If your Home Theater Blu-ray player is experiencing frozen playback at all it’s likely there is some sort of problem. Whether the problem is down to the environment or the hardware itself it’s likely that this can be resolved.
Troubleshooting Frozen Playback
Freezing issues with Blu-ray are quite common, and can be down to issues such as electro-static, volume, or a variety of hardware issues that can be fixed with a master reset or a firmware update.
Quite often it is possible to get fixes for one of these issues from the manufacturer’s website – however it isn’t unusual to find that not all of these resolutions are covered, and many Blu-ray player manufacturers don’t provide the best online support.
PlayStation 3 owners too may encounter some of these issues, and there is a fix that is specific for these devices.
Volume
If you enjoy watching the latest HD Blu-ray releases with the surround sound cranked up to cinematic levels, you might be unaware of the sensitivity of your Blu-ray player.
A player situated too close to a sub-woofer or placed on the floor (not a recommended placement) is likely to react unfavourably to the vibrations caused by explosions or even just the bassline in a musical number.
Similarly if you’re using a TV with built in speakers on a dedicated stand with the Blu-ray player situated close by, you’re also likely to find that the player picks up vibrations from these.
You should take care to situate your Blu-ray player as far from and speakers or sub-woofer as possible, place the player on a well-supported shelf and avoid having the volume too high in order to troubleshoot this particular issue.
Electro-static
Blu-ray players – like DVD players, games consoles and PCs – are susceptible to static interference. Static interference is easily generated in rooms with carpets, wearing rubber shoes or failing to store your Blu-ray discs in their intended cases.
It’s possible that when walking across a carpeted room with a Blu-ray disc in hand and placing it into your player, a certain amount of electro static is generated which can then transfer to the player, resulting in various functional issues. This problem might be increased by attempting to walk back across the room and press play repeatedly or ejecting the disc – every time you come into contact with the player, more electro static is discharged into the player.
Switching the player off at the mains for a short time should resolve this – meanwhile avoid the possibility of a electro static discharge by keeping your Blu-ray disc in the box for as long as possible, and make better use of your remote control.