Get the Pioneer BDP-LX91 out of its box, and the player's 14kg bulk and substantial build ooze class and quality. The mirror black fascia, metal trim and blue LEDs are right up there with the 'phwoar' hot SC-LX81 and the overall look is very much EVE to the rest of the field's WALL-Es.

Far be it for me to be swayed by simple cosmetic appeal, the BDP-LX91 also comes to the table with full Profile 2.0 support with a class-leading 4GB of memory, no less than eight Wolfson DACs for on-board analogue audio conversion, and tuning by AIR studios. Better yet, you get twin HDMI outputs and Pioneer's Precision Quartz Lock System (PQLS – more on this later) to buff up your audio.

The player's Setup Navigator is the equivalent of having a well-informed tour guide holding your hand, pointing out hidden facts and plying you with additional information. I didn't leave a tip, though, because it missed out the BDP-LX91's comprehensive video adjustment menus.

The twin HDMI outputs are the only part likely to confuse the unwary, as the manual recommends making a direct connection to your display with the sub-HDMI output and using the prime HDMI output direct to your amp in order to achieve highest quality sound.

If you set the player to its Pure Audio Mode 1, then no video is output via the Prime HDMI connection. Alternatively, you can take advantage of dual provision – hook up a plasma and a projector without swapping wires.

High speed HDMI

Just to add a further layer of mystique around the HDMI implementation there is much rhetoric in the documentation about using High Speed HDMI cable to maximise performance. The HDMI organisation now categorises HDMI into Cat 1 (which guarantees delivery of 1080i) and Cat 2 (which accommodates Deep Colour and 1080p).

From personal experience, many different cable brands seem to fall somewhere between the two standards. Consequently, there's still some suck-it-and-see experimentation required to assess the impact of Pioneer's proprietary High Speed Transmission system.

Setting the High Speed mode to On in the player will enable a 10/12/16bit output (depending on the display). If you are using the LX91 with a 9G Pioneer Kuro, and you use a bog-standard Cat1 HDMI lead you may well get no picture at all! (Don't panic, just press the Stop button on the player's fascia which will switch off the High Speed setting.).

For what it's worth, I sucked everything from the universally-ridiculed Sky HD giveaway HDMI cable to a £300 exercise in precious metal conductors, and managed to receive a 1080p/60Hz picture over all of them.

Perhaps if I'd noticed some issues with the picture it would have stopped me getting a dry mouth and sore throat as I watched The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with my jaw resting on my chest. I did occasionally stop to say things like 'wow' and 'awesome' and 'this is the sort of player that makes the billions of R&D yen spent worth every single cent'.

Calibration heaven

With even the most minor of calibration tweaks, using the BDP-LX91's comprehensive-if-slightly-coarse video adjust menu, the picture is certain to impress.

The deep, deep blacks are pure midnight with a blindfold on, the colour rendition is rich and gorgeously natural without a hint of over-egging the pudding, and the motion handling is phenomenal.

The intro sequence to The Mummy... Blu-ray disc is a fast-paced romp through faux Chinese history complete with blur-quick fight sequences and enormous panning camera scenes. It is enough to make you giddy with motion sickness as the Pioneer smoothly pans, scrolls and ekes out every picture detail along the way.

When the Emperor is attacked in his bed, many of the fight movements are beyond the speed the human eye can follow (well, my human eyes anyway...) but the Pioneer never blurs or judders. Watching in slow-motion you can see the mid-frame motion-smearing of the original film recording, but the LX91 never reveals this as anything but high-speed ultra-crisp motion at full rate.

As the scene changes to the temple, the fire-lit chamber is exceptionally realistic, with extensive detailing in the shadows. The scene is full of visual clues to enhance the viewer's fear and apprehension, and the BDP-LX91 will have you wound like a coil-spring with sheer tension.

Switch to a high-quality animated movie like WALL-E and the picture lures you into to the android equivalent of Romeo and Juliet with everything but the balcony. The detail is scorchingly crisp and the Pioneer's incredible motion-processing ensures EVE's fastest fly-pasts are smooth and richly textured.

Fight club

In a head-to-head shoot-out using my best reference 1080p BDs, the Pioneer's picture is all but indistinguishable from the drop-dead gorgeous video performance of its nearest rival, Sony's BDP-S5000ES.