Well as you might have read in my BMG multichannel thread I have three dual discs that won't play the DVD-Audio section at all on my Pioneer player. These discs are listed below.
The Wallflowers - Rebel, Sweetheart.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral.
Keane - Hopes and Fears.
These discs above are all Dual Discs that will play the DVD-Video side fine in surround but not the DVD-Audio side. Now for those of you within range of the Clearwater-Largo area I've found a local service center that got me the firmware upgrade done with some ease. Firstly you will need to call Pioneer customer support toll-free and tell the rep that you need a firmware upgrade for this model player. It helps to tell them which discs you have that won't play. You also must give them your serial number, name, address and phone number. They will also give you a case number and its important that you write this case number down just in case you don't get the letter.
Now Pioneer will send you a letter in the mail with the name of the service center on it giving you 30 days to bring it down to the service center to get the upgrade free of charge and the service center gets the standard warranty rate back. Even if your player is out of warranty as long as you registered the player when you bought it and its not been more than three years since you bought it Pioneer will cover the firmware update free of charge. I've also been told that they can make exceptions but having this makes it a sure shot.
So in my case I took down this letter and took it to Plaza Electronics which is on 66th Street and Ulmerton Road. Its right behind Arby's in a shopping center. I've spoken with a guy named Ken who was very helpfull in getting this setup and I highly suggest dealing with him. I dropped off my player yesterday around 3-4pm and he called me to tell me I needed to bring in this letter to pick it up and if I had the letter now that my player was ready. I picked it up this afternoon and brought it home and hooked it up and all discs are fully working now. Audio quality is quite a bit better when its the DVD-A section compared to the Dolby Digital DVD-Video part. Also the Wallflowers disc didn't sound much better and it seemed to be mostly stereo with a few sound effects thrown in and it seems that online forums agree with this. Becuase of this I don't think this disc is worth the extra cost. Also the DVD-A track of the song Closer on the Nine Inch Nails album is lightyears better than the Dolby Digital track. I haven't had time to listen to many of the tracks on the disc but so far the DVD-A section of most songs on both the Keane and Nine Inch Nails discs seem to be very very good and are more than worth getting the firmware update.
I hope this helps you all out and maybe some of you can try this approach to avoid sending the player into Pioneer and have them keep it for three plus months and you having to pay shipping. If your in another state look on the support area of their website and click on the section on the left called authorized service locations and search using the options home, DVD Player and your zip code. Once you find a service center nearby just call them up and tell them you need a firmware update and that you will have Pioneer mail you out an authorization for service so that their company can get paid the standard warranty rate using Norda or whatever they call it. Just make sure you tell the service company that the process to bill and get paid is different than with stand warranty services so they should call Pioneer themselves to make sure they know how to submit everything.
The Wallflowers - Rebel, Sweetheart.
Nine Inch Nails - The Downward Spiral.
Keane - Hopes and Fears.
These discs above are all Dual Discs that will play the DVD-Video side fine in surround but not the DVD-Audio side. Now for those of you within range of the Clearwater-Largo area I've found a local service center that got me the firmware upgrade done with some ease. Firstly you will need to call Pioneer customer support toll-free and tell the rep that you need a firmware upgrade for this model player. It helps to tell them which discs you have that won't play. You also must give them your serial number, name, address and phone number. They will also give you a case number and its important that you write this case number down just in case you don't get the letter.
Now Pioneer will send you a letter in the mail with the name of the service center on it giving you 30 days to bring it down to the service center to get the upgrade free of charge and the service center gets the standard warranty rate back. Even if your player is out of warranty as long as you registered the player when you bought it and its not been more than three years since you bought it Pioneer will cover the firmware update free of charge. I've also been told that they can make exceptions but having this makes it a sure shot.
So in my case I took down this letter and took it to Plaza Electronics which is on 66th Street and Ulmerton Road. Its right behind Arby's in a shopping center. I've spoken with a guy named Ken who was very helpfull in getting this setup and I highly suggest dealing with him. I dropped off my player yesterday around 3-4pm and he called me to tell me I needed to bring in this letter to pick it up and if I had the letter now that my player was ready. I picked it up this afternoon and brought it home and hooked it up and all discs are fully working now. Audio quality is quite a bit better when its the DVD-A section compared to the Dolby Digital DVD-Video part. Also the Wallflowers disc didn't sound much better and it seemed to be mostly stereo with a few sound effects thrown in and it seems that online forums agree with this. Becuase of this I don't think this disc is worth the extra cost. Also the DVD-A track of the song Closer on the Nine Inch Nails album is lightyears better than the Dolby Digital track. I haven't had time to listen to many of the tracks on the disc but so far the DVD-A section of most songs on both the Keane and Nine Inch Nails discs seem to be very very good and are more than worth getting the firmware update.
I hope this helps you all out and maybe some of you can try this approach to avoid sending the player into Pioneer and have them keep it for three plus months and you having to pay shipping. If your in another state look on the support area of their website and click on the section on the left called authorized service locations and search using the options home, DVD Player and your zip code. Once you find a service center nearby just call them up and tell them you need a firmware update and that you will have Pioneer mail you out an authorization for service so that their company can get paid the standard warranty rate using Norda or whatever they call it. Just make sure you tell the service company that the process to bill and get paid is different than with stand warranty services so they should call Pioneer themselves to make sure they know how to submit everything.
