OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player discussion thread*

Just got this e-mail from Oppo- who else is in?

We would like to thank you for the tremendous feedback that we have received from the community in response to our first BDP-83 Blu-ray player notification update. There were many great comments, suggestions and concerns which we will try to address in the release of the BDP-83. In particular, we would like to address the Early Adoption Program.

We have decided to take a democratic, by-the-people approach to the implementation of the Early Adoption Program. For the initial batch we will randomly choose 50 customers to participate in the Early Adoption Program. These 50 customers will have the opportunity to purchase the BDP-83 for $499 before the official release. After using the player for about a week, they will be required to vote on whether the program should be expanded or suspended based on end-user experiences. If a supermajority (at least 70%) votes in favor of expanding the program, we will expand the Early Adoption Program by another 100 randomly chosen customers. The player will be shipped with a pre-production firmware version. Firmware updates will be available from time to time.

The initial 50 Early Adoption Customers will be chosen no later than February 25th using the random number generator at random.org. After being contacted by us, the customer must place the order no later than 3pm February 27th Pacific Time; otherwise the opportunity to participate will be passed on to another customer. A simple "Yes" or "No" vote on whether to expand the program needs to be cast no later than March 15th.

Terms and conditions for the Early Adoption Program, as well as the current program status, can be found at our web site:
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/EAP.aspx

We would also like to take this time to update you on the status of BDP-83 developments. The last two months have been very fruitful, as the player now supports BD-Live (Profile 2.0) and can internally decode Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats. DVD-Audio has yet to be implemented through firmware, but we are working diligently on this feature. A preliminary features and specifications list will be available on our web site on Tuesday March 3rd.

Opt-Out:

If you are still interested in receiving communications about the BDP-83 and participating in the Early Adoption Program, no further action is necessary. Otherwise, please click on the SafeUnsubscribe link below to decline participation and to opt out of any further e-mail communications regarding the BDP-83.
Best Regards,


Customer Service

 

If I wasn't so happy with my PS3, I'd take advantage of this offer.

 

Gort: please correct title of thread to Oppo.
(Too excited when I got the e-mail!)
Thanks.

 

$499?

 

I got that email too. If they pick me, I'm *definitely* in!!!

 

I received the email as well.

 

Can SamS now post comments on the sound quality of his unit?

$499 sounds like a good price. Why not just release it already and let us all benefit?

 

I received the email, too. However, I can't see spending $499 when it still doesn't have DVD-A and there's no way of knowing how the DVD-A will sound when and if they get it worked out.

 

Movies are still $25. I'll wait.

 

Not yet, have to wait until the NDA is lifted. Should be soon.

I have a PS3 too, trust me the BDP-83 is better

 

Such a shame this is region 1 and A only

It it was multi (or even 2 or 4 for dvd and blu region B) I'd be all over it!

I'm going to wait and see what the next year brings..

 

Tell them that enquiring minds want to know.

 

Agreed. For $499, I'd want it to do all the things all the other OPPOs do including all region BD. I would think that this model will be a tough sell at this price.

 

About 15 years ago, with much fanfare, a company marketed the first combination SACD/DVD-A player, which I eagerly purchased. It wouldn't play most discs (a sort of anti-universal player) and the units were returned en masse, never to be improved and reissued- in short, a marketing disaster. Given the complexities of this unit and its reputation for quality products, I suspect that Oppo is employing this "democratic" approach of letting these things out in baby steps to make sure that they work properly. The marketplace and the early adoption users will dictate if they got it right. This approach makes sense to me.

 

HD downloads will be here (for less than $25) before discs are less than $25.

 

The problem is that there is no such thing as region free BD. I believe that is prohibited by the BD license agreement.

 

Correct. Same thing with regular DVD. Violate region coding, risk losing your BD license.

I think most enthusiasts will see it as a steal for $499 or $599. There's no other player that comes close to doing all the things it does, especially with cutting edge video performance. Although not necessarily ideal, those with large non-R1 collections can get an entry-level OPPO for $169 to handle those duties.

 

Just as for DVD.

That's why you will never see Oppo or any other brand manufacturer advertize a region-free DVD or Blu-ray player, although the player may be hackable.

 

I got this email as well. I'm on the fence. Should I wait until such devices as the roku stream movies, etc that are identical in picture and SQ to my playing a DVD on my HT rig?
Will that day arrive and how long will it be? This is not take away the ability to play SACD and DVD-Audio discs but then my HT is meant primarily for movies; two channel for music appreciation.

 

I received that e-mail and I definitely intend to jump on it if they select me.

 

Perhaps so, but I guess I'm surprised that OPPO is aiming their debut BD player at the "enthusiasts". I'm a huge fan of OPPO and they sure give plenty of bang for the buck on their DVD players. I had perhaps wrongly assumed that they were going to begin with a similarly affordable BD player. But $500 is an awful lot of coin to drop if someone is just getting into Blu-Ray for the first time. Especially when some machines are starting to go for half as much.

 

I have a PS3 too and an Oppo 980......I love them both - trust me, the additional $499 will not give you the bang for the buck...the PS3 can do Blu-Ray at least as well as the Oppo...plus a whole lot more, IMHO, of course...

 

The new OPPO will beat the PS3 hands down on DVD and Blu-ray playback. Its got the latest and best upscaling circuitry. One of my family members has a PS3 and I am not at all impressed with the DVD playback.

 

OPPO has always been for enthusiasts! All of their players' features, firmware updates and performance benchmarks have been for the videophile trying eek out that last bit of performance. That's why you don't find their players at Best Buy, Coscto, Sam's etc. They do very little advertising, and have very defined niche. $500 is very affordable IMO for what you're getting. World-class video processing and scaling, SACD (and DVD-A soon), internal decoding of TrueHD/DTS-HD-MA, Profile 2.0, etc, etc.

OPPO is not going after the entry level ($250) market that is occupied by Samsung, Sony and Panasonic. Each of those is missing core features important to most A/V nuts, and are priced accordingly. If one is getting into Blu-ray for the first time, then finding a $200 player at Target is OK. But, if you want the best video processing for both SD DVD and Blu-ray, a wealth of hi-rez audio options, and strong customer/firmware support, this is the player for you.

The PS3 can only do film-based Blu-ray, i.e. 24p, with similar performance to the OPPO. The PS3 has no ability to deinterlace 1080i sourced Blu-rays. I have several concert Blu-rays that are encoded like this. It's true, the PS3 has a lot more "features" for $400-$500. I have praised my PS3 many, many times. But, the PS3 is never going to be the same hard-core performer for both SD and BD like the OPPO. Very good value, yes. But for overall top-of-the line performance, OPPO will be the one to beat.

Check out the universal Denon BD player. It is going to be 7-8X the price of the OPPO, with practically the same feature set, and likely similar performance. Only the Denon(s) and OPPO are really going after the hi-performance market.