Lexicon busted passing Oppo off as a $3500 Blu-ray player
By Ben Drawbaugh 
posted January 16th 2010 11:58AM
posted January 16th 2010 11:58AM
posted January 16th 2010 11:58AM
powered by gdgt
Lexicon BD-30
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Lexicon who?
A fool and his money are easily parted.
No, look at the way the wiring runs under the optical drive. The Lexicon method is clearly superior, well worth the price increase.
@(Unverified)
No doubt about it. I heard that Lexicon replaced the inferior wiring with Monster Cable wires. That alone would be worth a grand or two more.
A friend of mine sold me his Oppo for $300 and bought this. He then told me that he believes the picture is slightly better and the audio is WAY better.
But, frankly, tell me: who got screwed ?
@FabDex
So "your friend" lost a bunch of money, did you? I mean he?
your naivety of the computer/electronics industry is astounding
you would all lose it completely with "Intel's" business model!
With digital equipment I wonder why *anyone* spends so much for players. A device need only output the video as it was encoded and audio as it was encoded and it works exactly as it should.
Even a top of the line Sony / Panasonic / Oppo which supports profile 2.0 and analogue 7.1 doesn't cost the earth so why pay more? A manufacturer could add all sorts of absurd anti-jitter, power cleaning, vibration dampening tech and it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to picture quality. Either content plays or it doesn't.
Some audio / videophiles may have the money but not the sense to realise that they can spend stupid prices on hardware but it won't make the picture or audio anywhere except in their minds. At least rubes paying 7x for Oppo kit can console themselves they haven't reached Goldmund levels of stupidity. Yet.
@DrXym
While I agree on the picture quality (assuming you're using HDMI and not component), the same is not true of audio played over analog outs (or audio handled by the receiver if you're bitstreaming). Analog signals are highly sensitive to interference, and in those cases proper shielding and electronics to minimize distortion actually do matter.
Now, that said, there are plenty of other reasons to pay the "OPPO premium". While other players have caught up since the BDP-83, at the time it loaded discs much faster than other players (even slightly better than the PS3 in some cases), brings every possible feature including DVD-A/SACD/HDCD compatibility, has much better DVD upconverting than most players, has a killer interface which even allows changes on the fly, is constantly being upgraded via regular firmware releases (the newest one just added subtitle shift, DLNA, and BluTV, for example), and is backed with the support of an unbelievable customer service department. I can't stress that last point enough; I've emailed them many times, occasionally with bug reports during the early adopter phase but most often just to ask questions about the player out of curiosity, and I've always gotten a response within 24 hours that comes from someone clearly very knowledgeable about the player and all related technologies, and I never EVER get a canned response. That doesn't even consider all the little things that only enthusiasts would care about, but hey that's OPPO's market anyway, and those touches are often what separates a very good player from a truly outstanding one.
That all adds up to a significant value-add in my view.
@DrXym
Yeah, but players don't send the video straight off the disc. All players decode and more than likely aplly post-processing.
"in cased" = "encased"
"chasis" = "chassis"
Actually, one of the articles that slashdot linked to about this made it sound like Lexicon literally put the Oppo inside of their case -- they didn't even remove the Oppo from its bottom chassis -- just removed the cover and put it inside!
I'll put my lg bd390 against any other player at any other price point. It has all the goodies and VUDU which is the best video on demand service on the planet plus netflix, DLNA, support for most all of the pirated video codecs, great user interface and VERY fast load times. Got it for 210 dollars. Sorry OPPO, but if I don't need to pay 300 bucks for SACD. If anyone is into SACD they already owned a player when the oppo blu Ray was released. People sure can throw money away for overpriced electronics (such as paying a grand more for an led LCD tv when the cheapest plasma you can get had better black levels and response time)
@blackacex22
this isn't about LG...? But I wil glad put my Pioneer 51 against it on SD upconversion and take home an LG. :)
@blackacex22
I already own an DVD/SACD player, which is exactly why I would consider upgrading to an Oppo BDP-83. When I get rid of my DVD/SACD player, I want to replace that one unit with only one new unit.
@blackacex22 OK: put your LG up against the Oppo. You'll find out that the Oppo beats it. And I DID have an Oppo DVD-A/SACD player. What I did, is a little thing called "upgrade". Yup. I upgraded to a BETTER player, the BDP-83. It sends both DVD-A and SACD to my receiver through HDMI, does a superb job at upconverting DVDs and is one of the fastest loading Blu-ray players on the market. It can even stream from my PC. So what if it's more expensive than your LG: after all, it's a better player.
@FabDex
I'm sure everything you've said is true, but that doesn't change the fact that some don't use DVD-A/SACDs and don't watch DVDs. So for those who are looking for, just, the best Blu-ray player, they need not spend as much as those looking to do other things.
@BenD Right you are.
@BenD
I'm sorry but maybe I got what you wrote wrong.
Are you saying there are people out there buying Blu-ray players that have no interest in playing DVDs on them?
It just seems like a non-issue, I mean, Is there any Blu-ray player out there that DOESN'T play DVDs as well?
I don't think the "buy it now" button at the bottom of the linked article will see much use.
Companies that do this need to die, and will.
It is important to note that their are TWO versions of the Oppo BD-83. Both are available from Oppo's site, and the special edition model DOES have some serious mods to the analogue two-channel output that increase the the quality and the price.
Standard Oppo BDP-83 $499
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83/
Oppo BDP-83SE $899
http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-83SE/
That said, I am not aware which version is closer to the Lexicon version.
Would a Lexicon re-brand be worth extra money? Well, if you want to match the faceplates with the rest of your system. I'd buy the basic Oppo , myself.
@letstakeawalk
The Lexicon is based on the Oppo 83 and not the Special Edition.
So the Oppo 83SE is actually performs better than the Lexicon.
You can't spell Lexicon without 'CON'...
Don't forget the Nuforce Oppo player
http://www.nuforce.com/hi/products/oppo_bdp83se/
for only $1295
Normally I'd agree with the guy laughing this off sayin if they make just 1 tweak it's justifiable
but THIS IS AN ENTIRE OPPO IN ITS CASE INSIDE OF ANOTHER CASE!!
Also OPPO makes a special edition with a better power supply and audiophile DAC stage for $900, still thousands less!!!
THIS is a clear rip-off no questions asked.... If I had bought one I'd want my money back...
Want proof?: Who here would knowingly buy the Lexicon now? Put your money where your mouth is.