Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 (Blu-ray) Official AVSForum Review - Page 3

I am having the same problem. I love this Blu-ray player and this is first time I have had trouble with anything. But this issue is very frustrating. I e-mailed Pioneer customer support but haven't heard back from them yet.

Jill

P.S. I just spoke with Pioneer. They say they are aware of the problem but "their engineers need to see whether it is a problem with the discs or the player. If they determine it is a player issue they will notify Japan so they can fix it." It sounds like it may take a while to get a fix.

This set has been playing great for me on my Sony S350. I love so many of these stories, but still chuckle, even laugh out loud, at some of the campy parts. A great nostalgia trip for me. But my two sons (12 and 6) don't get why I laugh; they are totally now in to this set thanks to the new movie. very cool.

Considering the discs work fine in 4 of my Blu-ray players (Oppo BDP-83, Panasonic BD-55, PS3, and Liteon BD player in my computer), I would say the issue is with the Pioneer, not with the discs. I love Pioneer's AVRs, but the BD player I reviewed last year was not worth the price they were asking IMO. It was riddled with bugs that after nearly 3 months were never fixed, despite multiple firmware updates. Does it have DTS-HD MA enabled yet?

DTS-HD MA is not enabled yet, as far as I know.

I paid $299 for this player on sale at Best Buy a couple of months ago. This is my first Blu-ray player. I am new to Hi-def video (I purchased a Samsung LN46A650 at the same time and that is my first HDTV). Anyway, I thought at $299 it was a good choice. I updated the firm ware the minute I got it home (to 1.25) and have been very pleased with it until this current problem.

If the Oppo was available then I would have gotten that, but it wasn't.

Thanks for your advice.

Jill

For $299, that isn't bad. My beef with Pioneer is they're slow to act. Panasonic and the PS3 are updated pretty fast, and Oppo has the best customer service in the business and I'm sure they'll react to any problems swiftly.

BTW, Pioneer promised that update by last December!!!!

Yeah, I believe that the PS3 may be the best way to watch this. Just kinda wish that they'd have a Star Trek video game native to the PS3, tho, it'd compliment both the recent JJ Abrams "Star Trek" as well as Season One rather decently. I know, but since I have a PS3, I'd much rather take advantage that it's a game console AND a BRD player, and go all "Trek" on both ends.

Needless to say, I'd say that it's amazing that one can take a series that's 40+ years old and turn it into something like this. Seems like I'd like to see a remastered HD version of a series that was near and dear to my childhood.

When I was a kid I played a Star Trek game for the nes and it was BAD! I personally wouldn't want to play a cheesy tie-in game. Classic Trek is not as action orientated as people make it out to be anyway. You know I watched one of the more action packed ones recently, the first Romulan episode. And even that one, which is one like one long battle is played out more like a chess game with each commander trying to outwit the other.

I know alternate timeline and all that, but I can't help but notice that Kirk is made out to be a James Dean like rebel in the new movie while the Kirk in the tv series was a book worm and every inch the diplomat that Picard was as well. Kirk on many episodes would turn to logical reasoning, courtesy and charm and the fists would be the very last resort (and in fact the most common compliment he would be given is how smart or brilliant he is). Over time people forget (including me) the norm and remember the exceptions to think that Kirk was always using "cowboy diplomacy" as Spock put it, but that's not quite the case.

Philips BDP9000/37 (with latest firmware 02/09) unable to play this set also. It keeps repeating the same chapter, over and over.

Who makes the Phillips player? Isn't it OEM'd by someone else?

Well I received my copy from Amazon yesterday and have watched the first disc with no problems or hiccups whatsoever.

I am using a PS3 as my playback device.

Insignia NS-2BRDVD Player with the Jan/Feb firmware upgrade (that is no longer available at Insignia web site):

I played the enhanced version of two episodes from disk 1 and it worked great. The only annoyance was that "Angle" kept popping up on screen during the enhanced segments. I decided to play with the swapping of scenes and it didn't work. I played the special episode with in scene commentary and got no commentary sound. I am using a toslink connection to my AV receiver.

Several days later I put disk 1 back in player. I get to the menu screen but no menu selections show up. The green viewer just has a green back ground with no writing in it. Powered player on/off and it's still the same. It self destructed after one viewing??

This is considered an "advanced" title, so some players may have an issue with the disc. I wonder if the Insignia & Samsung players are the same? Does anyone know who makes the Insignia for Best Buy?

Start Quote - cas206

Insignia NS-2BRDVD Player with the Jan/Feb firmware upgrade (that is no longer available at Insignia web site):

I played the enhanced version of two episodes from disk 1 and it worked great. The only annoyance was that "Angle" kept popping up on screen during the enhanced segments. I decided to play with the swapping of scenes and it didn't work. I played the special episode with in scene commentary and got no commentary sound. I am using a toslink connection to my AV receiver.

Several days later I put disk 1 back in player. I get to the menu screen but no menu selections show up. The green viewer just has a green back ground with no writing in it. Powered player on/off and it's still the same. It self destructed after one viewing??"

End Quote

On my Samsung, When the disc is inserted, the green area is blank too, but its meant to be this way as selecting the 4 menu items puts the contents there at that time.

The branching hiccups are the only real issue witht this player. I'm reportingb this to Samsung on Monday, though I'll bet that others may have done so too.

Granted it is an advanced feature for a BD.

I'm definitely looking forward to receiving Season One very soon, should arrive on Monday, according to UPS's tracking. However, I just recently pulled the trigger on Seasons Two and Three and the Animated Series (which some people consider TAS to be a distant Season Four) on vanilla DVD as well, since the PS3 will play both formats, and with the upscaling power, I really don't think I'll miss out on too much going with the DVD versions of the other parts of the original Star Trek. I don't really anticipate the other seasons or TAS being released on BD anytime soon, so this may have to do. To at least have Season One on Blu-ray, I may be pretty good for now.

It's rumored that Season Two will be out later this year. Probably around the time the current movie is released on BD. It's a great promotional tie-in.

Well, too late, it's already in the "Items Shipping Soon" stage. It's all right, tho. I'm pretty sure that shows that old, even tho Season One is on Blu-ray, most of it's usually hard to upscale properly to full 1080p anyway for something 40+ years old. Quite frankly, if it weren't for all the extras you get with the BD version, I probably would've went with the DVD package with all three seasons in it. However, seeing the review for this, I may think that it could be worth the upgrade to BD on this one, but we'll see how nice this'd look in this format. I'd take some words for it, tho, maybe the Blu-ray versions of Star Trek may be all right, just need proof that shows that old can really look THAT good without any artificial effects.

8IronBob,

Star Trek was shot on 35mm film, which has 4X the resolution as 1080p, which is what Blu-ray is. Paramount went through and restored the prints frame by frame and the result is outstanding. There is no comparison between the DVD and Blu-ray--The Blu-ray kicks it's A$$ all the way to the curb. Old movies and TV shows can look fantastic on Blu-ray. I suggest renting or buying Casablanca or Robin Hood (the original) to see how good something nearly 70 years old can look. I can't wait to see The Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind when they hit Blu later this year.

Well, at least Season One is Blu-ray that I'm getting, which is obviously the season that counts. Even tho I was able to complete the series through DVD packages, well, I assume that by the time the BD versions of those other seasons are released, I'm wondering if it'd be worth upgrading at all, if I can find Movie Exchange stores that'd carry any first-run Blu-ray releases. Maybe FYE may do that, but I'll have to find out later this year.

Imo, I'd probably say that looking out for ST: TNG on Blu-ray may probably be even more worth it. After all, trying to watch Sci-Fi HD on Mondays or Thursdays (which I believe are the nights that they air that series) will probably have nothing on watching it via Blu-ray. I probably may like to see Spock in HD, too, after all, he was the reason I loved ST back in my growing up days. However, it wasn't up until now that I could see that series in 1080p, even if some high-def TV networks even carried ST: TOS, which they obviously don't. Sci-Fi HD only carries TNG and Enterprise, iirc.

I haven't seen the BD version but I rented the HDDVDs from Netflix before. I found the HDDVD versions to be grainy but on the preview of TOS on the Wrath of Khan BD what was shown on the preview was not grainy at all. Can anyone comment on this?

Paramount should have recalled this set.. It is causing havock on just about everyones player.. Mine is a Samsung 1200. The audio only works good in 2ch mode. In multi-channel mode it has lip sync issues after the branching scene/shot of the outside of the ship is over, at which then it goes back to the movie.

anyone having problems on the sony 550?

It is a problem with Samsung players and the Insigna player (Best Buy brand). It works great in my PS3, Oppo BDP-83, Panasonic BD55, and a Lite-On BD player with PowerDVD 9.0 on my computer.

Have you called Samsung and let them know about the issue? It is THEIR responsibility to provide a firmware update for their player...and from what I've read, it's with multiple Samsung players, not just the 1200. I think you're placing the blame in the wrong direction here.

If there's any justification for a recall, it's that a number of the new effects shots are reversed. I've only watched the first 4 discs and have already found several that were switched. Though, in a couple cases, they were so similar I can see why QC would have missed them if they were using something like a 40" or smaller monitor. If not for curiosity to see both versions, having never seen the show before, I wouldn't have noticed either.

Check the Audio Quality settings for "Secondary Audio" which is what the pop-up video's sound is called. I have the Panasonic BD-50 (the immediate predecessor to your BD-55) and I'm also using the analog outputs. The "Hobson's Choice" they put you to is that to have the highest quality lossless audio, you have to turn off the Secondary Audio by selecting the "Quality" preset

By turning on Secondary Audio you knock the main soundtrack down to 5.1 from 7.1 (not an issue for me, since the BD-50's analog output is only 5.1), and you possibly have to settle for Dolby Digital instead of the lossless track - though when I did that toggle to hear Needlenose Ned's pop-up commentaries on "Groundhog Day" I didn't hear much compromise in the sound quality - but I couldn't abide the cutesy sounds that accompanied the menu!

It may be that the knockdown to Dolby Digital only occurs if you're bitstreaming the sound, since re-encoding to lossless after mixing in the Secondary Audio is a lot ask of a consumer-grade device.

Chad,

I've noticed that a couple of times now too. That's one problem of having the product for only a few days before street date and not being able to watch every episode for QC issues. I do agree that the effects are very well done and are seamless in the episodes.

All right... I'll see whether or not FYE will accept upgrades from the DVD versions of Two and Three to the Blu versions once those get released. I'm guessing that may knock off the price tags a little.

I got the set recently and just started on the first disc. I had the previous DVD set with the lame "tricorder" like box sets. I thought the menu design on that set was great. However, the one on this BD set is rather weak in my opinion but BOY! that image is something to sing about!

I noted the same issue with the sound as others and had to crank it WAY up (-4 db or something like that). Most of my discs pan out at -15 to -25 db. I forget what reference level I set my system at.

Why did Paramount master the volume so blasted low! What stupidity! What is gained here for them I wonder? The only real problem is to remember to turn the level back to a safe level when you are done with a ST disc.

A question, can anyone tell me how to access the secondary audio on the "Star Fleet Access" pop-up interviews? I can't get the sound. I have the Panasonic DMP-BD30. Would I have to go into the player's Audio settings and switch the Secondary Audio to ON? What a pain. You would have to go in and out of the player's menu every time. I'm not sure if this is the proper solution.

Hoping for the best...

That's the only way to do it (Unfortunately). I've lamented that fact in every BD player review I've written. Why can't there be a button on the remote to change the setting?

Hello,
Im curious as to how the surround is in the Blu-ray version? I have the dvd for season one and there is not much surround on it.
Thanks for any input,
Rob