OPPO BDP-93 3-D Blu-ray player (Sound and Vision March 2011 magazine review)

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OPPO BDP-93 3-D Blu-ray player (Sound and Vision March 2011 magazine review)

The OPPO BDP-93 is $499 and includes the RS-232 interface (The discontinuted OPPO BDP-83 with RS-232 option cost $588). The new OPPO BDP-93 and the discontinued OPPO BDP-83 are both excellent Blu-ray players. The OPPO BDP-83 offers the 24fps DVD feature that upconverts film based DVD’s to 1080p/24. What is disappointing about the OPPO BDP-93 is that it lacks the 24fps DVD feature that is found on Panasonic Blu-ray players, Sony Blu-ray players, and the old OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player. The OPPO BDP-93 according to the Sound and Vision magazine review failed to maintain a lock on the 2:3 film pulldown test. The old discontinued OPPO BDP-83 has better DVD playback performance and offers 24fps DVD playback for film based DVD’s. To play film based DVD’s at multiplies of the original frame rate one needs to place the OPPO BDP-93 on source direct so that DVD’s are outputted at 480i, then if one owns a display like a Pioneer plasma that does a reverse 3-2 pulldown (also called 2:3 pulldown) the display will upconvert the 480i DVD to 1080P at multiplies of 24. Both the OPPO BDP-93 and BDP-83 have the same quality when playing back 2-D 1080p/24 Blu-ray discs.

The OPPO BDP-93’s strong points that the old OPPO BDP-83 lacks, is the ability to playback Blu-ray 3-D movies when connected to a 3-D display and the streaming features (Blockbuster and Netflix movies ). Also very soon Vudu will be added to the OPPO BDP-93 and BDP-95 in a firmware update (OPPO has started advertising Vudu in consumer magazines). Of course the best in picture and sound quality comes when one plays Blu-ray discs. Nothing matches or beats the quality of Blu-ray discs yet. The OPPO BDP-93 has 2GB of internal memory (1GB for BD-LIVE, and 1GB for streaming services). HDCD, SACD, and DVD-Audio are nice audiophile features. The OPPO BDP-93 has excellent build quality but I do prefer the bigger display on the old OPPO BDP-83. For those that own the OPPO BDP-83, the main reason to upgrade to the OPPO BDP-93 would be if one needs 3-D capability and streaming capability. (Wireless LAN can be added to any old Blu-ray player that has an Ethernet jack with a simple optional adapter. The included wireless USB adapter with the OPPO BDP-93 is a minor feature).

The OPPO BDP-93 could be improved if a 24fps DVD feature menu selection was added and more streaming features were added. A Panasonic Blu-ray player for under $100 offers 10 times the amount of streaming features compared to the OPPO BDP-93 streaming selection.

The OPPO BDP-93 is engineered in the USA and assembled in China.The OPPO BDP-93 is one of the best 3-D Blu-ray players on the market with an excellent build quality. The ability to connect up to 3 optional hard drives at once is a nice feature on the OPPO BDP-93 (1 E-SATA hard drive , and 2 USB flash drives or hard drives).

The following are some select word for word quotes from the March 2011 Sound and Vision magazine:

QUOTES

“Curiously, the Oppo wasn’t able to maintain a lock on the 2:3 film pulldown test from the same disc, though I saw no related artifacts on movie scene torture tests that I use to spot-check for that problem.”


“(Of the player’s two HDMI ports, only HDMI 1 benefits from its Marvell QDEO video processing.)”


“BOTTOM LINE
Viewed purely as a disc player, the Oppo BDP-93’s mix of performance and build quality makes it worth the extra bucks you’d pay over other 3D-capable models. This is a sophisticated machine that’s made to last. But forward-looking A/V-philes may also find lots to like about its DLNA feature, which will allow them to stream the high-rez audio downloads that are rapidly becoming the norm for audiophile listening. I’m sure the BDP-93 won’t be the last disc player that’s ever sold, but it could very well be the last one you’ll ever need.”

http://www.soundandvisionmag.com/blu...blu-ray-player