Pioneer BDP-09FD Bu-ray Disc player (Sound and Vision June/July/August 2009 review)

[HDTV1080P]

Pioneer BDP-09FD Blu-ray Disc player (Sound and Vision June/July/August 2009 review)

(Sound and Vision Certified and recommended)

The Pioneer BDP-09FD only real negatives is slow power up, slower load times, and slower navigation compared to the PS3 and other BLU-RAY players. The picture quality, sound quality, and build quality are excellent (Some magazine reviews mention that the BDP-09FD is the best in build quality and analog video output quality compared to any other BLU-RAY player). The CD audio section matches or beats the quality of many high-end CD players. The Pioneer also has 4 GB of built in memory for BD-LIVE and two HDMI outputs (I know of no other standalone BLU-RAY player that offers 4GB of built in memory and two HDMI outputs). If Pioneer on future BLU-RAY models would offer Super Audio CD playback, DVD-Audio playback, faster load times, faster navigation, and faster power on the player would be close to perfect. List price $2,200.


A few select quotes from page 78 and 79 of the June/July/August Sound and Vision magazine

Plus
"Extensive, high-quality picture adjustments"
"Flawless DVD upconversion"
"Excellent multichannel analog-audio performance"
"Flexible setup options"

Minus
"Expensive!"
"Slow to power up and load discs"

"Compared with other recent Blu-ray players, the Pioneer's start-up routine was on the sluggish side: About 25 seconds passed before its disc tray would open up and accept discs after I pressed the Power button."

"It took about the same amount of time for regular (non-BD-Live) Blu-ray Discs to load up and display an image onscreen, while more feature-packed titles took a minute or longer to get to the old, familiar FBI warning screen."

"The player also has two HDMI 1.3 connections - an arrangement that lets you do exotic things like send video directly to a TV or projector (along with 2-channel PCM audio) through the Main HDMI jack while rout-ing multichannel soundtracks separately to an A/V receiver or processor over the Sub HDMI connection."

"Bottom Line"

"Pioneer's Elite BDP-09FD truly is a statement piece: a player that offers stunning audio and video performance and is built to withstand a nuclear blast. Its dual HDMI outputs, high-end analog-audio section, and numerous adjustments for fine-tuning picture and sound make it the perfect match for no-holds barred home theater systems. The one stumbling block here - and it's big one if you need to watch your expenses - is price. You can find Blu-ray Disc players out there for a few hundred bucks that provide many of the same features as the BDP-09FD and come close to rivaling its performance in most areas. But if A/V quality is your primary thing and money is no object, then Pioneer has your player."

LINK TO COMPLETE ARTICLE
http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hd-...sc-player.html

[HDTV1080P]

The Sound and Vision magazine review on the Pioneer BDP-09FD was just released online.

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/hd-dvd-bluray/3195/pioneer-elite-bdp-09fd-blu-ray-disc-player.html

[Zeus]

Hi,

I've had it for a week now and i must say the player is fantastic. The PQ on both blu ray and SD DVD is superior to PS3 for sure, and is particularly notable on SD DVD. The build quality is superb and the amount of options to tweak the picture is unmatched.

One of the downsides, for me, is that i'm not really using the analogue audio section as i'm routing the player through hdmi to my Denon 4308, so missing out in terms of getting the most value for my $$. I did audition this with the Denon 3800 player and in my opinion, it outdid the Denon on PQ as well. Again the difference is more noticeable on SD DVD. I had a hard time swallowing the fact the Q deo in the pioneer is performing better than the Realta in the Denon, at upscaling DVD (and i'm a Denon loyalist, as this is my first pioneer). But swallow it i did. The fact that Denon was only profile 1.1 also helped!!

The other very interesting thing is that all the "negatives" on this player don't actually come into play once the movie starts!!. So yes it is slow to start, and yes the menus respond slowly, but once you have the picture on the wall/screen/TV, it just blows everything away. So if you can wait an extra 50 seconds to get your fix, the Pioneer is your player!!!!

Would be interested to know what other owners think. Also people who looked at both the Pio and the Denon, and picked the Denon - what's their take?

[gekke henkie]

Originally Posted by Zeus

Would be interested to know what other owners think.

In that case, here are 186 pages of opinions (and counting):
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1112343

[xcntuatd77]

i paid $300 for the bdp-05fd. the pioneer rep told me at that price the pioneer is a steal and the PQ is unbelievable.

I dont know if spending 6X for the -09FD is really logical...and how much PQ difference there really would be to the naked eye.