AVS Owner's thread for the pioneer elite bdp-62fd..

This is from highdefdigest.com

The new 3D player packs Qdeo video processing and playback for DVD-Audio and SACDs.

The BDP-62FD is the latest Blu-ray player to join Pioneer's Elite line, and it comes equipped with a few features that earn it the title. For starters, Pioneer has given their new player Marvell Qdeo video processing, which will give you better video quality whether you're watching a Blu-ray or upscaling from SD.

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Pioneer's new Blu-ray player has a few connectivity options as well. If you're the kind of person that has both a projector and a TV set up, you'll be happy to know that dual HDMI outputs are included to accommodate. The player also sports an Ethernet port for streaming of Netflix, Pandora and YouTube. Unfortunately, there's no Wi-Fi built in, so you'll have to pick up the adapter separately if you'd like to go wireless.

Finally, the BDP-62FD is equipped with different control options, including IP, RS-232, and via the iControlAV2012 smartphone app.

You'll be able to pick up the BDP-62FD later this month at a price of $399.

Maybe it's time to give Pioneer another shot.

It should arrive next week I believe, I'll have an update on it after I get it put through the bench tests.

Wow, that's a fine looking player. Looking forward to hearing reviews on it!

can't wait your review and the bench test, i hope the 62FD is bit perfect in all modes YCbCr 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and RGB

Does anyone know yet if this new player will be able to play 96/24 FLAC files via the USB port on the front?

This would be a much-coveted feature for me, and will inform my buying decision between this and Denon's new Universal BDP.

My main concern is the previous models had issues with edge enhancement you couldn't turn off. That looks bad no matter what the colorspace is.

I'll give that a test as well, I have plenty of material to use.

Any chance you will be able to test MKV playback as well?

Asking about testing MKV playback is far too generic. There are players that will play back MKVs only encoded a certain way, and that need custom settings, that will play back 60p but not 24p, or two channel audio and not stereo audio. The reason I don't say "This player plays back MKV" is because I haven't designed a large enough test suite to encompass all of these different settings. Perhaps in the future I'll have a full suite of things to test (and I imagine I will), but I could easily test an MKV, say it works or doesn't work, and then you could have the totally opposite experience with your MKV files.

Chris-

Any information on the DAC type/spec in this unit would be appreciated, as I came up with nothing after a quick search...I was hoping that the 62FD would mimic the DAC content of the Pio SC-68 receiver (32 bit asynchronyous), as I believe the newest Oppos are said to have, as well.

Thanks!

thanks Chris

Definitely on my to purchase list, can't wait to hear more details!

Hi Smackrabbit,

Did you receive the player already ? And what are your first impressions ?

It arrived yesterday, it's still in the box as I was busy working on an iPhone article at AnandTech and then I had to calibrate a display that's here. I'll be getting it hooked up this weekend, I want to finally watch The Avengers on it. Hopefully the bench tests can be run this weekend as well, but I have no idea if I'll have time before Wednesday.

Got my 62FD and SC-61 today, only tried the Star Trek VI Score on CD, Metallica's Black Album DVD-Audio (in Stereo) so far, but the build quality is really good. Wish the remote was backlit for the cost though. Will try out Deep Space Nine and Ancient Aliens on DVD later tonight to see how the upscaling works.

Is it built by Pioneer or Sharp?

The same OEM supplier as last year: TCL Corp.

http://database.ul.com/cgi-bin/XYV/template/LISEXT/1FRAME/showpage.html?name=AZSQ.E244239&ccnshorttitle=Audio/Video+Apparatus&objid=1077079980&cfgid=1073741824&version=versionless&parent_id=1073984370&sequence=1

Quick notes:

- YCbCr 422 and 444 are perfect
- RGB has the tiniest errors, all of which are acceptable to us and will cause literally no issues (the largest dE caused is 0.3 or so)
- It seems there is no edge enhancement, which is welcome
- Also there is no Source Direct, which I still want on these

Further testing to continue with a review soon.

Does it have "Aluminium Front Panel"?

Why did they remove "Source Direct" as an option?
I have it on my, still in use, Pioneer 51FD and prefer it to 1080p setting.

I don't see any major difference between BDP-53 vs BDP-62. Sadly no 2D to 3D conversion, no upgrade in the Marvell chip, and most disappointingly, still no built-in wi-fi at that high price I guess I'm keeping my BDP-53 unless somebody can tell me a good reason to upgrade to BDP-62

It probably has to do with the chipset being used in the player. Some chipsets have a Source Direct mode built into them and so it's trivial to integrate into the player, some might not and then it's a trade-off between engineering it in, if possible, and the value gained from that. Source Direct is really uncommon in players, but I do like to see it in a player.

Source Direct vs. 1080p should make no difference, at all, with 99% of content provided it's 24p and you have that enabled.

People mean different things by "source direct".

The BDP-53FD from last year supports 480i/576i and yet does not specifically have a "source direct" resolution option, as in the 51FD. "Source Direct" here means same output resolution as input and you don't have to change it manually if you want 480i to output as 480i and 1080p as 1080p. This can't be a chipset limitation, but rather just the implementation of the logic in the algorithm.

IIRC the lack of "source direct" was raised with Pioneer rep last year but it looks like it fell on deaf ears. Even worse, the 62FD now drops 480i/576i and this itself could be hardware video chip limitation. I don't know if this uses Mediatek as last year's models.

Of course as everyone knows Oppo uses "source direct" to mean same output resolution as input, plus no or minimal video processing.

I'm considering this player, anyone have this player yet? The oppo 103 is also a consideration, but at $500, I'm hoping the the cheaper 62FD will be as good @ $399.

thanks

Anyway, I just ordered a BDP-62FD from ebay for $375, I'll let everyone know what the results are.

Kickin, i cant wait to hear your thoughts on the 62. I have been waiting for this player to match up with my elite sc-65 avr (which is incredible by the way, coming from an onkyo 705 this made a HUGE improvement). Really wants me to get completely into the Pioneer family again!

It does play FLAC from a connected USB device or over Ethernet. The question is... whether it sounds good doing that or not. I haven't gotten that far yet, but I'm about to compare the original CD to FLAC-on-a-USB-hard-disk and FLAC-over-network for tracks taken from the same CD being played in the disc drawer. Results will appear in the final review (Widescreen Review magazine). My initial impression is that the 3 methods don't sound identical. I will also compare the '62's sound on those tracks to the sound of my dedicate FLAC playback system (Mac Mini computer, solid state hard disk, FireWire 800 library hard disc, Wavelength Proton USB DAC and analog stereo connections to processor). Though I've never heard ANY HDMI input produce sound that's as good as the stereo analog sound from the dedicated FLAC playback system. And I use an AudioQuest Diamond DBS (dielectric bias system, uses a battery to create a 72v DC field that constantly "bathes" the insulation and conductors in a steady-state electrical field.) The Diamond is the top of the line HDMI cable and it is no better at all for video quality than any HDMI cable, even $5 or "free" hdmi cables that come in the box with some component. So NEVER spend money on an HDMI cable expecting any difference in video image quality because there isn't any... cheap is perfect for video-only HDMI cables. Movie sound also doesn't seem to suffer over inexpensive HDMI cables. But music playback (without video)... that's the only place I can find ANY differences between HDMI cables and the AQ Diamond is the "best sounding" HDMI cable I've ever found. I'm not expecting music from the 62 over HDMI to sound as good as the dedicated playback system, but I always have to check to be certain something special/miraculous hasn't happened.