BDP-83 is now discontinued

[emoxley]

They've stopped production on the 83 now, due to shortage of major components. I guess the only thing left is the 83SE, until it sells out. They better hurry with the 93, or they're going to miss out on a lot of business. http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/

 

[jamhead]

Well, the value of the 83 on the used market just plummeted.

 

[Zing]

Well, the value of the 83 on the used market just plummeted.

Not necessarily. The laws of supply and demand will always prevail. Just because a manufacturer discontinued a product, doesn't automatically equate to a decreased value.

I can think of no better example than the SVS B4 sub. Find someone who has one and see what he'll take to get rid of it.

 

[mzpro5]

Makes sense. They are going to sell the 93 for the same price. Wouldn't surprise me if they don't already have some 93's sitting in the wings waiting for the holidays.

My only concern is that they keep up with needed firmware updates for the 83.

 

[Towen7]

I wouldn't expect continued firmware updates for a player Oppo no longer manufactures. I can't see why the should spend time adding functionality to legacy platforms. Bug fixing is a different matter. I don't own either but I assume that the 80 and 83 are fairly stable at this point.

 

[Rope]

Oppo has one beta firmware upgrade, released on August 24, 2010, that will become the standard. After that comes to fruition, I agree with Towen, they'll be no more firmware upgrades for the 83.

I purchased my 83 on July 11, 2009, that's a decent run for one product considering the speed at which the tech market perpetuates forward. I surely hope the 93 brings something new to the table and Oppo doesn't cut corners in build quality. On second thought, I hope they do cheapen the 93, that way the 83 will become the "rock" that everyone covets.

Rope

 

[Towen7]

The spec sheet for the 93 does have some significant "upgrades" listed specifically the support for 3D, dual HDMI outputs, wireless-N networking and an eSATA port (presumable for accessing content from an external hard drive.

I don't care about 3D yet but the dual HDMI will allow you to connect video directly to a 3D display and audio to your non-3D pre/pro.

 

[gonk]

I wouldn't expect continued firmware updates for a player Oppo no longer manufactures. I can't see why the should spend time adding functionality to legacy platforms. Bug fixing is a different matter. I don't own either but I assume that the 80 and 83 are fairly stable at this point.

Both players do feel pretty stable these days, but I would expect to see updates if there are any new disc releases that cause problems. Thankfully, the frequency of such releases has gone down some from past years.

 

[Rope]

Due to a shortage of major components, we have ceased production of this model (BDP-83)

:liar:

Jezzz, wonder where they're finding the major components to continue manufacturing of the SE model?

Rope

 

[Zing]

It's quite likely the standard 83 was the bigger seller and they sold out of that model before the SE.

 

[Rope]

It's quite likely the standard 83 was the bigger seller and they sold out of that model before the SE.

The two players use approximately 90% if the same components, bar the digital to analog DAC and power supply in the SE.

Rope

 

[gonk]

Due to a shortage of major components, we have ceased production of this model (BDP-83)

:liar:

Jezzz, wonder where they're finding the major components to continue manufacturing of the SE model?

Rope

They don't build these when you place your order. They purchase fairly large production runs from the factory in China (no idea of exact numbers, but I would expect the factory to prefer larger orders) then stock them in a warehouse on the west coast. Even if their inventory control person was a magician, he couldn't plan things such that all three players' inventories ran out at the same time. The SE is their most expensive offering, with the upgrades relative to the stock BDP-83 relating solely to analog audio output (a feature that plenty of owners don't need and therefore don't care to spend an extra $400 on), so it's not surprising that the final production run of SE's is lasting longer than either the BDP-80 or stock BDP-83.

The question that I haven't seen many people ask is what's going to happen to the players based on the BDP-8x platform? Cambridge Audio has a player based on the BDP-80 and Lexicon, Theta, and Ayre all have players based on the BDP-83. I doubt that any have sold as well as OPPO's players since all four are noticeably more expensive (although the Cambridge is more competitively priced in the UK), but the sudden end to production of OPPO's players would suggest that the hardware currently sitting in warehouses for Cambridge, Lexicon, Theta, and Ayre may be it.

 

[Rope]

There's gazillion for sale on AudiogoN, although I wouldn't consider any offerings to be a deal.

http://cgis.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/srch_fs.pl?searchstring=Oppo&B1=go

Rope

 

[gonk]

There are quite a few up there, but it's a bit of a jumble even when you filter the OPPO listings down to just 83's. Some are stock BDP-83's. Some are BDP-83SE's. Some are modded BDP-83's and BDP-83SE's (either region-free, some parts upgrades, or both). There's even one offering to provide a tube-based two-channel mod (although you have to BYOBDP-83 to that one).