Pioneer DV-420V overview

Firstly, the DVD player itself. It’s from Pioneer, which means it’s going to be good. The sound quality is apparently the best feature,with 24 bit DACs doing their best to make your tunes and your DVDs sound even better than the real thing (not sure why I’m quoting U2 there – it is late, though!)

The picture quality should also be top rate, as the DV-420V replaces the DV-410V, which was already a bloody good DVD player.

My personal favourite, though, is the CD ripping feature, whereby the DV-420V will rip tunes from a CD, turn them into MP3 files and then dump them on the USB-equipped device of your choice. Certainly not what you’d expect from a DVD player, but a welcome addition nonetheless.

Confusing Engdaget

In its write-up of the DV-420V, Engadget completely missed its ability to rip tracks from CDs, and concluded that:

“…the front-panel USB port enables playback of DivX files and JPEG shots if you find that of interest. We’re thinking not, so you can feel free to save your $90 when it ships this summer.”

This implies a cursory scan over the DV-420V at best, which isn’t what you’d expect from Engadget. Thank gods for the concept of blogging, though, as several fans of Pioneer not only corrected Engadget, they added how great they thought the previous versions of this DVD were.

The moral of the story – sure you may only have ten minutes to write a post, but if you’re not sure about a DVD player that’s standing there in front of you, at least ask the kind gentleman or lady who’s there to answer your questions! Really, Engadget, you should know better by now

[Source: EngadgetHD]

Better still, it also comes with DLNA-support and Ethernet, enabling you to share your videos with any DLNA-equipped device that’s also connected to your Ethernet network. Add 24fps playback speeds and HDMI 1.3 with enhanced colour, and you have one seriously feature-rich DVD player. Looks cool, too!

The Pioneer BDP-95FD release date is October 2007, priced around $1000.

[Source: Electronista]

It also retails for just $1,000, or $1,000 less than the BDP-LX70. I guess you can look on the BDP-LX70′s support for 24p as an outrageously expensive luxury, or see it as a good sign that in a few months’ time, when 24p is supported by a much wider range of players, the price of a 1080p/24p player will come down to match that of the BDP-94HD.

Full details of the Pioneer BDP-94HD Blu-Ray player after the jump.

From the press release:

Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. offers the pinnacle of home theater to entertainment junkies with the introduction of its next generation Blu-ray Disc® player, the Elite® BDP-94HD. The well-rounded player offers playback of the newest high resolution audio formats, home networking capabilities and is easily integrated into even the most complicated home theaters. However, it shines most in its ability to deliver stunning image quality of Blu-ray Disc titles.

“The decision to purchase a Blu-ray Disc player is generally made because a consumer recognizes the benefits of the HD quality. This new player is a prime example of our dedication to exceptional quality, creating sights and sounds that leave an emotional impression for movie enthusiasts,” said Chris Walker, senior manager of marketing and product planning at Pioneer Electronics (USA) Inc. “A significant aspect to a quality home theater is convenience and this unit is designed to deliver high performance with minimal user effort for a premier entertainment experience.”

The BDP-94HD arrives at specialty retailers this month, and will be bundled with two Blu-ray Disc film titles giving consumers the opportunity to enjoy these feature films in premium Dolby® TrueHD lossless advanced audio. The BDP-94HD has a suggested price of $1000.

Home Theater Integration

Pioneer designed the BDP-94HD for seamless home theater integration via HDMI® Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) technology. The new feature allows users to synchronize the Blu-ray Disc player with multiple CEC-enabled home theater products to manage an entire system with a single remote control. The newly designed graphical user interface enables simple navigation with easy to read icons.

Home Media Gallery

The BDP-94HD offers an enhanced version of Pioneer’s exclusive Home Media Gallery home networking feature. With faster navigation, consumers can stream video and music content as well as view photo slideshows directly from their computer in high definition. With IP networking and a new user interface, Pioneer makes it extremely easy for users to access and load protected content and even download new digital media files straight from their computer for immediate viewing through the player on a large flat screen television. It is compliant with Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA), Windows PC’s using Windows Media Connect, and Microsoft’s playsforsure™ DRM technology.

Movie Theater Playback Performance

Pioneer ensures smooth universal product compatibility with state-of-the-art HDMI connectivity to rapidly transfer pure digital video and audio data between source and display resulting in uncompromised imagery of Blu-ray Disc and standard definition DVD. It offers superb audio performance with internal decoding of premium Dolby TrueHD lossless audio technology for high-definition content and Dolby® Digital Plus, a highly flexible audio technology that delivers outstanding high-definition sound and up to 7.1 channels of surround sound for a richer, more involving entertainment experience.

More details of the Pioneer BDP-LX70 Blu-Ray player after the jump.

The BDP-LX70 doesn’t just content itself with playing Blu-Ray discs, though. It offers full 1080p support and features what’s known as 24p, which means it supports playback at a full 24 frames per second, which is the same rate at which the film being played was originally shot.

Pioneer BDP-LX70 and 24p

You may think that offering this as a feature is a little unnecessary, as surely all players playback their films at the same rate they were shot? But no – it’s a little-known fact that for HD players (of both types), the actual frame rate sent to the TV has to be speeded up in order for the TV to process the signal correctly.

The UK’s PAL format, for example, specifies a rate of 50 frames per second, so PAL-based TVs expect this rate from anything plugged into them. The only way to send a film shot at 24 frames per second to a TV expecting 50 without doubling the speed of the image is to send two identical frames instead of one, thereby increasing the frame rate to 48 frames per second without making everyone look like the Keystone Kops.

The more observant amongst you may have noticed that 48 frames per second still isn’t 50, and so what you’re left with is a 4% speed-up of the resultant image. This isn’t enough for the eye to notice (unless you’re an officianado), but it can make the audio sound a little odd, which also has to be speeded up by 4%.

None of this is a problem with the BDP-LX70, though, as through complicated trickery, it supports the complete 24 frames per second of the original source, without the TV or the viewer noticing anything.

Dolby True HD Sound

In addition to a fantastic picture that’s completely unmolested, the BDP-LX70 also supports Dolby True HD, which compresses sound without any loss whatsoever. The result is a film that’s not only shown as the director intended, but which also sounds as he intended it, too.

Pioneer BDP-LX70 Summary

With full 1080p/24p support, Dolby True HD sound and home network streaming via DLNA, not to mention killer good looks, the Pioneer BDP-LX70 should become one of the best Blu-Ray players on the market. The only down-side is its price – at £1,000, it’s for serious film-buffs only.

[Source: Crave]

This means you can put your speakers in any room in the house, with no messing about with complicated WiFi setups, security settings or intermittent service getting in the way of your audio delights.

More details and pictures of the Pioneer Music.tap after the jump.

The Pioneer Music.tap includes the speakers (naturally), a Sound Station (the main audio unit), and an iPod dock for, well, docking with your iPod. In addition, the Sound Station also has a USB port, which interfaces with USB-based MP3 players, and an analogue line-in, which interfaces with any other audio equipment you might have.

Even more impressively, the speakers have built-in motion sensors, so they only turn on when someone’s in the room in which they’re located. Very green!

If you want your music piped throughout your house, but don’t want the complexity of a Wi-Fi based solution such as Philips’ Streamium, then the Pioneer Music.tap’s power-line system might just be worth checking out.

The Pioneer Music.tap release date is March 2007, and will cost $600. You can also buy extra speakers for $170-$230 a pop (depending on size), and an extra iPod dock for $120 (though not sure why you’d want more than one iPod dock).

[Source: GearFuse]