If you somehow needed another reason to buy an Oppo BDP-83 Blu-ray player — only our favourite home theatre gadget of last year — then the newest features added overnight may interest you: it now (sorta) does DLNA streaming.
This means you can now stream music and movies from your network and watch them on your TV, and the files supported include MKV and AVCHD amongst others. Unfortunately, the feature is only "experimental" and while the player found our network it was Jurasically slow to view files — it just looks like it's crashed. Plus you need to disable "high-resolution" audio as well. Still, the future looks promising.
The feature comes as part of the newest firmware update available from the Oppo website which also includes "BluTV": an "interactive television service that will initially feature channels such as casual games, widgets and movie art". The interface is quite slick and the games appear to be high quality. Not bad for free!
The update comes after the company offered a new model in its range called the BDP-83SE (AU$1699), which includes a new analog audio stage and improved power supply. The new model is available from local importer Merlin Audio, and existing owners can upgrade their units for a relatively meagre charge as well.
