Pioneer BDP 320

tonyb

Finally took the plunge, with reserve though. I was looking for a BDP but had no need for all the extra crap. Picture and sound was my main concern as it should be. After extensive research, I settled for Santa to bring me a Pioneer BDP 320. Why that player? Well,first off, I have a Kuro plasma,and it seemed like a good match. The plasma is a 1080p set,but as we all know, 1080p has yet to show up on comcast cable. Many have reviewed this player with different opinions, AVS has some 70 pages dedicated to this player alone. Load times being of main concern. But the price was right, just a tad over 2 benjamins. With the next player on the list, the OPPO, being 3 times that price,seemed like a steal,plus I allready have a pioneer 59 avi to spin any sacd's in, which I hardly do anymore anyway. Load times though could be of concern though,but gave this player a shot anyway.

Since I didn't want to waste time to see what this player could do, I simply hooked up the digital cable to my B&k and the HDMI to the KURO and off I went. First I had to upgrade the frmware which I had on hand allready,this took a approx. 6 minutes,not bad. I then went to set up the player and started to go through the menu. Damn if I wasn't surprised that the kuro link had setup the player allready for optimal use, hell,I was ready to pop in a movie.
Santa's elf's had left a handfull of movies to get started with,first up to bat was Transformers 1&2. I was pleasantly surprised at the load times. Took about 20 seconds,not bad, I could live with that. I was expecting worse. The picture was amazing,and even the DD sountrack sounded better than normal. I also wanted to try different disks to see if I could get the player to hiccup as many have said some disc's don't play. I threw in Gran Torino,UP, Lost,Aliens vs Monsters, all in Blu-ray, all without a hitch. Then threw in some rented regular dvd's from Californication, not a hitch. Played a few more standard dvds from my 400 disc collection, no problem. Picture was top notch on anything I threw in it. No jaggies,perfect. Maybe that is contributed to the Kuro,I don't know. This player uses the Burr Brown dacs while other models use the Wolfsen. From what I could gather from the many reviews,most could not tell the difference. I have yet to spin regular redbook cd's in it yet, this week for sure.

This week I will play around with the analog outputs for the new audio codecs and see whats up,should be no problem with the B&k. The bad now is, when switching between scenes, or making choices in the dvd's menu,a faint click can be heard. Kinda like that click sound other B&K owners experience in their AVR'S,only softer, but audible none the less. The remote kinda sucks too,buttons too small and no back light. Not a problem since I can use the TV's remote to control the player. The player does have an ethernet port and 1 gig of internal memory for that BD live stuff that I will never use.
Bottomline is,I got exactly what I wanted. Picture and sound is amazing,and for 2 bills, a steal. This player may not be for everyone, if you like all the extra bells and whistles, plenty of other players out there, no shortage for sure. With the ever changing technologies that seem to outdate gear before it even hits the stores,spending big bucks on a player was not in the cards for me. Picture and sound on par with the standard OPPO at one third the price,now thats the ticket, for me anyway. If you have a Pioneer plasma, and you don't want to shell out the coin for the OPPO, THE BDP 320 is a cost effective alternative.

leroyjr1

+1

Nice review. I currently am running a Pioneer Kuro with a Pioneer bdp-51 and I have a elite 05 and as stated it shows great. I was also looking at the Oppo BDP-83 but like how all my Pioneer products work together.

Conradicles

Nice...my Kuro plasma needs one of these soon.

tonyb

Had some time to play around,hooked up the analog outputs to take advantage of the new codecs plus spin a few cd's in this thing. One of the things I like about my B&K, is since I don't have a sub or a center, it redirects those channels instead of loosing that information. The dts master audio is way more dynamic than just dolby digital, I'm diggin' it. Transformers was just popping with sound and you heard every movement in detail. I also spun a few regular dvd's again to see if the analog outputs would do them justice. No surprise that they too seemed more dynamic letting the pioneer do all the decoding. One of the players strong points is also it's sound when spinning those ancient articles we call cd's. Again,the dynamics were supurb. Compared to my pioneer elite 59avi, it had more sparkle, while the 59 seemed more darker. Yes,I used the same IC'S for comparison sake. When I pulled a blu-ray from the player,and threw in a cd, I assumed I would have to make changes in the audio settings for 2 channel. Nope,the player automatically recognized the format and adjusted accordingly,nice touch. You can also store up to 25 tracks in the players onboard play list, another nice touch but I wish it was more. All the reviews I had come across, stated picture and sound would be stellar, and the player did not let me down. It may not have the bells and whistles of other players, but the 2 most important area's we buy a bdp for,it excells. Another nice touch is you can make picture and sound adjustments on the fly without having to stop playback and go into the players main menu.

As a side note, when I was constantly changing out IC's, I pushed in alittle too hard on the audio outputs section of my B&K. I should have known better to take more care, as I pushed in the whole circuit and created a loud hum. Big time bummer since the audio outputs are used to go to my amp. Eventually I'll have to send it in to get fixed. I had to move the speaker cables down to the B&K and let the internal amp section of the receiver handle the duties for now. These receivers have wonderfull amp sections and they proved up to the task on 4 ohm Legacy Focus. What was missing was the air around the notes that the Butler provided...I miss that bit of tube magic. You don't realize it until it's gone though. So I may send in the B&K or wait and just upgrade the receiver for one with hdmi inputs. I love this friggin' receiver though,it would be hard to let it go.

mantis

Congrads on the player Tony , I install them all the time.

DO yourself a favor and get a center and sub. Your experience will go up another notch or 4. The Sheer impact of the sub with the new audio formats will stand the hair up on the back of your neck. It's so damn good. What B&K receiver do you have? It really doesn't matter as all there amps are dynamic as hell. When I had the AVR307 , it used to make me laugh the reserve power it had. I loved that receiver and would love to own B&K again (maybe when the fix up there current offerings in preamps).

The ELite Blu ray player is fantastic if all you want is a player. It's audio and video quality is top notch and so is it's up converting abilities as a DVD player. It's what Pioneer cares about anyway. They could care less about extras.

Enjoy Blu ray man , it's so damn good. I have a very hard time watching DVD's which I had since HD DVD and Blu ray came out.

digitalvideo

How does it compare to the Oppo for picture quality on bluray and dvd?

tonyb

digitalvideo wrote: »

How does it compare to the Oppo for picture quality on bluray and dvd?

Just as good, judging from user reviews of those who have had both players. I personally haven't used the oppo and can only go by others opinions. You have to read between the lines sometimes on reviews,pay attention to how they have it hooked up,and to what. Also sometimes they don't devulge that info untill pressed. I have a kuro TV and it seems these players were made to mate well with Kuro's as the most possitive reviews came from those with kuro sets.Not saying they don't perform well will others but you get my drift. AVS forum has plenty of info from users with both players. The main dig on the pioneer has been load times. From my experience though,after the latest firmware upgrade, it's a none issue for me. I pop in a blu-ray,by the time I walk back to the couch,grab the remote,sip my coffee,it's playing. I have also noticed that those who don't like this player,don't have it set up properly. Thats understandable as the many variations can get confusing when setting them up.

digitalvideo

Does the Pioneer have the feature in it's options menu to select between 1080p/24ps and 1080p/60 when you want to watch dvd or blurays you can set it to like the Oppo does?

Conradicles

Bump...how is this player been treating you guys?

Conradicles

tonyb wrote: »

When I pulled a blu-ray from the player,and threw in a cd, I assumed I would have to make changes in the audio settings for 2 channel. Nope,the player automatically recognized the format and adjusted accordingly,nice touch.

One question...in 2-channel CD mode, does it play full range to the "fronts" or use the crossover setting?

tonyb

No problems,no hiccups,been a solid player so far. As far as the full range question,depends on how you set it up. These players are now under 2 bones, a good bet.

Conradicles

Thanks Tony. Might snag one of these to go with my Pioneer TV and receiver.

tonyb

Call pioneer in advance,or on the web,for an update disk. They'll shoot you out one free.

anhchungdoan

leroyjr1 wrote: »

+1

Nice review. I currently am running a Pioneer Kuro with a Pioneer bdp-51 and I have a elite 05 and as stated it shows great. I was also looking at the Oppo BDP-83 but like how all my Pioneer products work together.

Pio Elite BDP and Pio eilite AVR combo will provide you the benefit of the PQLS feature when using HDMI. Awesome feature with no subtle improvement in 2 channel CD playing back SQ.