Pioneer Electronics Pioneer Elite BDP-HD1

The BDP-HD1's sound quality also amazed us, at least with The Last Waltz's uncompressed Linear PCM track. It caught every nuance of every instrument played. I doubt that those who attended the actual concert heard it any better.

You won't find such pleasure listening to the Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio track offered on some Blu-ray discs, however. The BDP-HD1 doesn't support these formats; instead it downsamples the audio to their core streams. To be fair, so do the Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, and Sony Blu-ray players we reviewed in the "High-Def Video Superguide"; but on a premium player like the Pioneer, this omission is surprising nonetheless.

You'll need some patience to enjoy the BDP-HD1: The unit responds to commands the way a five-year-old PC running Windows Vista would. Hit the eject button while the power is off, and you'll have to wait more than a minute before the player is sufficiently awake to open the tray. Hit pause while watching a movie, and you'll experience a noticeable lag before the Pioneer responds. During one annoying incident, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get the tray open so that I could remove a disc.

This is the only Blu-ray player we tested (other than the multifunctional PlayStation 3 game console) that has an ethernet port. The player also has a built-in digital media adapter, so you can share media over a home network (we did not test this feature). If you were to add a media adapter separately--say, D-Link's DSM-510 High-Definition Media Player--it could cost about $225. To use the player over a home network, you'll need the right equipment: a Windows XP or Vista computer with Windows Media Connect, and a DLNA-compatible digital media server.

Pioneer's remote felt comfortable in my hand, thanks to well-placed grooves along its back, and most of the buttons are easy to reach. Furthermore, the unit has a plethora of controls on its front panel--convenient in the event that you misplace the remote.

Pioneer, unfortunately, does not allow the unit to communicate over the Internet for firmware updates; you'll have to request a disc from the company or create your own installation disc by downloading the update via the company's Web site. The player does come with clearly written documentation--including a decent trouble-shooting section. Plus, it offers one benefit that none of the other players has--a two-year warranty (for parts as well). That's double the typical warranty period, and some players only offer 90 days on parts.

Because the Pioneer's video quality was on a par with that of the cheaper Sony BDP-S1, if you buy this unit, you're choosing it for its extras: its pleasing industrial design, long warranty, and integrated digital media adapter.

Lincoln Spector