Oppo Ceasing Production of All Players, Effective Immediately

[AndyDursin]

Man, I can't see how this is a good thing for the future of 4K UHD -- these guys produced the best quality players by far. So much that you could always count on them retaining their value in resale terms.

My 4K UHD Oppo had an issue and is coming back tomorrow -- right at the same time they are jumping ship from producing players altogether. Talk about sad.

It has been 14 years since we established OPPO Digital in the United States, and with the support of our customers, technical partners, and movie/music studios, we produced many award-winning Hi-Fi audio products and universal disc players, spanning three generations from DVD, Blu-ray, to 4K UHD.

As our latest 4K UHD players reach the pinnacle of their performance, it is time to say goodbye. We are proud to have made such well-regarded products and to have served the enthusiast community. Without our customers' suggestions, encouragement, and support, we could not have accomplished these achievements.

Though OPPO Digital will gradually stop manufacturing new products, existing products will continue to be supported, warranties will still be valid, and both in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services will continue to be available. Firmware will continue to be maintained and updates released from time to time. Customers can rest assured that they will continue to receive the high quality service and support that they have come to expect from OPPO Digital.

We greatly appreciate the opportunity to have developed such exciting products for our customers. It has been an honor.

Best regards,

All of us at OPPO Digital

https://www.oppodigital.com/farewell.aspx

[Paul MacLean]

Never got around to buying an Oppo player, but had been looking into it.

Do you suppose they are closing shop due to threats or bullying from the electronics / entertainment business?

[AndyDursin]

Nah, I don't think that had anything to do with it. The last couple of generations of Oppo players have been totally by the book, to the point where the only way to get region-free Blu-Ray playback is by buying a separate region-modification kit (though all the Oppos support region free DVD playback).

[Edmund Kattak]

The question is whether or not to buy the existing units before their gone. I'd like to get the current UDP-203.

[AndyDursin]

The 203 is what I currently have. It's very good and the build quality is outstanding, though I had an issue with all kinds of discs locking up a couple of weeks ago. I just sent it out there for warranty service and they said it was contaminated with dust! Got it back earlier today and all's well again (they picked up the shipping both ways -- customer service is always excellent with them!).

The only thing I would say is that I feel my TV does a better job at upscaling Blu-Ray and DVD content to 4K than the Oppo does. The image is very good through the Oppo, but when I choose "Source Direct," I feel the TV looks even crisper and there's a tiny bit less noise.

[Eric W.]

Super bummed about this news. They have been an outstanding value for the dollar since day one.

[tjguitar85]

I had never heard of this brand. Are physical movie sales dropping the way that physical music sales have? It would be crazy if DVD players just stopped getting manufactured across the board.

[AndyDursin]

Physical media sales are down but they're still cranking tons of dollars even with DVD. Even if it becomes truly niche driven there's going to be a market for visual physical media, because streaming will have its limitations to a degree.

[sprocket]

Disappointing news.

It's interesting that Cambridge Audio's latest generation CXUHD enthusiast player, which at least in my mind is in direct competition with OPPO 203, lost the DACs included in the previous generations. They said it was to improve performance (by reducing interference), but I wondered if it was a cost cutting measure.

Should we start worrying about not being able to play blu-rays in a few years because we don't have the hardware?

[AndyDursin]

I don't see that happening -- there are plenty of players on the market and they're cheap to produce, not to mention DVD/Blu-Ray sales are still pretty strong. Video isn't like audio -- SACD never made an imprint among anyone but audiophiles, but Blu-Ray and apparently 4K UHD is selling decently. If people are still buying discs, they'll keep the market going -- may become niche driven, but it should be supported for a long ways to come.

Oppo's business model is high-end, and one big problem for them is that you can buy a quality 4K player (or the Xbox One S) for a fraction of the 203's price.

I mean, Best Buy had the Magnavox 4K UHD player for $50 last weekend! The 4K playback on the Magnavox is the same as Oppo's $550 player. The upscaling may not be as good, it doesn't support all the peripheral formats (like SACD), but if your TV does a good job, then you don't need it for that reason to begin with.

The build quality of that Magnavox is probably poor -- but it's $50. Go buy another one (or two, or three) when it breaks

[Edmund Kattak]

The 203 is what I currently have. It's very good and the build quality is outstanding, though I had an issue with all kinds of discs locking up a couple of weeks ago. I just sent it out there for warranty service and they said it was contaminated with dust! Got it back earlier today and all's well again (they picked up the shipping both ways -- customer service is always excellent with them!).

The only thing I would say is that I feel my TV does a better job at upscaling Blu-Ray and DVD content to 4K than the Oppo does. The image is very good through the Oppo, but when I choose "Source Direct," I feel the TV looks even crisper and there's a tiny bit less noise.

I still have the BDP-103 which has worked flawlessly on many levels, including the streaming of MKV files encoded with DTS-MA and Dolby TruHD. I was going to move this to the bedroom and replace the 5-year old Samsung BD player - which never worked to satisfaction.

This will still be on my radar, even though I don't own a 4k set yet.

[AndyDursin]

I'd definitely invest in the 203 especially because it's going to end up being Oppo's last hurrah. It may end up being worth a great deal more than your initial investment, because it's only been on the market a year or so and there likely haven't been that many units manufactured. (FYI Its just as region free-capable as the earlier Oppos, as I took my region mod device out of my BDP-83 before I sold it, put it in the 203 and it works the same way)

Keep in mind, in comparison with prior Oppo models, it does not have any streaming apps (can always get them elsewhere) and the HDMI input is worthless because it has all kinds of sync issues that they've never ironed out (to my knowledge at least). I tried hooking up my Roku to it and could never get it straight.

[Edmund Kattak]

I'd definitely invest in the 203 especially because it's going to end up being Oppo's last hurrah. It may end up being worth a great deal more than your initial investment, because it's only been on the market a year or so and there likely haven't been that many units manufactured. (FYI Its just as region free-capable as the earlier Oppos, as I took my region mod device out of my BDP-83 before I sold it, put it in the 203 and it works the same way)

Keep in mind, in comparison with prior Oppo models, it does not have any streaming apps (can always get them elsewhere) and the HDMI input is worthless because it has all kinds of sync issues that they've never ironed out (to my knowledge at least). I tried hooking up my Roku to it and could never get it straight.

How about the onboard video processor chip this time around? This is something that much of the streaming devices out there lack.

[AndyDursin]

This review at Highdefdigest states --

Under the hood, the machine is powered by the OP8591 quad-core CPU from MediaTek, which is a big move away from the excellent Marvell QDEO processor in the BDP-103 or the much-touted Darbee Edition player. However, the new customized chipset has so far proven itself to be an outstanding and incredibly reliable processor, doing a superb job of upscaling lower resolution content to 4K while handling Dolby Vision HDR without issue

I'd say the upscaling of lower rez content is perfectly excellent, Ed, but as Ive said before, the upscaling inherent in my Samsung 4K TV is even better than the Oppo overall, at least with Blu-Ray content. The image is a bit more detailed (and less noisy) when I set the Oppo to 'Source Direct' so I leave it there and have the TV take care of upscaling for sub-4K content. Depending on what 4K set you buy and its capabilities, you may want to do the same.

[AndyDursin]

Oppo gave us a nice parting gift by updating the "subtitle shift" so if you're watching an out of region disc where the subs can't be turned off, you can now move them entirely off the screen