PSA: For Readers Using Playstation 3s for Blu-Ray Players… Updated… Fixed!

For those readers that are using Sony’s Playstation 3 as Blu-Ray players:

Don’t.

Last night, following a rash of complaints, SonyPlaystation, the twitter account of SCEA, tweeted…

“We’re aware that many of you are having problems connecting to PSN, and yes, we’re looking into it. Stay tuned for updates.”

Recently, the problem has been narrowed down to a handful of… models. Almost all of the larger Playstations. So, if you’re in the same boat that both Daniel and myself, not only are you going to have to find something to do other than finish interactive noir Heavy Rain, you’ll also need to find your Blu-Ray fix somewhere else, as well.

Sony has been courteous enough to indicate that the problem stems from an internal clock bug. They also intend to have the problem fixed within 24 hours. Both themes and rented content seem to be the recipients of damage as far as personal experience, but reports of trophies and game save corruption have also been making the rounds. So, just don’t bother. Better to not risk it, right? With the pending firmware update already looming, it shouldn’t be too much longer.

Sony will keep everyone posted, and in turn, so will we.

Update! – Fingers everywhere have pointed to the internal system clock, being the issue. Rumor has it that resetting your BIOS battery (hope you have an hour and TORX drivers) fixes the issue, but fixing a problem that is getting a fix through software is very-likely going to make that situation worse. The programming (allegedly) states that every even is a leap year, making the system’s hardware think that today is 2.29.10, conflicting with the Playstation’ operating system, causing the problem. Sony’s “repair” is rumored to be that the system will fix itself when the hardware’s date is an rational one, sometime within the next 12 hours or so.

However, until Sony says so, don’t risk it. Models CECHA-CECHK are the models with the issues. So, for the sake of you and those who love you, don’t turn it on. Or all the content you’ve downloaded – digital copies of movies, rented material, games… anything, basically – may just buck the kicket.

Update 2 - Fixed? As now it’s a rational date in the Eastern hemisphere, it appears the problems have been fixed. Personally, none of my data was corrupted, just temporarily deactivated due to a lack of web access for DRM’d content. I hope everyone else’s luck was just as good.

Source: Sony’s Twitter account, Joystiq, Engadget