Just curious if anyone else was going to chime in with their thoughts on the BDP-83, I figured Mike with all his gadgets could give us one of the best comparisons.
Have had the BDP-83 for a couple of weeks. It is connected via HDMI through my Denon 3808 to a 5.1 setup (M22s, VP150, QS4s) and a Pio 141fd.
Calibrated my 141fd to my previous player, a Panny BD30, and found the BDP-83 to be equally neutral for video. Only very minor changes to my existing ISF settings were required. Am now seeing a very slight improvement for BD video, and a dramatic improvement for DVD upscaling.
Since I am only using it as a bitstream transport for SACD, DVD-A and BD audio, I cannot comment on its analog sections.
Only current issue I have is with SACD/DSD processing, and I think it may be an HDMI handshaking issue. If I set the BDP-83 to bitstream DSD, the Denon sees DSD, but jumps into stereo (or in my case, Dolby PLII) mode. The BDP-83 clearly shows the 5.0 layer selected. Fiddle around long enough, switching modes, switching inputs, etc., and the Denon eventually switches into multi-channel mode. Turn on the next day, try again, and I'm back to stereo.
For now, have changed the BDP-83 setting to convert DSD to mch PCM before bitstreaming, and all works well. Sounds great with excellent bass management. May even sound a little better than having the Denon do the DSD-to-PCM conversion (which I would have done anyway, since the Denon needs PCM to apply Audyssey processing).
So far, I really like this player. Easy to install. No major gripes. Solid transport. Plays every piece of media I own. Am hoping this will be the last transport I ever have to buy......yeah right.
Hook
