HTF Special Review: Upcoming Oppo BDP-83 Profile 2.0 Universal Blu-ray Player (1 Viewer)

[Gary Murrell]

in my opinion it does, this is the best BD player ever made, it literally embarrasses those two companies offerings in speed, capability, responsiveness and heck even quality

hardcore blu-ray users will know what I mean when they get to see this player for the first time in their home or wherever, it is the real deal

also the BDP-83 unleashes more of the ABT2010 VRS chip, more picture adjustments and zooming techniques

-Gary

 

[Jesse Skeen]

VERY important question, as it's the reason I haven't bought any of the other Oppo players- Does this model show ANY type of undefeatable onscreen displays during the first few seconds of starting to play a disc? The Oppo players I've seen show "DVD-VIDEO" at the top for a couple seconds when first playing a DVD, and that's just unacceptable to me. Even if it's an FBI warning I want to see if without anything on top of it, and most of my homemade discs start the main program right away so it's REALLY annoying to see it on those.

I don't mind too much if it puts a display on when skipping chapters or scanning (though I much prefer to be able to turn that off) but I simply can't live with something that puts stuff on the screen right when the disc starts up.

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

Regarding multiregion:


Oh, I really REALLY hope so. I've been waiting and waiting to get into Blu-ray, as I'm only prepared to buy a player that has 7.1 analog output, plays the very limited number of DVD-Audio discs I have, and can be modded to multiregion playback.

Fingers crossed that this is the player to finally tick all the boxes!

 

[TheBat]

I own the panasonic 30. I am very happy with it. I also own the oppo 971. I had problems playing that on an older tv. it works great with my new lcd.
I also own a ps3.
Jacob

 

[DeeF]

Wow.

When can I buy it??!!

I can't wait to trade my Pioneer 05 for this.

 

[Gary Murrell]

if anyone would like a addendum please list the features you would like to know about or questions and I can try and cover it in the update/add-on

thanks

-Gary

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Any chance of a rear panel shot?

 

[Charlie Campisi]

When using the 7.1 analog audio outs, does it have a variable crossover setting for the subwoofer?

 

[Gary Murrell]

80hz at this point I think, more should be coming soon

-Gary



-Gary

 

[Southpaw]

Hey Gary, I got selected for the 2nd wave of EAP so I should be getting an 83 sometime this week. Can't wait to test it out.
One question I have is that I am using a Pioneer VSX-92TXH receiver. Will selecting 4:2:2 color space give me anything different? I run HDMI to the receiver and then HDMI to a Panny AE3000 projector.
Thanks.

 

[tbng]

Gary, I am very interested in the BDP-83, but I also want a player that decodes HDCD and offers that decoded signal at the HDMI outputs, not just analog. I have been in contact with OPPO and obtained a link for the user manual at http://oppodigital.com/Download/BDP8...ish_Manual.pdf. While they claim the decoded HDCD signal is available at HDMI, the manual does not address it. In fact, it is hardly mentioned. Have you tested that? If not, will you?

 

[Edwin-S]

For a "Universal" player, it is too bad that it cannot play the HD DVD discs that many collectors still have.

 

[Maggi Magg]

Edwin-S
Why on earth would they make a new player for a dead format??

 

[Jesse Skeen]

Because the 200 discs I have will NEVER die!

 

[Cees Alons]

You can still buy new 33 1/3 and 45 rpm turntables, can't you?
Even 78 rpm ones. USB versions even.

And rightfully so!


Cees

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Yes, but the new Oppo BD player will not play them, either.

 

[Edwin-S]

I doubt HD DVD players will have that availability: at least new ones. Used ones will be available for the present, but once they die the discs will be useless. The format didn't last long enough to build up a large client base that specialty manufacturers could service profitably.

 

[Doug Otte]

What's the source for your claim that more people own HD-DVD than SACD? I'd like to see those data. It might be true, but I've never seen those figures.

And, why do people insist on calling SACD and vinyl "dead"? Titles continue to be released on both media.

Doug

 

[Edwin-S]

It depends on how you define "dead". I consider any format to be "dead" when I cannot walk into a store and find product readily available for purchase. One statistic I did find was an RIAA stat on total SACDs shipped in 2007. 200,000 SACDs were shown shipped in 2007 compared to 1.3 million Vinyl discs. DVD-A shipped approximately the same number of units as SACD in 2007. SACD and DVD-A combined shipped less than half the total amount of Vinyl LPs which are themselves a barely visible niche.



Looking at those numbers, SACD and DVD-A are for all intents and purposes dead formats; however, I should have originally said "dead as mass market formats". Also the RIAA stats show that SACD and DVD-A shipments are declining over time.

Basically, my only point was that a HD video player shouldn't be called a "Universal" player unless it supports playback of both disc-based HD formats, regardless of their "life" status. IMO, SACD support is mostly in there to allow a small group of people to continue to play their existing SACD collections. I just think they could have given the same playback support to people with HD DVD collections. That kind of support would have truly made it a "Universal" player.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Those thousands of Laser Discs I have sure do look shiny to me and I am quite sure far more Laser Discs have been sold to date than HD-DVDs, thus I suppose Oppo ought to provide support for Laser Discs too. I sure as hell would buy a player in a jiffy if it supported Laser Discs. Not that I won't buy one anyhow and therein lies the secret, Oppo knows that they won't sell too many more players just because they add HD-DVD support and thus it does not make economic sense for them to do so.