Networking difficulties
Customer Rating: 
I really don't know what a fair star rating should be for this. Should I base it on the difficulty I had in loading firmware or just on the general performance once things are all set up and installed?
My rating leans towards the way the player works after setup, but I can't give it a full five stars. The following comments focus on the networking difficulties and the customer support I received.
THE PROBLEM:
Other reviewers have mentioned networking difficulties and I need to add that my experience shows that Sony has a problem here, at least in the ability to do firmware updates over the Internet. That simply DID NOT WORK for me. It failed at either the "4/9" or the "5/9" stage -- repeatedly. That means it got about half way through before failing, so I obviously have a working Internet connection. My router is pretty mainstream, D-Link DIR-655 Extreme N Gigabit Wireless Router, and has not given me problems with any other device, wired or wireless. For this player I am using a wired connection and NOT using wireless. Most of the other reviews mentioning networking problems state that the difficulty is with wireless, but I think it is more fundamental than that. SONY HAS A PROBLEM HERE!
SONY'S TELEPHONE SUPPORT:
The support rep did not seem to understand the above and insisted on taking me through a diagnostic path checking to see if I had an Internet connection (IP address, etc.). Eventually he gave up on me telling me that the problem was either my router's or my ISP's and he couldn't help me. He didn't tell me the firmware could be updated from disk until I asked about alternative upgrade methods. Even then, he offered to send me a disk (two weeks wait) without telling me the firmware could be downloaded from a Sony web site and burned to CD for installation. MY INTERACTION WITH SONY TELEPHONE SUPPORT WAS A COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME!
THE SOLUTION:
I downloaded the firmware from Sony's web site, burned it to a CD and installed from there. That went well. Note that there was a minor complication in that my current firmware was so old it did not support upgrade to the latest. The upgrade had to be done in two steps. This is explained reasonably well on Sony's web site and went OK. I noticed that the second update (to the latest firmware) advertised that it "Improves router connectivity". So perhaps my NEXT firmware update will work over the Internet. Since I am now at the latest firmware level, I can't check that out. When I finally do get the disk from Sony, I wonder if it will have BOTH the firmware versions I needed or just the latest. I wouldn't bet either way on it!
UPDATE: Sony gets bonus points for sending the update quickly -- three days, but loses them and more for not sending both required updates!
MORE ON SONY'S TELEPHONE SUPPORT:
The support rep should have known (or admitted) there was an acknowledged problem with connectivity and that there was a fix available from Sony. He should have offered a disk-based upgrade and mentioned the download possibility shortly after we got into discussing this. Even if that doesn't eventually solve the problem, there is no point in further debugging until that fix is applied.
OK, rant over!
TIP 1:
Remember, if you have a similar problem, go for the disk-based upgrade right away. It is very simple to do. If you don't feel comfortable burning a CD, the support web pages do tell you how to order disks from SONY.
TIP 2:
The firmware comes from the web page as a zip file. Do not burn that to the CD but instead unzip it and burn the resulting individual files. This is NOT explained in Sony's instructions -- or maybe I missed it.
TIP 3:
The support page makes you choose an operating system before you download but the entire process has nothing to do with the operating system you use to do the download. If the instructions held you by the hand through the process of doing the download and burning the CD maybe there would be some operating system differences to note, but they don't do that. Basically they say "download" and "burn" with no details -- not even telling you to unzip the file.
TIP 4:
This is a tip that is completely unrelated to any of the above. The manual tells you the codes that can be entered into the remote for controlling different brands of TV (page 36) but I could NOT find any instructions saying HOW to enter the codes. Well, I figured it out. The very first thing I tried worked! What you do is PRESS AND HOLD the TV power button (the smaller green button) and type in the two digit code while holding the button down. This worked for my Panasonic TV.
