OPPO BDP 83 - Should I buy now or should I wait?

[donaldheil]

I want to know your opinion.

Let's say that I want to buy the OPPO BDP 83, now (and since the beggining) at $ 499. I'm wondering, with the release of the cheaper OPPO BDP 80, what do you think will happen to the BDP 83? Will it become cheaper? Will it be discontinued?

Should I buy now? Should I wait?

Of course, the answers might be anybody's guess, but I want to know what you think and maybe you got some experience from similar situations in the past.

Thank you very much.

[gonk]

I don't have any inside information from OPPO, but I've beta tested for them since late 2006 and owned every player they've ever made except one. Along the way, I've developed a pretty good feel for their approach to player life cycles. I don't see the BDP-83's price changing (no previous OPPO player has seen a price cut during its production life) and I don't see it being discontinued any time soon. The two players are complementary, so they can be expected to co-exist in OPPO's line-up. The BDP-83 will be around until they have a successor to it, and I have a hard time believing that we'll see such a player this year.

[donaldheil]

That's the kind of info I was looking for. Thanks, gonk !

[micks_address]

I'm a little surprised by the bd80 though.. i thought they might have gone for a lower price point and ommitted things like SACD and DVD Audio.. if your using HDMI there doesnt seem to be any benefit in getting the BD83 over the BD80.. am i right?

Originally Posted by gonk

I don't have any inside information from OPPO, but I've beta tested for them since late 2006 and owned every player they've ever made except one. Along the way, I've developed a pretty good feel for their approach to player life cycles. I don't see the BDP-83's price changing (no previous OPPO player has seen a price cut during its production life) and I don't see it being discontinued any time soon. The two players are complementary, so they can be expected to co-exist in OPPO's line-up. The BDP-83 will be around until they have a successor to it, and I have a hard time believing that we'll see such a player this year.

[Blove23]

Originally Posted by donaldheil

I want to know your opinion.

Let's say that I want to buy the OPPO BDP 83, now (and since the beggining) at $ 499. I'm wondering, with the release of the cheaper OPPO BDP 80, what do you think will happen to the BDP 83? Will it become cheaper? Will it be discontinued?

Should I buy now? Should I wait?

Of course, the answers might be anybody's guess, but I want to know what you think and maybe you got some experience from similar situations in the past.

Thank you very much.

Either you are in the game or you are sitting the bench. The price points for Oppo are dead on for what you are getting. Its an investment and think about how many movies you watch. It pays for itself within a month...

[gonk]

Originally Posted by micks_address

I'm a little surprised by the bd80 though.. i thought they might have gone for a lower price point and ommitted things like SACD and DVD Audio.. if your using HDMI there doesnt seem to be any benefit in getting the BD83 over the BD80.. am i right?

As I pointed out in my review, there would be no practical cost savings to omit SACD or DVD-Audio (the Mediatek chip already supports them, the firmwar is already written, they are using the same drive, so the only cost added to offer them is some licensing).

If you are using HDMI, the BDP-83 still provides better scaling and deinterlacing of DVD's with the ABT2010. If you have a separate scaler elsewhere already, the BDP-80 with source direct mode would work fine. If you don't have a scaler, though, the BDP-83 can provide a better picture - especially on larger screens, where the difference between the two players is more apparent.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by Blove23

Either you are in the game or you are sitting the bench. The price points for Oppo are dead on for what you are getting. Its an investment and think about how many movies you watch. It pays for itself within a month...

i know it's a figure of speech, but how exactly is the Oppo going to "pay for itself?"

[tiger roach]

Based on having uncrated and auditioned a new BDP-83 last night - GET IT. GET IT NOW.

I don't think I have ever gotten a better first impression of an electronics company before, and I have been blowing cash on AV equipment for a lot of years.

Aside from the fact that the unit is a beautiful piece of gear and appears to be a fantastic BD player, Oppo includes the following in the box with it:

- An audio calibration disc
- A video calibration disc
- A robust HDMI cable
- component cables

AAANND, the player is in a form-fitting tote bag that may seem silly, but it makes it much easier to extract the unit from the nearly-bombproof packaging without fear of losing your grip and dropping it. And later you can use it as an eco-friendly reusable shopping bag for when you go to Whole Foods, lol.

[robertc88]

I also don't feel the price would come down on the 83. Oppo utilized strategy I feel to not have to based upon what the 80 comes with versus the 83.

[Silverwing]

Originally Posted by donaldheil

I want to know your opinion.

Let's say that I want to buy the OPPO BDP 83, now (and since the beggining) at $ 499. I'm wondering, with the release of the cheaper OPPO BDP 80, what do you think will happen to the BDP 83? Will it become cheaper? Will it be discontinued?

Should I buy now? Should I wait?

Of course, the answers might be anybody's guess, but I want to know what you think and maybe you got some experience from similar situations in the past.

Thank you very much.

Do not wait! Get it asap and enjoy

[ewsjr]

Originally Posted by MAD7334

Do not wait! Get it asap and enjoy

+10. you will NOT be disappointed. It is sooo worth the money.

[Blove23]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

i know it's a figure of speech, but how exactly is the Oppo going to "pay for itself?"

It pays for itself with the calibration dvd's hdmi, cable and watch about 10 sd dvds and 3 blu-rays and you will not send it back! Also play around with the interaction with the remote!

[coolmilo]

Personally I would wait, especially if you have a Blu-ray player that works now. If not, buy the cheapest player to hold you over until the next generation players are released.

Hold off on a BD player, LCD/Plasma, and Pre/Receiver (AVR).

I would wait until the HDMI 1.4 products are released that fully support the new BD spec. They should be out sometime this Summer or Fall.

Now is the time to upgrade speakers, amps, and subwoofers.

By the way, I do not believe that Oppo will drop the price of BDP 83, at least not until they are ready to dump their inventory when the new HDMI 1.4 players are ready to ship.

[sterryo]

sent you a PM

[Blove23]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

Personally I would wait, especially if you have a Blu-ray player that works now. If not, buy the cheapest player to hold you over until the next generation players are released.

Hold off on a BD player, LCD/Plasma, and Pre/Receiver (AVR).

I would wait until the HDMI 1.4 products are released that fully support the new BD spec. They should be out sometime this Summer or Fall.

Now is the time to upgrade speakers, amps, and subwoofers.

By the way, I do not believe that Oppo will drop the price of BDP 83, at least not until they are ready to dump their inventory when the new HDMI 1.4 players are ready to ship.

I agree with you to a certain extent, but tell all those people that bought a television before this 3D and widget garbage came about. The way we watch television will change starting march 1st.

That is why all this stuff about 1.4 is garbage. It's another way to spend money. I would rather have a sick HT setup even if it is 1.3 than drop another $15,000 to $20,000 for a new system.

[GTGeek88]

Hi, folks. It appears I have to post 5 or 10 times before I can create a new thread, so this is just a post to try to fulfill that requirement. Sorry for the interruption.

[gonk]

Originally Posted by coolmilo

I would wait until the HDMI 1.4 products are released that fully support the new BD spec. They should be out sometime this Summer or Fall.

I hate to tell someone to wait for HDMI v1.4. Part of that is the residual drama from the "wait for HDMI v1.3" cycle we went through just a couple years ago, but part of it is also a question of whether an individual actually cares about v1.4. After all, the only real practical benefit that v1.4 can offer is 3D support. Do you want to delay all upgrades to your video path (player, receiver/processor, display) in hopes of being able to buy into 3D technology that itself might never see significant 3D content? For some folks, the answer is "yes" - but for a lot of others, the answer is "no!"

Will v1.4 truly be required? (The talk of a 3D firmware update for the PS3 suggests that there will be some sort of way to implement a form of BD3D over v1.3, after all...) How quickly will it become widely available for each piece of the signal path? How much will it cost at each step in the signal path to actually obtain? And, of course, what are you (whoever is asking) using in the meanwhile? If you already have a 1080p HDTV that's still just a year or so old (and which you are likely not going to kick to the curb in six months just to have support for 3D), why not invest in a good player to go with it rather than stick with whatever old DVD player you have lying around?

Originally Posted by coolmilo

By the way, I do not believe that Oppo will drop the price of BDP 83, at least not until they are ready to dump their inventory when the new HDMI 1.4 players are ready to ship.

As I said earlier, I doubt that they will ever drop their price. History tells us that they will most likely leave the price at $499 until the last unit ships out of the warehouse and it becomes discontinued. Of course, examples such as Lexicon's BD-30 and the various BDP-83 mods (including OPPO's own SE and the NuForce NE) as well as reviews comparing the BDP-83 to much more expensive players all suggest that the $499 price is something of a screaming bargain in the first place...

[Semp1]

I'll make a statement right now. It was already announced that some players presently available along with the ps3 would get a similar firmware that would enable 3D. I'll also say that if my ps3 gets the firmware I bet my OPPO will too which also means since both will only be able to do 1080i 3D over a 1.3 cable Which was also announced that the ABT chip the OPPO has will contribute to the image being better with a 1080i/60 image.

[gonk]

OPPO has not officially said either way on this, but when asked about it they have indicated that they do not anticipate being able to add 3D to the BDP-80 or BDP-83 via firmware update. The PS3's promised 3D update suggests that some form of 3D (presumably 1080i rather than 1080p) is possible via HDMI v1.3, but the only existing player I know of that has promised a 3D firmware update is the PS3 - which has a ton of extra processing power in the Cell processor, allowing it to cover the extra processing power required to do the separate left and right video signals needed for 3D.

[Tall Dog]

Gonk, you seem to have a pretty good relationship with Oppo, what about if Oppo offered an upgrade like they did for the SE. Maybe we could send in the player for an upgrade to HDMI 1.4 and 3D capability?

I would be willing to pay for that and I'll bet a lot of other owners would also.