Thanks for the suggestion, but it was repaired under warranty at the end of May 2011 and failed four days ago, Besides, when I called Pioneer customer service and spoke with their blu-ray player division, I was told the repair was only guaranteed for 90 days out of warranty. What makes it all the worse is the poor attitude of Pioneer customer service about the whole thing. They had all my records, and showed it had been repaired previously. The repairs were more than just the blu-ray drive, they replaced a whole bunch of stuff including the main circuit board. So it lasted another 1-1/2 yrs of light use - maybe three to four blu-rays a week. That is all, I travel a lot with my job or work long hours so I watch blu-rays generally only on weekends. Sometimes, it does not get turned on at all for over a two weeks while I am out of town on extended trips.
Really, the more I think about this, after sinking so much money into this player ($1800 new on sale in late 2009) and especially the whole couldn't give a rat's ass attitude of the customer rep, I am just plain angry. Pioneer has lost a customer. This is supposed to be the flagship of their players, reliable, built like a tank, and a superb all around player for more than just blu-rays. It is that, when it works. A year and a half after the first repair, it is failed again, with the same problem as before, and will cost me close to $600 to repair by the time I ship it back and pay for the parts and labor. This player has problems with reliability, reported on every forum I have come across about it. This model should have undergone a recall. Given its poor performance record, Pioneer should stand behind their product and offer drive replacements under a program that extends beyond the initial warranty, and certainly at least a couple of years past a repair for the same known problems. Three drive failures in three years is a crock of sh#t for their flagship model. Pioneer needs to stand with their customers in doing the right thing about it, especially given the excellent competition they have and choices available to consumers.
It doesn't matter now because I am done. I am going this week to pick up an Oppo 105 at Best Buy. Congratulations to those of you who have not had any drive failures with the BDP-09. It really is a fantastic player, I wish mine still performed at the level I expected when I paid a premium for it. But the build quality of the parts and the overall reliability is too poor for this to be marketed and priced as a flagship player.
Edited by yoshiwara - 1/7/13 at 10:10pm
I personally wouldn't buy either in 2012 unless I thorougly knew the history of the player, because the 1st failure may cost you as much (more if you buy a BDP-51FD) as you paid for the player based on some of the postings on this thread. I've owned 3 BDP-51FDs and 1 BDP-05 since their introduction and sold my last BDP-51FD about 6 months ago for $90 
.
Maybe just getting a PS3 is a better idea....
