Pioneer 120 or sony bdp-s360 Bluray?

[admin_exported]

Hi All,

I was hoping someone could give me some advice? I have a Pioneer PDP - 428XD Plasma and I'm looking to buy a bluray. I dont really want to spend more than £150 and I was wondering which of the Pioneer 120 or sony bdp-s360 are better for my tv. A guy in Superfi recommended I opt for the Pioneer bluray because it matches my tv. I was wondering if this was true? Also, the reviews I have read for the Pioneer bluray aren't great.

Any advice would be appreciated as would any other options.

Thanks.

 

[bigboss]

It matches your TV???

What are the advantages? The Pioneer 120 is essentially a Sharp player in Pioneer clothing. There are hardly any reviews of the Pioneer 120. I would opt for the Sony S360 which has consistently good reviews.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks bigboss. The chap was telling me the pitcture would be better using the Pioneer because its the same technology?!!

 

[bigboss]

Complete non sense.

 

[Anonymous]

The Pioneer 120 is rubbish. Go for the Sony 360.

 

[Fisherking 145]

I bought a 360 two weeks ago, and have been more than very pleased with my £120 from HMV purchase. Compared to my Sony recorder, upscaling of DVD's has been a revelation. Oh, and it doesn't match my Sammy TV

.

 

[ear]

I really doubt its the same as the sharp

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

I am toying between both of these (well the Sony 363 to be exact). Both are around about same price

After a bit of research I'm tending towards the Pioneer, and my thoughts run something like the following

Pioneer has facility for local storage of BD-live material, Sony 363/360 doesn't. I think BD-live is in its infancy, but why go out of my way to avoid something properly set-up for it.

I don't have a Pioneer telly, but do have a pioneer Reciever.

OK I accept that the notion of Pioneer working better with Pioneer is flawed, but I have to say that I have been unimpressed by the the absolute interoperability of the HDMI-control standards between brands (Kuro-link, viera-link, Bravia-whatever). As a practical point I'd be more confident in getting my Pio Receiver remote to control the 120, than the 363.

Whilst this is a HiFi forum and aesthetics might not be the foremost decision-making factor, these will be items of furniture, and the asethetic mathc of the 120 with my reciever is also relevant.

I could be wrong, and I should disclaim a bit of anti-Sony sentiment anyway..

And if WHF get around to reviewing the Philips 9500 and its as good as it looks on paper, I may be tempted to increase my budget by factor of 3 to plumb for that.

 

[Sorreltiger]

Sorry - you are incorrect. The BDP-S360 and 363 both support BD-Live, should you wish to use it. Personally, I've yet to find much worthwhile in that direction. As stated above, the Sonys are much better machines than the Pioneer. Regarding remotes: Kuro-link etc is decidedly flaky. However, the addition of a Harmony remote will make a huge difference to the ease of use of your system. It may seem like a luxury, but it's my best buy from the point of view of family-friendliness.

 

[Anonymous]

If you check the fine print for the specs of the 360/363 you'll see that while it claims BD-live functionality, and has a USB port, it specifically doesn't facilitate local storage of any web-based material. While my exposure to BD live is minimal, and I entirely agree with the view of its worthwhileness currently, my understanding tis that this would limit the Sony to streaming/on-demand content only with no local buffer of disc-specific material, which is the way BD-live may or may not be heading.

Agree with comment on harmony remote, (on my long wish list) probably don't agree with superiority of all Sonys over all Pios.

 

[bigboss]

You've got the concept of "local storage" wrong. For BD live feature to function, it needs a certain amount of storage space within the player. The high end models have in-built storage (usually 1GB) for the same, while the lower end models like the Pioneer 120 AND the Sony S360 have a USB port in which you have to attach a USB storage device (about 1GB) to access BD-live content.

Both Pioneer 120 & the Sony S360 have exactly the same facility for BD live storage function. There's no difference between them.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi

Thanks for tthe effort in trying to steer me, interested in how I'm getting it wrong

If I check 360 specs

http://www.sony.co.uk/product/blu-ray-disc-player/bdps360b.cek#pageType=TechnicalSpecs

I see a line 'Local Storage for BD live ..... NO"

So if I interpret you correctly, that is Sony's way of telling me they don't include a USB drive in the box, but if I buy a USB drive it would work for local storage. Seems like an awfully silly way of telling me that, and I think it reasonable to interpret that as not having local storage functionality?

Also, as you seem familiar with Sony, I have a wired Ethernet point convenient for whichever BD player I buy, so I'd be interested in your views of whether the significant price difference between 360 and 760 buys anything other than WiFi capability

 

[bigboss]

Treidlia:

So if I interpret you correctly, that is Sony's way of telling me they don't include a USB drive in the box, but if I buy a USB drive it would work for local storage.

That is correct.

Treidlia:

Also, as you seem familiar with Sony, I have a wired Ethernet point convenient for whichever BD player I buy, so I'd be interested in your views of whether the significant price difference between 360 and 760 buys anything other than WiFi capability

Yes, it does. The S560 is basically an S360 + wi-fi. But the S760 borrows the "HD reality enhancer" technology from Sony's high-end flagship model, the S5000ES, apart from having analogues; useful if you have an old receiver that doesn't have an HDMI port.

 

[Anonymous]

bigboss:Treidlia:

So if I interpret you correctly, that is Sony's way of telling me they don't include a USB drive in the box, but if I buy a USB drive it would work for local storage.

That is correct.

Treidlia:

Also, as you seem familiar with Sony, I have a wired Ethernet point convenient for whichever BD player I buy, so I'd be interested in your views of whether the significant price difference between 360 and 760 buys anything other than WiFi capability

Yes, it does. The S560 is basically an S360 + wi-fi. But the S760 borrows the "HD reality enhancer" technology from Sony's high-end flagship model, the S5000ES, apart from having analogues; useful if you have an old receiver that doesn't have an HDMI port.

That would be your precise question answered in the latest issue - figured you would have known that, really.

 

[Anonymous]

one thing i noticed , the 360 is better at upscaling dvds than the ps3 , at least to my eyes....

 

[bigboss]

You're right maxflinn, but OP's Pioneer TV will be a better upscaler than the S360. For that matter, even your Panasonic G10 is a good upscaler (I'm not sure if it's better than the S360, though).

 

[Anonymous]

ah yes , his tv should be very good at scaling , the g10 isnt fantastic at scaling actually bb , one of its few weakness...

 

[bigboss]

Thanks for updating me about Panasonic's upscaling abilities. That brings to the next question: apart from Pioneer, which TVs are good at upscaling?

 

[Anonymous]

samsung are very good , im not really sure about the rest , the kuro is the only one thats actually better than any external scaler , as you have often informed us