Pioneer Blu Ray Player BDP 05 FD

Recently purchased the BDP-51FD ($600).

Think the video quality is a notch below the Toshiba A35 HD player it replaced ($350 + 10 free HD movies on Amazon).

The 51FD has (sporadic) problems resyncing dialog to the picture when slow-motion is used.
The 51FD is quieter (cooling fans?) than the Toshiba.

Finally, I've noticed my Samsung LED DLP TV making LF noise switching from scene-to-scene.
I'm not saying the Pioneer is causing this, I just never noticed the noise with the Toshiba.

Latest models are 51 FD $599.list. I just purchased from Amazon for $499. w/free shipping. Just arrived today. The other is 05FD at $799. list. Minus the "Elite" badging on the 05FD, the units are 99% the same. The new 09FD will be their "reference" player and will be close to $2k. The 95FD is a previous year's model. The general concenus is that both the 51 and 05 are upgrades from the 95FD. They're cheaper only because the market is moving all players in that direction.

Take a look at www.avsforum.com and check under BluRay sources and there is tons of info on a thread about both current models. Be prepared for a loooong read but very worthwhile.

I have the Elite 95FD and it's absolutely stunning.
The Godfather in Bluray on The Pioneer into Elite Kuros 60" was like watching the movie the 1st time I saw it in the theater. They did an awesome job with the DVD and the Pioneer Elite exploits all of it. Sound is amazing as well. I've seen the movie more than any other and have heard dialogue and sounds I have never heard.

It would appear to me that after a little research that the 95FD and the 05FD are essentially the same player. Both decode True HD and DTS HD. The 05FD is listed at $200 less. Is there something more that the 95FD offers? It looks like both were released at about the same time.

The 05 is Pioneer's current player, released about 2 months ago, whereas the 95 was launched a year ago. The 05 is a new platform, not a simple update to the 95. The 95 is till listed on the Pioneer site as a current model, although I doubt anyone is selling it as such. If available, it should be at a deep discount since it is last years model. The 95 does not decode Dolby TrueHD or DTS HD MA internally (and never will), it only bitstreams them over 1.3 HDMI. The 05 decodes Dolby TrueHD internally, but is still waiting for a firmware upgrade to decode DTS HD MA internally. The 05 also has many more options for enhancing the video - including a mode that outputs 36 bit deep color signals in xvYCC color space. Some people see the benefit of these modes, others do not. The 05 has Wolfson DACs for its 7.1 analog audio outputs, which provide excellent analog out for CDs and multichannel sources. The 95 has Pioneer's Home Media Gallery, which has been dropped from the 05. The 05 is essentially the same as the 51, except for some cosmetic differences and higher speed video DACs for analog video output on the 05, which is not important if you are using HDMI. The 05/51 are very versatile players although they have had growing pains like most Blu-Ray players and are undergoing regular updates to fix problems. The DTS HD MA internal decoding firmware update is expected in the next few months (maybe January) but Pioneer has not set a release date. The current list price of the 05 is higher than most comparable products, in particular the recentlhy released Pananonic 35 and 55. The Pioneer players have several featuers that match very well with Pioneer receivers and Plasmas. For people using external video processors, the Pioneers (95/05/51) have a "source direct" mode which passes the signal directly from disc to HMDI. Most other players do not have this feature. There is a lot of information on avsforum.com on both the Pioneer and the Panasonic players. If you decide on the Pioneer, the real decision should be between the non-Elite 51 and the Elite 05.