Pioneer Blu Ray Player BDP 05 FD

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.

Correct, although currently the 05 does not decode DTS HD - it needs a firmware upgrade to do that. That update is not yet scheduled. Most people believe this will happen, although it looks like early 2009. There are some skeptics who think it might not happen until later, if at all. So, if you absolutely need DTS HD to be decoded in the player, you need to make a decision as to when Pioneer will do the firmware update. The 95 will never decode the HD audio formats. It does not have the computer power to do that. If the HD audio is decoded in the player you need an HDMI 1.1 input on your receiver or you have to use 5.1/7/1 analog inputs. The base managment on the 05 for analog outputs is not very complete (crossover is not adjustable and no distance settings). Do you have a HDMI receiver? The Panasonic 55 currently decodes both Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD MA internally and sends PCM over HDMI 1.1 and analog, although the analog output is not as good as the Pioneer. Using the analog outputs also requires that you can increase the sub signal by at least 10 db over the other channels(speakers set to large) or 15 db (speakers set to small) - in the receiver. The upcoming Pioneer 09 will have a much more complete analog section, but it is not clear if the video section will be much different than the 05. What receiver are you using? Does it have HDMI?

Note I have a 95 and have tested an 05. My receiver does decode the HD audio formats, so I stayed with the 95. As a new platform, the 05 will take some time to stabilize, but that is the nature of Blu-Ray these days.

I would be careful with what Pioneer customer support says regarding DTS MA not being sent to the analog outs. Experience has shown that CSRs are often not up to date on future plans. You might want to post the results of your call on avsforum, as the people there follow this situation very closely. I do not remember anyone there saying that DTS MA would not go out over the analog outputs. If that is true, there will be a lot of upset people. I believe the manual reference to 5.1 applies to the current situation with DTS not necessarily the future implementation of DTS HD MA.

Unfortunately, Pioneer has not been very forthcoming on the details of their plans for decoding DTS MA internally. My experience is that manuals are often not written carefully enough to be definitive, unfortunately. The phrase in the footnote in the manual for DTS HD MA over analog is "DTS Surround Sound signals converted to linear PCM audio signals are output". They use the term "DTS Surround Sound" elsewhere in the table to reference lossy DTS signals, not MA signals. That would imply that for DTS HD MA sources, DTS lossy is output over the analogs. I just find that hard to believe and I think you agree. Note the HDMI column explicitly says that DTS HD MA is output. I would expect that same phrase for the analog column, not the DTS Surround Sound phrase. My guess is they carried some of that wording over from the similar table for the 95, which did not decode DTS MA internally. With these problems in the table, I would also not trust that the 5.1 reference is accurate. I think we need to wait for some official word from Pioneer or the actual firmware before we can be sure of this. I like Pioneer products, but they are having a tough time with some of the details on this one. Hopefully, it is just start-up pains for the new platform.