Pioneer BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Player
— July 20, 2008
Elevating the high definition experience in home theaters, Pioneer Electronics presents the BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Disc player with support of next generation high resolution audio and video formats that fulfill the emotional experience of high end entertainment. Featuring picture-in-picture interactivity and a redesigned platform that significantly improves overall performance, this player works in tandem with Pioneers KURO displays and A/V receivers to provide film enthusiasts the most true-to-life reproduction of HD feature films.Learn More Connections TerminalsHDMI Output Component Video Output Composite Video Output S-Video Output 7.1-Channel Audio Output 2-Channel Audio Output Coaxial Digital Output Optical Digital Output SR Input Cinematic Picture Quality Pioneer has continued to enhance high performance DVD playback with the inclusion of the proprietary and advanced PureCinema Deinterlacer, which essentially eliminates lines that can n
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Blu-Ray tastic
I bought this player from 6ave thru Amazon and when I received it the Remote was missing. I called them and they said they would get me one and took 15% off the price for me…
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Blu Ray Player
This is a fantastic player, at a great price, we paid $199 for it new. We totally love it. While it is bigger than other blu ray players, it looks great on the shelf.
Pros: I have owned 6 blu-ray players before this one from brands like Sony and LG, all great players, but this one right out of the box shines quality, Only player I have seen to upscale to 12 bit deep color, loads fast, responds to menus well, quiet operation, will pass all HD audio bit stream and decodes HD audio, some people complain when there is no backlight on the remote, its nice but I’m not a remote critic, if it does its job then good enough. Works seemless with the picture on a Pioneer Kuro plasma, a must have.
Cons: firmware came as 1.00, it won’t let me play The Matrix on Blu-Ray, but Pioneer responded the next day, they will send me the 1.08 update, so be prepared to update.
Other Thoughts: Movie makers keep messing around with the JAVA for NEW features, they need to settle down so our players don’t need an update every 3 months when a new movie comes out on disc.
I got this unit from Amazon at almost 1/3 off the MSRP; at that price I almost feel guilty. This is among the higher-quality BluRay players with regard to picture and audio quality. So far I’ve watched about a half dozen movies on it and I couldn’t possibly love it more. My A/V receiver predates HDMI, so I needed a player with multichannel audio outputs. This unit has high-quality Wolfson DACs that really produce outstanding sound.
Perhaps the most important thing to be said about this player (any current player, for that matter), is you must *update your firmware*! As of this writing the current firmware version is 1.17 (my unit arrived with version 1.02 installed) and it fixes a ton of bugs present in earlier versions. Current firmware and instructions for installation can be easily found on the Pioneer USA website with a little patience. Still missing currently is the ability of this unit to decode DTS Master Audio, but it is promised in an any-day-now firmware upgrade; there are few BluRay units that shipped with DTS MA decoding ability, so Pioneer isn’t particularly far behind any other manufacturer in this regard.
One thing to note is this player is a Profile 1.1 player and NOT a Profile 2.0 player, meaning it does not support BluRay Live content that is downloadable from the internet. Personally, I could not care less. There is very little BluRay Live content out there now that is worthwhile, and the BR Live processing and downloading is often mentioned as a performance drag on units that support it. Picture and audio quality are what mattered to me, and this unit delivers in spades.
EDIT 06/09/09: Editing to update info. As of 06/04/09, Firmware 1.32 does indeed enable in-player decoding of DTS Master Audio. It sounds outstanding!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Blu-Ray Player
I got a great deal paying $120 for an open-box unit from bestbuy. This blu-ray player is much better than the Samsung ones that are currently available.
The Pioneer BDP-51FD is one of the most well built Blu-ray players under $500 you will find in the market. And, with its latest v1.17 firmware virtually all of the bugs have been squashed plus DVD upconversion is now superior even to high end chipsets like Silicon Optix Reon. Pretty amazing what big strides this player has made in a short period of time.
The Wolfsen DACs provide outstanding analog audio and the many A/V tweaks such as the Source Direct feature will keep tweakheads happy for a long time to come.
While this player is not as user-friendly as some of the competition, once you’ve delved into all of its settings you will find that you can maximize A/V quality in a way not possible with other players.
Highly recommended for the moderately experienced (or expert) home theater enthusiast!! Nothing else in this pricerange comes close.
5.0 out of 5 stars
great unit
it works just as it should…great unit especially considering the price I paid for it…$199.99. At this price it’s a steal for unit of this class.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pioneer BDP-51FD Blu-Ray DVD Player
I have always wanted to purchase this fine player ever since I became serious about purchasing a Blu-Ray Player (as I am in the process of putting together a new Home Theater…
4.0 out of 5 stars
Check the upgrade
When I got the item it had software version 1.08 and things did not go well: Very Slow and no sound during the movie. Upgraded to 1.
5.0 out of 5 stars
A super Blu Ray Player at a bargain price.
This player has everything that I was looking for in a player. I wanted a player that could not only deliver a great picture but great sound as well.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Video & Audio
I have a new Samsung LCD TV which is great in detail in all Video and Audio so watching movies will be the first thing to see the real color of the screen.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great brand and product at a great price
I’ve had enough friends who got low-end DVD players that broke in the first year, but I didn’t want to splurge on a high-end Blu-ray player.
5.0 out of 5 stars
BDP-51FD Blu-ray Player
I found the purchase of this item very simple and the service of the company excellent. The player showed up in record time and tracking information provided was also very good…