Customer Ratings & Reviews

I've been a Pioneer Elite fan for years and was enthused when the BDP-53FD came out and wanted to upgrade my BDP-23FD for the Marvel QDEO video processor, the SACD and DVD-A integration, faster BD load times, and internet streaming features on the 53. The first unit I bought would not recognize SACDs. All other disc types worked fine, but SACDs would fail with "unknown disc". Returned that unit and ordered another one. The second unit played SACDs just fine, but would constantly hang on loading Blu Ray discs. The entire unit would lock up solid and I would have to unplug the power to get it to reset. In general, I have to say as much as I love the picture and sound quality of Blu Ray, I hate the reliance on Java and the overhead with loading and menus. It is absurd that even on a new unit like this with "faster loading times" it still takes longer to start a movie than to boot a Windows computer, to say nothing of the problems this seems to create with unit lockups. When the machine manages to load a disc the picture and sound quality is exceptional. The other major drawback is problems with HDMI control. This feature must be enabled to take advantage of the PQLS feature (jitter control for PCM music sources#, which does make a nice difference to my ears. I have a Pioneer Elite SC-27 AV receiver which is compatible with PQLS and in fact this works well with my older player #the BDP-23#. However, with the BDP-53 the unit keeps switching the source on the receiver from BD to SAT/TV when using the separate HDMI connections as recommended in the manual for optimal quality #i.e. HDMI1 for video directly to the display bypassing the receiver, and the HDMI2 port for audio only to the receiver). It is so unfortunate that Pioneer has let their quality control standards decline in recent years, especially unforgivable for the Elite line. These players are not inexpensive and in the past they've usually been well worth the money for audio/video enthusiasts. If the reliability issues weren't disappointing enough, Pioneer dropped the ball on a few other operational elements of the player. On the front panel they only provide stop, play and eject buttons, and they've done away with pause and skip buttons; but far worse, despite what the photos show on their web site, the front panel display only shows elapsed time, no track/chapter numbers or pause/play indicators. You can view this information on screen with the Display button on the remote, but one of the main strengths of the player is audio not just video, and when listening to music there's no good reason to have the display turned on just to see track info, etc. The disc tray is too thin and a lot flimsier that previous models. You actually have to pay close attention to making sure the disc is properly seated in the tray before closing or risk a jam up because the recess depth on the tray for the disk is so thin. Finally, the remote control sensor on the unit is not very good. You have to point the remote DIRECTLY at the unit and even then you often have to press buttons repeatedly for the sensor to recognize commands. It's a pity that a player with such excellent video and sound would be compromised by QC issues on the most basic functions which one can find working well even on the cheapest players. It's lamentable that Pioneer has let the Elite line slide as they have and the only way they are going to sustain its viability in the market at these cost points is to seriously reinvest in building solid machines again. The outsourcing has been a failure and if this is indeed their first attempt to bring the line back in house, they failed here to do much better.