A few words about...™ Pirates of the Caribbean -- in BD

Robert Harris · 05-25-2007, 01:57 PM

The viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl has been quite the adventure.

Last evening, before moving on to Apocalypto out of technological frustration, I attempted to persuade Pirates to load into my Pioneer Elite BD player.

It wasn't having any of it.

Multiple attempts brought about the same result. The disc would load, only to stall on a time code screen filled with zeros.

Early this morning I attempted once again, only fail. Before placing a call to Disney reps, and after successfully running Apocalypto, I decided to attempt loading Pirates 2.

Same problem.

A call to Pioneer customer service gave me the answer. They've received a number of calls regarding the two discs, have come up with a quick fix, which is now downloadable to burn to DVD -- yes, it works on Mac systems -- which provides a fix, albeit temporary and extremely slow.

Load times can reach several minutes.

I was promised that a proper fix, with normal load times would be available in June via either website download or final product shipped by Pioneer in disc form.

I've been waiting for a similar upgrade disc from Toshiba for over three months, and that disc has now been reordered for delivery in LA. I continue to ask why Toshiba doesn't take the easy route and provide a download link via the support area of their website.

As I watched the upgrade disc slowly load, I hoped that the trouble would pay of in the end with something of high quality, if not spectacular.

You don't get "spectacular" very often.

Fog is something extremely difficult to replicate on home video, and the opening of Pirates could have been a digital disaster.

What it was... was Spectacular!

With nary of pixel out of place, the fog rolled across my Elite plasma screen. I knew that I was in for a treat.

There really is little that needs to be said about this disc.

Colors are detailed, bright, pure and perfect.

Blacks and shadow detail are magnificent.

Human, both living and dead, facial tones are spot perfect.

Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean is a Blu-Ray joy to behold.

Is it a perfect disc?

I believe that it is, and a noble addition to one's "knock your friends socks off" demo collection. For those with a Pioneer Elite, even with a temporary slow load, the presentation is worth both the small trouble of download, as well as the loading time wait.

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
is Very Highly Recommended.

RAH

Paul Arnette · 05-25-2007, 02:39 PM

Robert,

Which firmware version were you running initially on your Pioneer Elite BD player? Ver 2.10 should be the most recent. Is that the version you are referring to here:

Quote:

A call to Pioneer customer service gave me the answer. They've received a number of calls regarding the two discs, have come up with a quick fix, which is now downloadable to burn to DVD -- yes, it works on Mac systems -- which provides a fix, albeit temporary and extremely slow.

It is good to hear a proper fix is coming in June. Supposedly, Dolby Digital Plus and Dobly TrueHD decoding will be provided in that firware upgrade as well.

I will be watching both Pirates movies tonight and tomorrow night. I am looking forward to them greatly.

Chris S · 05-25-2007, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

Is it a perfect disc?

I believe that it is, and a noble addition to one's "knock your friends socks off" demo collection.

Couldn't agree more!

Sorry to hear you had so much trouble loading the disc. On the positive side, the speed at which Pioneer had a fix available speaks volumes for that companies reputation. I'm glad to know they at least were able to get you a fix that allowed you to see how "spectacular" this release truly is.

Robert Harris · 05-25-2007, 07:51 PM

My initial firmware was 2.0, and needed 2.1.

Pioneer came through with immediacy, where Toshiba tended to drag their corporate feet. After speaking with a Toshiba rep on monday, I have still not received a hard copy of their firmware update.

My inability to view certain HD discs and post comments in a timely basis has become quite problematic.

I can't say enough good things about Pioneer's customer support.

RAH

Douglas Monce · 05-25-2007, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Harris

My initial firmware was 2.0, and needed 2.1.

Pioneer came through with immediacy, where Toshiba tended to drag their corporate feet. After speaking with a Toshiba rep on monday, I have still not received a hard copy of their firmware update.

My inability to view certain HD discs and post comments in a timely basis has become quite problematic.

I can't say enough good things about Pioneer's customer support.

RAH

Robert,

Have you tried doing the update via an internet connection? I did mine that way and it was pretty straight forward.

Doug

**HTF Ads**

Paul Arnette · 05-25-2007, 10:47 PM

Robert,

OK. Thanks for confirming that. I figured 2.10 was still the latest, but I wanted to be sure. Pioneer is responsive, there is no doubt about that. However, their firmware updates have been on the 'down low' in terms of being 'announced'. Once place you can always check is the Support Information page for the BDP-HD1, which is located here:

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pna/v3/pg/support/details/0,,2076_310070388_290062577_tab=B,00.html?compName =PNA_V3_SupportDetailsComponent

There you can download the latest firmware, update instructions, and release notes.

Toshiba's insistance on not providing downloadable .iso files is asinine, especially seeing as how Toshiba Canada does.

My wife and I just finished watching PotC: CotBP tonight. It was simply spectacular. HD picture and lossless sound have finally transformed my HT room into something that rivals the local multiplex. Sheer cinematic bliss.

Neil Joseph · 05-25-2007, 10:55 PM

I can't say enough good things about these two movies on BR. The video is covered in the previous posts but the audio.... is full, rich, bombastic yes, but so very subtle also.

Ron-P · 05-26-2007, 01:33 AM

Thanks Robert. I'll have to venture out and pick this one up. I'll pass on the sequels.

Adam_R · 05-26-2007, 12:40 PM

A sales associate at CC told me "don't buy those! we got a bad batch!"

He explained that a customer had brought them back saying that they did not play and displayed an error code. He also explained that he tried them on 2 different BD players in the store with similar results. When I asked him if they had kept up with firmware updates, he looked perplexed then said "of course we do."

I bought the discs anyway and got a $15 gift card free with the purchase. I also got the pleasure of viewing these incredible transfers on my HL-S5687w. They loaded fast and played flawlessly on my PS3 (now set to FULL RGB, thanks to the 1.8 firmware.)

Thanks for your impressions. This incompatibility has me worried though. These things need to be nailed down, pronto. Incomplete specs and varied results form player to player is NOT good for the format