Mojo,
it's unfortunate to hear that you no longer consider Oppo to be on your list of vendors.
It is my belief that a DVD player doesn't need to have all the bells and whistles of a receiver or pre/pro. The Oppo does that I need it to do: decode video at the highest quality possible, and support all formats I want (dvd-a, sacd, hdcd, etc...).
I also like the fact that they were honest with you and told you flat out "we're not going to develop this in the future" rather than throw you some BS like "it is a feature that remains within the realm of possibility in the foreseeable future".
When it comes to DVD players, I can't think of a better value. Their customer service is also excellent. I know two people who've dealt with having to return units, and their service was 5 star.
just my $.02
