Pioneer BDP-51 FD Bluray player for £292 at Richer Sounds...(Askdirect selling for £302 on Amazon) minus £10 promise....Good deal I thought....
Pioneer BDP-51 FD
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Good price and v.good picture/sound. Looks good.
No BDLive, still no DTS HD MA and firmware update problems, some operational glitches. Slow (though mine seems to work fairly swiftly for some reason)
I'd wait for the new panasonics unless you have a pio tv or simply want good pics/sound without the extras and don't mind updating f/w via download-cd/r as and when they're made available.
No BDLive, still no DTS HD MA and firmware update problems, some operational glitches. Slow (though mine seems to work fairly swiftly for some reason)
I'd wait for the new panasonics unless you have a pio tv or simply want good pics/sound without the extras and don't mind updating f/w via download-cd/r as and when they're made available.
Yep, I have a Pioneer panel and picture/sound quality is awesome....great with standard DVDs too. Mine is also not that slow to load etc. and my receiver does all the decoding so no firmware updates for Master Audio required....Very happy with it,couldnt resist at the price...and couldnt wait for the new panasonic/pioneer players to arrive...
I know it's meant to be a great player but the lack of firmware updates from Pioneer is quite frankly a joke and unforgiveable. Apparently the same is happening with the LX71 & LX81 receivers where certain bugs are not being addressed. Far too many products are released minus features and with bugs leaving us the consumer to beta test them for them. The very least they could do, is fix the problems and get regular firmware updates out to the user. Onkyo seem to manage it amongst others.....
Yes , you are right..Pioneer should be much more on the ball with Firmware updates...seems some people who need them have been waiting months...Unforgivable..!!
I agree. I guess they want people to buy hdmi recievers that can decode everything. I would think that could be counter productive as people may buy another brand. I can't see why it didn't do it from the box anyway.
One annoying thing about the 51 is that you have to select what audio output you intend to use in the initial set up menu. ie. Digital Audio (coax/optical) for the Dolby Digital/DTS stuff or HDMI for the all the HD audio stuff...As most people would be playing a mixture of normal DVDs and Bluray, it can be a bit tedius switching Audio outputs manually rather than a Auto setting for example.....Just a minor gripe mind...!!
If you have an HDMI capable amp decoding HD audio on the amp side, then you do not need to switch between HDMI and Coaxial/Optical when you move to DVDs. The DVD audio track is happily sent down the same HDMI cable as HD audio. The annoying thing is that you can't connect both at once and swap between inputs on the amp to see which sounds better. Proper simultanious output would have been nice but hey ho. If you have a modern amp then just switch the audio to HDMI in the settings menu on the 51 and leave it alone after that.
Yep..Understand what you are saying..I got that wrong. Ive been fiddling with cables and buttons all day and got confused..Thanks.
Also, You might be able to answer this question for me. Why doesnt the 5.1 Dolby Digital signal from my Sky+ HD box only show when coax/optical is selected and not when HDMI is selected (on amp). ie. cant it be sent down the hdmi cable? as it does when playing DVDs from the player?
daveh75
Well-known member
I've just got hold of a Pioneer BDP-51FD and I expected it to be far superior to my Pana BD35 in terms of picture and sound, but sadly (at least to my sight and hearing), I'm struggling to see the superiority of this machine.
It takes ages to load and read a disc, understandably coz it's not a Profile 2.0 like the Pana. I'll be testing it further over the next few days with various blu-ray discs I've played on the Pana and hopefully, there will be a distinct 'upgrade' in terms of picture and sound.
It takes ages to load and read a disc, understandably coz it's not a Profile 2.0 like the Pana. I'll be testing it further over the next few days with various blu-ray discs I've played on the Pana and hopefully, there will be a distinct 'upgrade' in terms of picture and sound.
The_Lhc
Well-known member
ValianTX:
I've just got hold of a Pioneer BDP-51FD and I expected it to be far superior to my Pana BD35 in terms of picture and sound,
Any particular reason why you expected that? They're not that far apart in terms of price, so I wouldn't expect a great deal of difference in the two really.
I've just got hold of a Pioneer BDP-51FD and I expected it to be far superior to my Pana BD35 in terms of picture and sound,
Any particular reason why you expected that? They're not that far apart in terms of price, so I wouldn't expect a great deal of difference in the two really.
The Pioneer is a mid-range blu-ray player while the Pana is a budget blu-ray player. There is also a significant difference in price between the two.
ElectroMan
Well-known member
Also, WHF (and others) say it's better than the entry-level players!
I've not done any direct comparisons between the 51FD and my PS3 (partly because of the long load times on the Pioneer!), and wasn't sure at first how much better the 51FD is.
However, I recently rented I Am Legend on DVD by mistake (I thought I'd selected the Blu-ray), and the upscaled picture quality was amazing - I had to double-check to make sure it was a DVD. It looked so good in some scenes that I'm not sure how the BD could better it. I'd rent the BD as well, but I couldn't watch that film twice!
I've not done any direct comparisons between the 51FD and my PS3 (partly because of the long load times on the Pioneer!), and wasn't sure at first how much better the 51FD is.
However, I recently rented I Am Legend on DVD by mistake (I thought I'd selected the Blu-ray), and the upscaled picture quality was amazing - I had to double-check to make sure it was a DVD. It looked so good in some scenes that I'm not sure how the BD could better it. I'd rent the BD as well, but I couldn't watch that film twice!
I have to agree that the pioneer update issue is a joke as you can see I have given them alot of money over the years, but that is going to stop if they dont sort out updates,
I can't understand this either - absolute nonsence. How can Pioneer, which produces the best Plasma TV's in the world, not be able to provide a decent Profile 2.0 Blu-Ray Player? Certainly makes you wonder, doesn't it?
When it comes to BLU-RAY players according to several reviews, nothing beats the Panasonic DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 in overall quality.
When it comes to BLU-RAY players according to several reviews, nothing beats the Panasonic DMP-BD35 and DMP-BD55 in overall quality.
ElectroMan
Well-known member
smmee:I have to agree that the pioneer update issue is a joke as you can see I have given them alot of money over the years, but that is going to stop if they dont sort out updates,
There may not be much Pioneer equipment to spend your money on in future, as they're stopping manufacture of TVs, and are going into a joint venture with Sharp for Blu-ray players!
There may not be much Pioneer equipment to spend your money on in future, as they're stopping manufacture of TVs, and are going into a joint venture with Sharp for Blu-ray players!
lets just hope that they get these dts hd sound updates out before they shut down pionner blue-ray operations and re-open up with re-branded joint venture blu-ray players.
ok iv read this forum and lets be honest who realy cares about profile 2, i have it on my ps3 and never use it plus things take time sonys dts hd upgrade took what a year or more and if you need it (most of us on here dont cos of hd amps) look at the pana or the sony but as soon as you've paid your money pioneer will have made the upgrade but lets be honest your not going to just look at the difference the 51 fd is incredable for £400 now you can get it for £300 just read the review.
I do agree with you 2cool that the 51 is a amazing deal, the point i was making was that the upgrade keeps getting put back time and again and a company thats suposed to be on the ball cant keep up with their dead lines, picture quality is paramount as most of us that have older amps and are on forums like this will upgrade there amps over time
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