New OPPO Blu-ray Player: BDP-80

[supervij]

According to Oppo's Facebook presence . . .

" We will be announcing a lower-cost Blu-ray player in early January 2010. Visit www.oppodigital.com around that time to learn more."

Which goes right along with what quite a few people have been saying about the Oppo BDP-83: take out the m/c analog outs and take out the SACD/DVD-A support, and lower the price a lot. I wonder how much they'll be charging for this new player. Although there are plenty of low-cost players out there, it's great to see Oppo trying to tap into a bigger market. My only concern with this player is: will they cut costs to this player by using a lower-quality upscaler for DVD?

cheers,
supervij

EDIT: I highly doubt that, although the BDA has finalized the 3D spec, that this player will be 3D-capable.

[cooper83]

That's awesome! I have no interest in those features, but gimme amazing picture quality + Oppo's superb customer support, and I'm in.

[supervij]

More info, according to blu-ray.com:

"A company representative also revealed that they are investigating several streaming options."

cheers,
supervij

[Kelowna]

Hmm
I was thinking maybe a Boxing Day Panny, but this may be a better option.
Unfortunately we probably won't know details 'till after the sales.

[Todd Sauve]

I actually want Oppo to keep including the SACD and DVD-A options. A universal disc BD player that can also handle USB based DivX-HD, etc., for about $200 would be awesome

[Tezster]

3D capable?

[supervij]

Still no word that I've seen, but I'm with all the buzz about 3D, I think Oppo has got to be thinking of including it in their new player. But if it is supposed to be a less-expensive alternative to the 83, I just don't see it offering 3D.

But Oppo has surprised us in the past; I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them surprise us now.

cheers,
supervij

[sleemo]

This is from their Twitter page:

# @nzmat 3DBD will require brand new decoders, HDMI transmitters, and other cogs and gears. ie. New product. We have no immediate plans for 3D 2:09 PM Jan 12th from web in reply to nzmat

[bolmsted]

I have no interest in 3D especially if Oppo has no interest in it either.

[sleemo]

Don't expect any announcement this month. Update from Twitter:

The announcement of the player was a bit premature. An announcement will be made when we are ready for retail.

[cfraser]

Originally Posted by supervij

Still no word that I've seen, but I'm with all the buzz about 3D, I think Oppo has got to be thinking of including it in their new player. But if it is supposed to be a less-expensive alternative to the 83, I just don't see it offering 3D.

But Oppo has surprised us in the past; I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them surprise us now.

cheers,
supervij

Actually, this "surprise" would be very untypical of Oppo. What Oppo does is see what sticks (re standards etc., after all, new 3D BD specs are coming out very soon for *another* method). Then they come out with a player that does it better than the others in the price range. IOW Oppo are never in the forefront of the technology. Long-time Oppo owners don't want them to be, we want stuff that actually works, and lasts.

[cfraser]

It's up on their site now: BDP-80, US$289. Gotta admit, for most people, the $200+ more for the BDP-83 might not be worthwhile. Least for BD/DVD-A/SACD/etc. over HDMI. For DVD upscaling and analog output the BDP-83 probably still has the edge. It is kind of like the 980 compared to the 983...just like they initially inferred.

[eljay]

Yup, according to the comparison page on OPPO's website, the BDP-80 seems a lot like a DV-980H w/ Blu-ray capability. It has "System-on-Chip" with Custom Firmware instead of the BDP-83's ABT2010 chip and, like the DV-980H, it's not recommended for use with large screens. Bummer.

[cfraser]

^ I wouldn't worry about that "not for large screens" thing until it's tested. They said that about the 980 too, recommended the 981 instead (if you weren't going whole-hog for the 983). Many people actually preferred the 980 over the 981 for "large" screens. Lots of people, especially after the firmware updates.

In this case, as best I can tell, the picture difference would mostly be with upscaling DVD, and possibly upscaling non-HD BD; 1080p/24 BD should look pretty much the same from the 80 or the 83.

The BDP-80 is sort of expensive if you just want a BD player. It does have 7.1 analog outputs though, that are mostly disappearing in the lower price range, and lots of people seem to still want them.

[eljay]

^ I wouldn't worry about that "not for large screens" thing until it's tested. They said that about the 980 too, recommended the 981 instead (if you weren't going whole-hog for the 983). Many people actually preferred the 980 over the 981 for "large" screens. Lots of people, especially after the firmware updates.

Hmmm...maybe I need to check* the version of firmware I have on my DV-980H. Upconversion is good but, on my 100" screen, it's noticeably inferior to what my OPDV971H could do. (The 971H unfortunately suffered from macroblocking issues which, thankfully, do not afflict the 980H.)

(*Edit: I checked and I do have the latest version installed.)

My ideal combo would be a DV-983H (ABT upconversion, region-free, SACD) and a BDP-80 for Blu-ray.