Oppo set to launch UK version of its 'universal' Blu-ray player

Oppo BDP-831

It will sell for around £450 when it goes on sale early in September, through a dedicated UK online shop set to go live at that time.

The BDP-831 is Profile 2.0, supporting BD Live disc features, has 1GB of internal storage, and can also handle a wide variety of music and image formats, either on disc or USB memory devices.

It has 1080P upscaling courtesy of Anchor Bay's VRS technology, supports all the HD audio formats from Dolby and DTS, and also has a novel Source Direct mode, enabling it to operate as a digital transport.

That means it simply delivers the digital content on discs to its outputs, with no internal processing.

The player has HDMI, 7.1-channel analogue, stereo analogue and optical/electrical digital outputs, plus USB sockets on the front and rear.

When playing SACD titles, the player can deliver the music as DSD, or process it internally to the same LPCM output also available from other formats.

We've just received our review sample of the BDP-831, and hope to have our first 'hands-on' impressions online soon. A full review, both in the magazine and online, will follow later.