Oppo BDP-83
Like most readers at Secrets we too have been more than anxious to get our hands on Oppo’s much anticipated new Blu-ray player and to our extreme delight, it’s here. Secrets is fortunate enough to have a couple to audition so do expect information over the next few days on this blog as we prepare a full-out benchmark of the BDP-83.
Superfluous to say, most know of Oppo’s stellar reputation for developing affordable ultra-high performance DVD players.
The unit is much taller than typical Oppo players but similarly adorned on the front with minimal controls. Interesting enough though on the extreme right is a USB port.
Anyone who’s ordered an Oppo DVD player will know how it arrives packed – the unit is wrapped in a canvas bag, comes complete with an HDMI and typical RCA cables, instruction manual and nicely designed remote.
The rear sports audio analog 7.1/5.1 for those who want the Oppo to process the HD audio codecs for older AV receivers that cannot process lossless signals, as well as stereo outputs. Additionally are digital coaxial and optical outputs. Composite and component video outputs compliment the HDMI output. Also you notice an Ethernet port, a USB 2.0 port and finally IR IN and Out ports.
The remote control is extremely functional and logically arranged. Touching any button will automatically make it glow amber. The larger stop/play/pause buttons are easily found in the dark and the 4 colored buttons functions vary by content. All in all it feels good in your hand and working with the new GUI (more on that later), makes navigating the menus quite easy.
Piero Gabucci
A lot of us have wanted to see an all-in-one solution Blu-ray player that not only delivers Blu-ray movies in stunning picture and sound but also provides extra features like Internet download capability and proper standard DVD deinterlacing, and perhaps some versatile audio options as well. Looks like the BD-83 is gearing up to be just that kind of a player with features like BD-Live, bitstream and internal decoding of next gen audio formats, USB Stick support (for audio, picture, and video) SACD playback in bitstream format, and standard DVD deinterlacing capabilities. As we are just getting this player on the bench, it looks like Oppo has been wanting to maintain their reputation for excellent deinterlacing and the player is soaring through many of our benchmark tests.
Added March 15
Two features that the BD-83 supports are BD-Live capability and USB ports, which are used for enjoying picture, audio, and video media. Both the front and rear USB ports on this player are designed to be used with flash drives as they only can supply 5v, 500mA of power but external hard drives can be used as well if they have their own power supply. Navigation occurs through an easy to use on-screen menu. There’s not a comprehensive list of all the file formats that the player supports available at this time, but you can bet that there is support for all the major ones like .jpg, mp3, and DivX. We are glad to see the BD-83 support USB devices as it makes the player more of a one stop location for all your media playback.
BD-Live is just now making more of an appearance on Blu-ray releases and a lot of studios are even converting HD-DVD interactive features released on previous titles into a BD-Live format. There’s a lot of development in the works for BD-Live to get it to a point where the interaction is more worthwhile and fun but the capability is definitely a welcome addition on the BD-83. BD-Live is made possible on this player via an Ethernet port on the back of the unit and a useful feature that the BD-83 supports is the ability to filter or turn off BD-Live activity entirely. It’s especially nice for those concerned about network activity that is initiated without consent such as BD-Live titles that begin downloading material as soon as the disc loads. The Ethernet port on this unit also enables firmware updates via download, and grants the possibility of additional network based features released in the future. Big kudos to Oppo on that.
Adrian Wittenberg
March 13th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Thanks for the teaser! Looks like a grand slam. Can’t wait to read the full review & bench results. Now if only they could cut 2 c-notes of the price!
March 18th, 2009 at 12:55 am
In addition to superior video and decent audio performance, a major attaction of Oppo players is the easy configuration to play discs from all zones. I heard that it may not be so easy to configure the new blu-ray player to player discs from all zones. Has anyone heard anything about this?
March 18th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Kieran, not sure I agree with your price issue. As of right now, the only other universal player is from Denon and it’s priced around $4,500.
March 27th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
Denon will never release a $4,000.00 universal player in this economy with players like the Oppo BDP-83 being released at a fraction of the price. Mark down the exact date and time I wrote this.
March 29th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
One thing that is lacking here is High Definition DivX capability. (It might be called DivX Pro, I’m not sure.) I realise that this codec is still pretty new but before I lay down the cash for any new DVD players–and ESPECIALLY Blu-Ray players–I absolutely demand to have this feature implemented.
Does anyone have any idea when DivX Pro will be showing up?
March 30th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Stephen,
Here’s a note about the region free capability of this player:
“The BDP-83 will support DVD Region 1 and Blu-ray Region A only. The Blu-ray Disc Association does not allow OPPO to support any region unlocking capabilities, even for DVD-Video playback.
As Blu-ray is a relatively new platform, OPPO wants to make sure they can sell Blu-ray players for many more years to come. They do not want to implement or excise any content control which could jeopardize their standing with the Blu-ray Disc Association.”
I haven’t looked into other players that are out there (as I don’t have any discs from other regions) but it sounds like this is going to be universal to all players, not just the Oppo.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Hey T, I disagree. Denon has always sold high end universal DVD players for $3,500 when $200 players were on the market. Denon will make $500 Blu-ray players but they always build a flagship unit. My point is Denon will not see this Oppo player as their competition.
March 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Hi Piero, Denon should see Oppo as competition. Oppo has been kickin’ their %@# for years in SQ and PQ with DVD and other universal players. The game has changed. No more big box stores for people to walk in to and be charmed by the Denon name by some teenager with little or no product knowledge. Now we have people searching the internet for advice and tripping over sites such as this one and AVS Forum. The only group of buyers that matter to Oppo and Denon are audio-videophiles. Everybody else looks for value over quality every time. They buy DVD’s for $5.00 kickin’ and screamin’. Joe average blows off the $30.00 blu-ray movie like the plague. Think about it. How many people do you know (that aren’t audio-videophiles) that walk into a store and ask: “What is the best Blu-ray player made?” OK, wrap it up! NOOOOO! They walk in and ask: “What is the cheapest Blu-ray player that you sell?” What! You don’t have one that cost less then that! OK, thanks…..see ya’
March 31st, 2009 at 6:10 am
T,
I didn’t mean to suggest Denon doesn’t take Oppo seriously, they do of course. Denon produces flagship units and prides themselves on what piece of that market they target. Their flagship DVD players are never sold in box stores because as you said, that typically is dominated by the price conscious consumer. I’m sure there are those in the industry too that scratch their heads as to how Oppo delivers excellent value priced products. Still my original point was currently there are no true universal Blu-ray players that play all formats, except the one Denon is planning to release this spring. So at under $500, the Oppo has no competition.
April 3rd, 2009 at 8:47 am
The Oppo BDP-83 will have a very warm welcome among those of us who want a ‘universal’ player - but region code restrictions negate a great deal of its versatility. In these times when DVD/BD material can be bought via the internet from all over the world, it is illogical to impose arbitrary restraints on what can be played.
High Definition is the reason for anyone upgrading to this machine, but its usefulness as a media player will also be compromised if the restriction on drives connected to the USB ports (FAT32) is implemented. The file size limit will restrict the length of HD video files to around 20 minutes. I already have around 400 gigabytes of (my own) HD video on 2 USB hard drives, and play them via a Popcorn Hour A-100, which does a very good job. Many of the files are larger than the FAT32 maximum. The BDP-83 would save me a HDMI source by doing for me what the A-100 now does, but not using FAT32, which has outstayed its welcome.
Despite my reservations, I am eager to see the launch of this new player.
April 16th, 2009 at 10:22 am
In recent years, one of the things that has happened in the A/V electronics industry is that the specialty internet-only companies like Oppo, Emotiva, Outlaw etc. have blown the whole price/performance issue right out of the water. Still many feel that one has to pay a considerable sum of money to reach audiophile/videophile nirvana and refuse to believe the above companies can achieve that for a fraction of the price. As a consultant in the field for a number of years I have put together and listened to many of these systems at various price levels. If someone “believes” that by spending a considerable some of money they are getting “superior” performance there is basically nothing you can do to change that line of thinking. My personal observations are much more pragmatic. With pretty well ALL internal parts for these products, regardless of price, manufactured in the Far East, it is now extremely difficult to justify the mammoth price differential discussed here between the $4500 Denon and the $500 Oppo BDP-83.
In this case, from my experience with the outstanding service and follow-up engineering that Oppo provides, if the individual that buys the Denon ever has the chance to sit down and objectively compare their player to the forthcoming BDP-83 in “Real World” viewing and listening conditions, then they will perhaps FINALLY understand why so many are so excited about this company and their products.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
From John Manning “…who want a ‘universal’ player” I hope you’re kidding
This is not a universal player by any mean…
Can It plays:
Video container: MWV-HD, MKV, TS, MOV, MP4, TR, M2TS, VOB, ISO, AVI, MPEG1/2/4, XViD, DiVX…
Audio: MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, PCM, M4A(no drm), FLAC…
If it’s not than it can not be a Universal player…
Actually there WILL NOT be a UNIVERSAL player simply there is too many formats of V/A out there to support, but certainly consumer can have a less than US $300.00 HD player will come close to UNIVERSAL player - EP6000P
EP6000P supports 1080p/60 from Internal HDD, USB DVD-ROM/HDD, or network drive.
It’s an unbelievable device… just like MP3 player 10yrs ago, only available to people who really digging for high-tech
******
October 30th, 2009 at 12:21 am
The upscaling processer is found in AVR’s costing over 2k. For $500 its an amazing value. Well built, plays almost any form of media available by disc/USB, fast loading, great back-lit remote, easiest Blu-Ray player to run/update, the best DVD upconversion available, topped off by the most helpful/polite customer support of any company.