Pioneer BDP-LX71 review

Performance
Let's start with the now standard Vantage Point load time test. The fastest player we've tested is the Sony PS3. As a Blu-ray player it has the most processing power and it can go from loading the disc to playing the Sony Pictures ident in just 42 seconds. The best stand-alone player is the Samsung BD-P1500, which can start playback in 1 minute 9 seconds. The Pioneer is a bit of a slow-coach in comparison, taking an enormous 1 minute 54 seconds to start playback.

Our other, slightly less serious, test is to head for 1:59:49 on the Casino Royale Blu-ray, and look into Daniel Craig's ear to see if the little bit of dead skin that the make-up artist didn't feel like concealing is discerneable. Sure enough, the Pioneer shows this in all its glory. It might put you off your afternoon cucumber sandwiches, but it's a good reminder of how much detail there is in a well-encoded Blu-ray disc.

DVDs also look very good indeed, as you would hope. Both our regular test discs, X-Men and Jurassic Park, looked sharp and full of detail. We are always pleased to see how good DVDs can look when upscaled and processed correctly, and we're happy that the Pioneer will present your older movies with some gusto and in the best possible quality.

We have to compliment the Pioneer BDP-LX71 on its wonderful user interface. Menus are so simple to navigate and there are just enough options to control the player without overwhelming the user. Basic set-up doesn't really require you adjust anything. When a movie is playing, you can use the 'output resolution' button to select what sort of video output you want. You can choose auto, 480i, 480p, 1080i, 1080p or source direct. With the final setting, the output is set to whatever is recorded on the disc -- this is the mode to select if you want the 24Hz output and your TV can handle it.

It's worth noting that if you use 'source direct' on a DVD, you'll get a 576p output  -- on PAL DVDs, NTSC would send 480p video. This is important because the video scaler in your TV might not be as good as the one in this player, which could reduce the quality of upscaled video substantially. We did notice however, that when the output of the player was set to 1080p or 'auto' the DVD image on our X-Men disc didn't fill the screen fully, and there were slight overscan gaps at the left and right, which are thin black bars.

The solution is to run it in source direct, which is what we'd suggest you do if you have a modern TV that does a good job upscaling SD content. Our Sony E4000 certainly does a good job at upscaling, so it's not a problem. Older HD TVs might not fare so well, which is something to remember when you're considering this player.

From an audio perspective, we were very impressed. Using the built-in speakers on our Sony E4000, the downmixed stereo from the original Casino Royale TrueHD soundtrack was beautifully balanced. Speech was crystal clear, but sound effects weren't drowned out, and all had a wonderfully wide stereo separation, which is great when you want more realistic sound from your stereo speakers.

Conclusion
This isn't the player for you if you're looking to save some money. It's suited to people who are building a matched AV system, possibly those who already have a Pioneer AV receiver and TV. It is excellent quality though -- profile 1.1 is good enough for most people -- so the lack of BD Live support isn't much of a concern.

If you can get this for a good price, go for it. Otherwise, we seriously love the Panasonic DMP-BD35 and suspect the BD50 will be top of its class. We also like the PS3, which is half the price and loads interactive content over twice as fast, although it's not ideal for people who want the absolute best picture quality.

Edited by Cristina Psomadakis