OPPO BDP-83 Multi Region Code Free DVD Blu Ray Player

Backlit Remote Control and Universal Power Supply
With clear labeling and an ergonomic layout, the included remote makes playback of all your audio and video discs easy. And because the remote control has a back light, you'll have no problems when using it in your dark home theater.

Oppo built the BDP-83 from the ground up. It features a completely new video decoder from Mediatek, which also provides the bulk of the decoding chips for Oppo’s DVD players. Oppo also includes the newest video processing chip solution from Anchor Bay Technologies (ABT), which is best known for its DVDO line of video processors. The BDP-83 uses the same video processing solution that’s in DVDO’s Edge processor ($700). The player features full Bonus View PiP capability and BD-Live connectivity, and it even includes the required minimum 1 gigabyte of memory on board.

Once you open the box, you’ll find that the player is packed very nicely and wrapped in a fabric bag that you can reuse for shopping.  This is the type of packaging that high-end boutique brands use, and it makes a very nice first impression. The player is black, made from machined parts, and has a hefty feel. It definitely lacks the cheap plastic look that’s typical of this price point; it looks and feels like a high-end product.

The elegant front panel’s large tray and display are flanked by a USB port (capped off when not in use) and controls for playback and basic operation. Its simple touch interface features a ring and center button that you can use to navigate the player’s menus and give basic commands. You can dim or completely disable the front display, which is a feature that I wish more manufacturers offered. If you turn the display off, it will turn on when it receives a command and then promptly shut off again. Perfect.

The fully featured back panel includes a nice host of video and audio connections. For audio, Oppo includes two sets of analog audio options: a full 7.1-channel output and a dedicated two-channel output. It has both TosLink optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, and of course an HDMI 1.3 output along with component and composite video outputs. The player does not have an S-video connection.

The BDP-83 has a universal power supply, making it compatible with the AC power of every region, so you won't have to worry about damaging your player with incorrect voltage. 100-240V 50/60Hz AUTO SWITCHING.

For Internet connection, Oppo offers a standard Ethernet connection. Unfortunately, the BDP-83 doesn’t have built-in Wi-Fi, which is a feature that Blu-ray players sorely lack. However, Oppo does offer a wireless system that you can purchase separately for $80. It’s preconfigured for the player and creates a wireless bridge with your home router if you’d rather forgo the hard-wired Ethernet route. While it isn’t the ideal solution, it’s nice to know that Oppo has a wireless option.

The included remote provides a full complement of interface controls and quite an assortment of direct controls for various player features. The remote is on the large side for a player, and it’s completely backlit. I liked the remote’s layout and didn’t find any deficiencies in the control options. However, the buttons are a tad spongy and lack the tactile response I like.

Without a doubt, one of this player’s biggest highlights is its video processing solution. Oppo made one of the best DVD players I’ve ever tested, the DV-983H. Since that player also featured ABT processing, I was eager to see what kind of performance Oppo would deliver here. The BDP-83 supports several playback resolutions via the HDMI output, including 480i/576i, 480p/576p, 720p, 756p, 1080i, and 1080p. It also provides 1080p/24 playback of both Blu-ray and DVD. For the international film lover, the BDP-83 does 50-hertz playback of DVDs and Blu-ray and offers frame-rate conversion for displays that don’t support PAL refresh rates. This means you can either play back titles that are encoded as 1080i/50 at 1080p/50 (for displays that support it) or have the player deinterlace and frame-convert them to 1080p/60. The BDP-83 supports 1080p/24 output for both Blu-ray Discs and DVDs. Just make sure your display supports the resolutions you decide on, and let the Oppo do the rest. This is GREAT because this OPPO is Region Code Free for both the DVD and Blu Ray.

Oppo gives you the option to use a preset output resolution or set the player to Source Direct mode. Source Direct bypasses all of the player’s video processing. Since the player offers exceptional video processing, I don’t see any reason to use the Source Direct mode. However, it’s nice that Oppo offers this option if you still want to use an outboard video processor or use the processing in a downstream component like an AVR, surround processor, or HDTV. In the latter cases, the Source Direct mode will still utilize the ABT chip’s color space conversion, and you can select from RGB or Y/Cb/Cr options of 4:2:2 and 4:4:4. Since all Blu-ray Discs are encoded as Y/Cb/Cr 4:2:0, this conversion has to be done, and the ABT chip does it correctly.

Switching the output resolution on the Oppo is easy; the player lets you do it on the fly. All other BD players I know of, apart from Pioneer’s, make you stop the disc and go to the setup menu to make an output resolution change.

The BDP-83 also offers a host of video processing features that let you tailor the image to your taste. I’m not a big fan of video enhancements, but I realize that we all have our own tastes and not all source material is created equal. Oppo offers the full complement of picture adjustments, such as contrast, brightness, and color. It also provides some tweaker-friendly adjustments like Y/C delay and border levels. You can also engage ABT’s noise reduction, which helps with material that shows slight digital noise.

The BDP-83 supports HDMI’s Deep Color specification, but there’s currently no native Deep Color program material on the market to take full advantage of it. All of today’s consumer sources, either SD or HD, are limited to 8 bits per color (times three colors, for a total of 24 bits of data per pixel). Thanks to the ABT chipset, the Oppo lets you select an 8-, 10-, or 12-bit output (per color) through the HDMI Deep Color menu—even for today’s sources. The extra bits are essentially upconverted. They do not provide true Deep Color, which would require material with a higher native bit rate. But if your display also supports 10- or 12-bit Deep Color operation, the upconversion can provide extra precision for display enhancements and color space conversion. This avoids potential rounding errors in the video signal path that can occur during the conversion back to 8-bit depth.

Another perk that Blu-ray players haven’t supported before is a zoom mode and scaling for a constant-height or anamorphic projector setup. The BDP-83 does the vertical squeezing to properly display via a projector with an anamorphic lens, which eliminates the need for a video processor for the scaling. I don’t have an anamorphic setup myself, so I was unable to test this feature.

Over the last year, there’s been a big change in the Blu-ray player market. It wasn’t very long ago that there was a big disparity in Blu-ray hardware profiles. Some players offered BD-Live, and some only offered basic playback and possibly Bonus View compatibility. The more recent crop of players seem to have this locked down. Now the market is differentiating itself with expanded playback capabilities like YouTube and Netflix streaming, along with a host of other Internet streaming capabilities. But one area that hasn’t gotten any real attention is the universal player market.

In the latter days of DVD playback, shortly before the dawn of HD players, universal players that could also play back multichannel music via SACD and DVD-Audio in addition to DVDs and CDs were all the rage. Those who got a taste of high-resolution multichannel music usually became hooked, despite dwindling software support for those formats. While neither format expanded beyond a niche of dedicated enthusiasts, new SACD offerings still hit the market regularly, although they’re typically from smaller classical and jazz labels.

The BDP-83 offers full playback of both of these high-resolution music formats, including native DSD output via HDMI. The Oppo is one of a very few players that can output SACD as a native DSD data stream (DSD is the digital encoding format that SACD uses), and only a few surround processors and A/V receivers can accept it in that form. The Oppo can also convert the DSD stream to a linear PCM output, which most up-to-date surround processors and AVRs can handle. You can adjust the maximum PCM sampling rate to ensure that the digital output is compatible with the rest of your A/V chain. The BDP-83 can also convert the native DSD or converted PCM version to analog and route it to its 7.1-channel outputs.

Those analog outputs have full bass management and time alignment. The distances are set in pairs, so odd configurations (for example, mains that are different distances from the sweet spot) may be an issue. The BDP-83’s Small speaker setting uses a fixed crossover of 80 Hz. Unfortunately, there’s no test tone for level calibrations, so if you plan to use the analog outputs, make sure you have a disc with test tones.

Oppo is also working on Dolby Pro Logic II processing, a feature that’s normally reserved for AVRs and audio processors. This will be a nice perk if you don’t have this feature in your receiver and want to derive 5.1 sound from a stereo source

On the Blu-ray front, the BDP-83 features the full gamut of advanced audio processing and includes full 7.1-channel analog outputs. It provides internal decoding for all the Dolby and DTS offerings, including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio. You can pass these soundtracks in bitstream form to your receiver or processor and decode them there, or the player can decode them and provide a multichannel PCM output. With onboard decoding to PCM, the BDP-83 allows for audio mixing that lets you listen to the PiP commentaries and additional sounds on Blu-ray Discs that need to be mixed in with the main soundtrack. If you select bitstream, you can’t take advantage of these features unless you change the player’s audio setup in the menus.

If you’ve used other Blu-ray players, the first thing you’ll notice about the BDP-83 is its speed. This is one of the biggest gripes about standalone players. It seems like the more expensive a player is, the slower it is. Not so with the Oppo. The BDP-83 turns on immediately, and its tray response is excellent. Load times are faster than all other BD Players and even faster than famous PlayStation 3, which has been the speed king from the beginning. This is the level of performance we should see from players across the board. Gone is the frustration with initial loading and Java-intensive titles and features. What takes some players well over a minute typically takes seconds on the Oppo. Even the hardest disc takes less than half the time of some more expensive platforms Iwe have seen.

Operation is smooth across most formats. I’ve had the chance to use the player for quite some time, and I haven’t come across a hitch with a Blu-ray title at all. However, some SACDs and CDs had a brief dropout on occasion. At press time, Oppo had just recently offered the BDP-83 for sale to the general public after extensive beta testing and its “early adoption” market trial program. Oppo is committed to timely firmware updates to address any little bugs that might pop up.