August 26, 2008

First Look: Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD High-End Blu-Ray Player

As Blu-ray players continue to drop in price, Pioneer is trying to buck the trend with the high-end Pioneer Elite BDF-09FD. Recently IGN go to get a up close look at the BDF-09FD and they seemed pretty impressed:

Pioneer had a string of tables with various pieces of hardware on display, the most notable of which was the Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD. The BDP-09FD is Pioneer's latest Blu-Ray player offering and the first to feature BD-Live connectivity. But this beautiful piece of hardware isn't your average, garden-variety Blu-Ray player. The BDP-09FD is host to some of the most complex on-board audio processing we've seen on a standalone BRD player. Fortunately, Pioneer's Chris Walker was on hand to elaborate on the player's enhanced audio processing capabilities. Walker informed us that the BDP-09FD was capable of decoding 7.1 DTS and Dolby signals using a dedicated digital-to-analog signal converter for each corresponding channel. From there, the signal is directed to either the BDP-09FD's 8 gold-plated RCA or HDMI outputs.
The idea, Walker explained, was to create the purest audio possible by decoding the signals at the source. In order to further ensure the purity of the signal, Pioneer went all out in terms of the BDP-09FD's physical design. To combat degradation and unnecessary noise, the BDP-09FD had no visible wiring, each of the player's connections was mounted directly to its base--a solid metal beast with a total weight of 50 pounds.

Of course at $2200, the BDP-09FD is going to appeal to a small niche while making the rest of us drool.
At IGN.com