Unbelievable! I had this same problem when I bought my player last April and the only difference is that they now know about the problem instead of stonewalling. They were stonewalling because further investigation found that there were lots of complaints, even then. Of course they are still selling the players...

I finally returned my player and exchanged it for a Toshiba which has a better picture and trouble free!

Advice: Return your player before it's too late. Even if they own up to a fix, you will be without a player for weeks. I guarantee, the problem will become more annoying as time goes on.

(I'm avoiding Sony in the future. I've heard other horror stories on other Sony gear since I started checking on this problem.)