Pioneer BDP-120

The release of the Sony Playstation 3 was just the beginning of the Blu-ray era and now budget Blu-ray players like the Pioneer BDP-120 are rolling out at a price level that makes it attractive for the masses that want a better home theater experience that conventional DVD players cannot provide. Pioneer started out with a few Blu-ray players before the BDP-120, but competition increased greatly especially when Blu-ray won the format war against HD-DVD. The BDP-120 took on the competition by  minimizing features in order to keep the price low.

Pioneer BDP-120 | Player Details

Design

The Pioneer BDP-120 continues the black glossy tradition that other Pioneer products have. A thin dark gray bar, with all the buttons, divides the player down the middle . The power button is on the far left, followed by the three most basic playback functions.  Therefore, a remote is needed to access the rest of the interface. The open tray button can be found at the right most side of the player with the tray just above the divider line. The Blu-ray logo proves attractive on the center with the info display just below. Overall, it is a great layout that looks conventional in shape and unique in layout. It is also much thinner than the older BDP-51FD.

Features

The Pioneer BDP-120 Blu-ray player premiers with the BD-Live logo which means that it has the Blu-ray Profile 2.0 compatibility needed to access the special Internet features that some of the newer Blu-ray titles offer. Internet connectivity can be achieved by plugging in an Ethernet cable on the back of the player. Although there are no other internet features like some of the higher-end models, people can make the most out of the new Blu-ray titles that they get. When the BDP-120 is connected to a Pioneer KURO display, KURO Link provides a tailored picture setting between the TV and the player. Pioneer sought to create jitter-free playback and dynamic sound quality for music CDs. When connected to a Pioneer receiver like the Pioneer VSX-819H-K via HDMI, the BDP-120 enhances CD playback with the proprietary Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS).

DVDs are upscaled to 1080p. The BDP-120 can handle 1080/24p (24 frames per second) video reproduction, but you’ll need an up-to-date HDTV to support this, which most current flat panel TVs do.

There is also onboard Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding retaining its top-notch audio quality. In addition, DTS-HD High Resolution and Dolby Digital Plus formats are supported as well. This is good news for those upgrading from older home theater setups as you don’t need to do the decoding in your AV amplifiers that may not have processing for these audio codecs.

Besides blu-ray discs and CDs, you can play high definition DVD discs recorded by digital video cameras in AVCHD format. Other supported formats are BD-R/RE and DVD-R/RW recorded using Blu-ray Disc recorders or DVD recorders as well as CD/CD-R.

There’s a USB port for plugging in compatible flash memory to enable the BD-Live functionality. In the US, the player is supplied with a 1GB SanDisk USB flash drive.

Another new feature is the “Quick Start Mode” for near-instantaneous power-up.

Actual user review:
“This is my first stand-alone player and it’s hard not to compare it with the PS3. I love my PS3 because it does everything. Been wanting to buy a standalone player for a while and can’t seem to agree on any one particular brand or model, mostly due to cost. Lately price has been dropping below $200. Was leaning toward the Samsung P1500, best features and overall price until Amazon had the Pioneer on sale. Pioneer only makes high end electronics. I am overall very satisfied with this unit. Load time on this unit depends on the disc. First time buyer, be aware that blu-ray players loads a lot slower than DVD players. It can take up to a minute or more to load a disc (PS3 loads within 15 seconds). This is considered fast compared to previous generation players that sometimes take up to 3 minutes. Menu are simple and user friendly. Remote control is well made, a little too big. Unit is simple and elegant. Has all the necessary onboard sound decoders. I think this is a good buy for a mid level player. Only complaint is the noise it generates (grinding) when loading or searching of the disc.” – P.Chang (USA)

Performance

The BDP-120 powers up from standby in under one second. However, disc load times for this entry level Pioneer is much slower compared with the benchmark Oppo BDP-83 and the Sony PS3. A lot of this has to do with the individual title, whether it has BD-Live content or not, and this can slow down loading times. Average loading times vary from between 2 to 3 minutes for a blu-ray disc to actually start playing past all the menus.

On blu-ray playback, picture quality is sumptuously vivid and gorgeously detailed. The BDP-120 complements the action with excellent video and audio quality. Colors looked bright, vivid and above all, natural, while details were crisply resolved with high levels of solid contrast. On well recorded action movies like The Dark Knight, there’s ample bass presence as well as pace and drive. The Pioneer’s internal decoders really made the most of this sort of pulsating, dynamic surround sound score.

The KURO Link also creates a seamless bond with the KURO branded plasma displays for quick setup. 1080p DVD upscaling is supported as well for old titles to look just as good and the 36-bit Deep Color proves to be very effective when newer titles take advantage of it.

Bottom Line

The Pioneer BDP-120 Blu-ray player has the same great audio features along with more than decent image quality especially when paired with Pioneer HDTVs and AV amps. It is very reasonably priced budget player that allows you to enjoy top quality blu-ray playback. The extra deal sweetener is the free SanDisk 1 GB flash drive. This fulfills the requirement of having a USB storage device to access the BD-Live content.

Average User Rating:

• “This player is awesome. The features are incredible. My older DVDs look a lot better as well. The picture and sound quality this thing pumps out is superior to any other that I’ve heard or seen before.” – L.Wade (Michigan,USA)
• “I am one of those who are too busy to read every single word in the manual so I went directly to the instructions on installing it. It was simple to read and easy to install. Took me longer to move my TV stand than hooking it up to the TV. The only drawback, it came with RCA cable but not the HDMI. When the HDMI cables are selling at $.37 cents at Amazon, why can’t Pioneer put one of the cheap HDMI cables in the box. The remote was not complicated that installation process was fast and easy. If you want cheap, easy to install and have the average expectations on picture clarity and sound, this is the unit for you.” – M.Festin(NV,USA)

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