Plenty of grunt
Design-wise, the BDP-450 is dull yet
refined. More importantly, it seems well built and has a decent-sized display
on the fascia, which has four brightness settings including Off. The disc tray
opens and closes with reassuring slickness and disc-loading times are reasonable.
However, the deck is operationally noisier than Maira Sharapova, grunting and
wheezing as it files up and emitting more fan noise than Center Court.
The Pioneer’s GUI functional and easy
enough on the eye but it lacks the sort of cutting-edge excitement and polish
you’d hope to find. The remote control is also a duff note: despite being
full-sized it seems crowded and lacks legibility, and unhelpful situation
compounded by the absence of a backlight/ I preferred the fun and usability of
the iControlAV2012 app.
The
BDP-450's price tag is reflected by its Spartan connectivity - there are no
analogue audio outs at all
All irritations concerning the BDP-450’s
lack of features and operational flaws pale in to insignificance when you feast
your eyes and ears on what it can produce. I dug out those old DVD-Audio discs
and realized how quaint their visual seem, but was utterly delighted by the
power and clarity of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (and surprised and amused with
‘Scaramouch’ jumping out from behind me). The six-channel mix of Songbird on
Fleetwood Mac’s seminal Rumors has so much more emotion than a regular CD and
allows you to aurally pick out the individual instruments.
‘With standard-def DVDs, the deck proves to
be an up-scaling revelation. It’s so near to HD it hurts’
Things are even better with Hilary Hahn’s
The Lark Ascending on SACD. I thought this was good on my Sony deck, but was
totally unprepared to be teleported right in to the piece, hearing each
movement of Hahn’s bow across the strings as well as the notes, almost as if
she were playing in the room. Also on SACD, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds is
equally sensational. The BDP-450 makes my Sony seem muddy by comparison, with
Richard Burton’s resonant commentary and the dramatic violin introduction
combining to dramatic, spine-tingling effect.
Picture-wise, the BDP-450 is no slouch.
Jaggies are kept to a minimum when panning and tilting diagonally, even with
some tricky test scenes from my Spears & Munsil HD benchmark disc. The rich
color palette of Sterling Cooper’s office in Mad Men on Blu-ray is well
handled, and all the subtle blue shades of Pete Campbell’s patterned suit are
accurately revealed. This is an HD performance that invites you to soak it in –
Jaws and Super 8 on Blu-ray did throw up some concerns with judder, especially
when panning as a character moves in mid-shot or close-up across the scene, but
the effect is random and unlikely to impact on your overall enjoyment.
Stereoscopic discs fare well, too. My 3D
Blu-ray of Monsters vs Aliens was presented with excellent detail and the least
amount of crosstalk I’ve yet seen on my Samsung active 3D display.
Performance
of Pioneer BDP-450
With standard-definition movies, the deck
proves an up-scaling revelation. Both Casablanca and Indiana Jones and the
Temple of Doom looked as good as I’ve ever seen them. So good is the detailing
with the Spielberg sequel that the primitive effects, such as when the troubled
trio cling to a tunnel mouth as water cascades into a ravine, are all too obviously
fake. Some of the close-ups of Harrison Ford, especially the evening shots in
the Indian valley, feel so near to HD it hurts.
Low-cost, high desirability
Pioneer’s BDP-450 may be a bit unpolished
operationally, and uninspiring beyond its main purpose, but it acquits itself
well as a universal disc player. Until now, AV hedz on meager budgets had to
make do with a Sony SACD-capable deck and kick DVD-Audio playback into the long
grass. The Pioneer introduces the idea of a low-cost universal machine, and
should be celebrated for it.
On the menu
The BDP-450 packs sharp-looking text-heavy
menus that make it straightforward to adjust its various feature settings –
there’s little in the way of VOD content to get to grips with, though
The
BDP-450 packs sharp-looking text-heavy menus that make it straightforward to
adjust its various feature settings
AV info
Product: Universal Blu-ray deck
Position: Above the non-universal BDP-150
Peers: Sony BDP-S790; Panasonic DMP-BDT500;
Oppo DBP-103EU
Lacks
a backlight and its not the most intuitive handset around
The verdict
Highs: Exceptional SACD playback; decent
DVD-A and Blu-ray performance; iOS and Android control app
Lows: Meagre online features; flakey
multimedia streaming; poor remote
·
Performance: 5/5
·
Design: 4/5
·
Features: 4/5
·
Overall: 4.5/5
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Specifications
·
3D: Yes
·
Upscaling: Yes. To 1080p using Qdeo processing
– no 4K option
·
Multi-region: No. Region B BD/R2 DVD
·
HDMI: 2 x v1.4 outputs
·
Component: No
·
Multichannel analogue: No
·
Digital Audio: Yes, Coaxial output
·
Ethernet: Yes
·
Built in Wi-Fi: No. You’ll have to get the
optional dongle available
·
SACD/DVD-A: Yes/Yes
·
Dolby true HD/DTS-HD decoding: Yes
·
Dolby true HD/DTS bit stream: Yes
·
Dimensions: 435(w) x 90(h) x 252(d)mm
·
Weight: 2.7kg
·
Features: 2 x USB inputs (one front, one
rear); iOS and Android app control; Netflix, YouTube and Picasa online
services; 148.5MHz/12-bit video DAC; Stream Smoother; PQLS; Home Media
Gallery: USB/DLNA media playback of AVI, MP4, M4V, FLV, 3GP, WAV, FLAC, MP3,
MPEG4, WMA, WMV, MKV, JPEG,, GIF, PNG, DiVX+ HD
·
Pioneer BDP-450 price: $345 Approx
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