Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player Review

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Art Feierman

Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player Highlights

Features Anchor Bay Technologies Video Reference Series (VRS) technology for the best picture quality
HDMI v1.3 compliant with 30-bit and 36-bit Deep Color support
Supports BD “Profile 1.1” (for picture-in-picture and secondary audio) and “Profile 2.0” (for BD-Live)
Plays almost every disk and video format (see specs below)
Has true 1080p, 24 Hz video output for both BDs and upscaled DVDs
Supports multiple levels of aspect ratio control and image zooming, including a vertical stretch mode for a 2.35:1 CIH (Constant Image Height) display system
Decodes Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio for output over HDMI or analog audio outputs
Dual USB ports (front and back panels) for playback of high definition video or photos from USB thumb drives
Optional RS-232 control
Spears and Munsil High-Definition Benchmark Blu-ray Disk included with player

Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player - Overview

While not a household name, Oppo Digital has made a name for themselves among both videophiles and audiophiles for their DVD players, which have combined top performance with great value. When I reviewed their last DVD player, the since discontinued DV-983H, I remarked that they had pushed the DVD format to its limits, as the 983H made a DVD look at good as it possibly could. So, the next logical step was to turn their attention to the Blu-ray format and the result is the new BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray player.

Oppo never rushes a product to market and the BDP-83 has been no exception. In an unprecedented move, Oppo had two prereleases of the BDP-83 in what they called their “Early Adoption Program”. In the first release, fifty customers (chosen at random from a list of interested customers) were given the opportunity to purchase the BDP-83 and report their experiences with the player (comments are posted on Oppo's website). This led to a number of firmware upgrades being issued (as with previous Oppo products the firmware is user-upgradeable) to improve performance. The first 50 were also asked to vote on whether the player was ready for a greater release. A supermajority of 70% or greater yes votes would lead to a second pre-release. This led to a second pre-release of 300 BDP-83s, whose owners would vote again for the general release. After some more feedback and a firmware upgrade or two, the BDP-83 was recently released for sale to the general public with an MSRP of $499 (plus $89 for the RS-232 control option).

I received the BDP-83 for review about the same time as the first group of early adopters got theirs, so it’s been interesting to watch the progression of the BDP-83 as various bugs have been identified and solved. The result is a world-class universal Blu-ray player with performance that is second to none. The implementation of Anchor Bay’s VRS video technology combined with flawless Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD audio decoding results in a gorgeous picture and all-enveloping sound. SACD and DVD Audio sound quality is equally impressive. While $499 may seem high when there are Blu-ray players out there for as little as $200, rest assured that no player in the BDP-83’s price range matches its combination of performance and features. Read on to find out more about this great new Blu-ray player.