Oppo's affordable high-end Blu-ray player is here

Amazon is set to ship the Oppo BDP-83 on July 6 for $500.

(Credit: Oppo)

Over the years Oppo's developed a following for its impressive upscaling DVD players, so a lot its fans were wondering when its much-anticipated BDP-83 Blu-ray Disc Player would finally show up after being announced last year. Well, it's finally here, and the official price tag is about what we expected: $500.

The idea behind the Oppo BDP-83 is that you're getting a high-end Blu-ray player for mid-range money. Oppo touts the Anchor Bay video processing and the player has support for both SACD and DVD-Audio and is loaded with connectivity, including 2 USB ports, an Ethernet jack for BD-Live content, and 7.1 analog audio. However, it lacks any sort of streaming video service, such as Netflix.

Anybody excited the BDP-83 is finally here?

Additional reading: Oppo BDP-83 early look

[MadLyb]

I have been waiting for this for so long, but can't believe they didn't put WiFi on it.

[MadLyb]

Also, looks like it doesn't have the Universal format support that their DVD players supply.

What I want is Oppo's top shelf upscaling and Universal format support from their DVD players combined with a high quality Blu-ray solution, so I don't have to burn a HDMI to keep both running.

Seems like they focused on high end video features and forgot what made their products so attractive in the first place.

MadLyb,

Not sure what you think is missing from the BDP-83. It is basically what your wishlist requests, outstanding SD DVD upscaling, universal optical disc support (SACD, DVD-A, etc) all of this can be sent to your TV or AVR/Pre-Pro via HDMI or 7.1 Analog output from the player. All this plus outstanding Blu Ray playback.

[Dan_DTC]

Where's the WIFI connectivity and NetFlix streaming?

[harry_ness]

why do you need WIFI?

[jiggahits]

Oppo places a premium on high quality video. Why would they offer low quality NetFlix streaming?
I agree that wi-fi would be a nice perk, but they do offer a wireless bridge accessory - only pay for what you need.

[jlynn33]

If their other products are any indication, this will become the "must have" blu-ray playback device! Especially if it can do region free.

[bossjon]

I have had this player for a few weeks now. It's Blu ray output is outstanding along with it SACD. The only downside is the fact that it does not netflix stream and that it'snot region free. Eventhough I only have US versions of disk, i would of like to have the option.

[Dan7637]

whats all this about blue ray being all expensive, huh- im surprised no one has started to complain

a ps3 would be a better choice

[cancino1]

when is the cnet review going to come out? im holding out to buy either this one or the sony bdp-560. does anyone have any opinion of wich one is going to be a better buy? what i care about the most is picture quality and sound.

[werobbinsjr]

I have had the bdp-83 for about a month. While the player is more expensive that others, I am quite pleased with it. The video is excellent on both bd and dvd. The audio, especially the analog outputs are terrific. I wanted a player that would be a universal player for me (bd,dvd,cd,sacd) and have the kind of support that seems lacking in most other brands. This player has scored on every one for me. For the material I look and listen to, this player was worth the wait and the price.

[MoskovciakM]

We've been waiting to do a full review until production (not beta) review samples were available. Now that the BDP-83 is coming out of beta, we've got a review unit on it's way and it should be here by the end of this week or early next week. You can expect a full review before the end of the month.

[burywil]

I have had one of these Oppo's through the beta program period and software updates.
My response at the end;
FABULOUS,just fabulous for both audio and video and at 500 bucks actually a steal if you appreciate its higher end audio abilities and state of the current art video processing.
I use it more on music being a fan of SACD and DVD-A but also regularly for bluray and sometimes DVD,s.
After the final release software upgrade everything has worked perfectly for me.

I also find it far more satisfying than mass brand products but this is subjective rather than objective.

Try one and I think most people will be happy.

It is connecteed to an Integra processor,Sunfire 7 x 400 amp,an Epson 1080 pro projector and a now aging Pioneer Elite rear pro tv.Now I have to buy a new tv and am waiting for more reviews and "see for myself" tests of the larger screen 09 V10 Panasonics.

[bathswana]

Oppo issues:

Random HDMI handshakes causing: inverted colors (primarily seen through Anthem D2v), loss of video signal, delayed acquisition (Bit Stream DTS-HD Master soundtrack from Hairspray has been known to take a full minute to acquire) or no acquisition of (Decoding DTS-HD Master from Transporter 3) audio, and other annoyances.
Tearing, judder, and audio synchronization errors when using DVD media and 1080p/24Hz.
Speech was muted and no audio over the Center Channel when playing The Forbidden Kingdom and decoding DTS-HD Master over analog outputs.
Selecting an Audio or Subtitle option in the Australia Blu-ray Menu will result in the menu screen disappearing. Unit becomes unresponsive at this time.
If outputting DSD from a multi-channel SACD to a Denon/Marantz receiver as the first disc content used, the receiver will only acquire 2.0 Stereo. Inserting a DVD-Audio and then the multi-channel SACD will resolve multi-channels. Other solutions include setting DSD Multi-Channel in the reciever's setup system.
Repo: The Genetic Opera (BD) pops and crackles when bit streaming over HDMI.
General issues related to the BDP-83 not playing the beginning audio track properly (jumps around like it is not ready to start audio playback).
X-Men 2 Supplements DVD: 480i material is squished into improper aspect ratio except when Source Direct is selected or Aspect Ratio is set to 4:3.
Turning Speakers Off when using a 7.1 DownMix has no effect (mult-channel analog).
Mai-Hime Vol 1~4: Subtitles will not load at all, even if selected in the DVD Menu or through the dedicated Subtitle remote button.
Curious Case of Benjamin Button (BD): inconsistent synchronization with audio and video when player is set to 1080p/24Hz. Source Direct does not exhibit the same issue.
USB media are causing the BDP-83 to crash if they have been formated using a MAC OS.
Bonnie Raitt - Nick of Time (DVD-Audio): Pops when loading the "CAPITAL RECORDS" logo. Once it advances to "Root Menu", audio is nothing but loud static. Must Stop then Resume in order to actually load this title.
Megadeth "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying" (DVD-Audio): Unable to select on screen menu items such as Lyrics and Linear Notes.
Satriani "Strange Beautiful Music" (SACD): Track 12 - Volume will oscillate between being completely off and normal every 2 seconds for about a minute.
Dire Straights "Brothers In Arms" (DualDisc): If you try to Skip Forward on Track 9 (the end of the disc) the BDP-83 will hard freeze.
Roving Mars (BD): unit freezes after showing "Title Menu". Unit needs to be hard reset.
Beck "Sea Change" (DVD-Audio) - After Track 6 the tracks have to manually forward. Player will not Eject the disc without a power cycle.
Megadeth "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying" (DVD-Audio): Menu overlays are not showing, though you can blindly interact with the Menu.
SACD: Audio pops or dropouts between SACD tracks; random pops and dropouts. Much improved over previous firmware releases, but still prevalent. The Forum
T3: Rise of the Machines (BD) - After watching bonus materials, unit does not go back to menu. Screen is blank, unit must be stopped

[Paul_Christensen]

Wow - that is a lot of detail that just doesn't stand up to the release firmware unit that I was lucky enough to buy at the end of May. I certainly don't own all of the titles you reference, but I do own some (Dreamgirls BluRay, Dire Straits SACD). And, I have connected my BDP-83 through HDMI to my Marantz SR8002.

NONE of the issues that "bathswana" outlines occur in my unit or setup. It certainly makes me wonder his reasoning for posting BETA issues on a public forum like this. And, it certainly doesn't agree with every professional review of the released units.

I personally couldn't be happier with the BDP-83. Load times for Blu-Ray are about 2x faster than the Panasonic BDP-55K I replaced (using the same titles). Load times for SACD and DVD-Audio are instantaneous (about 15x faster than my Sony ES SACD player!) Audio quality is flawless on BluRay (DTS-Master and Dobly-TrueHD), SACD, DVD-Audio, and just plain CDs. Video quality for Blu-Ray is outstanding (although not any different from my already-excellent Panasonic). DVD video quality is dramatically better, which you would expect from the Anchor Bay processor. Certainly the best $500 I spent!

[bajan_mauby]

Bathswana
What is the importance of writing all the info? Is the Oppo a very good unit or not? Your attempt at a review or whatever, is rather poor to say the least. I'm sure that other BD players come with issues and we buy them and enjoy them as well.

[jvbo]

Information is never enough...I happen to find Bathswana's post very relevant.
If you feel there is too much information just buy the player without reading his post! After all, you wouldn't need extra information to make a better decision on something with a price tag so insignificant huh?

[epross]

I wonder if Bathswana has some issues with blu-ray in general? I came across his previous comments ""Blu-ray is a total, complete failure in the marketplace. This is not even up for debate. " on another post. If you are going to rant (sorry it appears that way) at least give us objective details; Do you have one of the early beta models? Is your firmware up-to-date? I used to have a Sony BPS-300 (replaced under warranty) and it had a lot of issues. My Dad bought one at the same time and his works flawlessly so like my experience with Sony, is it possible that since others haven't posted such a long list of "issues" with Oppo that maybe something is wrong with Bathswana's unit or perhaps his setup? This seems like a long list of issues - if I were him I'd contact Oppo (maybe he has? he doesn't say.) How is their support anyway. Have they addressed any of these issues?
Some issues are always to be expected with a newly introduced model, it's their first blu-ray after all. I'll wait for a formal review before making up my mind. Still I have a PS3 and a BPS-350 so I won't be buying an Oppo until they make a cheaper version.

[ndurantz]

The post up above comes from the forums of those privileged enough to beta-test or early purchase the unit. I promise you that those individuals TRIED to find things wrong with the unit - that's the whole purpose of beta testing. If you look through the list, there are several things mentioned that are specific to certain media titles.

Just keep in mind that there are always "bugs" with the initial launch of the product and that (to my knowledge) Oppo has always done a great job of addressing "bugs" quickly. If I hadn't dropped $350 on Samsung's dual format player BD-UP5000 and then another $130 on an Oppo 980H, I would be buying one of these babies in a heartbeat. That's my two cents.

[stepyourgameup]

Way too expensive. I would only pay half the price.

[jptobin]

Hmmm, looks like PS3 specs, minus wifi and streaming services, but hey, if 7.1 analog outputs are worth an extra $100 to you...

[ender21]

... except the PS3 runs hotter and louder, requires a dongle to interface with IR remote controls, won't bitstream hi-res audio codecs, and won't play SACDs or DVD-As (except the gen 1 PS3 which did SACD only.)

Not trying to bash the PS3 as it's a great little machine. For my home theater I would choose the Oppo. All machines lack something somewhere. For some the PS3 will more than suffice - for others, perhaps the Oppo will instead.

[stepyourgameup]

As far as I know, the Oppo doesn't play PS3 games!!!

The Oppo adds a little more than 7.1 analog outs over the PS3, not the least of which is outstanding SD DVD upscaling, I've seen the job the PS3 does on SD DVDs and they look pretty terrible. On the Oppo, SD DVD is highly watchable. On top of that I'm pretty sure the PS3 doesn't do HDCD, SACD or DVD-A. I think all those features combined are well worth $100....

[the_iceman]

I'm waiting for a brand name player @ 99, this is 5X that...pass.

[kmouradian]

You'll be waiting a looooong time!

[copeacedic]

I loved the previous oppo versions due to the great up conversion and multi-region playback, but its more than a PS3 and it lacks wifi, streaming media services and the ability to play games. Is the video quality really so much better then the PS3 to justify this higher price tag? What about multi-region playback options? For me, its just not worth it yet - they will need to add more more bang for the buck or reduce the price to really make this something I would be interested in. Still, knowing oppo, I would expect it to be a strong performer of video playback, just would have expected more form them as they always seem to go a few steps beyond the competition.

[chrkeller]

Agreed. $500 for a player with no wifi or streaming, when $400 can get me a ps3 that is also a top of the line BR player... not too mention Best Buy is selling the ps3 with two games for $400 (Killzone 2 and MGS4). For $100 less I get two great ps3 games, a ps3 system, wifi and streaming..

[harry_ness]

Right, like we really expect an OPPO player to have the ability to play games.

[MongooseProXC]

Never heard of it. Is that a Wal-Mart brand?

Not a Wal Mart brand, Oppo is an internet only company that designs DVD players and now BD players, they are based in Northern California (Silicon Valley)

[NYCgoalie]

Why is it that Blu-Ray players don't play SACD by default? It's a Sony proprietary codec...it just doesn't make any sense not to include it with all Blu-Ray players they license.

What, don't they WANT to make more money?

[yamaha745]

i got one.better than any blu ray player out there.thanks to all the beta testers out there who made this the best blu ray player .you guys are GREAT!!! ps3?give us a break!!!better than all blu ray players tested on consumer reports.
WANNA NIC PICK?GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.HANDS DOWN,THE OPPO BDP-83 PROVIDES THE BEST
PICTURE AND SOUND QUALITY OF ANY BLU RAY PLAYER!! END OF STORY!!!

[psobolewski]

I have gone through the following blu-ray players looking for the best blu-ray / upscalling dvd player; Samsung BD-1600, Sony BDP - S350, Panasonic DMP - BD60, Sony PS3, Pioneer BDP - 51FD and finally the Oppo BDP - 83. I wasn't a beta tester, I did however get on the list to be one of the first to order the player. There are a couple of bugs that I'm going to ask about, although they are not deal breakers. What I wanted most out of a blu-ray player was the dvd upscalling capabilities. The Oppo is the winner. All of the other players were decent at upscalling, and all the players including the Oppo have there positive and negative attributes, depending on what your looking for in a blu-ray player. As far as the PS3 is concerned I really liked the all in one aspect ( bang for your buck ), although the dvd upscalling was, in my experience a softer, subtle picture. Not what I was looking for. The dvd upscalling and picture quality is what I wanted, and in the Oppo it is what I got. Blu-ray looks great also. Can't comment on the rest because I only have a 5.1 surround sound, and haven't tested any of the other formats. I do watch a lot of standard dvd's that look amazing. Worth the extra $100 - $200 for me.

[plwyman]

Everyone posting here seems to have far more experience than I with BD. I just purchased a Samsung BD-P3600 player last month, however, and am quite disappointed with the entire BD experience. I'm just not sure if ALL the BD players you discuss have quirks and if some limitations simply go along with the format. I'd spring for this OPPO machine if it actually were a better machine on the basic play aspects.

For instance, it takes about 30 seconds to load any disc in my player. If you interupt this sequence by hitting a button (even door open) the player freezes or starts the process over. If you hit the stop button while playing a disc there is no resuming play on any of the eight BD titles I've purchased. You have to wait for the entire disc to load, again, and then chapter forward to find your place. Go answer the door and it's many minutes before you are back in the saddle iwth your movie.

I've been told by store personnel this has to do with those who format the discs. It's not the machine's issue. Really? No one is yet up to speed? Really? Even for the X-Men trilogy or the Terminator 2 reissue? These are pretty big titles. I would expect the format folks did do their homework prior to the release of these recent titles.

Also, everyone seems hot to trot on Internet access in every machine they buy. I get Netflix access already on my new TIVO box so that part doesn't matter much to me. But almost all the discs I've purchased ask for Internet access in order to add files not included on the disc.

So I bought the model with the included dongle. After a month I gave up trying to link it to my wifi router, however. I have many peripherals that came on board easily, including the TIVO, without a hitch. But not the Samsung. They have nothing useful on their FAQ's for me. They don't return my e-mails.

So I physically moved the router. I hooked it up directly. It did download a firmware upgrade last week. It took 30 minutes to download and reboot. This upgrade mainly shortened the menus. With a direct connection I can now access Netflix. I can get added files for certain titles.

But I feel I am walking on eggshellls all the time with this player or possibly with this format. The picture is superb and the downloaded sound to my receiver is excellent. It's getting the functional aspects lined up with those of a $50 DVD player that's annoying me. I feel the same as when I had a Laser Disc player back in the early nineties. Lots of pampering required and lots of massaging to get the most from the format..

Is this just BD or is it my Samsung player? Does the OPPO machine load easily and resume play if you stop a disc? Does a PS3 function better in these areas? As others have said, we all like certain aspects of a player. I don't play video games, don't need my Netflix through the BD player, but really like a great picture and great sound.

I don't expect everything to come in one box anytime soon, especially at this price point. But I would like the players they produce to be a bit more user friendly as the generations advance. Aren't we already a few generations in on BD? I'd gladly pay more money for more basic function as I would benefit with each disc played. But if this is true for all the BD players I guess I'll be patient and finesse this machine until improvements are made globally.

[pprklp]

Let?s face it, you either want games and Blu-Ray, or you want high-level audio (SACD and DVD Audio) capability with your Blu-Ray, and that?s where the line looks to be drawn. I chose the Oppo BDP-83 Blu-Ray for its ability to provide first-class audio as well as stunning video, and I am impressed with this universal machine. The price is worth it, from the outstanding sound and picture to amazing load times.

In my research on Blu-Ray players, I read so much talk about slow load times that I expected to be twiddling my thumbs. Not so with the Oppo. For a machine asked to do so much, it responds dynamically.

I have to admit that when the newest LG and Samsung players came out with wireless capability and Netflix streaming, I considered flinching on my desire for the Oppo. The wireless issue? Well, I have my network running to the A/V room, so an Ethernet cable suffices and gives stable connectivity, and as for Netflix streaming, that might have been nice, but Oppo?s reputation and the result of a long wait for the BDP-83 has been worth it. In this case, you spend the money, you get the quality, and that quality makes it a winner.

[HookEm88]

I've got an Oppo and love it, video playback is top-notch from SD & BD... Just wish it did have streaming support (DLNA/UPnP would be great place to start).