Avatar Blu-Ray Not Working for Many

April 30, 2010 By Ryan Fleming

Blu-ray players are requiring a firmware update to play the movie, but not all Blu-Ray players are connected to the Internet.

Update: After posting this story, we were contacted by an executive from Fox. It is important to note that the issue is not with the title. Firmware updates are common with technology, and blu-ray players are no different. More Avatar customers are having issues because more Avatar discs have been sold than any other. The second best selling blu-ray disc, The Dark Knight, also faced similar issues. Since the Avatar release, firmware has been released by most, if not all, blu-ray manufacturers, and the affected users are a statistically small group.

Fans of Avatar that rushed out to be counted among the 2.7 million Blu-ray customers that took home James Cameron’s record shattering movie may be disappointed by a slight glitch: one that makes the movie unplayable. Simply returning the movie isn’t enough, either, the problem is with the Blu-ray players themselves.

On a small but significant number of Blu-ray players, the movie requires an update to the firmware before it can play. Newer Blu-ray players may be fine, but if a consumer owns an older Blu-ray player without internet access, they will not be able to watch Avatar, and there is nothing they can do about it.

Avatar isn’t the first movie to require a firmware update to work, but since it is already the best selling Blu-ray of all time, the percentage of customers with issues is noticeably higher.

The website The Wrap was the first to cover the issue. When asked, Fox told them that the problem is mostly limited to Samsung Blu-ray players, but a small number of LG players are affected as well.

Customer complaints seem to contradict that statement though. On Amazon’s Avatar page, one user complained “My 2K Denon player and the $200 Samsung both will not play this movie. The folks at Denon seemed stumped even after the firmware update.”

Owners of Sharp models, Pioneers, and Sony Blu-rayp players are also complaining about the issue. On the bright side, if players are still having issues, fans can become part of the other record setting Avatar figures, the ones that claim Avatar is now the most pirated movie of all time.

Showing 50 comments

Matt at 5:04pm 5th January 2011 none of these sites give a SOLUTION .. they all just make money off the advertising embedded on the page along with contextual advertising ... it's a
David_In_Auburn at 8:34pm 30th December 2010 I recently bought the Sony BDP-BX37 model from Costco and it played the Avatar Bluray DVD just fine. Maybe the bugs have all been worked out.
annoyed at 4:02pm 18th December 2010 we have just purchased an acer aspire blue ray and all - doesn't play blue ray dvd - would luv to see Avatar but cant make it with a basic read of the disc in the first instance. Do I have to upload new firmware ? can someone advise pse ? Thanks
Frank at 6:22pm 23rd November 2010 I have the Denon 4010 Bd player, fully updated , wont play latest avatar BD. Called denon, they said they would get back to me in 48 Hrs..
BD sucks at 9:06pm 17th November 2010 Samsung P1400 does not play the extended edition avatar even with firmware 2.3.
Mozz at 3:38pm 15th November 2010 Just bought Toy Story 3 blu ray to play on new Samsung blu ray player. Disc rejected and pops back out. Very frustrating. Couldn't play the DVD in the blu ray. Image was scrambled. Had to resort back to $30 DVD player from Aldi!!!
Jeroen at 2:21am 10th September 2010 I would like to note that NAD T587 model has the same problem with Avatar. How ever AND Benelux (Europe) has offerd to solve the problem bij returning it to the factory for een update.
Aaron at 11:08pm 21st August 2010 More greed and stupidity from scientifically illiterate or political whore (guess which) Cameron and the makers of Avatar. The highest grossing movie of all time and they go all out against piracy, in the process screwing up the DVD and making people download torrents! What do you expect from someone who believes in the global warming scam?
LloydPilot at 1:02pm 18th July 2010 I tried to play Avatar on my Blue Ray player. I have a Sharp Blue Ray Player BD-HP20. Sharp took the last update off their web site. I guess they will no longer support this unit. It isn't that old!
Sarah at 9:19am 2nd July 2010 i own a samsung laptop r4801 and it doesn't recognize some of the blu rays any idea y?
TravO at 6:11pm 30th June 2010 Who would have ever thought that the DRM ment to keep ppl from pirateing blu-ray's (which it dosent) would prevent the ppl who bought legal copys of the films from being able to watch them? They keep saying that its the players fault but thats a load of BS. You cant expect the manufacture of the players to pay ppl to make new updates for there players every other month when the DRM's change to keep them working, that would cost the manufacture a fortune which is the very reason why ppl are now complaining that there 2 year old player is now useless because the manufacture cant afford to offer new update support for older players. If DRM dosent work the way it should then get rid of it because if they piss off the paying customers then blu-ray will neaver take off.
TravO at 5:39pm 30th June 2010 I have a Pioneer BDP-120 that would play the Avatar Blu-ray disc, but during playback the scene thumbel preview would pop up in the middle of the screen every 10 to 15 seconds. So i went to the Pioneer website and got the newest firmware update BDP_120 BP9200401 loaded the new firmware and now it wont even play Avatar anymore, so i tried another movie that i knew played just fine in it before the new firmware update Harry potter and the half blood prince and now it wont play. it will make it to the disc menu but then it locks me out, i cant play stop or eject disc, hell i even had to pull the power plug on it the shut it off. So i reset the player back to factory default and now it works like it did before. This is the second Blu-ray player i have bought that is giving me problems and from what im reading on the net is that just about everone who has bought a blu-ray player has had issues with all of them at some point, so this is the last Blu-ray player and or movie that i will ever buy as long as DVD is still around, which i think DVD will be around long enough to see another format replace blu-ray.
Mike in Milwaukee at 1:40am 28th June 2010 I bought a PS3 a few weeks ago and it has the most recent 3.30 firmware installed. I've tried two Avatar blu ray discs from Netflix and the system simply will not recognize them. Holy frustrating. It's enough to make me send the dang thing back. Anyone having any luck with Sony technical service?
Adrian at 3:33pm 21st June 2010 I have a PS3, fully updated to the latest version. Avatar starts up, plays for a few minutes, then freezes. I tried two separate discs. They both froze in the same place, then my player had a hard time ejecting the disc. I had to shut it down before it will spit the disc out. This is B.S. I have never experienced problems like this with any game or blu ray movie.
Tim at 7:37pm 12th June 2010 Can you say "CLASS ACTION SUIT"? How many of you feel that you wasted your money buying a FOX Blu-Ray product that will not play correctly?
Tim at 7:11pm 12th June 2010 I purchased Avatar 2-Disk Set and it will not play in my Sharp Blu-Ray player. I consider Fox to be the the entity responsible for wasting my money. Therefore, until Fox supplies Sharp with what they need to create a firmware upgrade get your Blu-Ray Movies to play, they have LOST A CUSTOMER. It is my contention that FOX has acted in bad faith by defrauding me and many others out of their money by knowingly selling a Blu-Ray product that will not play in a standard Blu-Ray player. I cannot return the product to the seller because it is opened, which is HOW I found out that it did not work. Therefore I request that FOX reimburse me the cost of this video.
Joedirt at 9:08pm 10th June 2010 just find a good softmoder since the hackers have their stuff together compared to the clowns in the blu-ray industry
hammom at 4:59am 10th June 2010 I have a Samsung Blu Ray player, got it Dec 08 for Christmas. I updated it with a disc sent to me from Samsung in May 2010, put in Avatar, got to ch 15 and it froze, it will not play any blu ray at all anymore. Error, either no disc or this disc cannot play. Hooked it up to my internet says I have the latest version of firmware. Any ideas?
Ces at 12:17am 28th May 2010 I cant play Avatar on my Samsung Blue Ray, I brought the thing last December and they are telling me it is old stock, I am B P off no doubt.
Now I am reading more people have been affected, to think there has been no WARNING on the package as well.
franck at 2:29pm 24th May 2010 I find this ridiculous, bought avatar load it in my blu ray player and find myself unable to play the disc with a big red warning being displayed. How can this be justified? I am a paying customer stuck with a useless piece of plastic. My Blu ray player a £1,200 top of the line machine not even 12 month old does not have an ethernet port so I would have to download a new firmware onto my PC burn it to a disc and upload it to my player although the people at Pioneer cannot confirm this will work. And Guess what I just updated the firmware 2 month ago and don't want to go through the hassle again. So Now I will return the movie for a refund and ask a friend for his pirated copy that by the way he got way before the movie was released on BR. I am not a pirate, would never consider doing such a thing as I work in a similar industry and face similar problems with pirated IP.
Also what are we to expect for the future? every time they update their DRMwe will need to update our players? great look forward to it talk about customer service.
James P at 3:18am 17th May 2010 "Update update update"

Funny, but I've had DVD players for ten years and never had to update them. Sounds like immature technology (unlikely) or over-zealous media companies (very likely). You'd think by now they'd realise that DRM only ever inconveniences legitimate users...
emmbec at 6:44pm 15th May 2010 Avatar will play on Sony Vaio VPCCW17FX using WinDVD version 2010, the problem is that if you hook a cable on your laptop, it will stop playing... funny thing... any ideas on how to solve this?
sexytom at 2:18pm 13th May 2010 best blu ray player ever everything works on it
Mrost at 3:16am 13th May 2010 Hi all,
I have Asrock ION 330 BD and I can't play the Avatar BD. The thing is that when I put the disc inside, it stars reading it and then it stops. It shows no disc in the CD-drive - in fact, I can get on the disc but there are no files there.
Any idea how can I make this work? I think this is applicable with most HTPC users or PC users with BD drive. I don't know what I should upgrade as I assume there is no firmware for DVD/BD drive?
Adrid at 4:33pm 12th May 2010 I purchased the Avatar Blu Ray and i have had no problems whatsoever. Our family owns a PS3 and i make sure to update it regularly. My wife stated that she notice a glitch during playback but was uncertain if it was anything. Prior to her reveal i had already updated to the newest software. 2nd playback wife did not see glitch.
Owners of Blu Ray players must remember to update their software otherwise they will be sitting with a giant piece of plastic. Update update update
brendan at 11:49am 12th May 2010 This is bunk. I can get it to play, but none of the menus actually work. Seems like a poorly conceived bluray disc, in my opinion.

I'm using a year old Sony player and even after the latest updates (which take 30 minutes BTW...dunno what kind of flash Sony's using, but it stinks!), Avatar "barely" plays and the menus don't function at all.

When are the media companies going to realize that the extra frills are NOT wanted. Messaging and chat from a bluray player? What moron came up with that?? Really, really silly!!! I hope you lose big in the transition to online/streaming content! You deserve to...
carlmanderson at 9:54am 11th May 2010 my magnavox bluray player plays 6 bluray disc perfectly but not avatar disc.the extra dvd disc also would not play movie.both disc would not play.not once have i ever read you need a usb port to upgrade.the player said take rw disc to magnavox and get upgrade yet magnavox model listed at magnavox.i called and get no answers.avatar bluray and dvds will not play on my players,i tried playing dvd on dvd player needed to open player(s) to get disc out.avatar disc is junk.
George at 2:54pm 9th May 2010 We can go the HD DVR or On Demand route and get to watch an HD movie with no hassles at all.
Blu ray discs relative to DVD's take a long time to load, take over the controls of the player and each has its own unique system of menus. iPods and MP3 players despite inferior quality are overtaking CD's because they are more convenient to use.
Blu ray has got great picture and sound quality, but is a big pain to use. I hooked up my Panasonic to the internet to get BD Live. BD Live is a big disappointment. I am not a Luddite, but updating software for a player is not what most of us want to do. We just want to get right to the movie with no previews, FBI warnings and loading, loading, loading delays. There is a reason Apple has not Blu Ray drives in Mac computers.
Simon F at 5:13pm 5th May 2010 The thing is you should not have to update your player to watch a title you buy. It is one thing for geeks/enthusiasts to understand the need for firmware updates but when it comes to mum & pop types or the community and large they have no idea why it won't work and blame the disk and really it is the disks fault for using DRM in the first place.
They then go down to the market and pick up a cheap copy that just works so they stop buying legit copies all together.
Fox the problem is not the players it is your DRM that will ultimately drive away consumers since they can get a DRM free version that JUST WORKS for a fraction of the cost.
sparrowhawk at 4:04pm 4th May 2010 My problem was with my laptop blu ray player not playing the Avatar movie, downloaded patch, and when I would start the player my antivirus would come up with a warning a virus. Well, to make a long story short, I looked on 'my computer' on the one drive that the movie was in, it didn't say avatar, but something else, that was where my virus was coming from...
Olivier at 1:06pm 4th May 2010 I tried the Avatar bluray with my PS3 (latest firmware 3.30) and it doesn't work. It is apparently a problem encountered with double layer blurays (i.e: Braveheart and the game Final Fantasy XIII also have hanging problems).

This is what I observed on my PS3, but after browsing the net, it seems I am far from being the only one encountering these problems.
James P at 4:07am 4th May 2010 Sounds like Fox are in denial. I helped a client upgrade his Pioneer player to play this (and it does match the TV, as that is a Pioneer too) and although the film now plays, the 'update' message is still there. This appears to be both the most pirated and the most DRM'd film of all time, so maybe there's a message there! I don't have a BD player yet, and I won't be getting one until this sort of thing is sorted out...
Ana at 6:49pm 3rd May 2010 We just got a Sony BDP-S360 Blu-ray player and the movie works like a charm. Not a problem at all.
REDREDREDREDRED at 4:30pm 3rd May 2010 Contacted the U.S. Attorney Generals Office, and my state Attorney Generals Office on this one. Seems there might be some laws that have been broken due to no notification on the packaging warning that the blu-ray disk might not play on older (non upgradable) players. It is theft by desception at the least. Maybe fines or jail time will result
the obnoxious at 11:35pm 2nd May 2010 some of you may not understand something funny.
You are dealing with 2 DRM's..
BR has a DRM.
HDMI has a DRM.
YOUR Player Must have DRM for the HDMI plug and the TV must MATCH IT...
Then your BR has a DRM check in it also. And if Either fails??

Change your OUTPUT, away from HDMI and see if some of this works, OK..
scotchegg78 at 2:37pm 2nd May 2010 I own a sony viao laptop wwith a blue ray drive, I own a copy of Avatar on Blue ray. It does not work due to needing an update that is not made yet. I have tried trials of all the big Blueray PC software apps and all fail to work.

So tell me, whats the difference between ppl downloading and watching films without paying for them and film companies taking money off ppl without letting them watch films?
bod at 1:04pm 2nd May 2010 I have now tried two different Avatar Blu-Ray discs with no success. I have a second-generation Sony Blu-Ray player and it's a disgrace to find these incompatibility issues. if the hardware and software manfucaturers can't get their act together it will give the format a bad name. Maybe next time, I'll just get aq copy anfd play it from the computer HD....

By all means add new features to Blu-Ray, but don't make new discs incompatible with exiting hardware. My player is just over 1 year old!
sarabear73 at 3:41am 2nd May 2010 I have been given a LG BH100 blu ray (my 1st blu ray player) and although have installed an update by disc i still can not play Avatar.
It could just be that i have missed something or the fact i'm very "green" when it comes to blu ray!!!
Would love some help from the wise one's here.
elbertvanbommel at 10:54pm 1st May 2010 Avatar also wont play on my lg HB954SA....But putting in say blue ray film 2012
first till the menu shows then swap the disk for the avatar blue ray then Presto now it does work. Its not a fix but at least we are able to view.
Crazy world!! We do all the ligitimate things and yet we still get punished.
the obnoxious at 10:45pm 1st May 2010 David,
I would check Sony for an upgrade to the firmware as mentioned.
There are many ways this can/should/could be done.
Im sorry to hear of the problem. But I also know that CD's went out Before DVD..(compaired to a CD It's a night )
YES, there are a few players that WONT upgrade or JUST CANT play this movie.
davidpgillette at 9:58pm 1st May 2010 I own a Sony BDP- -S300, I have about 20 disc's, they all work fine,some load faster than others but I can,t complain, compaired to a CD It's a night and day differance. I have a 73" tv with a 10,000$ surround sound system till now. A few days ago I bought Avatar twice,it goes through the loading system (ie tool bar and 20thcentryfoxsearch lights), then nothing, no error codes not a thing any answers would be great.

I haveve been a big fan of Sony sinse my teens. But if this is some scam to update my two year old Blu-ray for money. I will slam every product you make until my fingers bleed!!! Im no sucker.
1. mhmm at 9:05pm 17th November 2010 Im seing the exact same problem, loads up (takes much longer than most) and then hits the 20th century fox logo, sound cuts out gets really jumpy then it freezes completely either black screened or at the piracy warning.
andyb at 9:44pm 1st May 2010 Proof that the wrong high-def DVD format won. Thanks for nothing, Sony.
1. Todd at 12:21am 14th July 2010 HD-DVD required firmware updates, too.....
Smug Gums at 4:49pm 1st May 2010 Fox blamed everyone else.

FAIL.
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jblman at 3:57am 1st May 2010 Get a PS3 for a Blu-ray player. It updates itself all the time if you're connected to the internet. If not, any new release game (you can just hire out one) will have the latest update for you.

The reason it need an update is probably the performance the disc requires. I have it on Blu-ray and the picture is out of this earth.
1. jason at 7:12pm 28th October 2010 thats my problem, i cant play avatar and avatar only so far, on my ps3. it is the original version of the ps3
2. droosta at 11:53am 11th December 2010 i have a ps3 and avatar worked fine on it. but last time i tried to watch the movie it didn't work , and after many tries it still doesn't work. Im connected to the internet, and my system is always updated. So what is the problem?
Chris at 9:56pm 30th April 2010 Why does your blu-ray player have to be updated to play a blu-ray disk? That is its one and only job for a lot of people. The people at fox should release a movie that can be played on all blu-ray players old and new without a software update. There are a lot of people with internet connections for there computor and not for there blu-ray player.
the obnoxious at 7:48pm 30th April 2010 So,
A DRM that requires you to have your TV device hooked up to the NET, so that it can keep up its hardware DRM?? FUNNY.
And in updating the DRM do you loose access to other titles, because of the fix? Probably not.
But it cant LAST. There will be to many TIMES THAT a fix is needed. Soon the FIXs will cause more problems.
Never needed this for DVD..
so the DEBATE is on. For the COST to DRM Blue ray, in raw form, is it worth the HASSLE and complaints and COST?