OPPO's BDP-80 Blu-ray/SACD/DVD-A player - coming 1/25/10!

Yes, it could (should?) be considered a compromise.

It is nice, however, to know there are other options (more $$) if that compromise is unnacceptable.

 

I think it's fine to criticize, but criticisms should be kept in perspective. If you compare this player to what else is out there at the price point, I don't see much to criticize. The only thing that sticks out as perhaps lacking in relation to other players in its price class is that it lacks the ability to stream Netflix or other online services. Balanced against that you have superior video, sound and build quality (again, in relation to price comparable units), as well as customer service that appears to be a step above other mass market manufacturers.

Everybody has different priorities. For some the absence of Netflix might be a deal breaker, for others it could be DSD to PCM conversion, for others it could be the less than first class DVD upscaling. Nevertheless, on balance, this looks like a player that could make a lot of people happy for the price.

 

I would really love Netflix streaming on the OPPO players. It would give me a good reason to retire my PS3

 

The oppo 80 should have rid of sacd and dvd-audio alltogether and add the extra money into the video and audio processing.

 

Blasphemy! Bible basher! How dare you?

I have my laptop hooked up to my system and use it to stream Netflix occasionally. I also use the laptop as a music server at times. Mostly I use it for needledrops though. I'm not sure how essential I feel it is for players to stream Netflix. I guess how much I would appreciate it would depend on the elegance of the user interface. It's so easy to pull up whatever I want on my laptop. I think many of these things are merely transitional devices as our entertainment systems morph into something altogether different anyway.

 

Player is now available for purchase:

http://www.oppodigital.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BDP80

Here is a good review:

http://www.prillaman.net/oppobdp80_review.html

 

There's one in every crowd.

 

Very informative. Makes my decision of what player to buy even harder!

IMHO, the BDP-80 is Oppo's most attractive looking device in terms of case design. I find the BDP-83 very generic and "blah" looking. The BDP-80 looks classy, even if it does not have a real metal faceplate.

 

There's two....

 

SACD/DVDA support is great, I don't want two players. Hopefully someone will sell it in Europe.

 

What was so wrong in what I said?

 

I'm happy with my Marantz DV 7001, and it does a DSD to PCM conversion. I switched from a Sony NC555ES that also performed a DSD to PCM conversion to impliment bass management. My first Sony did a straight DSD to analouge conversion for all SACD playback, but I sold that years ago. I have not really noticed a big difference in sound quality with the extra conversion in the chain, but I was well aware of these engineering compromises before I bought each componet. The Sony sounds (I still own it) very similar in stereo (DSD to analouge) compared to multi-channel (DSD to PCM to analouge), but my Marantz does not offer any choices; everything undergoes a DSD to PCM to analouge conversion, including my stereo SACDs. But like I said, I was aware of these engineering decisions before I bought my equipment.

 

Thanks Bee. My point was that if you brag about SACD playback do it properly. You woud'nt want a receiver or pre-amp that digitizes the phono input would you. I wanted to buy the OPPO 83 for DVD-AUDIO and I probably will. The devotion for this piece gets out of hand at times IMHO. The 80 would be perfect if at the analog outs it did not turn DSD into PCM, thats all. I bet if OPPO could send a firmware update to change the analog outputs for SACD to DSD for 20 bucks, the devotees would scoff it up(It cant be done through firmware though I think). I and many others use the analog outputs so that kills it for us who have SACD libraries. Their is a difference in sound if your other audio parts are up to reproducing it.

 

Sam,

Thanks for the link to the review. I think it sums up everything about the -80 very well and I hope it will help members here make more sense of the player's abilities and what is likely to come in future firmware upgrades. As the other beta tester of the -80 at this forum, I look forward to returning to Netflix when streaming becomes a possibility.

As a reminder to members who have made valid points about what the -80 appears not to be able to do as of today's release date, what is important is seeing and hearing the unit for yourself before throwing your hands up and saying "nope!" and walking away. In addition to asking questions, scour the net for reviews, visit the OPPO web page dedicated to the -80, visit someone who lives nearby and owns an OPPO device, and if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area specifically, by all means go visit Derek and Jason at OPPO headquarters in Mountain View or PM me if you want to see this baby up close and personal!

Again, here is the comparison chart between the -83 and the -80:

http://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-80/blu-ray-BDP-80-Compare.aspx

Dan

 

I'm primarily intrested in movies and BD music discs. I don't care about analog outputs at all. I might dabble some with my Sack-Dee's and DVD-A's in my cinema system but it would be a sideline at best. I'd like the choice between the 83 and 80 more if the 80 didn't scrimp on DVD's. I could, possibly, live without DVD-A/SACD suppourt.

 

I don't see where it's been definitively determined that pure DSD is superior, or readily discerned as such. I'd agree philosophically that a less cluttered signal path should be better, but until an apples-to-apples test (Oppo 83 vs 80?) can prove otherwise, it seems a not-insignificant number of listeners detect no difference.

And of course that launches heated debates.

As can be seen from the responses in this thread alone, people look at this machine from several points of view. Some want advanced video, some don't. Some want all SACD/DVDA capability erased. Etc etc etc.

The machine is what it is for <$300. For a lousy couple hundred more, it is "uncompromised".

Just another choice to make.

 

I was just making an argument about a couple of shortcuts that the OPPO 80 made for its price point. I would of made the DVD and other choices it offered more important. Since it plays DVDs offer DVD-Audio only and improve the DVD section like you pointed out and forget SACD . If you wanted SACD go for the 83 instead. To me the 80 is a cheaper version of the 83, some people will say 'so what' look at its price. Since OPPO seems to do the best it can in each department of its player it seemed wrong to cheap out on SACD. Its offering to much for the price and some features get short changed for it. The 83 is perfect for the money and the 80makes it that more obvious. gd0 probably said it best in his post 116. John M.

 

My old Denon 2200, Yamaha 1500, all did sacd as native DSD . My Esoteric sa50 has the choice of playing SACD as DSD or PCM at176/192 and DSD sounds more natural, but its the same machine so I cant tell if its a just and fair observation. John M.

 

I think the most important thing for me is the 7.1 analog outputs. That is the main reason I'm buying this machine since my processor doesn't decode the new audio formats. I think OPPO figured this was important to a lot of people. I think the inclusion of SACD and DVD-A was of secondary importance and they're there as a nice thing to have.

 

If anyone is interested, I'll share some brief thoughts on my experiences with the player over the past several months.

First, the player loads very fast. It is as fast as the BPD-83, so loading and navigation is up there with the PS3 and many of the newest players.

Video: The core video performance over both HDMI and component is very good. Meaning, it passes below-black, above-white, has no chroma bug, or ringing. The deinterlacing performance is only average. It does have motion adaptive deinterlacing for SD DVDs, but it is not spectacular. You will still see jaggies on video-based material. It handles film cadences fairly well, unless you are trying to throw some oddball stuff like anime at it. For 24 Blu-ray, it is a winner, but the same can be said for 90% of all Blu-ray players out there, it is hard to get this wrong. For 1080i/30/60 Blu-ray, it's not nearly as good as the BDP-83. You will still see some jaggies on tough diagonal edges. Most people will not notice or be bothered by this. If you are one of those people who understand what I'm describing, stick with the BDP-83

I do use this player via 2-channel analog for sound hookup. It is currently connected to my Denon AVR-5800 in the bedroom as 2.0 only. The analog sound is quite acceptable. I found it to be practically identical in sound to my old DV-983H. This is not unexpected, as the analog design is shared between these players. A bit 'lean' compared to the BDP-83 and SE, and probably not as good as most dedicated CD players. But, you are getting a lot of disc formats. Listening to some 24/48 Blu-ray concert discs, as well as stereo DVD-A and SACD, the sound is pretty enjoyable. If analog sound is a critical issue for you, or you're really wanting to upgrade from what you have now, skip right over the BPD-83 and go straight to the BDP-83SE model. That's the sweet spot for price/performance ratio in my experience.

Misc: The player is very stable. Much more so than the BDP-83 when it was released. Yes, there will continue to be improvements, but since the BDP-80 shares some of the 'core' firmware with its bigger brother, improvements to the older model have benefited this new player as well.

Don't expect perfection for $289, although I find few faults. I suspect that this player will be a hit for two categories, A) enthusiasts looking for a second/third Blu-ray player for another room, or B) Those looking for their first Blu-ray player who may already have a $100-$500 universal SACD/DVD-A player and want to see what all the Blu-ray buzz is about.

 

Gotcha.

I'm sure every poster in this thread could suggest a custom-built prioritized player that differs in one regard or another from the 80.

And insist on a $150 MSRP...

I think I fall under SamS' category B.

 

You can order a region-free kit for the BPD-80 here.

I do not have experience with this mod, however.

 

I was just reading a review of the new player that says that it would have in fact cost Oppo more money to remove SACD/DVD-A capability than to leave it in as the chipsets are already offering it etc and can be ported over from the 83. So in order to leave it out and beef up the DVD portion as you suggest it would actually make the machine cost more rather than less. If you want to read the review a link was posted earlier in the thread

Steve

 

I would like to say right here, since there are so many complaints about a DSD to PCM conversion, that there is an audible difference brought into the scene when this conversion is introduced. Since I have bought my Marantz universal player that introduces the dreaded DSD to PCM to analouge conversion into the mix of every SACD that I play, I moved my Sony out to be used in a smaller stereo. Now I have had this Sony for years hooked into my main surround system, so I listened to everything with a DSD to PCM to analouge chain. Even my stereo SACDs were listened to in 2.1, which according to Sony utilized the fore mentioned DSD/PCM/analouge chain. Switching to a stereo only system, I now listen to my stereo SACDs in 2.0, which avoids the DSD to PCM conversion; I now run my Sony in a pure DSD to analouge mode. There is a slight difference; I think that the player sounds more analouge now, and maybe a bit warmer.

 

Incredible. Very good, I guess OPPO has these parts on hand from previous players so it would be like starting from scratch which always cost more because of research and development. Who knew. Thanks for the info. John M.