Oppo Digital has announced the BDP-80 Universal Blu-ray player, a lower-priced companion to its well-reviewed BDP-83.
The BDP-80 maintains most key features of the BDP-83, including DVD-A and SACD playback, Profile 2.0, 7.1 analog audio output, and a full suite of audio decoders.
Features nixed to bring down costs include the removal of the ABT 2010 video processor in favor of a “System-on-Chip,” scaled back materials (the aluminum face plate replaced with plastic), IR in/out, RS-232 control interfaces, and a backlit remote.
Oppo is pushing the BDP-80 as a digital transport with bit-perfect Source Direct output for those who already have a high-end video scaler, either stand-alone, in an AVR, or display.
To-date, the BDP-80 looks to be the least expensive player to market with Source Direct video output. With high-end video scaling solutions from Anchor Bay and HQV trickling down to more and more AVRs and displays, high-end video processing in a source device can be redundant for many.
The BDP-80 ($289) will also be the least expensive universal Blu-ray player to market, besting the BDP-83 by $210 and other models from Denon and Marantz by upwards of $1700-$4200.
The BDP-80 can be ordered directly from Oppo Digital or from authorized resellers. Availability was not released.
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I may have to pick this up. The $500 BDP-83 was a bit steep, especially considering I didn’t need another video scaling solution. My 9G Pioneer does a superb job of reproducing DVDs. This looks to be the best value for the features offered.