Looking at purchasing a blue ray player....which one do you guys like with the 990? I am feeding a Pioneer Kuro 5080 (768P) plasma

Thanks

Sony BDP-S550 seems to be getting good feedback from owners so far and with it's 7.1 analog output it is a perfect match for those of us with 990's.
If you are patient the new Oppo BDP-83 will probably be one of the best BD players on the market when it finally is released.

What makes the Oppo special? Also, who is Oppo? I never heard of them before.

OPPO is a small Internet-direct disc player manufacturer similar to Outlaw. They have built a strong reputation for performance, value, and customer support.

WildWolf:

I also have a 990 and the Pioneer 5080 and I'm really interested in the OPPO BDP-83. I currently have an OPPO 980H and it is terrific. The BDP-83 will incorporate a good portion of the top notch video processing of DVDO/Anchor Bay's line of separate video processors (also in the OPPO 983H) along with BD playback. It is expected to be a benchmark player. For me I want to test the effectiveness of the video processor outputing a 720P signal and feeding my 768P Pioneer plus the BDP-83's decoding of the new audio formats fed to the 990 via 7.1 analog inputs.

For more info on OPPO Gonk has reviewed three OPPO players and though he can't/won't say, I bet he is in line to put the BDP-83 through its paces before it is released later this year or early next.

Right now I have the 990/7700 combo and have a interest in purchasing a Blu-Ray player. I am considering Sony. I am not sure which model. I intend to hold off until Oppo reviews hit the forum and I return home from the CES show in January.
I also am waiting patiently for the 997 and it's reviews. Although Outlaw intends to release the 997 in January I hope the reviews are favorable since the reviews are what I shall base my purchasing power with.
Besides Oppo being a perfect macth for the 990, what about a perfect match for the 997?

For pairing Blu-ray with the 990, the three most talked-about candidates are the Sony S550, the Panasonic BD55, and the OPPO BDP-83 (which is the only one of the three that isn't shipping yet), but there's also a Pioneer or two that could fit the bill.

As for the 997, the equation changes a bit and players like the S350 and BD35 can enter the equation (dropping the multichannel analog output).

I have the Panasonic BD-55. It's hooked up to the 990 using the 770 for an amp. I have it outputing to a Samsung 67' LED DLP. The Panasonic performs very well in both video and audio. The Panasonic upconverts DVD and does a very good job.The audio from the Panny is very good through the 7.1 analog outputs. I definitely recommend the Panasonic BD-55.

Does the Sony 500 also upconvert standard dvd's?

It does, although I don't know how well...