Oppo BDP983 versus stand alone two player solution?

[davidandviv]

Hi

I'm looking at sorting a DVD player and a BD player and seriously thinking that the Oppo might be the way to go but wondering if it's overkill for what I want/need.

I'll be running whatever player/s I get through projector (Pana AE3000 with a 108" (16:9) screen) and initially the sound will be through a basic stereo (no HDMI) setup but when funds allow will go to a decent (I think) amp for 5.1.

I'm not too concerned about whether whatever it is plays CD's brilliantly as and pure music playing is likely to be very very very infrequent. However, ideally I'd like something that is (or can be) both multizone and multiregion.


From all the comments on here it sounds like the Oppo (at approx £600 for multi) sorts out the single player doing both BD and DVD well. The alternative is to look at a two player solution. Looking in that direction it looks like the Pana BD60 (at £200 give or take) would sort the BD side of things. Which leads me to question 1:

• Is there a upscaling DVD player which would be a good option to take care of the DVD side of things at under say £300?

Based on the cost of the Oppo it seems that if there was a stand alone DVD solution at less than £300 then I would save about £100 (but have extra cables and two boxes to deal with). Assuming the answer though is that there is a "recommended" DVD player, I then need to think is the saving worth it. So, questions 2, 3 and 4:

• Are there any views on how the BD capabilities of the Oppo compare to those of (say) the Pana BD60? (And regardless of what people say, I do quite like the ability of the Pana to access you-tube and stills for a bit of a giggle!!)

• How would the stand alone DVD player compare to the Oppo (particularly in the upscaling department)?

• Not having had a setup like this before - how much of a hassle is having two players versus the single player solution the Oppo offers?

Any thoughts/help very much appreciated!


Thanks

David

[kingfats]

Hi davidandviv.
Budget willing then i HIGHLY recommend the Oppo BDP-83 as one box solution for BD/DVD plus,it's not bad with CD either.
Fast loading,nice menu system which is a pleasure to use by the way,stack of features on the player and no doubt plenty more to come.
SD playback is superb and i find even better than my LX91 which is three times the price.Blu-ray PQ is of course right up there with any model i've seen so far to date.
Cheers.

EDIT: I forgot to add,with the 83 you actually feel like you have two seperate players so to speak as the DVD drive in the player works/responds in the same way as a quality standalone SD player would........it's quite a shock trust me AND a nice breath of fresh air into the Blu-ray market to be honest.
Fancy a read? more details here.

[Avi]

Originally Posted by davidandviv

[*]Are there any views on how the BD capabilities of the Oppo compare to those of (say) the Pana BD60? (And regardless of what people say, I do quite like the ability of the Pana to access you-tube and stills for a bit of a giggle!!)[/LIST]

• How would the stand alone DVD player compare to the Oppo (particularly in the upscaling department)?

• Not having had a setup like this before - how much of a hassle is having two players versus the single player solution the Oppo offers?

Any thoughts/help very much appreciated!

David

Hi

I'm a former BD60 and current Oppo 83 owner. Points I didn't like about the BD60 re Blu-ray.

- Operational speed - it's very slow compared to the Oppo
- Limited output control i.e. most things set via EDID with no manual control for colour space such as YCbCr 4:2:2 - Oppo offers many user options to achieve best output
- No source direct or SD interlaced output over HDMI - The Oppo has this covered

Apart from that the Blu-ray image is very good with the player forced to YCbCr 4:2:2 via EDID.

For my needs the Oppo is a much better one box solution.

AVI

[Rasczak]

Another vote for the Oppo BDP83 here rather than a two box solution. As others have commented Oppo have produced a product that is ahead of it's competitors. I would certainly argue that it is a product that you will not need to upgrade anytime soon - if you get one of the popular budget Blu-ray players now, the relative sluggishness may encourage you to upgrade again in short order.