Follow-up after my call to Oppo Cust. Ser. on the BDP-83 offering the same 2.0 to 5.1 matrix sound as my Oppo 980H. Short answer is no, the BDP-83 won't do 2.0 to 5.1 matrix. The 2.0 to 5.1 matrix is a hardware bug in the 980H they haven't been able to eliminate (much to my liking). I guess I should have know this because the only way to engage this 2.0 to 5.1 matrix in the 980H is to enter set-up after any power off and bounce from 5.1 downmix to 7.1 downmix and then back to 5.1 downmix. After doing this process, all stereo sources filled the surround speakers with what I consider an excellent (while artificial) matrix surround processing. The Pro Logic II setup option in the BDP-83 is only there to activate sources already encoded with Pro Logic II.

The drawback for me is my 950 does not allow any signal processing of the analog inputs so SACD Stereo sources can't have Dolby Pro Logic or DTS-NEO processing implemented. On CDs, that allow digital input, the 950 surround processing is available. I just love the Oppo audio processing on stereo sources and had used it over the 950 processing for CDs.

On another note, the BDP-83 is incredible for doing everything it is 'documented' to do. Folks won't believe this but I have to downmix all video to 480i for my old 3 CRT projector to process. I do see an improvement in the picture quality of both Blu-ray and standard def. source material. Future upgrades 1st)1080P Display 2nd) 997 (and then BDP-83 through HDMI and 980H through analog inputs. Seems overkill on Oppos but I love the 980H stereo 'bug' especially on the Stones and Kinks SACD catalogs).