Strange technological events are afoot at my house…
So, I’ve got a multi-region blu ray player which I use only when I’m watching imported discs. It’s new(ish) and made my Sony, not Sorny. The rest of the time I use either my PS3 (hooked up to the same TV) or my PC.
Using the multi-region player and not the PS3 I popped in Star Wars Rebels - Season 3 this afternoon and found the main menus were juddery. Assuming it was just a random error I played the first episode and discovered that while the audio was perfect, the video would play for a second or two, freeze, then whizz forward to catch up with the sound, play for another second, freeze again and repeat.
My first thought was that the player had gone wrong so I tried the other discs, but they all performed in the same way. So I tried switching regions from A to B and back again to no effect. Then I tried another blu ray, and it worked fine. Then another, then another, then a DVD, then I tried Star Wars Rebels - Season One and it also worked just fine, Season Two also played as it should.
Thoroughly confused I put Season Three back in and the juddering resumed, at this point I felt like an idiot because this was clearly being caused by dodgy discs - but when I played it through the PS3 it was fine.
Instead of spending my Sunday afternoon watching Kanan and the gang I’ve tested nearly all of my discs to see if any more of them get the judders. The upshot is, for whatever reasons, every single blu ray and DVD I own will play perfectly in my multi-region EXCEPT The Force Awakens (3D & 2D version), Rogue One and Season Three of Rebels. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol: 2 plays fine but the main animated menu displays the same kind of judders.
So basically, although I haven’t bought any more than those four, every Disney blu ray I’ve got which was released after November 2015 seems to have taken offence to something going on in my multi-region player. I’m glad to have other blu ray players because if I only had the one and it was making my Star Wars judder, I’d be a bit miffed.
I’m assuming it’s something to do with interference from copy protection, or possibly wizards are involved. Has anybody else experienced anything like this before? It’s a bit odd!!
I’m looking forward to testing Thor Ragnarok next month to see what happens with that.