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Pioneer BDP-320/BDP-23FD Owner's Thread - Page 3

post #61 of 6330
5/2/09 at 5:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by everunman View Post

Whilst I agree, im most disappointed that a year later Pioneer cant improve their models at least somehow. (this subject to the 05/51 getting dtsma-hd)
How the heck are they going to sell this when its no better, what will their sales pitch be? Its smaller and sleeker?
Pioneer had a great opportunity here as some Oppo "waiters" would maybe consider this model instead if the pq is the same.

Im also disappointed that as a 51 owner we will never see the promised performance upgrade as they cant do it with this new one, what hope have we got with older models.

The 51FD offers great bang for buck at this time and that is the main reason I'm trying it out. My experience so far? The PQ is very very good, beating both my PS3 and Panny BD30 for both BD and SD DVD playback.

Even if the 320 delivered, it simply isn't the better value for me. It loading that much faster isn't a feature I really and truly would care about in consideration of spending the extra money.
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post #62 of 6330
5/2/09 at 6:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheedoe View Post

If you don't mind paying the extra $$, I'd recommend the Oppo, even though I never owned one. Given that the PQ is equivalent, you get a faster player, the ability to play SACD and DVD-Audio, great Anchor Bay VRS scaler, and excellent customer service.

The PS3 will be my best for the buck all around player/gaming/multi-media device. I've had it since its launch date back in Nov 06. Would buy another one in a heart-beat when/if my current one dies.

I'm likely just going to be watching BD (and the occasional DVD). I don't foresee that I'll be using it for SACD, etc. That being said, I do value Oppo's reported customer service and reliability ... but it would be nice to save $100 or so. Has anyone really commented on the SD up-conversion? Or the Kuro Link feature? I just got a 111FD and was wondering if this was useful?
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post #63 of 6330
5/2/09 at 6:55am
I just bought a kuro 5020 and a vsx-03txh receiver now I need to buy a bluray, these were the two models i was thinking about..their is a authorized dealer who said he will be getting them in a week or two and the price will be $345.00 with shipping and no tax...the bdp-51 I see you can get from $280 to 300 dollars so which one is better to get the bdp-51 seems to need updates all the time and still people having some problems and I don't think it does dts hd ma yet, so I don't know which one to get, load times seem to be the same..so for all of you who have both players which one will you pick..the diffrence in price is not that much and I am just looking for the best pq in the player..
Thanks in adavance for your help...

Ciccio
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post #64 of 6330
5/2/09 at 7:10am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ciccio250 View Post

I just bought a kuro 5020 and a vsx-03txh receiver now I need to buy a bluray, these were the two models i was thinking about..their is a authorized dealer who said he will be getting them in a week or two and the price will be $345.00 with shipping and no tax...the bdp-51 I see you can get from $280 to 300 dollars so which one is better to get the bdp-51 seems to need updates all the time and still people having some problems and I don't think it does dts hd ma yet, so I don't know which one to get, load times seem to be the same..so for all of you who have both players which one will you pick..the diffrence in price is not that much and I am just looking for the best pq in the player..
Thanks in adavance for your help...

Ciccio

Let's try to keep this forum specific to 320 issues and questions. There is a forum that is specifically dedicated to helping folks choose a blu-ray player - I would recommend that ciccio and Ryanthetiger look there.

320's PQ is identical to the 51FD best I can tell. I have been doing side by sides and have yet to find a difference. Load times seem about identical. The 320 is much smaller (nearly half the size in volume) and offers out of the box dts hd ma decoding and is profile 2.0.

Hopefully, firmware will come to both the 51 and 320 to make the chip faster. As they stand right now, an oppo or ps3 is much faster if that is of concern. I have not played enough neftlix blu rays yet on my 320 to test how sensitive it is. My 51FD was very sensitive and would not play many.

Hopefully this will be the last discussion pt with the oppo, but the oppo is a tremendous machine and much more expensive than both pioneers. I reckon the street price of the 320 will flirt under $350 in the near future if firmware does not massively change its speed (or all the 51s disappear). Pioneer will have some sales cannibalized by the 51FD if most folks agree with my observations. Then again, the 51FD may never get faster and may never decode dts hd ma. This uncertainty is part of the ridiculously low price.
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post #65 of 6330
5/2/09 at 7:18am
sorry about that winston but i did post on another forum and they where recommending other players panny, sony etc I want a pioneer and thought this will be the best place to get my answer since you have both models...thanks for your response and sorry about the post..

Ciccio
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post #66 of 6330
5/2/09 at 7:36am
Is there an owner's manual available on-line?
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post #67 of 6330
5/2/09 at 7:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by winston9332 View Post

I have not played enough neftlix blu rays yet on my 320 to test how sensitive it is. My 51FD was very sensitive and would not play many.

Seriously? I use Blockbuster Online in bulk, almost all Blu, and I've only had one disc not play since August.
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post #68 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:03am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bakerwi View Post

Is there an owner's manual available on-line?

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/St...ctions0219.pdf
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post #69 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by winston9332 View Post

Then again, the 51FD may never get faster and may never decode dts hd ma. This uncertainty is part of the ridiculously low price.

It will definitely decode DTS-MA. But speed is uncertain, yes.
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post #70 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:32am
as stupid as it sounds i actually prefer the less sophisticated audio options on my old sammy to the 320. i have an extremely primitive audio set up. i dont have a receiver, or surround sound. all i use are the two speakers that came to attach to the side of my kuro. on my old sammy i could at least makes things come out loud enough by turning dynamic compression and pcm downsampling both on. same with my ps3. but ive played for hours now on the 320 with all its options with both digital out and analog out, and i still cant duplicate the results. specifically on sd dvd dolby 5.1 tracks its extremely quiet even with the volume literally maxed out on my speakers. dolby digital sounds ok off a bluray, and 2 channel sd dvd sounds good too though...
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post #71 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:34am
Like some others on this thread, has anyone seen benefit from the kuro link hooked up to a 111FD?
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post #72 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:35am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by b_scott View Post

Seriously? I use Blockbuster Online in bulk, almost all Blu, and I've only had one disc not play since August.

I use netflix here and have found that one in six or so give me trouble. Some won't play, some require multiple loads.
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post #73 of 6330
5/2/09 at 8:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by ciccio250 View Post

sorry about that winston but i did post on another forum and they where recommending other players panny, sony etc I want a pioneer and thought this will be the best place to get my answer since you have both models...thanks for your response and sorry about the post..

Ciccio

No worries ciccio - oppo vs.. discussions tend to choke forums. Try looking here: great place for comparison info: http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1136139
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post #74 of 6330
5/2/09 at 10:14am
So just had my first freeze playing chapter 3 of Bourne Identity BD. It played fine after reloading the scene from disc menu.
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post #75 of 6330
5/2/09 at 10:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by robertc88 View Post

I don't understand why folks are so caught up with loading times on players as what the heck is the hurry?

I used to think the same on this but there were many occasions where I'd power up at the player to eject a disc and have to wait 20-30 seconds for the tray to open. I think it's a mistake not improving this on the newer model 320.
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post #76 of 6330
5/2/09 at 10:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by winston9332 View Post

I have not played enough neftlix blu rays yet on my 320 to test how sensitive it is. My 51FD was very sensitive and would not play many.

Wow if that is so Pioneer must be making some real crap. I own Marantz,
Panasonic, and Samsung BD players and I can only remember one that wouldn't play...it's so long ago I can't even remember the name right now.

Hopefully your machine is an anomaly.

CD
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post #77 of 6330
5/2/09 at 10:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Audiodork View Post

Hello,
I believe with the 51/05 onwards, Pioneer developed an Soc in house as opposed to using Sigma Designs or Mediatek. 99.99999% sure anyway. I believe Pioneer's Soc is coined Renassis. I too would love Pioneer to incorporate SACD/DVD-A in their BD decks. Somewhat stunning omission in the 2k+ BDP-09FD. What is about Mediatek that makes you prefer it over other solutions?
Cheers,
AD

I like the MediaTek's multi-format compatibility, Pal-to-NTSC conversion, and quick and broad functionality.
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post #78 of 6330
5/2/09 at 11:40am
Thread Starter 
The 320's upscaling appears to be identical to the 51FD. I have done side by sides of DVD+Rs i have backed up of films to ensure I am looking at the same source material as close to simultaneously as possible. The quality is very good for both. As stated numerous times, as good as the reon chip in other players. I believe the Oppo to be superior, but the 320 and 51FD are very good.
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post #79 of 6330
5/2/09 at 12:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by winston9332 View Post

The 320's upscaling appears to be identical to the 51FD. I have done side by sides of DVD+Rs i have backed up of films to ensure I am looking at the same source material as close to simultaneously as possible. The quality is very good for both. As stated numerous times, as good as the reon chip in other players. I believe the Oppo to be superior, but the 320 and 51FD are very good.

Great Job! Appreciate the effort!

Based on your preliminary findings; I as a potential customer would be considering the Oppo BDP-83 (if you can take advantage of all the additional media support) or the 51FD if you require above average blu-ray/dvd playback as well as sweet sounding music. It's a shame that the only thing Pioneer could muster up on this new player is DTS-MA decoding out of the box and BD Live (which I actually have turned off in my Oppo). Pioneer has to do better.

Just my $.02.
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post #80 of 6330
5/2/09 at 1:56pm
Can d/l firmware help increase load times?
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post #81 of 6330
5/2/09 at 2:24pm
That is a good question Ryan. You'd think that these units would be coded in such a way that load times would be as fast as possible out of the box. My personal opinion is that load times bumps up against hardware more then firmware. CPU-processor speed, memory speed, read speed, etc. while not "fixed" its pretty dang close to being set by the capabilities of that hardware. Poor coding could of course make a CPU be weighed down by crap it doesn't need to do making the player seem slow, etc. But in general I'd say speed of the unit is hardware/firmware, not firmware/hardware.

In other words firmware updates/tweaks can only go so far in improving things like load times. Once that code has been optimized, there simply can't be much room to improve load times via firmware.
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post #82 of 6330
5/2/09 at 2:48pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by jsmiddleton4 View Post

That is a good question Ryan. You'd think that these units would be coded in such a way that load times would be as fast as possible out of the box. My personal opinion is that load times bumps up against hardware more then firmware. CPU-processor speed, memory speed, read speed, etc. while not "fixed" its pretty dang close to being set by the capabilities of that hardware. Poor coding could of course make a CPU be weighed down by crap it doesn't need to do making the player seem slow, etc. But in general I'd say speed of the unit is hardware/firmware, not firmware/hardware.

In other words firmware updates/tweaks can only go so far in improving things like load times. Once that code has been optimized, there simply can't be much room to improve load times via firmware.

That's kinda what I thought but I figured I'd ask anyways ...
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post #83 of 6330
5/2/09 at 2:56pm
One of the reasons the PS3 loads stuff so much faster is its muscle. All of this stuff shares the common design in that they are basically little computers. The PS3 kicks butt on the computer front so it better load faster. I'm not a PS3 guy but there is a reason it loads as it does and that reason is NOT firmware....




Please resume regular program....
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post #84 of 6330
5/2/09 at 3:13pm
Thanks Winston for all your effort here, I was looking seriously at the 320 for a faster region A player to replace my Lg bh200, so looks like I gotta line up for the Oppo.
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post #85 of 6330
5/2/09 at 4:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ciccio250 View Post

I just bought a kuro 5020 and a vsx-03txh receiver now I need to buy a bluray, these were the two models i was thinking about..their is a authorized dealer who said he will be getting them in a week or two and the price will be $345.00 with shipping and no tax...the bdp-51 I see you can get from $280 to 300 dollars so which one is better to get the bdp-51 seems to need updates all the time and still people having some problems and I don't think it does dts hd ma yet, so I don't know which one to get, load times seem to be the same..so for all of you who have both players which one will you pick..the diffrence in price is not that much and I am just looking for the best pq in the player..
Thanks in adavance for your help...

Ciccio

Cicio. 51's are in price range of $225-240 depending where you look. Just FYI. I am also looking at 320 but so far it is disappointing me from what I'm reading. If you want more opinions check it out here.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...7#post16386317
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post #86 of 6330
5/2/09 at 5:29pm
I am having trouble accessing BD-live feature on Universal BD titles. I've tried with Bourne Identity and The Incredible Hulk. Can anyone please verify is BD-live works with these or any other BD movies from Universal?
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post #87 of 6330
5/3/09 at 7:20am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by sheedoe View Post

I am having trouble accessing BD-live feature on Universal BD titles. I've tried with Bourne Identity and The Incredible Hulk. Can anyone please verify is BD-live works with these or any other BD movies from Universal?

I've been unable to connect to the internet on my 320...have been unable to test any BD Live features. For the record, any interest in BD Live features is purely academic - never really found much value in them.
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post #88 of 6330
5/3/09 at 7:56am
Yea I rarely use BD-Live...I was just testing the unit too see if it works, but failed. Also noticed last night that in addition to the slow load/start up times, BD Menu navigation is also considerably slow on certain discs. One movie I've tested is Saawariya. Navigating through the disc's chapter menu is very 'laggy' compared to the fluidity of the PS3.
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post #89 of 6330
5/3/09 at 11:18am
Is this player better than the pany BD35 interm of upconverting sd dvds? Does it strech all 4.3 materials to fill the screen? Because the bd35 plays 4.3 as is.
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post #90 of 6330
5/3/09 at 11:43am
I know that in the SD DVD world, Pioneer's disc mechanisms are more durable than Oppo's. I've heard Oppos started to deteriorate as far as build and mechanics are concerned, yet Pioneer players have lasted for four years. To those of you who own the Oppo BDP-83 and the Pioneer BDP-51FD, BDP-320, or Elite BDP-23, are the Pioneers more rugged and built like a tank compared to the Oppo? I prefer my players built like a tank because that makes me feel a certain reassureance about their durability.
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