The Pioneer BDP-LX 08 is a Blu-ray player, released in late 2008, that currently sells online from around 500 GBP.

• Outstanding HDTV and 24p movie picture.
• Excellent DVD playback.
• Sleek design, tidy manufacturing.
• Loads of picture controls.
• HD audio as a bitstream.

• No BD-Live.
• No DTS-HD decoder.

For Blu-ray playback, Pioneer's BDP-LX 08 is almost unbeatable: Its pictures show not even the slightest weakness! The flicker-free DVD playback and comprehensive professional picture controls add icing to an already impressive cake. Our only real criticism is the lack of an internet connection.

Multimedia

The Pioneer isn't exactly bursting with multimedia functionality. A look on the back of the unit, for example, immediately reveals the lack of an Ethernet connection - and, therefore, of BD-Live. It's a bitter disappointment from a player in this price class. The test candidate does, at least, play back MP3s and DivX files burnt onto a DVD or CD, as well as AVCHD videos stored on DVD. Viewing photos is, sadly, not possible.

Look what the nifty flap is hiding!

The no-fuss, sleek design hides all of its controls under a flap on the device's front. Inside the casing, too, the construction is impressive: double-walled chassis, separate boards for audio and video - of course, this comes at a price!

Also impressive are the professional picture-tuning tools - there's even a finely adjustable gamma correction, along with various de-interlacing settings. Home-theater fans that love to fine-tune will love this Pioneer! But, in reality, the adjustable de-interlacing is superfluous, since the player's "Pure Cinema" mode already derives flicker-free movie pictures from all of the tricky DVDs.

The remote control sports a sleek, slender look, and offers access to numerous useful functions. Some buttons are, for our taste at least, irritatingly small and therefore hard to operate with confidence.

Black, slim, and stylish: the remote control.

When the player switches on for the first time, the handy "Setup Navigator" asks the user to choose the menu language and the desired video and audio connection so that it can carry out a short audio test with a noise signal. If you then want to switch from HDMI audio to the analog 7.1 output, you have to run the Setup Navigator again - otherwise, the relevant menu entries are unavailable.

There's another treat in store if you also have a Pioneer receiver: The PQLS function (Precision Quartz Lock System) automatically reduces disturbances in CD audio signals resulting from jitter on the HDMI connection - but, as mentioned above, this only works in combination with Pioneer receivers!

Picture Quality

HDTV:
In the measurements lab, the BDP-LX 08 delivered perfect results - typical Pioneer! Via HDMI, it achieved correct luminance and color levels for the RGB color space, and movies and TV documentaries both display perfectly in the "Auto1" mode. With fast motion in 1080/60i material, it performs a touch better than competing models, reproducing high-contrast images without introducing artifacts.

The useful presets "Pioneer PDP" or "Projector" both render a subtle sharpness-enhancement. The player will also store user-defined presets in one of three memory locations, encouraging the user to experiment, and underlining Pioneer's commitment to professional users.

Though movie-playback in the low-judder 24p format does not have access to the player's noise filters, the gamma correction continues to function. This allows darker grayscales and helps with displays whose gamma characteristic is too flat.

DVD:
If you switch the de-interlacing setting from "Auto1" to "On", DVD movies give a sensationally stable progressive picture, regardless of whether the DVD has a progressive flag or not. If, however, the images were recorded on video, as opposed to film, you should leave the "Auto 1" mode active - otherwise, documentaries or music videos often suffer nasty comb-effects.

In the HDMI format 1080/50p, rare occasions highlighted one further (tiny) weakness: In "Six Days Seven Nights", for example, a propeller blade shows tiny stair-step effects as the pilot stands in front of the plane. Nevertheless, the BDP-LX 08 provides some of the best DVD playback of current Blu-ray players.

A rare sight: The Pioneer is one of the few Blu-ray players to offer a 7.1-channel audio output, but unfortunately the developers haven't treated the player to an Ethernet socket.

Bitstream output via HDMI is the best way to relay audio from the Pioneer, and the best thing to connect the player to is a Pioneer receiver, since this then allows jitter-free playback (see Operation and other features, above).

Besides outputting audio as a bitstream via HDMI, the BDP-LX08 also fully decodes Dolby TrueHD audio into 7.1-channel PCM. DTS-HD audio, on the other hand, only outputs as the 5.1-channel core, via both analog and PCM. Playback of audio CDs is excellent via the analog outputs, making the digital alternatives almost superfluous.