Official Pioneer Elite BDP-05FD & BDP-51FD Owners Thread / Vs 1.32 DTS-HD MA - Page 1002

It was 1.32, it's in the title of this thread.

The BDP-51FD, 05FD, and BDP-LX71 all use the same firmware. Yes, DTS-HD (a feature that should have been there from the inital release of the machines) was enabled late with firmware v1.32, approximately one year after the release of the machine

The name of this thread is when they added DTS-HD!

I know my BDP 05 is an older unit but I wanted to know if the firmware updates makes it able to play SACD?

I recently got a Elite VSX53 so I will be hooking it up soon.

THAT would certainly be nice! But, alas, no.

Finally had to update to firmware 1.73 in order to play Breaking Bad season 4 blu ray. I had been on 1.38 forever. All is well after the update!

Anyone else have problems playing T2 Skynet Edition? Plays fine in my older Panny but the 51FD doesn't even recognize the disk.
Just upgraded to 1.73 hoping that would take care of it but no such luck.
This player has always been the fussier of the two.

Wow! Been a long time since I've visited here. My 05's still chugging along quite well. I haven't updated the fw in a long while but decided to give 1.73 a go. I have a Sammy 6900 for both Netflix type stuff and whatever my 05 decides to spit out but I still love my 05.

Glanced through the last few pages and was happy to see quite a few old familiar names. As they say on the other side of the pond...Cheers to you all! Going to burn the 1.73 fw and apply now.

Mike T

Still using my 51FD here...plan to for a long while. Have a PS3 as well but use the 51FD most of the time for movies. Run into an occasional bad Netflix bluray movie but find my PS3 to have the same problems with these discs.

Same here. Been using my 51FD ever since it first came out. Still very happy with it. Slow, yes. But great quality picture and sound. Used to have occasional problems with some Netflix discs, but since Netflix's whole separation of discs & streaming...I've dropped the discs. So that's not a problem anymore! (Now my AppleTV gets the blame for Netflix glitches. ..though it's usually Netflix's fault anyway)

Anybody here had any issues with playing "The Help"? Disk was in flawless shape but will not load on my player with FW 1.73.

Please let me know. THanks. I'm debating getting a newer BD player if its the disk because my wife loves this movie....

played fine for me, firmware 1.72

Thanks. Bad disc. Wouldn't play with my new DMP-bdt220 either. Did a Pepsi challenge between the bdp-51fd with the Lord of Rings Ext Edition: Fellowship Disc 2 blu-ray. The Panasonic loaded it 41 seconds from a powered on state. The Pioneer loaded it in 1:39 seconds so the Panasonic definitely beat it handily, and I am certain the Pioneer would add another 30 seconds to the boot on state.

As for video quality, I'm still going to say the BDP-51fd looked better with all the Panasonic processing turned off. I noticed a slight judder in high motion scenes that I did not see on the Pioneer. Also, the Pioneer seemed to maintain a more 'filmish' look than the Panasonic, although the colors of the Panasonic seemed to pop more. This is of course purely subjective. I'm still going to stick with the Pioneer as I have no need of the network functionality of it.

Same here.

I am having issues with The Tree of Life on firmware 1.72 and 1.73. If you play the movie from the home screen it works fine, but the disc resume function on load, and the scene selection menu both appear to lock up the player. The disc plays fine in a PS#, though.

Just got a second disc from Blockbuster for The Help. Won't play on either my bdp-51fd or the Panny DMP-bd220. Something is not right here..... The chances of two blu-rays in a row not working on two BD players with latest firmware is almost impossible. Looks like I might have to buy one from Target to see if Blockbuster got a bad batch.

Sorry if this was covered, but did the 51FD become region free recently? Purchased a Radiohead Blu that is Region A and it works with no issues, so I tested with other discs and my player started playing discs from other Regions that it would not play before. Blu and DVD

Nope... My player does not recognize other region discs at all...

My region A 51FD (and 320) play 90% of region B coded Blu-rays (I have >50), the ones that come up with the wrong region screen after disc loading. The region warning screen is just a short video clip or a static image and usually it does not prevent further play if you persevere. Press some buttons on the remote! People give up too soon! Recently I found another trick so I'll test the remaining ones that didn't play before. There's no such thing as region-locked or at least it's not as common or non-circumventable as people think.

Of course discs that come from another region doesn't mean they are always region coded, and discs that have region B printed on the back of the case doesn't mean they are region coded: some will play straight away without wrong region warning.

It's nothing to do with recent firmware. It's always been like that since day one.

How does 1.73 add DTS HD?

Ive had my 51FD Since it came out and since installing an AV preamp that is all HDMI and have a theater that is all HDMI for the last 2 1/2 years at least Ive been getting DTS HD MASTER AUDIO from my player. Ive never seen an instance where my player wasnt capable of DTS HD...

My problem now with 1.73 is it has completly "F" ed up a perfectly working blueray player. I thought it was just my Avitar disc not working at chapter 20. It locks up the player to the point it needs to be reset each and every time it hits a half munite into chaptor 20.

I wrote it off as my disc has a tiny little "Z" shaped scratch and I figured that that was it. But last night we rented THOR and the problems are all over the map. The player freezes, skips and is now just a total pile of crap. The THOR disc is flawless not a single scratch or finger print.

I just wanted to post this for anyone else that has now had major problems with the 51FD ever since the 1.73 update. It sucks I tried to go back down to 1.72 but the player is smart enough to know not to downgrade. So, Im either waiting for a new firmware update or Im throwing this thing in the crapper.

Ive had my eye on one of Marantz's models since they will even have a rack mount option for it. Ive just about had it with Pioneer. Remember Pioneer when they were making KURO Plasma TV's....Well Pioneer today is not the same Pioneer of when that was. Too Bad I used to really recomend their products but I have honestly seen too many Pioneer Blueray players including the ELITE line with too many problems. Either the network players wont connect or stream properly and you spend a lot of time to make them work or now this firmaware issue. I think Im done with Pioneer now. Granted my 51FD was my 1st bluray player and a nice one at that but I think it times to look else where.

( I know the 51FD was one of the 1st models from Pioneer when it comes to blueray )

It doesn't. 1.32 did.

If you were getting DTS HD MA since the day the 51FD came out, obviously you were bitstreaming. What the 1.32 firmware added was the capability to decode DTS-HD MA to PCM in the player.

Also for what it's worth, the 51FD is from the days when Pioneer was still making KURO plasma displays.

The Pioneers had the DTS HD Master decoder chip built-in but the programming of it was not finalized until 1.32... You cannot "add" DTS HD Master decoding thru software alone...

well that definetly makes sence I think I remember somthing in the adendum to v1.32.....Yes I was running bitstream, via optical cable back in the day to my older preamp.
I Just hope my player is physically screwed. I like the 51FD and I have to go to a clients house tomarrow. I may try my Avitar disc on his player with 1.72 to rule out my disc and the firmware but I have a feeling it will work fin on his. I am very reluctant to upgrade his firmware since its screwed my unit up.

I need to try another BD and see if I just had some back to back bad content. It seems to play my DTS MA demo disc just fine but there your only plying short clips not an entire movie so Im kind of stuck tracking down the problem to my player,firmware or disc.

Oh, well thats live in the AV Industry.....

. . .test

Is this latest FW update any good? Meaning has it affected anything in a negative or positive way that was installed already either from the factory or from earlier FW updates? Can't really tell from the few posts so far. Nothing of interest on Pio's Update page (as usual). Curious if there is a negative or positive effect against video and/or audio both with Component Level audio or HDMI. Specifics would be very helpful for the the group.

I would imagine the best test would be to do back-to-back disc (audio or DVD or Blu-Ray) functionality checks before and after the latest release. Even a simple load from when the disc tray closes to when the first disc menu displays would be better than nothing.

Thanks!

You're really over thinking this. Its just an update so certain disc's will play correctly, nothing more. All your sound a picture will be the same.

The new firmware is just for BD Stability just like the last 1.72 1.73 states exactly the same thing.

Im not sure if its truly screwd up my player or not. I think my Avitar disc has a slight scratch so Im wrighting it off as that and the Thor disc that was playing for the majority of the movie with a few glitches may also be the disc. Im doing more testing with other discs. My DTS demo disc plays just fine as it always has. I dont see any differences with the update. As was staed Im sure the update is for new releases on BD that are now compatible with this player.

@ Vic C
Read your ealier post re problems with Avatar. I've been on 1.73 on my 05 since it came out and have had no problems at all, the 05 continues to perform flawlessy, no hiccups just slow loads:rolleyes:. Out of interest I ran Avatar yesterday through the area you are having problems several times and a couple of other chapters as well with no anomalies at all, smooth as silk great sound and great picture as expected, the bd used though was not a rental but bought at the time of the movie release. I believe firmware 1.73 was brought out mainly for some problem discs released in Europe. Sounds like your problems could be hardware related maybe a bit of dust floating around somewhere. I had a problem about a year ago with a DVD:eek: before anyone says, yes those other ancient shiny discs, MIB II which froze a the same time stamp each time in the 05 but OK in another player, out of desperation as it was the only disc I had problems with I ran a bluray lens cleaner with brushes (not the brushless one) problem solved that disc has continued to play ever since and Will Smith is not frozen bouncing on coiled springs. Coincidence or not worth a shot unless you need an excuse to bin the 51

Rick
I was thinking it could be dust becasue I love my player has been playing everything perfectly. Its still playing my test DTS H D M A Disc perfectly so Im not real sure. It definetly would be easy to pull it out of my rack and blow it out. I dont have a brushless or brush cleaner disc.

I was looking for an excuse to buy the new Marantz but of course the I want is now disscontinued so I either figure out where the problem is or wait it out. My tech has an 05 with bad lazers maby I could work somethingout with him and put my Lazer's ( transport ) from my 51 into the 05 and have an ELITE for pennies bacaue I doubt he will have any use for a dead chasis. Just a lot of work to get my Avitar to play right lol.

Im glad I looked at this threads responce thanks Rick I do need to get back in there and see whats what I was thinking mabe its a heat problem but Ill bet is possible the fan sucked something in and put it in a bad spot!

Hi Vic,

You need to look back a few pages maybe around page 998, there is a discussion between myself and several others regarding changing drives this is not as simple as one might think, the drives are matched to the mother boards and require a code to be put in if the drive is changed.

I can't help thinking from what you describe though you may have a disc problem with the Avatar BD is there any way you can borrow another just to test or try your disc in another 51/05.

Removing the drive from the player and dissembling it to get at the lens for cleaning requires a level of technical skill and delicate touch but can be done if you are careful. Again there are a couple of posts with a diagram showing how to clean the lens. A quick search on some of my posts this year (I have not posted much this year at all) should bring these up and with the input from others will outline the difficulties you might and will experience. (If I can find it quickly I'll add links, got some other stuff to attend to this afternoon). Added later. Have a look here http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showpost.php?p=20456712&postcount=28966 post by Toshiman regarding lens cleaning and if you go to page 998 of this thread there is quite a bit of discussion from about third the way down regarding swapping out drives and what is needed.

My advice would be first off to try some compressed air from a can used for camera lens and sensor cleaning with an extension tube fitted, squirted into the slot from underneath the tray keeping the can level and unshook (do a test squirt away from the player first to get rid of any residue) so that no liquid is squirted instead of gas. Failing that I use a Maxell brush cleaner specific for bluray players (the wind tunnel one is ineffective in most cases). If however the lens is really gungy then it will require a strip down of the drive and cleaned carefully with a cotton bud (I prefer a lens tissue or soft linen cloth but many recommend the cotton bud perhaps because it is easier with the small tip, but is coarser and should be used gently) and rubbing (Isoprophyl) alchohol
Edited by Rick R - 7/1/12 at 6:58am