Finally, Blu-ray players are coming of age. They've taken their sweet time, but we're now seeing players that will load a disc as fast as a DVD player, do all the things Blu-ray promised and don't cost a fortune. Pioneer embraced Blu-ray early on in the race and recently announced a couple of new machines, including this latest entry-level player.

Design And Features
The BDP-120 is noticeably slimmer than Pioneer's previous Blu-ray players at just 58mm. Its high gloss black finish (what else?) looks very sleek and there are minimal controls on the machine itself, so keep the remote control close by. Unfortunately, the tiny, centrally placed display is all but useless unless you're looking at it straight on.

The player will do BD-Live (Profile 2.0) and has onboard decoding for the current crop of HD audio formats, namely Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus and DTS-HD Master Audio. This means you don't need to do the decoding via the A/V receiver, which is good news if yours is an older unit that doesn't have processing for these surround sound formats.

There's a USB port for plugging in compatible flash memory to enable the BD-Live functionality. Quick Start mode, on the other hand, promises to power up the player from standby in under 1 second. The player can upscale DVDs to 1080p, output bitstream audio through HDMI and plays CDs.

The BDP-120 also supports 1080p24 (24 frames-per-second) video reproduction, but you'll need an up-to-date display to handle this (which most current flat-panel TVs do). The same goes for its 36-bit Deep Color support. Partnering with Pioneer's own plasma displays, the BDP-120 features the Kuro Link synchronization control, which also works with suitably equipped Pioneer A/V receivers.

Performance
From standby, the BDP-120 starts up quickly and you can load a disc promptly. That's where the speed kinda stops though--Blu-ray disc loading times varies considerably. A lot of this has to do with the individual title, whether it has BD-Live content or not, and this can slow loading times down. This goes for loading DVDs as well. It's a lot better than earlier generation players, but expect to wait between 2 to 3 minutes for a Blu-ray Disc to fully load and actually start playing past all the menus, etc.

Once the disc is played, the everyday controls such as pausing, skipping chapters or fast forwarding are also a bit sketchy and slow to respond. More than once, the player displayed a rather annoying "cannot operate" message when we tried to shuttle forward. This only occurred with Blu-rays, not DVDs and we also noticed disc playing surfaces needed to be squeaky clean especially with rental discs, as any finger marks or smudges caused the Pioneer to freeze, after which it goes back to the start again.

Such operational idiosyncrasies aside, your reward is a sumptuously vivid and gorgeously detailed picture. We loved what we saw once the Pioneer was happily spinning a Blu-ray disc--best hit the play button, leave the player alone and enjoy the movie. Watching Transporter 3, the Pioneer dished up the action with fantastic video and audio quality; colors looked bright, vivid and above all, natural, while details were crisply resolved with high levels of solid contrast. The Dolby TrueHD audio stream flowed with tremendous power and control, placing surround effects around the room with as much skill as the stunt drivers flinging the Audi around on-screen. There's ample bass presence as well as pace and drive--the Pioneer's internal decoders really did make the most of this sort of pulsating, dynamic surround sound score.

Its 1080p DVD upscaling was impressive, as long as the original transfer was up to scratch. Such DVDs like Contact or The Fifth Element, which are both top-notch standard-definition transfers, looked sharp and also highly detailed with little or no evidence of video compression. Panning was also super smooth and only bettered when playing HD Blu-ray content.

Musically, the Pioneer proved up to scratch, too. Playing Beethoven or Nine Inch Nails (NIN), the BDP-120 comes pretty close to the sound of a decent CD player. NIN's Closer had a pleasantly smooth, weighty and musical presentation with good rhythmic attack and drive, while orchestral works were rendered in a fine, full-scale fashion.

Conclusion
Pioneer could have had a "budget Blu-ray player to beat" with the BDP-120. There's no denying its fine video and audio capabilities, plus impressive features, but its frustrating operational quirks take a fair chunk of icing off this cake, which is a real shame.