Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD 3-D Blu-ray player also has 4K upscaling

[HDTV1080P]

This new Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD 3-D Blu-ray player also has 4K upscaling. Plays SACD's and DVD-Audio discs. Also has a dual HDMI output. Looks like a quality product in terms of build quality with a list price of $2,000. I hope that a professional review in the future will compare it to the $599 OPPO BDP-103D.

Single Sheet

[Cortiz]

$2,000.00 for a BD player? Damn, Pioneer must be smoking some heavy duty shit.

[hottuna]

Looks like it’s just a rebranded BDP-LX88, which we’ve had in Japan since last summer. PQ and AQ are top notch and is marketed with video/audiophiles in mind. Although it streams over DLNA, it is not meant to be a main feature. It’s great that it supports MKVs, but only if they’re encoded with DivX. Who the hell still uses DivX? Pioneer must have some kind of deal-with-the-devil with them as all their BD players have the same DLNA specs.

I really question the timing of releasing this model in the USA at this time as we all know that native 4K BD players are due to come out around Q2 this year. The users that Pioneer are targeting are waiting for that instead.

[steve1971]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

$2,000.00 for a BD player? Damn, Pioneer must be smoking some heavy duty shit.

I agree Cortiz.

[HDTV1080P]

Hottuna,

I have not seen any announcements for native 4K Blu-ray players being released this year in the USA. Some people claim late 2015, however its looking more like 2016 time frame for native 4K Blu-ray players to be released.

[trekky76]

I don't get why Pioneer is so overpriced in America. In Europe you can get their players for 1/10th the price.

Seriously though, exactly what parts of a blu-ray player are so expensive to warrant a cost of over $300?

[dvdmike]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

$2,000.00 for a BD player? Damn, Pioneer must be smoking some heavy duty shit.

A high end 4k upscaler in 2015? Who is shortsighted enough to want that?

[hottuna]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

Hottuna,

I have not seen any announcements for native 4K Blu-ray players being released this year in the USA. Some people claim late 2015, however its looking more like 2016 time frame for native 4K Blu-ray players to be released.

I don't know about the USA, but Sharp has already released a UHD Blu-ray recorder capable of recording/playing native 4K content in Japan. We have a cable service called Sky Perfect TV that is broadcasting 4K programs on a trial basis, and Sony has already released several of their titles mastered in 4K.

Other Japanese manufacturers are set to follow suit this year, although admittedly there hasn't been an official announcement yet.

[HDTV1080P]

In the USA all Sony mastered in 4K titles are native 1080P (Japan most likely has the same Sony discs), also so far all Blu-ray players in the USA are native 1080P. I would love to see native 4K Blu-ray discs in the future.

[HDTV1080P]

According to the Sound and Vision magazine the $2,000 Pioneer BDP-88FD Universal Blu-ray player does a better job of upscaling to 4K when compared to the 4K upscaling in the $10,000 Sony VPL-VW350ES 4K projector.

In regards to native 4K streaming from an external source, it does look better than 1080P Blu-ray according to the review, however one needs a big screen like a projector to appreciate and notice the improved resolution detail. 4K optical discs and native 4K Blu-ray players with higher video bit rates should arrive in 2016+. In theory 4K Blu-ray should be the king in terms of picture quality (will need to be verified once native 4K optical discs become a reality) .

The following are select quotes from the Sound and Vision magazine website

“I started out my evaluation of the VPL-VW350ES by watching Blu-rays using Pioneer’s new BDP-88FD universal player, with the player first feeding the Sony straight 1080p and then upscaling the signal to 4K resolution.”

“Comparing the Pioneer player’s 4K upscaling with the Sony’s, the Pioneer had a definite edge (for $2,000, it had better), though the VPL-VW350ES was also no slouch in the scaling department.”

http://www.soundandvision.com/content/sony-vpl-vw350es-4k-sxrd-projector-review-page-2

[chipgallo]

Originally Posted by Cortiz

$2,000.00 for a BD player? Damn, Pioneer must be smoking some heavy duty shit.

Never again. I paid $1,000 for one of their Elite DV-59AVI DVD players and couldn't get it serviced eight years later. I think the disc load motor failed about six years in and the thing sat for a while.

[Pondosinatra]

I have the 85 which I bought to replace my 23.

It works well. Solidly built. And unlike the 23fd has fast load times. The only thing I wish it had was the ability to be region free.

Sadly, this is likely to be the last player Pioneer ever made.

[Pondosinatra]

Just updated it.

[HDTV1080P]

Sound and Vision magazine has written an excellent review on the Pioneer Elite BDP-88FD Blu-ray player. Click the following link to read the complete review.

http://www.soundandvision.com/conten...-player-review