You are right about the price differences, no question. Although I was on the pre/pre! list for the BDP83, I honestly thought I was never going to buy one so a friend of mine recommended the Panasonic that was arriving at the time which I did end up buying, the Panasonic BD55 (which I still own). It was the predecessor to the current BD80.
As I mentioned, it has been the superior after market service that always sold me on the Oppo product but the other features ie. SACD/DVD Audio which I definitely use. How much "real" difference is there in video performance between the two? Very little, however, given the feature set of the Oppo, there is only one other player that is similar. The Denon for $4500!! so I guess why would someone buy that player if they could get the Oppo with similar features for a fraction of the price? It is the old story of perspective AND perception. That is the fun of this hobby.
Casey,
I figure that the BD performance is fairly similar - can you comment on the difference between the Panny and the Oppo in regards to upconverting a regular DVD? Mr. Potatoe has expressed his view on the Panny - just looking for as many opinions as possible.
