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Jack, my point is about complete openness with potential customers.

66.140.46.178

Audiophilander

In Reply to: RE: They were up front posted by Jack G on June 30, 2009 at 09:58:03

>>> "They said long before it came out that it would not be region free." <<<

That is true, but OPPO is selling players to a larger market than just the folks who frequent this forum and the AVS forum. OPPO made their name and reputation selling high-quality region free players. I'll wager that a lot of folks considering the purchase of OPPO's new BD player will not be aware that this player is permanently region and zone locked from reading that disclaimer. I suspect that the average consumer will see it as a contradictory message because earlier players weren't universal as shipped, but easily hackable from the remote menu.

Unfortunately, the unwary might be prone to think the same thing would be true of this model; the disclaimer does not address this point.

>>> "The fact that it will convert PAL to NTSC just means it will play all region 0 discs." <<<

True, but like I was saying, you and I are readily aware of what this actually means because we've followed the heated debates during OPPO's beta testing. We've read the reports about the compromises OPPO made to receive licensing from the BD Consortium (Cartel) during the BDP-83 players development and we're (hopefully) savvy to the complexity of region coding issues.

But we're a small sector of the market that OPPO would like to reach with this player and I expect that there will be a lot of folks who've heard about OPPO's DVD players having region unlocking capability who will still be mislead by the conversion disclaimer.

>>> "The real odd part is that I was told that you need a video screen to set it up, which would mean that it won't go into audio only systems for the SACD." <<<

Yeah, that does seem like an complication/oversight if they are really want to emphasize the audio side of this player

Follow Ups:

I don't agree... - Doug Otte 08:56:25 07/01/09 (1)
Your quote from the manual is quite clear to me about the feature they included on the machine.

Doug
- You certainly have the right to that opinion, but if you poll most folks I bet they'd find this specification confusing. - Audiophilander 09:59:23 07/01/09 (0)
  OPPO seems to be saying that the BDP-83 will convert PAL to NTSC and vice versa, but in parenthesis there is a caveat or rather vague disclaimer that is contradictory. Folks who've purchased earlier OPPO players are well aware that they are officially region specific, but that there's a simple work around code you can enter through the remote menu to unlock other regions.
  What OPPO should've done is make a very CLEAR distinction that unlike prior players offered by the company that this player is totally Region LOCKED and does not have a work around to play material from other regions with the possible exception of Region 0 (open). Heck, I would've had it on the side of the box and prominently displayed in the advertising like a Surgeon General's Warning! ;O)
  Seriously Doug, you may be looking at this from the perspective of someone who has a bit more experience with what specifications mean than the average consumer. I think folks are drawn to specific features that they want or need and base their decisions on what to buy based on a company's reputation, testimonials and whatever specifications are listed. OPPO's management might've been better off not mentioning the PAL/NTSC conversion as a feature if these players are region locked because it will confuse those who haven't kept up with this controversy (especially folks who are aware of OPPOs long standing tradition of offering 'unofficial' region unlocking).
  Sadly, I think that this misleading specification may have been intentional because OPPO must be concerned about the potential lost business to the new Momitsu player, which is all region and all zone playable and cheaper to boot. In fairness to Oppo, I don't think that they wanted to give the DVD region unlocking function up, but they made a deal with the devil in order to obtain U.S. licensing. Nevertheless, it was a deal breaker for me.
  AuPh
  
  Edits: 07/01/09 07/01/09

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