The "True Grit" DVD has a new version of Macrovision copy-protection. As with all copy-protections, to stay ahead of the rippers they have to try new and different methods to keep the protection unbroken for the longest time possible. Many protections skirt the edge of the DVD standard to do it. At times many players fall victim to the protection scheme used. Usually these are lesser players because of their inferior firmware programming.

I'm absolutely not saying the Oppo is a lesser player. Actually I saw this looking up information on the Oppo to purchase. I know it's an excellent player. Since the remedy is to purchase the BD, this only helps to support the protection issue. I imagine if you would go to ripping websites like Doom9, or Digitalbits there would be a lot of talk about difficulty ripping it. If the Oppo is having problems, I'm willing to bet other players have trouble as well.

For every title we protect at Sony, it's tested on over 115 different models of players determined by their market share for popularity. A title is not released until it can be played on all players.

When new versions are developed, we perform testing at Sony in Japan, Austria and the US. We then have testing performed using four independent outside testing labs before the version is released for use. I'm almost willing to bet money this is the problem.

In cases like this the player manufacturer is contacted about updating their firmware. Depending on the company, this happens immediately. However with most it's not soon enough, or doesn't happen at all. If it's something Oppo can fix, I'm sure they will. As long as it doesn't compromise it's overall performance.