My multi-region Sherwood Bluray player arrived three or four days ago, and it actually does play Region 2 Blurays if you punch in the correct code. Very comforting and satisfying. My mistake was to place the Sherwood on top of my Samsung Bluray player, which I’ve had for a year and use for domestic Blurays. Two or three days after I placed the Sherwood on top of the Samsung the latter began to cause Blurays to skip or shudder, and the sound began to be ever-so-slightly out of synch.

Not dramatically but just enough to drive me slightly nuts, like I’m a paraplegic lying in bed and listening to the sound of a dripping faucet in the kitchen, and unable to do anything but listen. The actor says “cat” or “culpable” or “have a glass of wine,” and his or her lips are just a little bit ahead of the voice. Just half a beat but it’s noticable.

I tried calling Samsung support and re-setting the software and re-updating the software, but the skipping and sound-synching problems have remained. I feel angry and frustrated. I could take the Samsung player to a repair guy, but I’m starting to believe I have no choice but to get another Bluray player, and not a Samsung this time. I’ve come to hate Samsung in a way. I only know for a fact that watching Blurays is now a very unpleasant thing, and it seems absurd that this would happen because a relatively light device was placed on top of the Samsung…fuck. I can’t stop focusing on the movement of lips, and having tried to fix it I’m now stuck in the scowling stage.