My first Blu-ray player was an LG BD-390 – I returned it because it was a defective piece of poorly built junk. I bought it because it has a pretty cool feature set; my kids still complain at no longer having NetFlix available via the Blu-ray player. It’s really no big deal, though, because we have the computer hooked up to the HDTV via DVI -> HDMI.

The Oppo player, on the other hand, is well-built and a much better fit for our needs. We have a large DVD collection that has been given new life by the upscaling, we’re enjoying watching Blu-ray movies from NetFlix at their best, the HDCDs I’ve had in my collection are finally being played back at full resolution, and I can play my collection of DVD-Audio and SACD discs.

The Early Adoption Program allowed Oppo to flush out most of the bugs and compatibility issues due to the diverse setups of the early adopters. This was a highly visible and bold move by Oppo to expose their product to the general public prior to release. This program worked to perfection allowing Oppo to flush out most of the issues prior to public release. What other manufacturers would expose their product to this kind of scrutiny? NONE!!!!!

My basic premise for wanting this player is because of my previous association with Oppo DVD players (DV-980H, DV-981HD & DV-983H) and their outstanding customer service department which left an impression upon me. I know blu-ray playback for the most part is very similar, but DVD playback can be night and day from player to player and the Oppo has one of the best solutions in the VRS by Anchor Bay ABT-2010 under the hood. I own several SACDs and DVD-As; over 100 blu-ray discs and over 600 DVDs and I want the best (though subjective) 1 box solution that I can afford. I also own 2 Pioneer BDP-51FD and a JVC XV-BP1 blu-ray player all of which are fantastic players and serve different purposes throughout my house. I’ve also owned players from Samsung, Panasonic and Sony.

First Impressions (Impressive)

-Player protected by a black cloth bag (nice touch)

-Spears & Munsil High Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Calibration Disc (video)

-AIX Records Audio Calibration Disc HD Music Sampler (Audio)

-Back lit remote (Alkaline batteries)

-HDMI Cable

-Composite cables

-Owners Manual (Best written manual that I’ve experience)

My Setup:

-Pioneer Elite PRO-950HD (sit 6′ – 8′ from the screen)

-Denon AVR-3802

-Speakers: BIC Venturi DV62s (fronts) /DV62CLR-S (center) /DV52si (surround & surround backs)

-Velodyne Subwoofer

-Atlona HDMI 1.3b cables

-Analog cables from Monoprice

-Media Players: BDP-51FD, Oppo BDP-83, JVC XV-BP1

BLU-RAY PLAYBACK

I used the blu-ray discs the Dark Knight and Hellboy. The playback was excellent. The colors looked natural and the picture was not unusually sharp or overly vibrant. Some players at their default settings seem a little too sharp or bright in my viewing. Some may refer to this as the picture having more pop. The Oppo has the most neutral or natural picture of the players that I own in my opinion. Others have also expressed the neutrality of the Oppo. Blu-ray playback should be similar amongst most players for the most part. I would be skeptical of anyone seeing a night and day difference in blu-ray playback.

DVD PLAYBACK

For DVD playback I 1st used the disks from Star Trek The Next Generation Season 1. I chose this disc because I know is doesn’t have the best rendering. I wanted to challenge the up-converting of the Oppo. The Oppo did a good job with this disc definitely improving the video. While it wasn’t night and day there was definitely a visible improvement to my eyes. The picture was smoother with less noise. I also looked at other DVDs and the Oppo did a fantastic job with those also. The BDP-83 will squeeze the very last ounce of picture quality out of your DVD collection. I was initially going to replace some of my favorite DVDs with their blu-ray counterparts, but that number has dropped significantly with the addition of the Oppo.

AUDIO

I’m using the analog connections of the Oppo since my AVR is pre-HDMI. The playback of SACD and DVD-A is outstanding in my opinion. Also, multi-channel analog surround sounds very good decoded by the Oppo. I have not used the Oppo or any of my players for 2 channel audio since I have a dedicated CD transport that I am quite happy with. There are those who don’t think very highly of the Oppo 2 channel audio or have another 2 channel analog solution, but the consensus seems to be that the Oppo 2 channel analog is very good. Also, listening to audio is too subjective given the various setups and room acoustics. Last, the Oppo uses the same DACs (Cirrus Logic CS4398) for their 2 channel audio that are found in the Marantz models SA8003 and SA-KI-PEARL SA-CD. Both are CD/SACD players. The DAC info is strictly for informational purposes only.

OTHER

The multiple zoom settings for both SD DVD and Blu-ray are fantastic. The “Full” zoom mode removes the black bars from the top and bottom of the video while maintaining the correct aspect ratio. You do lose a minimal amount of the picture, but not enough to be concerned about in my opinion. I know the video purist don’t like this, but I do. Also, all the audio outputs are active all the time. This allows you to change the audio from your AVR or Pre/Pro without going into the setup menu. You can also make adjustments to the setup on the fly without stopping the player. There are a host of other features like being able to choose sub-titles or change the movie soundtrack on the fly. There is also a “Demo Mode” which splits the screen allowing you to make on-screen real time picture adjustments and see the results before accepting the adjustments. Last, there is the back lit remote which is laid out nicely and logical in my opinion. The player is very easy to setup right out of the box and you can have it up and running within 10 minutes if you are using an HDMI cable. For those looking to get everything out of the video you can tweak until your hearts content.

FINAL THOUGHTS

For those who have commented about whether or not this is truly a universal player; Oppo never marketed it as such. If you go to their website it clearly states that it is a “Blu-ray Disc Player W/SACD & DVD-Audio”. I guess the inclusion of SACD & DVD-Audio led to it being called a universal player on the various forums.

When the term “Universal” was introduced several years ago it meant a 1 box solution that played all the different types of media discs (DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A). Now “Universal” loosely means BLU-RAY, DVD, CD, SACD and DVD-A. For this player to be a “Universal” player in the true since of the word, then it would need to play HD-DVDs. There are other current and future releases by Denon (DVD-A1UDCI & DBP-4010UDCI) and Marantz (UD9004) that are being advertised as “Universal” players, but have this same shortcoming.

If you’re just looking for a plain vanilla blu-ray player and If your only criteria is PQ for blu-ray and DVD, then there are several players from other manufacturers that will do a very good job with blu-ray and DVD playback. However, if you need the additional features and media support, faster load times, GREAT customer service, SACD and DVD-A support just to name a few; then the Oppo is a bargain at $499.00. The only other players with this feature set that I am aware of begin at $1,999.00.

I’ve occasionally read where some think the Oppo is “over-hyped” which is phrase I don’t particularly care for. I would say that there is a lot of “enthusiasm” from the owners of this outstanding player. I also find that most of this “over-hyped” speak are from those who have never owned the player. We refer to these people on the various threads as “trolls”. These are individuals who have comments that are mostly negative about equipment that they have no hands on experience with.

There have been over 20+ reviews of this player and the overwhelming consensus is that the player is worthy of all the “Hype” or “Enthusiasm” that has been bestowed upon it.

Do you think the Oppo would be receiving all these glowing reviews and comments by owners if they were not impressed or satisfied? Remember people are forking out $499.00 when there are capable players for basic blu-ray and DVD playback available for less than $100.00 on sale. If the masses were unhappy with this player, then we would all know about it; especially in this economy. (lol) I know of several people who have bought this player for strictly blu-ray and DVD playback, because the feature set outside of blu-ray and DVD playback is that good.

This player is not perfect, but it is the closet to perfection that I’ve had in my setup. If you’re skeptical take it for a test drive. If you are not happy then the most you’ll lose is $18.00 shipping (I live on the east coast) if purchased directly from Oppo.

My system: Monster Power HTUPS 2700 power conditioner Monster Home Theater PowerCenter HTUPS 2700 w/ Clean Power Stage 2 v2.1, Battery Back-Up & Automatic Voltage Regulation 6 Outlets, Stage 2 v2.1, UPS, AVR (MP HTUPS 2700); [player] through Monster HDMI Monster MC 1000HD-2M Ultra-High Speed HDTV HDMI Cable (2 meters) to Onkyo TX-NR906 Onkyo TX-NR906 7.1 Channel Home Theater Receiver (Black) powering a 3.1 system with bridged left and right amps processing both video and audio. Video through Monster HDMI to Mitsubishi Diamond 73835 Mitsubishi Diamond Series WD-73835 73-Inch 1080p DLP HDTV (Glossy Black). Audio through Tributaries to Definitive Technologies (DefTech) Mythos ST speakers Definitive Technology Mythos ST 120v Supertower Speaker (Single, Black) (subs in each) left and right and a DefTech Mythos 10 Definitive Technology Mythos 10 On-Wall Speaker (Single, Black) Center. This is a high-performance, high-value, high-end system.

The first Blu-ray I played was WALL-E Wall-E (Three-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray]. This is truly a 10 out of 10 Blu-ray in video and audio. It begins with the excellent Disney intro with a train chugging in the distance down the rails at twilight then goes to a view of the castle in a fly around. The PS3 did a great job, even had a suggestion of dimensionality to it (as if in 3D). It had an immersive sensibility. The BDP-83 snapped it. Realize that the only thing changing here is the swapping of the players, with the BDP-83 only going through its initial setup. (I just wanted to see if the thing turned on and worked!) I watched the rest of the movie. I was not just fully immersed into the movie, I flowed with the movie’s reality. There were colors and depths that the PS3 missed completely. I did not even imagine this being present in the movie’s definition as represented in ones and zeros! And that’s all it really is – ones and zeros.

So, why the stark difference?? Imagine a wire with electricity running through it. Then let’s say that if there is 5 volts on the wire then there is a one (1) – if there is 3 volts on the wire, then there is a zero (0). If I put a component on each end of the wire and want to send the number 11001 between them, then the volts would be 55335. Simple idea if it were not for the fact that it will take some time to go from 5 volts to 3 or 3 volts to 5. Depending on the quality of the components on each end, if the sending one is a little, shall we say, sloppy in the transition from 5 volts to 3, then the receiving end may think it received 55535, or 11101. If it was also sloppy in the transition from 3 volts to 5, then the number could be received as 11100. This is not the intended 11001! So, what am I saying? The BDP-83 is a remarkably more accurate digital instrument than the PS3. Does this mean that the PS3 is junk? Not at all. Coupled with other components of matching performance it would be very acceptable and rewarding. But, under the circumstances, I was significantly, shockingly unaware of just how good the other components in the system were! Note: Getting into the setup menus, I found that the BDP-83 would ship up to 36 bit color (x.y.deepcolor) – even would put Blu-ray non-deepcolor bits into a deepcolor 36 bit word! The Onkyo and Mitsubishi also handle deepcolor. When I chose this option on the player, the Mitsubishi’s screen went dark!! I started sweating at about the 7 second mark and started thinking about weeping at the 12 second mark. And then the Mitsubishi popped back on with the Oppo deepcolor set at 36 bits! Apparently it talked to the Onkyo about it then the Onkyo talked to the Mitsubishi about it and once they were all in agreement – 36 bits! It would have been nice if they would have let me in on the conversation…

In other words, the BDP-83 is a superlative, high-end component for just $500! It will NOT be the weak link in your system.

The SACD stereo of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’, Bernard Haitink, London Synphony Orchestra, 2006 Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 ‘Choral’ [Hybrid SACD] (especially the 4th movement with voices) was very nice from the PS3. I had to use Neural THX on the Onkyo to get the sound right. Using the Direct option made it sound dead. With the BDP-83, the Neural THX processing was excellent. But the Direct function was just plain REAL – overflowing with life and presence. The Direct function has minimal processing, mainly taking the raw bitstream from the BDP-83, putting it through some outstanding Burr-Brown DACs (Digital to Analog Converters), and amplifying it. It was sublime.

To finish up, the next Blu-ray I watched was Braveheart Braveheart [Blu-ray]. Magnificent. Audio and sound was a revelation. (FYI: outstanding soundtrack CD.) Longshank’s bout with consumption was truly sickening!

Nonetheless, you will rejoice with your purchase of the Oppo BDP-83.