Pioneer BDP-51FD BonusView Blu-ray Player

 (66 customer reviews)

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...Read more

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.

I just bought my second BDP-51FD...both bought this month (Jan '09). Obviously, considering I bought two, it's a great player. For mass-market electronics, it's hard to beat Pioneer's quality. At this price level (over 50% off MSRP), this is an absolute no-brainer and a steal! So far, It's played BD's, DVD's, DVD-R's....anything I've thrown at it with aplomb. Works great with my entry-level Panasonic Viera TH-42PX80U 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTVin my master BR, and the second unit is for my new Pioneer Kuro (Pioneer PDP-5020FD 50-Inch 1080p KURO Plasma HDTVplasma (waiting for that BIG tax return, LOL) that's going over my livingroom fireplace.

Yes, I realize that ALL BD players are...Read more