Pioneer BDP-320/BDP-23FD Owner's Thread - Page 89

Well I had an issue with my Rotel RSP-1069 after a software update with bass on MPCM signals via HDMI. I won't bore you with the details.

Anyway, so I decided to go old school and hook up the multichannel analogs. Holy smokes! I have never heard a player sound so good using the multi analogs and I have had lots (not cheapy ones either). The setup menu alone is something to be impressed by. Distance settings in 1 inch increments

The sound is amazing! I did not even have to boost the bass in the setup menu which is a first for me with analogs. They really did an amazing job on the analog section of this player. Go Pioneer I may have to open it up and take some pictures. I wanna find these "Audiophile Capacitors".

Oh one thing I do wish you could use analogs and SPDIF without going into the setup menu but oh well.

I apologize if this has been brought up before.

When viewing SD DVDs, the upconverting capability of the 23fd seems to be slightly below that of the Toshiba XA2. The latter simply delivers a picture that I find phenomenal (on an Aquos 52SE94U)--almost as good as if it is BR (unless one is doing side-by-side comparisons). Compared to the XA2, the 23fd's picture is a smidgen softer (the difference is small but noticeable).

The 23fd is superb when viewing BDs, but anyone who has a large collection of SD DVDs but wanted to maximize the picture quality on a 1080p LCD, the XA2's performance is still unmatched.

Maybe you should try and adjust the settings. What display are you using?

Comparisons are done on a Sharp LC-52SE94U. Unfortunately, I don't think setting adjustments can compensate for the difference.

I'm almost convinced on this one. If I get it, will be the 320, connected most likely to Harman Kardon AVR2600 or 3600 via HDMI. The only question I have is: How is the upscaling from regular DVD on this? I have a huge collection and am just starting to buy blu-ray so it's very important to me that my new player be able to accomodate the DVDs well along with the blu-ray. Any reason I should be looking at the LG BD390 or any Sonys instead?

Thanks,
Semi

Well then no reason to post here. Enjoy your LCD TV and XA2 ultimate picture bliss.

I thought this is a 23fd owner's thread, no? I did not realize one is not welcome to post any critical comments here.

Sorry. I will go away then.

Don't get me wrong. The 23fd (and presumably also the 320) will upconvert SD DVDs to 1080p plenty good. It's just that the XA2 does a slightly better job (IMHO) with its Silicon Optix Reon HQV chipset.

This may be true, but the XA2 isn't a Blu-ray player. I'm specifically looking for a blu-ray in conjunction with the upconvert capabilities for my SD DVDs. I'm really just interested in knowing the benefits of these two Pioneer models with the HK 2600 or 3600, if it's necessary to spend the extra money on the Elite, or if the LG 390 is worth my time. Thanks, though

Upscaling is equal between Elite and non Elite models which is excellent. There are also a plethora of picture tweak controls that are above and beyond what you will find in other players.

I assume you will be just hooking your player up HDMI and bitsreaming the audio to be decoded in your AVR so there is no real Audio difference either between the players. Also the 320 has a blue display to match the HK blue lights. The 23Fd has an orange display.

I am not totally familiar with the LG 390 so you may want to seek out their owner's thread for more info. There may be a member who has compared them around here. winston has done many BD player comparison so he may have an opinion.

Well I didn't mean it that way. It is not an XA2 vs 23FD thread so that was my quick way of saying "let's just agree to disagree" (I used to own an XA2 for years up until a few months ago).

I have the xA-2 and the ELite 23fd BD, and the Elite 58av and in my humble opinion I get better PQ from the Elites on upscalling DVD and MY Onkyo tx-nr5007 receiver which also has the reon than the Older tosh. I had the older 05fd and the dennon 3800 and have been most happy with the Elite 23fd.

Since we a discussing the two chips I also believe that it has to do with what display you are using. LCD owners usually like their picture to be razor sharp to the point of looking unnatural and over processed. Pioneer makes their player using plasmas and they look excellent on them. I had the Pio 51 and XA2 hooked to the same plasma and I did not think the XA2 was any better.

winston makes an excellent point, the level of calibration in this player in rare as I mentioned before. This gives the ability to calibrate the picture to perfection.

I had the XA2 in the early days of BDP-05/51. I think the BDP05/51 upscales slightly better than the XA2.

If you really want to compare apple to apple class-wise, then you should compare the XA2 (top of the line HD DVD player) to BDP-09 (top of the line BD player).

Well it does not say it on the Pioneer website but the BDP-09 is listed on the Marvell site as having the Qdeo processing chip.

The LG BH 200 had the Qdeo and I owned one for a brief time. It blew my XA2 out of the water. In fact, it was the best DVD scaling I have ever seen (still). I really did not want to give that player up but it had some audio skipping bug so I had to return it.

Just to add Reon is not even the top HQV chip; the Realta is. So a player with that (like the Denon 3800BDCI) is what I would be putting up against the BDP-09

That is true but I also read something about the Realta can go beyond 1920X1080 but otherwise it does not do better for the current BR resolution.

If you go by test results you would go for the Oppo. The 390, while the fastest and loaded with features, is not as good in upscaling as the Oppo or even the 320, according to reviews.

I am of the opinion that in real world DVD watching, most people would not likely appreciate the superior upscaling by players such as the Oppo 83, Tosh XA2, Pioneer Elite models etc. I know Winston would say on a larger screen the differences are noticeable.

I can switch between my PS3, 320, 2550 and my Tosh XD-E500 all day long; and I am still happy with all of them, seeing practical no difference except the XDE is sharper in its sharp mode (probably due to its more aggressive edge enhancement). In fact I cannot understand why people won't just play their DVD on a $70 XD-E500 or their old HD DVD players and save their BD players for BR discs only. After doing enough comparisons to satisfy my curiosity I am back to using the XDE for DVD upscaling 95% of the time. The other 5% of the time I would load up all of my players (DVD, HDDVD, BD) when watching someting like AVP that requires a 'changer' due to the number of discs.

Google for pioneerfaq, go to their website, use the index on the left: "DVD" -> "DV-400V" (some others will work just as well) -> "Multiregion". Lots of info there.



I did that last week. Worked perfectly on my 320. Note: I was expecting an e-mail from them, but it never came - they actually posted their feedback on the support site. They were very quick (less than 24h).

There's also a thread in AVForums that lets you log in and out to a "shared" Harmony account with the necessary commands, but it's often closed due to stupid users messing up with the account instead of doing as told by the thread owner.

As an alternative, Omniremote seems to be a bit buggy (e.g., every time I import/export the same code, it gets a little shorter - weird!). But it also worked fine for me. By the way, before asking for Logitech's support, I tried to learn and raw-learn the command from the Palm into the Harmony, but it didn't work.

One extra note: the BDP-320 (and probably the BDP-23) sold in USA will not recognize the multi-region command from the remote. It has to be changed into a different "model" (which will require some other remote codes).


So, this is the whole thing with the Harmony (Tommy, I've sent you this in a PM a couple of days ago, did you get it?):

DISCLAIMER: do it at your own risk. I'm not responsible/liable for any damage to your player.

1) Add a Pioneer DVD Recorder, model GGF1381, to your Harmony setup.

2) Send an e-mail to Logitech customer support, ask them to add a new command to either your Blu-Ray or to that Recorder above - give it whatever name you want (I suggest you avoid 'Multi-Region' or such, because it might get suspicious - I'm not sure they're allowed to add such stuff to the database), and copy that code posted by dragnet. Actually, to be exact, I asked them to add a slightly different code, that I believe will be easier for the player to pick up (I converted the old code into a 40kHz-carrier "format"):

0000 0068 0044 0000 0168 00B4 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 06D9 0168 00B4 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0016 0016 0043 0016 0043 0016 06D9

They should do it in a matter of hours, I think. One day at most.

3) Add a new activity to your Harmony. Set it up to watch blu-rays. Add the blu-ray and the TV, plus the recorder from step 1.

4) Customize the buttons for that activity. Add 'Esc', 'AMon', 'Test', and 'Display' from the recorder, and the new command from step 2.

5) Update your remote.

6) Start the new activity, let everything power up and get ready. If there's a disc on the tray, take it out.

7) Send 'Esc'and 'Display' (just once) to the player. Wait a few seconds. When the info comes up, take a note of the two first lines (BDP-> /> and Model > ).

8) Send 'Esc' again to exit that screen.

9) Now send 'Esc', 'AMon', 'Test'. You'll see a list of models.

10) Look for the BDP-320/TRXJ or BDP-23/TRXJ, it has a 4-digit model number (like the one you wrote down in step 7). Send those digits to the player. After a couple of seconds you'll read "MODEL OK" on the display.

Note: This seems to be a "Pioneer-latin" model, not the European one (you may notice the frequency will stay at 60Hz in the front display, instead of changing to 50Hz). Some sites on the web recommend that you change to the European model, it should work anyway, but I guess it will make your player a region-B (haven't tested), so they say you'll have to change back to the US model at the end of the process.

11) If the image disappears from the TV (mine did - HDMI got confused, I guess), shut down the player, wait a few seconds (I like 10...), power it up again.

12) Go through the initial setup menu.

13) Send the multi-region command (from step 2). The player should shut itself down.

14) Again, wait a few seconds and power it up. It's done.

I left mine at that model setting, will try it for a few days. If nothing weird happens, I don't see any reason to set it back to UXJCA (the original one). It's now playing region-A BDs and region-1 and region-4 DVDs (those are the only ones I have at hand).

I hope it works for everyone. Have fun...

Recently upgraded to BDP-23. System is 5.1 with VSX-94txh. Tried out two BD discs--new Star Trek and UP. Have 23 set for high speed HDMI. (Elite Plasma model, 720P about 2 years old). HDMI cable from player to receiver, from receiver to monitor. I get no sound for either Dolby TruHD or DTS Master. If I change sound to other options on Blue Ray (ie. say French 5.1 I get sound fine). Also get the basic sound at the beginning of the Blue-Ray with previews, etc. However, once the movie starts no sound at all. Have tried so many options with no results. Any ideas?

Bit new to this and did do a search of the forum. Perhaps this has already been addressed but I couldn't find it.

Do have "high speed" HDMI cables. If I turn off high speed HDMI option on the 23 then I do get sound, but, of course, not HDMI 1.3 support, no high end sound codec, etc.

Thanks for any help.

I might be mistaken, but I think the VSX-94txh can't decode Dolby TruHD or DTS Master.

Afraid of that at first but reading manual accounts for those sound options (eg., see page 47 of manual: audio format for BD's states both Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio covered).

HDMI out terminal set to "Auto"

Hope I am not reading that wrong!

I have the 94 and it does decode both formats

So I was indeed mistaken, sorry. Maybe Jarrod can help you out.

I have my BDP-23 paired to a VSX-92txh and have had no audio issues or with decoding all codecs. My HDMI settings for video and audio are set to auto. High speed setting set to "on". I'm using an older HDMI Monster cable right now. It's interesting that your audio comes through when you change your high speed HDMI setting. Perhaps you want to try a different cable to see if that might be your problem.

I had changed cables once--but can't recall if it was from the BD player to receiver or receiver to monitor! Getting old. I"ll try some switching as I have a number of HDMI cables.

Reading the 94 forum and g0t some additional ideas there.

Perplexing as I think I have tried all menu options. However, the 23 appears to not support direct 720p output as an option. One post on the 94 forum indicated having a similar problem that was actually from the video setting, not audio. He had a different BD player and was able to switch to 720p output and the problem was solved. Apparently had something to do with handshaking between monitor and receiver and was resetting to pass through signal. I'll try some options this evening, fingers crossed.

Do you have your KURO link set to: On? I may as all the equipment is Pioneer. Apparently that may cause a problem as well.

Tommy,
Seems everywhere I go you are there.Thats a good thing.

I don't want to debate players here per se for upscaling but I have the rather recently purchased 320 ahead of my LG390 at this point with what I compared. Also ahead of the PS3 and Panny BD30 I also own.

And that Tosh XD-E player brought up here? Well I tried that back when. Basically rather still images were great, it was in motion that I didn't like what I saw and returned that player rather quickly.

Yes, I have a first gen Kuro plasma and I have my Kuro link turned on.