New Pioneer Blu-ray player announced
Pioneer just introduced the new Elite BDP-94HD here in the States, and they’re already on the next generation in Japan with the BDP-LX80. This is the first BD player from Pioneer to not be a part of the Elite line.
The initial product photo on the press release looks identical to the BDP-94HD. However, the specs are state-of-the-art. The BDP-LX80 decodes Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio on-board. A new south-after feature is the ability to output the bitstream audio over its HDMI 1.3 output to your next-gen receiver. Because no player has this ability yet, there is no proof decoding on the receiver offers any advantages over using the player’s decoding abilities.
On the video side of things, the Elite BD player is regarded as having the best picture available of any high-def source. This player should follow in that tradition. It will output 1080p/24 via HDMI, as well as up-convert your standard DVDs to 720p/60, 1080i/60 or 1080p/60. Along with the other Elite players, it too features Home Media Gallery which is a DLNA certified media connection to stream video, music and photo files from computers on your home network.
The player is expected in Japan late October, and there is no word yet on if this player will be released in the USA. The player will sell for the equivalent of $1,779 USD.
