HDTV and Home Theater Podcast - Podcast #463: Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Player

[arad]

Oppo has been around since 2004, about a year longer than the HT Guys. We’ve watched them go from a company that built high performance upconverting DVD players to one that builds high performance Blu-ray Players. Today we take a look at the latest in the Oppo lineage, the BDP-93. The player is all black with a brushed aluminum face. The fit and finish is first rate and looks great in our equipment stack. The BDP-93 has a MSRP of $499.99 and is available today.

Read Show Notes

[Rodolfo]

Although I agree with many of the positive comments about Blu-ray and DVD performance, I disagree with not mentioning many of the problems this player has with Netflix performance (and other issues) and reported by many pre-release owners (the player was available to selected customers for testing since Nov 18, 2010) and many post-release owners (available for public purchase on December 19, 2010).

I purchased the OPPO 93 the first day it was pre-released to evaluate the unit and hopefully keeping it, mainly based on the famous quality of their previous products, such as the 83 BD model, known for its excellent DVD upconversion.

The 93’s BD and DVD image quality is very good, but its Netflix SD streaming quality is probably the worst in the industry, judging by the unwatchable double images shifting over each other, especially in dark scenes, of most of Netflix SD content I tested (over 300 SD Netflix titles in 8 weeks), although some content shows less drastic results, the image problems are mostly across the board at that streaming resolution. HD streamed content has much better picture quality.

OPPO indicated that the problem is on their hi-end Marvell chip (HDMI 1 output, supposedly the best output) combined with the quality of streaming Netflix offers to this OPPO player. I assume OPPO is trying to be treated by Netflix as Sony or the other major companies regarding the streaming quality chosen by Netflix, but the final outcome is everyone’s guess.

When this problem will be solved? No one knows since it has been reported a few weeks ago. OPPO had made available a firmware upgrade to pre-released units just before the player was available to the public before Christmas to address other problems this player had, but not the streaming problem.

This link on the AVSForum (of almost 6000 posts and over 187 pages since the player was pre-released, in about 8 weeks) could highlight the hit and miss experiences.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1291855

I have not tested all of the features of this player yet but in all honesty in my case, other than the Netflix above and some audio problems I must say that I have fewer problems than what the AVS Forum thread shows.

OPPO declares that near future firmware upgrades would fix the problems eventually, this is a matter of how much one trusts vaporware after paying $499.

OPPO has risked deteriorating their hi-quality figure gained with the OPPO-83 (previous model) by releasing this player (obviously) before all the problems were addressed properly. If this player would perform as good as the 83, with dual HDMI, Streaming, etc. I would say the $499 price is justified. But in my opinion, it may not be worth $499 now if you are planning to stream a lot of SD from Netflix. OPPO is on the hands of Netflix on that area and there is no way to determine how long that waiting could be; OPPO is not as Sony regarding company power. If you are not in a hurry, I suggest to wait until the problems are solved, Netflix and otherwise.

The alternative OPPO suggests is for Netflix viewers to stream out of the HDMI 2 chip (not the Marvell), but the quality of the image is too dark for what I have tested so far, so I decided to go back to HDMI 1 and stream only HD, which is more acceptable.

I did not return the player a week ago because I trust OPPO would not disenfranchise the large fan community they have created with their previous players, and I hope they will eventually do the right thing with this player, but, if I have to do this as a customer looking for a high quality product that costs 2-3 times higher than competitor products (not as an early adopter of a pre-release player to review it and trust the unit would be so good to keep it at the end), I would have waited until the player proves to have matured enough.

All of my tests (with OPPO and Roku for streaming) were done with 130+ inches Stewart Firehawk CinemaScope screen, Panamorph 480 anamorphic lenses and lens sled for CinemaScope viewing, 1080p large-venue DLP projector with 2500 lumens/300W lamp, high quality HDMI cabling (about half grand, Golden Sound) going directly to the scaler/projector, streaming done over direct Ethernet wiring on a 100Mbps fiber optic service (FTTP).

An article about streaming on quality home-theaters and the journalism claims that streaming is replacing Blu-ray media is coming soon.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

[alkaloid]

Although I agree with many of the positive comments about Blu-ray and DVD performance, I disagree with not mentioning many of the problems this player has with Netflix performance (and other issues) and reported by many pre-release owners (the player was available to selected customers for testing since Nov 18, 2010) and many post-release owners (available for public purchase on December 19, 2010).

I purchased the OPPO 93 the first day it was pre-released to evaluate the unit and hopefully keeping it, mainly based on the famous quality of their previous products, such as the 83 BD model, known for its excellent DVD upconversion.

The 93’s BD and DVD image quality is very good, but its Netflix SD streaming quality is probably the worst in the industry, judging by the unwatchable double images shifting over each other, especially in dark scenes, of most of Netflix SD content I tested (over 300 SD Netflix titles in 8 weeks), although some content shows less drastic results, the image problems are mostly across the board at that streaming resolution. HD streamed content has much better picture quality.

OPPO indicated that the problem is on their hi-end Marvell chip (HDMI 1 output, supposedly the best output) combined with the quality of streaming Netflix offers to this OPPO player. I assume OPPO is trying to be treated by Netflix as Sony or the other major companies regarding the streaming quality chosen by Netflix, but the final outcome is everyone’s guess.

When this problem will be solved? No one knows since it has been reported a few weeks ago. OPPO had made available a firmware upgrade to pre-released units just before the player was available to the public before Christmas to address other problems this player had, but not the streaming problem.

This link on the AVSForum (of almost 6000 posts and over 187 pages since the player was pre-released, in about 8 weeks) could highlight the hit and miss experiences.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1291855

I have not tested all of the features of this player yet but in all honesty in my case, other than the Netflix above and some audio problems I must say that I have fewer problems than what the AVS Forum thread shows.

OPPO declares that near future firmware upgrades would fix the problems eventually, this is a matter of how much one trusts vaporware after paying $499.

OPPO has risked deteriorating their hi-quality figure gained with the OPPO-83 (previous model) by releasing this player (obviously) before all the problems were addressed properly. If this player would perform as good as the 83, with dual HDMI, Streaming, etc. I would say the $499 price is justified. But in my opinion, it may not be worth $499 now if you are planning to stream a lot of SD from Netflix. OPPO is on the hands of Netflix on that area and there is no way to determine how long that waiting could be; OPPO is not as Sony regarding company power. If you are not in a hurry, I suggest to wait until the problems are solved, Netflix and otherwise.

The alternative OPPO suggests is for Netflix viewers to stream out of the HDMI 2 chip (not the Marvell), but the quality of the image is too dark for what I have tested so far, so I decided to go back to HDMI 1 and stream only HD, which is more acceptable.

I did not return the player a week ago because I trust OPPO would not disenfranchise the large fan community they have created with their previous players, and I hope they will eventually do the right thing with this player, but, if I have to do this as a customer looking for a high quality product that costs 2-3 times higher than competitor products (not as an early adopter of a pre-release player to review it and trust the unit would be so good to keep it at the end), I would have waited until the player proves to have matured enough.

All of my tests (with OPPO and Roku for streaming) were done with 130+ inches Stewart Firehawk CinemaScope screen, Panamorph 480 anamorphic lenses and lens sled for CinemaScope viewing, 1080p large-venue DLP projector with 2500 lumens/300W lamp, high quality HDMI cabling (about half grand, Golden Sound) going directly to the scaler/projector, streaming done over direct Ethernet wiring on a 100Mbps fiber optic service (FTTP).

An article about streaming on quality home-theaters and the journalism claims that streaming is replacing Blu-ray media is coming soon.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

I just recently purchased a 3D plasma from Samsung that came with a bundled bluray player. I had the display calibrated after about 150 hours of gentle breakin after I did a calibration with the Spears and Munsil test disc. I watched alot of different content during the break in with the bundled player and it did not come close to the Oppo. The isf certified tech that worked on the 58inch plasma was Jim Doolittle. I was very lucky to have a tech with over 15 years experience to tweak my display and he highly recommended doing the calibration with the Oppo instead of the Samsung bluray player.
I have now been in heaven with what is an amazing picture, the difference in the 2 players is so easy to see using the test disc from Spears and Munsil. The packaging was bullet proof. The drive is smooth and extremely quiet, loads in seconds and remembers where I left off if I stop and continue the disc later even if I watch another one first. The best 3D
movie I saw yet was How to train your Dragon, but I saw it at the theater first. I watched it at home and was blown away of course the difference was High def shutter glasses versus passive at the theater . I calibrated the 3D input for contrast and black level with the glasses on using the Spears and Munsil disc because the glasses are tinted and there is a loss of light. The grey scale was already done by Jim so that was left alone. I would HIGHLY recomend the Oppo it Kicks Ass.

Truly,
Bob Bielski

[Rodolfo]

Bob,

I am glad you are happy with the BD and DVD image produced by the OPPO; I did not notice image aberrations when playing THAT content either.

However, have you tried to view SD content from Netflix? That was the basis of my post, and my recommendation was to those that want the player “primarily” for streaming SD from Netflix, and expect the good video processors of the famous brand to improve the typically overcompressed streamed image, which is not happening, partly by Netflix, partly by OPPO.

I suggest for you to view any episode of the seasons 1 and 2 of “24” (SD quality) using HDMI 1 and tell me if your player experiences overlapping/shifting of double images especially in dark scenes. Also, play the Worlds Greatest Dad HD movie and tell me if the vertical and horizontal judder on the image is acceptable to you as HD quality.

Regarding the calibration with Spears and Munsil test disc, have you tried the test of the last few cadences? The OPPO performs well on the basic calibrations but the last set of cadences is jumpier than I expect on a $499 player (there were also some posts on the AVSforum experiencing the same problem).

Again, my point is, those are issues that must be disclosed on a review as part of the test or as part of research.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra

[jlettie]

Hi
I may be interested in the Oppo BDP-93. I have never seen any live demonstration of Oppo products. I enjoy watching movies on DVD and listening to music on CDs. I know for music most forums recommend the Oppo BDP-95 because if it's DACs. I trying to find out if anyone has compared music played from the Oppo BDP-93 and 95. How much of a true difference was there in the quality of the sound? If music were played from the Oppo BDP-93 through it's 7.1 analog out,would the quality of the music improve VS being played from the HDMI1 out into the receiver? Thanks.....JOE

[Rodolfo]

Joe,

I have kept the OPPO 93 since the posts above, my multi-channel lossless out is via HDMI and I did not try multi-analog cables, nor I have the need to try that because I am satified with the sound quality using HDMI.

What I read so far is that the 95 has better sound quality than the 93, and it should, by design and price. However, even if you can pay for the 95 you should consider the quality of the rest of your system, including wires and own ears, to evaluate if the 95's quality would be high enough to provide obvious sound differences, and for the higher investment to justify the 95's ROI regarding quality, if you can hear it.

I suggest for you to visit the OPPO 95 and 93 threads of the AVSForum and do a search on your subject, you may find many that have compared the analog connections vs. HDMI and probably even compared the players, but again, the quality of the rest of the system could make one person appreciate the differences and justify the investment, and another person waste his/her money thinking the sound is better because is more expensive but not been able to actually hear the differences. The law of dimishing returns is also subjected to how good is the rest of your system.

Regarding using the analog outputs, in theory the sound quality would be the difference in the digital to analog conversion between the DAC on the OPPO using HDMI vs. the DACs on the receiver using analog connections, which I hope they are short in lenght.

Best Regards,

Rodolfo La Maestra