First Impressions and Reviews of the Oppo BDP83 Blu Ray Player

ashishkesarwani

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2009
Messages
1,341
Points
83
Location
New Delhi
It came in a well packed box with all the cables like HDMI, Power and Audio video cable and the player was well wrapped in a black colour cloth bag with ample padding on the sides to protect it from any damage during transit.

The first impression after looking at the player is that it looks solid on all corners and the quality is well built. The front facia is brushed aluminium and look great and gives the feeling of a much more expensive kit.

The player was tested for Blu Ray playback with the disks like The Dark Knight and Quantum Of Solace.
For Super Audio Cds I tested the player with the Dark Side of the Moon and Brothers in Arms.
For DVD Audio I tested the player with Yash Raj titles of Jhoom Barabar Jhoom, and Ta Ra Rum Pum.
For SD Dvd I checked the player with Journey To the Center of the Earth and Casino Royale.

In all the above cases the player was made to bitstream the contents in the raw format for the AVR 905 to decode.

While playing the BDs the first thing which I noticed is the fast loading time which is comparative to Ps3, and since this is the first time I heard the Hd Audio decoded by the amp left a very good impression of the player and the amp with me. Earlier while using the Ps3 I could only decode the HD audio into itself and then send it as LPCM to the amp which sometimes sounded shrill at higher volumes, but Oppo made a very good impression on this front. While playing the Dark Knight BD on the scene where Batman saves Havey Dent from the Joker the dynamic affects of the scene is very demanding and this was well potrayed by Oppo and Nr905. The Picture performance of the player was also spot on thanks to Anchor Bay Upscaling Chip there was no Picture noise.

Then I played the SACD of The Dark side of the moon the sound was WOW and this was unheard till now from Ps3 which could not bitstream the contents and Oppo did so the amp was doing the decoding here and the sound was truly flowing well from all the 5.1 channels and the experience was truly facinating.Same kind of impression was also felt while playing the DVD Audio disks.

While playing the DVD I had this problem when player showed me that the disk was out of its region, so I took the playerr out of my cabinet and this was the most difficult and scary part of this whole installation in which I had to open the top cover of the player and fit the Hard Mod Kit onto it, but the instructions were well detailed and this also went without any glitches and then I connected the player back in my setup and this time the same disk of Casino Royale played without any glitches, and in this department too the Oppo Excelled and the Picture and sound was spot on with next to nil picture noise. The Black levels were excellent and there was no sign of any jitter.

So the overall impression of this player is that its a value for money product and would easily become the center of all your disk related needs. Its a well made kit with all the bells and wishes needed from a high end player.

2.jpg

7.jpg

11.jpg

photo1.jpg

13.jpg
 
hey Ashish - did you get to try the USB with ext hdd ? How is the music quality for analog out?

No I haven't tried any of these yet, as I got a little carried away with the Hdmi alone but I will definately check them out and post my feedback.
 
nice write-up on first impressions. Do test with USB (probably using HDD)...wanted to know how much time it takes to actually play a movie from USB HDD once you select play.
 
Finally I managed to check the oppo with the external Hdd of 80gb in the USB casing, this Hdd was not detected in PS3 and for that I opened a thread but Oppo detected it without any problems and the explorer menu on the screen for the same was very easy to navigate.I played few MP3s transfer with 320kbps and oppo played them very well indeed the SQ was excellent for MP3, then I tested few video files and to my surprise the loading time was fast and the picture quality was amazing. I also managed to check the player with the analogue stereo output connected to the Cd input of my amp, while playing the CDs I switched between the digital and analogue output of the player and this time too oppo excelled in this department of Digital to Analogue conversion the sound was detailed and well laid out and the difference which I noticed that the Analogue output was a bit louder and dynamic. This result concluded that Oppo is a true Universal player and has carried forward it's reputation of producing Great kits in budget prices. Oppo could easily fulfill all your disk related needs in style. The performance of the Cd playback was on the league of any Budget Cd players avaliable in the price range of 30k. This is a great value for money kit indeed and us audio and video philes have finally found an answer in Oppo for all our Media related needs.
 
Last edited:
is this hdd usb powered or external powered?


Finally I managed to check the oppo with the external Hdd of 80gb in the USB casing, this Hdd was not detected in PS3 and for that I opened a thread but Oppo detected it without any problems and the explorer menu on the screen for the same was very easy to navigate.I played few MP3s transfer with 320kbps and oppo played them very well indeed the SQ was excellent for MP3, then I tested few video files and to my surprise the loading time was fast and the picture quality was amazing. I also managed to check the player with the analogue stereo output connected to the Cd input of my amp, while playing the CDs I switched between the digital and analogue output of the player and this time too oppo excelled in this department of Digital to Analogue conversion the sound was detailed and well laid out and the difference which I noticed that the Analogue output was a bit louder and dynamic. This result concluded that Oppo is a true Universal player and has carried forward it's reputation of producing Great kits in budget prices. Oppo could easily fulfill all your disk related needs in style. The performance of the Cd playback was on the league of any Budget Cd players avaliable in the price range of 30k. This is a great value for money kit indeed and us audio and video philes have finally found an answer in Oppo for all our Media related needs.
 
Congrats for your Purchase...
How is it handling .MKV and HD AVI files from External HDD?
Got any chance to check them???

Regards
Satya.
 
Congrats for your Purchase...
How is it handling .MKV and HD AVI files from External HDD?
Got any chance to check them???

Regards
Satya.

I don't have mkv format files with me so I haven't checked it but if anyone in Delhi and around wants to check the same then he is more than welcome.
 
Hello Ashish,
congrats for your new oppo. I want to ask you is it possible to play blu ray purchased in india without the hardware mod. Do the blu rays in india comes as region free or ther are strictly region coded. I belive in this particular model if I play blu ray discs purchased from amazon US there shouldn't be any issue. I salute your courage to open up a new oppo player and putting the hardware mod straight away.
thanks.
 
Hello Ashish,
I want to ask you is it possible to play blu ray purchased in india without the hardware mod. Do the blu rays in india comes as region free or ther are strictly region coded. I belive in this particular model if I play blu ray discs purchased from amazon US there shouldn't be any issue. I salute your courage to open up a new oppo player and putting the hardware mod straight away.
thanks.
The BDs from Excel are region locked to C so unless and until u mod the player it won't play them. Purchases from US Amazon would be fine and they would work well with this player without any modification. In my installation modding was the most difficult task and I knew pros and cons of both but still I was prepared to take the risk, opening the top cover is the most difficult task as the same is locked from the front panel so I had to raise it to 45 degrees first from the back and then I had to pull it hard from the panel which also had the risk of breaking the front panel but it went well and rest of the stuff is very easy and anybody with the knowledge of computer hardware would be able to do it easily.
 
Wharfedale Linton Heritage Speakers in Red Mahogany finish at a Special Offer Price. BUY now before the price increase.
Back
Top