OPPO

OPPO Digital on Monday announced a new Blu-ray player, the BDP-80. More affordable than the BDP-83, the BDP-80 is a full-featured universal Blu-ray Disc player that supports BD Profile 2.0 (BD-Live and BonusView), DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), HDCD, CD and other media formats such as AVCHD, MKV video files, digital photos and music.

The BDP-80 has an HDMI 1.3 port for support of 1080p Full HD, 1080p 24Hz, Deep Color and Source Direct modes. Component video, S-Video and Composite video connections are also available. The player also up-converts DVD from standard definition to 1080p. Read more

Even though the transition from VHS to DVD seems recent to most people, it is time to prepare for the next transition: DVD to Blu-ray. (For people who have not kept up with it, Blu-ray became the winner in the new format war over high-definition movies by beating HD-DVD.)

OPPO is not wasting any time to make the jump, and recently announced their BDP-83 universal disk player. Predictably, the BDP-83 offers excellent sound and quality, including upconversion of regular DVDs. To speak technically, OPPO expects the new player to support BD Profile 2.0 (BD-Live), DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio, Dolby TrueHD, and DTS-HD Master Audio, but right now, only BD Profile 1.1 (BONUSVIEW), DVD-Video, SACD, and bitstreaming of Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio has been mastered.

The BDP-83 should be available in early 2009 for around five hundred dollars.