Wow, HDMI 1.4, SACD, DVD-A, streaming of netflix and youtube, all at $399!
Unlikely to offer the same SD-DVD upscaling that the Oppo has mastered, but IMO this is becoming less and less of an issue and less and less noticeable as scalers get closer or become less relevant.
It's about time Oppo started to impact what the big boys are doing.
Very encouraging news. I have always liked Denon's players but most of them have been a bit over priced in my opinion. Good to see they are adding more diversity to their product line.
It will be interesting to see what the street price on this player will be. Thanks for posting Steve.
Tracy Rainwater Editor
One of the few....the proud....DCM Time Window Seven owners.
Agreed, it'll probably retail for the $349.99 range, and IMO that is one incredibly sleek looking product. I love how Denon has gone to a flat black "curved" front on a lot of their offerings.
The biggest question in my mind now is have they finally upped their game in terms of speed. My brother just bought their top of the line (or next to) 4010 player, and it is a dog in terms of speed. Hit "Eject" from an off position and it was at least 60 seconds before the tray popped open. Didn't have time to play with it more than that as I was on the way out, but I've read the load times are nothing to yell about either.
I think the SD conversion will be decent enough for 95% of the consumer base.
Hopefully Oppo will come out with some firmware upgrades on their player to make it even more of a value (ie.., similar to PS3 upgrading their player to have "1.4 compatibility" through a 1.3 slot, etc).
I have the itch to buy another player. My Panasonic BD30 has served me well and has yet to need an update. It even plays Avatar with the original firmware. I am looking to buy something that will start up and play faster. The ability to stream from the web would also be nice.
Tracy Rainwater Editor
One of the few....the proud....DCM Time Window Seven owners.
My Samsung is fine for BluRay, and upscales great. I just need to replace my DVD-A/SACD unit to one that has at least HDMI 1.2a, since there's no bass management for the analog inputs for the UMC-1.
Of course the New Denon would do all that, just not sure that I can justify it just to upgrade the DVD-A/SACD path.
