Oppo next to create a new Blu-ray player
by Richard Lawler 
posted Feb 20th 2008 at 8:19AM
Oppo fans left on the HD format sidelines can rejoice, as word comes that the company will add a Blu-ray player to its well-received line of DVD upscalers. According to the VP of product development, the company is "very early" in their development cycle, and we should expect more details sometime this summer. While sooner would definitely be better than later, we can't argue with a timeline that leads us to expect nothing less than a fully featured BD Live compatible player from a company with a reputation for delivering more bang for the buck.[Thanks, Tom]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
David S @ Feb 20th 2008 9:11AM
It would be great if it had all the features of the BD50, just cheaper.
Matt @ Feb 20th 2008 9:21AM
I hear their DVD players are region free. (?)
having a region free blu-ray player may be nice too but not much of a worry since I buy from Japan and US only so far and they are the same region. Once that final Profile 2.0 is release I will give my ps3 a break and maybe pick this one ip.
Matt @ Feb 20th 2008 9:21AM
"up" not "ip" oops!
chris @ Feb 20th 2008 9:30AM
This is what I've been waiting for. I've received awesome support from Oppo in the past & feel confident they'll release a player that's less buggy than many of the other BD models from LG & Samsung.
I'm not too keen on waiting, though :( Might have to pick up a PS3 to hold me over.
okeygrak @ Feb 20th 2008 9:46AM
The unified HDM revolution will be televised.
locke6854 @ Feb 20th 2008 9:46AM
hell yea. as for the bd50, this one should upconvert sd dvd much better, if the bd50 does indeed have the same scaler as the bd30.
BBBoT @ Feb 20th 2008 10:05AM
I just hope they keep the Divx support.
Load up a BD-R full of Divx movies and enjoy many many hours of Divx goodness :)
Mr. E @ Feb 20th 2008 10:42AM
Wow, that would be more like "many DAYS of Divx goodness"!
Zach @ Feb 20th 2008 10:50AM
How about adding HD .mkv support and a network port. Wireless would be nice, but wired would be suffice. It'd be awesome if it could play HD .mkv files over a network.
Jonah Lee @ Feb 20th 2008 11:29AM
Blue Ray only has 3 versions, versus 6 for DVD, so Japan and China are currently in the same region as the US (though England is different).
I am psyched for this, as I love my Oppo ALL region Upconverting DVD Player, and with the demise of HD DVD I am willing to wait for this, as I know Oppo will also consistently upgrade the unit through it's life cycle.
Jonah Lee @ Feb 20th 2008 12:23PM
Sorry, I am wrong, it is Japan, Korea, the US and Hong Kong on the same region, and China is in a separate region. Still that means I can get pretty much all the movies I want without an all region player already.
Of course it would be nice to have more regions, and my current Oppo does PAL conversion so that would not be a bad thing either.
Andrew @ Feb 20th 2008 11:30AM
I've got an 971 now and it puts out a beautiful picture. I figured I'd have to wait for a full featured profile 2.0 blu-ray player to surface but the fact that Oppo may have one makes that wait even easier. I have full confidence they'll deliver a great machine. This is enough to brighten my spirits for the future after being on the losing end of the format war with an HD-A2 (even though it only cost me $90 with 3 movies at BB).
Roy @ Feb 20th 2008 1:48PM
region free BD and DVD player with NTSC/PAL support for the DVD side, upscale/upconvert to full 1080p, 1.3b HDMI connections.
andy @ Feb 20th 2008 12:21PM
I hope they take care of that issue with their upscalers where they leave the 12V out always on. That really messes with autosensing HDMI switches.
Keith Benedict @ Feb 20th 2008 12:25PM
This is the one I would buy. I love my Oppo 970.
Leonardo DiCrapio @ Feb 20th 2008 2:21PM
seconded. i love my 970 (not at home now but i'm pretty sure that's the oppo i have. i have hacked my oppo to upconvert over component. i would hope that a oppo blu-ray player would have support for sacd and dvd-a. i currently don't use either, but i would use the analog 5.1 audio outputs from a new oppo blu-ray player (i'm not using it with the 970 since it is used for mostly just dvd playback, although i do play a few cd's on it, too).
Kieran Coghlan @ Feb 20th 2008 2:30PM
I wonder if this means they will cancel their model 983 that is due out soon? It seems like it would be a poor seller, now that the format war is over AND Oppo has announced a BRD player.
Galley @ Feb 20th 2008 5:19PM
How about SACD and DVD-Audio support?
Charles @ Feb 21st 2008 9:44PM
I'd bet on it. They've always been cool enough to support those formats even if they weren't well received by many consumers. There are still enthusiasts that appreciate it.
jrtallen @ Feb 20th 2008 8:01PM
Great news. I currently have a 970, and have been waiting to get a BD player. I chose the Oppo DVD player in part because it can deliver 480i to my video processor. Hopefully the Oppo BD player will maintain that same functionality for DVDs.
JB @ Feb 21st 2008 1:18AM
I will definitely be interested in what OPPO comes up with. The problem will be the waiting time. I don't think we will see anything from them until sometime in 2009. I also vote for a full feature machine that will not only be 2.0 ready with all the various codecs but also include DVD-A and SACD support. Unless something better comes along first, which I highly doubt, I will be waiting for this one. Glad I have my PS3 to get me through.
celticpride @ Feb 22nd 2008 4:37PM
AWESOME! i cant wait,i also have the oppo 970 and i use the sacd and dvd-a all the time. even if the new blu ray player doesnt have the sacd and dvd-a abilitys i'll still buy one, although i truly hope it will also be able to play sacds and dvd-a
TinCanFury @ Feb 22nd 2008 9:50AM
re: SACD/DVD-A,
Can't wait. the war and DVD-A/SACD support are what have been keeping me away from an HD player. I've got an Oppo 981HD for DVD/DVD-A/SACD and now that they've "settled" on Blu-Ray I just have to wait for one with SACD (via DSD) and DVD-A support. Hopefully the Oppo player is as good as all their previous offerings and cheap.
webz @ Feb 24th 2008 7:18PM
I just emailed Oppo, and they said this announcement is bogus. They have no plans at all to release a blu-ray player until LONG after a standard is ironed out by the Blu-Ray Group. All they have done is purchased a licensing option. Which means if they chose to make a blu-ray player, they can legally do so, but they are under no obligation to.
So if you are wanting an Oppo Blu-Ray, it will be several years before one comes to market. Your best bet for the time being is a Playstation 3.
Flatcat @ Mar 18th 2008 3:41PM
I just bought an Oppo 980 in their offices here in the Bay Area (the sell directly from there), and while I was there, they said that they just started Blu-Ray development and would love to have it done for the Christmas season if possible or for CES 2009 on the later end.
Andre @ Apr 7th 2008 10:07PM
If there's any semblance of truth to this & it's full featured including profile 2.0 & VRS processing by Anchor Bay, with an aggressive price point, I'll definitely have to get me 1 of these !