BDP-S3100 won't stream Amazon Prime

Question

If anyone else has had this specific problem and can shed some light I will be very grateful. This bluray player is about a year old.  We've been using it to stream both Netflix and Amazon Prime for the past year.  A few days ago we started having a problem with Amazon Prime.  When the app starts it let's me browse for a show or movie without issue.  I select what I want to watch and then it checks the internet connection.  It reports the speed to be between 30 and 40 Mbps on average.  The problem comes right before it would normally start to stream the video.  It just sits there with the little wheel spinning, usually for about a minute before the message appears - "The network is down." I have checked to see if Amazon Prime is experiencing an outtage.  When the problem first occurred it looked like maybe they were.  One website showed numerous outtage reports for Amazon Prime right after Christmas.  But currently there doesn't seem to be any widespread problem and I've not been able to stream for over a week now. My internet connection is fine.  All other wired and wireless devices are not having any issues. I have reset my cable modem and router.  This did not fix the problem. I have tried a wired and wireless connection to the bluray player.  The problem exists both ways. I have reset the bluray player to its factory settings.  This did not fix the problem. I have confirmed that I'm able to stream Amazon Prime on other devices using the same modem/router.  We can stream Amazon Prime videos on our laptops without issues. That's everything I can think of that we've tried.  I'm starting to wonder if the player has ****** out.  It's just weird that I can browse online content, meaning the player is connecting to the internet, but when it tries to stream a video it fails.

Answer 1

This is just my personal theory, so please take it with a grain of salt. Sony got hacked right after Christmas and that's when the trouble started.  At first it didn't make sense to me that this would be the cause because Amazon servers would be responsible for streaming my instant video, not Sony's.  But it's rumored that Sony BD devices are routing through Sony services on the way to requesting streaming video from Amazon.  If that is true (and I don't know if it is) then I wonder if Amazon put some additional security measures in place following the Sony hack.  In other words, Amazon says "ok Sony, you obviously have some security issues so we are going to put the kybosh on requests for video coming through you".  End result - Amazon Prime customers can't access streaming video through Sony's BD devices, but they can by just about any other means.  Also, Sony BD devices continue to stream other services like Netflix and Hulu, but just not Amazon Prime. Fast forward a couple of weeks - Sony develops a system udpate that allows their Amazon Prime app to comply with Amazon's new security requirements.  Sony BD device owners (like the poster above) perform the update and voila, they can stream Amazon Prime again. Again, that's just my theory.  I have not heard any of the above from Sony or Amazon.  But tonight I'm going to do the system update when I get home and see if it fixes my issues across the board.  As of this morning it was still very random.  One video willl play and the next won't.