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

I am going to jump on the Blu Ray Wagon - probably on Friday. I started out thinking I was going to get the Oppo - but have read several reviews on the LG BD390. After skimming 126 pages over on AVS, I posted a question and we shall see what type response comes in. I figure I can get the LG at about half or less the Oppo. I don't know if Oppo discounts on Black Friday or not.

Any thoughts on the LG?

Well......I have not agonized over the Blu Ray decision as much as I did the Axiom decision - but I have read as many reviews on the Oppo and LG as I can find. Spent waaayy too much time on the respective AVS threads. Does anyone here have the Oppo? That is my current leaning. There are not many negative comments/posts on the Oppo and most, if not all of the reviews are raves.

Cam? Cam? Wake-up, someone wants to talk to you about your BD player!

Wheelz has the Oppo?!?

It is very slow here at work today......

I'm pretty sure. I think Ajax too...

Have you read over this thread:
http://www.axiomaudio.com/boards/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=280127

It's basically just me saying why I wouldn't buy an Oppo. A little counter-point to the endless glowing reviews which is seems to receive. But it comes down to: the Oppo isn't perfect, the PS3 Slim isn't either, but it's closer, and costs $200 less.

Yes, I have been closely reading that thread and, let me say I am glad to have a tech savy person like you offering the counter points. I read each of your posts carefully. There are 2 or 3 points that have me leaning towards the Oppo - first and foremost is the upscaling of standard DVD's. I am not sure how much better "better" is - and no good way to compare since you can't see an Oppo anywhere. But it gives me pause. Second, I like the idea of good customer service that they are known for. Third.....and I saw that you have a girlfriend that isn't that big on your system..... buying another gaming system (I have the 360) is a much tougher sale than a plain Blu Ray.

I am hiding my "man card" in advance cuz I know somebody on here will demand revocation.

Don't worry about the revocation of your "man card" because you're not getting a second gaming console... you might have to give up your "teen card" though...

Also, don't forget that the Oppo makes a much better conversation piece. "I have a Oppo at home!" "Is it house trained?" "I have a OPPO, not a HIPPO!". Try to do the same with a PS3...

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.

I'm seriously considering getting a DVDO Edge scaler. It has the same chip as as in the BDP-83, but with all the features enabled. My Pioneer DVD player can output 480i over HDMI (most players are limited to 480p, thus already applying deinterlacing less than perfectly), so that'll be an ideal base for scaling.

My display can only do dot-by-dot pixel perfect with no overscan at 1080i/p. Some games, bonus content on BDs, and the Netflix streaming disc for the PS3 get output at less than 1080, so having something which can scale any video source would be great. Plus it'll give me more than the 3 HDMI inputs which my receiver is limited to.

I am sure you mentioned it earlier but what features did Oppo not enable on this chip?

I am this close to purchasing the Oppo to go with the new TV....

I never did list them, nor have I seen an exhaustive list, but it is acknowledged that Anchor Bay Tech does make more use of the chip than any of their licensees. I can see right off that the EVDO Edge has mosquito noise reduction in addition to the frame noise reduction of the Oppo. The Edge has much greater control over the scaling ratios, allowing custom fits to your screen. Also it has an under-scan control for use with sets which have no mode which disables overscan. Though Oppo does look to have gotten just about everything else turned on. Of course it does what it's intended to do, allow you to plug any source (DVD player, cable/satellite box, VCR, video game systems, etc.) and get the same excellent scaling.