other sites this did nothing. I believe I may have solved the problem with my own unit,but I was hoping to touch base with anyone here on this ,or if they have had similar issues,and I suspect some of you may have? I spend most of the time on the amp, and speaker forums here,but I do test bench,and repair down to the component level. This is something where I am more interested with owner experience issues. For my unit I believe the problem is thermal, not drastic,but simply not shedding enough heat for correct operation. I believe I have a bead on having alleviated it because so far unit is no longer freezing up. It operated correctly in every sense other than the freezing issue,and after addressing heat it now plays uninterupted through new discs (like IRON MAN III),but could not manage it just a week ago. I will update if it starts again.I have also been through the whole pull the 110 v cable and reboot bit ,its working without that procedure for now.
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I haven't encountered that issue with blu-ray units myself, but have seen it in other devices such as fta receivers and pcs. In those instances, adding larger/additional heat sinks with good thermal compound on the main processors, as well as any chipset that radiated significant heat made a significant difference in unit stability.
I would open up the units & beef up the main processor/chipset heat sinks where possible. Some units come equipped with stick-on heat sinks which did not transfer heat as well, so I would either rig them with a mechanical retainer and use premium thermal compound, or use a quality thermal conducting epoxy like Arctic Silver. You can use a infrared heat gun to detect any chipsets that you might want to add cooling to. For smaller chips you can salvage old heat sinks from old video cards, motherboards etc, or get them from places like mouser or ebay. Some ebay vendors used to sell nice inexpensive copper heat sinks to fit smaller chips, such as memory or network chips. Larger aluminum heat sinks can be cut down fairly easily and cleanly with a chop saw and a good blade, just make sure to fasten the heat sink to a board so that it will not move around and you don't have to put your fingers anywhere near the blade. A hacksaw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade also works, just clean up the edges after with a file or sandpaper.
Another option is to increase air flow too, by increasing/improving ventilation openings, as well as installing better quality, and (if possible) larger and quieter cooling fans.
I would open up the units & beef up the main processor/chipset heat sinks where possible. Some units come equipped with stick-on heat sinks which did not transfer heat as well, so I would either rig them with a mechanical retainer and use premium thermal compound, or use a quality thermal conducting epoxy like Arctic Silver. You can use a infrared heat gun to detect any chipsets that you might want to add cooling to. For smaller chips you can salvage old heat sinks from old video cards, motherboards etc, or get them from places like mouser or ebay. Some ebay vendors used to sell nice inexpensive copper heat sinks to fit smaller chips, such as memory or network chips. Larger aluminum heat sinks can be cut down fairly easily and cleanly with a chop saw and a good blade, just make sure to fasten the heat sink to a board so that it will not move around and you don't have to put your fingers anywhere near the blade. A hacksaw with a fine tooth metal cutting blade also works, just clean up the edges after with a file or sandpaper.
Another option is to increase air flow too, by increasing/improving ventilation openings, as well as installing better quality, and (if possible) larger and quieter cooling fans.
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I was quite frustrated when this player began this issue,and I began to pick up on other comments in customer reviews and even on line techs doing comparison tests have also mentioned this. It may become more of a non issue with streaming taking over and that carries its own potential for complications. For those hard copy types like myself it was a definite let down ,especialy when you went for good mid line models. Not a you get what you pay for situation,but quite the opposite. I can't even say thermal is the issue for a majority of players that freeze because there are a number of other causes,but I would like to know the percentages. I was tipped off to the situation when I swapped out my samsung to a larger more open shelf unit. My main system is a dedicated home theatre with built in oak av shelving. The cabinet is no problem for my receiver, and three healthy amps (they have no thermal issues)but once in its original space the bd will misbehave and always mid disc or later. The bd player is below all amps in my system and I have good large ,wide,deep adjustable shelves ,but move the player to a very open spot and the playback freezing reduces or goes away. Its not oscillation or interference from another source,I have decent amp test experience and know about those gremlins. I swapped in another lower level model in that spot and no issues. Finally I pulled the plastic top off the sam freeze ung,put it back in that spot,and low and behold it worked straight through bd's that it had been freezing up on. I feel obliged to mention to novices glancing this,those of us who do board repair are use to operating devices cover off when trouble shooting, but as the stickers says this is a potential shock hazard. Even with bench experience I plan on reworking the top for improved venting, and will not leave the unit like this for the sake of safety and cosmetic appearance. It packs a decent sink that is clean of debris, so I believe the problem is the heat trapped between player, and its cover, that's the current hypothesis of the moment anyway. It has never seemed excessive but warmer to touch then I find on my other players right directly above the sink.
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