Oppo BDP-83 Universal Blu-ray Player Review

[PearlcorderS701]

Figured I would add to this thread, instead of starting another one regarding my satisfaction disappointments with the BDP-83...

I've had this player since the holidays, and I'm kind of disappointed by its DVD upscaling abilities -- I'm not saying this player is bad in any way in terms of its upconversion, but this is a company that is consistently overhyped regarding its standard DVD upconversion prowess injected into their players usually courtesy of the Anchor Bay processor. I say "overhyped" because everyone I came in contact with on the online forum community recommended this player as the one and only to have if DVD upconversion in a BD player was a priority (which it was, for me). Add the reputation Oppo has garnered over the years regarding their DVD players into the mix, and the temptation of buying the BDP-83 was simply too great to pass up. I actually received the player as a holiday gift last year, and immediately replaced my Panasonic DMP-BD10A player in the rack with the Oppo.

Now, DVD upconversion was horribly poor on the Panny, so almost anything should have looked better -- upon hooking up the BDP-83 via HDMI only and calibrating my display for use with a new player, the DVD upconversion was marginally improved, basically getting rid of the jaggies and pixelation "noise" caused by the Panasonic's processor. However, the more time I spend with the BDP-83, running DVD after DVD through its upscaling paces on the player, the more I find it a simply "average at best" DVD deck; just the other night, I popped in the Platinum Edition of Scarface with the remastered audio (and supposedly video as well) and the image didn't look all that great -- the sequences which were littered with video noise and grain were still there on the Oppo, and it just didn't knock me off the couch. Granted, this is an old film and an old transfer, but it's not just that title that doesn't move me on the BDP-83 based on its reputation.

I completely understand that the concensus has been that the Oppo was designed to take source material of DVD quality and upconvert it to the best possible image -- in other words, a shitty DVD transfer will simply continue to look like a shitty DVD transfer. Good transfers are said to look almost like Blu-ray in image upscaled by the BDP-83, and I agree with that to a point -- Universal's Fast and the Furious (the original) looks absolutely jaw dropping in certain scenes on the Oppo as upscaled to 1080p. BUT, to be honest, the disc NEVER looked BAD on any other player I ran it through...so what's so special about what the Oppo is doing? Follow my logic here? Other newer titles such as The Proposal and Training Day (DVD) look great on the '83 upscaled to 1080p, but, again, they are great transfers to begin with. See, I am beginning to think I didn't need to upgrade my player for better DVD playback if at the end of the day, I simply have to watch "good" DVD transfers in order for the Oppo to shine...I don't understand that. I could have kept the previous player.

Per Oppo's recommendations from their own support staff, my player is configured 100 percent correct for optimum playback -- PRIMARY OUTPUT has been set to HDMI, COLOR SPACE is set to "4:4:4" (per their recommendation for my display), DEEP COLOR has been set to "36 Bits" (again, per their recommendation) and NOISE REDUCTION has been left at "+4" (where they say it should be for no negative effects; I am still very concerned with this setting though). All the other Picture Adjustments are at default of "0" or "Normal," with full calibration made at my display itself.

Still, I can't help but think the DVD upconversion isn't all that it's cracked up to be based on all the hype this player gets online. Could it be I am expecting too much from the DVD format? Is there something I'm missing in terms of a setting somewhere perhaps that isn't allowing the BDP-83 to perform better upconversion (unlikely)? Is there anyone else finding the DVD scaling to be a bit less mind-blowing as this player's reputation suggests?

 

[yepimonfire]

i currently own an upconverting DVD player and forget about using the upconvert feature, it seems to just add softness and grain to the picture, i would rather watch it 480p.

 

[gonk]

I would really like to see a detailed comparaison between the BDP80 and the BDP83 especially in the audio department, digital and analog. especially after hearing so many new OPPO BDP83 owners crying unsatisfied (on amazon forums) for different reasons, especially in the price for performance ratio.
Some even said that in picture quality the Pioneer 320 which currently sells for less than $200 is better than OPPO's. and all concluding the the BDP80 is a better buy than the BDP83.
By the way the Pioneer seems like great value but I need SACD and DVDA

Well, for digital audio, the two should be identical. For analog audio, the BDP-83 is better but then we have to try to quantify "better." What complaints did people have on Amazon's forums?

i currently own an upconverting DVD player and forget about using the upconvert feature, it seems to just add softness and grain to the picture, i would rather watch it 480p.

Unless you are switching over to an SDTV, you are still upscaling it somewhere when you use the 480p output - you've just moved the process to either the TV or the surround receiver (or a bit of both). It's all a matter of finding which component does the best job with it.

 

[yepimonfire]

neither my TV or my AV receiver does that though

 

[j_garcia]

Figured I would add to this thread, instead of starting another one regarding my satisfaction disappointments with the BDP-83...

I've had this player since the holidays, and I'm kind of disappointed by its DVD upscaling abilities -- I'm not saying this player is bad in any way in terms of its upconversion, but this is a company that is consistently overhyped regarding its standard DVD upconversion prowess injected into their players usually courtesy of the Anchor Bay processor. I say "overhyped" because everyone I came in contact with on the online forum community recommended this player as the one and only to have if DVD upconversion in a BD player was a priority (which it was, for me). Add the reputation Oppo has garnered over the years regarding their DVD players into the mix, and the temptation of buying the BDP-83 was simply too great to pass up. I actually received the player as a holiday gift last year, and immediately replaced my Panasonic DMP-BD10A player in the rack with the Oppo.

Now, DVD upconversion was horribly poor on the Panny, so almost anything should have looked better -- upon hooking up the BDP-83 via HDMI only and calibrating my display for use with a new player, the DVD upconversion was marginally improved, basically getting rid of the jaggies and pixelation "noise" caused by the Panasonic's processor. However, the more time I spend with the BDP-83, running DVD after DVD through its upscaling paces on the player, the more I find it a simply "average at best" DVD deck; just the other night, I popped in the Platinum Edition of Scarface with the remastered audio (and supposedly video as well) and the image didn't look all that great -- the sequences which were littered with video noise and grain were still there on the Oppo, and it just didn't knock me off the couch. Granted, this is an old film and an old transfer, but it's not just that title that doesn't move me on the BDP-83 based on its reputation.

I completely understand that the concensus has been that the Oppo was designed to take source material of DVD quality and upconvert it to the best possible image -- in other words, a shitty DVD transfer will simply continue to look like a shitty DVD transfer. Good transfers are said to look almost like Blu-ray in image upscaled by the BDP-83, and I agree with that to a point -- Universal's Fast and the Furious (the original) looks absolutely jaw dropping in certain scenes on the Oppo as upscaled to 1080p. BUT, to be honest, the disc NEVER looked BAD on any other player I ran it through...so what's so special about what the Oppo is doing? Follow my logic here? Other newer titles such as The Proposal and Training Day (DVD) look great on the '83 upscaled to 1080p, but, again, they are great transfers to begin with. See, I am beginning to think I didn't need to upgrade my player for better DVD playback if at the end of the day, I simply have to watch "good" DVD transfers in order for the Oppo to shine...I don't understand that. I could have kept the previous player.

Per Oppo's recommendations from their own support staff, my player is configured 100 percent correct for optimum playback -- PRIMARY OUTPUT has been set to HDMI, COLOR SPACE is set to "4:4:4" (per their recommendation for my display), DEEP COLOR has been set to "36 Bits" (again, per their recommendation) and NOISE REDUCTION has been left at "+4" (where they say it should be for no negative effects; I am still very concerned with this setting though). All the other Picture Adjustments are at default of "0" or "Normal," with full calibration made at my display itself.

Still, I can't help but think the DVD upconversion isn't all that it's cracked up to be based on all the hype this player gets online. Could it be I am expecting too much from the DVD format? Is there something I'm missing in terms of a setting somewhere perhaps that isn't allowing the BDP-83 to perform better upconversion (unlikely)? Is there anyone else finding the DVD scaling to be a bit less mind-blowing as this player's reputation suggests?

Yes, you are expecting too much from DVD.

 

[gonk]

neither my TV or my AV receiver does that though

If you have an HDTV, then it has to scale DVD up to its native resolution in order to fill the screen. Otherwise you would have a 720x480 image floating in the middle of a 1920x1080 or 1366x768 (or other native resolution) display, surrounded by black on all four sides.

 

[chris357]

i was curious after reading through that whole lexicon oppo thing and they said the oppo had a noisy drive.. is that true compared to other blu ray/dvd players in its price range? and if so is it noticable from where you would sit while watching a movie?

 

[j_garcia]

i was curious after reading through that whole lexicon oppo thing and they said the oppo had a noisy drive.. is that true compared to other blu ray/dvd players in its price range? and if so is it noticable from where you would sit while watching a movie?

It is noisy when it starts up and when it reads the disc, but during playback you won't notice it IMO. It is a lot quieter than my PS3.

 

[jliedeka]

I used the Spears and Munsil BD to dial in my display and to check out the player. It looks like the de-interlacing on the BDP-83 isn't perfect but it's pretty good. Real world programming looks good, no jaggies or obvious moire.

I'm pretty happy with my Oppo. I have one box to play all my optical media.

Jim

 

[ChunkyDark]

i was curious after reading through that whole lexicon oppo thing and they said the oppo had a noisy drive.. is that true compared to other blu ray/dvd players in its price range? and if so is it noticable from where you would sit while watching a movie?

If your oppo is noisy there is something wrong with it and it needs service. A properly running one makes the normal start up noises, but it silent after that.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

Yes, you are expecting too much from DVD.

Did you read what I outlined regarding the fact that I don't see the point of "stepping up" to the Oppo product if I still have to pick and choose the better DVD transfers to watch over less-than-stellar ones? "Lesser" machines play back outstanding DVD transfers decently, as well. So what is all the "hype" surrounding Oppo's involvement in the DVD upscaling community?

And why do you say I am indeed expecting too much from the DVD format?

 

[j_garcia]

Did you read what I outlined regarding the fact that I don't see the point of "stepping up" to the Oppo product if I still have to pick and choose the better DVD transfers to watch over less-than-stellar ones? "Lesser" machines play back outstanding DVD transfers decently, as well. So what is all the "hype" surrounding Oppo's involvement in the DVD upscaling community?

And why do you say I am indeed expecting too much from the DVD format?

You ASKED if you were expecting too much from DVD and the answer is YES. You answered your own question when you said bad transfers will still look like bad upscaled transfers regardless of which player is doing the upscaling IMO. My BD-60 does a very good job of upscaling as well, but I've watched DVDs on it and some look great while others do not for this same reason. For DVDs, I don't need the best upscaling player ever made to watch them because I already know they aren't going to look as good. The "hype" is because the 83 is an excellent upscaling player period. That does not mean it, or any other player for that matter, is going to make DVD look like a Blu-ray with a good transfer. What I hear you saying is that you can be satisfied with the performance of a lesser player which means the 83 is not the player for you. I bought my 83 for other features besides upscaling, so it IS the player for me.

 

[Ron Temple]

I've owned 3 upscaling players, 2 Oppo's the 971 and 980 and the Sony BDP S300. Each did a decent to very good job on the faces, but varied on the detail and colors didn't pop. The 83 does a better job on faces, background detail and the colors pop. So to my way of thinking, I'm very pleased. If I don't want to wait for a NF BD release, I can go to a Redbox and pickup a disk and still get nearly the same enjoyment, sans lossless. You can't expect to beat the GIGO equation with any piece of equipment, so Mike, I agree with John, you're expecting too much.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

You ASKED if you were expecting too much from DVD and the answer is YES.

RIGHT -- but I was asking, at the conclusion of my last post, WHY you FELT I was asking too much from the format; that's what I meant by "why do you say..."

You answered your own question when you said bad transfers will still look like bad upscaled transfers regardless of which player is doing the upscaling IMO.

I didn't really say that; I was bringing up the fact that this is what OTHERS have said regarding the whole DVD upscaling thing. I was pointing this out, that I've been TOLD that a shitty DVD transfer will look like a shitty DVD transfer no matter what. But my reaction to that is the fact that if this is the case, what's the point of buying a "better" upscaling processor (or a player with a better processor in it)? If all we can do to really enjoy DVD at this point is to ONLY play the discs in our collections which have good transfers because regardless of what deck we play them back in they'll always look good, what's the point of buying into a so-called "premium" upscaling DVD or Blu-ray player such as Oppo's claimed BDP-83?

In other words, if all I can watch are the really, really good DVD transfers out there, I could have simply held on to my previous Panasonic DMP-BD10A player, as this deck also upscaled the EXCELLENT DVD transfers well, too -- if we can't watch less-than-perfect DVDs on players like the Oppo because they'll simply add nothing to the upscaling process, what's the point?

My BD-60 does a very good job of upscaling as well, but I've watched DVDs on it and some look great while others do not for this same reason. For DVDs, I don't need the best upscaling player ever made to watch them because I already know they aren't going to look as good. The "hype" is because the 83 is an excellent upscaling player period. That does not mean it, or any other player for that matter, is going to make DVD look like a Blu-ray with a good transfer. What I hear you saying is that you can be satisfied with the performance of a lesser player which means the 83 is not the player for you. I bought my 83 for other features besides upscaling, so it IS the player for me.

Well, perhaps that is why the 83 IS the player for YOU -- but I am NOT expecting DVD to look like Blu-ray at all; that's not what I am expecting out of a DVD upconversion process. You say the "hype" behind the 83 is that it "IS an excellent upscaling player -- PERIOD." But why? You can't just say something and then say, "simply that." Outside of eliminating the jaggies and some combing/macroblocking noise I noticed on my BD10A, the Oppo doesn't make a DVD look that much different from what the Panasonic was doing. What is so "premium" about the ABT processing? I am not expecting Blu-ray upconversion magic, whereby DVDs will take on the same life, dimension and ridiculously deep image quality as a Blu-ray transfer, but I am a bit disappointed as to the way DVDs are simply looking "okay" on this player, with a good deal of background noise and such still present.

I have brought the Noise Reduction control all the way up to +7 at one point, but this ridiculously softens the image; anything less than this, and the BDP-83 doesn't really cut down on any of the compression artifacts on many DVDs.

At any rate, I can share my settings with you that I have made on the '83 if you like, so you can see if perhaps something is going wrong somewhere, thus allowing upconversion on this player to be less-than-stellar.

 

[j_garcia]

I didn't really say that; I was bringing up the fact that this is what OTHERS have said regarding the whole DVD upscaling thing. I was pointing this out, that I've been TOLD that a shitty DVD transfer will look like a shitty DVD transfer no matter what. But my reaction to that is the fact that if this is the case, what's the point of buying a "better" upscaling processor (or a player with a better processor in it)? If all we can do to really enjoy DVD at this point is to ONLY play the discs in our collections which have good transfers because regardless of what deck we play them back in they'll always look good, what's the point of buying into a so-called "premium" upscaling DVD or Blu-ray player such as Oppo's claimed BDP-83?

I am not the one who deemed this player an excellent upscale. COUNTLESS reviews have. I have owned a number of well respected upscaling players and this has been the one that looks the best. The Panasonic, PS3 and my former Oppos all looked good, but this one looks better. Is that difficult to understand? THAT is why so many people say it is better. It isn't like joe blow is saying "hey this is good' or Audioreview reviews say it is good. These are professional reviews. The ABT chipset isn't just touted as good in this player, it was already well known that it (and/or another version of it) was good before it showed up in the 83.

In other words, if all I can watch are the really, really good DVD transfers out there, I could have simply held on to my previous Panasonic DMP-BD10A player, as this deck also upscaled the EXCELLENT DVD transfers well, too -- if we can't watch less-than-perfect DVDs on players like the Oppo because they'll simply add nothing to the upscaling process, what's the point?

Nobody said you can't watch movies with bad transfers. You can watch whatever the hell you like; and if it doesn't look good, then you'll have to live with it because the chances of it looking any better on another player are pretty slim. If you don't like the way it looks, well you either don't watch it or accept the quality that you get.

Well, perhaps that is why the 83 IS the player for YOU -- but I am NOT expecting DVD to look like Blu-ray at all; that's not what I am expecting out of a DVD upconversion process. You say the "hype" behind the 83 is that it "IS an excellent upscaling player -- PERIOD." But why? You can't just say something and then say, "simply that." Outside of eliminating the jaggies and some combing/macroblocking noise I noticed on my BD10A, the Oppo doesn't make a DVD look that much different from what the Panasonic was doing. What is so "premium" about the ABT processing? I am not expecting Blu-ray upconversion magic, whereby DVDs will take on the same life, dimension and ridiculously deep image quality as a Blu-ray transfer, but I am a bit disappointed as to the way DVDs are simply looking "okay" on this player, with a good deal of background noise and such still present.

I have brought the Noise Reduction control all the way up to +7 at one point, but this ridiculously softens the image; anything less than this, and the BDP-83 doesn't really cut down on any of the compression artifacts on many DVDs.

At any rate, I can share my settings with you that I have made on the '83 if you like, so you can see if perhaps something is going wrong somewhere, thus allowing upconversion on this player to be less-than-stellar.

What about your display? Do you think that could be a factor as well? Your settings likely won't work for me since we probably don't have the same display.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

I am not the one who deemed this player an excellent upscale. COUNTLESS reviews have. I have owned a number of well respected upscaling players and this has been the one that looks the best. The Panasonic, PS3 and my former Oppos all looked good, but this one looks better. Is that difficult to understand?

First of all, take it easy...

I understand that PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS have deemed this a powerhouse of an upscaler -- to THEM AS WELL, I ask why; I wasn't accusing YOU of being the only one to "claim this."

No, nothing is that "difficult to understand"...I'm not making you out to be an idiot, so please return the favor in kind.

THAT is why so many people say it is better. It isn't like joe blow is saying "hey this is good' or Audioreview reviews say it is good. These are professional reviews. The ABT chipset isn't just touted as good in this player, it was already well known that it (and/or another version of it) was good before it showed up in the 83.

Yes, I know and understand the ABT chipset has been implemented in different designs prior to arriving in the 83; I understand that Oppo has chosen to use it based on its performance (I had this discussion IN UNBELIEVABLE LENGTH with their support staff via e-mail already). What I am saying is, I don't see the "mind blowing" difference between DVDs on this player and on others I have owned.

Nobody said you can't watch movies with bad transfers. You can watch whatever the hell you like; and if it doesn't look good, then you'll have to live with it because the chances of it looking any better on another player are pretty slim. If you don't like the way it looks, well you either don't watch it or accept the quality that you get.

Okay, you're playing blatant semantics here. For goodness sake man, I am not ASKING for permission to watch "whatever the hell I like"...if you look deeper into my queries, you will see where I am trying to MAKE A POINT via these questions. What I am saying is, if the seemingly only DVD transfers that are going to look stellar on the BDP-83 are already outstanding looking transfers, then what is the point of the gushing over the ABT chip? In other words, once again, if every single disc I take off my shelf MUST be of the "great looking transfer" origin in order for the 83 to shine, what was the point of replacing my Panny BD10A with this machine? The great DVD transfers looked good and watchable on the Panny, and the Oppo tweaked this a bit to include elimination of jaggies and such, but if even average-looking discs aren't going to be superior in image via the ABT process, what was the point of "upgrading" to the BDP-83?

What about your display? Do you think that could be a factor as well? Your settings likely won't work for me since we probably don't have the same display.

Of course this could be a factor, and is probably one of the primary ones -- unfortunately, I cannot replace my rear pro set right now, but I'm guessing that most material simply doesn't look good on my Sony KDS-50A2020 SXRD. If this is the case, everything I've been discussing above is moot, of course. I won't know until I (ever) replace this set.

 

[PENG]

what's the point of buying into a so-called "premium" upscaling DVD or Blu-ray player such as Oppo's claimed BDP-83?

To me there is no point and that's why I did not buy one. I would though if money is no object, but then it would have been just another toy for me and one that may hardly get used.

I think most people bought one because they feel like having a player that can play SACD and DVDA. It is also possible that some people might have made their choices based on those, as you said, 'ovehyped' reviews.

 

[skers_54]

First of all, take it easy...

I understand that PROFESSIONAL REVIEWERS have deemed this a powerhouse of an upscaler -- to THEM AS WELL, I ask why; I wasn't accusing YOU of being the only one to "claim this."

No, nothing is that "difficult to understand"...I'm not making you out to be an idiot, so please return the favor in kind.



Yes, I know and understand the ABT chipset has been implemented in different designs prior to arriving in the 83; I understand that Oppo has chosen to use it based on its performance (I had this discussion IN UNBELIEVABLE LENGTH with their support staff via e-mail already). What I am saying is, I don't see the "mind blowing" difference between DVDs on this player and on others I have owned.



Okay, you're playing blatant semantics here. For goodness sake man, I am not ASKING for permission to watch "whatever the hell I like"...if you look deeper into my queries, you will see where I am trying to MAKE A POINT via these questions. What I am saying is, if the seemingly only DVD transfers that are going to look stellar on the BDP-83 are already outstanding looking transfers, then what is the point of the gushing over the ABT chip? In other words, once again, if every single disc I take off my shelf MUST be of the "great looking transfer" origin in order for the 83 to shine, what was the point of replacing my Panny BD10A with this machine? The great DVD transfers looked good and watchable on the Panny, and the Oppo tweaked this a bit to include elimination of jaggies and such, but if even average-looking discs aren't going to be superior in image via the ABT process, what was the point of "upgrading" to the BDP-83?



Of course this could be a factor, and is probably one of the primary ones -- unfortunately, I cannot replace my rear pro set right now, but I'm guessing that most material simply doesn't look good on my Sony KDS-50A2020 SXRD. If this is the case, everything I've been discussing above is moot, of course. I won't know until I (ever) replace this set.

From how I interpret Oppo's recommendations on their website, the 83's upscaling capabilities show up the best when using large displays such as front projection. The jaggies and such that you noticed it helped with will be much more offensive in that kind of setup. Colors shouldn't be affected because that would mean that the 83 would be changing the saturation or altering the color gamut. The Toshiba XDE, for example, has some processing modes that did that in order to add pop to the image.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

To me there is no point and that's why I did not buy one. I would though if money is no object, but then it would have been just another toy for me and one that may hardly get used.

Well, I completely get people's budget situations, but I don't personally think that $499 falls into the "money is no object" category. But I understand that there's always a maximum cap to spend -- heck, if I didn't get this player for the holidays, I would not have been able to buy one ANY more expensive than the Oppo.

I think most people bought one because they feel like having a player that can play SACD and DVDA. It is also possible that some people might have made their choices based on those, as you said, 'ovehyped' reviews.

I agree with you here, most wholeheartedly; most audiophile-slanted HT enthusiasts put one of these in their racks because of the DVD-Audio/SACD capabilities...then there's the other camp, like me, that were swayed into believing this player offers EXTREMELY superior DVD upscaling, for those whom this is important to.

At the end of the day -- and I mean no disrespect really to the company or their employees/engineers -- I feel that most of this firm's products are indeed overhyped. I had a 983 upscaling player before getting the BDP-83 based on its reviews of "superior DVD upconversion compared to any deck on the market at this or even higher prices" but I ultimately ended up returning it because I didn't feel it lived up to the online reputation. I wanted to give Oppo the benefit of the doubt, so I was going to get a BDP-83 to replace my previous Blu-ray player even if I didn't get it as a present.

 

[PearlcorderS701]

From how I interpret Oppo's recommendations on their website, the 83's upscaling capabilities show up the best when using large displays such as front projection. The jaggies and such that you noticed it helped with will be much more offensive in that kind of setup. Colors shouldn't be affected because that would mean that the 83 would be changing the saturation or altering the color gamut. The Toshiba XDE, for example, has some processing modes that did that in order to add pop to the image.

Thanks for the info here, Skers.

I'm going to have to return to Oppo's site and try and find these suggestions; so, we are to understand that if we have small fixed displays, such as rear projection/LCD/plasma at sizes, say, 46 inches and up, this player wouldn't really be beneficial for DVD upconversion superiority using the ABT chip?

Yeah, I almost sprang for one of those Toshiba players -- almost was sold on all their boasts about it -- until I read all the reviews on it describing how it was really a thinly veiled average-at-best upconverting DVD deck. The colors are not the problem when I use the Oppo -- not at all. I just don't see most DVD titles I play on it come "all that much to life" even with the player sending a 1080p upconversion to my screen; transfers with inherent compression noise and other issues are not really squelched of any of their noise or problems on the BDP-83, even when aggressively using its noise reduction controls.

I've had these discussions at ridiculous and exhausting length with their support staff, regarding the noise reduction abilities of the player, why it will not "clean up" poor transfers, etc. etc. and it was always suggested to me that first of all, the '83's noise reduction system uses a mosquito type reduction which does nothing for background compression and block noise, and secondly, the Anchor Bay chipset wasn't designed, at all, to "improve" the look of any video -- Oppo actually told me that if this is something I was after, I would need to look to products that carry the Realta/Reon or Genumm processors because these components can actually tweak the look of poor standard definition material (and HD material) to get rid of grain noise, macroblocking, compression artifacts and a slew of other problems. When I got that kind of feedback from the company, I was worried that I had indeed made the wrong decision on going with a new player which carried the Anchor Bay chip, and that if I wanted aggressive application of video controls and, more importantly, noise reduction, I should have looked at players with the Reon or Realta processors. The problem is, I know these applications, as seen in many of Denon's higher end stuff, are normally FAR from affordable.