Very true. But maybe by then I'll be ready to pick up my own. I may even be able to convince my wife that it is a much better solution than the DVD player and the PS3 we're using now.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to comparing the upscaling of the PS3 to the Oppo. I'll also be able to run the new lossless codecs through my system for the first time. Since the PS3 only has an HDMI out and my (soon to be replaced) AVR predates HDMI, the best I can get from my BR discs is DTS.

Should be fun!

Oh, it'll definitely be fun. Let us know how it goes.

I put my order in last night. Would have been better for my finances if I waited a month or so but I wanted to take advantage of the $499 price.

Well my wait for an OPPO BD player should be over in the next week or so. I took up OPPO's invitation to order the BDP-83 and their site says it will ship sometime next week. I'm really looking forward to the enhanced video and audio of BluRay and the video enhancement of SD-DVDs. I'm one of the folks that sees this OPPO player as a way to continue using my 990 pre/pro and still enjoy the benefits of the new audio formats and advanced video processing.

Now the nitty gritty...Do any of the Outlaws who beta tested the BPD-83 have any specific tips/recommendations for setting up the 83's analog audio with a 990? Are there any bass management quirks to worry about? On the video front I have a Pioneer 5080 Kuro plasma (768p with the ability to receive 1080p 24fps signal); how does the 83's auto resolution work?

With the 990, I'd set all speakers to large and the sub to on (the 990 will be doing bass management, so there's no reason to ask the BDP-83 to also do that). I'd also leave the trim settings and distances zero'd.

For video, the BDP-83's auto resolution mode relies on your TV's EDID information. Personally, I've not really messed with it much, as I've instead just set the resolution. For a 768p panel, I'd compare 1080p/24 output to 720p and see which I like more. It's very possible that 720p will win, but it depends on how well the Kuro's video processor converts a 1080p/24 signal to 768p/60 and I just don't know how well that specific display's video processor stacks up against the ABT2010.

Thanks, Gonk! A few more more questions came to mind: Just to clarify, is it the 990 or 83 whose trim and distances are zero'd? If the 83's trim and distances are set to zero does the 990 use my current delay and trim settings for each channel when 7.1 channel input is used? If so, that would probably be a good thing since the universal settings in the 990 would be applicable to other inputs. Do you suggest using the 83 to decode codecs other than the new lossless codecs? How would my other inputs (e.g. cable TV) work if the 990 trim and distances are zero'd?

Re: video - Thanks for the thoughts and I suspected the choice of resolution would be a resolved with a bit of testing but I wondered if there was a consensus of opinion on the issue.

Zero trim and distance on the BDP-83 (the 990 applies the same settings to the 7.1 Direct input that it applies to the other inputs).

I'd suggest connecting a coaxial or optical digital cable as well as the 7.1 analog, just so that you can do some A-B comparisons when listening to CD's and DVD's. My traditional answer for players like this has been to stick with digital for the discs that allow it (CD and DVD), but the BDP-83 has an excellent analog section so you might want to experiment a bit to find what you like the best. For Blu-ray, I'd probably just use the 7.1 Direct (analog) connection for all discs.

In most cases, I think that folks are going to prefer to leave as much video processing as possible in the BDP-83 rather than allowing the display to do it. Particularly for a panel that doesn't natively display 24p video (which is only possible with 120Hz panels that accept a 24p signal and repeat each frame five times), I'd rather have the player do 3:2 pulldown. Pioneer tucked some nice hardware into their Kuro panels, though which is the only reason I didn't just say "compare 1080p/60 and 720p/60 outputs and leave the player on the one you like most".

Gonk,

You are a gentleman and scholar! And one heck of a resource here in the saloon for all things A/V. I'll report back after I have a chance to use the BDP-83 for a while. Its going to be fun!

I've been lurking this forum for a bit; just ordered the BDP-83 and wanted to thank Gonk for the detailed review and the ongoing great advice - looking forward to weighing in on the new toy! (might even investigate the tiniest nagging buzz from what is presumably a bad ground on my turntable while I'm back there in the wired jungle...)

That's funny because I decided when I hook mine up to clean up the hydra mess behind my rack. Something I've been meaning to do for a while.