Oppo wins! The BDP-83 just got delivered.

Ok not a fair race since the projector isn’t even shipping in the U.S and the screen is shipped freight. Didn’t expect it this fast so I hadn’t put any Blu-rays in my Netflix queue so now I’m going to have to go out and by one on the way to work.

Any suggestions for a first Blu-ray disk?

Really depends on your taste, but have a look at this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1168342

Pick something you like from the "Tier 0", those are all sure to impress.

While the story might not do much for you, I always find Apocalypto (sp?) to be a wonderful 2hr demo. The colors from the rain forest and paints used are vibrant and intense, and the sound is great fun for surround as the chase goes around the room.

And, of course, THE blu-ray = Dark Night. Filmed in Imax, your projector will present a better picture than any 35mm theater as they had to use scaled down prints. 1080p allowed the full Imax image for the BR. Crank it up, but watch out for the test fire scene, as the .50 cal damn near did in my entire system.

The Dark Knight, wasn't completely filmed in IMAX, only select scenes. And those are presented in 1.78:1 (IMAX screens are very close to square, so even 16:9 is a cropped frame) while the rest of the film is 2.40:1. So the black bars appear and disappear, sometimes very briefly. I found this to be distracting. Also the 35mm footage has edge enhancement applied so there are some halos or rings around areas of medium-high contrast.

The audio is absolutely suburb.

The picture issues, while minor, keep this disc from being rated as a Tier 0 title though.

Hooked it up to make sure it worked. Took less than 5 minutes and 8 button pushes from opening the box to playing an included demo disk. First impression is WOW! I’m sure they selected and mastered the demo to show off the audio but geez it sounded good. I only wish they had put a soprano on the demo.

Tossed in a sampling of all the disk types I have and it played them all flawlessly. No time to do any A/B comparisons with my Oppo 981 HD but first impression is same PQ on standard DVD but slightly better audio quality. Have to do some comparison when I get back.

Thanks for the feedback on the Blu-rays I’ll pick up a couple on the way to work and sit there wishing I already had the projector and screen.

Cheers,
Dean

I heard that a lot, but the switching never bothered me. I was too fixed on the visual impact of the Imax scenes. I never noticed the halos, but I have not done a critical viewing in some time. I may go back and look for that.

If you recall, Dean and I are freaks who can't not see our own legs when watching a movie.

Don't go back and look, and just forgot I said anything. Ignorance is bliss. That said, since I do a lot of photo processing, and part of the process is to apply a little sharpening to attempt to provide the illusion of recovering the detail lost of the low-pass, anti-aliasing filter in front of the camera's optical sensor. I know very well what an over-sharp picture looks like, and see it all too often in films. It was one thing to sharpen DVDs, but with Blu-ray so much actual detail can be retained, artificial enhancements actually obscure the real information.

Oh, the 70th Anniversary Edition of The Wizard of Oz. I figured I wouldn't watch that film again until I had my own children. But reading about all the technical work done on the restoration made me have to buy it. Not disappointed at all. It actually has more detail than some of the recent (lower budget) movies I've seen.

It's too late for first but I vote for Baraka for your viewing pleasure any time.

I will no doubt rent it but the aspect ratio changes would drive me up the wall. The last thing I want in a movie is to be reminded I’m watching a movie.

Thanks Joe, I just put Baraka in my Netflix queue it looks interesting.

Baraka is quite captivating in standard DVD format. This will be one of my first views when I finally upgrade to bluray.