Oppo BDP-831?

[Clare Newsome]

But we do have a full First Test of the Sony player in our Awards issue. Among other new Blu-ray players tested....

Also, as mentioned (possibly elsewhere- i'm losing track on all the threads on this topic...), we'll be running a Group Test on BD players around this price in our next issue (we're starting work on it now), which will cover off yet more of the comparative reasoning and product detail.

 

[pete321]

Andrew Everard:

pete321:Can't wait to read your Sony BDP-S760 blog.

I haven't written one - as you may have seen, I've been a bit busy with other bloggage of late.

At least you'll be able to play Mrs E's Japanese blu-rays!

 

[Andrew Everard]

Indeed, not that we bought any this trip - as I noted in another blog, I found the choice and pricing of Blu-ray discs, both in Japan and Hong Kong, disappointing.

I feel a marathon online buying session in the offing, to spend some of the Blu-ray budget I'd set aside for the trip.

 

[pete321]

Clare Newsome: we'll be running a Group Test on BD players around this price in our next issue (we're starting work on it now), which will cover off yet more of the comparative reasoning and product detail.

I'm sorry Clare, but I'm losing a bit of faith in what WHF see and hear and rate with regard to BD players (Andrew's blog the exception). I know it's old in terms of blu-ray, but I compare my Oppo to the Denon DVD-2500BT it replaced which was the same price when I bought my Oppo. BD picture - there was nothing to tell between the 2 on my Pioneer, DVD - the Oppo is better at upscaling thanks to Anchor Bay. Not much else to compare as the Denon couldn't do anything else, but it's still got 5 stars against it.

I know the 831 has to be compared to it's competitors at time of release, but it does so much more than the Sony (wifi aside) including MKV playback which wasn't mentioned.

 

[Clare Newsome]

The Denon's star rating will be re-evaluated, obviously, in light of the Sony's arrival - that's the point of the test. The Sony's gonna shake a lot of things up, it's that aggressively priced/specfied....

You'll be also interested to read in our Awards issue, a review of the new Denon '2010 BD player (which essentially replaces the '2500BT), which we - like the Oppo - tested against the Sony as part of our Awards judging.

 

[AndrewH13]

Who at WHF actually decided the rating? Was it a committee decision, were either of our entertaining web duo involved or was Andrew's blog a separate concern?

 

[pete321]

Andrew Everard: Indeed, not that we bought any this trip - as I noted in another blog, I found the choice and pricing of Blu-ray discs, both in Japan and Hong Kong, disappointing.

I think I would have been tempted by some SACD's though, looking online they seem to have the lot over there! It's a shame for those of us who don't visit the postage put's the price up so much.

 

[Clare Newsome]

AndrewH13:Who at WHF actually decided the rating? Was it a committee decision, were either of our entertaining web duo involved or was Andrew's blog a separate concern?

It was - as all our reviews are - a group decision.

Andrew's blog isn't a comparative test between the Oppo and the Sony - it's an in-depth look of a (for now) unique player from a brand many readers wouldn't be familiar with; perfect territory for a longer look, especially with reference to the universal-player perspective.

As i've now said many times - and this is something the whole team agree on - if it's a universal player you're after at anywhere near this money, the Oppo is a must-see, as both the blog and review stress.

 

[Anonymous]

hammill:I think the problem is that the marking system is too broad brush and has insufficient detail. If you look at how Which reviews products, it breaks the review down into multiple sections with a mark for each. So you can choose from a number of highly rated products, with an emphasis on what is important to you. For example, the Sony appears to have good quality DACs, but this is not relevant if you intend to use the DACs on your home cinema amp as I do. The Oppo has very good convience factors (fast load, mutli disc memory, instant DVD play) which are important to me (the Sony may have this, but the review tells you nothing about this) so the marks here would be of interest to me, but not to others who are content to go down the off license whilst the disc loads.

I agree totally. Blu Ray discs on high-def digest are rated in terms of Picture quality, sound quality, extras,the movie itself and an overall rating. This allows us potential buyers/renters to decide upon the factors most important to us.

I personally would like to see categorised reviews on Blu Ray players. For example Blu Ray PQ in terms of sharpness, colour accuracy, movement handling etc. and then the same for DVD performance. Sound can similarly be broken down into key areas for analogue (if applicable) and Digital.

It would also be nice to see some technical data to support the observations.

Even if it is not possible for all reviews, it could be incorporsated into group tests.

There you go, just another opinion.

 

[Clare Newsome]

And all noted. It's worth mentioning that our Supertests rate products separately for, say, sound and vision performance, features etc. You get that if you buy the mag, but not (yet) online. Something we're working on...

 

[Anonymous]

Very pleased to see this review surface, though disheartened that the build-up to it has produced such rancorous feelings all round, which puts me off a little bit.

My question is for clarification: Am I right in thinking that the Oppo has earned 4 stars as a BD/DVD/CD deck then, discounting the SACD/DVDA aspects of it, or is it a 3 star BD/DVD/CD player, with a star extra for versatility?

Thanks very much.

 

[John Duncan]

Andrew Everard:Indeed, not that we bought any this trip

Although the Duty Frees are much appreciated, obv...

 

[Clare Newsome]

kaotician:

Very pleased to see this review surface,
though disheartened that the build-up to it has produced such rancorous
feelings all round, which puts me off a little bit.

My question
is for clarification: Am I right in thinking that the Oppo has earned 4
stars as a BD/DVD/CD deck then, discounting the SACD/DVDA aspects of
it, or is it a 3 star BD/DVD/CD player, with a star extra for
versatility?

Thanks very much.

It's not as simple as that. Let's put it another way: the Sony is a star better than the Oppo both because of superior BD/DVD/CD performance, but also because it's already on-sale for £100 less.

Obviously if it was being judged on purely universal-player terms, the Oppo would be the clear winner and the Sony a fail!

 

[John Duncan]

Will Harris:I'm at a loss as to what it needs to do to get 5 stars from the mag

"Picture can't be bettered"?

 

[Dazmb]

I think Will was always going to be seeing red if the Oppo did not get 5*'s. But then he hasn't seen the Sony perform and WHF have.

I have been looking at the Oppo closely (reading reviews etc), and it sounds a great player. But as someone whose BD player is going to have to replace an Arcam, if the Sony has better core BD/DVD/CD - (through analogue outs) quality than the Oppo then it would be the one I and most others I imagine would choose.

That's not too difficult to understand Will is it? After all I have only 2 hi-res audio discs to my name, so it's not my main concern.

If it were then obviously the Oppo comes to the front of the pack. Does it deserve 5*'s for that universal status. No, not if the test is not a test of Universal players. And it isn't. It can't muscle in at the top when it's @ £100 more than the Sony and it performs it's core functionality as a BD/DVD player worse.

Just my two pence worth.

 

[PJPro]

Clare Newsome:......
It's not as simple as that. Let's put it another way: the Sony is a star better than the Oppo both because of superior BD/DVD/CD performance, but also because it's already on-sale for £100 less.

Obviously if it was being judged on purely universal-player terms, the Oppo would be the clear winner and the Sony a fail!

Most people won't read the detailed reviews, they'll just see a four star product and buy something else.

 

[Dazmb]

Dazmb:I think Will was always going to be seeing red if the Oppo did not get 5*'s. But then he hasn't seen the Sony perform and WHF have.

I have been looking at the Oppo closely (reading reviews etc), and it sounds a great player. But as someone whose BD player is going to have to replace an Arcam, if the Sony has better core BD/DVD/CD - (through analogue outs) quality than the Oppo then it would be the one I and most others I imagine would choose.

That's not too difficult to understand Will is it? After all I have only 2 hi-res audio discs to my name, so it's not my main concern.

If it were then obviously the Oppo comes to the front of the pack. Does it deserve 5*'s for that universal status. No, not if the test is not a test of Universal players. And it isn't. It can't muscle in at the top when it's @ £100 more than the Sony and it performs it's core functionality as a BD/DVD player worse.

Just my two pence worth.

And just to add some evidence of ratings. My Arcam was awarded 4*'s by WHF, whilst the rival Marantz 7001 was given 5. The reason was the Marantz had better video quality and was £300 cheaper, and whilst the CD/audio playback was not as good as the Arcam's the video is surely the core functionalty these days (even in these two universal players). I still bought the Arcam - I just excepted the trade off which for me was acceptable, and understood the rating it received because of it.

Fast forward 2+ years and it's no different with the reasons given for the Oppo's rating.

 

[Clare Newsome]

PJPro:Clare Newsome:......
It's not as simple as that. Let's put it another way: the Sony is a star better than the Oppo both because of superior BD/DVD/CD performance, but also because it's already on-sale for £100 less.

Obviously if it was being judged on purely universal-player terms, the Oppo would be the clear winner and the Sony a fail!

Most people won't read the detailed reviews, they'll just see a four star product and buy something else.

With all due respect, that's not our fault (especially when we continue to stress the need for auditioning to find the perfect product for you)

 

[PJPro]

Clare Newsome:
With all due respect, that's not our fault (especially when we continue to stress the need for auditioning to find the perfect product for you)

Who said it was?

 

[Ravey Gravey Davy]

PJPro:Clare Newsome:......

It's not as simple as that. Let's put it another way: the Sony is a star better than the Oppo both because of superior BD/DVD/CD performance, but also because it's already on-sale for £100 less.

Obviously if it was being judged on purely universal-player terms, the Oppo would be the clear winner and the Sony a fail!

Most people won't read the detailed reviews, they'll just see a four star product and buy something else.

Personally,I think that statement is overgeneralised,and makes most WHF readers look like star muppets.

PJPro:Clare Newsome:

With all due respect, that's not our fault (especially when we continue to stress the need for auditioning to find the perfect product for you)

Who said it was?

Very much implied in the original statement.(hence the "with all due respect")

 

[staggerlee]

mmmmmm.......the point is that the category was for best blue ray player not for the best universal player.

 

[Anonymous]

so being wi-fi and 100 dollars less makes it a 5 star? They compare the oppo with a lot of the top blueray players out there that are in 4 figures and pretty much all of them say same its on par with them all.

EDITED BY MODS for House Ruleshttp://www.testseek.com/home_electr...0-p-660d995a-70fe-5b53-497d-ecafd92f7c6c.html

 

[staggerlee]

The Oppo fans appear to be like those Daily mail readers who want programmes banned even when they haven't seen them. So let me get this right, you haven't seen a Sony at work but feel that there is a conspiracy against the Oppo to get sony to win -as there is no way on earth anything could be better than the Oppo.

 

[Alec]

Ravey Gravey Davy:PJPro:Clare Newsome:......

It's not as simple as that. Let's put it another way: the Sony is a star better than the Oppo both because of superior BD/DVD/CD performance, but also because it's already on-sale for £100 less.

Obviously if it was being judged on purely universal-player terms, the Oppo would be the clear winner and the Sony a fail!

Most people won't read the detailed reviews, they'll just see a four star product and buy something else.

Personally,I think that statement is overgeneralised,and makes most WHF readers look like star muppets.

PJPro:Clare Newsome:

With all due respect, that's not our fault (especially when we continue to stress the need for auditioning to find the perfect product for you)

Who said it was?

Very much implied in the original statement.(hence the "with all due respect")

Nope. It wasnt implied. you and clare infered. And many will just look at the star ratings.

Moreover, it sometimes happens that when people do read the full text, they are a little confused at the star ratings, hence some people's appeals for more information to be given in reviews, with less items reviewed if necessary, but thats by the by.

 

[carter]

in my opinion i want the best bluray player in its class to be THE BEST BLURAY PLAYER i understand the oppo does a couple of other things like sacd but my main concern when reading a bluray player review is bluray pq, sound,bluray pacific functions,and price and it sounds like thats whats happend and i for one am happy with that

if this wasnt the case the ps3 would wipe the floor with every thing still (sacd,freeview,wireless,remoteplay,network,card readers,web brouser,bbci player,vidzone,download trailers,movies and i think it plays games to)but it only gets 4 stars now.reason being it has to be reviewd firstly on its bluray abilitys. with a note in its coments for section on what else it brings to the table

as for people buying 5 star products just because its on the box it is there own fault if thay dont read a review properly.if somone buys the sony for £400 instead of the oppo for £450 just because it had an extra star and a month later thay are out shoping for a sacd player whos fault is it.

as for me i will probably get the sony in about 6 months. i have about 100 blurays now and i suspect i should be able to get it for a good price as its been spotted for about £350 allready so if i can get it in 6 month for around the 300 mark i will be happy.as it does all a bluray player needs to do and pq sound and price all fits the bill.