Oppo, best known for its upconverting DVD players and universal decks, has apparently decided to join the BD camp with little to no fuss. The BDP S83 was spotted over at the company's CEDIA booth, and while no real details were provided ("it's loaded" is all we have to go on), we can't see any harm in having yet another alternative. Unless it's $350+, in which case we'll roll our eyes and stomp away with our arms crossed.

Mum a little overwhelmed with digiframes? Fret not, as OPPO Digital is telling you straight up that a brand new upconverting DVD player is sure to make this Sunday one to remember. C'mon, even you know your mother wouldn't approve of spending a mortgage payment or two on a hamstrung Blu-ray player, and that much newer (and nicer) DV-983H just isn't worth the coin. Our only question is how desperate must you be (or overran with excess inventory) to pimp a 9-month old upscaling DVD player for Mom's Day? Ah well, we've certainly seen worse.

When Oppo decided to exit the DVD deck business with a bang, it actually did precisely that. According to a recent review of the firm's last DVD spinner over at CNET, the DV-983H was summed up as practically the "ultimate standard-def disc player," with excellent image quality on DVDs, great upconverting abilities, included DVD-Audio / SACD support and 7.1-channel analog outs to boot. Reviewers were even able to make the unit region-free courtesy of a simple remote code hack, and it was said to have handled PAL discs like a champ. On the downside, the exorbitantly high price tag ($399) really makes it unattractive to most everyone, but the impeccable feature set still enabled it to net a solid 8.4 out of 10 rating. In all actuality, there's a slim chance you'll be picking this up before a serious price drop, but if you're not quite ready to go Blu, this here is apparently the player to own.

If you like to hang on until hardware tech is EOL-ed (End of Life) maximally polished to jump in, now may be the time for you to score a DVD player. The Oppo DV-983H upscaling DVD player announced last week is now officially available. Oppo's going out with a bang, for sure -- the unit has some good looking specs, especially the built in Anchor Bay (a.k.a DVDO) VRS processing. But what's more significant is a bit of info we gleaned from the PR email accompanying the DV-983H release: the unit is the last DVD player that Oppo will be making. The company that made its name in upscaling DVD is moving whole hog into something else, and we're all-in on a Blu-ray spinner. Bring it on, Oppo! Full PR email after the jump.

Though it's not the elusive Blu-ray player we're anxiously awaiting, Oppo's latest standalone deck is finally up for pre-order. The DV-983H universal player features 1080p upscaling of DVDs, SACD / Redbook CD / HDCD playback (no DVD-A?), optical / coaxial digital audio outputs, a USB 2.0 port, support for DTS, Dolby and Dolby Pro-Logic II, HDMI audio output supporting bit-stream and uncompressed multi-channel high resolution audio and a design that's actually not half bad. You'll also get a one-year warranty and a six-foot HDMI cable for $399, but we've got to say, picking this one up will be hard to do with knowledge of what's on the way.

[Via AudioJunkies]

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]

If you've got a 1080p HDTV, haven't already jumped on the HD DVD or Blu-ray bandwagon -- or maybe you only own the as yet non-upconverting PlayStation 3 -- and need a good DVD player look no further. Techdigs took a look at Oppo's just released $229 DV-981HD DVD player and decided it's hit the price/performance sweet spot perfectly. We feel the need to mention that Oppo includes the HDMI cable with its high def player (seriously Sony, we're not going to let you off the hook for that), and analog 5.1 audio outputs (don't think we forgot about you Toshiba). Overall the reviewer found the speedy menus, good performance on Silicon Optix's HQV tests courtesy of the included Faroudja scaler and easy-to-use remote. Of course, this player isn't for everyone, most HDTV owners are probably just fine with the older OPDV971H or OPDV970HD depending on setup, but if you want to watch DVDs at 1080p, this is probably the player for you.

Oppo Digital is back with yet another in its line of DVD upscalers, the DV-981HD. New in this edition is upscaling all the way to 1080p, courtesy of the included Faroudja DCDi video processor. Successor to the highly regarded DV971H, the new unit includes such features as DVD-Audio and SACD support and DivX compatibility, among other digital media. One thing this player doesn't bring to the table however, is component video outputs. If your display doesn't support HDMI or DVI with HDCP, you'll be falling back to the dark ages of S-Video or even composite connections. Besides the HDMI 1.1 port ((HDMI cable included, hear that Sony?), there are also analog 5.1, optical and coaxial audio outputs powered by a 24-bit/192kHz d/a converter. MSRP is $229 and it's available now, if digital video is a part of your setup and DVD upscaling is more appealing than current HD DVD or Blu-ray offerings, this should be an excellent buy. Continue on for larger images and a shot of the back.

Oppo, maker of everyones favorite DVD upscaler, has just announced another model - the DV-970HD. This time around the player features HDMI output rather then the DVI. Oh man, it just doesn't end there ether. This player is loaded with goodies like 4-in-1 media card readers and USB input, PAL/NTSC support, 5.1 analog audio output, and optical/digital coax outputs. It supports DivX, DVD-Audio, SACD, and Xvid. This slim little player even has the ability to utilize the digital path of DIM but keep the resolution at a 480i in order to feed an external scaler. Man, there is just to much to talk about with this player.

Oh and did we mention it was only $149 and included a HDMI cable?

[thanks for the tip Kevin]