CEDIA 2008 - Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD Blu-ray Disc Player

Bucking the trend towards more inexpensive Blu-ray Disc players, Pioneer displayed their new Flagship BDP-09FD Elite Blu-ray player at CEDIA 2008. Coming in with a $2,200 price tage and weighing 40-plus pounds, the 09FD is both expensive and heavy. According to the Pioneer product reps, their goal was to create a player, from the ground up, that could deliver optimum, no-compromise, performance for Blu-ray Discs, DVDs, and CDs. To get their point across, Pioneer showed off the "guts" of their star player, which was encased in glass for all to see.

Some of the high-end features of this player include: Extensive audio processing for both analog and digital audio, full on-board decoding and bitstream output for all audio formats, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD, and QDEO video processing with both 1080p/60 and 1080p/24 output capability. In addition, the player is fully Profile 2.0 (BD-Live) compatible and also has two HDMI outputs, which means that it can drive two HDMI-equipped video displays at the time time. For custom installation needs, the BDP-09FD also has an RS232 connection.

However, one thing that took some of us in the Press aback, was the indication by the Pioneer representatives that the Blu-ray drive being used in the BDP-09FD is actually a drive that is used in their Blu-ray Disc recording products. Of course, the question was, if this is the case, why not include Blu-ray Disc recording capability in the BDP-09FD? The reason given for using this drive in the BDP-09FD is that it is more precise than a conventional Blu-ray Disc read-only drive, but that Pioneer had no current plans to bring standalone Blu-ray disc recording capability to the U.S. market.

For more specifics, check out the Official Pioneer BDP-09FD Product Page.