14 DAY TRIAL // Reports coming from PS3 owners who use 1.5 firmware that Blu-ray movies and games don't work properly anymore are coming from all around the world. In only 2 months from its launch in North America, the PS3 has had more problems than any other next-gen console.
Apparently, v1.5 firmware makes it difficult for the machine to read Blu-ray discs resulting in image freezing and others. It seems that a very important (negative) factor is the internet connection. Although Sony should have just made it work fine under any circumstances, wireless internet connections seem to be the problem. So, the advice is a wired internet connection, attaching your PS3 to their Internet router with a direct Ethernet cable, if you too are having the same trouble.
Blu-ray discs are not the problem but the firmware is and that means that you can still play older games from PS2 and PS one...NOT! Leaving aside that there are probably less than 3 people on the planet who would do that (having PS3 games for the machine), older games are not an option either as their functionality is affected as well by the new update.
How do they manage to screw up every time? Tracking the unfortunate events chronologically, it pretty much looks like when Sony is trying to unscrew something, they screw up on something else just by doing that. It's a vicious circle that Sony is experiencing right now. For a while, problems occurring with the PS3's evolution were normal ones that other big companies have experienced but, all I can say right now, having seen it all, is that I'm just sorry the PlayStation is not what it used to be.