Pioneer BDP-320/BDP-23FD Owner's Thread - Page 19

definitely the option if you're looking for player to do the decoding to analogues. if you're not, i struggle to make the value proposition of spending $200 more than the 320 for pure hdmi transport.

exact model number is Sharp AQUOS BD-HP22U

check out the manual of the pioneer 120 and look at the menu screen shots - nearly identical to sharp models. i posted a thread here on this topic and it got shut down twice - guess i struck a nerve with some sponsors!

http://news.ecoustics.com/bbs/messag...81/546179.html

the sharp bp-hp22u has an aquos link that is very similar to kurolink

check out the button layout and display:

sharp 22 -Attachment 143875

pio 120 - Attachment 143876

no idea. i put "allegedly" to avoid any worries about libel...bit weird to me too

any feedback you can give on sd dvd upscaling would be greatly appreciated.

ditto. going to test load times and see if this had a meaningful impact or was more of a disc compatability upgrade. thank god we're not waiting on dts hd ma

Times are identical best I can tell. Cold eject about 26. power on just under 25.

Was at Bestbuy and thought for sh*ts and giggles I would give the 120 a run for its money.

Attachment 143961

My initial thoughts are this is a Sharp re-badge. Although it is an attractive player, build quality appears poor. The tray rattles when opened and the front panel buttons feel thin and plasticy and like they might break if used frequently. The tray is loose and can be manipulated. The front facade on the tray is very loose and actually feels like it might fall off. Once again, it is an attractive player, but the led chapter readout is pure sharp. it is a dark purple with white lettering. It says BYE when you turn off the player.

The Kuro Link does not work - when activated it was outputting 480i to my 5010. It took me three times of playing with the settings to finally get it to output 1080p despite it was set to auto out of the box. You cannot switch output resolution on the fly. The video output resolution button on the remote does not work best I can tell. The remote is slightly different than the 51/320:

Attachment 143962

The menu is set up with four basic selections. The GUI looks very budget and is not the refined GUI i love on the 51/320, though it is probably more straightforward. There are no tweaking menus for nr, brightness, etc. There is not deep color setting, but BD playback did appear as 36 bit on my kuro.

Attachment 143963

There is no setting to adjust output resolution to 24fps. The display during playback is even worse (no mb/s read-out, no resolution).

Performance:

The cons: BD playback is a bit dull. I prefer the image on the panasonic 55, 320, 51 and oppo. SD DVD upscaling is standard, probably a hair worse than my panasonic 55. Jaggies appear in any closely spaced line and are visible in credits even when stationary. Responsiveness is sluggish and the player sounds like a blender - lots of grinding and gearing noises.

The pros: Quickstart works - the disc tray opens immediately when you press eject. It has to be right at a second or two. It loads relatively quickly - QOS loaded in a respectable 42 seconds. It struggled with POCI - taking about 1 min 27 secs to get to the disney splash screen.


SD DVD Upscaling:

I ran it through the S&M disc and results are below. I also tried some test material and found it did a reasonable job, but was prone to jaggies. It seemed to favor motion over detail; I realize that's a very subjective comment, so please read below.



Source Adaptive Deinterlacing
Cadence: Racecar testing for moire in stands
Test / Pio 320 / Oppo / Panny 55 / Pio 120
2:2 / pass / pass / pass /pass
2:2:2:4 / fail / pass / fail / fail
2:3:2:3 (PF-T) fail / pass /marginal (minor moire) / pass
2:3:2:3 / pass / pass / marginal (minor moire) / fail
2:3:3:2 / fail / pass /fail / fail
3:2:3:2:2 / fail / pass / fail / fail
5:5 / fail / pass / fail / fail
6:4 / fail / pass / fail /fail
8:7:8:7 / fail / pass / fail / fail
24p - pass / pass / pass / pass
Difficult edits - pass / pass / pass /pass
Time-adjusted / fail / pass / fail / pass

Edge Adaptive Test Patterns

Jaggie test - Pio 320
Speedometer: pass 45 to 5. fail +/- 5, pass -45 to -5
Ship: Pass
horizontal scrolling text: pass
vertical scrolling text: pass

Jaggie test - Oppo 83
Speedometer: pass 45 to 5. fail +/- 5, pass -45 to -5
Ship: Pass
horizontal scrolling text: pass
vertical scrolling text: pass

Jaggie test - Panny 55
Speedometer: pass 45 to 5. fail +/- 5, pass -45 to -5
Ship: Marginal - minor jaggies
horizontal scrolling text: pass
vertical scrolling text: marginal - minor jaggies

Jaggie test - Pio 120
Speedometer: fail
Ship: marginal - minor jaggies
horizontal scrolling text: pass
vertical scrolling text: marginal - minor jaggies

All in all, I think this is a thinly veiled sharp with mediocre performance in many regards. The kuro link features do not work - hilariously my non-pioneer players did a much better job of 'talking' to my kuro.

In this price range, opt for a JVC XV BP1. This unit will be headed back to BestBuy tomorrow morning.

andygood, i found the menus very limited and did not always respond as one would think. I had to change output resolution three or four times to get out of 480i output. i wonder if the hdmi settings are not outputting the full surround. I cannot remember if there is a setting other than audio output preference.