I have a large USB drive connected to the rear USB port, but it will need to be a FAT32 formatted drive as the player does not support NTFS. To play back video files, you go to the Home Menu (there's a screen shot of this menu in my review), select Movie, and then pick the USB device you want to look at. At that point, you see a file manager sort of interface with a list of all the folders on the USB drive. You can navigate that folder structure and the player will list all of the video files that it supports. There are some page up/down buttons that let you jump up and down one screen at a time (about six or eight files/folders per page). It's not really the most robust interface for a media server, but it is serviceable and I use it for some of our daughter's videos.

Great preliminary review, Gonk.

Can't wait to get my hands on one.

Do you happen to have a good contact at Oppo?

I'd like to see about getting my brother in to interview them, I think it would be cool.

My brother's blog is http://www.scobleizer.com

Best info I've seen on the BDP-83. Need a new TV, Processor, and Blueray. Probably will purchase this item first.

The one thing that it's lacking that could be a show-stopper for some is no Netflix Instant streaming support.

Hope they are working on it.

I haven't heard any talk about that being in development, but I really wonder how much of a showstopper that is - I've tinkered with the Netflix stuff and found it to be sort of average at best. It would be nice to have for some people, but considering how much else it does I doubt its absence will have a significant impact on sales.

I agree it might not be a show stopper but it would be a nice feature. I wonder, is that an item that could be addressed with a firmware update? I am biased as a netflix subscriber

I'm a Netflix subscriber as well, but I don't know that it is something that can be added via a firmware update. I haven't prodded OPPO very hard on it, as getting the core features working was very much a higher priority for everyone involved, but I got the feeling that it would take more than a little programming wizardry to add Netflix support.

Another disincentive is that many of the newer HDTVs are web aware, if not internally, with a external wireless device. So Netflix is available without going through the BDP-83.

I'll have to explore that further. I am getting ready to buy a new HDTV. I know the model I am looking at getting (1080P TH58PZ800U-Viera-58-Plasma)is "Web aware" as you put it but not sure that involves a netflix type application.

There's always the $99 ruko !

Check out my post at the end of this thread for an alternate way to get Netflix to your tv.