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In Reply to: RE: two awesome deals on the best blu player posted by Joe Murphy Jr on November 07, 2008 at 19:08:39
It's always going to be an issue of cost verses satisfaction; Oppos aren't cheap and never have been, but they've consistently offered the best bang (versatility) for the buck and their customer support should put their product on every A/V-phile's short list.
AuPh
Follow Ups:
There's been discussion about what capabilities they want at launch and what could be added after release. There's also a pricing issue that they're having to deal with.
I believe my prediction was Q2 09: unless they can resolve the above issues soon, that time may be more likely than not.
It looks to me like they're getting pretty close to rollout! :o)
Especially the "I believe my prediction was Q2 09: unless they can resolve the above issues soon, that time may be more likely than not." part. My original prediction was made months ago and, as I said, unless they get the ball rolling faster, it may be Q2 09 before they will release the player.
Here's a link to my prediction:
You deleted before I hit "post", but here's my reply anyway:
I hope you're closer to the actual release date than I am. I have an oppo 983 DVD player and can attest to their commitment to video (audio is pretty good, given the price-point).
My only concern is that they release the player when it's fully capable of delivering on its feature list -- not before. For example, they should not release the player if it can't decode DTS-HD Master Audio to PCM and deliver the codec via bitstream. Since it will be a Profile 2.0 player, it should be BD Live capable on Day 1, not via a firmware update.
As for All-Region DVD playback, that would be nice. However, I don't think that's an option that people should count on due to the player being a Blu-ray player first. The chips on the inside and what they're allowed to "get around" are a bit more strict via the Blu-ray format.
I thought that the response I deleted sounded just a little too argumentative, which wasn't my intent. It was rather late when I posted it last night.Your point about Oppo getting around the Blu-ray region restriction is well taken and I've read similar denials from knowledgeable folks on other forums, but in this area Oppo is caught between a rock and a hard place. My sense is that many fans of Oppo players remain loyal because all of their prior players get around region restrictions very easily. It was one of the key selling points on which the company built it's reputation. That, and Oppo's first rate customer support.
My suspicion is that there will be a slightly more complicated under-the-table BD region hack to avoid DVD consortium radar. There's already at least one BD player on the market (an LG, as I recall) that can be switched between regions and I doubt that Oppo will give up their faithful return customers to the competition without a fight. Like you I have a 983 and relish it's performance (audio & video), but it would be nice to purchase an Oppo unit that has similar flexibility for Blu-ray, especially if it addresses frustrating region lock-out issues that plague collectors and it's price point is competitive with other high performance BD players.
AuPh
Edits: 11/11/08
Region coding is pretty much useless for the DVD format these days, so it's kind of stupid for studios to keep using it. Other countries either force the manufatcurers to have their players play region-coded DVDs or force manufacturers to tell their customers how to "hack" the player. The irony is that the only country which suffers through the use of region-coding is the US -- the very country it was "designed" to benefit!
As for oppo, they make some very fine DVD players. Any complaints about their players are either petty or concern users who are in a very niche part of the movie watching crowd. The only complaint I have about the 983 is that the audio delay, when using the analog audio outputs, is not enough for 1080i output. The slight delay reinterlacing the deinterlaced 1080p video is very noticeable on my display. I'm forced to use 720p and, after numerous comparisons, it isn't as sharp as 1080i from the player on my display. Since most people don't use the player in this fashion (most use HDMI or the optical/coax output), I'm definitely in the minority. This is only a temporary setup, so it's not a big deal.
As for oppo support, my mileage did vary. I tried a firmware update not too long after I received the player. I followed the directions line-by-line, step-by-step using a flash drive. The process and the resulting flash/display/player interaction was NOT how they described it on the site. I got the firmware update to work, but decided to send them an email -- just in case other people had the same problem. The email I received back was an unexpected shocker. Everyone and their grandmother has basically bowed at oppo's customer service feet, but I had a very different view of them after the email: the sender basically said I was a liar and what I said appeared on the screen didn't. I'll admit to not having 20/20 vision, but looking at a 50" display from 4ft away and a player's display less than 2ft away leaves little room for error when you're basically just observing what's happening right there in front of you.
Suffice it to say that not until I see that douchebag prick who sent me the reply email from oppo give head to an elephant, and swallow, would I agree that oppo gives their customer's good "service".
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