Oh, do tell! Are you referring to the stereo analog section or the 7.1 analog?

AvFan,

Any early purchaser of the BDP-83 will be able to upgrade the player free of charge when the software for the new audio formats is released. Since the number of movies released in these formats is quite limited for now, this is no big deal.

The biggest problem you might face with the "early adoption" program is actually getting a player. The number of units available for this program is quite small. In my opinion there will be a stampede of OPPO fans to get their hands on one.

Peter

7.1 analog - although I've been meaning to experiment a bit with the stereo output as well...
I think that this is reasonable. Granted, early adopters will still be able to get to multichannel PCM tracks (which were very prevalent on Blu-ray releases initially before been superceded by TrueHD and DTS-HD MA in the last six months or so), decoded or bitstreamed DD/DTS core tracks, and SACD while they wait for decoding to arrive, but if you wait for the official release you'll have a clearer picture of what you're getting thanks to the feedback the early adopters will provide. (Beta testers will also be able to speak somewhat more freely during the early adopter program, although details about the in-development firmware will still be off limits.)

In either case, I am going to be curious to see how the supply keeps up with demand. The early adopter group will be limited in size and likely sell out very quickly. Demand for the official launch will probably be on par with or greater than what was seen with the 983H, but I think it will come as less of a surprise (many expected the 983H to be a very "niche" product). It may sell out, but probably not as quickly or repeatedly as the 983H did.
It's not really locked in at this point, as I understand it. I think that's the final price, and the early adopters may pay the same price but have an expanded return / refund window. Personally, I think the $599 price is where the player belongs - the $499 point would be cool, but there's just too much under the hood of this thing. That also takes into account that the 983H was considered a value at $399 without Blu-ray and comparisons to the players from Pioneer, Denon, Yamaha, and Marantz (all of which cost more, sometimes lots more).

Peter and Gonk:

Thanks for your insights. The forums have been buzzing over this player for some time and based upon your experiences during the beta test phase the hype is justified. Now folks will be actually vibrating with anticipation! It may well be the holy grail of disc players. One additional note: I've seen a number of posts from folks who are anxious to combine the BDP-83 with the 997. Based upon some of the initial info on the 997 it appears there are overlapping features. I'm curious how they will work together and allow the customer to take advantage of each unit's best features. Maybe that's another thread.

There are a couple local friends who own 990's, and for them I have quietly recommended they look to the BDP-83 as their eventual solution for Blu-ray. It's a nearly ideal fit. The BDP-83 will work very well with the 997, as well, although for the 997 I'd lean toward using the HDMI connection exclusively (less clutter, more flexibility). In that case, the multichannel analog output is unnecessary, but having the onboard decoding (once it's enabled) will allow you to use bonus features that employ secondary audio without compromising the primary audio. The 997 ends up not doing any decoding (it just gets multichannel PCM, which then gets piped to the DSP for all sorts of machinations such as Pro Logic IIx for 5.1 sources and Trinnov) and the BDP-83 ends up not using its multichannel analog output, but it would still work nicely. As for video scaling for DVD's, my preference would be OPPO's ABT implementation over anyone's Reon implementation. I've had a chance to spend a bit of time with Reon and even more with the ABT, and I agree with a number of others (folks more knowledgeable than me about video processing and performance) that the ABT is a bit better - not night and day, but better. So, for that, the 997's Reon would not be used for DVD - but it would still be available for other more needy sources (cable boxes with pitiful scalers and deinterlacers, VCR's, maybe a Wii, ...).

It's somewhat off topic, but I have mentioned elsewhere that I assume (dangerous, I know) that OPPO will at some point take the BDP-83 platform and scale it down to a less expensive little brother (similar to the original 971H and the 970HD that followed it). That scaled down player might eventually be an even more ideal feature-fit with the Model 997, but I wouldn't expect such a player to come into being for at least a year.

Gonk, it sounds like it is going to be a great player. I a feeling you were testing it! Looking forward to your complete review once the waters clear.

Unfortunately, it will be priced a little high for me, so I will look at another well regarded unit just released for a few hundred less. I'm sure it will be a notch below the Oppo, but my budget is not big enough for everything in my near future.

Now the waiting for that review!

I'm excited like many others on this forum for the upcoming BDP-83. I don't own a BDP yet, and my SD DVD player is nothing great (about 8 years old, no upscaling, SACD, DVD-A, HDCD, etc), so this will definately transform my HT experience.

Thanks for sharing your insight Gonk. I am one of those that plan on upgrading to the 997 and OPPO BDP in the near future (I hope). My best bet would be run run a HDMI cable from the BDP to the 997 and then from the 997 to the TV? - would the HDMI cable to the 997 for video then pass through to the TV untouched?

That is probably what I'm going to do, but I'll wait until sometime in the spring. Hopefully by then the full featured player will be available and been put through its paces by lots of customers.

Combining the 990 and BDP-83 leaves a video processing hole as you've noted the 997 would fill. I keep wondering about a stand alone video processor such as the DVDO Edge. Do you know if the Edge can enhance SD-DVD like the BDP-83? If so I could feed an Edge with 480i DVD from my OPPO 980H. For the new audio formats on Blu Ray I would still need a player with on-board decoding and 7.1 analog outputs that would connect to the 990 but let the Edge handle BD video. Using an Edge would fill the video processing hole for all sources. So many options....

There would be a hole for sources other than discs (since the BDP-83 would cover any discs except HD-DVD). The Edge uses the same chip as later 983H's and the BDP-83 (the ABT2010, which is functionally almost identical to the combination of ABT102 and ABT1018 that the original 983H's use - just integrated into one chip and with a couple new tricks mixed in). Based on what I've seen OPPO do with the 102/1018 and 2010, I would expect the Edge to be able to do a very respectable job of video processing.

Has anyone here had a chance to mess with upconversion of SDTV from a cable/satellite/FiOS box to see if it makes it watchable?

That's one thing that kind of burns me about today's TV situation. SDTV looks like complete crap on my 50" regardless of whether I have my DVR upscale it or my TV.

Just wondering if a Reon solution does much better.

My guess is probably not as it looks to me like most SDTV isn't even "broadcast" in DVD quality.