OPPO BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player hands-on

Here she is -- the world's very first universal Blu-ray player. Oh sure, we may have heard of Denon's absurdly expensive DVD-A1UD first, but that bad boy just got delayed for a second time over in Japan. OPPO, on the other hand, has managed to push out a few hundred of these BDP-83 decks to brave beta testers across America, and we were fortunate enough to score one. The player came boxed in what was far and away the most elaborate packaging we'd seen for a BD player -- particularly one that's priced at just $499 for the beta users (an MSRP for production units has yet to be finalized).

All the goods you want are here, including Blu-ray Profile 2.0 support, internal decoding of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio formats, SACD playback and the promise of DVD-Audio compatibility in the future. Upon unboxing the unit, we were pleased with the rigid chassis and felt the design was simple yet classy. The remote seemed accommodating enough, and the port selection 'round back was admirable. We're planning to fire it up this weekend to see just how far along this beta firmware is, but 'til then, hit the gallery below to have a look at what's sure to become a favorite amongst well informed home theater aficionados.

OPPO BDP-83 universal Blu-ray player hands-on

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:40AM]

Hmm, i was under the impression that ALL BR players had to be locked to a single region? ie A, B or C? I would be surprised if Oppo got away with doing this - surely all the other companies would also go region free?

Anyway this is what i assume you guys mean by "universal player"? Apologies if i'm wrong...

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:49AM]

They're refering to the ability to playback SACD and (eventually) DVD-A audio formats as well as DVD and BD video. They may also be referring to the ability to internally decode lossless audio formated (DTS-MA, Dolby True-HD).

Including an HDMI cable and BD calibration disc is a very nice touch... I hope that extends to production and isn't just for the beta period. The reusable shopping back for protective material is also a nice departure from throw-away plastics.

Anyone know if the Anchor Bay processing extends to noise reduction (mosquito) for BD sources? Also, any word of plans to allow the USB ports to playback HD sources like h.264 encoded MKVs?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:51AM]

Ryan,Ryan,Ryan! Maybe, but thanks for waking up all of the lawyers. Is it quite possible you are the kind of person who has never been able to keep a secret? By the way, Universal implies multiple formats such as CD's, DVD's, BD's, SACD's, DVD-A's, MP3's, etc. Now, go and ducktape those little fingers of yours! (smile)

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:59AM]

SHopkins:

"Including an HDMI cable and BD calibration disc is a very nice touch... I hope that extends to production and isn't just for the beta period. The reusable shopping back for protective material is also a nice departure from throw-away plastics. "

All the Oppo players have included a 6' HDMI cable, so that you can plan on. As far as the disk, I have no idea, but I'd be surprised if it didn't go out in general release. The also have always used the nice bags for their players, although before it was just the right size for the player, not a full on grocery style bag like this one.

"Anyone know if the Anchor Bay processing extends to noise reduction (mosquito) for BD sources? Also, any word of plans to allow the USB ports to playback HD sources like h.264 encoded MKVs?"

The manual is on their website, and according to it yes the noise reduction works for all sources (with video). It defaults to basically being off, but you can turn it up if you want.

And the USB ports do support HD file playback. I'm not 100% sure on the formats, but I believe MKV h.264 is one of the supported formats. A bit of google searching, and the AVS Forum threads on the BDP-83 will answer that one for you though.

I ordered mine on Monday, as I got an invite to be one of the current 300 people given early access. I'm hoping it ships today, but they warned it may be on Monday that they ship out. They are upgrading the firmware in this batch before sending them out as there is a new firmware, which sounds like it may support DVD-Audio out of the box now.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 12:07PM]

Sadly enough, universal does indeed refer to the capability of the Blu-Ray player to play SACD, DVD-A, etc. in this case. I work a couple of blocks away from the Oppo offices in Mountain View, CA and dropped by their offices to pick up a DVD player a couple of months ago and ask this exact question to one of their guys there who told me that, indeed, this player would not be multiregion ....bummer.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 12:17PM]

A PDF of the manual would be handy.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 1:15AM]

So would pictures of this thing with it's top cover removed and the chips photographed in high detail. What kind of DAC is it using?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 1:33AM]

So would pictures of this thing with it's top cover removed and the chips photographed in high detail. What kind of DAC is it using?

http://www.oppodigital.com/Download/BDP83/BDP-83_English_Manual.pdf

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 12:35PM]

Can you maybe use a tripod or VR-lens to sharpen up some of these pics? I also appreciate a limited depth of field as much as anyone else, but not when you're blurring out 70% of the product we're interested in.

Thanks though for the number of shots you took. It was almost as good as being there, if only we could smell that new electronics smell.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 1:02PM]

Look, I know your busy blogging and what not. I'm also sure you have big plans this weekend. I'm willing to offer up my services and review this bad boys performance for you. My only request is that you never ask to get it back and we're golden.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 1:07PM]

Nice! And they finally redesigned their remote, woohoo, it looks much better than their older remotes.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 3:34PM]

What lousy pictures. All yellow. Good thing you don't work in Oppo's marketing department.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 10:52PM]

Not sure why the Denon was ever called the first universal player (nor why you may have heard of it first). The OPPO BDP-83 was announced earlier (back in early September) along with a photo.

I highly recommend everyone read this FAQ to answer any questions about the player: http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 20th 2009 11:38PM]

Yea, we don't really need 42 pictures of a BD player.. This is almost as bad as the Mac Pro unboxing, with 5 shots of the southbridge.. this one has 6 shots of the back panel alone, half of which are out of focus, and the others at annoying angles.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 12:22AM]

please take a photo class at your local community college.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 1:00AM]

That is the most annoying series of photos I have ever seen of an unboxing (which is lame to begin with). Most, if not all are out of focus, and out of order of unboxing.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 3:37AM]

The PS3 60gb/20gb were almost universal then? According to http://www.edepot.com/playstation3.html#PS3_Audio, the only thing lacking is DVD-Audio? Did I miss anything? Sadly, they removed SACD in the later models.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 10:34AM]

icanhazwhitebalance?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 11:18AM]

Thanks for the pictures. But using a cheap camera would have allowed for more depth of field!

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 1:30PM]

Here are some pics (external and internal) from the first EAP group...
http://vtbsd.net/bdp83/

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 5:12PM]

who took those pictures of the player? Bad skills man, you couldn't even take a full shot of the front of the player, just those crappy artsy pieces and corners of the player. Unbelievable.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 5:59PM]

so does this take 5 minutes to boot up like all others (except the ps3)?

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 21st 2009 11:34PM]

VERY similar loading speeds to the PS3. Some discs load a little faster, some slightly slower, mostly the same. By far the fastest standalone player on the market.

[(Unverified) Posted Mar 22nd 2009 1:43AM]

Oppo BDP-83 FAQ

http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html