If you’re an Arcam aficionado, there must have been times when you thought the arrival of a Blu-ray Disc player would never come. The brand’s original strategy, to support both HD DVD and BD with a universal player, was shunted off the road when the HD format war came to an abrupt end.
A second, BD-only project met a similar fate when Arcam’s chosen chip supplier proved unable to deliver.
Years in the making: Arcam’s FMJ BDP100 Blu-ray player is here at last
Third time lucky then? It seems so. The wait is finally over with the arrival of the FMJ – Arcam says “Faithful Musical Joy”; I say “Full Metal Jacket” – BDP100.
Unlike the majority of mass-market BD players, the BDP100 is painstakingly built. It’s heavy -6.2kg, no less – and has an extremely rigid chassis. Back panel outputs comprise HDMI; component- and composite-video; Stereo analogue audio; and optical and coaxial digital audio. Read the rest of this entry »
Pioneer may be a well established name on the Blu-ray spinning circuit by now, but the company’s deal with Sharp last year to pool their BD resources means that the BDP-320 is likely to be one of the last pure Pioneer Blu-ray players off the production line.
End of an era: Pioneer’s BDP-320
The BDP-320 sits in the lower half of Pioneer’s six-strong Blu-ray player range. The feature spec rises fairly gradually from model to model though – the BDP-320 offers 48-bit Deep Colour over the basic BDP-120′s 36-bit, but step up to the BDP-LX5 and you’ll get the anti-jitter Precision Quartz Lock System. Otherwise, features and connections are very similar. A good-looking machine – slimline with a gloss black finish – it feels solidly constructed. While the higher end models might have a classier build on close inspection, the BDP-320 certainly doesn’t look cheap.
The back is home to a single HDMI v1.3 port, Ethernet, component, optical and composite digital audio outputs, and a remote control input for custom instals. The USB port is for additional memory storage beyond the 1GB already on board for BD-Live content. As yet, there’s no sign of Wi-Fi connectivity at this level from Pioneer, such as you’ll find in the similarly priced LG BD390 or Sony BDP-S560. Read the rest of this entry »
Review It’s not been easy for Pioneer of late, what with the painful withdrawal from the high-end plasma TV market that it had dominated with the Kuro, the best plasma family on the planet. However, life goes on and this spritely little Blu-ray Disc player should go some way to putting the spring back into Pioneer’s step.
It’ll also bring a level of performance to your living room not previously seen in a BD box at this price point.
The BDP-51FD feels well constructed and reassuringly sturdy sitting on its circular metal feet. Looks-wise, the player scores highly too, creating a dark and brooding presence in the stack with its black livery and little blue lights – just in case you forgot it was a Blu-ray player. Read the rest of this entry »
