Oppo BDP-83 or 83SE versus other blu ray players thread - Page 6

I was wondering if any of the -83 EAPers have had any HDMI handshake issues? I recall seeing some Oppo handshake items creeping up when I was researching a new AVR several months ago. I'm a Pioneer 51 owner (paid $274 at my local BestBuy) and have been thoroughly enjoying this unit (trouble free) for two months now. Analog CD playback is absolutely stunning -easily besting an NAD C541 ($700) dedicated CD player. Anyway, I'm trying to help a friend become interested in the Oppo -83. He has a small DVD-Audio collection and can probably wait awhile for the -83 to come out. He also can swing the $500+ investment. I just wanted to hear if there were any known HDMI handshake issues with particular brand pairings. Otherwise, this player sounds very promising -whenever it is released that is. (In the meanwhile I think I'll go watch The Dark Knight, again, and then after that maybe a couple beers and a few reference CD's.)

I own the BDP-83 and the PS3. To me, part of the answer of the "BPD-83 vs x"
question is what type of optical discs about which you care.

I care about:

BD
DVD Region 1
DVD Other regions
SACD (multichannel)
DVD-Audio (two channel and multichannel)

Because of the multitude of formats about which I care, I prefer to have a
player that does at least two of the above really, really well.

In my opinion, the BDP-83 is the best combined BD and DVD Region 1
player that I could purchase. Its other capabilities are OK to great but not
necessarily the best for my setup. It does not play non-Region 1 DVDs.

BD performance with the BDP-83 is better than the PS3, but it is more of
a refinement of an already-good experience in moving from the PS3 to
the BDP-83.

DVD Region 1 performance is very important to me because of the discs
I own. The BDP-83 performance with these is so good that it makes me
forget that I'm watching a DVD for brief moments, and that is on a
1080p projector with a 100-inch screen sitting 9 feet away. The only reason
I am "brought back to reality" with its DVD performance is due to DVD's
inherent lower visual resolution, which I can recognize with appropriate
content. In terms of its DVD deinterlacing and lack of artifacts,
the BDP-83 is as near-perfect as I have seen. It clearly beats two other
three DVD playback solutions that I have used in the recent past -- the
Panasonic DVD-CP72 over component and the Toshiba HD-A1 over
component/HDMI -- and it is somewhat better at DVD playback than the
Toshiba HD-A30 over HDMI.

An interesting thought: It might be possible to get very similar capability
in terms of DVD and BD performance by using dedicated players for each,
such as one player for only BDs (such as the 51FD) and another very
player for only DVDs (such as the OPPO DV-981HD). The price of this
will likely be similar to the BDP-83, but the hassle in setup would make
it not worth the trouble to me.

SCD

Hello,
+1 I have been making this exact point for weeks. In my case, I purchased a OPPO DV-980H in addition to a 51 and 05. Biggest advantage was multiregion.
Only disadvantage is load times.
Cheers,
AD

I bought the Oppo 983 last year, and have a first gen Sony BDP. If I didn't have the 983 I would be all over this new player.

Anyone interested in a 983?

You mean Oppo BD-83 can be hacked to be region-free?

Can you substantiate this information?

TIA.

Lately the 983 has been selling used for more than you paid for it.

teh oppo would be perfect for me except for the fact that it cant' be made region free for either bluray or DVD's.
I don't care about SACD or DVD-A - I do care about CD performance and i think the oppo and pioneer are both rated to be good.

so my search for my perfect player has only one answer today as far as i know ... the only players i have found that does region free/multisystem DVD blu ray, has a source direct mode for video, is quiet (compared to a 20G PS3 which i use while is hot and loud!), and has a reasonable load time (can be a tad slower than PS3 if it meets all the other criteria) are the pioneer series 51/05/09 from JVB digital. DTA-MA is supposed to be supported in pio but a lot of users are complaining about how long it's going to take for them to support it.
the popular panasonic blu ray players from jvb do everything else above except source direct ...

i am waiting to see if the new line of pioneers 120/360/23FD will offer all of the old features from the 51/05/09 but will hopefully be even more faster and support DTA_MA out of the box. hopefully i will have my perfect DVD/blu ray player in about 2 months if JVB offers the new pioneers region free ...

darno,

"I recall seeing some Oppo handshake items creeping up when I was researching a new AVR several months ago." Which Oppo player are you referring to? The 1st EAP player probably wasn't received until the week beginning March 1. So, the Oppo wasn't out in the wild several months ago.

There's no such thing as an HDMI and HDCP enabled device that doesn't have "some handshaking issues".

That's what we do. We have separate players for CD, DVD, SACD, and Blu-ray. That allows us to buy a player that excels at doing one thing well. This didn't start out a deliberate approach, it's just that when DVD came out, we were already perfectly happy with our CD player and saw no need to get rid of it (we have a big equipment rack), and getting a combo player seemed like a compromise. Case in point, our current Blu-ray player has HD-SDI out, but it only works for Blu-ray disks. But that's okay, because our DVD player has SD-SDI out.

And we use an outboard scaler for video.

Not true. Most any player can be hacked to be both regionfree and zonefree, now that there are chips that can be added to the motherboard to spoof the locale. Two minutes of googling will find companies that sell the chips, and complete mods.

Why did I send it back? The performance difference was not enough for me to justify purchasing.
The Oppo is WAY faster than my 51FD , so if you want fast disc load times etc get the Oppo , you will be very happy.
If performance is all you care about (<<me) then the Oppo is the better unit but its only by a bit / id say 5-15%.

Both players look excellent on my PRO-151FD

I realize it is at a much higher price point but has anyone compared the Oppo to the Pioneer 09?

It was a recent Oppo DVD player with HDMI. I think it was a 981 maybe, but it was a well known handshake issue that surfaced with a couple of AVRs. I don't have time to do a search right now but I remember several posters having to forgoe Hi-rez audio via HDMI. I should have made clear that I was not talking about the bdp-83 having any known issues. That is what I'm trying to find out now. I just wanted to make sure that we weren't seeing a very five unit made by a smaller company being purposefully shut out by the 'Big Boys' HDMI protocol hoops.

Joerod has , look for his review in the Oppo thread.

James,

I saw your recent post on the Pioneer 05FD/51FD and respect your reason for returning the Oppo. However, you and other's who will remain nameless are leading readers to believe that the only difference is speed and a slight (only word that comes to mine) performance increase in blu-ray and dvd playback, which is totally not true. I say this because I've owned both and my comparison tells an entirely different story. If your only comparison was to be blu-ray and dvd playback, then you should qualify your statement as such. If a prospective buyer's criteria is only blu-ray and dvd playback, then the Pioneer as well as several others will be more than sufficient and do a competent job. I thoroughly enjoyed my Pioneer 51Fd while I owned it. If we are not willing to tell the whole story (outstanding blu-ray and dvd playback, DVD-A, SACD, all the additional media's supported as well as 1st rate customer service), then why tell the story. While I've never heard you say this people require DVD-A and SACD support for their current selection and not a dying format as some would claim. Also, titles are still being released for SACD.

Willie

Very good points Willie. It seems that some people do not like to do an "apples to apples" comparison with the BDP-83. I will not speculate to what the reasons may be, as not to stir up even more controversy.
Again though, it just comes down to what features are most important to the end user, and said user can then make an (hopfully) educated decision as to what they should buy.

Oppo salesmen are we? ^^


Guys I thought I was clear, the Oppo is better , more than 'slight' but still far from 'alot'.

Far from true ? If you say this then you are flat out lying or you are blind.

BOTH the Oppo 83 and Pioneer 51 are excellent exellent performers.

Speed is by far the biggest difference between the 2.

I am NOT going to argue about this anymore nor even look
in this thread, I am done.

Have a nice weekend guys.

-Internal decoding of DTS HD/MA
-USB interface for capability of playing movies and music from mass storage and flash drives
-Superior scaling and deinterlacing
-SACD playback
-DVDA playback
-Extended support for various applications of user created media
-BD Live capable w/ethernet port (wireless compatable with adapter)
-Automatic fw upgrade notification via ethernet connection
-HDMI CEC
-Source Direct mode
-Superior customer support/relations/warranty services
-All audio and video outputs active at all times
-External IR support
-Full featured backlit OEM remote included with player
-Blu-ray video calibration disc included with player
-Multiple section of Deep Color output
-Native PAL capable/compatable with superior PAL->NTSC conversion, and NTSC->PAL conversion
-Multiple screen saver options
-High quality HDMI cable inclded with player
-Ships inside (fashionable) anti static packaging

(I'm tired now, someone else can finish the list if there's anything else to add... )

So we have "hairs", "more than slight", "less than a lot", 4.5%-10%, 15%. Methinks someone needs to make up his mind. Whatever you're saying, it's anything but clear.

You got me there, my use of the word hair was wrong in that post.

Sorry.

This approach is a good one. The chief limitation I face in my setup in going with the
separate player for each disc type is the number of HDMI inputs on my receiver. Using
lots of players forces some other decisions in the setup, such as (i) using component
for video for one or more players, (ii) using analog ins for one multichannel audio player,
and so on.

I think there's also the choice of how many discs of a certain type one owns/rents,
or how often a particular disc type is played. Having a dedicated player makes sense
only if the dedicated capability gets used often enough, IMO.

Back to the topic -- the BDP-83 can serve as anyone's dedicated Blu-ray and
DVD Region 1 player without hesitation, I think. Another really good choice for
a pair of players would seem to be the Pioneer 51FD and OPPO DV-981HD/983H
if one of the latter machines can be found. In my case, the BDP-83 bests
the PS3 for Blu-ray playback and the Toshiba HD-A30 for DVD playback.

For non-Region 1 discs, I use a Panny DVD-S52 or a computer running VLC.
Since the Panny also plays DVD Audio discs well, I don't need to use the
BDP-83 for DVD Audio. And (again for me), I prefer the PS3 for multichannel
SACD playback because it sounds better in my setup than the OPPO.

SCD

from what i have read to date on the oppo 83 EAP thread folks have been very firm that it is not possible to make an oppo 83 multiregion/multisystem. i hope what i have inferred is wrong .. if the oppo can be made multiregion/multisystem it would meet my needs perfect.

There are aftermarket companies claiming it can be done

http://www.custom-ht.com/oppo.html

-Optional Region Free Mod to enable Blu-ray and DVD A/B/C and All regions respectively

estimate of us$200-250 on top of player price, this is via email received on Australian dvt forum

I don't think there is any sinister reason that some people focus only only BD and dvd upconversion performance; I think it's simply because that what the vast majority of folks are interested in. This is true for me (plus the ability to do the hidef audio formats), though the fast action of the 83, and Oppo's excellent service (I have a 970 ad 981) are very much appreciated.

My impression is that the 83 will do these 'core' functions extremely well, and it seems that most of the discussion is about whether or not there are other units that will do them as well (or 'almost' so), while not performing the 'extra' functions (SACD, etc.) that the Oppo does.

In our case it's not the number of HDMI inputs, it's the number of analog inputs--we do all D/A on the players. But we solved that problem with a couple of Zektor switches. Works great, completely transparent, and that allows multiple 5.1 and 7.1 inputs to our analog multichannel preamp.

Of course Oppo isn't going to say they support regionfree or zonefree--that contradicts the terms of the licensing. I'm just saying that aftermarket mods are always available for almost any piece of equipment. There are companies that do nothing but design chips to spoof the locale--they solder them onto the motherboard. Yes, it totally voids the warranty, but at least you strike a blow for freedom.

Having gone through two blu-ray players recently, the Sony BDP-S550 and Panasonic DMP-BD80, I would give the new Oppo a try.

My question is about the internal audio components used in the Oppo 83.
What brand or quality are the DAC's being used?
Are they on par with the Burr Brown DAC's used by Denon?
Currently I am using a Denon 2930CI player for DVD-A & SACD.
I would be running 7.1 analog out of the OPPO to my Denon 5803 receiver.
Ultimately would like to use the Oppo for blu-ray, DVD-A & SACD playback if the sound quality is good enough.

Has anybody giving the Oppo a blu-ray PQ test comparison to the new Panny players?

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

This is shown in the FAQ: What is the difference between the stereo and 7.1 outputs?


Note the general observations here: Is the Blu-ray picture quality of this player amazingly better than any other player?

-Bill

James,

1st I have no allegiance to Oppo or any other manufacturer. I just want the player that best serves my needs within my budget and for me that player is the Oppo. My intent is not to run you or anyone else off this forum. Also, I respect your comments and your right to make said comments. I've always stated that if someone is looking for a quality blu-ray and dvd transport ONLY, then the Pioneer won't disappoint. I agree with most of what you stated if the criteria is ONLY for a blu-ray and dvd transport. However, I see too many comparisons between the Oppo and Pioneer 51FD, where people conveniently omit the fact that the Oppo is more than just a blu-ray and dvd transport. It's a universal player that is still evolving. I've always qualified my comparisons as they pertain to the Oppo and the Pioneer 51FD.

I'm not sure if we should even continue this thread, because based on the players that will be arriving in the near future; there are NONE with the Oppo feature set at this price point to compare it to IMHO.

I think as adults we can agree to disagree. However, if I ever offend anyone on any forum that is not my intent and please accept my sincere apology if I have offended you.


Willie