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

[CraigF]

SACD is in there because it's...Sony. No need to pull out numbers and stats, or speculate why some of the other "missing" formats or features aren't, this is the real answer.

IMO of course. [Please, noone tell me Sony doesn't pull the BD strings, and that they don't "own" it...I know that from a theoretical POV.]

Oppo is probably already being bent over the test bench on their BD licensing fees. It is not easy for a smaller manufacturer to enter this realm.

 

[Jesse Skeen]

It'd be nice if they COULD have it play laserdiscs, especially if it could play the Hi-Def ones from Japan, but since they're analog, bigger and use a different type of laser that would add a lot to the cost of the player. I don't know enough about HD-DVD to say how complicated it is to support playback of that. I would have bought the LG dual-format player had it not had a lot of technical issues.

Meanwhile, can anyone answer my question about the Oppo putting on-screen displays at the top when starting the discs it DOES play?

 

[Doug Otte]

Sorry, but did you really think about this nutty idea before you posted it? How many Sony BD players support SACD? Zero.

The real reason is that audio afficionados form a core part of Oppo's customer base, and we care about having a single machine that handles all of our audio and video discs (well, maybe not all, but as many as possible).

Doug

 

[CraigF]

Yeah, maybe it is nutty after all.

Re the Oppo/audio thing: yes, I know, I have an Oppo just for digital audio over HDMI, don't care about its video capability at all.

There are already lots of very good BD players. This one won't be cheap, so has to be very special for me to jump on it, considering the $170 980 already does all the digital audio->HDMI stuff and so far more of it. OTOH, maybe it is a very good $500 video-only player and can stand on that alone.

 

[pitchman]

According to a post over at PS3SACD.com in addition to everything else, there is now confirmation that the OPPO BDP-83 will play DVD-Audio, too. This is becoming mighty tempting! If I can get one box to perform the audio functions of my Denon DVD-3910 (that I ultimately want to move to my music room) combined with the Blu-ray playback capabilities of my PS3, it is time to seriously consider it. (I am tired of trying to explain to my wife HOW to watch a movie or listen to a CD...)

 

[Alfonso_M]

I'm a bit confused here..

"Another bonus with this player is the ability to do SACD playback. With the minimum HDMI 1.2 spec (this player is 1.3) you can send direct unprocessed DSD to a capable pre-amp or receiver, this is a excellent way to listen to SACD and is highly recommend by your reviewer."

Is this player capable of decoding DSD and sending it via the analog audio outs to a receiver, or just "pass thru" via the HDMI out?

 

[pitchman]

This picture of the back of the player clearly shows 7.1 analog outputs, so I think we are good to go.

 

[Alfonso_M]

Thanks Gary for clearing that issue for me, let's see what the street price is going to be..

A player like this would be perfect for me since I'm not planning to upgrade my Receiver in the near future....this way I can retire my SACD player to a different room and listen to both SACD and lossless Blu audio without upgrading the receiver..

Any other Blu players with SACD capabilities out there? (except PS3)

 

[The Seventh Taylor]

Well, if you count out the first 7 million PS3 consoles.

In case anyone asks (I believe somebody here did but I don't see it now) SACD-compatible BD players have been developed by Oppo, Denon, Marantz en some brand called ezGear.

 

[Scratch]

Greetings Gary, and thanks for a fine review.
Been following this and the early adopter threads (AVS)and feel that this player has the quality and support that I've been waiting for.
Received my invitation to purchase this morning, so I took the plunge.

 

[Hayes Preston]

Not a detailed review but a couple of random thoughts on this player. I received the BD 83 last week, but did not have a chane to install it until last night. I spent about two hours with it sampling various BD and SD DVD scenes to give a quick test drive.

Set up was a breeze, every optin has a little help description as you highlight it so no thumbing through a manual to determine what 16:9 vs 19:9 Auto means....thumbs up OPPO

BD playback is excellent, no complaints here. Hi Res audio sounded amazing (test with The Dark Knight key scenes and Master and Commander opening battle)

SD DVD-signifigantly better than the BD player it replaced. Watched the opening scene of Gladiator, the Coliseum battle of Gladiator and opening of Star Wars III, the space battle.

One thing I did notice on SD DVD, I origianally had the player set to convert SD DVD to 24P, and there were a couple of wierd cuts in Gladiator. It was as if the player couldn't handle quick cuts while converting to 24P, so I switched to 60hz and the problem went away.

Haven't tried any SACD or DVD-A yet, also looking forward to hearing HDCD

 

[Joe Fisher]

Oppo now has the BDP83 available to the general public. $499.

 

[Hayes Preston]

Just a quick update:

First, yes Oppo has the BDP-83 available on their website, Amazon is also selling it (staring July 6th)

www.amazon.com/OPPO-BDP-83-Blu-ray-Player-DVD-Audio/dp/B002EEP3MK/ref=sr_1_4

Second, with the latest beta version of Oppo's firmware, I now have no issues with HDCD.

Hayes
Edited by Hayes Preston - 6/30/2009 at 11:31 pm GMT

 

[Jonathan Kaye]

And joy of utter joys, there's an aftermarket mod to make it region-free for Blu-ray! Hurrah! Now all I need is the UK distributor to get stock - and the small matter of finding the money! - and I can at last get into this Blu-ray malarkey.

 

[Christoph_G]

Completely Silent!
In case anybody out there was wondering, this player does not create any fan noise. I have had this player for about 2 months, replacing my Toshiba XA2. The XA2 is a fab upconverter, but the fans sounded like an air conditioner at all times—drove me bonkers!

This Oppo is every bit as good (or better) at upconversion as the stellar XA2 for my standard DVD collection while making no noise whatsoever. It also starts up/loads incredibly fast. For the time being, the bonus is the ability to also play Blu-ray disks (until ready to fully embrace it).

I feel this purchase was worth every penny!

 

[Gary Seven]

In regards to the analog outs, I assume this can be used to allow the Oppo to decode lossless formats and send the audio via the analog outs to the amp? I assume this is true with the SACD playback? Can anyone verify? Also, my amp only supports 5.1 analog inputs. Is there a setting on the Oppo to address this? Thanks to anyone who can answewr.

 

[Leo Kerr]

From memory, yes, you can tell the Oppo how many speakers you're using and it will handle the issues. Also, if it helps, the user manual for the player is available from the Oppo web-site; it was useful for me when I was evaluating the as-yet-unreleased player against some of the others. (And so far, I haven't regretted it. I'll admit to some uncertainty when I went ahead and ordered it, but...)

Leo

 

[Gary Seven]

^^^Good idea to check the manual online. Thanks.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Here is the HTF product page. On the links section you will find links to the manual and the oppo site. I ordered one today.

 

[Mike.B]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Kaye /forum/thread/283340/htf-special-re...-2-0-universal-blu-ray-player/30#post_3578305

For what it's worth, you don't need the hardware mod, just a different firmware (I won't link, can easily find by googling). I installed earlier this week and it works. Now I can finally unload my DV-980H.