High Def Forum - Your High Definition Community & High Definition Resource

- Blu-Ray Players (http://www.highdefforum.com/blu-ray-players-65/)

- - Oppo S83 review (http://www.highdefforum.com/blu-ray-players/91504-oppo-s83-review.html)

Not sure if it's posted elsewhere but did a quick search and didn't see it here. I found this over at HTF.

Link

Hare's a few highlights. From what I've read Oppo released a few into the wild for $499. The street price is going to be between $499 and $599. Not the cheapest player out there but if it's as good as this guy makes it out to be maybe I'll be picking one up.

Quote:

...................The 83 is really going to turn heads in this regard. Somehow Oppo has managed to deliver DVD player responsiveness, loading and performance out of what we have come to expect from slow, clunky and "...forever loading" blu-ray players. For example, with the 83 in standby, the time it takes for the unit to eject the tray is less than 9 seconds, this is not a exaggeration. Tired of those blu-ray disc load times?, what about titles like Pirates of the Caribbean? you might just as well insert it and go make a sandwich before you can expect to get anywhere on the disc and this is with the latest greatest players like the Panasonic X5 units. The aforementioned Pirates of the Caribbean loads up and initiates java in a couple snaps of the finger. If forced to make a decent guess I would say 4 or 5 times faster than any other blu-ray player on the market. All around disc load times for non java titles are bordering on DVD territory, titles like Behind Enemy Lines load and are at the menu in what seams like a instant compared to other players.............

.....................All of this would be for lost if the 83 was a bad performer in the video quality area, not a chance!!. I easily put the player at the top of the heap when it comes to PQ of all the blu-ray players I have owned and reviewed, maybe even the best. The first thing that struck me about this player (when in the source direct 4:2:2 output mode) is how clean the image is, no noise whatsoever. I am not talking about processing of sorts either, time after time the unit displayed the finest of finest visible film grains on various titles, always with a lush nearly over the top amount of natural sharpness. The image is simply amazing, no one single complaint from me and I am very picky. No black crush, no white clipping, no color decoding errors, no normal suspect areas on most players, just perfection. Various titles used for this player during my main video critiquing were: "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", "Tomb Raider", "The Fifth Element (remaster)", The Passion of the Christ, "Air Force One (UK import)" and others. Nothing to report other than splendid images, the 83 does what it should do well and with no problems at all, you can't ask for more than that. Video output used was HDMI set to source direct and 4:2:2 colorspace..................

.....................The Oppo BDP-83 is what I like to call the Lord of the Rings in blu-ray players, it is "The One Player To Rule Them All"! This player is going to make everyone else look bad and I mean real bad. Ease of use, responsiveness, loading times, a/v quality, updates, media player, you name it. A fully featured and stacked package, one that gets my highest recommendation possible.

Thanks for posting this. It sounds like the player to get and for the competition to try to beat.

It may bring those who think they 'need' a very high end player down to earth, and for those with 'very good' players a nice upgrade if they value a readable owner's manual, great customer service, added audio formats, solid performance and construction.

This one sounds like the one to look at for a new Blu-Ray player.

I would love to find a way to justify getting one!

Quote:

Originally Posted by unotis (Post 840484)

This one sounds like the one to look at for a new Blu-Ray player.

I would love to find a way to justify getting one!

Come on now, you can always find a way! :D

Quote:

Originally Posted by daleb (Post 840504)

Come on now, you can always find a way! :D

Well, I would need to buy another HDTV to justify it, or sell my PS3.

i wonder how long after the official release of the S83 we'll see region-free DVD playback enabled (i'm fine with region A Blu-ray playback, however).

How does the Oppo fare against, say, the new Pannys for standard DVD playback?

Has there been any news on Onkyo's Blu-ray player?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Marlowe (Post 846650)

How does the Oppo fare against, say, the new Pannys for standard DVD playback?

Has there been any news on Onkyo's Blu-ray player?

Should be better...up-conversion of SD disks is a mainstay of Oppo Digital players.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daleb (Post 846739)

Should be better...up-conversion of SD disks is a mainstay of Oppo Digital players.

Thanx Daleb,

Better than Panasonic's upconversion in their new players?

I had an Oppo 983 that I didn't really see much "improvement" with, so I returned it...I believe the Oppo Blu deck uses the Anchor Bay chip, correct, as in the 983?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Marlowe (Post 846781)

I have not seen the later Oppos..but yes, it does use the Anchor Bay and if you read the critiques on avsforum from the trial users, they are quite impressed with it.
I like the upconversion in my BD55K (and would love to compare the two)...although I don't find what the Panasonic has that much better than my Toshiba XA1 was in that regard.
Actually, my ex-Samsung duo player 5000 I thought was pretty much the equal also to the Tosh and Pan..but when I had my display calibrated it was pointed out to me that all Samsungs had a subtle purplish cast on white areas. Very subtle, but once it was shown to be I could never stop seeing it. LOL

I still haven't heard when this baby is going to be released. I am very interested in picking up one of these babies! I signed up for their early adoption program but wasn't chosen. No doubt that they had hundreds of thousands of volunteers for that.

I think this will be the player that will last me a long time. One of my friends will be getting a good deal on a BD35 when I get a BDP-83 :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Marlowe (Post 846781)

I own the Oppo DV-983H and several Blu-ray players and I don't believe any Blu-ray player matches the DVD performance of the DV-983H. The upcoming Oppo BDP-83 might ultimately beat it as it does offer a couple of design improvements. The early DV-983H used Anchor Bay Technologies ABT1018 and ABT102.

http://www.anchorbaytech.com/docs/pdf/OppoDV983_v7.pdf

Later production DV-983H used a single chip, the ABT2010.

http://www.anchorbaytech.com/docs/pd...010_032907.pdf

The BDP-83 will use the ABT2010 which permits a different feature set and processing. I think the Anchor Bay Technologies chips are excellent and a good choice.

Chris

Quote:

Originally Posted by unotis (Post 840544)

Well, I would need to buy another HDTV to justify it, or sell my PS3.

I really think this Oppo player will only appeal to the market that wants more than Blu-ray and DVD. The inexpensive players are really good from Panasonic and Sony particularly so finding a large market to pay more for the incremental improvement for just those two formats won't be easy. The BDP-83 will do a lot more with excellent audio, SACD, DVD-A, HDCD and first rate CD playback. The market that is willing to pay for that is the target market.

Chris

So Chris,

Are you saying this Oppo Blu-ray player will offer DVD upconversion at the level you feel the 983 DVD player did? Being that I'm in the market for a new player now, would this make more sense over a Panasonic? How do you think the Oppo stacks up against the $1999 Denon with the Reon?

Does the Oppo do DNR on DVD? Also -- didn't you tell me some reports are coming back regarding the new Onkyo player's DVD performance in that it's been negative so far?