Pioneer BDP-05FD thoughts from the masses

EndersShadow

I am doing a bunch of reading up on this player, but anyone familiar enough with it to tell me what downfalls it has?

Been reading through this thread and so far here is what I see:

Can be picky loading some discs
Load time isnt super fast
HDMI 1.3 (no 3D)
Profile 1.1 not 2.0

jon s

I have one... The picture and audio is above average for a Blu-Ray player. But as you said, it is slow, about 4x slower than current players (remember this is a second generation player, that's why no 3D and only HDMI spec 1.3). Some players have issues recognizing discs (I have not had this problem). Firmware updates can be slow in release from Pioneer (I have been told that Pioneer will no longer release updates, this may be a problem in the future). The remote control ishorrible, with small buttons and not user-friendly design. Last, there have been a number of users who have reported that their drives have been starting to fail. The drives are no longer available from Pioneer so it becomes a dead weight. I was able to buy a couple others (BDP51FD) cheaply and use them as backups. Be aware that Pioneer had two different drives in this player, on was IDE and the other was SATA. So if you do decide to buy one and find a backup unit, make sure the drives are identical. Especially since the BDP51FD's electronics are not as good as the BDP05FD.

(the BDP05FD was the Elite model and the BDP51FD audio circuitry was not as good as the Elite)

Drenis

Enders... see the links below for some local reading here. Also if SACD is something you;d like to try, forget about it with these.

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?75499-Pioneer-BDP-05FD-amp-Onkyo-DX-7555&highlight=BDP-05FD

http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?94084-Pio-BDP-05FD-for-399&highlight=BDP-05FD

flyfisher

I am a 05FD owner and think its a fantastic player.pq and sq is great.

Never had a disc reading issue.
Only downfall would be the slow reading times,but I never came across any issues on my player.
Firmware 1.73 is the current.

cnh

If you take a look in there, there is NOT much of a difference between these two units. Same DACs, same Chip set, same basic design, (plastic front on the 51 vs the Urushi metal finish on the Elite). Similar weight. Specs are IDENTICAL for AUDIO? The only real difference might be in some extra Vid processing? But ultimately its the PQLS link for compatible Elite receiver. And that audio hook up is absolutely "useless" if you don't have a compatible Elite from that year or later.

So, the 51 is pretty much a clone of the 5. And that's pretty much reinforced by the fact that all firmware upgrades for the 51 and the 5 are the same?

Aside from that. The 5 is, like the 51, SLOW to load and yes it's HDMI 1.3 so no 3D and the B-live is older. But as far as sound and pic it is most definitely worthy of its ELITE pedigree. So is the 51 for that matter--slap a metal front plate on it and an Elite logo and you're pretty much there.

I use mine, primarily as a secondary CD player. It's that good! And to upscale my DVDs for my office system. An occasional blu-ray. I've never had a disc fail to load or play. And I've upgraded to 1.72 which is one down from the most recent 1.73.

If you don't mind slow load times. This is an excellent player!

cnh

rooftop59

Yes it is a great player if all you want to do is what 2-d discs (with no bd-live at least on the 51) and maybe spin some tunes and don't mind waiting. For the money on the used market they are hard to beat for aq and pq if that is your primary criteria...