Oppo BDP-83 has arrived in my house.

[Anonymous]

Sorreltiger:
I don't know if it's your thing, Will, but the remastered Genesis albums (SACD and DV-A in the package) are stunning. 'Trick of the Tail' is the best IMO, but it's now the hardest to obtain. This seems to be about the only place it's still available at the original price:

http://www.dvd4music.com/onlineshop/details/gensacd1015-7.html

Sounds very interesting but be very careful with that website. They've had a massive stack of complaints. Taking peoples money for products they say are in stock when they're not. It's a bit of a place to avoid.

But thanks for the album suggestions. I grew up on Genesis so although I love it, I'm a bit Phil and Mike'd out. I almost change the radio channel the moment Phil's voice comes on. It's like the reaction teenagers have to drinking too much cider. Even the thought of it! LOL.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Will Harris:My first SACDs have arrived and I've just played the whole of Dire Straights - Brother in Arms in multichannel. Oh my word. Wow. What a sonic experience. This beats CD hands down. If you all don't have crack at SACD you'll never know what you're missing. Wow!! I'm in love with this player. Why oh why don't we have more multichannel music? Now we have BluRay, we have the perfect opportunity music industry! Let's hope they're listening.

Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon' is absolutely awesome in 5 channel SACD

 

[Anonymous]

aliEnRIK:
Will Harris:My first SACDs have arrived and I've just played the whole of Dire Straights - Brother in Arms in multichannel. Oh my word. Wow. What a sonic experience. This beats CD hands down. If you all don't have crack at SACD you'll never know what you're missing. Wow!! I'm in love with this player. Why oh why don't we have more multichannel music? Now we have BluRay, we have the perfect opportunity music industry! Let's hope they're listening.

Pink Floyds 'Dark Side Of The Moon' is absolutely awesome in 5 channel SACD

It's on order, really looking forward to it arriving sometime this week! Good call AlienRik!

 

[pete321]

Don't necessarily want more multi-channel music unless it's live or classical, just more mainstream high quality stereo SACD releases. I've always found most multi-channel music to be a bit gimmicky, I just want the higher quality stereo recordings. Anyway, you usually get both on most SACD's, so let's just have more of 'em. Somehow I don't think we will since they've been arround for quite a few years and haven't really caught on.

 

[hammill]

Will Harris:My first SACDs have arrived and I've just played the whole of Dire Straights - Brother in Arms in multichannel. Oh my word. Wow. What a sonic experience. This beats CD hands down. If you all don't have crack at SACD you'll never know what you're missing. Wow!! I'm in love with this player. Why oh why don't we have more multichannel music? Now we have BluRay, we have the perfect opportunity music industry! Let's hope they're listening.I

I am with you Will. Although I only have a few multichannel releases, they are all vastly superior to the stereo original.

To add to the other recommendations, I can particularly recommend the 1970-75 Genesis boxed set. Brain Salad Surgery is also very good.

 

[Anonymous]

hammill:
Will Harris:My first SACDs have arrived and I've just played the whole of Dire Straights - Brother in Arms in multichannel. Oh my word. Wow. What a sonic experience. This beats CD hands down. If you all don't have crack at SACD you'll never know what you're missing. Wow!! I'm in love with this player. Why oh why don't we have more multichannel music? Now we have BluRay, we have the perfect opportunity music industry! Let's hope they're listening.I

I am with you Will. Although I only have a few multichannel releases, they are all vastly superior to the stereo original.

To add to the other recommendations, I can particularly recommend the 1970-75 Genesis boxed set. Brain Salad Surgery is also very good.

Never heard of Brain Salad Surgery. Will have to look into it!

I'm multichannel all the way. It's the extra dimension that's just utterly missing in stereo music no matter what the resolution. Does require a very good amp and surrounds to ensure the right stuff is steered well.

 

[Anonymous]

I too had a Denon 2500T and although I thought the performance was good I couldn't live with the fan noise. It was definitely a more capable player than my Panasonic BD30 on DVD (only marginally better on Blu ray).

I am thinking of getting the Oppo 83 and am fairly confident that it will outperform the 2500T. I won't be able to do a side by side comparison but as long as the Oppo beats my BD30 on Blu ray and breathes new life into my DVDs I will be happy.

A greater consideration will be the versatility of the player. I only buy region 2 and zone B discs but may venture into US titles with the multi region/zone Oppo.

DVD-A and SACD appeal to me because if live Blu ray recordings are anything to go by (Diana Krall, Jeff Beck, John Mayer, etc.) 5 channel listening should be a good experience.

I currently use a Marantz CD6000KI CD player and MYRYAD 2080 stereo amp with NEAT motive 2 speakers for CD listening. I have over the years tried to change my CD player and found that I really liked the sound of NAIM. Even at £1500 though, on side by side comparisons, there was always elements of the sound that I preferred on the Marantz and so was never able to justify the upgrade. The same with the amp.

My Blu rays are played through my BD30 into a Denon 2808 amp and KEF 3005se speakers. I enjoy Blu ray discs of live performances in multi channel but the sound quality doesn't approach that of my stereo although ambience and atmosphere is obviously improved.

I would never consider playing a CD on my BD30 as the sound is awful. Before investing in any SACDs or DVD-As do people think that I will get good results with my system and the Oppo? I obviously wouldn't consider buying a SACD or DVD-A player but as the Oppo does it anyhow.........

 

[Anonymous]

I listen to SACDs now but over HDMI to my amp. You can connect multichannel analogues into the amp and they're pretty jolly good. I'd buy it again in a flash and enjoy multichannel audio, speedy operation and region free playback!

 

[Anonymous]

I've had my region free BDP-83 for a little over 2 weeks now and I've come to the conclusion that it's the best AV hardware purchase I've ever made. I just can't get over how great this player is; the picture and sound are first rate, the speed of operation is astonishing, it's very quiet and it'll play just about anything. What more could you possibly want?

 

[Anonymous]

was interesting reading your thread cooney. i also have the 2808 with m1s and the bd30. and my next purchase is either the denon 2500bt or wait for the oppo. is the 2500 really that similar to the bd30 with picture quality and sound?

 

[Clare Newsome]

brett morris:was interesting reading your thread cooney. i also have the 2808 with m1s and the bd30. and my next purchase is either the denon 2500bt or wait for the oppo. is the 2500 really that similar to the bd30 with picture quality and sound?

Certainly not in our testing...

The size and quality of display could come into play here, obviously

 

[Anonymous]

brett morris:was interesting reading your thread cooney. i also have the 2808 with m1s and the bd30. and my next purchase is either the denon 2500bt or wait for the oppo. is the 2500 really that similar to the bd30 with picture quality and sound?

The 2500T was definitely better than the BD30 on DVD but on Blu ray it was closer. Put it this way, it was a good enough improvement for me to warrant keeping the 2500T if it wasn't for that fan noise. The situation now is that for £600 you can get the OPPO which will perform at least as well as the 2500T but is much faster, has DVD-A and SACD capability as well as sound processing and analogue audio outs if that appeals. The OPPO is a much more rounded product with far superior value to the 2500T. To me it is a no brainer.

Clare has also responded and points out that the What hifi tests show a greater difference between the 2500T and BD30. I am not disputing this. Mine are real world tests with my Pioneer LX5090 screen, theirs are possibly carried out with a different screen(s) and or projector(s). Unfortunately the What hifi team do not publish technical details of their testing, don't 'calibrate' the screens to a standard disc (DVE for example) nor do they publish graphs of the product's performance. What hifi team - please correct me if I am mistaken on any point.

Therefore their findings should be considered subjective as are mine. I am not suggesting that their years of experience do not offer them any advantages over myself, far from it. The bottom line is 'judge for yourself'.

My personal recommendation would be for you to explore the possibilities of the OPPO before going ahead with the 2500T and then buy whichever suits your personal needs best.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Cooney:
The bottom line is 'judge for yourself'.

My personal recommendation would be for you to explore the possibilities of the OPPO before going ahead with the 2500T and then buy whichever suits your personal needs best.

Which is - and always would be - our mantra, too.

And incidentally, we do calibrate every screen- firstly using THX Optimiser, then range of tools from discs like DVE to Spyder - not finishing until our THX and ISF-trained team feel a set has reached its optimum performance.

We're looking forward to getting the Oppo in, when there are recognised levels of availability!

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:Cooney:
The bottom line is 'judge for yourself'.

My personal recommendation would be for you to explore the possibilities of the OPPO before going ahead with the 2500T and then buy whichever suits your personal needs best.

Which is - and always would be - our mantra, too.

And incidentally, we do calibrate every screen- firstly using THX Optimiser, then range of tools from discs like DVE to Spyder - not finishing until our THX and ISF-trained team feel a set has reached its optimum performance.

We're looking forward to getting the Oppo in, when there are recognised levels of availability!

Hi Clare, thank you for clarifying the situation regarding pre-test calibration. I look forward to the OPPO review when it's available.

 

[cwalduck]

OK so the oppo is excellent just one bug found so far, anyone else set their display to 1:1 pixel mapping and noticed pal DVD's are shifted to the right?

 

[Anonymous]

Other forums have noted this in many posts and it is apparently going to recieve a fix via firmware. Only happens on PAL DVDs for some reason.

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:
our THX and ISF-trained team feel a set has reached its optimum performance.

Clare

Quick question are the ISF-trained team you mention above officially accredited and recognised as such by the Imaging Science Foundation ? The reason I ask is ISF provide a register of individuals and companies that are formally ISF trained and pass the appropriate examinations to use the ISF status. It maybe that the team you mention are listed as individuals but it would be good if you could clarify if the team members are formally accredited or not.
http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm
Dasp

 

[jase fox]

das:Clare Newsome:
our THX and ISF-trained team feel a set has reached its optimum performance.

Clare

Quick question are the ISF-trained team you mention above officially accredited and recognised as such by the Image Science Foundation ? The reason I ask is ISF provide a register of individuals and companies that are formally ISF trained and pass the appropriate examinations to use the ISF status. It maybe that the team you mention are listed as indivduals but it would be good if you could clarify if the team members are formally accredited or not.
http://www.imagingscience.com/isf-trained.cfm
Dasp

Clare's just said that there ISF trained? Did you miss that bit Das? Or are you looking to have a pop?

 

[Anonymous]

jase fox:Clare's just said that there ISF trained? Did you miss that bit Das? Or are you looking to have a pop?

No I didn't miss that hence the question and no I'm not having a pop. I just can't see any reference to WhatHiFi? on the Imaging Sceince Foundation database hence the civil question. Thus I was just asking is the ISF-trained team accredited as such or does it mean they attended a seminar or similar but are not officially accredited as ISF trained ?

Dasp

 

[Andrew Everard]

As Clare said, they're ISF-trained.

 

[Clare Newsome]

Yep - just a couple of weeks ago, two more staff each completed an intensive, official ISF course, which cost not far off £1000. I can show you the ISF invoice if you insist

And our latest certified THX Professionial has written about his recent certification experience here

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:
Yep - just a couple of weeks ago, two more staff each completed an intensive, official ISF course, which cost not far off £1000. I can show you the ISF invoice if you insist

And our latest certified THX Professionial has written about his recent certification experience here

Thanks for the clarification look forward to them appearing on the ISF accreditation database. As another posted mentioned it would be great if you could include key calibration and measurement data in product reviews when appropriate.

Dasp

 

[Clare Newsome]

Will Harris:Other forums have noted this in many posts and it is apparently going to recieve a fix via firmware. Only happens on PAL DVDs for some reason.

So the modified US Oppo doesn't play UK DVDs properly? Another reason to wait for an official release!

We'll see what we can find out re that firmware fix, as well as update on European model.

 

[Anonymous]

Clare Newsome:
So the modified US Oppo doesn't play UK DVDs properly? Another reason to wait for an official release!

We'll see what we can find out re that firmware fix, as well as update on European model.

It does in source direct mode.

The PAL issue is well documented (pointed in another 83 thread on this forum http://community.whathifi.com/forums/post/274285.aspx) and manifests as a slight shift/cropping in the active image when non source direct output resolution are selected and the display is set to 1:1 pixel mapping. If the display overscans the image then the user will not see the PAL issue.

The US model officially supports PAL and Oppo US has confirmed the issue will be fixed via FW update.

Dasp

 

[D.J.KRIME]

Clare Newsome:

Yep - just a couple of weeks ago, two more staff each completed an intensive, official ISF course, which cost not far off £1000. I can show you the ISF invoice if you insist

And our latest certified THX Professionial has written about his recent certification experience here

Out of interest Clare, how many sets get near to a perfect D65 grey scale in calibration? and also which software do your ISF traind team use?

I ask this as I have managed to get my Samsung PS-50P96FD within 3DE accross the 0-100IRE scale using colorHCFR (software that comes with the spyder is pants!) but on trying to calibrate a friends Sony LCD could not get anywhere near achieveing a nera perfect greyscale.

Also in your oppionion what level of BD player is suitible for my screen? Am currently using PS3 for BD and Denon DVD3930(multiregion) for DVD so want a unit to replace both with analog out as my old Yamaha is non-hdmi.