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
Hunkered down in New York City, Executive Editor David Carnoy covers the gamut of gadgets and writes his Fully Equipped column, which carries the tag line "The electronics you lust for." He's also the author of "Knife Music," a novel. E-mail David. Follow David on Twitter. 
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.
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.
I agree that wi-fi would be a nice perk, but they do offer a wireless bridge accessory - only pay for what you need.
a ps3 would be a better choice
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.
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
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!
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
What, don't they WANT to make more money?
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!!!
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.
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.
- by HookEm88 July 26, 2009 6:05 PM PDT
- 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).
- Reply to this comment
-
Showing 1 of 2 pages (38 Comments)