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Pioneer Elite BDP-52FD and BDP-53FD Owners' Thread - Page 6

post #151 of 575
12/3/11 at 8:39pm
LMK your results with WHS 2011, since cost is cheap for WHS 2011, I may upgrade my standby box as well and see what happens. Thx again
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post #152 of 575
12/3/11 at 8:57pm
I have a HP EX490 Media Server too. I have it CPU and memory upgraded. Last week, I bought the WHS 2011 OEM version. Pretty reasonable price @ $50 CND. I will upgrade the server during the Christmas time and will let you know if the 53fd is OK or not.

As for the issue itself is related to the SW package on blu-ray player which probably comes from a reference design. That's why both Pioneer and Panny are affected with the similar model. Now with the ODM model, the HW and SW package are pretty much similar except the GUI interface which is branded.
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post #153 of 575
12/4/11 at 3:24am
For the features and quality you get for the money, I will always recommend Pioneer's A/V receivers, as long as they keep up the good work. However, I returned my BDP-53FD because I had to hit OPEN/CLOSE about ten or twenty times in order for the tray to stay open. So unless Pioneer finally makes a good comeback here at AVS, I'm afraid I'll have to pass on their players. As much as I love PQLS, the impact it makes on the audio isn't enough that I'd suffer the things I would be suffering if I stick with these players. Currently, I'm using a Yamaha Aventage BD-A1010, which does everything I need, except PQLS. If Pioneer rebadged that one and added their signature features to it, you just might have a winner! If Pioneer ever releases a near bug-free player in the coming months or years, I would sell my Yamaha on Ebay and get a Pioneer player for my shelf once again!
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post #154 of 575
12/4/11 at 3:36am
Forgot to mention: For those of you who haven't read the other thread, these players aren't true Pioneers! They were designed by a company known for their budget players called TCL. I can understand that Pioneer cannot afford to manufacture their own players anymore, but at least rebadge someone good like Yamaha, BBK, or Oppo, so we could still have a MediaTek player, as well as a near bug-free one. It would be cool if the team who made up Pioneer's original optical disc manufacturing plants went into business for themselves, and then Pioneer rebadged THEIR players. Now that would be a way for Pioneer to return to their glory days in the optical disc world!
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post #155 of 575
12/4/11 at 3:44am
If they just re-badged the Oppo, added PQLS and marked it up $200, they'd still have a winner

I'm not sure I understand why some are still torturing themselves hoping Pioneer will quickly "fix" some of the issues. They do not have a stellar track record in that regard.

I've been a Pioneer fan for decades & seeing the crummy way they treated customers by incrementally rolling out PQLS in these players, rendering the receiver-player combinations obsolete every 6 months, out of step with each other, so the receiver you just bought wouldn't get the full benefit of each new player - that cured me of the brand loyalty I once had. I went through 2 generations of Pio BD players, the flawed 05 and $2000 09. No more Pioneers for me, I bought an Oppo 93 for a universal player & couldn't be happier with it. It reeks quality And zero problems!

Where's Walkamo now? You notice he's typically only around when new models come out

From the photos, this is nearly the same player as what Toshiba is putting their badge on for less money. Outsourcing manufacturing is OK, they all do it, but it has to work reliably, and provide the advertised features.

I've been following this & the other new model thread pretty closely & to me, it seems that more posters talk about returning these models than any other Pio model I can remember.
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post #156 of 575
12/4/11 at 5:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big C View Post

I had to hit OPEN/CLOSE about ten or twenty times in order for the tray to stay open

I wonder if that's supposed to be that way or just buggy. Either way, I agree, it's silly to have to do that.
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post #157 of 575
12/4/11 at 6:37am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big C View Post

Forgot to mention: For those of you who haven't read the other thread, these players aren't true Pioneers! They were designed by a company known for their budget players called TCL. I can understand that Pioneer cannot afford to manufacture their own players anymore, but at least rebadge someone good like Yamaha, BBK, or Oppo, so we could still have a MediaTek player, as well as a near bug-free one. It would be cool if the team who made up Pioneer's original optical disc manufacturing plants went into business for themselves, and then Pioneer rebadged THEIR players. Now that would be a way for Pioneer to return to their glory days in the optical disc world!

That would explain the poor grammar used in the setup screens. When I first saw it, I thought I had purchased a bootlegged item
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post #158 of 575
12/4/11 at 12:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss9001 View Post

If they just re-badged the Oppo, added PQLS and marked it up $200, they'd still have a winner

I'm not sure I understand why some are still torturing themselves hoping Pioneer will quickly "fix" some of the issues. They do not have a stellar track record in that regard.

I've been a Pioneer fan for decades & seeing the crummy way they treated customers by incrementally rolling out PQLS in these players, rendering the receiver-player combinations obsolete every 6 months, out of step with each other, so the receiver you just bought wouldn't get the full benefit of each new player - that cured me of the brand loyalty I once had. I went through 2 generations of Pio BD players, the flawed 05 and $2000 09. No more Pioneers for me, I bought an Oppo 93 for a universal player & couldn't be happier with it. It reeks quality And zero problems!

Where's Walkamo now? You notice he's typically only around when new models come out

From the photos, this is nearly the same player as what Toshiba is putting their badge on for less money. Outsourcing manufacturing is OK, they all do it, but it has to work reliably, and provide the advertised features.

I've been following this & the other new model thread pretty closely & to me, it seems that more posters talk about returning these models than any other Pio model I can remember.

Excellent post! Pioneer's glory days are done plain and simple! I owned nothing but Pioneer products for over 12 years and they simply ain't what they used to be and their customer service leaves much to be desired. Fixing products with FW upgrades a year after they come out is unacceptable. The BDP-05FD which as of FW 1.72 is acceptable, but it still doesn't match what was initially advertised.

Oppo looks like the company to beat in this regard, end of story.
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post #159 of 575
12/6/11 at 8:35am
Wow, a crash and burn before it has even hit the market yet.

The probelm is the bean counters will read this (bad sales) as an indication of the market, not the crappy product they're trying to push which needs to be more thought out.
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post #160 of 575
12/6/11 at 9:18am
Quote:
Originally Posted by brianlsu View Post

Wow, a crash and burn before it has even hit the market yet.

The probelm is the bean counters will read this (bad sales) as an indication of the market, not the crappy product they're trying to push which needs to be more thought out.

plus the Sharp/Pioneer bean counters who may be directing Pioneer to use rebadged cheaper OEM'd platforms as "true Pioneer" products.

subbing out manufacturing isn't inherently bad. after all, look how many US companies do it....when was the last time you bought clothing actually "made in US"?

but products shouldn't be that buggy out of the box, require FW changes to deliver advertized features. Pioneer has been "guilty" of that for a number of years...as BDP-51/05 and even 09 owners can attest. For the posters who are newer to Pioneer's products, it took them about 6 months to deliver DTS-MA decoding on these players AFTER they were launched and in customers hands. Walkamo himself promised in this forum it would be a matter of weeks, not months, when the products came out. The BDP-05 I got was defective brand new, wouldn't play CD's!! The dealer was very gracious & sent me out a new one immediately. But really, in these days, a player that won't play a CD? How lame can it get? Pioneer should have been ashamed...says a lot about QC. And that was at least a year or more BEFORE their plant closings, product line changes & financial re-organization.

The issue of bugs & attention to a finished product has been a building for awhile.
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post #161 of 575
12/6/11 at 10:16am
Thanks for the feedback Big C. In part what we are seeing here is the demise of the great Japanese electronics firms of yore- they exist in name only.
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post #162 of 575
12/6/11 at 1:30pm
FW 1.32 which offered internal DTS-HD decoding took 10 months to be released! The player came out in Aug. 08. FW 1.32 came out in June 09.

The 51 and 05 period were not even stable players till FW 1.17 was released in Nov. of 08.
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post #163 of 575
12/7/11 at 9:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by brianlsu View Post

Wow, a crash and burn before it has even hit the market yet.

The probelm is the bean counters will read this (bad sales) as an indication of the market, not the crappy product they're trying to push which needs to be more thought out.

I think I'm done with Pioneer. I may revisit this brand in the future but for now, I 'm not buying anything from pioneer. Too sad really. Pioneer used to make the best of the best in anything audio/video. But no more. I love Pioneer products of the past.
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post #164 of 575
12/7/11 at 1:07pm
Who wants to sign up for the "Occupy CES" movement. I hear they are carrying signs like "No bugs Out of Box" and "My Chinese button does'nt work!".
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post #165 of 575
12/7/11 at 6:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big C View Post

Forgot to mention: For those of you who haven't read the other thread, these players aren't true Pioneers! They were designed by a company known for their budget players called TCL. I can understand that Pioneer cannot afford to manufacture their own players anymore, but at least rebadge someone good like Yamaha, BBK, or Oppo, so we could still have a MediaTek player, as well as a near bug-free one. It would be cool if the team who made up Pioneer's original optical disc manufacturing plants went into business for themselves, and then Pioneer rebadged THEIR players. Now that would be a way for Pioneer to return to their glory days in the optical disc world!

Who do you think makes the yamaha? it probably comes from the same factory the 52 does...
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post #166 of 575
12/8/11 at 6:17am
Another update. Still mostly happy with the player. Again, it sounds fantastic. However SACD playback is very flaky. Especially with Mobile Fidelity discs...Several registered as unknown a few days ago, just for kicks I tried them last night, and they worked fine, now this morning again, unknown discs...I truly hope this player's drive has better read capabilities than the 05 did.
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post #167 of 575
12/8/11 at 9:36am
If i don't use this for sacd will I be happy with the 3d playback?
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post #168 of 575
12/8/11 at 12:30pm
No idea about 3d playback. I hate 3d personally and hope it dies a quick death! I'm one of those special few that gets quite nauseous with 3d. If you are only interested in 3d though, aren't there cheaper 3d players out there?
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post #169 of 575
12/8/11 at 8:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by winston9332 View Post

Who do you think makes the yamaha? it probably comes from the same factory the 52 does...

Similar Mediatek design, but not from the same assembly line, the Yamahas are made in Malaysia.
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post #170 of 575
12/9/11 at 3:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vonbek777 View Post

Another update. Still mostly happy with the player. Again, it sounds fantastic. However SACD playback is very flaky. Especially with Mobile Fidelity discs...Several registered as unknown a few days ago, just for kicks I tried them last night, and they worked fine, now this morning again, unknown discs...I truly hope this player's drive has better read capabilities than the 05 did.

ironic that Pioneer's old universal players, like the 59avi/79avi, could play anything & reliably. I still have a 59avi and it never fails to recognize & play any SACD, including MFSL, or any DVD-A I've put in the tray. And I have a large collection of both.

weird...or maybe not, considering the 05/51/09 drive issues
will your dealer take a return & let you try another new one?
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post #171 of 575
12/9/11 at 5:30am
I have the 52 and love it. Only complaint is crummy onscreen display of track no, etc, while playing cd or Sacd, and no track info on player display, only elapsed time.
Video and audio are great!
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post #172 of 575
12/9/11 at 9:39am
An update since acquiring the BDP-53FD, I have submitted two queries to Pioneer and have yet to receive a response. In my continued tasks of testing this unit, I have noticed that PQLS is not stable with my SC37, Example, listening to Tumbleweed Connection, PQLS was stable, however, listening to DSOM from Capital original release, it starts off synched, and then drops. With the Blu Ray discs I have tried, PQLS is stable. Have not tried the MoFi labels yet. Will update as the saga continues
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post #173 of 575
12/9/11 at 2:34pm
Hello

I have a question about a BDP-51FD I own.
How does the BDP-53FD compares with it for video & audio quality?
My search in the forum on this subject has not found anything about this.
I have to point out that I use the 2 channels stereo analog output as my main audio connection.
Should I win something in buying the new one...that is the question
Your precious advices welcomed!

Luke
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post #174 of 575
12/9/11 at 3:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ss9001 View Post

If they just re-badged the Oppo, added PQLS and marked it up $200, they'd still have a winner

I'm not sure I understand why some are still torturing themselves hoping Pioneer will quickly "fix" some of the issues. They do not have a stellar track record in that regard.

I've been a Pioneer fan for decades & seeing the crummy way they treated customers by incrementally rolling out PQLS in these players, rendering the receiver-player combinations obsolete every 6 months, out of step with each other, so the receiver you just bought wouldn't get the full benefit of each new player - that cured me of the brand loyalty I once had. I went through 2 generations of Pio BD players, the flawed 05 and $2000 09. No more Pioneers for me, I bought an Oppo 93 for a universal player & couldn't be happier with it. It reeks quality And zero problems!

Where's Walkamo now? You notice he's typically only around when new models come out

From the photos, this is nearly the same player as what Toshiba is putting their badge on for less money. Outsourcing manufacturing is OK, they all do it, but it has to work reliably, and provide the advertised features.

I've been following this & the other new model thread pretty closely & to me, it seems that more posters talk about returning these models than any other Pio model I can remember.

He actually sent me a PM but after I answered I never heard back from him. I would still review one, maybe they will have a new firmware soon...
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post #175 of 575
12/9/11 at 3:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Big C View Post

Forgot to mention: For those of you who haven't read the other thread, these players aren't true Pioneers! They were designed by a company known for their budget players called TCL. I can understand that Pioneer cannot afford to manufacture their own players anymore, but at least rebadge someone good like Yamaha, BBK, or Oppo, so we could still have a MediaTek player, as well as a near bug-free one. It would be cool if the team who made up Pioneer's original optical disc manufacturing plants went into business for themselves, and then Pioneer rebadged THEIR players. Now that would be a way for Pioneer to return to their glory days in the optical disc world!

TCL? We ended up with a 32" TV from them which is not bad at all. Just wish we could get the DirecTV remote to work with it...
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post #176 of 575
12/9/11 at 6:42pm
The new Pios are basically rebadged Toshiba players. Same drive, same power supply, same video board (some very slight differences visible, probably other revision). Except the Qdeo board of the 53FD, this is the only piece of hardware which is really new.
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post #177 of 575
12/9/11 at 7:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rathbone View Post

The new Pios are basically rebadged Toshiba players. Same drive, same power supply, same video board (some very slight differences visible, probably other revision). Except the Qdeo board of the 53FD, this is the only piece of hardware which is really new.

And the Toshiba players themselves are possibly TCL-made. TCL and Toshiba have very close relationships ever since the death of HD DVD, TCL have released a few CBHD players in China which looked very similar to HD-A3/A30.
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post #178 of 575
12/10/11 at 2:35am
Of course both are TCL made. Look here:

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/t...372&sequence=1
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post #179 of 575
12/10/11 at 10:57am
So the 52 and 53 are assembled by TCL or rebadged players.
Whatever. But just wanna know...
Does this means that the're inferior products?

Luke
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post #180 of 575
12/10/11 at 11:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Luke123 View Post

So the 52 and 53 are assembled by TCL or rebadged players.
Whatever. But just wanna know...
Does this means that the're inferior products?

Luke

- The build quality of the components do not look very high tech to me. Basically they want me to pay for a product three to five times more than for a Toshiba player with the same components (prices here in Europe).

- TCL is in charge of the firmware development, so Pioneer does not have direct control in bugfixing and new features. Not very trustworthy since TCL has other customers too who also want to be served. Who knows how long we'll have to wait for the firmware updates.
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