Pioneer BDP-320 1080p Blu-ray Disc Player
From the Manufacturer (March 25, 2009)Pioneer’s BDP-320 Pioneer BD-Live Blu-ray Disc Player, featuring 48-bit deep color and 7.1-ch analog outputs, is built for entertainment junkies who seek cinematic-quality performance along with a premium and unique user experience. Pioneer’s players combine supreme features, sophisticated internal construction with a rigid chassis design ensuring the highest quality playback of Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD entertainment. The BDP-320 is also outfitted with built-in memory to deliver on the promise of BD-Live right out of the box. The BDP-320 provides up to 1920x1080p resolution for unrivaled picture quality. And with True 24fps, you can now see your movies as the director intended. Immediate BD-Live Enjoyment BD-Live is the interactive component of the Blu-ray Disc format that gives home audiences the innovative opportunity to download and enjoy bonus trailers and movie features, participate in online gaming as well as synchronize viewi (more…)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best Blu-ray Player Within Its Price Range
I tried out many blu-ray players and this Pioneer blu-ray player is the best one. It offers the best picture quality within it price range and it has an option to make the image…
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pioneer BDP-320 Review–Nice and Slow……
After months of waiting, finally purchased this unit. Picture and Audio quality are steller, that being said, the player itself has some issues.
I have a BDP-320 hooked up to a Kuro PDP-5020FD. Set-up was very quick with most settings being automatic between the two Pioneer devices. The only manual setting change I had to make to the BDP-320 was to set the output to Source Direct.
The 320′s deinterlacing was inferior to the Kuro. I used Hot Fuzz as a test DVD and the 320 produced noticeable jagged edges on the white Metropolitan Police logo on the character’s black vest. Changing to Source Direct cleared up any artifacts and made for the best DVD picture on my Kuro yet. On some other DVD material (LOTR) I found the best image to be when the BDP-320 is upconverting and the PDP-5020FD is deinterlacing. Either way the BDP-320 gives you all the flexability you need to get the best possible picture from your setup.
The sound quality of BD using the optical digital out is noticeably improved over DVD. There is greater definition in the low frequency and it seems that sound placement is more well defined. These are subjective observations, but I was surprised to notice a difference. This makes me more likely to upgrade my receiver to a newer model that can handle the losseless audio formats over HDMI.
Although the BDP-320 is my first BDP, from what I can tell it is not a big improvement to Pioneers previous model the BDP-51FD. Owners of both claim the load times, picture quality, sound quality and DVD layer change response are nearly identical. The improvements of the BDP-320 are a reduced chassis height, increase ROM size (good for the firmware engineers at Pioneer so good for you to), out-of-the-box support for DTS HD MA, great BD compatibility, and built-in BD-Live with included 1GB memory and LAN. I hope that the BDP-320′s larger ROM will allow future firmware updates to push its perfomance past the BDP-51FD.
Times using The Dark Night with BD-Live
Power off to tray opened – 27s
Press tray close to WB logo – 42s
Press tray close to start of movie – 1m.53s
I’m very happy with my purchase but was surprised that the load times were not improved over the Pioneer BDP-51. (Okay, I was very happy with the BDP-320 but the DVD layer change delay was not acceptable. The BDP-320 was retuned, and an Oppo BDP-83 is its replacement.)
It appears that Pioneer’s firmware server is offline as of 05/03/2009. I get a failed to connect error when checking for a FW update using the network connected 320. BD-Live works so the player does have access to the internet.
The player’s build quality is solid and heavy. The picture quality is the best I have seen on my PDP-5020. Anyone who claims BD is not much improved over DVD is not doing it right. Although DVD looks nice, BD is dramatically improved in both color depth, black level as well as simply having a higher pixel count.
The BDP-320 being of the same PQ/SQ of the BPD-51FD makes it one of the best players on the market. I suggest reading reviews of the BDP-51FD and keeping in mind the improvements of the BDP-320.
5.0 out of 5 stars
quieter and one of the best pictures out there.
This model is the best blu ray player in it’s price range. I went to a large number of stores and tried out alot of players at this price range of 300-400.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best player in $325 space – excellent upscaling, PQ, & AQ, but not fast
I have been using this device for nearly 75 days and have been incredibly happy with it. I owned a 51 and expected similar performance, which I got.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Player
This is an excellent Player, I have a PS3 and I did have the sony BDP-350 but the sound quality was terrible.
PROS: Excellent AQ/PQ for BD. Very good upscaling for DVD. Ability to decode dts-hd MA. Bd-Live enabled. Source-Direct video output option. Sleek design. Sturdy disc-loading tray.
CONS: SLOW operation. DVD layer change delay. KURO Link doesn’t work if connected to a KURO TV via non-pioneer receiver. No blue light on Standby/On button as pictured in stock photo.
This was my upgrade from the PS3 and as far as PQ/AQ is concerned, I am very satisfied. I’ve always put image quality over speed, but I’ve been spoiled by the speedy operation of the PS3. The 320 is slow all around, including: start-up, eject, disc-loading, fast forward/rewind command and BD menu navigation (in certain discs like ‘Saawariya’). The worst part for me is having to wait for the disc tray to open during start up. It only takes 30 seconds, but when you are standing in front of the player to put a disc in, and not on your couch, it feels a lot longer.
The DVD Layer-change delay is very annoying. A 2009 BD player should not have this issue, period! Especially Pioneer since its previous generation of players (BDP-51) had been plagued with this issue and they had a long time to correct it for the newer units. Many older DVD players costing 1/10 its price don’t even have this problem. Its very dissapointing.
HD picture quality is absolutely stunning. Its slightly better than the mighty PS3. In source-direct (my default setting), the picture is slightly more neutral and less-noisy, as if there is less video processing. You’d have to look hard to find the difference though. SD upscaling is also very good. It comparable to the Reon HQV thats in my AVR. Audio quality is about the same as the PS3 when decoded internally and transmitted via HDMI. However, I find my Onkyo 885 doing a better job at decoding. When bitstreamed, Dolby digital track sounds much more dynamic and robust and the bass is more actively present. I’ve compared it with the DRC turned off on the player. I haven’t tried the analog outputs.
Overall this player is O.K. I would recommend the bdp-51 (its cheaper and has better build) if your AVR can docode the high-res audio and you don’t care too much about BD-live. If I had a choice, I would get the Oppo bdp-83 over the 320/51 for about $200 more. Its faster, has an excellent Anchor Bay VRS scaler, ability to play SACD/DVD-Audio, and customer service and product support you can count on to fix bugs (if any). Since the 320 is fairly new and has the potential to accommodate major firmware updates with its larger ROM, it may be possible to improve its performace in the future, but as of now, the player gets 3/5 rating in my book. Pictures posted on customer image section.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great player from Pioneer
Hesitated to upgrade to this from my PS3 but glad I did. Excellent picture and sound, great player overall.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Pause at DVD layer switch unacceptable
Maybe I’m a little harsh in this rating because the player does very well in playing BD and DVD both visually and aurally.
I’ve had this player for about a week now, and the picture and sound are state of the art (especially on my 60″ Kuro). For me, that’s the most important element in a blue ray purchasing decision. Downsides: slow loading (true of all players except the PS3 and the upcoming Oppo; the Oppo being nearly twice the price), and complicated set-up (and I’m fairly tech savvy). It’s well worth the wait and the set up time with the gorgeous images and state of the art sound, at least in my opinion. Others have mentioned that the player runs hot; I’ve not encountered this, even with running a burn-in disc for 150 hours. If you have an older receiver (I have an Arcam), the analog audio outs are very useful. I see no compelling reason to upgrade when I can get sound of this quality from the Arcam and Gallo speakers. Pioneer has a solid reputation for reliability, and good support with softward updates. I paid $750 25 years ago for a state of the art VCR; this blows it completely out of the water for about half the cost. Emerging technology is a wonderful thing!