Lexicon an unmodified OPPO?

[McBain]

An interesting write-up on Lexicon's Blu-ray player.

It's an Oppo BDP-83. Normally we'd launch into a statement like this with more tact. We may, for example, wax eloquent about the Lexicon BD-30's beautiful chassis or it's billet aluminum front face. We could tell you about the heft of the unit, or the fact that comes double boxed with enough padding to warrant throwing it off the FedEx or UPS truck while it's still moving. While all of that is true, the Lexicon BD-30 is still an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player. And what's more, it's not just using the same parts - they actually stuck the player inside - chassis and all. This would be OK, were it not for the $3000 premium over the Oppo and THX certification...

Link: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/t...icon-outside-1

[solarrdadd]

very interesting article. sad to see it happen but it's a reminder of what actually can and does go on in the industry. i'd be sofa king p'd off to find out i paid thousands for something that was actually the same thing on the inside as a 500 dollar machine!

bad lexicon, bad

[gonk]

Kal Rubinson is supposed to have a comparison of the BD-30 to the BDP-83SE in the March issue of Stereophile, too. Like the guys at Audioholics, Kal has spent a fair bit of time with the BDP-83. That will be an interesting write-up, I suspect.

Theta and Ayre both have BDP-83 clones planned, but based on some pictures I've seen online I think they actually made design changes to the power supply and analog section. It appears that Lexicon didn't do much at all...

[ZIPPO]

A VERY GOOD READ! THANKS!

from: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/t...icon-outside-1

" When we received the player the first thing we did was open it up to get a look at the inside. Imagine my surprise when I found that not only did the Lexicon share the same boards and transport as the Oppo - it was in fact AN OPPO BDP-83 PLAYER, CHASSIS AND ALL, SHOVED INSIDE AN ALUMINUM LEXICON WRAPPER."

"Sadly they paid for THX certification and THX happily took their money to allow Lexicon to slap their badge on the front panel - apparently without actually testing to see if it met the core requirements of which we would suppose any THX Blu-ray player would have to adhere. If THX is doing this with Blu-ray players, it makes you wonder what they are doing with A/V receivers and other THX certified products. "

"We commend Lexicon for giving us this opportunity to review the BD-30 BD player and hope to continue reviewing their products regardless of our findings in this particular instance. In the meantime, we suggest that Lexicon asks for a certification refund from THX and instead have us do their testing going forward with new Blu-ray players. Hmm, maybe they can even place our logo on their faceplate. Now that would be cool!"

& bad THX

[btf1980]

Not surprising. Lexicon did the same thing with their RT-20 universal player which was just a Marantz DV9500.

[Celerony]

I already read this on Dutch forum.
This case again clarifies the fact that you shouldn't trust on a brand in terms of ''It's brand-****, so it's a blind-buy''

So I would say in this case:
High-end, low-moral!

Let the spoof begin; MILJONAIRS, PULL THAT WALLETS OUT OF YOUR POCKETS!

[Clark Kent]

THX has not meant anything for over a decade. Long ago it sold out, certifying anything that would pay the licensing fee. If anything, seeing an item with THX-certification on it means the manufacturers wasted money to pay the fee, thus eliminating that cost from actually improving the product.

[rdodolak]

Originally Posted by ZIPPO

A VERY GOOD READ! THANKS!

from: http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/t...icon-outside-1

Very unprofessional ... looks like they don't want people to know the truth.

Originally Posted by hometheaterreview.com

Publisher's Note:

Due to unprofessional and non-productive "flames" and or personal attacks comments have been turned off for this review.

[ZIPPO]

Originally Posted by rdodolak

Very unprofessional ... looks like they don't want people to know the truth.

They deleted comments multiple times before turning them off.

I don't blame all these companies for wanting to rebadge the Oppo BDP-83, it was the best stand alone Blu-ray player last year.

I have no problem with Lexicon rebadging the Oppo, just the questionable THX certification. Also that HomeTheaterReview.com finds the Lexicon BDP better than the Oppo BDP-83, even though they're exactly the same( minus the Lexicon casing ), as discovered by Audioholics.com. Is HomeTheaterReview.com trying to please Lexicon? Glad I'm not too hung up on brands.

[Gremal]

Again, you are all going by the assumption that nothing in the Lexicon has changed. How do you know that? All Lexicon would need to do is bypass the stereo and 7.1 channels’ output muting circuits, and something will have changed, yet it would not be evident on the audio board. If they swapped out a capacitor for a black gate or a resistor for a Vishay, something changed that might not be at all evident by popping the chassis off. The chassis itself is different which could affect dampening/isolation/power/grounding issues and impact the sound. If you haven't heard it, you can't say. All you can do is go by Audioholics' assertion, and they are on a major smear campaign at this point.

Think for yourselves.

Listening is no more subjective than tasting.

Both are subjective.

[loco]

audioholics.com just discovered the new $3500 Lexicon BDP-30 blu ray player, is an OPPO blu ray player in Lexicon clothes...Lexicon didnt even bother removing the OPPO's chassis.
To make matters worse, they were advertising THX certification when the OPPO blu ray player is not THX certified. Indicating THX just took money from Lexicon and allowed them to place a THX label on the faceplate of their bluray player, without performing any kind of testing.

here's the link for the review.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/t...ray-oppo-clone

Companies without good leadership usually have issues like this...indicating a recent change in upper management.

[doctorD]

Originally Posted by loco

audioholics.com just discovered the new $3500 Lexicon BDP-30 blu ray player, is an OPPO blu ray player in Lexicon clothes...Lexicon didnt even bother removing the OPPO's chassis.
To make matters worse, they were advertising THX certification when the OPPO blu ray player is not THX certified. Indicating THX just took money from Lexicon and allowed them to place a THX label on the faceplate of their bluray player, without performing any kind of testing.

here's the link for the review.

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/t...ray-oppo-clone

Companies without good leadership usually have issues like this...indicating a recent change in upper management.

Wow, that's...pretty bad! I'll have to read this tomorrow.

[bhampton]

This thread...

https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread.php?t=128891

[progers13]

Ouch

[blu-bry]

I'm curious as to what this says about OPPO. Did they strike a deal to allow the use of their player? Surely there are patents that would not allow this without permission. I'm confused.

As for Lexicon and THX, they will probably soon feel the power of the free market system.

[Uniquely]

Originally Posted by loco

To make matters worse, they were advertising THX certification when the OPPO blu ray player is not THX certified. Indicating THX just took money from Lexicon and allowed them to place a THX label on the faceplate of their bluray player, without performing any kind of testing.

I have a question about this. Just because Oppo never had the player tested, doesn't necessarily mean that Lexicon never had it tested does it? I've seen this same thing said in a few different forums, but what I want to know is how everyone can be so certain that the THX cert was "bought and paid for and never tested."

[loco]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

I have a question about this. Just because Oppo never had the player tested, doesn't necessarily mean that Lexicon never had it tested does it? I've seen this same thing said in a few different forums, but what I want to know is how everyone can be so certain that the THX cert was "bought and paid for and never tested."

The reason it seems shady is, that the Lexicon/Oppo player has analog audio outs. When you have analog outs, it means the blu-ray player is first decoding the bitsteam audio data to LPCM and then the digital LPCM is being converted to Analog audio. Historically, all products that have this ability need to meet certain requirements to get THX certification. The review mentions this

"One of the staples behind THX certification has always been to maintain an 80Hz crossover point on all THX certified electronics. As we measured prior, the Oppo BDP-83 did not meet this requirement which wasn't really a huge deal since it wasn't THX certified. We were interested however in measuring the Lexicon BD-30 which was THX certified to see if Lexicon fixed this design deficiency and if THX even tested for it."

as mentioned in the review, the Lexicon product did NOT meet the above requirement, yet it did receive the THX certification...hence the finger pointing.


PS. another damning fact is that Lexicon has removed all THX labeling from their website with respect to the blu ray player.

[PeterTHX]

Originally Posted by HeavyHitter

I totally agree. I first learned about THX meaning nothing when I started renting/buying DVDs back in the day which were THX and looked like complete sh*t.

Right.
You referring to the time they used the THX certified Highlander 2 LD transfer on DVD without permission?

Originally Posted by loco

PS. another damning fact is that Lexicon has removed all THX labeling from their website with respect to the blu ray player.

Or perhaps Lexicon sent another piece of hardware to THX that did pass, but the actual production units were not modified?

[Grubert]

And the grand finale...

[loco]

Originally Posted by PeterTHX

Right.
You referring to the time they used the THX certified Highlander 2 LD transfer on DVD without permission?
Or perhaps Lexicon sent another piece of hardware to THX that did pass, but the actual production units were not modified?

my only reservation with that statement is, that if Lexicon had already done the R&D to get THX certification for one product, then it would only have been a matter of incorporating the changes onto the production line...and a $3000 dollar premium would have easily covered the costs. It appears as if nobody at Lexicon even bothered to improve on the OPPO in any way. That...in my opinion is cheating me out of my hard earned.

And I AM one of those who can tell the difference between an Onkyo and a Meridian. I also understand why a cineversum blackwing or an anthem projector would be a little more expensive than a JVC rs25, even though both are a repackaged jvc projector, But this i'm sorry is cheating pure and simple.