Another kick in the groin for Pioneer 563A owners

Electra-Sound repaired something for me about 10 years ago , it was either a Pioneer Tape Deck or a VCR, I can't remember for sure. Whatever it was, I don't remember having any problems or being dissatisfied with the work. They have been in business for a long time, if that helps.

 

I sent mine off on 5/19 and it was back on 5/26. Works great now! They even did a better job packing it on the way back than I did sending it out.

 

Have any of you who have gotten your players back with the firmware update noticed click sounds at the beginning of DVD-As now? Have any of you noticed the first snare drum hit missing from Steely Dan's Babylon Sister's in the "Gaucho" DVD-A? These are things I am hearing since I sent my player in. It's as if it takes the firmware some time to start.

 

No. I'll run through a few more discs and see though.

Maybe it's your settings? Remember, when these things come back from the shop you have to TOTALLY re-program your settings.

 

Nope, my settings are as they were before I sent it to be updated.

Do you have the "Gaucho" DVD-A? If so, or if you can get a hold of it, put in on the tray and choose "Babylon Sisters." The song will start playing, but you will probably be missing the first snare drum hit. Push fast backward to restart the song and you'll probably notice what I'm talking about.

Let me know if you try it.

BTW I also experience a click sound upon loading Sting's "Sacred Love" DVD-A and Joni Mitchel's "Both Sides Now". It's as if the upgrade software were activating. It's a little bit as when an A/V amp has a format detect feature and misses some notes at the beginning of a record when changing from one to the other.

 

One more kick.....

According to a poster on the QQ forum the Pioneer upgrade is on a CD and the service center doesn't even open the player up. If true Pioneer should get 2 kicks in their collective groin. If they are worried about someone misusing the disc (which makes no sense IMO) they could at least include more service centers that can do the upgrade. Shipping my player to Ohio is a pain in the a**. Plus if this is true they lied to myself and others about adding/replacing a chip. It will be a long time before I purchase another Pioneer product.

 

I know how you feel. I'm just glad they agreed to fix the problem. It only cost me $7.50 for shipping and about a week without my player.

I think the redbook playback sounds a lot better now. Anyone notice? Or is it just my imagination?

 

Bobo U2, when I spoke directly with the technical department at Pioneer they told me that depending on th manufacturing date the player would have a different chip. This was one of the reasons they mentioned as to why the player had to be sent in.

Of course, if this is true, there could be a CD with different versions of the solution depending on the machine's manufacturing date.

Then again, it could all be an excuse not to put the firmware in the hands of the users, but given the significant amount of players on the market that offer firmware update downloads it make little sense.

 

I found a cheap used dvd-a of On The Beach this week which led me to finally call Pioneer about "the fix"; they told me that within the next few weeks they would be providing their local authorised repair centers with the ability to take care of it. So I called the closest one to me (3 miles away) that they recommend, & they say they can do it. I'l take it in in the morning & let you know how it goes. Beats sending it to Ohio at the mercy of the shipping services (free, too).
Also, does anyone know for sure after what date the new machines were "cured"? Thanks.

John.

 

Is there any way to tell if the firmware has actually been updated? I just got my player back from the service center, and the DVD-A that I was having problems with (Disturbed - "Believe") is still the same - blinking menus, audio track that's supposed to play while navigating the menu sounds like a broken record, navigating the disc is almost impossible. I can get to the music, but it's not very easy unless I pop the disc in and let it autoplay. If possible, I want to verify that my player has the correct firmware before contacting Pioneer to tell them about this. Thanks.

 

That disc is supposed to be that way. I think they thought the repeating guitar riff would sound cool. It's just kind of annoying.

 

Seriously? But what about how the menus are almost impossible to select? I have to time pushing the buttons just right, or I can't get into anything. Weird...

 

Sorry for dropping in on your Disturbed DVD-A concerns and asking about the click sound issue again. I am in Spain and my player is the 565 (the European equivalent of the 563). Since I got it back from the firmware update I can play all the DVD-As I could not play before, but there's this annoying click or snap sound just before any DVD-Audio starts to play.

I point this out because there are other people here experiencing the same problem. A member of a Spanish forum even took his player to be looked at by Pioneer. They did notice the problem: the click sound is heard only in the center channel. The last I've heard about this issue is that Pioneer Spain is aware of it, but have yet to offer a solution.

The records I have noticed it with are: Elton John "GBYBR", Sting "Sacred Love", Steely Dan "Gaucho" (even skips the first snare drum hit in 'Babylon Sisters'). Again, I ask, has anyone of you noticed this problem on any firmware-updated 563s?

Thanks in advance for the feedback.

 

My "nightmare" is almost over

Well it took Pioneer awhile to get those upgrade discs out to all of the repair centers. I'm bringing my player tomorrow to get "fixed". The repair center is in walking distance of my home. A lot better than shipping it to Ohio. The only reason I waited so long was the lack of software that I would want was so low I really didn't miss much. So I am taking off my kicking boots and I will send thanks to Pioneer...even if it took them 5 months.

 

I got my firmware upgraded.

 

Well it's done.....Gaucho sounds great
Thank you Pioneer

 

Same issue, slightly different player.
DV565A will not play the high res sections in The Who's "Tommy" deluxe edition either.
As soon as the disc is inserted the menu appears after the initial slideshow.
Select Multichannel or stereo versions, get the tracklist up, hit play.
The player starts playing the disc but there is no audio.
The player shows that it is actually playing, and the OSD says 96/24 3/2 LFE at 7.7Mbit/sec, but all you get is silence.

Pioneer GB at first said there is no problem with the player, but thanks to being pre armed with the facts from this forum, he eventually admitted there is in fact a firmware update, and gave me the number of the UK service Agents - an 0870 number of course which means that I pay the service company for the phone call. No toll free in this pikey cheapskate country!

After a long talk with Sequoia, they have agreed to do a "swap out" as the player is still under warranty, and I have a new player arriving in 2 days which will hopefully solve the problem.

In the meantime, does annyone have an email address for Geffen Records, as the disc itself is actually authored "out of spec" according to the book.
You cannot access the lossy tracks from the Audio Zone, and that is not DVD-A legal.
They really ought to know better than this.

But - thanks to steve for pointing me in the right direction.
It is greatly appreciated.

 

Neil,

Sorry to hear that your 565 is experiencing the DVD-Audio problem. You can't imagine how much I had to talk the guys in Pioneer Spain about this before they offered a solution. The good news is that once the firmware has been updated the problem is over.

i recently bought the Tommy DVD-Audio and it plays perfectly. In fact, last night I was listening to the stereo version on my headphones and came across a glitch in the original recording. You can read about it here: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=40762

One thing that at least several users in Spain (me included)have not seen solved is a sort of click that's heard whenever a DVD-Audio is loaded and/or starts to play. It seems to have been located in the center channel, but as far as I know, Pioneer has not come out with a solution although they have told Pioneer about it and it is aware of the problem.

Apart from that, the 565 is a good player for its price.

The new 575 does not have the DVD-Audio incompatibility problem, but I understand it has cheaper components that apparently affect the audio part (albeit slightly).

 

Neil....glad I could help
Metoo...Yes sometimes the begining of BS on Gaucho DVD-a gets lost but sometimes it's ok. I don't have GBYBR DVD-a so can't help you there.

 

Metoo - no apology necessary. I'm just glad that it turned out to be so painless getting it sorted out. It must have been hell when first discovered! As I said, the first time I spoke to Pioneer GB the chap in Customer Services said there "are no known problems" but when I gave chapter & verse from this forum, I was put on hold whilst he spoke to the tech boys and came back to say yes, it's the same error as on the 563 and the 7000.
So, if anything, I owe you. Without this info I'd still be scratching my head wondering where the error is.
Have to admit I thought it was an authoring error. Lucky for me it's not, as I now have a new player coming tomorrow.

Never experienced this click - hope I never do either.

 

Neil, hope you enjoy your new player.

 

Well, the new player duly arrived this morning.
Plugged it all in, ran through the setup routines, put Queens "A Night At the Opera" in to check everything is working.
First anomaly:
I have now noticed the dreaded click in the centre speakers when the MLP track is started. That was not there before.

Get "tommy" out.
Put disc in.
Menu appears, with Audio.
Hit Surround Tracklist.
Get display.
Hit play.

No F*#@ing difference. Silence. OSD shows 96/24 3/2.1 at 8.2 Mbit/second, but I still cannot hear anything
Try the stereo portion. Same result.
Put disc in PC with WinDVD instaled, and it plays. $50 software works, my £200 player does not.

Back on thephone to Pioneer, who will not talk to me and insist I call the service agent on an 0870 number - (which means I am paying the service agent to talk to them) who assure me the player has the latest revision of firmware and the disc is to blame. When I tell him it works on the PC he agrees to swap players again.
Tomorrow.
I am not holding my breath on this one.

Is there any way I can tell from the OSD what firmware is installed, as either this disc will never play in this player, or else I was given a faulty unit in exchange or my faulty unit.

I now understand the title of his thread.
No more Pioneer for me, that is for sure

 

I now understand the title of his thread.
No more Pioneer for me, that is for sure
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I know it can be frustrating Neil, but try to hang in with them. Pioneer has been the leader in laser playback for sometime (I still own one of their wonderful laserdisc players, and after 15 years, still going!) so I would give them some lattitude. My 563a has been flawless, with no problems at all so far. I haven't had the firmware upgrade yet, so we shall see what happens with the new wave of discs.

Keep Listening...

 

After speaking to Pioneer Head Office in theUK, their "solution" is to take the player and the disc to a repair agent.
That is it.
They are saying to me that they are aware of the problem with this disc, and it is not the pioneer that is at fault, but the disc.
Needless to say, nobody else agrees.

Firmware version I am seeing is
1.706 SgiStp

I just do not like their attitude toward this, when a $50 software will play it.
It is the player, not the disc.
Although for what it isworth, the disc, like nearly all Warners, is out of spec.

 

Neil,

I guess they are offering you a sensible approach. In my 565 (the European equivalent of the 563) "Tommy" plays perfectly (save for the minor menu problem I describe below). If you take your player to the service alongside the disc, they will be able to determine if it's the player OR the disc. By the looks of what you describe, and given the player has had the firmware updated, it could be the disc.


BTW, Neil, how did you get the firmware version?


"Tommy" Menu problem: the play menu on the DVD-Audio gets stuck if I choose to look at the lyrics until the song ends so that it returns to the play list menu by itself. Has anyone experienced this? BTW by stuck I mean that often the arrow disappears and I cannot go to another lyrics page. I can work around this by going to a lyrics page and returning to the play list page myself before the song ends.

Oh, and the "Tommy" DVD-Audio is not from Warner Bros. it's from Universal Music. Maybe Pioneer follows the DVD-A specs so much that if the disc does not comply with them it has problems reading it.