Customer Reviews

Pioneer BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Player

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I got this unit from Amazon at almost 1/3 off the MSRP; at that price I almost feel guilty. This is among the higher-quality BluRay players with regard to picture and audio quality. So far I've watched about a half dozen movies on it and I couldn't possibly love it more. My A/V receiver predates HDMI, so I needed a player with multichannel audio outputs. This unit has high-quality Wolfson DACs that really produce outstanding sound.

Perhaps the most important thing to be said about this player (any current player, for that matter), is you must *update your firmware*! As of this writing the current firmware version is 1.17 (my unit arrived with version 1.02 installed) and it fixes a ton of bugs present in earlier versions. Current firmware and instructions for installation can be easily found on the Pioneer USA website with a little patience. Still missing currently is the ability of this unit to decode DTS Master Audio, but it is promised in an any-day-now firmware upgrade; there are few BluRay units that shipped with DTS MA decoding ability, so Pioneer isn't particularly far behind any other manufacturer in this regard.

One thing to note is this player is a Profile 1.1 player and NOT a Profile 2.0 player, meaning it does not support BluRay Live content that is downloadable from the internet. Personally, I could not care less. There is very little BluRay Live content out there now that is worthwhile, and the BR Live processing and downloading is often mentioned as a performance drag on units that support it. Picture and audio quality are what mattered to me, and this unit delivers in spades.

EDIT 06/09/09: Editing to update info. As of 06/04/09, Firmware 1.32 does indeed enable in-player decoding of DTS Master Audio. It sounds outstanding!

The Pioneer BDP-51FD is one of the most well built Blu-ray players under $500 you will find in the market. And, with its latest v1.17 firmware virtually all of the bugs have been squashed plus DVD upconversion is now superior even to high end chipsets like Silicon Optix Reon. Pretty amazing what big strides this player has made in a short period of time.

The Wolfsen DACs provide outstanding analog audio and the many A/V tweaks such as the Source Direct feature will keep tweakheads happy for a long time to come.

While this player is not as user-friendly as some of the competition, once you've delved into all of its settings you will find that you can maximize A/V quality in a way not possible with other players.

Highly recommended for the moderately experienced (or expert) home theater enthusiast!! Nothing else in this pricerange comes close.

I just bought my second BDP-51FD...both bought this month (Jan '09). Obviously, considering I bought two, it's a great player. For mass-market electronics, it's hard to beat Pioneer's quality. At this price level (over 50% off MSRP), this is an absolute no-brainer and a steal! So far, It's played BD's, DVD's, DVD-R's....anything I've thrown at it with aplomb. Works great with my entry-level Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTVin my master BR, and the second unit is for my new Pioneer Kuro (Pioneer PDP-5020FD 50-Inch 1080p KURO Plasma HDTVplasma (waiting for that BIG tax return, LOL) that's going over my livingroom fireplace.

Yes, I realize that ALL BD players are "interim" devices....they're still figuring out the format specs. as I type this. To make matters worse, the studios are constantly adding new features to BD releases which muddy the waters further. As such, they are still ironing out the firmware for this (and other's) player. I have yet to ck the firmware version for my players as I have had not compatability problems, but at least Pioneer actively works out and provides firmware updates FOC to it's purchasers. Yes, I realize that this is NOT a BD Profile 2.0 player, but for the money AND considering I own ZERO (nor am I likely to own) BD's with BD-Live content, I could really care less. I also realize that the CES was just a few weeks back and that Pioneer (amongst others) have already announced their new '09 players. While they won't be available for at least a few months, it remains to be seen whether they're better than this one. One thing's for sure, you won't see those on sale at/below 50% off MSRP anytime soon!

Build quality, component quality, aesthetics (WAF=Wife Acceptance Factor) are all very high here (LOL!) and, most importantly, picture quality & sound quality are excellent. The player is quiet, despite the cooling fan, and loading times are somewhat slow but reasonable....not industry-leading by any stretch. Remote is decent, but it has lots of buttons and it is not backlit. Lots of adjustability, more than I need, and I'm a audio/videophile nut and an anal Electrical Engineer.

Bottom Line:

I DARE you to find a BETTER player for the money, PERIOD. Get 'em while you can.

Update (2/1/09):

I ck'ed the firmware version of both players (i.e., v.1.08B). The current version listed on the AVS Forum (as well as Pioneer's website) is v.1.21. It was super simple to upgrade the firmware. Instructions are on both sites. All you have to do is go to Pioneer's site and it has simple instructions on how to download the firmware and burn it to a cd-r/rw or dvd-r/rw. Then, it's just a matter of loading the disc into the player tray and the machine does the rest.

Prices have really tumbled recently. This would be my only problem with this unit, LOL!

Update (2/10/08):

I have run across my first glitchy BD. Utilizing the BonusView extra on the new (2007) Rambo [Blu-ray]causes lock-ups when you try to scan or chapter search. Pioneer just released another FW update (v.1.25a). Hopefully, this will address the small issues I experienced with this particular BD. In addition, this disc does offer a BD Live extra, a first for me, As above, this player NOT BD Live compatible. Participation in a (yet another) blog or playing a multi-user internet game doesn't turn me on, so this is (still) a non-issue for me. FWIW, If you like Rambo, Action, or Stallone flix, you'll enjoy this disc....TONS of extras as well. EDIT: The new FW flash fixed the Bonus-View issues I've experienced with the Rambo disc...Kudo's to Pioneer!

P.S., A new Pioneer Kuro 50" PDP is on order from Amazon and on it's way! It'll be tough to appreciably beat this combo PQ-wise at any price, and impossible to beat anywhere near the price. Get 'em BOTH while you can!

EDIT: Kuro is here and it is awesome! The BDP-51 was excellent with the 42" Panny, but the synergism exhibited with the Kuro plasma has to be seen to be believed. This is absolutely an edge-of-the-art reference-level system (video-wise, at least) and all for near-budget level prices! Get 'em BOTH while you still can!

I have a pioneer Blu Ray player. It is now 1year 2 moths old and out of warranty. I updated the firmware to watch Avatar and now the machine will not work. I am told by Pioneer support that this is a common problem and can only be fixed by sending the machine back to have the firmware reinstalled by Pioneer. The cost is a minimum of $70 evaluation plus shipping. I cannot recommend this product that is at risk of being broken each time firm ware is updated.

I bought this player after reading great reviews here and elsewhere. I received the unit on a Thursday, and that weekend, I watched 4 Blu-ray movies and was blown away by the picture and sound. the upconversion was incredible as well.

Then came Sunday. I ran over to Fry's for a Blu-ray sale, and picked up two Fox titles. Neither would play. I got a red screen (now known as the Red Screen of Death) when I loaded the discs that said my firmware was not up to date. This was not true, as I had updated to the latest firmware. I wondered if I had defective discs or a defective player.

I called Pioneer, and they were familiar with the problem. They said I could either return the player or send it in to them to have its hardware adjusted. Even though they admit that the problem is theirs, they were adamant that THEY WOULD NOT PAY THE SHIPPING. So, I returned it. Apparently, there are quite a few of these units that will not play Fox titles. It has something to do with the BD+ copy protection on fox discs. Most, though not all of the players are made in Malaysia. I assume that the positive reviews are for older units from Japan.

--EDIT--Since writing this review, Pioneer has come out with a news announcement about the player. Anyone thinking of getting one should visit Pioneer's website. If your player is in a certain range of serial #s, it will be one of the ones affected. I went to a store with a printout of the serial #s, and found one that is free of the problem. So, now I can play all my discs, with awesome sound and video and with great SD DVD upscaling. I highly recommend this player, but beware of the potential problems with some units.

I was unable to change my 3-star review. I would now rate it 4, considering the hassle I went through to get a working player. A working unit is a 5-star product.

---Edit Again---

I ended up returning the second player. It had a problem playing rental discs. The Panasonic BD60 that I bought as a replacement was able to play those same discs with no problem. The video and audio of the Pioneer are stellar, but there are lots of poorly made versions out there of this player. As of now, I would not recommend it.

The Blu-ray playback is beautiful but what really sold it for me was the upconverting of my old DVDs. Star Wars Episode III was almost as good as a 1080 source. The first scene where the movie is mostly CG I could understand it might be easier for the hardware to upconvert, but even the skin tones of the actors were vivid and Blu-ray-esque. My old Matrix DVD was a big dissapointment when played on my old JVC upconverting DVD player and on my 65 inch DLP but when I put it in the Pioneer that disappointment was long gone. I did have lip sync problems on Matrix Reloaded for some reason (latest firmware was installed on my unit) but Matrix Revolutions was flawless. I had been dissappointed with my old DVD collection when watching them on my 1080p big screen but now I can enjoy them all over again! Start up and load times are not the best when compared to the PS3 and Panasonic units but it is far better than my friends Sony Blu-ray from last year and the eye candy that this unit can put out whether Blu-ray or DVD makes it worth every penny.

Painfully slow load times and device kept failing to recognize discs it played before. 6ave replaced it but the new player did the exact same thing. Pioneer customer service could not have been worse. Would not repair it, saying they did not repair replacements. Put it on the shelf in it's box and bought a playstation 3 which is superb. It had been used all of, say, two times, and not all the way through at that (couldn't, it kept stroking out).

Last month I became tired of looking at it and on a whim called Pioneer customer service, asked for the head of the entire customer service department, Mark Passmore, and told him about my disappointment and the whole story all over again. Long story short, I gave him every document he asked for, every one, only to be told today, by answering machine msg...Sorry, we won't repair it. Lesson...Don't buy from Pioneer, they do not go above and beyond to stand behind their products. By the way, I have never been irritated sufficiently to write a negative review before.

I purchased this Blu-ray player to match my new 50" Pioneer Kuro 5020 TV. I was overly impressed with the combination. This is my first plasma and first blu-ray player, but they blew away my expectations. I have watched CARS and Polar Express in Blu-Ray on this and they are perfect. I also put in an old standard DVD of the Godfather to see how bad the grainy movie would appear on a large plasma display. It did a great job of upconverting the picture. It appeared to elimiate the grainy look that you get when viewing it on a normal tube tv, I can only assume that the BDP-51 is the reason for the better picture quality conversion and not just the tv I am viewing it on. I would definitely recommend this product. The only drawback is that it is not BD-Live for those of you who want to play on the internet while watching your movies (not me).

I purchased this as my first Blu-Ray player. The picture quality is very good, however there are two problems. The player loads discs very slowly, as long as 4 - 5 minutes. However, the larger problem is the player will not play new Blu-Ray discs. I have Quantum of Solace and Slumdog Millionaire and neither willplay in the player. A message comes on the screen and says "the player needs an update" in order to play the disc. I have e-mailed Pioneer support and was told that the engineeers were aware of the problem and would have a solution in a few weeks. I waited two weeks, wrote again and was told they would have the problem fixed any day. It's now been 8 more days, no solution. Given the problem and the slow response, I would pass on this player.

After doing some research, I decided that a BD Profile 2.0 player wasn't something that I needed or even wanted, so I starting looking for the best Profile 1.1 deal I could find. I decided on the Pioneer...just a few months ago this unit was selling for $600, $300 to my door was the price range I was looking for and got. So far its everything thats its cracked up to be, particularily after upgrading the firmware to 1.25a. Plays everything I've thrown into it, picture quality is incredible plus does a very nice job on audio CDs. If you have an older A/V receiver, it has analog connections so you don't have to miss out on the new codecs. I highly recommend this unit.