Official OPPO BDP-83 Owner's Thread [technical talk only] - Page 1270

You remember correctly (and succinctly!). I also had the BD-UP5000 but by no means have I burnt through the amount of money you have! I had the BDP-83 but sold it for the BDP-93 because of added features. I'm not as likely to jump on the new player bandwagon just yet, as this one has served me well for 2 years and the new features are not all that appealing.

I'm leapfrogging (kind of), will get the BDP-103 to replace my amazing BDP-83, which will move to my bedroom. The 103's digital inputs, SMB connectivity and equivalency on upscaling with the 83 (reportedly), along with possible IP control have me drooling.

I can experiment with pushing my set top box's HDMI out into the Oppo and see if it makes a difference with just going through the Qdeo in my Pioneer AVR, and a whole bunch of other games I would do.

The 83 stays, though - massively good machine that will be cranking away for many more years I figure.

Well according to Oppo the only thing that can be done is to send it to them as they said I was the only one having this problem.

I refered them to here to see several others were having the problem but they said if they are not contacted directly they really can't count it.

I was really hoping to avoid downtime without this player and the cost of shipping it but if I want it to use it I guess I have no choice.

Guess I will hook up the old Sony BDP S550 and see how that performs in the interim. That thing has not had a firmware upgrade in at least 2-3 years. Have to see if one is available.

Just for reference I found your post:
http://www.avsforum.com/t/1039940/bh200-firmware-watch/2070#post_17159468

I was having painful flashbacks while reading some of the posts in the dual format threads, I had four HD DVD players, RCA HD5000, Toshiba A2, Toshiba XA2, LG BH200, and about 50 HD DVDs. Between the players and the movies I have lost at least 5000 dollars. The only player I made money on was the XA2, a 200 dollar profit. The RCA had one firmware update and broke down and I couldn't get it repaired. The A2 I sold with some movies for 200 bucks, I still have the LG. I traded the rest of HD DVDs in on Amazon and replaced them with Blu rays as the titles came available. I only have bought two Blu ray players, a Pioneer 320 and the OPPO 83. I still own both. The 500 dollars for the OPPO is still a steal compared to what I shelled out for being an early adopter.

I'm shocked you found it...I'd forgotten the gruesome details. I think they fixed that particular issue in a firmware update but who knows? As for my history, I started with the Xbox HD DVD player so that I didn't have to invest much to enjoy HD discs near the beginning of the war. I didn't pick up any semblance of a set top player until those 2 combo players were announced. I ended up buying 2 Samsungs and 1 LG and having since sold them, have no doubt lost quite a bit (haven't done the calculations). I sold off my HD DVD discs also (losing quite a bit) and have been with Oppo ever since (lost only a little when reselling the BDP-83).

The RCA HDV5000 was the same price as the OPPO 83 ($500) but it could only output 1080i. The unit was very heavy about 17 lbs. The A2 was about $400 with PA sales tax. The XA2 I got for $500 when the local dealer I got the RCA from was reducing inventory. I sold it for $700 the summer before the BH200 came out. I think I got the BH200 for $600 from 6th Ave Electronics (no longer exists) a few weeks before the format war ended in Feb 19th 2008. I thought that paying about $25 dollars for each HD DVD release was a bargan but now I am getting a lot of Blu rays from amazon for under $10.
Now that I am thinking about HD DVD I may have only lost about 3 to 4 thousand dollars.

Since I got my OPPO 2 years ago I haven't even looked at other players. I don't even know what models are available. I most likely will buy a 103 before the summer of next year. I am over the early adopter stage as it has proven to be to frustrating and costly.

OPPOs turn around is pretty quick about a week if you live on the east coast. At least this is better than throwing it in the garbage and buying another player. I can not confirm if I have this problem as I do not have any of the titles that you are having trouble with. If you can please post what OPPO finds wrong with the player.

I think new DRM that causes problems with older players, that aren't being updated, will eventually bite the studios on the arse: IMO it will push the consumer into ripping titles and removing that pesky DRM or downloading rips from other sources.

There comes a point when one does not want to upgrade from completely serviceable equipment, just because the industry is dangling a few meagre slices of carrot (which have worm holes) in front of ones nose.

Just curious why you and anyone else on this forum dumped your hd dvd player and titles, as I still have mine and they look and sound great.
Oh yeah, they're 1080i not 1080p, and no one can see any difference between them and blurays on a on a 65" screen.
Curious how your viewing and listening experience is any different on the titles you replaced.
I don't care about technical differences regarding specs that can't be seen or heard. Had enough of that bs over the decades.
I sometimes think about replacing my hd-dvd's but then think, why?

Yup, in the same boat here.

I have a Toshiba HD-A35 and about 140 HD-DVD titles, all of which I still watch. The thing that actually kept me from going to a bluray player initially is that I wanted as good or better performance than the HD-A35 in a bluray player; when the BDP-83 came out, I jumped on it.

I probably have as many or more blurays, but have not replaced any of my HD-DVD's, if anything I've bought double some times. My trusty A35 does great upscaling, 1080p, etc. - the place where the disks, not the player fall short is in sound support - there are some that only have lossy tracks, so if there's a bluray title that's better, I'll buy that.

My HD-DVD player gets a fair amount of use, no problem at all in using it at very good quality. The upscaling has been detailed to the BDP-83 mostly for convenience, since it is faster, but the quality is the same as far as I'm concerned. Very happy with both of my units, and when my new 103 comes in, it replaces the BDP-83 (which will go to my bedroom), but the HD-A35 stays.
Edited by hernanu - 9/27/12 at 9:34am

It basically comes down to the dwindling hardware pool for which there is no support, and when the hardware does go, I'll have to go hunting for used equipment.

My number one reason is lack of shelf space for the movies and the players. Also it doesn't help that I live in a home that is a 100 years old and only 1100 square feet. 600 square feet downstairs, 500 square feet upstairs, and 500 square feet in the basement. My tools, furnace, oil tank, and washer and dryer take up most of that space. My living room is only 10 feet by 20 feet and the new furniture is much larger than the old furniture, especially the debt of the furniture, so I now can only put my HT set up in one place. The landing of the stairs also limits my HT space even more. I can not even get a bigger TV or TV stand than my cuurent one to place more hardware on. I am even running out of shelf space for my ever expanding Blu ray collection. This is the main reason why I purchased the LG BH200 Super Blu player. It saved a lot of space for other devices.
Once I pick up the Blu ray box sets of Indy Joes and Lethal weapon I will be officially down to only 10 SD DVD movies and the complete series of Sienfeld and Columbo.

And the second reason is hardware failure just as vinnie97 mentioned. The discs are not much use once you can no longer get a device to play them on. With the BH 200 we were running into issues with HD DVDs no longer working when they would release a firmware update for Blu rays. It became almost normal to know which firmware update I had to roll back to in order to play certain HD DVDs, and if I did not want to do that I had to unbox the A2 every time I ran into HD DVD playback problems. Also LG showed no interest in fixing HD DVD problems. In the end I found it easier to purchase the Blu ray copy when they became available.

My experience with HD DVD and the loss of other hardware do to poor support, break downs, and the inablility to get parts or a repair man to fix the hardware has prevented me from embracing 3D and now even 4k. These are basically the reasons why I decided to get an OPPO 83. And these will be the reasons when I decide to get a new OPPO in the future.

I assume you are referring to the HD-DVD model that you have is only capable of outputting 1080i? Otherwise the HD-DVD discs are most certainly 1080p. No issues whatsover with my top of the line Toshiba HD-XA2..
And I love that fact that the majority of titles go quickly to the main menu screen instead of viewing/skipping over tons of previews!

My HD-A35 is still working. So's my BDP-83. I have the A35 unplugged. If I want to watch any of the HD-DVDs I collected, I watch the rips I did using MakeMKV... unless I want to hear the Dolby TrueHD audio... then I fire up the A35 and play away. Cannot really say I hear much difference, though, so mostly the A35 is unplugged.

I still have two HD_DVD players A-35. HD-XA2. I also have an Oppo BDP-83SE. The picture quality is about the same, but the HD-DVD's are faster to load and easier to operate. As far as up conversion goes, the Oppo and the A-35 are about the same sharpness, the XA-2 is slightly softer. The big advantage to the Blu-ray is the sound quality. I have a good library of HD-DVD's and I play them regularly

I can relate to that. For 26 years I lived in a house that was 885 sq ft total. I recently moved into a 2200 sq ft house and that does not include a huge finished basement wher I am currently in the process of setting up my primary HT.

In the little house I ended up with media everywhere. Cases in the LR, hall, BR plus stacks here, there and everywhere. I just got finished setting up the "media corner" in the basement of the new place. Here is how it looks now. So nice to be able to know/find something exactly where it should be.

Me too. Even thought they're non-lossless audio, they still look and sound great. I have two HDDVD players, one being that big clunker Toshiba that was the first one on the market. It's a backup in case my A35 ever craps out.

Oh.....and I still have a couple dozen DVHS HD tapes and a player that sees duty now and again! When the hardware all goes to heck on me, hopefully so many years have gone by that I feel fully ammortized and comfortable in selling the software off for a nickel on the dollar.
Edited by Jive Turkey - 9/28/12 at 7:56am

Did I stumble into the vintage format thread by mistake?

Seriously though, let's please try to keep this thread on topic.

deano86 -"I assume you are referring to the HD-DVD model that you have is only capable of outputting 1080i?"

that's right. My TV converts to 1080p. Stunning picture, and with so many hd-dvd units on the used market, I can pick up a backup player for $50.

I have had no problem playing any of the 30 or so disks I have.

We're just setting up templates for a few years down the road, so you'll only have to delete the HDDVD references and insert Blu-ray!

A lot of the masters are the same. However, I'm going to return all my Warner titles as they are prone to "laser rot". There's a thread on this forum with affected titles and HD DVD users' experiences with laser rot.

My "Mutiny on the Bounty" is hosed, and I only just opened it from the shrink wrap.

Going to check in here because I haven't found an answer yet. I recently picked up "Alien" and "Aliens" on blu-ray from Amazon after the recent price drop. On each disc, the theatrical versions play perfectly. The director's cut on each...not so much. Doesn't matter what I set the TV on (4:3 letterbox, 4:3 pan/scan, 16:9 wide, 16:9 wide/auto), it looks as though it's only showing the upper left quadrant of the movie. I have a Samsung UN55C6500 TV, Oppo-83, and a Yamaha RX-V667 receiver. Do I have two bad discs or am I overlooking something minor?

I recall that as a bug, but it was years ago. Are you running current firmware?

What I recall was the whole image was displayed, but it was zoomed out and filled only one corner of the screen.

-Bill

^^^
Yup, I think a firmware update should fix that.

Thanks Bill. I was wondering if it was a firmware issue. Would the last update take care of it?

Yes, pretty sure. If it doesn't, let us know.

-Bill

Looks great! Plenty of room to grow your collection. I have started dreaming about a new home and two must haves is a spacious theater room and a very spacious garage. I am going to make time this weekend to try some of the 100 anniversary Universal titles I recently bought.

It seems a lot of HD DVD owners have OPPOs. I wonder if OPPO can make their players truely universal and add HD DVD playback to thier players. I think it is the only shiney disc that OPPO doesn't play.

Thank you, sir. Will do.