Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray Player Thread

[davcole]

Nice machine and if they work out the DVD-A i'll seriously consider this player.

[rded]

Does anyone know if it can output dvd-a and sacd audio through hdmi or do we have to use analog outs?

[RickER]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

The player supports both PAL and NTSC playback but I haven't tested PAL to NTSC conversion. I will try that tomorrow with my BD of REC. No region free though, sorry guys. May have a hack for DVD at some point but definitely not for BD.

I was really hoping for a region free player, at least on the DVD end. Still, looks like a solid machine!

[Galley]

Originally Posted by rded

Does anyone know if it can output dvd-a and sacd audio through hdmi or do we have to use analog outs?

SACD over HDMI requires version 1.2, so it should be good.

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by davcole

Nice machine and if they work out the DVD-A i'll seriously consider this player.

Originally Posted by rded

Does anyone know if it can output dvd-a and sacd audio through hdmi or do we have to use analog outs?

Originally Posted by Galley

SACD over HDMI requires version 1.2, so it should be good.

DVD-A and SACD should be ok over HDMI. The HDMI 1.2 spec is only necessary if you want to bitstream DSD. Otherwise, the player can decode and output as PCM to any HDMI 1.1+ receiver.

I have no fears that DVD-A won't be implemented. DVD-A uses MLP technology that is the backbone of Dolby TrueHD codec (which is already confirmed to be decodable as of now). It's just a matter of time.

[GGX]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

The player supports both PAL and NTSC playback but I haven't tested PAL to NTSC conversion.

It converts PAL to NTSC even for Blu-ray extras?

[ABJ88]

updates?

[joe1515]

Does anyone know what kind of chip and processor the unit is going to have?

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by joe1515

Does anyone know what kind of chip and processor the unit is going to have?

I'm not sure which mpeg decoder but it will have ABT's VRS chip for post processing. It's the same one in the DVDO Edge and the newer Oppo 983 players. Note that the 983 players with this newer chip are limited by software so that it has the same capabilities as the older 983 players. In other words, this upcoming Oppo BDP-83 player will have more in common with the DVDO Edge capabilities than its DVD counterpart since the software will be "unlocked". If you want to know what VRS is capable of, check out any threads about the DVDO Edge.

[Blove23]

Why would you replace your PS3? Did your PS3 break?

[Paulo Elias]

Originally Posted by Kris Deering

The player supports both PAL and NTSC playback but I haven't tested PAL to NTSC conversion. I will try that tomorrow with my BD of REC. No region free though, sorry guys. May have a hack for DVD at some point but definitely not for BD.

And don't look for the price to go up.....

Hi,

Are you posting your review on the Oppo any time soon? If you have done so, could please tell me the link?

As a side note, in my opinion this region coding scheme was irritating with DVD but we got rid of it. Now, the same idiotic notion comes along with BD video, thus frustrating cinephiles around the globe, who would be wanting specific, unavailable titles that can be bought elsewhere. What is even more deplorable is for us to find out that some studios are still supporting it!

I feel that a lot of people were anticipating the Oppo to be a full region-free unit. I own an Oppo 980H mainly for audio and I couldn't be happier with it as a true universal player.

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by Paulo Elias

Hi,

Are you posting your review on the Oppo any time soon? If you have done so, could please tell me the link?

As a side note, in my opinion this region coding scheme was irritating with DVD but we got rid of it. Now, the same idiotic notion comes along with BD video, thus frustrating cinephiles around the globe, who would be wanting specific, unavailable titles that can be bought elsewhere. What is even more deplorable is for us to find out that some studios are still supporting it!

I feel that a lot of people were anticipating the Oppo to be a full region-free unit. I own an Oppo 980H mainly for audio and I couldn't be happier with it as a true universal player.

I sincerely doubt that Kris or any of the other beta testers can really give a review based on essentially a beta product. Hardware may be final but the firmware still needs tweaking. Why would Kris review a player when DVD-A and MA decoding is not ready? Then buyers would flock to the only other universal player, the $3800 Denon A1UDCI (ok, maybe not flock but there aren't any other universal players at the moment).

Also, don't blame Oppo for not being region free. Blame the BDA. Oppo wants to keep their license so they can sell BD players.

[shooter3295]

Originally Posted by EWL5

I sincerely doubt that Kris or any of the other beta testers can really give a review based on essentially a beta product. Hardware may be final but the firmware still needs tweaking. Why would Kris review a player when DVD-A and MA decoding is not ready? Then buyers would flock to the only other universal player, the $3800 Denon A1UDCI (ok, maybe not flock but there aren't any other universal players at the moment).

Also, don't blame Oppo for not being region free. Blame the BDA. Oppo wants to keep their license so they can sell BD players.

Do you,...or anyone know if the release date is anytime soon. I am holding off a new purchase in anticipation . This player interests me not only for BD,....but also it's upgrade capabilities.

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by shooter3295

Do you,...or anyone know if the release date is anytime soon. I am holding off a new purchase in anticipation . This player interests me not only for BD,....but also it's upgrade capabilities.

Current timetable is possible late Feb, early March for final product. However, an EAP (Early Adoption Program) by Oppo is starting soon that will allow early access to their product. Pricing is speculated to be around $500-$600. EAP is scheduled to start sometime from end of Dec to mid Jan. I'd bet on it being closer to the mid-Jan timeframe.

What upgrade capabilities are you thinking of? Almost every BD player I'm aware of is firmware updateable.

[STARSCREAM]

I'm really lookin forward to this coming out. OPPO makes very high quality machines and I think this one will be fabulous.

[shooter3295]

Originally Posted by EWL5

Current timetable is possible late Feb, early March for final product. However, an EAP (Early Adoption Program) by Oppo is starting soon that will allow early access to their product. Pricing is speculated to be around $500-$600. EAP is scheduled to start sometime from end of Dec to mid Jan. I'd bet on it being closer to the mid-Jan timeframe.

What upgrade capabilities are you thinking of? Almost every BD player I'm aware of is firmware updateable.

I guess I should have said "upscaling" capability. OPPO is noted for that.

As far as firmware,....when you have a 1.0 profile player that the manufacturer refuses to update the firmware on,.. ..it's time to purchase something else.

[Paulo Elias]

Also, don't blame Oppo for not being region free. Blame the BDA. Oppo wants to keep their license so they can sell BD players.

EWL5,

Absolutely. I would never blame Oppo for that.

However, as Kris points out, there is still hope for the DVD material. Both Panasonic DMP-DB10 and DMP-BD30 sold here in Brazil are DVD-free for regions 1 and 4, and apparently the Samsung player on sale is full region free, without being announced as such. It has been traditional in this country to unlock DVD players, otherwise collectors would have to buy a second machine for region 1 discs.

Oppo and other manufacturers from abroad understood the message for users like us, who are primarily cinephiles, and produced no secrets about their players' unlocking procedure. As I said, region coding abolishment is fair to the end user who wants to buy discs regularly from other countries. Besides, when region coding was proposed it was supposed to be used solely for new releases, not catalogue titles. American studios like Disney one time decided to release their DVD's without any coding, despite the cover saying otherwise, and we can see now that studios like Warner are also BD-code free endorsers.

As far as I am concerned, BD coding poses no problem, but nonetheless I would have hoped this nonsensical region coding would stop, for the sake of other users.

If the Oppo is not completely region-free, it still has merits for being intended as an affordable universal player. But, in face of the situation, I believe that most of us will continue to use multiregion DVD players on the side.

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by Paulo Elias

EWL5,

Absolutely. I would never blame Oppo for that.

However, as Kris points out, there is still hope for the DVD material. Both Panasonic DMP-DB10 and DMP-BD30 sold here in Brazil are DVD-free for regions 1 and 4, and apparently the Samsung player on sale is full region free, without being announced as such. It has been traditional in this country to unlock DVD players, otherwise collectors would have to buy a second machine for region 1 discs.

Oppo and other manufacturers from abroad understood the message for users like us, who are primarily cinephiles, and produced no secrets about their players' unlocking procedure. As I said, region coding abolishment is fair to the end user who wants to buy discs regularly from other countries. Besides, when region coding was proposed it was supposed to be used solely for new releases, not catalogue titles. American studios like Disney one time decided to release their DVD's without any coding, despite the cover saying otherwise, and we can see now that studios like Warner are also BD-code free endorsers.

As far as I am concerned, BD coding poses no problem, but nonetheless I would have hoped this nonsensical region coding would stop, for the sake of other users.

If the Oppo is not completely region-free, it still has merits for being intended as an affordable universal player. But, in face of the situation, I believe that most of us will continue to use multiregion DVD players on the side.

What I was trying to do was avoid talk of region-free since that was strictly forbidden over in AVS and I would imagine here as well. Having said that...

Neuromancer over in AVS is one of the current beta testers and he dropped a hint that there's nothing stopping you from acquiring a hack or "discovering" the unlock procedure in the future to make the 83 region free. Obviously Oppo will never ship the player with the hack enabled and to unlock DVD will probably be easier than unlocking BD (this is pure speculation on my part). The Oppo will ship to meet BDA requirements and it's up to you and others to scour the forums for the "region free solution." I'm not telling you anything more than most should already know by now, especially if you are already familiar with these forums. Fair enough?

Concerning Oppo's presence in Brazil, I guess only you can answer that. Right now, Oppo America is only concerned with beta testers in the US. From what I hear, Oppo Europe is independent and not as far along as Oppo America.

[Paulo Elias]

EWL5,

I have a long forum experience in the Internet, and I must confess that I am surprised that over AVS region coding is a forbidden topic. I was one of the first members of the Home Theater Forum, bailing out in the year 2000 when the place was, well, too crowded. I then spent more or less six or seven years at Home Theater Talk, but eventually said goodbye to the good people there, promising myself never to enter a web forum again, for various reasons, none of which are related to censorship, mind you, although I clearly understand the need to control people over the Internet, and I will oblige to forum rules if moderators ask me to stop talking about region coding.

As far as Brazil is concerned, there is no official Oppo rep. There is a guy with an office in Rio, where I live, that will import the players for anyone, but I and all my friends imported them directly from Oppo, and with excellent support from them.

I currently own a brand new 980H player, which came to me already multiregion, but Oppo's remote keys to that effect are extensively publicized in the Internet, so there is no mistery about it.

Curiously, people pay too much attention to this region free business, but it is the intrinsic merits of this Oppo player that truly matters, specifically its audio merits. A friend of mine, who is a dedicate audiophile, has two Oppo players at home, and the 980H is the one used for audio. His gear is state-of-art, so I couldn't have a better reference. My gear, on the other hand, is a lot more mundane, speakers and all, but still the 980H shines!

To the best of my knowledge, there is currently no means to play back a code B BD edition with our players, and that I am afraid limits most choices for movie buffs, who would be primarily interested in art or independent flicks.

Myself I grew up watching almost everything at theaters, and during my teenage years I was committed to art houses, cinematèques, and nouvelle vague. For the time being I decided that the US catalogue will suffice, but clearly one must come to a point where options must exist, in order to complete their film library. Since Brazil is yet to press a BD edition locally, it is I suppose too early to expect anything from local, independent distributors.

I surely hope to see good reviews from the beta testers, regardless of the Oppo being a full code free player!

[EWL5]

Originally Posted by Paulo Elias

EWL5,

I have a long forum experience in the Internet, and I must confess that I am surprised that over AVS region coding is a forbidden topic. I was one of the first members of the Home Theater Forum, bailing out in the year 2000 when the place was, well, too crowded. I then spent more or less six or seven years at Home Theater Talk, but eventually said goodbye to the good people there, promising myself never to enter a web forum again, for various reasons, none of which are related to censorship, mind you, although I clearly understand the need to control people over the Internet, and I will oblige to forum rules if moderators ask me to stop talking about region coding.

As far as Brazil is concerned, there is no official Oppo rep. There is a guy with an office in Rio, where I live, that will import the players for anyone, but I and all my friends imported them directly from Oppo, and with excellent support from them.

I currently own a brand new 980H player, which came to me already multiregion, but Oppo's remote keys to that effect are extensively publicized in the Internet, so there is no mistery about it.

Curiously, people pay too much attention to this region free business, but it is the intrinsic merits of this Oppo player that truly matters, specifically its audio merits. A friend of mine, who is a dedicate audiophile, has two Oppo players at home, and the 980H is the one used for audio. His gear is state-of-art, so I couldn't have a better reference. My gear, on the other hand, is a lot more mundane, speakers and all, but still the 980H shines!

To the best of my knowledge, there is currently no means to play back a code B BD edition with our players, and that I am afraid limits most choices for movie buffs, who would be primarily interested in art or independent flicks.

Myself I grew up watching almost everything at theaters, and during my teenage years I was committed to art houses, cinematèques, and nouvelle vague. For the time being I decided that the US catalogue will suffice, but clearly one must come to a point where options must exist, in order to complete their film library. Since Brazil is yet to press a BD edition locally, it is I suppose too early to expect anything from local, independent distributors.

I surely hope to see good reviews from the beta testers, regardless of the Oppo being a full code free player!

Let me be more specific. Region free talk was forbidden from the thread I am subscribed to that is basically a thread dedicated to beta testers of this player due to an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) by Oppo. You can talk about region free all you want in the other threads (and it would only be met with nothing more than speculation for this player). Sorry for the confusion.

Early word from the beta testers is that it sounds better than the 983 DVD player, which I think was already an improvement on the 980!