Pioneer BDP-320/BDP-23FD Owner's Thread - Page 151

I just ordered my new gear; SC-37, DT Mythos 2's, 3, Gems & SuperCube II to go with my 60" Kuro. I currently have a DMP-BD65 Blu-ray player & I was thinking of upgrading it with either the BDP-23FD or BDP-83. My question to those of you have a similar setup who have or had one or both is if it is worth upgrading? This is the 3rd Panasonic player I've had & have been very happy with the performance & product support for them thus far. But it just seems to not fit in with my new gear.

The use of the player will by strictly for BD use. I don't listen to CD's, SACD's, DVD-A's or even watch many if any DVD's. Streaming Netflix would be nice but I am not really impressed with it at this time & if I really wanted to I can always do that through my Wii. My main objective is to pick the player that will give my the most reliable performance, the best picture & audio quality through HDMI.

I think it would be nice to have matching components & take advantage of the PQLS & Kuro Link in the Pioneer, but is it worth the slower load times? The Oppo obviously has the largest fan base & the best reviews of the two. I am just not sure if the Oppo will be worth going to with my setup over the Pioneer considering I don't need a universal player?

The $200 price difference doesn't matter much to me & would think that the Oppo would have a higher resale value latter down the road when I upgrade.
I am completely on the fence right now & could use some help?

Why are you considering an upgrade; other than you think it doesn’t fit with your new gear? You seem to be happy with the player and service.


If you rally want to upgrade I would go for the BDP-23FD (or BDP-320) versus the Oppo BDP-83 since you don’t require SACD or DVD-A support. I think the two players are comparable for blu-ray and DVD playback, but my preference is for the Oppo in my setup and I do own quite a few SACDs and DVD-As. You won’t be disappointed in either Pioneer model.


If you don’t require a Universal player then I would scratch Oppo off my list. I own the BDP-23FD in addition to an Elite plasma, but I do not own a Pioneer AVR so I can’t tell the you benefits of PQLS (some hear a difference and some don’t) and I don’t use Kuro Link since I have a Harmony One remote.


The Oppo will definitely have a higher resale value especially since these Pioneers are being sold at liquidation prices. Also, it has been 18 months since I purchased my Oppo and on the used market they are selling for $300.00 to $400.00. This range will definitely drop once Oppo introduces the BDP-83 replacement, but will still be significantly higher than either of these Pioneer models. Oppo DVD players are still selling for $100.00 to $300.00 depending on model.

You may also want to consider the Oppo BDP-80 at $289.00 since your AVR will be doing most of the heavy lifting. The Oppo BDP-80 is a competent player with solid PQ. Also, the Sony BDP-S1000ES (5 year warranty) can be had for less than $200.00 which is another competent player.


Willie

^^^^Can't get any better advice than Willie's. Given your requirement, I would go with the Pioneer. No doubt.

Tubehead, I find the Oppo 83 to be the 2nd most overhyped BD player after PS3.

PS3 is overhyped just due to its speed, Oppo 83 is overhyped for its value and versatility.

At the current state, I'd only trade my BDP 23 for BDP 09 and nothing else.

Now, I'm not saying that PS3 and Oppo 83 are bad at all, I have them both, just exceedingly overhyped.

David,

I know you just made that other poster feel even better about his purchase.

Could you elaborate? Was there a better player introduced in 2009 other than the Oppo BDP-80 that did so much for so le$$? Also, if it delivers on its value and versatility, then I don't see how it is over hyped. I really don't know what people expect when they buy a BDP-83. If people don't find value in its versatility then they purchased the wrong player. People tend to discount all that the Oppo does and reduce it to just blu-ray and DVD playback. If that is the only buying criteria then it is probably over hyped and there are few blu-ray players that are grossly overpriced based on blu-ray DVD playback.

If all we wanted was a competent blu-ray and DVD player, then one wouldn’t have to spend more than $300.00 in my opinion let alone into the thousands.

Just my $.02.


Willie

The harmon kardon BD player sells for just less than 5 bills here in canada. Now that is funny. Bakerwi, the 320 has a much better analog section than the 80, some say matching or exceeding the 83--I use the 7.1 analog outs. Second, the 320 was sold for considerably less a lot of the time. Some people don't care about playing divx files, or SACD (although I have one: dark side of the moon - my tube cd player sounds better though so again, the 80 was even less a value). So if picture, and audio was the main criteria, the 320 seems to be the way to go. The 330 drops the analog outs, takes a step back in quality, and I am not sure what would rival the 80 at this point. Maybe a higher end panasonic?

I am happy with my oppo 980 dvd player, very happy, and it was tough trying to decide between the oppo 80 and the 320. Apart from the fact that the 80 and 83 are universal players, there have been a few anecdotes that they may be just a bit better in error correction than the pioneers, not sure what your experience has been, David. Got to love the BD protective material though. I bought 4 BD's at blockbuster the other day which were selling for 2 for $9.98. They were ex-rentals and every one of them looked brand spankin new! Not a single scuff. They all played perfectly. I can't imagine situations where the pioneers would get tripped up, except on disks that have been really abused. I can confirm though that oppo error correction on my 980 is quite formidable.

tubeheadEL34,

Buy one of the Pioneers or the Sony. The only compelling reason to buy the Oppo would be for SACD and DVD-A support, which you have the 980 for. The Oppo's are speedier and you will definately get better support when needed, but for your needs the Pioneers or Sony would be a better choice in my opinion and you could pick up a few blu-rays with the savings.


Willie

That is why I think Oppo does not really offer good value in practical terms to a lot of people. For someone who is keen enough to want SACD/DVDA will most likely, and probably should opt for something higher end. SACD/DVDA fans may already have dedicated SACD and/or universal (one that doesn't play BR) players.

I may be repeating what I have said before but I wish Oppo would offer straight BDPs that are based on the 80/83 for say $100/$200 less, then I would say they offer good value.

My typo, sorry, I meant Oppo is overhyped because of it's great value and versatility.

However, unfortunately, to get a a good upscaling quality, you'll still need to spend ridiculous amount of money (such as the BDP-09). For Blu-ray playback alone, between one player to the next, although there are still differences, nothing warrants a $2k player. I used to own one, I can attest to that.

I was originally going to go for that one, but between the fluctuating economic conditions and the fact that I wanted to make sure that I like Blu-ray, I fell for J&R's $144 killer deal of the day on the Pioneer BDP-320. I love its near reference audio. However, I'm starting to miss the speed, functionality, and responsiveness I was getting from my MediaTek-based SD players such as the Pioneer Elite DV-49AV and DV-58AV. Knowing that the Oppo BDP-83 uses the MediaTek MT8520, I'll definitely hang on to my Pioneer BDP-320, but if I can swing it by spring 2011 despite the fluctuating economic conditions, I just might give the Oppo BDP-83 a wirl so I won't have to constantly switch 5.1-channel analog cables by hand every time I need Pal-to-NTSC conversion, or just want to play BDs, SD DVDs, CDs, or SACDs with better speed, functionality, and responsiveness.

Big C,

The BDP-320 and BDP-23FD are excellent players and the current pricing makes them a slam dunk if you can still find them. Yes, the Oppo is pretty fast, but as far as speed you never owned a BDP-51FD. Another excellent Pioneer player, but waiting for it to do most things was like waiting for water to boil. The speed of the BDP-320 and BDP-23FD are definately improvements over the BDP-51FD and more tolerable for me personally.


Willie

I'm finding with the BDP-LX52, apparently near the same as the 23FD, that a few, very few disks both Blu-ray and DVD spin with quite a "hum" from the machine.
Almost to the point of vibration. Is this a noted difference between various disks or indicative of a problem with the machine.

Putting one of these disks into a Pio 989AVi doesn't exhibit this problem, but then again the 989 is a very heavy and solid machine compared to the 52.

The 989 AVi is the same as the US model DV-79AVi Elite and with the comparisons being done around here, does a much better "DVD" upscaled playback than the 52 / 23FD.
This is to my eye and PQ is so much in the eyes of the beholder. You've only to go to your friend's homes to see how they have their TV's set up!

Anyway, this HUM?

Agreed. Having owned both the 51 and the 320, the 320 definately more of a pleasure to use than the 51. Although not exactly speedy, the 320 is fast enough that it doesn't bother me and I no longer have the BD player upgrade bug.

I just got some BDs for my birthday. Among my gifts, I received the June 2010 release of "Predator" and the April 2010 release of "A Nightmare on Elm Street." When loading these titles, I couldn't believe how long the Pioneer logo was on the screen while "Loading" was in the upper left hand corner. And then when the Pioneer logo disappeared and I got to the loading status screen, it stayed there so long that I started to think the movie wasn't going to play. Surely enough, the menu came up and I was able to procede as normal. Wait until I get the October 2010 edition of "The Exorcist" for Halloween, and the October 2010 edition of the "Alien" collection for Christmas. If none of these discs play and Pioneer is not going to continue firmware development for their pre-Sharp players, I can always tell them that back around 2005 or so, they said that DVD players are eligible for three-year free firmware upgrade coverage and if they can't honor that, I want a refund on my BDP-320!

Why would someone do that to you? Do they not like you? If they really cared about you they would have gotten you the original Predator release on BD.

Interesting mix of equipment. I have an SC-07, 4 DefTech Mythos Ones and a Mythos Eight, Outlaw Plus sub, 50" Kuro, 23FD, 51FD and a Panasonic 350.

Last night, I was completely blown away by the quality of the picture I got from the Panny while watching a 40 year old movie on DVD -- Little Big Man. I'd say that the Panasonic upscales at least as well as any player I've used to date. I think the Panny 85 has similar video circuitry to the 350 minus the 3-D capabilities of course.

Choose between the Panny instant on vs. the jitter reduction of an all Pioneer solution? That's a tough one. Maybe you should bite the bullet and get both, though it's getting increasingly difficult to find the 23FD. I have no opininion on the Oppo, other than it costs more than I would pay.

Thanks for your concern for my well being, but I wanted the later release because of the higher A/V bitrate. This is a player discussion thread. There is a thread in the software section which compares both BD editions of "Predator."

If you're buying the 23FD for MULTICHANNEL jitter reduction only, then do NOT buy the 23FD. As much as I'm a self-professed Pioneer fanboi, I can't hear a lick of difference for MULTICHANNEL PQLS. For 2-CH PQLS, the difference to me ears are night and day in terms of nuance, stereo imagery, and vocal clarity.

I listen to a lot of CDs and although I love the analog output of my PD-D9, sometimes I prefer the sound of BDP-23 coupled with my SC-25 using PQLS better. This is completely subjective, of course.

Regardless, I personally am not the type of person who buys a BD player for its power-on speed etc, especially since I'm using a projector and it needs time to warm up the bulb anyway.

Dude, I was just kidding with you, hence the smiley face. I actually really don't give a **** what you got for your birthday.

That movie is 40 years old!? WOW, I'm alot older than I thought!

Now that I think of it, the last time I watched that movie was in 480p on my old TV/DVD player. I'll have to try it out on my Pioneer 320/Elite 151 combo and see how it looks.

I don't own an HDMI receiver. I can only tell you things I've read regarding multi-channel PQLS. If you're not noticing a difference, double-check your receiver's specs and make sure it actually accepts multi-channel PQLS, as opposed to two-channel stereo PQLS only. If it doesn't accept multi-channel PQLS and only two-channel stereo PQLS, then it's obvious that you won't notice a difference because multi-channel PQLS will not work with your receiver. If your receiver will accept multi-channel PQLS, try setting the BDP-23FD's HDMI audio output to PCM. Then try AUTO. If you still don't notice a difference, then I'm lost from that point.

Yup, have done all that.

It's not that I can't hear a lick of difference on the sound, but for some reason unless I close my eyes and really concentrate on the sound (which then makes it impossible for me to watch the movie ) I can't hear the difference; on the other hand, I don't need to concentrate at all for 2-CH audio CD, I can always tell whether the PQLS is on or off.

(just a note, I use SC-25 and BDP-23 for PQLS "mating")

Since we're at this topic, does PQLS work if my 320 is connected directly to the pio 508??

What kind of tonal difference do you get with stereo CDs? Do you get better bass and treble? Does it sound less muffled? What is it that you're hearing with PQLS engaged?

If a player is slow as far as loading, and is buggy with forward and reverse scanning, is it likely to have stability problems with future BD titles? As I said, I came close to getting the Oppo 83, but got my 320 because at the time, the lady of the house and I thought that taking advantage of J and R's killer $144 deal of the day would be a good idea considering the fluctuating economy. I've been happy with its analog audio performance, but lately, the forward/reverse scanning issues, issues with loading more recent BD releases, and no sign of newer firmware updates are making me glad I only spent $144 on this player. If October releases don't play on my 320, I hope I can present her with a good, justifiable reason to get the Oppo BDP-83.

I guess you must have money burning holes in your pocket My 320 has no reverse or forward scanning issues and constant FW updates are the nature of the BD beast. Be patient, Pioneer will release new FW for new discs - might take a few weeks or a couple of months after disc release. Fire up some rude emails to Pio CS just to remind them to speed up new FW

Very interesting David! I have the BDP-320 and the vsx-1020, so I could try out the 2 ch PQLS. I was just going to forget about it, since it requires HDMI control which doesn't allow you to redirect named inputs to the HDMI ports, but if it really does make a difference I guess I better try it out!

Please buy the oppo and go complain in that thread

Dude, the guy gave an honest a fair opinion. He gave compliments and asked about dome issue. Get off the pioneer fan boy kick.
Please don't get a WDMedia player you won't be able to handle that thread.

If these are actual problem that he's experiencing, then he has just cause to be concerned about the future of HIS player. I own both players and on more than one occasion he has talked about his decision not to buy the Oppo. I've had trouble free ownership with both players so there are no guarantees, but the Oppo will definately be supported better from my experience with both manufacturers.


Willie