Pioneer BDP-330 1080p Streaming Blu-ray Disc Player (Black)

• Internal Audio Decoders: The BDP-330 features internal decoding of all advanced audio formats including Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, DTSHD High Resolution, and DTS-HD Master Audio.
• Wireless Ready: An optional 802.11n wireless adapter (AS-WL100) is available allowing access to online wireless content and firmware upgrades without the need to run additional cables to your Blu-ray Disc player
• Dual USB Inputs: A front and Rear USB input are provided to accommodate optional BD-Live Storage, our optional AS-WL100 Wireless internet adapter, or JPG/MP3 media playback.
• Multi-Format Compatibility: You can play High Definition DVD discs recorded by digital video cameras in AVCHD format. You can also play BD-R/RE, DVD-R/RW, etc. recorded using Blu-ray Disc recorders or DVD recorders as well as CD/CD-R.
• HDMI Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS) Jitterless Transmission (Bitstream): By HDMI connection with a compatible Pioneer A/V receiver, A/V sources such as Blu-ray Discs and DVDs, as well as CD music are precisely reproduced with minimum jitter.

UPDATE: Netflix was added via firmware on roughly 8/14

The news of Pioneer's departure from the plasma market shook the AV community a little over two years ago. Questions abound as to what the future would hold for Pioneer in a post Kuro world. Fans of their Blu-ray players begun in earnest with the 51FD/05FD wondered if a joint venture with Sharp would lead to a dilution of the high quality A/V performance at a very reasonable price point. The release of the budget-priced Pioneer BDP-120 was to some a harbinger of this venture manifesting itself in what appeared to an amateur eye as a largely re-badged Sharp player veiled beneath a Pioneer chassis. Its performance was nowhere near its 320 and 23FD brethren and its price point reflected such.

Emerging news of the 320's replacement came from European sources boasting Youtube streaming, which hinted the promise that US customers might get Netflix streaming or even some of the other instantly streamed video sources. The BDP-330 was largely unannounced until I found one in a Best Buy half-an-hour's drive from my house.

Upon lifting the all-white box, I noticed immediately that it was light, which caused me to prolong any disappointment until I got an opportunity to put it through its paces. I was a bit surprised the box made no mention of Youtube or any streaming services. Upon unboxing the player, I was a bit surprised at how small and shallow its profile really was. It makes the 320 look downright large. The biggest immediate disappointment was the rear output panel, which was identical to the European press photos completely devoid of multichannel analogue outputs. The Burr-Brown DAC-equipped MCH analogue outputs were one of the 320's strongest selling points. The player was made in April of 2010 in China; please note this is a departure from the Malaysian-built 320 and later 51s. The 120 was also made in Sharp and has a number of rear panel similarities including the power cord input's design. The player also shares the exact same model number remote as the 120 VXX3351, which appears nearly identical to the 320, but including some strangely labeled buttons (page +/and keylock) missing the video adjust button (this all but eliminated the hope that this might be a "real" Pioneer for me).

Upon firing up the player, I was greeted by the familiar Pioneer menu, but a very different setup menu that was very similar to the 120 best I can remember. Here's where the disappointment turns real: there is no Netflix; only Youtube and RSS. Gone is the slicky black background menu and appeared is the simple text and icon menu I remember from Sharp players. No choice for colorspace or high-speed HDMI...Just resolution. For folks who have been accustomed (spoiled) by the amount of tweaking possible with the 320/23/51/05, this is a huge disappointment.

All video adjustments options of the 320/23 are GONE. No Preset modes like Pioneer PDP or Projector. Once again, just resolution. This player is certainly not of the linneage of the current 320 or 51 with their extensive picture adjustment menus and presets. From this standpoint, the 330 is very disappointing.

In respects of load times, the quick start feature added very little discernable benefit to load times, that were very pokey. In fact, the current 320 was faster in actual load times in all the discs I tested than the 330. Other than the 2 second power off eject time, the Pioneer BDP-330's load times were embarrasingly so for a 2010 player whose peer group can load the same discs in a third of the time.

Player Eject Dark Knight Casino Royale POC I Coin POC 1 -Disney Castle Total Speed

Pioneer BDP-320 18 36 36 39 62 191 5.5

Pioneer BDP-23FD 18 36 36 39 62 191 5.5

Pioneer BDP-51FD 33 45 44 39 73 234 4.5

Pioneer BDP-330* 2 39 34 47 63 185 5.5

* with quickstart engaged

In testing deinterlacing capabilities with synthetic test suites, the Pioneer BDP-330 did not establish itself as a stand-out by any means. Its performance was very similar tot he BDP-120 in failing to recognize most of the film cadences. In video-based tests, jaggies were prolific and the moire in S&M's speedometer test was the worst I have seen save the Sony BDP-N460, S470, S570, and S370.

Realworld testing was bit more kind to the player. While the upconverted image was not as sharp as the 320, it was compotent on most test material devoid of choppy edits. My biggest complaint is the utter lack of video adjustments for dvd. There are simply no adjustment menus or sub-menus, which is the antithesis of the elaborate and detailed adjustment options available in the current 320.

Deinterlacing Performance using S&M Test Disc:

Test 2:2 2:2:2:4 2:3:2:3 (PF-T) 2:3:2:3 2:3:3:2 3:2:3:2:2 5:5 6:4 8:7:8:7 24p pass Time-adjusted

Pio 320 pass fail pass pass* marg fail marginal fail marginal pass fail

Pio 120 pass fail pass fail fail fail fail fail fail pass pass

Pio 330 pass fail pass fail fail fail fail fail fail pass fail

Value/Overall:

With sluggish load times, just above average dvd quality, a lack of built in wirless connectivity, youtube and rss streaming only, no multi-channel analogue outputs, no picture adjustments, and non-3D capable, it's hard to argue why this player should cost more than $100 in this market. Even then, it's hard to argue why someone would purchase this player at all unless they are hell-bent on a pioneer fascia and youtube. Firmware and time may bring Netflix and other streaming options, but there are many other players that offer so much more for so much more less. With an MSRP appears to be a very lofty $299, I would encourage folks to explore a combination of two players like an LG BD550 and a Pioneer BDP-320 for nearly the same price and would be a perfect marriage of excellent AV playback of optical media (320) and excellent streaming options (550). All in all, this player is a massive disappointment to followup on the great performance and value the 320 offered.

Buy Pioneer BDP-330 1080p Streaming Blu-ray Disc Player (Black) Now

I was expecting a product to manufactured to the traditional Pioneer standards. Unfortunately, I was grossly dissapointed. Two things that are very annoying: To open and close the drive you have to either use the remote or push the tiny (and I mean TINY) button. After inserting the disk, in order to get the disk to play you must then push the tiny button and then the play button (unlike the BDP-23FD which allows you to push the play button and then the Blu-Ray player closes the door for you.

Also, the mechanism is noisy and the cycle time to go from on to door open is LONG. There are other blu-ray players. I suggest you spend your money wisely and not purchase this one.

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I was very disappointed with this unit out of the box. I bought it so that it could use the iPod app with my AVR. It was the slowest player I had seen in many years. Loading a disc was rediculous and long delays before it would respond to functions like eject made it almost impossible to tolerate. I checked for an online update using the Internet connection built into the unit. Nothing was available. I finally went into the system menu and did a full reset on the unit. IT NOW WORKS GREAT! The main page is now different. I believe that the unit had an update at the factory but did not take because it needed a reset. Like when a computer is restarted after a software update. It is now fast to load discs and the command responses from the eject button and remote are great.

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The product was easy to hook up,and to run though the set up. It took a little long to load disk and got quite noisy but overall not to bad. Had a few screen size issues.

I replaced my Sony BDP-S560 with this new Pioneer Bluray player. The main reason was to match my new Pioneer VSX-1120-K receiver and it does so perfectly. I do like the button, drawer and display layout of the Pioneer over the Sony. As far as function, speed and performance goes, it is at least as good as if not better then the Sony especially in the speed (on, loading and shutoff) department. Hopefully, it will continue to work fine and last a long time. One thing it does not have that the Sony does have is built in wireless. However, Pioneer is supposed to come out with a wireless Lan adpater (hopefully wireles N and affordable, i.e. almost free) that plugs into the rear USB port. Still, for the money, the adapter should have been included with the unit (almost did not give it a four star rating because of this).