Blu-ray Players OPPO BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player - Benchmark
| OPPO BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player - Benchmark |
| Written by Adrian Wittenberg |
| Thursday, 25 June 2009 00:00 |
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Introduction There has been a lot of anticipation for OPPO Digital's brand new BDP-83 Blu-ray player. This is in part because OPPO has had an excellent track record for producing top notch affordable DVD players, such as the DV-983H (one of the only players in Secrets's history to score a perfect 100 on Secret's rigorous DVD Benchmark) and in part because the BDP-83 is the first Blu-ray player to hit the market offering the features to make it a truly all-in-one solution media solution for high definition playback. With a vast feature list that includes BonusView, BD-Live, DVD Up-Conversion, 1080p24 and source direct output, bitstream, and internal decoding of Next Gen audio codecs, USB Media support, SACD playback through PCM or DSD (direct stream digital), and DVD-Audio support, the BDP-83 offered at a price of $499 is in a position to steal the Blu spotlight. Specifications
OPPO has had the BDP-83 in production for some time now and instead of rushing it into a market crowded with average performing players, they took their time developing a product with high quality standards and versatile features. In fact, OPPO decided on a bold "customer first" strategy for the release of the BDP-83. Through an Early Adoption Program, otherwise known as EAP rounds 1 and 2, three hundred fifty registered consumers were chosen by random drawing to participate in a pre-release evaluation of the BDP-83. OPPO Digital then chose to let the participants decide if the BDP-83 was ready for public release by making "Yes" or "No" votes on the product's website. When the "Yes" votes reached 70% of the total votes, then the player would be ready for release. One obvious benefit of this strategy has been the substantial real world testing from a wide range of consumers nitpicking on issues that made a difference to their home theater systems. Issues such as Dolby TrueHD audio drop outs, better DVD-Audio support, and deinterlacing issues have been reported and OPPO, with an open ear, has released multiple firmware updates through the course of the program to address the feedback. OPPO Digital has always maintained a tradition of providing excellent customer support after the sale and rest assured they will continue to make tweaks and improvements to the BDP-83 far after its initial release. Well, at long last it's here, so let's take a closer look at the OPPO BDP-83. The Design
On the Inside Video processing on the HDMI side is handled by Anchor Bay Technologies ABT 2010 processor which features proprietary VRS 10-bit video scaling, mosquito noise reduction, and proprietary lip synch technology. The analog video connections of the BDP-83 are not processed through the ABT2010 processor, so the maximum potential of this player will only be unlocked when using HDMI connections. Here is a glimpse of the inside of the BDP-83 where we can see the separate boards for the power supply, main board, and analog audio section. A/V connections are braced on the inside of the chassis for additional durability.
The dedicated stereo analog output uses the Cirrus CS4398 DAC. The 7.1 channel analog output uses the Cirrus CS4382A DAC. The analog video output uses the built-in 148MHz/12-bit video DAC in the video decoder chip. Features The BDP-83 Is chock full of features. For starters, the BDP-83 is a full profile 2.0 player that features both BonusView and BD-Live capabilities. The BDP-83 is also HDMI 1.3 compliant and features support for both 30-bit and 36-bit Deep Color. This simply means that when we actually start seeing Deep Color media become available, this player will have the ability to display it. BD-Live on the BDP-83 is accomplished through the Ethernet port located on the back of the unit. The BDP-83 also features 1gb of internal storage so additional memory cards or flash cards aren't needed to make BD-Live titles work properly. It's a nice extra for OPPO to include and in comparison, many manufacturers have been skimping on the amount of internal memory and instead force consumers to purchase their own to achieve full BD-Live compatibility. Thumbs up to OPPO! Also, when this 1 GB of memory has been filled, storage can be regained by deleting unwanted content through the menu system. The BDP-83 is really like a media center because of its support for additional media formats. The BDP-83's officially supported formats for media are BD, DVD-A, DVD-V, SACD, AVCHD, CD and Kodak Picture CD. The player will however handle formats such as JPEG,MP3, DivX,MKV, and AVI fairly well but the player may experience some glitches from time to time. It is likely OPPO will release firmware updates that address support for additional media formats. Video output choices are between 480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p50, or 1080p60. The BDP-83 offers 1080p/24 output with compatible displays and the BDP-83 is also one of a select few players able to upconvert standard DVDs into 1080p/24 output. Besides the selectable resolutions, the BDP-83 also offers Source Direct mode. In Source Direct mode, the player outputs source material in its original format untouched by any processing or scaling. It's a desirable feature to have for those who prefer to use their external scalers or processors to handle the video duties. In Use The BDP-83 was a breeze to set up because of the well designed menu system. After the BDP-83 has been connected and powered on the player begins with the easy setup wizard. This allows for picking the video connection, the default resolution, and the audio preferences. This wizard is great for home theater novices as it shows images of what the connections look like. All of these choices can be revisited at any time after finishing the setup wizard. Since OPPO often releases firmware updates that address new enhancements, it's a good idea to check OPPO's website for new firmware and update the player with the latest release. Firmware updates can be performed in one of three ways. They are, using an internet connection with the player, using a USB stick, or burning the update onto a CD. I preferred using the USB stick method to accomplish the task, but if the player is connected to the internet, the player will automatically detect and download new releases, so it's just as easy and download times are relatively quick. To update by USB, simply download the new firmware update file from the OPPO website to the computer's hard drive and then unzip the file onto a USB stick. The USB stick can be placed into either one of the BDP-83's two USB 2.0 ports and the player will automatically sense that there is new firmware available and will prompt the user to apply the update. The process can also be done manually through the menu by pressing the Setup button on the remote, selecting Device Setup, Firmware Upgrade, and then VIA USB. After the update has been initiated, there is an onscreen and front panel display that shows a progress indicator. It's very important that the player is not disturbed during this process as any interruptions or power loss during a firmware write can render the player useless. For this review, the player was tested using the June 11 Beta Firmware Release. Here are the screen shots during the setup procedure.
You can take a video tour of the BDP-83's features by clicking HERE. I liked the BDP-83 remote control a lot due to its straightforward and intuitive layout. It's about the same size as most universal remotes but the buttons are fairly large. All of the buttons are also clearly labeled and some of the more commonly used ones have familiar icons stamped on them. The remote employs excellent backlighting so it's also very easy to find buttons in the dark.
Load times on the BDP-83 were brisk. DreamWorks' Tropic Thunder, which is Java-based, clocked in at 35 seconds. Non-Java-based titles, such as the remastered version of The Fifth Element will load much faster. Load times have always been a complaint of Blu-ray player users, and this player performed pretty well in that category.
Video No doubt about it, the BDP-83 produces a beautiful image for Blu-ray. The player exhibited excellent chroma and luma details with even distribution amongst the frequencies. The player also showed that it can display all of the below black and above white information properly without clipping.
For standard DVD upscaling to 1080p, I did an A/B comparison between OPPO's DV-980H universal DVD player and the BDP-83 using HDMI outputs on both players. Source material used was New Line Cinema's The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended Edition disc one. Upscaling on the BDP-83 was top notch. The colors produced were vivid and the blacks were very deep which gave a three dimensionality to the image. Nothing was missed in any of the detail, and the image was sharp and had good clarity. While the images on both players had excellent detail and were free from artifacting, I'd give the edge to the BDP-83 for having slightly deeper blacks and richer colors, whereas the DV-980H looked a tad softer and washed out. In addition, setting the BDP-83 to output the DVD at 1080p24 frame rate gave motion a very fluid and lifelike appearance. Having the 1080p24 feature available is great to have, and it can breathe new life into your favorite DVDs. Audio (JEJ) The OPPO BDP-83 performed beautifully in terms of the sound. You can use the 7.1 analog pre-outs if you have an older receiver, and the sound was very good. Distortion was low, and everything sounded crisp without being sibilant. The BDP-83 decodes Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio internally, and will deliver the sound through the 7.1 analog pre-outs. Of course, if you have one of the newer receivers with HDMI inputs, you can send your music from CDs, SACDs, DVD-As, SD DVD movies, and Blu-ray movies to the receiver in digital format. We went through several movies, but also some SACD and DVD-A, and the player handled all of them without a hitch. The analog outputs had more noise than the HDMI connection, but that is to be expected, since analog cables pick up noise along the way from the player to the processor. Although you can select bitstream or PCM for the various media through the HDMI connection, and there are some measurable differences (see the Audio Measurements section of Benchmark Performance), I didn't hear and difference between them. However, SACDs and DVD-As both sounded more detailed than CDs. The difference between the high rez formats and CDs is not as dramatic as some have stated, but it is noticeable. For me, though, it is the discrete multi-channel sound in SACD and DVD-A that makes them so enjoyable. You can change the way the player handles the signal by selecting bitstream or PCM. I measured some differences, but I could not really hear any difference between the bitstream mode and PCM mode. Taken is a great action film that we reviewed recently, and 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio is the codec. I am delighted that we finally have players, processors, receivers, AND the movies with the high rez codecs. The sound is just breathtaking.
The Matrix 10th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray release has 5.1 Dolby TrueHD sound. I found myself gripping the arm rests with so much action and such tremendous surround sound that is not compressed. My four subwoofers are finally getting the workout they were meant to have.
The Punisher has 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, and what I have found is that movies which have 7.1 surrround make a point of using all seven channels quite a bit. The movie was pretty good, but the sound just blew out the walls. It's disappointing that so many movies make such little use of the surround channels. A typical 5.1 release will use the surrounds mostly for the music.
For music, Yuko Maruyama's DVD-A, In Tone Nation, is superb both as a performance and as a sound demonstration. I am getting more and more convinced that listening to music in a discrete high rez surround format is much more enjoyable than stereo. Of course, there are surround sound discs out there that are produced in such a way that you have the drums behind you on the left, piano behind you on the right, sax front left, guitar front right, and singer in the middle. That sort of balance is not very natural in terms of how you would hear the performance live. But, engineers are getting over the novelty of surround sound, and beginning to use the multiple channels appropriately. In Tone Nation is one of them, and so is Michael Murray's SACD release of classical organ arrangements. In fact, this particular disc gave me more of an "I am sitting right there with the pipes" than any organ music disc I have ever heard. Two channels don't cut it anywhere near what 5.1 does in cases like these. I have begun to see music being released as Blu-ray discs, so I think high rez, multi-channel music will survive. Producers will have their choice of DVD-A (where most of the popular music seems to be), SACD (classical music appears to favor this format), and Blu-ray.
In sum, I really didn't have any complaints about the sound quality at all. But, I preferred using the HDMI connection as it had less noise. BD-Live The first step to getting BD-Live working is setting up the BDP-83 on a local area network with high speed internet. This can be accomplished by making a wired Ethernet connection between the BDP-83 and a router, or by using a wireless game adapter that has a connection to a wireless router. It's also best to allow the player to use DHCP to assign the IP Address and DNS Server. The player does have the option to enter these fields manually as well if need be. Once the network connections are set up, a connection test can be performed to verify successful connection to the internet. I used Universal Picture's Frost Nixon and Hellboy 2 releases as well as DreamWorks' Tropic Thunder release to test out BD-Live.
After about 3 minutes, downloads were complete for Frost Nixon and I was taken to Universal's BD-Live center where I could view trailers of other Universal titles. Trailers loaded almost immediately. There wasn't any content specific for Frost Nixon, so it was a bit of a disappointment. Moving along, the content for Hellboy 2 took seven minutes forty five seconds to load and as well as a set of trailers, there were also a couple short video clips that offered some additional artwork for the movie. Nothing special. Overall, the experience with the Universal titles wasn't very good for content and performance was also a bit sluggish. That's not necessarily a fault of this player as much as it is for content development for BD-Live. DreamWorks's Tropic Thunder content took around seven minutes to load and included lots of funny behind the scenes interviews and improvisations. If you enjoyed the movie, then the BD-Live extras are worth the download. BD-Live is still a developing format, but it's starting to appear on more titles. More Media The BDP-83 is a media center and media can be accessed from either disc or USB Media using the two USB 2.0 ports on the player. The USB ports are also used for applying firmware updates to the player. These USB ports can accommodate external hard drives but since thy only supply 5V, 500ma of power, external hard drives will need their own power supplies. Additionally, the USB storage device must be formatted in the FAT or FAT32 file system since the BDP-83 is not compatible with NTFS formatted storage devices. Once the USB device is plugged in, the Home button is pressed to display a menu which allows selection of music, movie, or pictures. USB1 or 2 becomes an available choice for navigation when you select any of these items. Music files played with no issues and basic features like shuffle random repeat one repeat all are present. If the music file contains information such as album art it will be displayed otherwise, only track and time is shown. Viewing images on a home theater system is a nice feature to have and I often find myself sharing photos of recent vacations with friends on my 52" LCD display. Here, the BDP-83 gives you a preview thumbnail with file information including date, size, and file type, and a list of all the photos that are present on the CD or USB stick. After selecting the photo, a full screen image pops up and will automatically go into a slideshow mode. The slideshow feature also has variable speed choices (slow, normal, fast) that vary from 5 seconds, 10 seconds, and 15 seconds per slide. The pause button must be pressed to prevent the player from displaying the next available image. The image quality here looked excellent. While viewing the photo, one can flip, rotate, or zoom and pan in on the image by using the arrow keys and the zoom button on the remote control. Music can also be added to the slideshow by starting a music track or playlist first, then pushing the home key and beginning the photo slideshow. Movie files loaded very quickly and the player was responsive when navigating through the video. The display button will bring up additional information including time marker, sound, and video format. The remote control can mute or change the volume of the track or you can change the resolution and use the zoom function as well. There are five speeds of fast forward or reverse that work very smoothly. The BDP-83 wasn't able to play any of my WMA, or MP4 files, however I didn't experience any problems during playback of AVI, DIVX, or MKV files with the exception that I couldn't get the player to display file information on the specific MKV file I was using. Benchmark Performance
The BDP-83 had excellent image quality and deinterlacing performance while using HDMI connections. This is due to the fact that the venerable ABT2010 is handling the video processing on the HDMI side. Because the component video outputs are a completely separate signal path and are not processed through the ABT2010 processor results were different when testing from the analog outputs. Our benchmark test for core video performance measures from the component video outputs using our Tektronix Oscilloscope and measurements were taken at 480p, 720p, and 1080i resolutions. (Click on the chart to see a larger version, and then click on the small square with four arrows in the bottom right hand corner to make it full size. You can drag it around on the screen with the left mouse button to read the entire chart.) The BDP-83 measured white level at a near spot on 99.7 IRE, passed our below black test and also showed that it can display images without cropping any pixels. The BDP-83 did exhibit a Y/C delay issue at 480p resolution from the component video connections that slightly improves at 720p resolution and is not an issue at 1080i resolution. On the HDMI side, the Luma and Chroma signals were observed to be aligned precisely and both Chroma and Luma resolutions are shown without breakup or lack of intensity in fine details. The analog frequency response of the BDP-83 was measured at 1080i with a generally flat distribution across the frequency spectrum translating to excellent picture quality with excellent detail and clarity. The BDP-83 passed all of our tests for the CUE error with flying colors, including the more difficult ICP test. The BDP-83 did very well in our HD section of the benchmark. The player was tested for proper 1080 i/p conversion with both 3:2 and 2:2 cadence material and passed both tests with flying colors. This kind of material is mostly present in documentary and concert footage and the BDP-83 will be able to display it without any loss of resolution. The BDP-83 is a motion adaptive player and employs very good diagonal filtering from its HDMI outputs. Thus, it will display moving images with diagonal lines without the presence of jaggies. The results from the analog outputs were not quite as stellar and jaggies can be observed at both 480p and 720p resolutions. Common examples of material with lots of diagonal lines are waving flags, hockey games, or on masts of moving ships. The BDP-83 also passed our tests for banding and the player showed that it can display a full 1920-1080 image without cropping any pixels. The BDP-83 employs a mosquito noise reduction technique that is recommended for cleaning up the edges of poorly compressed video material. Our noise reduction tests are designed around both mosquito noise reduction as well as the state of the art noise reduction features found in HQV's Reon or Realta processors and not every decoder chip can pass these tests without having these features. As the ABT2010 uses mosquito noise reduction and doesn't employ either random noise reduction or temporal noise reduction techniques it's no surprise that the BDP-83 only got a borderline score on this test. Noise reduction is not necessarily something everyone will use because as more is applied, detail is generally lost in the image. We still include this test in our Blu-ray benchmark as we find some users favor the varying results achieved with noise reduction tools especially when viewing material that has poor video quality. Standard DVD Performance Oppo was one of the first manufacturers to achieve a perfect score on the Secrets DVD benchmark, and I'm happy to report they have continued their tradition of excellent de-interlacing with the BDP-83 while using HDMI connections. Since the component video connections don't take advantage of the ABT2010 processing the results vary on the analog side. Using HDMI connections, the BDP-83 passed all of our film based tests with flying colors. The player also showed exceptional results on our high detail tests that use both the Super Speedway clip and the more difficult Coliseum pan-over scene from Gladiator. The player locked onto the material immediately and every bit of fine detail was preserved. Using component analog video connections the player had difficulty with chapter breaks as well as material encoded with improper progressive flags. On video based material, the BDP-83 did equally well. The player is motion adaptive, and video to film recovery and transitions were speedy. Real world 2:2 cadence material such as our Natural Splendors test played perfectly without any loss of resolution. In addition, one can force the BDP-83 to processing a 2:2 even, or 2:2 odd cadence which can be relevant if the source material is known to be encoded in a specific format. In our usability section the OPPO also was exceptional. The player was very responsive to commands and had brisk operation overall. The layer change clocked in right at a respectable one second which is a passing score for our test. Audio Measurements (JEJ) Using the left channel of the stereo analog output, and a test CD, I measured less than 0.003% THD+N using a 1 kHz sine wave.
With DVD-A signals, and the analog output, distortion was very low, much like it was with CD.
SACD, using the analog output, measured somewhat higher distortion, mainly because of the out-of-band noise that 1 bit Delta-Sigma codecs have. There is a slight difference in the distortion for DSD (bitstream) vs. PCM, but I don't consider this to be significant.
For IMD, analog output, distortion was low for all three formats (CD, DVD-A, SACD). Notice that for SACD, when the player converts it to PCM before outputting the analog signal, the out-of-band noise is less.
To illustrate the effect noise has on the measurements, here are two graphs of a 1 kHz sine wave (both using the analog output), one at 24/192 with a 96 kHz bandwidth, and the other with SACD, and the bandwidth limited to 22 kHz. Notice how the 24/192 THD+N is higher than in the other graphs, and the SACD measurement is lower (because all that out-of-band noise is excluded).
Here is the measured frequency response of all three formats, analog output. It's flat from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, and then there is a slight rise in the SACD and 24/96 DVD-A response of about 0.5 dB.
With the HDMI connection, through a Denon AVP-A1HDCI processor (using the XLR output of the front left channel, and the volume set to 0 dB, in Direct mode), distortion was less, both as an PCM and bitstream digital output signal from a test CD (16/44.1) than it was using the analog output from the player. 24/96 distortion was about the same as it was with the analog output. But, notice there are much fewer distortion and noise peaks from 20 Hz to 20 kHz for the SACD digital test signal via HDMI than it was with the player's analog output, in fact, the measured THD+N was at the limits of my measuring system.
For IMD, distortion at 24/96 and 24/192 from the HDMI digital port was about the same as with the analog outputs, but was higher with SACD. However, note the lack of the 14 kHz and 21 kHz harmonics with 24/96 and 24/192 via HDMI compared with the analog outputs.
Shown below are the SACD test disc graphs for an input signal that is a combination of 19 kHz and 20 kHz sine waves. First, is the set of graphs using the analog output. Besides the obvious noise, there are significant side peaks next to the two input peaks.
Now here are the graphs using the HDMI digital output into the Denon processor. Notice that there is much less noise and that the 1 kHz B-A peak which is prominent with the DSD bitstream output, is lower when the DSD is converted to PCM in the player. The out-of-band noise is lower with the PCM output as well. It's nice to have a choice of outputting the SACD signal as a DSD bitstream or having it converted to PCM in the player before output. Also, it is this particular set of graphs that illustrate the difference in the digital to analog conversion of a $500 player, vs. the conversion when performed by the DACs in a $7,500 SSP. Bottom line: This is a fantastic player, but use the HDMI output if possible. The DACs in the BDP-83 are there if you must use analog outputs (they are essentially a token), but this is really a player designed to deliver everything in digital format, and it is the digital circuits where the money has been spent.
Below is the frequency response of all three formats, HDMI digital output. For CD and DVD-A, the frequency response rolls off sooner through the HDMI digital output than through the analog output, and there is actually a very small rise in the analog response at the extreme high end. The SACD HDMI frequency response is nearly the same as with the analog output. Notice that conversion to PCM in the player makes the response roll off sooner than DSD bitstream for both the analog and HDMI digital outputs. Essentially, however, the frequency response is within 0.2 dB from 20 Hz to 20 kHz in all cases.
Conclusions In a system with HDMI connections, the OPPO BDP-83 is an extremely desirable player to have because it's a fantastic Blu-ray player with a beautiful picture and speedy operation. Standard DVD processing is top notch as well and the player features high quality audio output for all the latest HI Def sound codecs as well as additional media types such as DVD-Audio and SACD in both bitstream and PCM output. Because the BDP-83's component video connections don't take advantage of the ABT2010 processor, the performance is not near as good and doesn't get quite the recommendation for systems limited to analog video connections. However, with the BDP-83's HDMI capabilities, its performance on the bench, the exceptional build quality, their continued support to their product line, and the inclusion of features such as BD-Live and additional media playback, OPPO has an out-of-the-ballpark grand slam home run. Highly Recommended. Comments (45)
This one was a lot of work.
written by JEJ , June 26, 2009 Because the BDP-83 handles so many codecs and allows you to choose bitstream vs. PCM, I ended up with graphs coming out of my ears. The bottom line is that for $499, this is one hell of a player.
DVD-A handling
written by Eric , June 26, 2009 I'm looking for a player that will handle the notoriously finicky Talking Heads DVD-A releases. Is there any chance you've tried any of them on this unit & if so, how did they work?
Good review
written by Styln , June 26, 2009 I've owned this unit for about six weeks. Your finding match mine perfectly. I am mostly interested in the analog audio side of things - which I find to be excellent. Especially through the stereo RCA outputs. The measurements and graphs are very much appreciated. It's good to have both subjective and objective validation. This is a really big step up from the Oppo 970 which I bought quite some time ago. The 83 walks all over the 970s analog outputs - not even a fair fight :)
No DVD / Bluray multiregion.
written by JP , June 26, 2009 EXCELENT review. It might be worth mentioning that this player is region locked for both DVDs and Blurays, a deal breaker for those of us watching tons of overseas material.
internal bass management/time alignment
written by Paul , June 26, 2009 What kind of bass management/time alignment flexibility does this unit have for those of us who would like to use it its analogue MCH outputs for audio?
right on
written by Chris , June 26, 2009 Your review is exactly what I was waiting for, from an independent source. This player does not compete with the high volume brands, nor should it. When you want the best in video and audio you only have two names to choose from... Denon or Oppo I went with Oppo and am extremely impressed.
MultiRegion Mods Available
written by pg , June 27, 2009 This is indeed a stunning machine and now thare are both software and hardware multiregion mods for both Bluray and DVD.
No DVD / Blu-ray multiregion?
written by Dwigt , June 27, 2009 The BDP-83 isn't region-free... or is it? Contrary to the Oppo DVD players, the BDP-83 isn't supposed to play discs from other regions after you type on the remote a short code given by the user manual to unlock the feature. Oppo was one of the hundreds or thousands licensees of the DVD forum, so nobody cared. There aren't many Blu-ray licensees producing players now, so they wouldn't take the risk to be noticed this early. However, the current firmwares have been hacked and the region free feature can be found on a few sites. Keep in mind a few things: - it isn't official. No problem has been reported but if it damages your player, it's at your own responsibility. If you have to send back the player to Oppo, install the official firmware - it makes the BDP-83 region-free for DVDs but you have to switch regions for Blu-rays by typing a short code on the remote (it's the same thing with any "region-free" BD player) - the team that hacks the firmwares might not do this for years, which could be a problem if they stop working on the official firmware updates.
Thank you for the detailed review... WITH measurements
written by WS , June 27, 2009 Adam you have outdone yourself. Thank you for the detailed review. (now please crank out more!) :-D
Shame about the Anchor bay chip...
written by Daniel H. , June 27, 2009 I was looking forward to buying this player. I have been waiting for a high quality universal Blu Ray player at a decent price. But, my HDTV does not have an HDMI port; so I watch HD material with a component cable. The fact that the video processing through the component output does not use the Anchor bay chip ABT2010, is a serious deal breaker for me. I hope they resolve this with their next player.
Too bad about the looks
written by Donnie , June 27, 2009 According to the review (which I trust) and the graphs this seems to be a stellar player at the price point. It's a shame they didn't continue the attractiveness of the previous two players. They were downright elegant but this one is butt ugly! I suppose for the most part this is a non issue with the player behind closed doors but it's a shame none the less.
Talking Heads DVD
written by Billw , June 28, 2009 I have played the Talking Heads Brick with this player and had no issues since the latest software upgrade.
Bravo Oppo!
written by Warren Poitras , June 28, 2009 I received my new Oppo BDP 83 in early May, but my older Dwin 720p projector failed almost immediately so I only had an opportunity to watch one Blu Ray disc. "No Country for Old Men" looked fantastic. With the option of watching movies out until I decided on a replacement (a new JVC HD-350 will be installed here later this week), I turned to surround SACD. Unfortunately, the sound produced by the player made me think my speakers had blown. I tried CD's and DVD-A's and both sounded fine. Only SACD exhibited this problem. I spoke to Oppo's customer support and learned they were aware of the problem and their enginneers were hard at work on a fix. No timeframe was available as to when a firmware update would be available, however. Two weeks later Oppo called to inform me that a new update CD was on its way. The disc arrived by mail the following afternoon: problem solved. I can't say enough good things about this company. They readily acknowledged the problem, promised to fix it as soon as possible and then did just that. I've dealt with a lot of audio/video companies over the years, and found none more supportive or helpful than Oppo. Great machine, great company! Oppo’s Customer Support sent a firmware update the day after I submitted my initlal comment above. I installed the update as directed and the distortion problems I described seem to have disappeared. I have only had time to listen to a couple of SACDs since the firmware was installed, but I wanted to add this information as soon as possible. Oppo could not have been more helpful. They readily acknowledged the problem, said they were working on a fix and sent an update as soon as it became available. One can only wish other audio/video companies would work so hard to ensure customer satisfaction after the sale. Bravo OPPO!
Component
written by Ron , June 28, 2009 I have the BDP83 and just for comparison purposes, I have tried both the HDMI and Component outputs on the player. I believe the difference between the two is minimal at best. I must admit, I don't buy the description that the HDMI connection with the ABT processing is vastly superior. Certainly ABT gives you additional adjustment options, however, you will get an excellent 1080i picture over your present set.
Why are the benchmarks no longer updated with this information?
written by Westcott , June 29, 2009 I have seen several player reviews as of late that do not seem to be included in the standard DVD benchmarks. Is this going to be rectified or are the benchmark tables being abandoned? It would be a shame not to keep them up to date. I would venture that most of your traffic on this site stems from the information provided in these tables. I would hate to see that disappear as a resource. I am sure many others feel the same way.
No multi-region=no sale
written by searcher , June 29, 2009 The lack of SD-DVD multiregion support is unfortunate, especially for those of us in countries where multiregion support is a standard feature on all DVD players. I have a huge multiregion library so this player is a non-starter. I suspect that is why they are only selling this player in the US, because if they sold in Australia, New Zealand or Europe they would have to release a region free version.
Layer breaks
written by Paul Camp , July 04, 2009 Previous Oppo players have had serious issues with handling layer breaks on personally mastered backup disks. The problem is that the players are very picky about the placement of the break. Mastering software such as Nero can break an Oppo player easily since Nero doesn't care whether the break is placed in its original position or not. Other players (my el cheapo Samsung even, as well as my LG drive on the computer) have no problem with these discs but Oppo players always cough up a lung. It would be nice if you would fling a few second generation discs at the player and see how it handles them.
Talking Heads DVD-A brick
written by Ravi Chopra , July 05, 2009 Previously could only play the DVD side of these on my old universal Denon DVD player - could not access the extra tracks on CD side. With the Oppo, both sides play perfectly with no problems. Very very very happy with this player!
Layer Breaks, etc..
written by Robert , July 07, 2009 For "personally mastered backup disks", look at the software from dvdfab.com, free 30 day trail for complete version. You can select your layer-break point. As far as component vs HDMI, I believe the idea is to move forward and try to keep pace with technology. We live in a digital world and analog is quickly going the way of the dinosaur. The OPPO BR Player is a unit with the capability of delivering the complete contents of a BR disk as per the studio's master.(1080p/24 and DTS-MA, DDTrue-HD) The video output via HDMI, into a display that can produce 1080p/24, is second to none. There are some individuals that will say, myself included, that a HD-SDI output is a purer and better video output, and they are probably correct, but the HDMI output of the OPPO is pretty darn close. OPPO does have an option to purchase the unit with an HD-SDI output. To really appreciate the OPPO BR player's video and audio, one requires the appropriate display and AV receiver. (Kinda' like a Ferrari/Porsche, etc with a 2 stroke engine.) They will all get you there, but... The OPPO unit will deliver a very good video and audio to older displays and receivers, but it is tailored towards the latest display and receivers that can decode DTS_HD and DD TrueHD. I have been involved in custom A/V since '85 and have had the opportunity to install and play with quite a few BR DVD players, displays, receivers and pre/pro units. While the OPPO may not be the "prettiest" player out there, it easily matches the performance of DENON and Pioneer Elite.. Try a comparison, I have. Yes, I do own a OPPO and KURO Signature 60" display. Is there a difference between this and other BD players and displays?? An absolute yes, after viewing these units for a few months, everything else comes in 2nd.(projector's not included). This is not just my opinion, but the opinions of my clients who have purchased the OPPO BR and Kuro Elite Signature or Kuro Elite display's. Yes, they carry a premium dollar value, some will say yes, others no, but the end result is that they deliver the goods...
Player used as a DAC
written by Vincent D. Ritzert , July 16, 2009 I assumed that this player can be used as a DAC for other media sources since it has a couple of USB ports. You even indicate what types of format the USB ports are capable of handling. I checked with Oppo and they tell me that none of their players have any inputs so the BDP-83 cannot be used as a DAC. Can you clarify this for me since I would very much like to use the USB ports from a computer for some music media. Thanks
Player Inputs
written by Chris Heinonen , July 16, 2009 Vincent, The Oppo can be used to play supported media that is connected to the player on a USB drive (thumbdrive or hard drive) that is formatted as FAT or FAT32. The Oppo, as with all players that I know of, is not able to be used as a USB DAC for a PC audio system.
SPDIF
written by Dietmar , July 20, 2009 The player has big problems playing DVD-V and DVD-A. 1. I own the Professional TEST DVDs from Rhode&Schwarz http://www.burosch.de/shop/pro...--PAL.html . This DVDs have 192kHz and 96kHz recordings on. Playing the 96kHz/24bit recordings of this discs gives me always an ouput signal of 48kHz/16bit! Means the signal is down sampled, caused by the copy protection on the disc. The level is always correct and follows the levels from the disc. 2. Playing a test tone of 1kHz full scale in 96kHz/24bit format from the Chesky Recordings (no copy protection) shows, that SPDIF output signal is 96kHz/24bit (no copy protection), but the level is always 10dB below the original level and the channel differs by 0.2dB!!! Enclosed a picture about this. 3. Playing 20bit or 16 bit recordings from the same DVD shows, that the payer gives 24 bit out. It seems that the payer is doing an upsampling on DVDs. I am surprised, that I have nothing found in the web about this problem. The player does not play the most of my DVD-As from Japan. I have send an email to oppo, but did not get an answer.
Matching A/V receiver?
written by HT Newbie , July 30, 2009 Thank you for a fantastic review on a fantastic product! Since this player outputs DSD (Bitstream) via HDMI from SACD and DVD-A, I would very much like to know which A/V receivers would take full advantage of this specific feature. Which models would match this player perfectly?
...
written by JEJ , July 31, 2009 I use a Denon AVP-A1HDCI processor with the OPPO BDP83, and the processor shows the sampling frequency when I play a disc. With DVD-A recorded at 192 kHz, the Denon display says 192 kHz. There are some issues with DVD-As that OPPO has been working on. I have not seen any downsampling that occurred, but it may be that the DVD-As I have are not copy protected.
...
written by JEJ , July 31, 2009 Westcott said, "I have seen several player reviews as of late that do not seem to be included in the standard DVD benchmarks. Is this going to be rectified or are the benchmark tables being abandoned?" We can't benchmark every player, just as I have mentioned that we can't bench test every component that we review. We all have day jobs. Our work on Secrets is in our spare time, which is limited.
SPDIF
written by Dietmar , August 02, 2009 My problem with the SPDIF output level was solved with the latest software update. I am sure this problem was only related to my player, which I bought at ebay as a used one. Thanks again to Jason and the support team of oppodigital for there fast response. Now I am really happy about this player, which I can use to play my DVD-As.
Oppo internal DACs
written by Eric , August 11, 2009 Thank you for the detailed review and the measurements. One thing I don't understand is a remark made at the benchmark-page about the internal DACs: "The DACs in the BDP-83 are there if you must use analog outputs (they are essentially a token), but this is really a player designed to deliver everything in digital format, and it is the digital circuits where the money has been spent." But when I look at the output of a CD via the analog outputs it "....measured less than 0.003% THD+N using a 1 kHz sine wave." That's pretty good for a digital player I think. Also Oppo put effort in the stereo part to install a separate DAC for stereo (CS4398) which is not a bad/cheap DAC. Can you please explain your comment? Thanks in advance. PS I'm interested in the DAC because I like to use this player with an analog stereo amplifier.
Region & Zone Free OPPO BDP-83
written by Keith Willis , August 11, 2009 Just for info - you can visit www.crtprojectors.com & click on the tab marked Modified Blu-ray. You can buy a modified BDP-83 with full warranty or have a DIY mod kit posted out world wide £55-£79 depending where you live. (Blu-ray zone A,B & C. DVD region 1-6)
Region & Zone Free Oppo
written by Erik Dahle Harvey , August 12, 2009 Thanks for a wonderful review, I am getting one somehow, I wish I could order directly from Oppo in CA but I cant since I live in Norway... The correct link in Europe is www.crtprojectors.co.uk or even http://www.crtprojectors.co.uk/region_free_bpd-83.htm
Oppo BDP-83
written by Kristian , August 21, 2009 Does anybody have advice on how the Oppo BDP-83 performs as a CD, SACD or DVD-A player with analogue output versus a Denon 2900 which I currently own? Will the Oppo play as well sound wise as the Denon? Also how will it perform concert DVDs with DTS 5.1 compared to the Denon? I do not use a surround-receiver, but let the Denon send analogue signals to the pre-amp (Holfi Integra 5.1 (no HDMI-input).
Analog
written by Piero , August 21, 2009 In my opinion the Oppo sounds great (if not better than HDMI) through the analog outputs and frankly rivals my much more costly SACD player.
cd/dvd tray
written by webwalker , August 22, 2009 I sent this to oppo back in nov 08. Did they remedy? Thanks for an excetional review. I will buy one soon. "I love my 981. Added it to my home theatre, to become main dvd player and moved my lg-531 to backup. So these are constructive criticisms. Since I've added the 981 I've been scarring my dvds. This is caused by me taking the dvd out of it's tray. The tray doesn't extend to full dvd clearance, like the majority of cd/dvd players in PCs and cd/dvd devices. The brand you are using leaves 1 or so inches of the dvd still technically inside the 981. Have seen this type of dvd player, doesn't fully extend, in some old portables! When you have 981 placement like mine, under the tv (low), occasionally I pull the dvd straight up rather than out then up. Memory lapse. But you don't get away with it because the dvd portion still inside gets scratched. Then you get this scarring. I know it's only on the top and really may only be cosmetic, but that's not the point. This is easily solved. Use a proper dvd carrier/player that fully deploys. thanks"
Does "Stop" return BDP-83 to the beginning of disc?
written by Sam , August 22, 2009 I am on the verge of purchasing the Oppo BDP-83 but would first appreciate knowing whether pressing "Stop" on the remote, and then pressing "Play" resumes the disc at the "Stop" point, or does it throw the disc back to the beginning, forcing you to manually find the point at which you stopped? I have not seen this addressed in any reviews of the BDP-83, unless I missed it. I have seen where this is an issue in other blue-ray players. I wonder therefore, not seeing this in reviews, is the BDP-83 an exception to this problem? Thank you very much. --Sam
...
written by Ria , August 23, 2009 I'm guessing probably 90+% of BDP-83 buyers could give a hoot, but did you mention the ability to play HDCD-encoded CD's in your fine review?
USB Hard drive
written by Michael Firstenberg , August 23, 2009 As much as I love my OPPO for BluRay, I can not get it to recognize my Fat32 external hard drives (even with a powered USB hub). It will read media sticks (I have tried up to 4gig without problems), but when I use a 500gig HD - nothing. I have upgraded to the latest firmware.... any thoughts? -michael
Blu-ray and Stop/Resume, HDCD
written by Chris Heinonen , August 24, 2009 Sam, The problem you mention with Stop and Play on a Blu-ray player isn't an issue with the player, but with the Blu-ray standard. The reason this happens with some discs and not all is based around if the disc uses BD-J (Blu-ray Disc Java) or not. If it doesn't use BD-J, then almost any player should be able to stop and resume without any issue on the disc. However, for discs that use BD-J, when the disc is stopped, the entire Java program has to be unloaded from memory, including the location that the movie was at. Unfortunately from talking to a couple of manufacturers, this is an issue that might not be easy, or possible to get around, since that data is marked as copy protected so they can't keep it saved. So, this problem is really not something that Oppo and other vendors can be faulted for, but it's how the BD-J specification was written. As far as HDCD goes, I've tested a couple of titles from Tom Petty and Neil Young on my Oppo BDP-83 and saw the HDCD flag come up with both of them. I didn't listen enough to see if I could tell a difference from the standard DVD decoding, however.
Blue-ray and Stop/Resume
written by Sam , August 24, 2009 Thank you very much for the explanation, Chris. --Sam
OPPO BDP-83 and HDMI 1.0 on an older receiver (Sony DA5200-ES)
written by Stan , August 26, 2009 I have just purchased an OPPO BDP-83 and will be mating it with myold Sony receiver with HDMI 1.0, Will I be able to get the HD audio formats decoded by OPPO through HDMI at full bandwidth or will I have to use the 7.1 analog audio outputs instead? This is kind of a generic question that could apply to any player with HDMI 1.3 and a receiver with 1.0, but there seems to be a bunch of smart people on this thread that could help. Thanks in advance!
HDMI 1.0
written by Chris Heinonen , August 26, 2009 Stan, HDMI 1.0 and above should still support 8 channels of PCM audio over the cable, and the Oppo can do the decoding internally (set the HDMI output to PCM instead of bitstream), so you should be set. What you are looking for in a player is not one that has HDMI 1.3 or anything else, but one that can decode internally.
Oppo BDP-83 or Pioneer Elite Blu-ray Player?
written by Rob , September 01, 2009 I'm interested in purchasing a Blu-ray player and the Blu-ray players that I am considering are: 1)Oppo BDP-83 , 2)Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD and 3)Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD (which I know is in a completely different price category). Could you please give me your thoughts and opinions on the 3 players in how they compare to each other. I'm mainly considering the Oppo BDP-83 and Pioneer Elite BDP-23FD but I would also seriously consider the Pioneer Elite BDP-09FD if it is clearly head and shoulders above the other 2 players. Thanks. Rob
Oppo vs BDP-09
written by Chris Heinonen , September 02, 2009 Rob, I've reviewed both the BDP-09FD and the Oppo BDP-83 players for Secrets this year. The Pioneer is built better than any other player I have seen, and offers some features that other players can not (individual Wolfson DAC's for each channel, allowing you to do all of the bass management and time alignment in the player over analog outputs). That said, I still have the Oppo in my system and it's the best player I have reviewed so far. It's much, much more responsive than the Pioneer, firmware upgrades are much smoother, it supports my SACD and DVD-A discs, and it's just a fantastic user experience, and player. Unless I had a need for the higher end features of the Pioneer (I had an analog system with no HDMI inputs, and needed the bass control and time alignment, or the dual HDMI outputs) I would certainly go for the Oppo. I have not had a chance to try out the BDP-23FD myself, so I can not comment on that player.
Performance as (SA)CD player
written by Lowie , September 05, 2009 First of all: kudos to the authors for this great review! One question though: how would the player perform as a (SA)CD player, using the analogue outputs? From the review: "Shown below are the SACD test disc graphs for an input signal that is a combination of 19 kHz and 20 kHz sine waves. First, is the set of graphs using the analog output. Besides the obvious noise, there are significant side peaks next to the two input peaks." How significant is this in terms of what you can hear? Is there an example of a player that does a better job in this respect? Right now I have a Pioneer DV-575A player. Besides the Blu-ray playback, I'm curious to know what I would gain in the (SA)CD region when buying the Oppo BDP-83. (You understand I need a good excuse to buy a new toy!) Thanks!
Volume control?
written by Alex Bunardzic , October 13, 2009 Thanks for the smashing review. Needless to say, I'm sold. One quick question: does this player come with a volume control? I'm asking because I'd like to be able to plug it straight into my stereo power amplifier, and bypass the pre-amp, thus preserving the clarity of the source signal. (I'm using very high end audio components that have no EQs, no channel balance, nor a remote controller) I used to have an old Sony CD player that had a volume control on its remote, it was darn handy. Thanks! Write comment
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