Sony CX777ES Autostart Problem

[Jedi]

Judging from other threads, seems I'm not the only CX777ES owner that's deeply annoyed by this bug. For those unfamiliar, the problem is when you power up the player it will relentlessly select, load, and go into play mode using whatever disc was last played. Depending upon the FBI warnings, logos, menu layers and such on the disc, this process can take f-o-r-e-v-e-r before the user can intervene, and select and play a disc you actually want to watch. The setup menu in the CX777ES allows the user to enable or disable this "Autostart" feature, however disabling doesn't do a thing -- it has no effect upon this operational bug. Apparently Sony's low end changer, the 985, shares the same problem.

A Sony rep claimed this wasn't a bug, but is normal operation for the CX777ES. He, by the way, at the same time couldn't explain the function and purpose of the "enable/disable" Autostart selection on the setup menu ( I say, if it looks like a bug, creeps like a bug, and crawls like a bug -- it is a bug).

So....I thought I would start this thread, so that other owners can first express how they also are deeply annoyed with this bug, and can share what method or sequence of remote keystrokes others are using that works the quickest in getting through this delay and into the Disc Explorer screen in order to select a disc. I saw some mention of the "Display" command?? Anyone worked up an IR macro to work around this problem?

[Kingdaddy]

I run into this only when I rent a movie because i use the Sony's regular interface, and yes it is a bug. However, if you use the RS232 port and the DirectDisc command everything works the way it should, when the player is powered up it cues up the last DVD watched and stops there waiting for a command to Play. IMO the only way to extract the full benefits and potential of this player is by using the RS232 and some third party software like DVD Lobby. With this setup the player works very smoothly and is very well behaved, without, the UI is a nightmare to select or find a disc to play.

[Jedi]

.....Thanks for input, King. I read about DVDLobby with the CX777ES in other threads -- upon coming in and powering things up, aren't we talking time for the PC to boot up, load Windows, send secret personal stuff to Bill Gates, load the usual start-up software along with the Lobby software suite, before finally the cool looking DVDLobby art pops onto my PC screen and I can select a movie? How long does all that take?

In the scenario with DVDLobby is left on, and is up and in control, does the CX777ES still, upon power up, seek and load the last DVD without prompting? But not go into Play mode? But I suppose I can be busy browsing and selecting in DVDLobby while the errant Sony process is doing its thing on the changer, and thereby it becomes less of an annoyance?

[Kingdaddy]

Originally posted by Jedi
upon coming in and powering things up, aren't we talking time for the PC to boot up, load Windows, send secret personal stuff to Bill Gates, load the usual start-up software along with the Lobby software suite, before finally the cool looking DVD Lobby art pops onto my PC screen and I can select a movie? How long does all that take?

Well it depends on you're setup, and habits. I always boot up my computer first thing when I get home from work anyway so I don’t count that, my computer is always on if I'm home. You can load the exe command into the Windows startup so that it will automatically start DVD Lobby if you want, but it don’t bother me one bit to click on a icon to start a program. The program it's self is pretty quick just a few seconds and you're in the thumb view, and of course one of the best features is that it will on about 85 to 90% of my 161 DVD collection go right to the movie, skipping all the FBI and Menu and Previews, which is great for me. You do need 2 separate programs for this to work ($109) and a RS 232 Null cable, the rest is just getting all your movies into the Lobby which took me about 2 or 3 hours, once you get that done adding movies as you go anly takes a minute or so. I highly recommend this kind of setup, even though my PC is in another room I find it much more convenient to select a movie from the compute and by the time I get seated the movie is starting

. Only problem is two sided discs like Schindlers List, and Eagles “Hell Freezes Over”, on the Eagles disc I can’t get to the DTS audio screen at the beginning to select DTS, and the Schindlers List I have to turn the disc over manually, the rest are fine.

[Jedi]

....I found this little trick in another thread, I tried it, and happy days, IT WORKS!! Before powering down the Sony cx777es after viewing a DVD while still in the "play" mode, enter the stop mode and then, without hitting any other command. immediately power the changer down. Now, next time you power up, the CX777es will seek and cue up this same last disc played (as before), but the changer will not (repeat, will not) go into the play mode. You can now immediately engage the disc explorer menu (which has issues of its own) without the dreaded wait to stop the unitended disc that would otherwise be playing via the autostart bug. Simply go through the "Play-Stop-Power" routine each time you're finished viewing a disc, and life will be a little smoother.

[St Pete]

I've owned the 777es for a year now and have never had this issue until today, when I added a number of discs and redid my setup. I was ecstatic to pop on here and see a thread on it and a post on how to live with it. If I can add anything, including figuring out why this just started today, I'll post it.

Meanwhile, anyone have any recent experiences with this?

[rkhobbit]

I've learned that after powering up the CX777ES, if you wait just to the point it is getting ready to auto-start the last DVD, if you press the "FOLDER" button it interrupts the loading process and pulls up the folder screen. I've timed it and it is about 24-26 seconds for the CX777ES to completely boot, re-initialize the discs...etc. before hitting the "FOLDER" key. Also, pressing the OPEN/CLOSE button does the same thing but when you go CLOSE the door the CX777ES auto-starts again.

I tried using DVDLobby via a Global Cache LAN device (GC-100-06) to use DiscDirect commands via RS232 and could not get it to load disc consistently. Eventually gave up on the RS232 communication and used the IR port feed on the GC-100-06 to issue SendIR commands to the CX777ES to essentialy use the "FOLDER" scheme to prevent auto-start from happening.