Pioneer plans to release its first BD-Live Blu-ray players by the end of the year, followed by Yamaha's new BD-S2900 proposal for HD entertainment.

Pioneer just officially announced the Japanese variation of the upcoming Elite BDP-09FD player, the new BDP-LX91. The player is Pioneer's first to support the BD-Live specifications.

The high-end player hosts complex on-board audio processing circuity promising to offer enhanced audio processing capabilities. The device is capable of decoding 7.1 DTS and Dolby signals using a dedicated DACs for each corresponding channel. From there, the signal is directed to either the player's 8 gold-plated RCA or HDMI outputs. The player also has no visible wires inside, mounting them on the player's metal base in order to avoid signal degradation and noise.



Playback options include DVD-R/RW of BD-R/RE (BDMV/BDAV) besides BD video (BDMV), DVD video, AVCHD, AVCREC, audio CD. CD-R/RW etc.

The device also upconverts video signals to 16-bit output, making the player ready for the upcoming 16-bit television sets.

The HDMI outputs correspond to 1080/24p signal. It is also possible to convert Dolby NR TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio into linear PCM.

Of course, the player incorporates BD-Live connectivity via an Ethernet port.

The high-end components offered by the BDP-09FD comes at a price of $2,200. Its Japanese brother, the BDP-LX91, will be available in Japan in November for 430,000 Yen ($3,956). Pioneer will also release a BONUSVIEW BD player in Japan in December, the BDP-LX71, priced at 118,000 Yen ($1,085).

Another Japanese maker, Yamaha, is set to release its first BonusView Profile 1.1 Blu-ray player. Designed to compliment The new BD-S2900 Blu-ray player, which is designed to complement a high-end A/V receiver, the new BD-S2900 outputs 1080p/24fps via HDMI and offers 12-bit Deep Color to deliver 4096 shades of each of the three primary colors for a total of 68.7 billion colors.

The BD-S2900 also offers 1080p output for DVDs and photos. The unit's video processing offers Chroma Upsampling, precise pixel detection and 16-step motion video detection.

Yamaha's BD-S2900 also offers high bit-rate audio signals (Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Digital Plus, DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS-HD High Resolution Audio) output via HDMI, an RS-232C interface for integration with touch controllers, IR ports, support for analog audio output with a 192kHz, 24-bit converter. It's MSRP is $1,200.