New Oppo BDP-80

[gonk]

There is a flip side to the argument against including SACD and DVD-Audio support, and it starts with the existing customer base. There are quite a few existing owners of OPPO players (dating back to the DV-970H in May 2006) who still have use players in part because of the SACD and DVD-A support, and those customers will buy a Blu-ray player from OPPO if that support is retained. Omitting the support (which costs nothing but minimal licensing fees since the firmware support already exists) would upset those existing customers simply so that "mass market" customers don't have to ask what the formats are and why they need them. That's why the BDP-80 still supports both formats. Omitting the formats wouldn't allow them to reduce the price of the player (at least not more than a couple bucks), it would upset a portion of their loyal customer base, and it wouldn't seem likely do anything to increase sales to new customers (especially if those upset existing customers quit recommending the company to friends because of it).

It's also worth noting that Sony has had a change of heart regarding SACD: the Blu-ray players they announced at CES earlier this month all included SACD support, something that we haven't seen from Sony in years.

[quikric]

Originally Posted by blacklion

Not out of the box but it does PAL/NTSC conversion. A DIY mod kit will be available from bluraychip.dk in a couple of weeks.

http://www.bluraychip.dk/

Anyone have any experiences with this company and their products, support?

[blacklion]

Originally Posted by quikric

Anyone have any experiences with this company and their products, support?

http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-r...dp-80-a-3.html

[jd13]

Originally Posted by Tall Dog

I'm not knocking Oppo or the player, I'm just saying that when you can buy a Panny DMP-BD60 from Amazon for $119.00 (as of this morning), it makes me question how many of these stripped down Oppo's they will sell for $289.00. I'm just comparing it to the Panny because it has received good reviews and is generally considered a pretty decent BD player. I guess time will tell.

Have you ever seen the upconversion on an Oppo? I have tested my 971 against the BD60 and the BD60 cannot touch an Oppo with upconversion.

[jd13]

Originally Posted by Johk

Since I mostly watch Blu-rays I think this would be a great dedicated player for me... Now to decide do I replace my "fat" 60 gb PS3 (I'm becoming a bit tired by the fan noise) with a PS3 slim or add the Oppo for movies?

I think, as much as I love my current Oppo, I am going with the PS3 slim to replace my 60Gig.

[Johnny Vinyl]

Originally Posted by gonk

There is a flip side to the argument against including SACD and DVD-Audio support, and it starts with the existing customer base. There are quite a few existing owners of OPPO players (dating back to the DV-970H in May 2006) who still have use players in part because of the SACD and DVD-A support, and those customers will buy a Blu-ray player from OPPO if that support is retained. Omitting the support (which costs nothing but minimal licensing fees since the firmware support already exists) would upset those existing customers simply so that "mass market" customers don't have to ask what the formats are and why they need them. That's why the BDP-80 still supports both formats. Omitting the formats wouldn't allow them to reduce the price of the player (at least not more than a couple bucks), it would upset a portion of their loyal customer base, and it wouldn't seem likely do anything to increase sales to new customers (especially if those upset existing customers quit recommending the company to friends because of it).

It's also worth noting that Sony has had a change of heart regarding SACD: the Blu-ray players they announced at CES earlier this month all included SACD support, something that we haven't seen from Sony in years.

+1. An excellent point that drives home the issue of SACD/DVD-A inclusion on the BDP-80 precisely.

John

[Toypor]

I am looking to move from PS3 to stand alone player. I had my eye on the BDP-83, but think the BDP-80 may fit the bill. I am more interested in audio and simplifying my system. I am currently running:

Marantz SR 7002
Denon DVD 2200
PSB Image 5T fronts, 9C Center, 2B rears, SubSonic 6
Panasonic TH-C50FD18
PS3

How do you think the BDP-80 would stack up to the Denon for DVD Audio and SACD sound quality? I have quite a few discs and enjoy SACD and DVD Audio. I would really like to go with strictly HDMI connections and less components if I am not sacrificing in the audio department.

I am assuming the BDP-80 is going to sound great on Blu-Ray via HDMI. Seeing my equipment is good, but not high-end, I am thinking the audio difference from the BDP-83 to the BDP-80 would be minimal (if any?) using HDMI.

[quikric]

Originally Posted by blacklion

http://www.avforums.com/forums/blu-r...dp-80-a-3.html

Thanks for the link Blacklion!

[Blove23]

Originally Posted by Grubert

Oppo just added support for Dreamer Blu TV interactive TV. And DLNA. So they are clearly expanding beyond strictly disc support.

You can rest assured that by this time next year, Oppo will be selling players with Netflix support.

Not to mention 3-D.

That's all and good but remember when you stream, the HD audio is not added, plus I'm all about the audio and the experience that a Blu-ray disc provides.

[gonk]

Originally Posted by Toypor

I am looking to move from PS3 to stand alone player. I had my eye on the BDP-83, but think the BDP-80 may fit the bill. I am more interested in audio and simplifying my system. I am currently running:

Marantz SR 7002
Denon DVD 2200
PSB Image 5T fronts, 9C Center, 2B rears, SubSonic 6
Panasonic TH-C50FD18
PS3

How do you think the BDP-80 would stack up to the Denon for DVD Audio and SACD sound quality? I have quite a few discs and enjoy SACD and DVD Audio. I would really like to go with strictly HDMI connections and less components if I am not sacrificing in the audio department.

I am assuming the BDP-80 is going to sound great on Blu-Ray via HDMI. Seeing my equipment is good, but not high-end, I am thinking the audio difference from the BDP-83 to the BDP-80 would be minimal (if any?) using HDMI.

My suspicion is that the BDP-80's analog section is pretty close to an equal of the DVD-2200. However, since the BDP-80 also has an HDMI output and your receiver supports HDMI, I would wager that you would get even better audio quality by using the HDMI connection and letting the receiver do DSP (including bass management, room correction, and any matrix surround processing you might want to use) and D/A conversion. As for the difference between BDP-83 and BDP-80 audio performance, the two will be equal when using HDMI for audio.

[Toypor]

Thanks for the insight. It looks like a BDP-80 is my very near future.

[McPanse]

Originally Posted by John72953

+1. An excellent point that drives home the issue of SACD/DVD-A inclusion on the BDP-80 precisely.

John

I'll second that emotion. My SACD collection is small, but I'd be disappointed in Oppo if they left it out, unless it's omission came with a significant corresponding price cut. But as Gonk suggests, SACD support ain't exactly driving the price of these units.

[Tall Dog]

Originally Posted by jd13

Have you ever seen the upconversion on an Oppo? I have tested my 971 against the BD60 and the BD60 cannot touch an Oppo with upconversion.

I own a BDP-83 and it does a great job with Upconversion. I used to have a Panny DMP-BD30 and while not as good as my Oppo, it did a pretty decent job with U/C also. I have never seen the U/C on a Panny 60, but it gets really good reviews.

I like Oppo, both for their C/S and their products, but I think they're making a mistake charging $289.00 for the 80 seeing that is has a scaled down chip and is not recommended for a large screen. Like I said earlier, you can get a pretty decent BD player in the Panny 60 for $119.00.

I do not regret buying my 83, and I feel the $499.00 I paid was a fair price for its features.

I'm not saying the new Oppo 80 is a bad player, I'm just saying IMO, it's overpriced compared to the competition and its feature set.

JMHO

[blacklion]

Originally Posted by Tall Dog

I own a BDP-83 and it does a great job with Upconversion. I used to have a Panny DMP-BD30 and while not as good as my Oppo, it did a pretty decent job with U/C also. I have never seen the U/C on a Panny 60, but it gets really good reviews.

I like Oppo, both for their C/S and their products, but I think they're making a mistake charging $289.00 for the 80 seeing that is has a scaled down chip and is not recommended for a large screen. Like I said earlier, you can get a pretty decent BD player in the Panny 60 for $119.00.

I do not regret buying my 83, and I feel the $499.00 I paid was a fair price for its features.

I'm not saying the new Oppo 80 is a bad player, I'm just saying IMO, it's overpriced compared to the competition and its feature set.

JMHO

I had the Panny 60. I gave it away after I got my first Oppo 83. I was so dumbstruck that I got another 83 with a multiregion mod. The Panny 60 has no multi-channel analogue outs, no coaxial out (only optical), can't play SACD, DVDA, VCD, SVCD, no native PAL/NTSC conversion etc.

Now these may be features which may not appeal to you but then the Oppo 80 simply cannot satisfy everyone's needs. Its feature set does appeal to many people. I can't think of any other player which offers those features at that price, for that quality and with the same level of customer support.

That's why I'll be getting an 80 in the spring.

[ls35a]

Mine will be here Friday. I wonder how many of these they sell in a day, in a week?

[jd13]

Originally Posted by Tall Dog

I'm not saying the new Oppo 80 is a bad player, I'm just saying IMO, it's overpriced compared to the competition and its feature set.

JMHO

It probably needs to come in similar to the UC DVD players Oppo made, around $199.

[blacklion]

Originally Posted by jd13

It probably needs to come in similar to the UC DVD players Oppo made, around $199.

BDA licensing?

Given Oppo's antecedents on pricing of their products, I doubt they're gonna reduce the 80's price until its successor comes out maybe in a couple of years.

[robertc88]

No knock on the 83 BUT until we see lots of comparisons done from end users on these forums, we will not know if the higher cost was/is worth it. Again, no knock and it just may rather be one's specific needs per se as to needing better SD DVD upconversion and a better audio section. I'm not sure I'm willing to concede that the 83 is that "much" better in those regards OR the better unit for larger displays (ever read that last part before for any player?) As I said, we need to see more comparisons.

When you look at what the 83 gives in comparison to competitors, "some" didn't feel it worthwhile and some folks flat out rather not deal with mail order besides. And some folks don't care about SACD/DVD playback either. I certainly can remember in the earlier days with "universal" players, manufacturers had a hard time getting "everything" right. Oppo seemed to be able to though.

All that I have posted though one cannot dispute the fact that many folks have multiple BD players and to this day swear on the 83 and are damn glad they bought it! Food for thought.

We shall see how the 80 stacks up. And you beat I rather have SACD and DVD-A if dropping it doesn't mean the price of the player follows suit.

[jomari]

Originally Posted by Tall Dog

I like Oppo, both for their C/S and their products, but I think they're making a mistake charging $289.00 for the 80 seeing that is has a scaled down chip and is not recommended for a large screen. Like I said earlier, you can get a pretty decent BD player in the Panny 60 for $119.00.

I do not regret buying my 83, and I feel the $499.00 I paid was a fair price for its features.

I'm not saying the new Oppo 80 is a bad player, I'm just saying IMO, it's overpriced compared to the competition and its feature set.

JMHO

i respect your opinion Talldog, and wish it was actually around $250, but then again ive rarely seen them consider 'dropping prices' and cheapin out on us just to satisfy the markets price point. That alone should show that they include quality components, instead of giving us something comparative to mainstream products.

Let me put it this way,

Find me a quality universal player, that handles DVDs, SACDs, DVD-Audio, and blu-rays, for $300.

Then we can talk lower prices.

[robertc88]

Originally Posted by jomari

i respect your opinion Talldog, and wish it was actually around $250, but then again ive rarely seen them consider 'dropping prices' and cheapin out on us just to satisfy the markets price point. That alone should show that they include quality components, instead of giving us something comparative to mainstream products.

Let me put it this way,

Find me a quality universal player, that handles DVDs, SACDs, DVD-Audio, and blu-rays, for $300.

Then we can talk lower prices.

I totally agree. I would not have considered this player if I felt they had.

We MUST remember there are plenty of other players on the table at this price, no not universals per se at this price, but other BD players folks are considering and have easier access to as well.

The high level of customer support carries lots of weight but the player needs to not only perform but at a very high quality level which probably is in Oppo's mission statement! I don't know Oppo ever released a cheapin out product.