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Talk me out of buying an Oppo BDP-93 (1 Viewer)

Carlo_M

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Hi All,

I am a current PS3 user. It's getting close to its 5 year birthday and with all of the wear and tear on it I'm fearing that it will soon give up the ghost. I've really liked using it as my BDP for the entire time, with its only weakness being the loud internal fan that kicks up during BD playback. Luckily I tend to have movies on fairly loud so I don't hear it most of the time, but on quieter passages I can occasionally be distracted by it.
For my next BDP, I would like:
1. To spend $500 or less
2. To have BD load times near to the PS3
3. To be able to play the 50 or so DVD-A and SACD discs that I own (currently the PS3 plays SACD and my old Pioneer RP91 plays DVD-A but I'd really like to retire that player).
4. To have great 1080p upscaling of DVD content (ideally 24p would have been great but I understand the Oppo dropped that feature).
5. Solid build quality.
6. Ability to connect external storage devices for BD-Live and other content.
7. Of course great A/V playback of all BD/DVD/SACD/DVD-A/CD media.

From my research it seems the Oppo not only is good or great at all of these things, but also seems to be the "only game in town" in the $500 and under range.

Am I wrong? Is there another machine I should be looking at? I'm looking to pull the trigger on Wednesday so feedback sooner rather than later would be appreciated! Thanks!
 

TheBat

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the oppo is a fine player and worth the 500 bucks. I do own one. having said that if you are looking for a cheaper player then I would go with the panasonic 2011 models. I am not if it does everything that you want. its a fine player. I also own the 210 model.

Jacob
 

Doug Smith

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Mar 14, 2002
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I picked up one of these a month ago on line. This thing will do almost anything - it even plays my homemade recorded DVDs off an old Toshiba player - something which almost every other player I have tried, won't do. It seems to do everything but slice bread - and I left a loaf beside it when I left this morning - we'll see what it looks like when I get home! The photo capabilities are also outstanding.
 

Carlo_M

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Thanks everyone for the feedback. Pulled the trigger on it and hopefully it will be here by the weekend!
 

Ronald Epstein

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Carlo,

Congrats on your Oppo purchase.

I bought one two months ago and I am loving this machine.

Unbelievably faster load times than my Panasonic BD-55.
I hear the Oppo is slightly slower than the PS3 in load time.

Still waiting on a MOD kit to make this player region free
as I have a lot of imported DVDs in my collection.

Let us know what you think of the player once you get it.



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Carlo_M

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Thanks Ron. Been putting it through it's paces over the last four days and here are my initial observations:

Positives:
1. Very fast load times. I'm coming from a 60GB PS3 so this says something. I can't tell a discernable load difference between the two on the dozen or so BDs I've played, many of which have BD-J content. Handled the John Mayer Where The Light Is BD, which often caused hiccups on my PS3.

2. Better PQ than PS3 - now I admit I didn't do a scientific A/B, and yes it could be the "new car" feeling, but it seems to me that the Oppo gives a slightly sharper/clearer playback than the PS3. I always thought the PS3 was the pinnacle of PQ, but upon using the Oppo I could swear that movies I'm intimately familiar with look better on the Oppo. Playback seems "smoother" too - I do have it on 1080p/24 (and my TV is set at that too, I hate the 120Hz video game look), but I see less film judder than on the PS3. It doesn't quite look video-game surreal, but just seems overall a little bit smoother than the PS3 playback.

3. Fit/finish is excellent. Love the look and heft of the machine. I like the backlit hardbutton remote too (although I'm primarily using a Harmony One).

4. Excellent video/audio setup customizable options. Very robust. If you're a beginner you can use easy setup and be up and running quickly, if you like to tweak, the Oppo gives you plenty of options. I love the subtitle shift. I don't have a constant height setup but for 2.35 foreign films I like the subs to be mostly in the black bars (as opposed to the picture) so I like being able to adjust them downwards.

5. Detailed and very helpful manual (and not confusing). There's an art to writing a good, helpful user manual, and Oppo clearly put a lot of time and effort into it.


6. Has handled every disc I've thrown at it so far (including about a dozen different BDs, 3 SACDs and 4 DVD-A). All worked flawlessly so far (knock on wood).

7. Allowed me to untangle the rats nest. I had two 5.1 cable hookups from my DVD-A and SACD player, as well as their component video hookup for my DVD player. All have been replaced by a single HDMI going from the Oppo to the receiver. This has made my girlfriend very happy! It's allowed me to retire the SACD and DVD-A players as well.


Negatives/Room for improvement
1. Remote sensor angle could be wider. I have my setup off to the right of my TV (about 4') and I have to really point the remote (both the Oppo and Harmony) right at it to get reliable responsiveness.

2. Responsiveness of OSD menus. Not BD menus, which this thing has handled, but the Oppo's native OSD menu seems a little...sluggish at times. I guess I'm spoiled by the silky smooth PS3 menus and its overall responsiveness to the remote. At first I thought it might be unfair to compare what is essentially a computer to a BD player, but given how the Oppo actually costs more than a PS3, I think it's fair to compare the two. This is a minor ergonomic complaint, to be sure.

NOTE: This player does not support 24p playback of DVDs. I thought this would be something I'd miss in the rare instance when I watch DVDs (admittedly maybe twice in the last 12 months). I tested two DVDs on it and was more than happy with the playback quality. Motion seemed to be fine. Yes I wish they'd have included it, but when I watched DVDs on the Oppo I can say that the playback was very good.

That's all I have for now. I'll post more thoughts as time goes on. At some point in the future Ron I'll be looking at some region free options.
 

Ronald Epstein

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Very fast load times. I'm coming from a 60GB PS3 so this says something. I can't tell a discernable load difference between the two on the dozen or so BDs I've played...

That's very encouraging to hear that you can't tell
the difference between a PS3 and the BDP-93 as
far as load times.

That makes me very happy to hear.

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Scott Merryfield

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Thanks for the review, Carlo. I'm jealous, as I've been considering a new Oppo to replace my old Sony BDP-S350, but just have not been able to justify the expense so far. I do have a birthday coming up in a few months, though... maybe it's time to start planting the idea with my wife.
 

Carlo_M

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I hear ya, Scott. I'm in the market for a new Mac once they're refreshed this summer so justifying the $500 was really difficult for me as well. After owning it for over a week now, and really putting it through its paces with more BDs, DVD-A and SACDs, I can I haven't regretted the purchase for one second. If it means I wait another few months before my Mac upgrade, so be it.

As I live with the Oppo, I find the positives I noted above far outweighing the minor complaints I listed.
 

mgdvd0

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There is NO reason what so ever to NOT buy the Oppo BDP-93, once you have this wonderful machine in house you are set and there is NO reason to buy anything else :D
 

Mark_TB

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I have been really close to pulling the trigger on this unit for the last month or so. I am getting a 3D display soon, and will have to upgrade to a 3D player to go with it. I've been using an Oppo DV-980H to play my SACDs, DVD-As, and imported DVDs, so if I could accomplish everything with a single machine, I'd be delighted. However, from what I've been able to tell, there is no remote hack to make the BDP-93 region-free like there was on my DV-980, and that's the only thing holding me back. (And I only need the region-free function for DVD, since all of my BDs are Region-A or all-region.)

I thought I had heard of a remote hack to make the BDP-83 region-free for DVDs only -- has anyone heard of something similar for the BDP-93?

- Mark
 

Carlo_M

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As far as I know there is no remote hack for region code for either DVDs or BDs on the 93. Only the solutions similar to what Ron bought. There are some that don't require full install, and will connect via USB and RS232 like this one.
 

Mark_TB

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Originally Posted by Carlo Medina
As far as I know there is no remote hack for region code for either DVDs or BDs on the 93. Only the solutions similar to what Ron bought. There are some that don't require full install, and will connect via USB and RS232 like this one.
Carlo, are you (or anyone else here for that matter) familiar with the internal mod kit IMEGStore offers for $59.99? I'm nervous about anything that requires me to open the unit and install it myself, but it sounds like it should be fairly easy. I just want to make sure it actually works before ordering one.

- Mark
 

Mark Cappelletty

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Hey guys, my wife and I just got a 93 with our wedding money and it's amazing. I just ordered the IMEG mod after reading the (few) reviews on the web and grabbed a copy of SHALLOW GRAVE on BD from Amazon.co.uk. Happy to have a BR player that doesn't require a separate DVD player for upscaling!
 

Carlo_M

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Mark - let us know how the mod works for you. Also, can you provide a link to which one you actually bought, since there are a few mods out there for the 93. I'd prefer something that I don't have to solder onto the board, or swap out a board for another. Not that I can't (I used to build PCs and regularly upgrade my Macbook Pro internals including the hard and optical drives) but I'd just rather not screw with the Oppo if I don't have to.
Thanks!
 

Mark Cappelletty

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I picked this one up. You don't have to futz with the guts of the player-- either plug it into a port on the board or use it externally via the USB port (which disables wi-fi while you do it). I did research on it and people seem pretty happy with it. The one Ron got seems a lot more complicated and involves ribbon cables and the like. My mod hasn't turned up yet, but when it does, I'll let you know how it works out:
http://www.imegstore.com/oppo-bdp-9395-bluray-region-free-superkit-p-14.html?zenid=7be414e0459eada671dec627fe5ced68
 

Carlo_M

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Thanks Mark, will look forward to your review. I don't mind going via USB because my player is very close to my router and I have a 6' ethernet cord attached directly to it. Makes me feel safer when I do firmware upgrades knowing that it's a direct connection (not sure why, it just does).
 

Mark Cappelletty

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Carlo,
Got it on Saturday and installed it that night. It was an easy install (although you have to take off an additional four screws -- two on each side -- to remove the housing, something not mentioned in the sparse PDF manual). You literally just plug a pin into a socket and peel off the adhesive backing and stick it to the inside wall. The USB cable that remains attached to the unit can be easily taped up and down to the unit floor-- i was told in a response to an email I'd made to the company that you're not to let the metal USB plug touch anything inside, something you think they'd note in the instructions.
I plugged in the codes and, voila!, I'm able to watch my R2 DVD titles without any issues. I'm still waiting on my Region B BR copy of SHALLOW GRAVE but I'll let you know how that turns out.
Very highly recommended (so far).
 

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