Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Oppo Digital

I have just read that Oppo Digital has announced they are ending all future development
and manufacturing of disk players. They will honor existing warranties, eligible returns etc.
Repairs will continue to be performed, software updates released as necessary. But , when
current product stock is exhausted that’s it, they’re done. Didn’t see that coming.
Wonder why they’re getting out. Their stuff was exactly cheap.
April Fools joke?

It does appear on their website...and it is after April 1st.

The media appears to have latched onto this story as well, so if it is a hoax, it will be interesting to see how they come back from it.

I was about to push the button and order a UDP-203. Thoughts ? Looks like local dealer (solutionsav) is now out of stock so someone must be buying them. Supposed to be back in stock in a few more days.

Doesn't look like a hoax - the messaging is fairly well integrated into the web site.

I was planning to run 7.1 analog into my old HK 630 and let the player do the decoding, figuring that would let me run for a while longer without having to upgrade the AVR.

Only downside is that in order to use the AVR's bass management I would need to let it re-digitize the analog inputs, but looks like the Oppo has sufficient bass management internally.

Currently running an old Sony (BDP-S300 ?) player, the Walmart version IIRC. Got it for free a lot of years ago so it is probably pretty much written down by now

On the other hand Sony has been really good with firmware update and that has extended the life of my player quite a bit further than I would have expected. I was looking for a good Sony alternative but they seem to have dropped analog outputs from most of their newer models.

I guess the other alternative is to bite the bullet and upgrade the AVR. Bleah. I think I'll grab a UDP-203 if it comes back in stock.

Damn , i went there on the 2nd and they showed in stock and i hovered over the buy button but i just couldnt do it. I love my 203 i sure hope it holds up as good as my 93 has for the past 7 years. I think they will keep the firmware current , they have always been solid over the years and its not like they are bankrupt they have a parent company.

Yeah, that's what I am thinking - they just seem to be getting out of the player business to focus on phones instead.

I have always purchased Oppo products, however, because this last time around it was my first 4K player and the 203 AND 205 didn't include any online streaming, after ending up trying TWO LG UP 970s(too noisy) and the initial offering from Sony, I ended up with the Panasonic UB900, which although it has been around for awhile, has about the best build quality next to the Oppo, a very comparable picture and the analog outs you are looking for. In fact, at the outset, some rated this models regular BR 4K upscaling and HDR performance slightly superior to the Oppo. It just doesn't have the SACD or DVD audio capability.

If you wish to wait, Panasonic announced at NAMM the new top of the line UB820 which is going to have ALL of the enhanced video set-ups(HDR 10 and HDR 10 PLUS and Dolby Vison. They also announced after NAMM at a show in Europe they were going to introduce the UB9000 which was their version of an A/V phile player that was allegedly to compete with the Oppo 205. With Oppo announcing they are shutting it down, I guess it remains to be seen whether or not Panasonic will still go ahead with the UB9000 especially in N/A. Cambridge audio has a player that is essentially a 203 clone. In any case, to get the features you want, it looks like you will ultimately have to spend more money,

In my opinion, although more expensive and from my own observations, of the mainstream offerings and the reviews, the Panasonic runs a very close second to the Oppo.

Honestly is does not surprise me given the climate. Streaming is becoming more popular, like people really dont care about the quality. I mean who is going to buy an 8k player or whatever. The DVD/BD train has really arrived at the station, there is no where else to go.

It is rather interesting to note, that despite the question mark about where all this resolution stuff is headed, I happened to see a video of a conference in which the head of the government operation in Japan whose in charge of the communications sector indicated that by the time the Tokyo Summer Olympics came around that at least 50% of those living in Japan would have access to 8K video and a good portion of the Olympics would be broadcast in the 8K format.

It seems the place where all this stuff is originating from is committed to the technology, the question is will the rest of the world come close to embracing it in the same manner?

Japan has always been at the forefront of hi rez but even the jump from 1080 to 2160 just isnt that great, HDR is the big ticket though it still isnt living up to the hype - lots of work to do yet. I think our TV standards will hold us back in NA simply because of bandwidth, were still rocking 720p or 1080i and where i live cable still look like shhite. Personally , i have a 1080P plasma in my bedroom and it looks every bit as good as my LED in my theater , resolution just isnt that important. I know plenty of average people like myself and they just arent buying into the hi rez thing. We still have a video store here and the owner is a freind and he says he still rents more DVD's than BD and 4k isnt even relevant. He has 4k only becaseu it comes with the BD when he buys them. I am in the sticks and maybe its different in cities i dont know but we all have the internet so im sure we stay pretty current here. The only reason i bought a 4k player is because my BDP93 had problems with discs that had truehd sound tracks, my tv upscales so well that the difference between 4k disc and BD is not that great. I have read that its recommended you sit closer to a 4k TV to get the benefits of 4k, but i didnt buy a 70 inch tv so i could sit closer.

It sucks that Oppo is going out of the disc player business! I have to keep my 95 going as long as I can now.

Resale value will go up in theory.

Seems like they are taking the service side seriously. I'm wondering if there was one critical part (maybe the transport) that they couldn't source any more...

I took a chance and bought a UDP-203 yesterday. When I picked it up the store had maybe a dozen stacked up beside the counter, and that was just for people who were picking one up that morning !

OK, so given a choice between working outside in the freezing rain getting ready for Boomershoot (we head out tomorrow morning) or playing with the new Oppo a bit I chose the latter.

First surprise - motion-activated lighting on the remote. Dang !

I haven't changed the audio hookup (still coax to AVR) or the video hookup (still HDMI to 720p Sanyo projector) so wasn't expecting to see much in the way of different performance yet, however...

1. I do think the picture looks a bit better than the old Sony, so maybe downscaling is improved, but it could be placebo effect

2. Modern players are fast - the old Sony could take several minutes loading newer BD's, although Sony deserves a lot of credit for keeping the firmware upgrades going long enough to even run them at all

The main reason for upgrading was to get 7.1 audio and support for newer audio formats (not Atmos though, that still needs newer AVR) so that is all still to come. It will have to wait until we get back from Idaho though.

I do have to say that the one thing still surprising me is how good a 720p projector can look. That said, I'm sitting ~13 feet from a ~97" diagonal screen so AFAIK that is only 1080p territory anyways.

If there is anyone that might be interested in an Oppo BDP105 with an external Darbee VP, let me know.

I wonder why the Oppo name or brand was not sold on the open market. Surely something they had was worth selling.

AFAIK the company is still active; they just see the high end disk player business as being more or less "done" and are focusing on phones.

Oppo smartphones

720p is good if the video recording is good. Our main TV is still 720 and I see no reason to change it.
It erks me that the commercials are better image and sq than the content but so be it.
1080p on the PJ and no going back. If I had a better bluray player maybe the image would be better yet again...

My son uses a 720 plasma and sits about 5 feet from it and has zero complaints. My 1080p plasma in the bedroom looks absolutely fantastic to my eyes and no LED can match it for watching hockey. I have a LED for movies that is 4k and really unless you sit really close there is no real improvement. I have not made the jump to HDR and i doubt i will ,its like buying $10g speakers the difference just doesnt justify the price tag. I find that many new tv's look fake or artificial,maybe i am just too old school. Unless i win a lotto so i can have a PJ i dont see anymore tv,s in my future. If your feeding your tv or pj with hdmi then it is doing the upscaling and a more expensive BD player will not make any difference to your picture.