Oppo Announces Inexpensive, Full-Function BDP-80 Universal/Blu-ray Player

At the time of its release in Fall of 2009, Oppo Digital’s award-winning BDP-83 ($499) was, hands down, the world’s most affordable, full-featured universal/Blu-ray player. Now, however, an astonishingly inexpensive new Oppo player—the BDP-80 ($289)—has arrived on the scene to claim that title.

Below, we present the full text of Oppo’s press release announcing the BDP-80. How did Oppo drive the price so low? As you’ll see from the text of the release, part of the answer lies in the fact that, “the BDP-80 design has been optimized for use as a digital audio/video transport, emphasizing the accuracy of its digital audio/video outputs.”

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OPPO Releases New BDP-80 Blu-ray Disc Player

BDP-80 is the digital transport of choice for Blu-ray, DVD-Audio/Video, Super Audio CD and more.

Mountain View, Calif. – January 25, 2010 – OPPO Digital (www.oppodigital.com) announced today the release of a new high-performance Blu-ray Disc player, model number BDP-80.  

The new 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 popular media formats such as AVCHD, MKV video files, digital photos and music. Sharing the same decoder and similarly optimized firmware as OPPO’s award-winning BDP-83, the BDP-80 features fast disc load times, quick response to user operations, and robust audio and video controls. In contrast to the BDP-83, which utilizes an onboard VRS by Anchor Bay video processor, the BDP-80 design has been optimized for use as a digital audio/video transport, emphasizing the accuracy of its digital audio/video outputs. At the same time, the BDP-80 is versatile enough to be used as a stand-alone universal Blu-ray player, thanks to its full array of output connections and audio/video decoding capabilities.

For video, the BDP-80 features an HDMI 1.3 port that supports 1080p Full HD, 1080p 24Hz, Deep Color and Source Direct modes. Component video, S-Video and Composite video connections are also available for legacy analog displays. In addition to its faithful reproduction of high-definition pictures on Blu-ray Discs, the player can up-convert DVD from standard definition up to 1080p to maximize DVD picture quality. Its “Source Direct” output mode makes the BDP-80 incredibly well suited as a digital transport to feed into an external video processor, a high-end A/V receiver or display device with built-in video processing. Unique features such as subtitle shift and vertical stretch zoom mode makes the player an ideal source component for home theaters with 2.35:1 CIH (Constant Image Height) displays.

For audio, the BDP-80 supports internal decoding and bitstream output of the latest sound formats including Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master audio.  The BDP-80 also features a configurable 7.1-channel analog output that can be set as 7.1-channel, 5.1-channel, or stereo. When playing SACD, the BDP-80 can output DSD (Direct Stream Digital) over HDMI in its native format or convert it into high-resolution PCM. For compatibility with many legacy A/V receivers and DACs, the BDP-80 also provides an optical and coaxial digital audio output.

The initial setup of the BDP-80 is a breeze with its Easy Setup Wizard and well-written manual.  Setup menus on the player can be accessed without interruption to disc playback. The front and back USB 2.0 ports enable easy access to music, photo and video files. The BDP-80 comes standard with 1GB of internal storage built-in so that no additional memory card or flash drive is needed to use BD-Live and BonusView features. Featuring a brushed metallic front panel and dimmable display, the BDP-80 fits nicely in any home theater environment, ranging from simple to high-end. 

Available for a suggested retail price of $289, the BDP-80 can be ordered directly from the OPPO Digital web site at www.oppodigital.com or from authorized resellers.