The Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Owner's Thread... - Page 274

I have had my Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD for a long time before it broke down , had it fix and and using it for long time now,still love it for movie,I use HDMI cables ( 2 HDMI cable one for sound only & and 1 for the picture ) for the great HD sound and only use it for Blu-ray disc ( ok and for SD DVD disc ),for SACD disc I use the Pioneer Elite DV-79 with iLink,for CD & DVD music I Have the Elite DV-58AV setup for 2 and 5 channel analog only , but for a great sound I like vinyl this is my opinion only,if had the $ I would like to use the Audience AU24 cables but I don't and happy with what I have,I still love the Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD. TRIG http://www.blu-ray.com/community/gal...&folderid=3596

I bought mine that same month, end of March '09. I'm sorry to hear of your misfortune and hope for a swift resolution.

Thanks for the encouraging words guys I'll probably send it in when it finally craps out because I need the analog outputs for the moment (plus I really do like it), but oddly enough it's struggling along again for the time being.. Time will tell I suppose. I'd like to think maybe it was just an "out of spec" disc or something, but I don't know if that's even realistic or not..

My 09FD won't play The Sitter, updated software through network to latest version....2.72

I assume this is a Blu-ray. Do you have another player to try it in?

Yes works in oppo 93, I get Fox opening logo then it never gets beyond that just black screen and no sound. Plays perfect in Oppo

I guess the real test is whether this happens with other BD discs. It's not new for a particular disc to be problematic in a particular player. And while this isn't the "Cannot play this disc" message others have reported which led to a drive failure, it's still something to keep an eye on for sure. If it begins to manifest with other BDs, and not just new ones, then I'd think there's a player issue and Pioneer should be contacted.

Only disc that won't play other BD discs play fine

My 09 is currently dead. I will be paying Pioneer to replace the drive, It will be used as my back up player now. When it died I bought the Oppo 95.
Am I an Oppo Fanboy? Hardly, I'm a fan of a top notch working product irregardless of the manufacture. My plasma display is a Pioneer Elite Kuro 141 FD. I owned a BDP 05 before the 09 came out. My buddy who bought the 05from me has reported that it's drive is going out as well. My 09 is 3 years old and used maybe 6-7 hours a week(an estimated average)

As many folks have mentioned, if you paid for your 09FD with a credit card that offers an automatic extended warranty a years beyond Pioneer's 2 years you may be able to get reimbursed for the repair. Sorry it happened to you too. Good luck!

LJG, is your 09 connect to the internet? If so, disconnect the network cable and try the movie again. It may just be trying to download information for BD Live! and is taking forever. With the network cable disconnect, it should just ignore the BD Live! request and start playing the movie (may take awhile for the BD Live! request to timeout, but just let it sit there until it starts playing).

+1

Also delete any stored BD-live info.

New firmware is avaliable

Pioneer indicates the usual information ...

CHANGE HISTORY:

Ver 2.73
- Enhances stability of BD-ROM/BD-R/BD-RE playback

I just downloaded it directly to my 09FD via its LAN connection.

Mostly countermessures for BD's not playing or freeses mainly discs released in Europe and Japan.

Well.. I tried to let the machine update it's firmware online last night, but it still said "downloading" when I went to bed.... Still said "downloading" when I got up to come to work today - I have a hard time believing that this is really the case. Do I have any other options than to just unplug it when I get home tonight? I really don't want to brick this machine, but I'm not sure I have any other options at this point. Thoughts? Suggestions? Although I always liked this machine when it worked properly, I'm not too impressed with this unit or Pioneer's support at this point - especially considering what it cost to start with.

* update - I got home today and it still said it was "downloading" so I just unplugged the stupid thing, waited a minute, and plugged it back in again. It did come on again when I hit the power switch, and it reports that it's now using ver 2.73. I hope this is true, but in any case it hasn't been a confidence inspiring update. No harm, no foul? I hope...

Assuming you were updating the firmware via the unit's LAN connection, you might want to try the procedure outlined in the 09FD's manual on page 53 ...

Restoring all the settings to the factory default settings
1 Check that the player’s power is turned on.
2 When a disc is playing, press to stop playback.
Eject the disc from the player. (your drive is probably empty)
3 While pressing , press .
Operate using the buttons on the player’s front panel. (This turns the unit OFF, and the next time it is turned on it will be reset.)

Note
• After restoring all the settings to the factory default settings, use
Setup Navigator to reset the player (page 21).
• When all the settings are restored to the factory defaults, all the
data for the secondary video (Picture-in-Picture), secondary
audio, bookmarks, etc., is erased. This may just work because it would seem odd that your "drive problem" would interfere with downloading firmware via the LAN. In other words, maybe you didn't really have a drive problem at all.

Good luck to you.

Yeah I agree, I doubt the two issues are related and I'm hopeful that the "update" will take care of the disc read issues, but I guess we'll see. I've never had an issue with the LAN update before so I was very surprised when it choked on this one. Seems to have pulled out of it OK though, so I'll see what happens. Thanks for the reset info too - I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but if it keeps acting flakey I might give it a shot and see if the "clean slate" approach helps.

If you do reset be sure to write down any custom video settings you may have set under Memory 1, 2 or 3 BEFORE you do the reset. Also, afterwards, be sure to set/reset Audio DRC to OFF - I personally believe any other setting SERIOUSLY degrades the 09FD's analog audio performance. Doing a reset just puts the unit into the same state it was when you first purchased it, except the firmware will be v2.73.

Thanks, cbono
I assume that's some kind of dynamic range compression? I always try to shut all that stuff off, but I went looking for it just to confirm anyway. I was unable to find it in the menu anywhere...

I'm pretty sure my DRC is off. But now that you mention it, I'll have to check.

Adjusting the Audio DRC is done from the BD Player Tools / Audio Adjust Settings.

Audio DRC (Dynamic Range Control) has the effect of playing loud
sounds softly and soft sounds loudly.

To my ears, nothing sounds better than OFF, EVER !

Also, (and after a reset) it's best to set PURE AUDIO which can only be done from the front panel. This function suppresses unnecessary signals to reduce noise and output high quality audio signals...

Mode 1 - Select this when listening to audio CDs and audio
files. This mode also provides higher quality sound than Mode
2 when playing only the audio portion of such video sources as
BDs, DVDs and video files.
Mode 2 - Select this when also viewing the video portion of
such video sources as BDs, DVDs and video files.
Off - Select this to disable the Pure Audio function

Mode 2 is my preferred setting unless I actually listen to a CD.

Thanks for the tip cbono,

I found the DRC setting right where you said it was, and it was indeed off as I'd hoped. I'll also be trying Mode 2 for a while.. I have to admit that even if it sounds the same, I like it better for getting rid of the extra lighting during movies. I use a Simaudio Supernova for CD that handily bests the Pioneer for 2ch music (as it should), but I'll take any improvement in movie/surround sound I can get out of the BDP-09FD, so thanks again for the tips.

Is v2.73 working ok? Any issues?

So far, so good with 2.73 for me. I'll admit that I haven't given it a huge workout lately though. I'm liking the Pure Direct2 setting that cbono suggested too..

Ok - thanks. Guess I'll install it.

Totally bummed today, I had the urge to listen to something from the mid-60s and I grabbed my (please don't laugh) Richard Harris "A Tramp Shining" CD, I then remember I have a DVD in my Pioneer DV-59AVi that I have about a 1/2 hour left to finish on, so I turn on my BDP-09FD (which was repaired by Pioneer just about a year ago, drive and main assembly board) and load the CD in it, as it is taking longer than it should to load (I hear the retries from the unit) I get this sinking feeling and the "can't play, unknown disc" message appears. I am horrified.......... Since I got it back I have not had one reoccurance of the error, I don't use it every day, 90% of the time it's for blu-rays, I try to use my 59AVi for DVDs to minimize wear and tear on the 09FD, this is the first time I have used it for a CD since I got it back from Pioneer last year. I had made my mind up that music discs sound better to me via the iLink from the 59AVi to my VSX-59TXi receiver, my personal taste not everybody will agree with that, but that's neither here or there.

I grab a few more CDs, but first I test a couple of BDs and DVDs, no problems what so ever... Then I start on the CDs... CDs with a normal amount of tracks 10-12 or so, have not found a single one that will play.. CDs with a lot of tracks 20+ for the most part play.... Found one that didn't but it appears if it plays it will play a second, third, fourth, fifth time no problem, if it doesn't play it will not play no matter how many times I try. Very different from the way the drive behaved when it was sick previously for BDs, in the beginning two or three attempts the BD would play, and it did that until the drive was dead, dead for BDs. Here if it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't.....

I start thinking, does every CD use the same compression or file type? I try my Hole "Live Though This", Bowie "Ziggy Stardust", Chris Issak "Wicked Game", Moody Blues "Blue Jays", Grass Roots "Live at Last", none play. However Rhino Records "Incredible Collection", Moody Blues "The Singles+"(both discs), Rhino "British Invasion #9" they all work, everytime... Then again The Animals "The Singles" doesn't work and it's a 20+ collection. Does that blow my theory out of the water since it is a disc with a lot of tracks? All I know is if it works the first time, it works every time, if it fails the first time, it fails every time. I also did things like powering down, unplugging, then reattempting, made no difference. Could any or all of the won't play CDs be bad, I tried them on my 17 year old (1995) Pioneer CLD-D704 LD player in direct CD mode and they work fine. All of the CDs I bought new and have never left the house (I don't use my car's CD player).

If I was sure that this will stay only being a problem with CDs, I might be able to live with it since I have 4 other players in my AV rack that can play CDs. Then again I am pretty sure that I can get Pioneer to stand behind the repair from last year since it has not been a whole year since the repair.....

Not 100% sure but I think somebody posted about CDs having the "can't play, unknown disc" error a while back, but heck I'm not really sure.

Any opinions on this and my troubleshooting? Firmware is at 2.73 updated last week.

Thanks!!
Fred

As a side note and I know I am an ass for throwing this in........ Out of one of the CDs that works, I play Justin Hayward "Forever Autumn" (if you know this song, you'll know why I chose that for this comparison) in the 09FD (analog out) then the D704 (digital coax out, only as a transport) and the 09FD sounded maybe a tiny hair clearer, but no great shakes..
Edited by mgfred - 6/18/12 at 6:50am

Could be the red laser used for CDs is going bad...

Would there not be inconsistancy then? The ones that work, work every time, the ones that don't work, don't work every time. When this happened on the blu-ray side if I loaded a disc a few times I could get it to play.

it's likely the red laser is misaligned a tad...