Hands-on with Pioneer's BDP-95FD Blu-ray player

Pioneer's BDP-95FD Blu-ray player may have been just one of the many fine looking devices at the outfit's fine looking exhibit, but considering that it was just unveiled hours ago, we figured we'd give it additional attention. As you'd probably guess, this Elite gizmo lived up to its branding (at least in the design department), and we've got an assortment of closeups waiting for you over at EngadgetHD.

[Eric @ Sep 8th 2007 12:46AM]

Oooooh Ahhhhh, another really expensive next gen DVD player. Do us all a favor and save the blog posts until !) they come down to an affordable price or 2) they make them dual format playable AND affordable.

[August @ Sep 8th 2007 1:53AM]

Do us all a favor and remain silent until you have something productive to say.

[Deluxe @ Sep 8th 2007 2:03AM]

Eric: -1 Internets.

[RayJai @ Sep 8th 2007 12:48AM]

yay!

[Kirk @ Sep 8th 2007 1:33AM]

Just testing

[Dave @ Sep 8th 2007 4:06AM]

WOW That is awesome player!
I am starting to flavor Pioneer the most.

[Emil @ Sep 8th 2007 4:49AM]

What I don't get is why companies keep designing nice looking and expensive players and then completely ruin them by using those old fashioned displays for title, chapter, time etc. They really look out of place and with the prices of those players I doubt the little bit more you would have to fork out to get a nice display cannot be that much of a problem. I think those displays makes it look really cheap.

[sherbo @ Sep 8th 2007 6:45AM]

Emil: I agree, the VFD display is sooo 90s. I doubt that a good-looking display of that size would cost them more than $5 in mass production.

[boe @ Sep 8th 2007 10:54PM]

I agree completely. The display looks much older than something from the 90's. I have a Sony preamp from around 1989 that has a nice blue dot display so I'd say it makes it look like something from 1982

[nigel @ Sep 8th 2007 6:59AM]

BYE BYE BLU
http://www.betanews.com/article/New_Chinese_Involvement_Could_Trigger_HD_DVD_Price_Plunge/1189196071/1

[BassTek @ Sep 8th 2007 11:37AM]

Does it support profile 1.1? With two standard revisions coming up in the next year I would hope that it supports at least one of them.

[Caleb @ Nov 2nd 2007 1:26PM]

Yes it will i have spoken to Pioneer and they asure me there is a firmware update comming and in will definitly support profile 1.1 . when i heard that I got one

[Slvrgun @ Sep 8th 2007 12:06PM]

You're not going to win a format war with 1,000 dollar players.

[EL @ Sep 14th 2007 4:37PM]

Pioneer, nor other purveyors of >$1,000 BD players won't have to win the format war. According to BDA, Blu-ray software so far this year has outsold HD DVD in the US (67%), Europe (70%), as well as Japan (90%+). So long as end-use consumers continue to embrace the visual and audible superiority of Blu-Ray, the player mfrs will continue to offer products at different price points to meet consumer demand. As with anything else, as more mfrs enter the market to meet increasing demand, competition should drop BD player prices downward.

[SimbaDogg @ Sep 8th 2007 12:25PM]

@Eric/Slvrgun/...and the rest
how many times do people have to say this...this is pioneer elite, not a damn funai. if you dont know what a quality product is all about, please...DONT POST.

[Ben @ Sep 8th 2007 2:00PM]

Does anyone know whether this will have 7.1 analog out? Our amp has no HDMI inputs.

[EL @ Sep 14th 2007 4:33PM]

According to the manual for the BDP-94FD, the connector diagram on page 11 shows 8 RCA connectors to support 7.1. You can check for yourself:
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/pio/pe/images/portal/cit_11221/448107330BDP94HDOperatingInstructions0521.pdf
I doubt there will be any major physical changes between the BDP-94FD and the to-be-released BDP-95FD.

[pfc @ Sep 8th 2007 6:55PM]

Oh I would buy everyone delicious donuts if I were picked for the wonderful Gold or silver prize of round 20. I might even buy a chocolate donut. Hmmmm Donuts.

Homer

[didihala @ Sep 24th 2007 4:14AM]

I agree, price is a bit steep, but as one poster said this the Elite series. If you look at new Sony's ES Blu-ray player BDP-S2000ES (I would say Sony ES and Pioneer Elite are in the same class) it sells retail for $1300, and looking at the Sony's specs, it does not support dts-HD & dts-HD Master Audio (unreal!!) So comparing prices, the BDP-95FD seems like a bargain. I have always used Sony ES components, but now I am looking at this player and the VSX-92THX receiver. Sony's top of the line ES receiver sells for $1700 retail.

http://www.sonystyle.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921665228713

dts®-HD Decoding
Hi-resolution Audio: N0; HDMI™ bitstream out: Yes
dts®-HD Decoding-2
Master Audio: No; HDMI™ bitstream out: No

[Mike @ Nov 23rd 2007 1:23AM]

I don't claim any special expertise but my experience with Pioneer Elite has been my barometer. I bought a second DVD a couple of years back to support both DVD and SACD which my Denon did not. The Pioneer bested the Denon in both Picture Quality and musicality in my setup AND the Pioneer is still working, the Denon's motor went about 6 moonths ago. Sounds real simple to me...........