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Killing BluRay, new Oppo BR 83

OK, I have been vocal on these forums with my opinion that BluRay is a short term media, and will not become the dominant media format. My reason:

1) There is not a mind blowing difference in BluRay quality
over the existing domintant format of DVD. That's not to say BluRay is not better, but it's not the difference between VHS and DVD, where you couldn't believe what you were seeing. Does it look and sound better, yes. Does it change your life, no. Especially with the quality of the upconverting DVD players available.

2) Given my first point, I don't think there is a big call to replace any purchased DVD's with BluRay. Any videophile who had a bunch of VHS tapes did that immeadiately with DVD, but why do it again? Basically the same disk, great sound, and small size, with excellent picture. I don't think that investment is going to be made again, and that means the market for BluRay discs is MUCH smaller for classic movies.

3) The advenet of internet based movie downloads is already available in HD. Granted, it's only 720 and no HD soundtracks, but does anyone believe that is not coming, and quickly. I love using my AppleTV to rent movies, never leave the house, and don't have to return. Honestly, I have bought a bunch of movies that way, since I have such a big network storage capacity. I think this will be the dominant AV format going forward, both movies and music. More high res video and music available faster. I believe that the rise in the market for outboard DAC's will become even greater, and they will have he ability to decode the new higher res music, and possible video soundtracks in surround. Output to analog preamps for Audiophile grade sound will become the norm for audiophiles, or hybrid HT/2 channel systems, as is becoming the norm.

I whole-heartedly believe this since recieving my new Oppo BluRay player. It is a great player, and it's the second BluRay I have had in my system so it just has re-inforced my previous hypothosis regarding the future of BluRay. Don't get me wrong, the player is STELLAR in every way. Considering the price, it's almost criminal especially on SACD and DVD-Audio (which I have not had any of the problems that the first firmware owners had). I have not gotten to use it as a CD transport yet, I am waiting on one of Paul G's (TubeAudioDesign) new DACs and the redbook CD sound on it's own was just OK.

That said, after watching several movies in both BluRay and DVD on the same player, the difference is just not that huge. It is better, but not enough to make me run out and buy any of those movies again on BluRay. It's the difference, to me, between the Magnepan 3.6 and 20.1. It's definitely better, but they are both excellent.

OK, those are my thoughts, FWIW.

I came to these conclusion
macdadtexas
ozzy's avatar
ozzy
7,239 posts
 
Short comparison: Comparing the new Oppo BD 83 to the Denon.
The Video is better with the Oppo which includes DVD's and of course Blu Ray.
The Movie Audio sound seems to be about the same.
SACD,DVD-A or regular CD's is much better on the Denon.
Post removed 
cytocycle
1,043 posts
 
First off I've been an early video adopter for SuperBeta,Laserdisc,DVD, HD-DVD, and now bluray... and it was always a requirement to upgrade because of my large displays from projectors.

I own an AppleTV also, a MacMini, and some high end PC's and the appletv's picture is subpar (pretty good for convenience versus quality) to a DVD played on my Theta Compli player when it's displayed 103" on the wall at 13' seating position. The HD versions from the Apple TV are more like DVD quality, and the soundtracks are good but still inferior. If I had a 52" tv then it might not be as big deal...

I just got my Oppo Blu-Ray Player yesterday and build quality is impressive and the lighted remote is the BOMB!!! Can't say how it looks yet because the input board on my Projector decided to stop working and here I thought it was my Sony PS3 which is actually fine... I hated the remote on the PS3 anyway for bluray.

I think Bluray will fail or not be successful as DVD was because people won't pay $25-50 for a movie that's really not that good.... and like people have mentioned I'm not that crazy about re-buying my collection for the 4th time... in each media... DVD is good enough with a killer scaler or an amazing upsampling player unless is a scifi action flick, then I want more. But I have bought about 30 bluray's to replace my DVD's for the extra quality and resolution. Plus even with $200 Bluray players it's the media that drives the demand and people are quite happy with DVD quality or DirectTV video quality. The only real demand for HD and what drove it faster into the mainstream was SPORTS!!! I'm not a huge football fan but WOW those camera's are amazing....

I agree that AppleTV or some sort of Hulu will be the way of the future, I stopped buying DVD's at around 500 because I'm sick of trying to store them... Some of the HD-DVD's and Bluray's sound superior to the DVD counterparts on my Theta Casablanca III, but then again you couldn't hear much of a difference on my buddies high end Denon Receiver... so it all depends on context.

Plus as we watch blockbuster's physical stores shut down, and people's demand for the $1 rentals in store, or the On-Demand Cable, AppleTV, and Sat at $2.99-5.99 a movie from the convenience of your couch. the physical media will start to be reduced in consumption.

I'm also worried the music industry is going down the same path where you sign up for a music service that lets you listen but not own low end quality rips... there are some high end downloads coming out but only NIN provides true high resolution recordings (bluray or HD-DVD, or FLAC) for mainstream music (other than classical recordings)... This trend of subpar music is distrubing, then again a top40 artists recording is so compressed I wouldn't want to hear it at a higher resolution.."How about we fix the mastering problems...." to give us dynamics no everything always loud...
dcrugby
96 posts
 
interesting post, cytocycle.

ironically, i think it's technology that is hurting the quality of music recordings, as most people only listen to music on-the-go in compressed formats these days. unfortunately, even many of my favorite current bands' recordings sound pretty bad on my main system, while they sound "fine" on my mp3 player. i would have thought that you'd want to make the best recording possible and then just convert it as you need to, but it doesn't seem like that always happens.

same thing with some tv, i can't figure out why some shows still seem to be recorded in lowres, it makes no sense. for god sakes, man, think of future bluray sales if nothing else!

let us know how the oppo looks when you get a chance to check it out.
kenk168
175 posts
 
Ozzy,

Thanks for the quick comparo between the Oppo BD 83 and your Denon. Curious how much break-in time you've given the Oppo. If you can do an update once properly broken-in, it would really be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Kenobi
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