So what's up with Blu-ray disc players? They seem to take forever to boot up before you can open the tray to put a disc in or take the old one out. Then as often as not there is no play menu, unlike with DVDs. It starts right into the movie, and sometimes no matter what I do, I can't seem to find a menu with common options like scene selection.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this typical of the players (or Blu-ray discs)? -- Jeff Geisler

First of all, congratulations on getting a new Blu-ray disc player as I'm sure many did during the holidays. There isn't a better way of watching movies in all their glorious high definition.

But Blu-ray discs are more complicated than regular DVDs. The menus on the new format are more involved and are usually animated with sound effects. They also are tied to features such as picture-in-picture and the online BD-Live, which are functions that DVDs do not have.

Consequently, it takes the player more time to load all of those features into memory before the movie starts up.

As for why a disc might go right into the movie instead of a menu, that depends on the people who have authored the disc. Sometimes, they code it to go right into the movie (though that's rare), sometimes it goes to the main menu, or worst of all, it shows countless trailers before going to the menu.

Different players will load up a disc at different speeds depending on how fast the processor is in the player. Samsung and Sony tend to have faster players with speedier load times. Sony's PlayStation 3 video game console, which also plays Blu-ray movies, boasts one of the fastest load times because it uses the same powerful Cell processor that's used to play its games.

Another way to help address load times and issues with playing Blu-ray discs is to always make sure the firmware for the player is up to date.

The firmware is the code embedded in a device that makes it run. A Blu-ray player must be updated with the latest firmware to make sure it performs all of the machine's functions. Most players can be updated by burning the new firmware on a disc and playing it, or by copying it to a USB drive if the player has a USB port. More expensive players can be updated via an online connection.

One final note, if you want to get the Blu-ray's onscreen menu at any time while the movie's playing, press the up or down navigation buttons on the remote.

Puzzled by your player? Ticked off by your tech toys? E-mail Vince Horiuchi at ohmytech@sltrib.com with your questions.