Ron,
Pioneer makes great BD players. This set will bitstream both the codecs. I believe it might not do internal decoding of DTSHDMA but it will bitstream and your 875 will have no problems with it. It also will be a very decent 2 channel stereo player since I believe it uses Wolfson DACs...When you get it I will come over for calibration session again!

Also does very very good upconversion for DVDs. Decent pricing as well for a Pioneer product. Let me know we can go check out when I am back, will bring some of my test discs.

There are people in LYN that rent Blu Ray and at decent prices. Look up toratora for an example....

Not in Pg now, will call u when back...so u got the demo model....

Woah....bad news man. Anyway, back in Pg now. Will see if we can fix this issue by changing some settings on the BD player, it could be a zoom issue, ie, on the player zoom not set for Full/Dot by Dot and you could be seeing something weird.

BTW, let me know if ur HM already cool down, else, I will kena....

Worst to worst, we shd be able to find a buyer, its a good set.

Ok, maybe later in the afternoon.

My review of the Oppo BD-83

Blu Ray playback:
Very very good set. PQ very slightly better than the PS3 on a 720p set. Grayscale calibration very good. Brightness and contrast not changed by the Oppo. Colour decoding accurate. Does not damage shadow details. Slightly sharper image, no edge enhancement or halos detected. AQ bitstream definately sounds better compared to internal decoding of lossless by PS3. Tested difficult discs like Madagascar and the dynamic range is definately better on the Oppo bitstream to the Onkyo 876 compared to internal decoding and MPCM from the PS3 to the Onkyo 876. One very important thing is that the zoom features are fabulous. There is an underscan options which is great for displays that have undefeatable overscan like my set (typically for non full HD displays). So I get the 2.5% of the screen that I was never able to watch! I will add that I believe the PQ differences will be more if viewed on a larger screen and I will verify this in 2-3 weeks.
Verdict : Touch and Go compared to PS3 for PQ (very similar) but AQ definate improvement

DVD Playback:
Better in this regard compared to a PS3. Less artifacting but sharpness needs to be reduced slightly. Some EE seen. Colour reproduction very accurate since the set converts the NTSC colour space to HD colour space accurately. Ability to extract 24p from a well mastered DVD is very good but not perfect as yet. Might need another firmware update for that. Cadence detection very good. VRS chip is very capable. When extracting 24p from NTSC slightly better than the softer extraction performed by the Kuro.
Verdict : Better than PS3 and DV600 for both PQ and AQ

CD Playback:
Ok this was a tough one. I compared this vs my Holfi Xara that has been upgraded. While the CD playback was good, it was not as good as my Holfi. The noise levels using the dedicated analog stereo outs were higher and the sound was brighter. Mid bass was louder. Overall, my Holfi had better definiation and separation that led to a better sound to my ears. But comparing the CD performance to the DV-600 and the PS3, Oppo was way better. One thing to note, if using HDMI the noise levels are low but I prefered not to try this since I would have to send the signal thru 2 amps, once thru the Onkyo and the other tthru my integrated amp. However, the sound quality was much closer to my Xara. I believe this might be due to the fact that I engaged Audyssey for this.
Verdict : Holfi Xara better than Oppo BD83 for analogues

SACD Playback:
This was clear. Going head on head to a Pioneer DV-600 with upgraded firmware, the Oppo was head and shoulders better when doing the internal decoding and sending a DSD to the Onkyo. Better details, separation, overall sound defination. This was done thru a HDMI connection. Did not try SACD over analogue connections
Verdict : Oppo clear winner

HDCD Playback:
Yeah right, Oppo decodes HDCD. I only have one CD that is capable of HDCD. The CD sounded so much better than the standard CD player. Again over HDMI.
Verdict : Oppo but nothing to compare with

DVD-Audio:
Unfortunately, I do not have any titles to test as yet

Region Free Mod:
I only tested the firmware hack. I have the hardware mod but I have not put it in yet. Will update when I complete
However, it works. At it is a good price if you purchase it thru SLT Technologies and I believe it will work fine.

Overall :
Oppo is a great universal player that plays all the formats that are out there and the price is very very reasonable. I bought mine direct from US but the hardware mod was thru the company down south.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Jul 5 2009, 11:05 AM

terranova,

PQ improvements are there compared to a PS3 but it is not night and day. I noticed the same thing when I went over to ronnt's house. It seems sharper and 3D image seems more so but it is not say comparing an upscaled movie to a BD. I believe it might be more apparent to those who have larger displays. Anyway, will update you when my display comes in and I can compare on a larger screen.

PS3 is a pretty good machine, the only disadvantage to me is the fact that it is really noisy. The Oppo is silent, really silent. Also with the Oppo I get to play SACDs (my PS3 cannot do that, and even compared by people who have SACD compatible PS3, the sound quality is better from the Oppo), HDCD and a very good upscaling DVD player.

On another note, sorry, I did not read this before doing the hardware hack. It took me 20mins and I was very nervous as if something were to go wrong, there is no way out since I did not buy the player from SLT.

Thank god, all went well. Also verified that upgrading the firmware does not effect the hardware hack.

The hardware mod is a single cable with a PCB. The only tricky thing is that the 2 ends of the ribbon cable are ribbons. So slotting it into the connector was making me nervous of either causing ESD damage or damaging the pins.

But it went smoothly and all is well. It is pretty easy actually. Anyone who plays around in the computer changing components can do it easily.

PM me and I will send the procedure with pictures and you can see how easy it is. Also PM me if you want the price of the mod.

Actually the guys are SLT are great. I would recommend gettting a modded player from them direct, since warranty is from them.

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Added on July 6, 2009, 10:05 pmI guess so too. However, I know of at least 2 BD players that mess even a 1080p/24fps signal pretty badly. So, even though it seems like a trivial thing, some companies screw it up.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Jul 6 2009, 10:05 PM

I believe SGD899 for player only, SGD20 for the Spears and Muntsil Benchmark Disc and possibly additional SGD150 for the mod installed with warranty. If you pick it up from them, then no additional shipping costs. Pls PM me for the email add for anyone interested.

Edit: Pls check the pricing from them, I am only quoting what I know, it might be wrong.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Jul 7 2009, 09:21 AM

Shd be only Region A. You can make it region free buy buying the aftermarket mod chip, but it requires soldering and there would be no warranty.

Actually the Momitsu is also a hardware mod. It also requires a code press on the remotes. Momitsu does not have a region free, a 3rd party company does the mod and sells it.

Actually this is one of the reason why I decided to do the hardware mod instead of the firmware patch. The problem is that the BD software (Java) is really evolving and not settled down yet. As such, the studios are still experimenting and that causes a lot of newer titles requiring firmware to play them. If it so happens, that in one of the firmware updates, the patch cannot be applied then it cannot be region free anymore.

The risk is still there with the hardware mod, but less so.

That works....

Thats good to know. There were complaints in the us forums of the lack of firmware updates for the Dune.

Also the fact the patch works after numerous updates is very positive.

For the Oppo, the firmware is actually hacked. So whenever a new firmware is out, someone needs to hack it to re-enable the region free option.

So for me, the hardware mod was a simpler approach.

ar188,

I believe there is a reason why the price is higher. Attached are 2 online reviews from respected sites. I know you normally don't rate reviews too highly. My own experience suggests that it is at least on par with the Pioneer Elite series and priced lower due to its additional features. Anyway, for me it is a decent set.

Home Theater Mag

Secrets of Home Theater Benchmark

For those who do not need the additional features, I believe the Panny BD60 is sufficient.

Pls get in touch with SLT Technologies in Spore. Email address sales@slttech.com.sg

They can give you the pricing. Yes they sell the region free and the region locked version.

Give SLT Tech some time to get back to you. Or call them at (65)90666088, ask for Sean.

What Dirtrun means, is there is another forum called xtremeplace. The carry out Mass Orders from time to time for Oppo products. You can take part in that Mass Order. Do a google search for Oppo and xtremeplace.

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Added on July 14, 2009, 8:24 amThe only problem with this is that it is not region free. You would need to buy the aftermarket mod and risk no warranty if anything goes wrong. This is the risk I took.

With SLT, they add the mod and provide warranty.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Jul 14 2009, 08:25 AM

There are no big name BD players (Panny, Pioneer, Sony) that are region free. There are after market mods to make it region free. BD60 has an after market mod, but it requires soldering. The Pio players also have after market mods. There are companies who sell the player modded and provide warranty. I think there is one in Australia. Google blu ray mods and you can check out their distributors.

Dune is region free when a patch is applied.

Don't think so. BD55 has analogue outs and is invaluable for these with older non HDMI receivers. BD55 was replaced by BD80 that is not even available in Malaysia now. So I believe ur BD55 is still worth quite a bit.

mpyw,
Good explanation. It is catered for different markets.
Do you know what chipset the Dune uses?
I am actually interested to see how well it calibrates. Next time I am around in your area....

ar188,
Oppo comes with firmware hack and hardware mod.

This is my honest opinion. Most BD players output 1080/24fps very well and do not mess them up. Unless you really look for differences most people will not be able to see too much differences. Some BD players add sharpening, some change the colour slightly and some do other things. For most of them, I really think the Panny BD60 is more than enough.

The Oppo is only for people looking for a player to play DVD/BD/DVD-A/SACD/HDCD and who own a large collection of R1/R2 DVDs and do not want to upgrade all of the to BD. Else, the BD-60 does the BD playback very very well. Oppo also has some very good Zoom features that people who use projectors will be very happy with. For the videophile, it has a host of calibration options that are typically finer that most displays. The benefit is that the Oppo CS is very responsive and work very hard to fix issues that may come up in the next year due to BD-Java maturing.

Most of the differences are only seen by people who nitpick and have large displays (ie, >60in and projectors).

So if you do not need all this, save your money and get a very good BD60!

Now the Dune is another thing, it's function as a media player is unsurpassed, it actually plays BD.iso. It's got me thinking of getting one just for this.

Just found out that Dune uses the Sigma Designs SOC chipset. This is something that I need to verify when I am at mpyw house the next time. The Sigma Designs chipset has a bug when it does colour space conversion. It effects some colours where the luminance is increased and on some colours the luminance is decreased. WDTV has this issue as well. I think it will effect the DVD iso and BD iso and hopefully it does not effect the actual BDs. Then again, knowing where the Dune is made, maybe they fixed it with a firmware fix. These guys are pretty good with software.

My problem with the Sigma chipset is the fact that it has colour space conversion problems. Apparently, it converts to RGB adn then reconverts to YCbCr before outputing the signal. This conversion is done wrongly. The green is off by almost 20% and is clipped. It also messes the rest of the colours. Its worse if the video is not flagged appropriately for HD709 colour space. I have seen this problem while calibrating a WDTV which uses the Sigma chipset. Will check out the Dune when I get the chance to visit mpyw.

The good news is it is something that can be corrected by a firmware update but has not yet been corrected.

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Added on July 15, 2009, 3:14 pmI think for the features it is worth it. I also see that HDI has now started issuing firmware updates very promptly. This is a good sign that they will support this player extensively.

This post has been edited by anfieldude: Jul 15 2009, 04:02 PM