Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Oppo Blu-Ray now has subtitle shift

LOL

Since this is a beta firmware should I proceed with caution? Are these features being tested out by users and then going to be added to official firmware updates when the bugs are worked out?

- Nick

Plenty of people are running the beta firmwares, mostly because of the compatibility issues with new BDs. I still follow the 83 thread on AVS (even though I don't plan to buy the player now). I've never seen any problem reported with someone upgrading to a beta release. The only case I saw trouble was someone trying to downgrade to a much older release which bricked his player, and it has to be sent to Oppo for repair (the issue was Oppo changed something in the newer revisions of the player, all firmware releases since that change were compatible, but the old one he tried didn't know how to deal with the difference).

But yeah, that's correct. The subtitle moving feature isn't completely bug-free yet, but seems to work in most cases. So it isn't in the official release, but will end up there once they feel it is working properly. There's also a problem with the current beta, and people who have modded their players for HD-SDI output. Oppo is aware of the problem and trying to fix it. Now, that's actually really impressive, they're trying to see if they can make a third-party modification (that basically illegal, because it bypasses the HDCP) continue to work with new firmwares.

Chris, I'm curious to know which direction you are heading if the 83 isn't the player for you.

I'm going to just stick with my 60GB PS3 + DV-79AVi combination which covers all the formats which the Oppo can play (plus some it can't, like wave files).

I'll just wait to see what Oppo does next. They're off to a good start, but "good" isn't enough for the cost of the player.

My official list of dislikes (in the order which I remember them):
1. Doesn't play .wav files on removable media (which is the format of all my ripped music, and it just silly to not support).
2. The general recommendation is to turn off BD-Live because of compatibility issues.
3. The general recommendation to to turn off secondary audio because of sound quality issues. (Sorry if I get a BD 2.0 player, I want to make use of the BD 2.0 features.)
4. Doesn't play many new releases on the day they come out; requiring a firmware update. (I've never had a BD that the PS3 has not played perfectly.)
5. Doesn't take into account the HDMI handshake delay, and cuts off the beginning of the first track of CDs and SACDs.
6. Having to pay for fancy analog circuits which I'll never use.

So what I have now, provides me with what I really need, and while a single player would be nice, Oppo's first go has enough little niggles which would have enough impact on my ability to enjoy the player, for the price which they are asking.

They're planning a new BDP-80 for release in the coming months. It's supposed to be cheaper than the 83. But it has yet to be announced where the price reduction is coming from. I'm hoping it deals with #6, but still keeps the SACD and DVD-A support. A slightly faster DSP would take care of #3. #2 and #4 will improve as the firmware matures, and more studios test their discs with Oppo's player before shipping (that's why the PS3 never has trouble, because no studio would ship a disc which doesn't play on it). #1 can be fixed in firmware, and having the balls to stand up to the copyright cops. Unfortunately all Oppo DVD players with HDMI have always suffered from #5, but enough people are complaining now (because nearly everyone is using HDMI) that they may finally deal with it.

Thanks for that, that was a great recap!

I enjoyed my PS3 for a long time before finally pulling the trigger on a used Oppo. The main feature it has that can't be touched at it's price point (That I'm aware of) is rs232. I hope when they come out with the 80 that it will still have the rs232 as optional on it.

I was thinking about an OPPO sometime in the (not too near nor distant) future but that review has reset my thinking back to probably never getting an OPPO.

I wouldn't say never. It's just usually a good idea to not buy the first iteration of anything.

Things Oppo did right:
1. If it's a 5" optical disc (and not HD-DVD) the Oppo BDP-83 plays it.
2. Put one of the best video processing chips available today (the DVDO Edge which is just a stand alone processor using the same chip costs $700) inside the player.
3. Included one of the best analog stages in any player under $2000 (if you're into that kind of thing)--and if you go with the SE it's one of the best analog stages, period.
4. Used a fast enough CPU that it's load times and BD-Java support made it one of the first players to give the PS3 some competition in that area.
5. Have customer support like Axiom owners have come to expect.

I can pretty much guarantee the next optical disc player I buy will be an Oppo. They build excellent products, and stand behind them. As I said, the 83 was a good first go; better than any other manufacturer managed to pull off (of course they had a couple years of studying before they tried), just not enough to satisfy my picky tastes. Although, I wish some of the reviews would call them on these short comings, Oppo is too much of a media darling.

I bought one just before Christmas and I am not trying to refute Chris's post. I will say that Quality is excellent. PQ - excellent. SQ - excellent. I do not care for any of the live stuff and do not have any SACDs. The posts of customer support sold me and at this point, I have no regrets.

Forgive me, but I am little perplexed as to what is referred to as the "price they are asking" for the Oppo BDP83 and it's possible shortcomings. I have the 79AVI and it is an excellent player for what it does but remember when it was first introduced(around 05-06) it cost close to a $1000 and THEN we add the cost of the PS3 to the mix. If we are to use cost as one of the comparisons, it is not even close! All my BD discs are NEW releases and NONE of the issues raised have ever occurred and that includes both SACD and DVD Audio discs AND CD's ALL of which I have had for a number of years so unless one owns and actually uses the player, perhaps early Beta tests aren't a particular measure of the player's current performance.

Aside from gaming, as a Blu-Ray player, Sony luckily hit it right with the PS3 because it didn't translate in to reliability in its subsequent stand alone players. I shied away from them because, to this day, I am reading all over the internet about intermittent HDMI handshake issues.

I would be curious to see if Pioneer, Sony and Denon with some of their "grossly overpriced" players even remotely provide the service and updates that Oppo has and will continue to provide their customers.

I am in the A/V consulting business and much of what this is about comes from my clients, not only me. When it comes to attention to detail and helping their customers, Oppo wins hands down every time.