Samsung is expected to release a firmware upgrade for its BD-P1000 and BD-P1200 Blu-Ray players that enhances the playability of BD+ Blu-Ray movies. The release will be available for download later this week at Samsung's website. Samsung said that the update will solve the freezing issues that had been recently reported by consumers, when they tried to play specific Blu-Ray titles such as the 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's Blu-ray Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer and the The Day After Tomorrow.

Samsung's BD-P1200 player can be access the firmware update via its Ethernet connection.

The BD+ is a Virtual Machine-based technology dedicated to BD Format. BD+ relates to the ability to keep content from playing on a known hacked player, and is an additional weapon of the AACS/Blu-Ray Disc Association against movie piracy.

The BD-ROM players include a small Virtual Machine to provide a basic processing environment for BD+ Content Code. During reproduction of a BD-ROM title, the VM runs the Content Code to apply the Security Check and enable content playback when the player is legitimate. A security code runs continuously during playback in order to correct the corrupted stream and produce viewable content.

Samsung did not provide details on how the BD+ caused the incompatibility issue with the specific Blu-Ray movies. However, on Sunday, the creators of the Advanced Access Content System said it had changed the code used to scramble discs to prevent copying of movies in either Blu-ray or the rival format HD-DVD, The Wall Street Journal reported. Some LG Blu-ray players were reportedly also affected by the code change. LG said it was working on a firmware upgrade as well.

However, such issues are expected to surface in the future for both Blu-Ray and HD DVD movie titles, as the implementation of new features of the AACS protection technology will require consumers to regularly update the firmware of their hardware and software players.