Pioneer BDP-LX71 Blu-ray player – in-store in October

Pioneer Electronics Australia continues to expand its Full-HD entertainment portfolio, introducing the company’s strongest line-up of Blu-ray Disc players, including three new models.

The new Blu-ray players reinforce Pioneer’s reputation as one of the very few brands who can deliver an entire Full-HD home entertainment experience, including the panel (Full-HD plasma TV), the source (Blu-ray player), as well as the sound (1080p amplifiers/home theatre system).

Committed to offering a home theatre experience that film directors would be proud to call their own, the three new Pioneer Blu-ray Disc players boast improved cinematic picture quality, dynamic audio support, robust build quality, home theatre synergy and aesthetic design.

First up – the Pioneer BDP-LX71

First to appear in stores will be the Pioneer BDP-LX71 (pictured above), a cutting edge $1,399 Blu-ray player due out in October 08. Superseding Pioneer’s second generation BDP-LX70A Blu-ray player, the BDP-LX71 steps up in performance with improvements, such as BonusView support (profile 1.1), comprehensive on-board audio decoding and bitstream audio, touch sensitive controls, as well as the inclusion of Wolfson Audio digital to analogue converters and jitter-free technology.

Moreover, add high-performance DVD playback to the list of accomplishments and here you have a Blu-ray Disc player that delivers the picture quality, product connectivity and compatibility, which justifies an upgrade from DVD. Consumers need to be able to see and hear the difference when comparing Blu-ray to DVD. Being able to read/talk about the differences is simply not good enough.

With a Blu-ray Disc solution to satisfy the varying tech demands and budgets of consumers today, Pioneer will also roll-out a sub $1,000 Blu-ray player in November (BDP-51FD), as well as a flagship player (BDP-LX91 – date to be confirmed) over the coming months.

BDP-LX71 video features

  • 1080p/24fps

The BDP-LX71 boasts 1080p/24 frames per second (fps) output, enabling consumers to see the movie exactly as the director intended, eliminating any artificial manipulation (eg 3-2 pull down).

  • BonusView (Profile 1.1)

With more advanced ‘extra’s’ being added to Blu-ray movies these days, the Pioneer BDP-LX71 Blu-ray allows you take advantage of these bonus features thanks to BonusView support. Courtesy of BonusView support, users can watch a Blu-ray disc movie whilst watching the bonus features at the same time (picture in picture).

  • Consumer convenience & enhanced picture quality settings

Pioneer takes image quality a step further with an exclusive Picture Control Suite, which is comprised of an additional 13 video adjustments, which allow the user to fine tune smaller picture details of a film and deliver an experience that best suits a user’s viewing preference. Further to Pioneer’s BDP-LX71 offering Advance Picture Calibration, the personal customisation options on this new model continues with a Video Adjust Mode, which provides a series of image modifications (Plasma / LCD / Pioneer Plasma / Projector / Commercial Display) to optimise the picture displayed on a connected HDTV. Therefore, the BDP-LX71 Blu-ray Disc player enables the user to custom the image according to what display the player is connected to, including an LCD, plasma or specifically, a Pioneer plasma, etc.

Due to the exclusive chip set design and build quality Pioneer is now utilizing, significant strides in speed performance have been made with the new players to now rival the rapid playback rate consumers have come to experience when using their DVD players. This platform greatly improves disc load, power on, power off and disc eject times.

With a continued focus on unifying the appearance and enhancing the operation of its home theatre products, Pioneer has integrated the same graphic user interface found on its KURO displays and HD receivers.

  • 12-Bit Deep Colour

Taking advantage of HDMI 1.3a technology, Pioneer brings film aficionados to the frontier of next generation entertainment with the most cutting edge video processing available. Equipped with 12-Bit Deep Colour, the BDP-LX71 produces an unprecedented range of hues and shades, resulting in greater colour depth and detail.
High definition noise reduction – To reduce the picture artefacts left by MPEG compression, the BDP-LX71 features three different noise reduction circuits, including 3D Noise Reduction and Block / Mosquito Noise Reduction. The 3D Noise Reduction is based on pixel-per-pixel basis to reduce Gaussian Noise without blurring the image, whilst the Block and Mosquito Noise Reduction enhances poorly created content.

  • High quality playback of existing DVD library

Pioneer has continued to enhance high performance DVD playback on the BDP-LX71 with the inclusion of the proprietary and advanced PureCinema Deinterlacer, which essentially eliminates jiggered lines that can negatively affect the viewing experience. DVDs can be up-scaled to a 1080p resolution for improved picture quality and compatibility with HDTVs.

BDP-LX71 sound features

  • Dynamic Audio Enhances Emotional Experience

Thanks to on-board HD audio decoding, a high-quality Wolfson Audio digital to analogue converter (DAC) and jitter-free audio technology, the Pioneer BDP-LX71 Blu-ray Disc Player does not disappoint. The BDP-LX71 is set to become the industry’s first Blu-ray player to support all advanced audio formats, with the ability to decode Dolby TrueHD and Dolby Digital Plus, DTS HD* and DTS HD Master* high resolution audio formats, which also enables advanced connectivity that makes compatibility a minimal concern. (* BDP-LX71 will be capable of on-board decoding both DTS HD* and DTS HD Master* high resolution audio formats with a scheduled software upgrade in January 09).

By offering on-board decoding of the latest HD audio formats, consumers can connect the BDP-LX71 Blu-ray player to an existing high quality AV receiver and enjoy the benefits of HD home entertainment, without having to upgrade to a HD AV receiver. The Pioneer BDP-LX71 will also provide bitstream audio over the HDMI jack for all of the above formats.

Typically utilised by high end audio manufacturers and professional audio equipment, Pioneer selected the professional quality Wolfson Digital Audio Converters (DACs) in the BDP-LX71 to ensure the highest level audio performance that sound engineers intended audiences to experience. This very same Wolfson Digital Audio Converters are also utilised in Pioneer’s latest flagship HD amplifier – SUSANO (SC-LX90).

  • Playing CDs

Serving-up benefits beyond Blu-ray technology, the Pioneer BDP-LX71 is also an accomplished CD player, utilising the Pioneer-developed Precision Quartz Locking System (PQLS), which provides jitter-free audio transmission from CD content, when connected to a Pioneer HD receiver.

Pioneer sought to create jitter-free playback and dynamic sound quality for music CDs. When connected to a Pioneer HD receiver via HDMI, the BDP-LX71 enhances CD playback with the proprietary Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS). This advanced feature synchronizes music data coming from the Blu-ray Disc player to the receiver giving music fanatics a revolutionary high resolution listening experience far exceeding traditional methods.

Robust build quality

Pioneer’s first BonusView Blu-ray Disc player features a supreme build construction and attention to detail to ensure unrivalled content performance. The BDP-LX71 defines premium performance with high quality parts, a centre loading tray which helps reduce vibration as well as dedicated audio and video boards for smooth operation and uninterrupted playback of discs. The build quality does not stop there, with the BDP-LX71 also featuring gold-plated connection ports, and touch key buttons for operation.