Gonk -- Thanks for the clarification on DVD-A. Will try to go through my discs this weekend to see which do/don't work. I assume OPPO still is working to try to fully implement DVD-A? Also, one thing I have noticed is that when fast forwarding DVDs/Blurays, there is no audio. On my Panny, there is accelerated audio on the first fast forward mode, which I find pretty useful in helping to judge where I am on a disc. Have I missed something is setting up my OPPO or is this feature not supported?

Yes, the DVD-Audio support on the current firmware is just preliminary. It is being refined.

Panasonic has had an option for audio with first fast forward speed since their early DVD players, but OPPO has never offered that as far as I can recall.

Hi everyone,

I got my BDP-83 yesterday. It is very impressive! I am going to be putting it through its paces this weekend, 6 hours on it last night just isn't enough.

Just a quick couple of comments as to what I saw/heard so far:

1. The audio performance is amazing. I listened to SACD's, redbook CDs, BD's of concerts as well as DVD of a concert. All the different formats performed well beyond expectations. I really like the direct audio out. It seems to have a much better sound then when I let the 990 do the processing.

2. The easy setup was, well, extremely easy. In fact the advance setup was quite simple as well. I will have more on this when I do a more detailed review.

3. The video performance was stellar as well, but I really haven't had the time to do all the testing that I would like.

4. In general I have not found a single flaw in the units operation, but again I have really only put about 6 hours in on it with my focus being on the audio side of things. Also, in general it seems to outperform my DV-981HD for audio and up scaling. Also, I think its user interface is better.

So I have a couple of questions for those who have been testing these units.

1. Does it seem like the analog audio in the Oppo produces mush better sound then using the bitstream output of the coaxial connection? Is the Oppo using that much better DACs?

2. I tried both 1080P and source direct settings. I am not sure I understand what the upside of source direct is? I thought if I used source direct the TV would do the scaling, but it did not seem to do that. Could this be a TV setting that I can't find?

OK, that's it for right now, but more will be revealed I am sure.

What sources were you playing? DVD-Audio, SACD, and Blu-ray will sound better via analog than coaxial because they will give you the lossless audio instead of lossy.

For DVD's and CD's, I've found that the BDP-83's analog section is at least as good as the Onkyo 885 (which is itself comparable to the 990). My wife actually preferred listening to CD's via analog over HDMI, and I've found myself bouncing back and forth between HDMI and multichannel analog a fair bit.
Source direct outputs the original video format of the disc or file being played. For DVD's, that means 480i. For Blu-ray, that can be 1080i or 1080p. The TV has to scale that signal to its native aspect ratio - there's no setting to adjust. The TV won't show that it's doing this, because it will probably list the input resolution.

The benefit to source direct comes if you have a video processor in the signal path that is equal to or superior to the BDP-83's ABT 2010. Maybe you've got a DVDO Edge (which uses the same chip) or VP50 video processor handling all signals, or an Anthem Statement D2 with its Gennum processor - in which case having the BDP-83 output an un-processed signal lets you get optimal use out of that separate video processor. It also is smart enough to switch to 1080i for SACD and DVD-Audio playback, since with HDMI you need an HD video resolution to allocate enough bandwidth for multichannel audio. For most of us, though, the best bet is going to be to set the BDP-83 to the output resolution that is closest to the native resolution of our TV.

OK, I'm impressed. I have never had a blu-ray player before, and my screen is only capable of 1080i at the moment. So I don't really have anything to compare the BDP-83 to. But I put the calibration disk in and watched the intro video clip and the benefits of blu-ray became very clear, even downsampled. The sound difference over my Pioneer Elite 47avi was very easy to hear.

I have posed a question to Oppo, but maybe Gonk knows the answer. I plugged a USB wireless adapter into the player and it is not recognized. I don't know if the BDP-83 is set up only to do network communications throught the network port, the USB connection is not yet activeated, or there is something I missed in setup. I'm using DHCP, so I did nothing but tell my router to recognize the MAC address of the player. Still, the test reports no connection.

The USB port is for mass storage devices only, so to connect the player to the network (for BD-Live and network firmware updates) you need to connect to the Ethernet port.

It's for sale now? The Oppo website seems to have not been updated if that's the case. My original Oppo 971 is starting to crap out on me. I don't really have any plans to buy BluRay discs for the near term, but if the player is build solidly and does well with legacy discs, it looks like a nice unit.

Gonk, if you connect mass storage VIA the USB port, what's the interface like for picking tracks?

Cheers,

No. It is not for sale - there is an "early adopter program" test (the "EAP") going right now that sold 350 players, plus the beta test is still underway. My review is based on the initial EAP firmware, but I'll update it later.

The interface for playing files (movies, music, or pics) off USB or a data disc is fairly slick, actually. It's basically standard file/folder navigation, with a Home Menu that lets you pick the media type you are interested in.

I really appreciate the comments posted here about the BDP-83 and Gonk's excellent review. I looked at the AVS Forum at the start of EAP 1 and found there were way too many posts there for me to tolerate weeding through (many having no bearing on player performance). I'm looking forward to more comments from EAP 2. Although I currently have a 10-year-old DVD player, I'm patiently waiting for Oppo to get this player right and offer it for retail sale (I was not picked for either EAP). While my current needs are only for upconverted SD-DVD and Blu-Ray, I do like the options to play other format disks and USB files in the future.

Thought I would let everyone know that I have cast my vote (for now) on the BDP-83, and it was a "No". I tested the OPPO on our secondary system, becasue that is where the Pioneer Elite 42' plasma is (Axiom surround system, Yamaha HTR-5960 receiver, Outlaw LFM-2 sub). HDMI for video, with audio through mutichannel analog with the OPPO decoding the audio. The OPPO replaces a Panasonic DMP-BD55. In terms of start-up time, ease of use, manual clarity, menu structure, etc, the OPPO beats the Panny. Blu-ray PQ is a toss-up to me (perhaps largely due to the 720p screen), and SD DVDs look a bit better from the OPPO. SACD/DVD-A sound great.

However, even after the most recent firmware update, the OPPO's DVD-A in my view still is a work in progress. The latest firmware update did fix many important issues, such as discs not playing and the system freezing up when I tried to access the disc set-up menu and an inability to fast forward through music. But one major concern I still have is that on concert discs or discs where tracks should transition smoothly into each other without pause (e.g. Sinatra at the Sands; the Beatles, LOVE; Brian Wilson, Live at the Roxy), there is a noticeable pause between tracks, almost as if the player is searching for the next track (there is a sound as if the laser mechanism is moving). While that pause is less now with the latest update, it is still there and disrupts the listening experience. My Denon DVD-1920 Universal DVD player plays these discs through without any pause between tracks. If OPPO intends to market this as a universal player, I think the DVD-A implementation still is not smooth enough to carry it off. OPPO tells me they intend to get DVD-A up to the quality/performance of their 981-HD, but they are not there yet. If someone is not interested in DVD-A, the BDP-83 probably is sbout set to go and will be a great player (assuming a few other items mentioned on the 2nd EAP page at OPPO website are corrected). My concern is that if OPPO intends to market this as a universal player, it should be fully functional out of the box. I look forward to changing my vote once OPPO gets the DVD-A and other issues resolved.