How do I update my blue ray players firmware?

Blu-Ray player won't allow me to update firmware?

• I have a sharp bp-hp21u blu-ray player. I purchased Avatar (blu-ray) and put in it and it would not load, just got a black screen. I read on the video case for Avatar and it said that it was a new type of blu-ray. So I researched a little bit and saw that other people had the same problem with the same player as mine, the solution was to update the firmware. So I went to sharp's website, downloaded the new firmware, and put it on a USB (I reformatted it to FAT, like the online instructions from sharp said) followed their instructions to install it and all my player does is keep restarting over and over again. I can't even get to the setup menu, the remote is usless (batteries are new). I purchased the player in 2009 (early spring) the update says it is from November 2008... What do I have to do to get Avatar to play?!

• Answer:

  I suspect you have got the wrong firmware update (That said in looking at the Sharp site they only list one firmware and don't give it a date/version number (VERY poor practice!). This may be the most recent, but generally the date of updated firmware should never be older than a few months back (at most). Most players should refuse to process older firmware (or at least ask if you REALLY want to proceed), and maybe that is what is happening. If you actually succeeded in running the firmware you might have "bricked" the player ... in which case you have a service issue with Sharp. Note that some newer movies won't play on older players because the studios introduce new (and unexpected) java coding and/or new DRM measures that the older firmware can't handle. So you will need firmware newer than Avatar to get it to play. Reputable companies will release updated firmware periodically to address these types of issues ... but consumers must indicate they need the updates. I suggest you contact Sharp customer support, explain the problem and ask about what version/date firmware is available.