Pioneer Confirms BDP-51FD and Elite BDP-05FD Profile 1.1 Blu-ray Players; “Super-Duper” BD-Live Player Coming This Spring

When the other Blu-ray heavies Sony, Panasonic and Samsung are in various stages of introducing Ethernet-equipped BD-Live players (aka BD Profile 2.0), Pioneer comes out with two players, the US$600 BDP-51FD and the US$800 Elite BDP-05FD, that meet just the 1.1 spec, for picture-in-picture BonusView content. We heard about it via a reliable leak, but now we’ve got models, pricing and another interesting confirmation: Pioneer’s Blu-ray marketing manager Chris Walker tells us that the company will launch a BD-Live player, in fact, a “super-duper flagship-status piece,” this fall (AU Spring).