IT CAN be said at the moment Denon is just trying to survive. My attention is drawn to the 2010ci which looks like, by all intents & purpose, a counterfoil for the oncoming OPPO BD8300. The killing clincher: ABT video chip. By delaying and delaying further, and delaying yet even longer, the final market release of its BR flagship - Oppo is poised to get beatened to the A/V market by Denon. The SRP price of the 2010ci is also a killer value, this is going to be feasted on by videophiles on the West. But for us Noypi's who doesn't have any North American connections, my best guess is that this will be sold locally for about P40,000. (The best price for the SRP'd $800 Denon 2930ci when it was released locally, was P50,000.)
While I welcomed this new model and would have to scrounged for money to buy one, on the event I still have a job by next quarters - the model's creation also made me laugh a jeering laugh because Denon ought to be taught a lesson in pricing humility. For me, the most desirable Blu Ray player is one that also plays standard DVD with the final-word aplomb. Only two models fit this standard: Denon's BD3800 and Marantz BD8200 - Blu Ray playback and upscaled DVD courtesy of HQV-Teranex Realta video chip. But both models are sold at an equivalent of P100,000 - hence Denon priced it up too high for most of us, its definitely unattainable and causes frustrating consternation for sensible videophiles.
Seeing that its not selling as expected, and in view of the financial collapses besetting A/V electronic concerns like Pioneer & Sanyo - Denon had instant wisdom. It shoot off this 2009 hitters, which looks more promising and provoking than last year's ho-hum BT2500 and BT1710 (if that was the correct models). Why take an Oppo when nobody here was ever anointed to sell it locally, officially? Better go for this Denon, the ABT chip, in place of the ultra-expensive Realta, is its most desirable feature.
