Oppo 83 Blu ray , who owns one?

Bernal

Gaara wrote: »

B&K Reference 50. No bass management on the analog input here either. My issue is that I compensated for the 10db but am still a little off.

Not sure if it is a issue with the player, the pre, or the calibration disc I am using...but I am leaning towards the disc.



Tried it and no change. My pre doesn't have bass management on the analog inputs, and it doesn't have that bug that cuts out any bass over the x-over point.



Thanks for the info, very...informative.

In the AES paper titled 0dBFS+ Levels in Digital Mastering by Nielsen and Lund are a number of examples as to what happens when the recorded level goes above 0 dBFS. If the signal is not clipped by the digital filter, and goes above the 0 dBFS level than the signal exhibits gross distortion. A well designed CD player or DAC will have -90 db THD + N or better at 0 dBFS. When you go over that the distortion can easily be degraded by 50 to 60 db. It appears by the numbers and what many of us are hearing is that Linear PCM, just like any other system can be overloaded.

---

01) DENON AVR-4308CI: Advanced 7.1 CH/5.1+2 CH/ 3.1+2+2 CH A/V Home Theater /MultiMedia Multi-Source/Zone Receiver with Networking and WiFi/170 watts x 7 channels
02) SUNFIRE Grand Signature - Bob Carver's
03) OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio
04) OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player w/SACD & DVD-Audio / DENON DVD-2500BTCI: Blu-ray Disc™ DVD/CD Digital Player/Transport
05) HITACHI P55T501. 55" HD1080 Plasma HDTV
06) POLKAUDIO LSiC (Center speaker)
07) POLKAUDIO LSi15 LEFT (Front speaker)
08) POLKAUDIO LSi15 RIGHT (Front speaker)
09) POLKAUDIO LSif/x LEFT (Surround speaker)
10) POLKAUDIO LSif/x RIGHT (Surround speaker)
11) VELODYNE OPTIMUN SERIES (High Output Digital EQ SubWoofer 2400W/1200WRMS)

digitalvideo

I don't know if this question has been answered yet, I was wondering if the Oppo engineers will offer a firmware update for the AIX audio calibration so I won't need to fiddle with the AIX calibration disc myself? Also, for people who haven't bought the Oppo yet, if someone were to buy the player this fall or before Christmas would the Oppo by then already have the AIX audio calibration put into the player by the Oppo engineers so when someone buys it they won't need to use the AIX disc?

vc69

digitalvideo wrote: »

I don't know if this question has been answered yet, I was wondering if the Oppo engineers will offer a firmware update for the AIX audio calibration so I won't need to fiddle with the AIX calibration disc myself? Also, for people who haven't bought the Oppo yet, if someone were to buy the player this fall or before Christmas would the Oppo by then already have the AIX audio calibration put into the player by the Oppo engineers so when someone buys it they won't need to use the AIX disc?

I may be misunderstanding your questions. The AIX disk is useful for checking your specific setup. It is not a specific calibration setting, but a tool with which you can check/set your system for optimum performance. Also available are different sets of encodes to check that your system is decoding different SD (DD 5.1/DTS) and HD (Dolby True HD and DTS HD-MA) soundtracks properly. It is a tool, not something you could load as firmware.

Ron Temple

vc69 wrote: »

I may be misunderstanding your questions. The AIX disk is useful for checking your specific setup. It is not a specific calibration setting, but a tool with which you can check/set your system for optimum performance. Also available are different sets of encodes to check that your system is decoding different SD (DD 5.1/DTS) and HD (Dolby True HD and DTS HD-MA) soundtracks properly. It is a tool, not something you could load as firmware.

...and it will be included with all new purchases from Oppo...not sure about Amazon...you may have to request that it be mailed to you.

Bernal

Hardware Review: OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray Player:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/show/Joshua_Zyber/Hardware_Review:_OPPO_BDP-83_Blu-ray_Player/3186

Ricardo

The bad news:

My oppo stopped working last night; was watching a movie and the image started freezing frequently; I looked at the disc and it had a couple finger prints, but nothing too bad; I wiped it and tried again, but it never loaded. Got the "No Disc" message. After that, every disc I tried (Blu Ray, DVD, CD) gave me the no disc message. Crap.

The good news:
Called Oppo today and they are sending a replacement unit, with a shipping label to return my unit. I bought it from Amazon, and the CS rep said that I could return to Amazon, or have this "Advance Replacement" directly from Oppo. Easy choice. **** happens, but if you can count with this kind of Customer Service, it's not that bad.

kuntasensei

Add my name to the list of owners. Mine will be here Friday, along with 8 Blu-Rays and 2 SACDs. Ought to make for a nice replacement for my Panasonic RP-91. Now let the tweaking begin!

Ricardo

Back in Business!!!!

Got my replacement today. That's what I call great Customer Service!!!!! (Though I did pay a little to upgrade to 2 day shipping )

Ron Temple

Ricardo wrote: »

Back in Business!!!!

Got my replacement today. That's what I call great Customer Service!!!!! (Though I did pay a little to upgrade to 2 day shipping )

Did they give you any indication as to what the problem could have been?

Also, how do you like the player?

RT

Ricardo

The rep didn't even try to troubleshoot on the phone; when I told him that for all types of discs I got the "No Disc" in like 2 seconds, he said they would send a replacement; not sure if they will let me know what they find when they get it.

How do I like it? I guess the major plus vs my Toshiba is loading times. This thing is incredibly fast. Picture and sound quality for movies are excellent, but they are also excellent with the Toshiba. Once I get my Warner Red2Blu replacements I will be able to compare some HD-DVD's with Blu Ray. I honestly do not expect any diference...we'll see.
Have not had much play time with redbook/SACD to form an opinion (Other than I don't like multichannel SACD...).

Ron Temple

Ricardo wrote: »

The rep didn't even try to troubleshoot on the phone; when I told him that for all types of discs I got the "No Disc" in like 2 seconds, he said they would send a replacement; not sure if they will let me know what they find when they get it.

How do I like it? I guess the major plus vs my Toshiba is loading times. This thing is incredibly fast. Picture and sound quality for movies are excellent, but they are also excellent with the Toshiba. Once I get my Warner Red2Blu replacements I will be able to compare some HD-DVD's with Blu Ray. I honestly do not expect any diference...we'll see.
Have not had much play time with redbook/SACD to form an opinion (Other than I don't like multichannel SACD...).

On BD playback the only differences I've been able to detect between players is color depth, but that just might be player default settings. The Oppo has the edge enhancement trims as well, but I've never played with them. Regarding the HD DVDs vs BD...I thought the HD players couldn't handle 1080p/24 which is the preferred film rate, just 1080i/30/60. Maybe I'm mistaken. If so, then there should be some uptick.

Ricardo

In any case, my vocabulary for describing video quality is limited to four words:

crappy, decent, good, excellent

I am sure I won't notice any difference

BlueFox

Ricardo wrote: »

In any case, my vocabulary for describing video quality is limited to four words:

crappy, decent, good, excellent

Don't forget "Most excellent".

kuntasensei

I have a question for other owners. Just got mine today and popped in the calibration disc that came with it. Black level is the same as my calibrated level using the AVS patterns. However, when it comes to contrast, the disc with the Oppo says to set contrast so that you can see all of the bars.

I thought "white" was supposed to be level 235 digitally, which is what the AVS pattern says to adjust to. However, the S&M disc says you should set it so that levels all the way up to 255 are distinct from white. Is that something that differs between Blu-ray and other HD content? Because if I set it that way, my other sources look significantly more dim and I'm not particularly seeing anything more in the way of highlights (for example, detail in clouds).

Oh, and on the audio front, this is my first experience with SACD. Got both of Nickel Creek's SACD releases to compare to my redbook discs, and WOW. I'm just STUNNED at how much more detailed and lifelike the SACD sounds! I've been tinkering for the last 2 hours and haven't even gotten around to popping in any of the Blu-Ray discs I bought other than the two discs that came with the Oppo!

digitalvideo

Do any of you know the code or is there a code for NTSC region to watch all discs from around the world? I ordered some movies from Europe and was wondering if I could play them in my Oppo? I hear rumors that there are websites and forums where people found a way to make the Oppo region free.

Sherardp

digitalvideo wrote: »

Do any of you know the code or is there a code for NTSC region to watch all discs from around the world? I ordered some movies from Europe and was wondering if I could play them in my Oppo? I hear rumors that there are websites and forums where people found a way to make the Oppo region free.

Most BDs should play no problem, SD DVD are region locked. I play imports from UK, Japan and all work well on BD format of course.

vc69

Sherardp wrote: »

Most BDs should play no problem, SD DVD are region locked. I play imports from UK, Japan and all work well on BD format of course.

Glad you made back stateside safely Sherardp!
Perhaps those disks are region free.

I'm sure it will only play region A BD's and region 1 DVD's.

There are both firmware hacks and hardware mods to make it region free.

There is an unofficial BDP-83 FAQ is located at: http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html

It is a wealth of information and will pretty much answer any question one may have regarding this awesome player.
Much thanks to wmcclain over at AVS for his tireless work putting it together.

Sherardp

vc69 wrote: »

Glad you made back stateside safely Sherardp!
Perhaps those disks are region free.

I'm sure it will only play region A BD's and region 1 DVD's.

There are both firmware hacks and hardware mods to make it region free.

You're most likely right in regards to region free titles, and thanks.

Ron Temple

Oppo made an agreement to obtain BD licensing not to make this player region free. There is a surefire hardware hack and a hit an miss software hack. A friend of mine used the software hack at the expensive of having some disks (region A BDs) no longer playable. I think he got that fixed, however, when new firmware is added the hack is overwritten. The hardware hack works fine, though the warranty is voided.

kuntasensei

I've now had my BDP-83 for a week, and figured I'd post a few impressions:

1) 1080p/24 to my Sanyo PLV-Z2000 is freakin' smooth as butter when watching a BD. I hadn't even realized my projector had proper support for this mode, but there's a noticeable difference with fast pans if you know what you're looking for. Glad the Oppo (and my projector) supports it.

2) 24fps mode for DVD has been sketchy enough for me not to keep using it. I don't know if it's just that some of these DVDs have some mastering issues, but I noticed some very jarring scene transitions with a few discs (most notably State Of Play) that went away when you left it at 60fps. Not sure if there are cadence issues to blame, but the 60fps mode is just plain working out better for me with regular DVD so far.

3) While standard DD and DTS tracks seem to sound fairly identical to how they sounded on my Panasonic DVD-S97, CD and DVD-Audio have a TOTALLY different character to them with the Oppo. My Panny was always... I guess the word I'd use would be "clinical" when it came to CD audio. A nice precise sound but sterile and lacking warmth. The Oppo sounds vastly different to me, with a much warmer sound and a more defined and "plucky" mid-bass. Also, when using DPL-IIx Music on my Onkyo 705, the Panny always had a very easy to localize "left speaker, center, right speaker" sound across the front soundstage. With the Oppo, it's like the whole front soundstage is super cohesive and instrument sounds seem to hang in the air between channels. Color me surprised that there was that much of a difference. I've found myself going through my most familiar CDs this week and have been thoroughly impressed.

4) I'm going from an upscaling DVD player to Blu-ray (though I've admittedly snagged some Blu-ray rips to play on my 360). The two discs where the lossless audio has impressed me the most so far are King Kong and I Robot. Oddly, Transformers really didn't seem to benefit as much from the lossless audio... which I have to wonder about, since of the 9 BDs I bought, it's the only one that uses Dolby TrueHD. Have any of you found the DTS-HD Master Audio tracks to have a brighter sound? Because if Transformers is any indication, I greatly prefer the DTS-HD lossless to Dolby TrueHD. (Note: Not saying it in any way sounds bad - it was still incredible. It just wasn't as much of a perceived step up as Iron Man, King Kong, I Robot, Wall-E, etc.)

5) The S&M disc is a nice reference to have, but I've found that the free AVS 709 disc was a much better reference for video. I double-checked grayscale with my EyeOne Display LT using HCFR, but pretty much all of my calibrated projector settings remained the same. I think I zeroed sharpness and that's about it.

6) The AIX disc is a nice freebie. Not super interested in any of the acts on it, but I like the stage mixes on the disc and they do make for a good quickie audio showoff piece. Where I find this disc most useful is its 7-channel phase test, which is something I've wanted for a long time. I've been using DVE's 6.1 between-channel phase tests to tweak distance/delay settings for some time, but the discrete 7-channel phase check on the AIX disc is damn useful and a slight half-foot change on one of my rear channels made a noticeable difference on between-channel pans across my rear soundstage. Good on Oppo for including it.

7) I didn't think the DVD upscaling would be a big deal, primarily because the upscaling on my S97 just seemed okay to me (though reviews have said it does a competent job). Not gonna sit here and say that the Oppo makes DVD look as good as BD, but it damn sure makes DVD look more like 720p than 480i/p. That's a testament to the excellent scaling in this sucker, and I'd say it was worth it considering I'm still gonna be watching DVDs for some time. Frequency patterns on Avia were passed cleanly and fully resolved, which means the Oppo doesn't seem to be monkeying with the sharpness when it scales. Nice!

8) I honestly don't see much of a difference between the various color depth settings. My Z2000 supports 36-bit, so that's what I have the Oppo set to. I'll admit it - I'm only doing it to see that deep color indicator pop up on the projector's status.

9) DSD to my Onkyo 705 seems to require an 8-10dB boost compared to other sources to reach a comparable level. Changing the Oppo to use PCM for SACD not only fixed that issue but let me apply DPL-IIx Music to expand the 5.1 mixes to 7.1 (which was unavailable on the Onkyo when using DSD). That said, I've found myself listening to the 2-channel on the SACDs more often.

10) Bitstreaming vs. LPCM. Switching back and forth between letting my Onkyo decode or letting the Oppo decode, I'll be damned if I can tell a difference. I'm leaving it on bitstream for now.

So was the BDP-83 worth the money? HELL YES. I've avoided going Blu up to now, but I feel no remorse whatsoever with this purchase. It performs beyond my expectations, looks amazing on my 100" screen, and the lossless audio has definitely put a smile on my face. Plus, the build quality impressed me. The rubber feet on the player are compliant enough to act as vibration isolators, and the unit itself just feels SOLID.

I blame you guys for making me aware of this thing's existence because I was so gonna buy a 3-channel amp instead... but I think I'll ultimately get more use out of this. Thanks for feeding my upgradeitis!

Ron Temple

DVD 1080/24 is admittedly hit or miss depending on the disk. I've got a few that make me sit up and notice, but some it's just as smooth as silk. I think not having an AVR or pre/pro that can decode makes the unit so impressive for me. I'd love to have the choice, but hi rez and 2 channel through analog are enough of an uptick to tickly my charlie.

Glad you like your 83. There have been very few that didn't appreciate it that I've seen in the several thousand posts I've monitored.

digitalvideo

I read in the link above that the HDMI cable supplied with the Oppo is verified to support 1080p/60Hz with 36-bits Deep Color. Does that have any affect on how I have my player set to 1080p/24fps for bluray movies? Will that HDMI cable supplied with the player support 1080p/24fps? All my HDMI cables are from Bluejeans but I was wondering if there is any difference between the Bluejeans cable or the one supplied from Oppo?

Oppo's exact quote on it's HDMI cable supplied with the machine:

OPPO says:

"The cable has been tested and verified to support 1080p/60Hz with 36-bits Deep Color. We have not gone through the certification process for the HDMI 1.3 or Category 2 ratings."

vc69

Seems the new beta firmware is out. Beta testers are giving it a big thumbs up.
Get it here:
http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/bdp-83-firmware-38-0905.aspx



Release date: September 9, 2009
Category: Public Beta Release
Main Version: BDP83-38-0905
Loader Version: BE2600 or BT0300
Sub Version: MCU83-24-0630
Release Notes:

1. Blu-ray Disc compatibility improvement, especially for certain titles such as "Lie to Me", "Dollhouse Season 1", "12 Rounds" and "The Haunting in Connecticut".
2. Additional "Deep Color" options utilizing dithering. If the display does not support 36-bit deep color, dithering 36-bit to 30-bit or 24-bit may produce an image that is visually smoother than rounding 36-bit to 30- or 24-bit.
3. Improved precision for color space conversion.
4. Improved up-conversion for MKV files that have a picture size smaller than 1280x720 with 24fps frame rate.
5. Improvement for DVD-A disc compatibility. The specific titles targeted include "Beck: Sea Change" and DVD-A discs released in Japan by JVC.
6. Improvement for DVD navigation.
7. Improvement for compatibility with Denon receivers that only acquire 2ch DSD signal upon initial playback of a SACD multi-channel disc.
8. Improvement for compatibility with receivers that show "no signal" but play audio when a CD is played using HDMI bitstream output mode.
9. Fix for the issue of subtitle being cut off when playing a PAL DVD.
10. New pop-up user interface for audio and subtitle selection.
11. Improved GOTO function for music file playback. The GOTO function now allows the user to jump to a certain time point within a music file.
12. Other general disc compatibility and performance improvements. The specific titles targeted include the CD "The Saturday Nite Agenda", DVD "IL DIVO - Live at the Greek Theater", Blu-ray "Fired Up" and a few other discs.

Thanks: Neuromancer at AVS

kuntasensei

Thanks for the heads up. Just installed it and it updated firmware, MCU and BD loader. I never noticed an issue with my DVD-A of Sea Change, but I'll definitely give it a listen tonight.

digitalvideo

They are selling a bunch of Oppo bdp-83's on ebay that are region free and play all dvd's around the world and can be hooked up to any tv around the world...

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1311&_nkw=oppo+bdp-83&_sacat=See-All-Categories

vc69

digitalvideo wrote: »

They are selling a bunch of Oppo bdp-83's on ebay that are region free and play all dvd's around the world and can be hooked up to any tv around the world...

http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m38.l1311&_nkw=oppo+bdp-83&_sacat=See-All-Categories

If one were so inclined, one could purchase the player from Oppo. The region-free hardware kit is reportedly easy to install and uninstall in the case of needing oppo support. I'm just saying it might be a "better" idea than overpaying and putting yourself out of reach of the incredible support offered by this company. I'm leary of those re-sellers.

digitalvideo

vc69 wrote: »

If one were so inclined, one could purchase the player from Oppo. The region-free hardware kit is reportedly easy to install and uninstall in the case of needing oppo support. I'm just saying it might be a "better" idea than overpaying and putting yourself out of reach of the incredible support offered by this company. I'm leary of those re-sellers.

Good point, I currently have the Oppo player but it's not region free. If I install that 'region-free hardware' kit will the Oppo player stay region free after a firmware and USB port update or does Oppo set it back? Do I need to uninstall the kick before a firmware/USB update?

Ron Temple

digitalvideo wrote: »

Good point, I currently have the Oppo player but it's not region free. If I install that 'region-free hardware' kit will the Oppo player stay region free after a firmware and USB port update or does Oppo set it back? Do I need to uninstall the kick before a firmware/USB update?

I think the hardware mod is permanent, but you might want to do a search on AVS to confirm. The software mod needs to be re-applied with each firmware update and I understand that not all Region 0 or A disks work correctly once the patch is installed...so in short it's a hassle. I don't plan on messing with it.

digitalvideo

Has anyone on here installed the 'Region free' kit into their Oppo?

Also, when I watch Blurays I have the Oppo set to 1080p/24fps, but for watching dvd where should I have the Oppo set at to get the best PQ out of dvd's? I have my entire system centrually configured through the reciever all HDMI wires, so I have it set at bitstream.

vc69

With regards to the hardware (or the firmware hack) mod, I have no direct experience but I have read that the hardware kit is easy, unaffected by firmware updates, and could be uninstalled easily if need be. I think it is a mere cable replacement type thing. I may be wrong. Again, having said all of that, I ain't fooling with it either. Any of the foreign films I may want to watch can be had "region free" and I don't watch that many anyway. It's not worth messing with in my case.

I have tried using DVD/24 and can find no benefit and often get tearing or jitter. People much more knowledgeable than myself reccomend just leaving that setting to "off" so I do.