Pioneer BDP-51FD vs. Sony BDP-S550

[SatinKzo]

Originally Posted by Blacklac

And my Pioneer 51 has been perfect since I got it. I love the damn thing.

how long have you had it? I'm looking for another player at a bargain (which these are right now) that has quality upconverting on DVD. How do you rate these?

*edit: nevermind, I found what I would consider your answer over at HDD.

[didihala]

Originally Posted by kostiko

I would steer away from this model...I passed through two units with firmware bugs. Initially they were loaded with version 1.08 but just trying to switch from HDMI to S-Video will freeze the unit and a hard reset would be necessary. So I downloaded the latest update (1.25a) which solved the initial problem... but it created other 'monster'. If you play a bluray disc and feel the necessity to go to sleep before the end of it, do not power off the machine. It will resume the disc without any sound. It won't do this if DVD discs are played. So I thought that it is something wrong with the TV set. Packed everything and went back to the dealer and performed the same scenario at his location with a different TV brand. Of course that the result was the same meaning bad. I was a Pioneer lover (I still have three strong playing DV-410). To add insult, today Pioneer Electronics North America, removed any firmware support from their support page. I called Customer Support and 'surprisingly' they seemed blank and the only response was to bring the machine at their location. Oh yeah.. Like I would spend $500+ (I live in Canada) and my time for this kind of experiment. All I needed was a nice player (see the amount spent) with the least problems based on Pioneer reputation. So finally, again after I passed through two units, and a Panasonic BD-55 returned after one week because of random picture freezing (laser problems) I ended up with Sony S550. And I hate Sony but it was the only option left in this range of price/quality. I keep my finger crossed but until now, no obvious problems. The up converting of Pioneer and the sound quality were great but I don't expect to hard reset the unit every time when watching a bluray disc. And as specified in this forum, when comes to picture quality in bluray playing, is really hard to make a difference in-between Pioneer and Sony. So my message as stated, steer away while you can... Maybe in the future they will do a better job and win again confidence...

I had a S550 and I returned it and got the 51FD, why? B/C Sony has removed the Frame by Frame button/feature, very dumb in my opinion. I've tried both and as far as picture quality and upconversion is concerned, they both are excellent. 51FD doesn't have internal decoding of DTS-HD MA, but my receiver does, so no big deal for me. 51FD doesn't have an ethernet port, again I don't mind, I am not a fan of downloading stuff from the Net, I just like to watch BD movies. I tried that with the S550 and didn't care for it. I burn CDs for the f/wupgrade.

I've had the 51FD over two months and have watched at least 50 movies (both BD and DVD) and never had any problems . I am using the f/w version 1.25a.

Finally, I am not sure what you're talking about regarding Pioneer removing f/m upgrades from their site? Here is the link:

http://pioneerusa.com/PUSA/Support/H....Support?tab=B

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Pioneer PDP-5050HD
Sony STR-DA5300ES
Pioneer BDP-51FD
Sony BDP-S300

[SatinKzo]

I think the firmware on the website comment comes from Pioneer sometimes has updates over weekends that for some reason, removie navigation links to the firmware, but if you have a direct link to the page, it's fine.

I am really looking at one of the pioneer (51fd now that prices are dropping) or one of the new models for another player in my house, especially for the upconversion.

[cbm1965]

Originally Posted by SatinKzo

I think the firmware on the website comment comes from Pioneer sometimes has updates over weekends that for some reason, removie navigation links to the firmware, but if you have a direct link to the page, it's fine.

I am really looking at one of the pioneer (51fd now that prices are dropping) or one of the new models for another player in my house, especially for the upconversion.

You should get it. It now down to the $350 range. Myself I spent an extra hundred and bought the Denon 2500btci. Picture was a little more detail then the Pioneer Elite.

[SatinKzo]

Originally Posted by cbm1965

You should get it. It now down to the $350 range. Myself I spent an extra hundred and bought the Denon 2500btci. Picture was a little more detail then the Pioneer Elite.

Heck, I see it for $280 shipped online.

[kostiko]

Hello again guys,

All my problems described above were amplified after I updated the firmware from version 1.08 to version 1.25a. I searched the forum but no opinions in regards with the latest (1.25a). The latest version discussed was 1.21, which I didn't have the opportunity to test it. So did someone updated to version 1.25a and encountered the same problem?! Just as a reminder, after this update, if a blu-ray disc was played and the unit was turned off for whatever reason, after turning back on, the disc was playing without sound. I was looking for it in the disc menu, but the only thing I could see were two lines as this option wasn't available. For normal DVD discs everything was fine.
Any ideas?

[Blacklac]

Originally Posted by SatinKzo

how long have you had it? I'm looking for another player at a bargain (which these are right now) that has quality upconverting on DVD. How do you rate these?

*edit: nevermind, I found what I would consider your answer over at HDD.

I've had it since around July, when it came out. I've had 4 or 5 HD DVD players, one was a refurb lemon, but the rest were fantastic units. Quite reliable. This Pioneer has been even more reliable, for me. I absolutely love this unit. The only thing (reasonably priced) that I'd consider swapping it for is the new Oppo. However, my current Pioneer 51 is region free for SD DVD and so far the Oppo cannot be made region free at all. Also, it seems the Pioneer has a few more picture controls. I really, really want the Oppo, I love the way it looks and the 983 I used to have was top notch, however with this Pioneer I just can't justify the purchase. The only real upside in my setup to the Oppo is speed, but the Pioneer's speed doesn't bother me at all.

That said, I still prefer my PC for Bluray playback from a PQ standpoint. On my setup, my PC has slightly more of a 3D/realistic look and is slightly sharper, but yet extremely natural looking. Only downside, I'm limited to legacy audio or 2 channel lossless. One day I'll be able to bitstream from my PC...