Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Another Blu Ray thread

Wellll....there is that - among the meduimly affluent it does have a certain snob appeal.

I don't think one can underestimate the unprecedented after market service that Oppo provides. I was an early adopter of the BDP83 and contrary to the "mainstream" manufacturers who no sooner do they introduce a product, are they thinking of the next generation product to sell, only a few months later. Oppo took their time in bringing the product to market doing a significant number of Beta tests and once introduced have done a number of firmware updates to handle any oddball things that are thrown at it. It will continue to do that during the life of the product thus increasing its longevity.

Regardless of personal opinions, I can't recall in recent history, along with the unprecedented amount of press, the consistent positive reviews of a product that this player has received.

As far as quality of video processing, it is interesting to note that Denon, in some of its newer AVR lines, has introduced the ABT VRS processing, similar to what is in the BDP83.

Why not bridge the gap? Aren't there $250 players that are 95% as good as the OPPO for a lot less, that aren't a PS3? Panasonic BD65, or Samsung something perhaps?

But the esoteric draw of owning an Oppo will always be there

You are right about the price differences, no question. Although I was on the pre/pre! list for the BDP83, I honestly thought I was never going to buy one so a friend of mine recommended the Panasonic that was arriving at the time which I did end up buying, the Panasonic BD55 (which I still own). It was the predecessor to the current BD80.

As I mentioned, it has been the superior after market service that always sold me on the Oppo product but the other features ie. SACD/DVD Audio which I definitely use. How much "real" difference is there in video performance between the two? Very little, however, given the feature set of the Oppo, there is only one other player that is similar. The Denon for $4500!! so I guess why would someone buy that player if they could get the Oppo with similar features for a fraction of the price? It is the old story of perspective AND perception. That is the fun of this hobby.

I will admit the BD-55 is not a great upconverter. No matter to me, I just use my Toshiba A1, which is great. The 55 is great for BD discs however, as it should be.

Casey,
I figure that the BD performance is fairly similar - can you comment on the difference between the Panny and the Oppo in regards to upconverting a regular DVD? Mr. Potatoe has expressed his view on the Panny - just looking for as many opinions as possible.

I haven't seen Weelz on here for several days. I am bumping this in hopes that he shows up soon and can give his impression of the Oppo. I did not buy on Friday - apparently Oppo does not discount.

Thats not surprising. Its one heck of a good price for what you get already.

I ordered the Oppo BDP-83 Sunday 12/06 and received it on Wednesday 12/9. Easy to set up - Blu Ray is excellent, but where I think it really shines is the upconversion. Been watching some of my old DVDs and the quality is significantly better.