Whats with all the talk about Oppo BDP-83 ?

WilliamM2

This is definitely at the top of the list for my first Blu-ray player right now. I love that it offers SACD/DVD-A playback. Prior to this, the only BRP's that offered that cost upwards of 1500 dollars, which is out of my price range...

Actually the Oppo is the first Blu-Ray player to support SACD/DVD-A. Prior to this, only the PS3 would play Blu and SACD (no DVD-A). Denon was the first to annouce a stand alone universal Blu-Ray player, but the release has been delayed a couple of times, and it's still not available.

BlueFox

I wish Oppo would skip the SACD/DVD-Audio part, and put out a player that only does Blu-Ray/DVD, but is the best it can be in those areas. I suspect most who are interested in SACD already have a better player.

When you are all things to all people something has to give.

vmaxer

Ron Temple wrote: »

Mine's sitting in the trunk of my car waiting for my wife to leave so I can sneak it in . I'll let you guys know how it sounds over analog later.

Looking forward to what your thoughts are.:) Be sure to get them in before the thrashing!!:eek:

ESavinon

The oppo beats the ps3 in ALL counts.

Ron Temple

vmaxer wrote: »

Looking forward to what your thoughts are.:) Be sure to get them in before the thrashing!!:eek:

Ok, I put it through some paces. The DACs on this unit are far superior to those in the 980 and Sony S300. It presents much more subtle detail and channel separation along with a very rich tonal quality. Those who criticized other Oppo players might or might not change their tune, but at least they'd appreciate the improvement. For me, the improvement was stark. Even greater than when I put a dedicated 2 channel pre into my rig. I like the OSD interface. The remote is ok. Lossless over analog I need to calibrate, but initially I'm very pleased with DVD A/SACD. DTS MA/HD and Dolby True HD are going to need some work...can't get the sub or center dialed in quite right...probably need DVE or Avia. Load times for all normal media are almost instantaneous. Disney BDs (some of the slowest loading with tons of non avoidable previews on the Sony) take about 25-30 secs and you can hit Top Menu and pass by all the crap. It comes with a video calibration disk which I'm going to try out. DVDs look better than with the 980 upscaled to 1080p, still not BD quality, but better.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with the SQ uptick and the improvements over the S300. Much more tweakable. The unit features a better build quality than any previous Oppo, nearly the size and weight of the Sony, but it's still not it's strong suit. $500 for what you get is a real bargain.

kolyan2k

ESavinon wrote: »

The oppo beats the ps3 in ALL counts.

ps3 is a game consul with bluray player, oppo is a cd/dvd/bluray player......

the ONLY thing you can compare is bluray performance which IMO 99% the same. and please dont bring up it loads 1-5 seconds faster.

EDIT: of course you can play CDs, DVDs, and even SACDs on PS3, but thats not why 99.9% of people buy PS3.

kolyan2k

which DACs is it using ?

Ron Temple wrote: »

Ok, I put it through some paces. The DACs on this unit are far superior to those in the 980 and Sony S300. It presents much more subtle detail and channel separation along with a very rich tonal quality. Those who criticized other Oppo players might or might not change their tune, but at least they'd appreciate the improvement. For me, the improvement was stark. Even greater than when I put a dedicated 2 channel pre into my rig. I like the OSD interface. The remote is ok. Lossless over analog I need to calibrate, but initially I'm very pleased with DVD A/SACD. DTS MA/HD and Dolby True HD are going to need some work...can't get the sub or center dialed in quite right...probably need DVE or Avia. Load times for all normal media are almost instantaneous. Disney BDs (some of the slowest loading with tons of non avoidable previews on the Sony) take about 25-30 secs and you can hit Top Menu and pass by all the crap. It comes with a video calibration disk which I'm going to try out. DVDs look better than with the 980 upscaled to 1080p, still not BD quality, but better.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with the SQ uptick and the improvements over the S300. Much more tweakable. The unit features a better build quality than any previous Oppo, nearly the size and weight of the Sony, but it's still not it's strong suit. $500 for what you get is a real bargain.

RandyWilliamson

I beleive it's Cirrus...if that's how it spelled....from when I spoke to them yesterday.

WilliamM2

kolyan2k wrote: »

ps3 is a game consul with bluray player, oppo is a cd/dvd/bluray player......

the ONLY thing you can compare is bluray performance which IMO 99% the same. and please dont bring up it loads 1-5 seconds faster.

Since Blu-Ray is normally output at the native 1024p/24hz, the player (any player) doesn't do any processing to the signal, it should be 100% the same.

Where the Oppo shines in in DVD upconversion and de-interlacing. I have not seen any player that can outperform the Oppo 983 in that area, and the BDP-83 uses the same ABT solution. If you have no use for that, then no need to spend $500 on a Blu-Ray player.

ESavinon

kolyan2k wrote: »

ps3 is a game consul with bluray player, oppo is a cd/dvd/bluray player......

the ONLY thing you can compare is bluray performance which IMO 99% the same. and please dont bring up it loads 1-5 seconds faster.

EDIT: of course you can play CDs, DVDs, and even SACDs on PS3, but thats not why 99.9% of people buy PS3.

I guess i was that .1% that bought 2 ps3 60 for it's other capabilities :rolleyes:

Ron Temple

The early rev of the PS3 had SACD capability over HDMI. It was and still is a great game consol and BD player, but it's an apples and oranges comparison. If you don't need MCH analog outs, DVD A and now SACD and play games then the PS3 is going to be the better choice. If you don't play games, need/want analog outs, all the hi-rez audio formats, a great upscaling DVD player, as well as, the latest BD rev, then the Oppo is a no brainer.

ESavinon

Lasareath wrote: »

But I can't figure out where to plug in my controllers!!!!

I never implied that the oppo is a game console.
I have both the ps3 and the bdp-83 in my bedroom system and the oppo wins in video (dvd,blu-ray) and audio (red book,dvd-a, sacd).
Sal, correct me if i'm wrong but You don't have a blue-ray player yet.

ESavinon

Ron Temple wrote: »

The early rev of the PS3 had SACD capability over HDMI. It was and still is a great game consol and BD player, but it's an apples and oranges comparison. If you don't need MCH analog outs, DVD A and now SACD and play games then the PS3 is going to be the better choice. If you don't play games, need/want analog outs, all the hi-rez audio formats, a great upscaling DVD player, as well as, the latest BD rev, then the Oppo is a no brainer.

The ps3 also upconverts dvd. If you need a complete multimedia center then the ps3 is still unbeatable. I love mine. I just won't use it for audio/video anymore.

kolyan2k

ESavinon wrote: »

I guess i was that .1% that bought 2 ps3 60 for it's other capabilities :rolleyes:

let me get this straight.........so you bought PS3 for $500 and you DONT use it as a game consul and/or bluray player ???

If you bought it as a CD player, or $500 dollar DVD player.........then I am sorry.

Erik Tracy

kolyan2k wrote: »

let me get this straight.........so you bought PS3 for $500 and you DONT use it as a game consul and/or bluray player ???

If you bought it as a CD player, or $500 dollar DVD player.........then I am sorry.

I can sense your hate...good...good....let it flow thru you....:p

Geez, what's with the anti-PS3 tirade?

kolyan2k

Erik Tracy wrote: »

I can sense your hate...good...good....let it flow thru you....:p

Geez, what's with the anti-PS3 tirade?

who said i am anti-PS3 ? I have PS3 and i love it.

comfortablycurt

There are actually a lot of people that bought PS3's to simply use them as a Blu-ray/audio player. For a long time, they were basically the best BRP on the market without spending an arm and a leg. A lot of people use them as media centers too.

Believe it or not, not everyone plays video games all the time.;) The most up to date consoles I own are a Sega Genesis and a Super Nintendo...between the two of them, I probably play about an hour or two of video games every 3 months.

kolyan2k

comfortablycurt wrote: »

There are actually a lot of people that bought PS3's to simply use them as a Blu-ray/audio player. For a long time, they were basically the best BRP on the market without spending an arm and a leg. A lot of people use them as media centers too.

Believe it or not, not everyone plays video games all the time.;) The most up to date consoles I own are a Sega Genesis and a Super Nintendo...between the two of them, I probably play about an hour or two of video games every 3 months.

I am not sure if this post is for me........I did say that I use my PS3 for Bluray playback....That was the reason why I purchased it to begin with. and in terms of Audio......in ghetto setup maybe HDMI audio is perfect, but I prefer Analog. Sure I listen to mp3s, use it as media server, web browser sometimes......but thats NOT what I paid my $500 for. And if someone did purchase it to listen to CDs......, I think a $10 dollar CDP would do a much better job.

Ron Temple

Ron Temple wrote: »

Ok, I put it through some paces. The DACs on this unit are far superior to those in the 980 and Sony S300. It presents much more subtle detail and channel separation along with a very rich tonal quality. Those who criticized other Oppo players might or might not change their tune, but at least they'd appreciate the improvement. For me, the improvement was stark. Even greater than when I put a dedicated 2 channel pre into my rig. I like the OSD interface. The remote is ok. Lossless over analog I need to calibrate, but initially I'm very pleased with DVD A/SACD. DTS MA/HD and Dolby True HD are going to need some work...can't get the sub or center dialed in quite right...probably need DVE or Avia. Load times for all normal media are almost instantaneous. Disney BDs (some of the slowest loading with tons of non avoidable previews on the Sony) take about 25-30 secs and you can hit Top Menu and pass by all the crap. It comes with a video calibration disk which I'm going to try out. DVDs look better than with the 980 upscaled to 1080p, still not BD quality, but better.

All in all, I'm extremely happy with the SQ uptick and the improvements over the S300. Much more tweakable. The unit features a better build quality than any previous Oppo, nearly the size and weight of the Sony, but it's still not it's strong suit. $500 for what you get is a real bargain.

Was playing around today with the Oppo in 2 channel through the Luxman pre. The Oppo has dedicated 2 channel DACs through separate outputs. UuHHHmmm...nice, rich and toasty.

For MCH and the hi rez codecs, the problem I was experiencing was a bleedover of the center to the sub. I couldn't fix it over analog, but the HK has 2 direct settings, 6ch and 8ch. I guess the 6ch Direct is on a separate board because I switiched to 8ch Direct and the problem went away. Recalibrated and I'm fine. I'm only running 5.1, but since there's very little 7.1 content I'm not going to be losing much (yet). Time to start looking for that new HT pre :rolleyes:.

digitalvideo

Ron Temple wrote: »

Was playing around today with the Oppo in 2 channel through the Luxman pre. The Oppo has dedicated 2 channel DACs through separate outputs. UuHHHmmm...nice, rich and toasty.

For MCH and the hi rez codecs, the problem I was experiencing was a bleedover of the center to the sub. I couldn't fix it over analog, but the HK has 2 direct settings, 6ch and 8ch. I guess the 6ch Direct is on a separate board because I switiched to 8ch Direct and the problem went away. Recalibrated and I'm fine. I'm only running 5.1, but since there's very little 7.1 content I'm not going to be losing much (yet). Time to start looking for that new HT pre :rolleyes:.

I've had my Oppo for 2 weeks now, I haven't messed around with the settings yet because I'm afraid I will set it to something that doesn't give me the optimum settings for movies, tv/sports, everything is pretty much set at factory settings, I do have it at 1080p/24 though and all HDMI wiring to the reciever. Should I leave it always set at 1080p/24 even watching regular dvd and tv for best results?

Also, can I switch the Oppo from 5.1 to 7.1 in the settings? If I'm watching a movie that was filmed in 5.1 surround and if the Oppo is set at 7.1 does it effect the sound quality?

Ron Temple

1080P/24 is only a BR setting and only is applicable for TVs that can display it, mine can. I have it set at Auto. SD DVDs will be upscaled to the resolution you have the TV and player set too. That's 1080p for me, but it's not at 24fps, it's 60hz. TV is not effected at all. If you have a 5.1 setup, then use 5.1 not 7.1. If you have a 7.1 rig, keep it set at 7.1...you won't lose anything if you're correctly configured. If you have a 5.1 setup and you do have the Oppo set to 7.1 and you happen to play a disk that's encoded 7.1 (very few) then you might be losing the back 2 channels. If you have a 7.1 setup and you play a 5.1 encoded disk, then the back to channels are downmixed by the Oppo...no worries.

Danny Tse

kolyan2k wrote: »

which DACs is it using ?

This is from a post on the audioholic.com forum....

The BDP-83 actually uses different DAC's for two-channel Cirrus CS4398 vs. multi-channel Cirrus CS4382A analog output. The two-channel DAC is the higher quality chip, and compares favorably to my Benchmark DAC-1 for Redbook CD playback (with the Benchmark yielding a tad cleaner bass and overall detail).

A couple of items that may be important to some members. I got the following information from a person who purchased the BDP-83 in the Bay Area and has been posting, in Chinese, on a Hong Kong audiophile forum....the BDP-83 can indeed be made into an universal player, geographically-speaking (wink wink) and it can also playback VCD (a format popular in Asia but not mentioned on Oppo's website).

vmaxer

I'm no expert, but I really enjoy the new OPPO player.

Here is a link to a lot of information and the long FAQ is worth reading!!

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1124287

dpowell

Fantastic resource. thanks for posting!

vmaxer

Are there any more new OPPO Blu Ray owners out there?? What do you think about it??:cool:

kolyan2k

vmaxer wrote: »

Are there any more new OPPO Blu Ray owners out there?? What do you think about it??:cool:

i am sure u only gonna hear positive reviews 1. it is a good all-in-one product. and 2. owners are not going to write bad things (if any)

if you dont have bluray player, its probably the best player u can buy. if you already have good bluray (ps3 or whatever), then i would say its useless. I would just get a good CDP or an external DAC for music. oh.....and if you still watch DVDs, then i would definitely buy it too.

comfortablycurt

Stereophile did a brief review of the BDP-83 in their last issue. Aside from a couple tiny complaints, it was very favorable.

leroyjr1

I'm going to hold onto my PS3 for a while longer. It's fast has great PQ and SQ. Well ahead of its time.

Sherardp

For those who dont know the Oppo can be region free via firmware install. This includes both region free for DVD and Blu -Ray from what I read. See links below.

http://www.avforums.com/forums/9759291-post166.html

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=16686979#post16686979

dpowell

vmaxer wrote: »

Are there any more new OPPO Blu Ray owners out there?? What do you think about it??:cool:

YES! The wife gave me one today for Father's Day / Wedding Anniversary. Breaking it in now with Prince Caspian in 7.1 DTS Master Audio. Fantastic picture and sound!

I haven't done 2-channel audio yet with it but right now the Denon 3910 is not in the rack and it may not make it back in there......I guess only time will tell.