Upcoming Oppo Blu-Ray Player Will Be Region-Locked, Says Beta Tester

Besides quality and value, Oppo consoles are well known for its full featured Universal supports and a simple region-free implementation- A few keystrokes on the supplied remote would magically turn any Oppo console to play all-region disk without throwing the darn incompatibility warning. The manufacturer has recently announced the availability of the much-anticipated Blu-ray player; early adopters should be able to their hands on the BDP-83 in weeks, but may have to live without the region-free feature that they've grown accustomed to.

Let's get real; a region hacked Blu-ray player is unlikely, it's conflicting with BDA region coding. Questions have been raised since its initial launch, video enthusiasts' dream to get an unlocked Oppo with Blu-ray console though improbable, but they have hope; at least, get acquainted with region-free on SD materials (upconvert on legacy DVD materials). Unfortunately, that wouldn't work too, says beta tester.

Oppo hands are tied in complying with the BDA; unlocking the region-code would have revoked agreement and likely to face penalty from BDA. Thus, the upcoming Oppo Blu-ray BDP-83 will not support remote-hack on Blu-ray or SD materail. The long-awaited BDP-83 will be secured with Region 1 locked on DVD disk and Region A locked on Blu-ray disk. But the good news is, the Oppo is said to be capable of PS3 loading disk and toe to toe with BD-J materials. One area that's has been the weakness on most Blu-ray standalones tested to date.