Official Pioneer Dec 20 Ship Date from Chris Walker of Pioneer

[marine92104]

I guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks then. I've talked to 3 different people (one of them a supervisor in their Blu-Ray Department) & everyone of them confirmed to me that it will not be HDMI 1.3

They said they can convey to Japan what people here are wanting but it's up to the engineers in Japan to make the final decision what is on it. This unit was supposed to be released at the latest 2nd quarter of this year. He told me going to HDMI 1.3 they would have had to start all over on the design of the unit & they were unwilling to do that.

I did ask him about the advanced codecs & he said it would not do it out of the box & they had no information that they would be releasing an upgrade on the 1st generation unit. He did say the ethernet port in the back would not be for any upgrades & that was a certainty.

I've been to Pioneer in Long Beach several times since I live near there & I know many of the people that work there. I don't think they would steer me wrong on this unless they're keeping it as a surprise.

I've been calling every 2 weeks for the last 3 months to find out when it was coming out & the specs on the machine so I could make a decision on which Blu-Ray player to buy.

If you don't believe me ask Chris Walker.

I'm a Pioneer Elite man & have been for years. Trust me I wanted to buy this unit but I'm not going to spend that money on a unit that can't do the advanced codecs & has no promise that it will.

If they did go back to the drawing board & redesign the unit & they're keeping it a surprise to people about the HDMI 1.3 & the advanced codecs I would definitely buy it. And yes I know they are going to be releasing a new flagship receiver supposedly announced at CES 2007. I guess I'll have to replace mine then if it has HDMI 1.3 & the ability to decode the new advanced codecs.