Oppo UDP-203 4K UHD Blu-ray player | Brand new release today

[NorthStar]

Thanks. It was a new upgrade for me. Working in computer network software I know that nothing is ever in its prime.

Bud, I suspected that a little; because most people don't update to Beta firmwares, they wait for the Official ones.
So yes, you are going to find out some improvements...as mentioned in the link.
One day @ a time ....
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* I wasn't thinking in posting this link but what the heck; it cannot hurt anyone and it can help few...
I started it on January 08, 2017 ? Panasonic DMP-UB900 versus Oppo UDP-203 | UHD Blu-ray players (All) | Comparisons...
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I used to be in my prime...back then. :b

 

[RBFC]

We watched The Revenant in 4K HDR via my new OPPO yesterday and it was superb. Fine detail and the use of lighting elevated the experience.

Lee

 

[NorthStar]

Hi Lee,

The Revenant was filmed in using the natural light as its main artistic vision from the filmmaker/director, Alejandro González Iñárritu.
You have a top-notch Sony Z9 4K TV; the visual experience must be elevated indeed.

Do you have some occasional issues with your new Oppo 203 UHD BR player?
Do you occasionally watch 3D Blu-ray movies?
Did you ever consider testing the Panasonic DMP-UB900 UHD BR player with your high-end Sony 4K TV?

Best cheers,
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* Bonus:
• HDR-10 | UHD Test Patterns
• R.Masciola's AVScience Forum Thread

 

[YashN]

We watched The Revenant in 4K HDR via my new OPPO yesterday and it was superb. Fine detail and the use of lighting elevated the experience.

The colour palette is quite restricted though.

One of the things I really enjoyed watching it in 4K was seeing more of Di Caprio's acting performance because of how clearly you can see his eyes.

 

[RBFC]

The fine detail indeed contributed to the experience. Hair, skin, wounds, and clothing detail is what this picture was about. The look of running water, as in the opening scene, was extremely natural. The lighting, quite different from most studio material, provided a realistic look to things. A very bleak atmosphete in Calgary for sure!

I dialed down the color a bit (from earlier photos I posted of the TV), and am quite pleased with the look. I have only had one issue with playback, and am unsure if it is the player or my processor. Pausing a movie for an extended (hour, maybe more) caused the audio to be lost, probably an HDMI handshake issue. Restarting the player restored everything immediately.

Lee

 

[BlueFox]

Guess I now have to rebuy The Revenant in 4K. LOL.

What I remember from the BR is the sound is also superb in this movie. Together with 4K video it must be an awesome movie experience.

 

[RBFC]

Guess I now have to rebuy The Revenant in 4K. LOL.

What I remember from the BR is the sound is also superb in this movie. Together with 4K video it must be an awesome movie experience.

Still waiting on the new Krell processors that have ATMOS/DTS:X capability. The sound on this movie is supposedly an even bigger upgrade than the video!

Lee

 

[YashN]

Guess I now have to rebuy The Revenant in 4K. LOL.

The Meta-Revenant...

 

[NorthStar]

• Reference | The Revenant Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
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Bonus:

• Sicario - Shot in 3.4K / VFX Rendered in 4K
• Deadpool - Shot in 3.4K (few scenes 4K, 5K and 35mm) / VFX Rendered in 2K
• The Revenant - Shot in 3.4K (some scenes 6.5K) / VFX Rendered in 2K

Extra:

• Lucy
• X-Men: Apocalypse
• Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

• Pacific Rim
• The Shallows
• The Martian

• Life of Pi
• Mad Max: Fury Road
• Everest

• Oblivion
• In the Heart of the Sea
• Jupiter Ascending

 

[NorthStar]

Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player Review: The Return Of The King | January 27, 2017

Forbes, Fortune magazines...I used to read them.

Forbes is an American business magazine. Published bi-weekly, it features original articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. Forbes also reports on related subjects such as technology, communications, science, and law. Its headquarters is located in Jersey City, New Jersey. Primary competitors in the national business magazine category include Fortune and Bloomberg Businessweek. The magazine is well known for its lists and rankings, including its lists of the richest Americans and rankings of world's top companies. Another well-known list by the magazine is the The World's Billionaires list.

Latest Review: Oppo UDP-203 UHD BR Player - by John Archer (Jan 27, 2017) | Forbes
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This is not a scientific review with accurate measurements and well constructed comparisons.
It is not a professional review by an expert visual engineer.

Anyway, we can all read and form our own opinion on his own opinion.
Mine is this; from my various readings there has been one firmware update on the Oppo 203, plus the 3D Blu-ray playback needs to be fixed, plus there are few more issues (important ones) that still need to be addressed.

From the Forbes' review: "The thing is, the deck has already received multiple firmware updates (culminating in the 1229B platform this review is based on),"

[The 1229B (Beta) firmware update has been upgraded to 'Official' status; the exact same firmware, the only one so far.]

Brief, @ this 'time in point' the 203 looks to me like a player in progress, a player relating on its first batch of purchasers to improve it, through future firmwares updates. Amazon doesn't carry it yet, because it is not ready for mass public market. That might come in March.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Oppo

"We do not yet know this as we are waiting for a more "bullet proof" firmware for the player to be available before we start to sell the units to a mass market distributor like Amazon.com. Likely it will be around March at this point in time."
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I will keep you posted of any pertinent change worthy of mention. If things are quiet right now it's because "work in progress".
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Firmware Update History:

- UPDATED 12/12/2016 - Pre-Release Players Offered to Select Customers and NDA lifted
- UPDATED 12/16/2016 - Players Officially Offered to General Public (pre-installed with original ver. 1209)
- UDPATED 1/3/2017 - Public Beta 33-1229 Firmware Released
- UDPATED 1/19/2017 - Official 33-1229 Firmware Released (one firmware update, since December 12, 2016)

* The Forbes reviewer referred to the 1229B (Beta one released on January 3, 2017). ...Which is the same as the Official one released later on on January 19, 2017. ...No "multiple" here.

 

[NorthStar]

Small correction regarding firmware update history from my last post, which cannot be edited.
So the editing/correction is this:

"All the OPPO UDP-203 players that shipped between December 12th 2016 thru around December 31st 2016 had BETA firmware installed that pre-dated the official December 12th firmware. So OPPO Digital INC included a DVD-R optical disc with the official UDP20X-29-1209 firmware, just in case someone did not have a active internet connection. So for some people there have been literally two official firmware releases, one on Dec 12th 2016, and another one on January 19th 2017."

The reason why I mentioned it is because accuracy is important.

Firmware Update History:

- UPDATED 12/12/2016 - Pre-Release Players Offered to Select Customers and NDA lifted
- UPDATED 12/16/2016 - Players Officially Offered to General Public (including a separate DVD-R with firmare 1209)
- UDPATED 1/3/2017 - Public Beta 33-1229 Firmware Released
- UDPATED 1/19/2017 - Official 33-1229 Firmware Released (two firmware updates, since December 12, 2016 - but one for some people, from January 1st, 2017's shipments)

* The Forbes reviewer (John Archer) referred to the 1229B (Beta released on January 3, 2017). ...Which is the same as the Official one released later on on January 19, 2017. ...No "multiple" here, one or two, depending on the shipment date.
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I will not update this thread till the Oppo 203 becomes a more stable UHD BR player for "everyone". ...Meaning for the majority. ...Whenever that time will be.
But everyone is free to contribute his own opinion, good and/or bad experiences. ...Owners, prospective buyers, observers, ...everyone, anyone.
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? Bonus: HDMI 2.1 Specification Announcement

 

[NorthStar]

Latest Firmware Update | Beta

I will keep an eye wide open (reading it all) on this Latest Public Beta Test Release
Then the next step would be the confirmation to become Public Official Firmware Update

 

[BlueFox]

After doing the last upgrade the only issue I currently have is sometimes I have to power cycle to get the audio. There might be another work around, but doing a power cycle cleans it up.

 

[NorthStar]

Also, after you update to that last firmware:
- Do a factory reset (write down first all your settings)
- And clear persistent memory

It might not save you from grace...it is the recommended procedure.
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Now, from personal experience, not with the 203 (yet) but with the 103:
- I use a universal remote control, Harmony, and I power my components in some sequence; source (Oppo) first, display next, pre/pro last.
- I also add a delay between them; approximately 3-5 seconds.

That might help too, and you can experiment with both the order you turn your units on, and the delay between them.
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So far it doesn't look like that I will be adding much to this thread, not till the next firmware update.
Few things seem to have improved, but there are still issues remaining, important picture issues.
In less than twelve hours that's what it boils down to, from an average. I'll check in the next twelve...
This might be a long journey...it takes nerves of steel to watch movies with hiccups, and check all settings, start all over, test this test that readjust this reset that...tra-la-la...some people don't like cleaning already clean discs and keep checking their HDMI connections and unplug their player from the wall outlet and plug it back on again...for some more picture banding, more audio dropouts, clipping, picture cut out, frame stuttering, slow downs, compression artifacts, ...when other 4K BR players don't have all those issues during movie watching. Film viewing is like a religion; you are either committed to the entire movie experience during the film's representation or you just sample few scenes here and there from various formats...testing and adjusting and retesting and readjusting. The later is no fun experience.

I understand though up to a point; it's the first Oppo 4K BR player, and 4K is still relatively new and it's not easy to have everything in order together from both the display, the source, and the switcher. The flip side of that coin is that there are other 4K BR players not exhibiting similar.

Yeah, nobody wants to be diverted when invested in movie watching. Some get lucky, others don't.
It's complicated. One person see nothing amiss, others see differently. One machine works fine for some, the same machine doesn't for others.
...Different setups, cables, displays, setting, etc. including different set of eyes and what those eyes are looking for.

Topic: New Oppo UDP-203 4K UHD Blu-ray player.
Status: Still a work in progress.

 

[audioguy]

Before buying "4K" movies, you may want to check out THIS site. It lists all of the "4K" releases and identifies those that are Real 4K and those are up sampled from 2K Masters (now referred to as Faux 4K). In my experience, those "Faux" 4K movies provide no better image than the 1080P version that is up sampled by either my Oppo or the projector.

Because, as Bob noted, the whole 4K thing is in such flux, I ONLY buy 4K when it is the only version that provides 3D audio. "Lucy" is a perfect example of that. And until my PJ gets calibrated by someone who is on top of the 4K mess, the Oppo allows me to strip off HDR and watch it that way. Then I don't have to deal with the overly dark scenes in so many movies, Lucy included.

 

[es347]

..forgive me in advance for asking what might be a dumb question. I currently am running an old BDP-83 with an Epson 6010 FP. I don't intend to replace the 1080p Epson so is there an advantage in upgrading to the 4K Oppo? Thanks..

 

[audioguy]

..forgive me in advance for asking what might be a dumb question. I currently am running an old BDP-83 with an Epson 6010 FP. I don't intend to replace the 1080p Epson so is there an advantage in upgrading to the 4K Oppo? Thanks..

I my opinion, that would be a big fat "no" unless you are using analog outs from the BDP-83, in which case it might be big fat "maybe".

 

[NorthStar]

Before buying "4K" movies, you may want to check out THIS site. It lists all of the "4K" releases and identifies those that are Real 4K and those are up sampled from 2K Masters (now referred to as Faux 4K). In my experience, those "Faux" 4K movies provide no better image than the 1080P version that is up sampled by either my Oppo or the projector.

Yes, I am already familiar with that site Chuck, thx.
I am just a beginner, a learner, a reader, a highly interested person in today's visuals...4K, 3D, HDR, Dolby Vision, Dolby 'Elevation'.
The Oppo 203 has grabbed my interest, very. I am also 100% unbiased; meaning that it don't matter to me if a girl is good lookin' or not when having a good heart inside her.

I've read some more this morning; I'm going to be honest. Right now I am deeply suffering. I have never insulted anyone, like insulting to insult.
The music and movie hobby is one of my loved passions. I love people who share those passions like me. I love good nature/humorous/peaceful people.
I love learning, discussions, sharing, and yet all my privileges were unjustly taken away from me (@ another site). I have no grudge, I don't even know what exactly transcended but I do know that it was unfair. * I am referring to another website of the internet.

I find it extremely sad the situation right now.
Sorry about that; it's been almost a month and I've never mentioned it.

I am very interested in the Oppo 203, obviously, or I wouldn't have started this thread in the first place.
But I am also very disappointed.

I will try my very best to learn more with time. Meanwhile you, Bud, and whoever else here who is using the 203, please share some of your own experience, like Bud just did yesterday after that just fresh newly released firmware update. I learn from you guys too, I have questions too.

Because, as Bob noted, the whole 4K thing is in such flux, I ONLY buy 4K when it is the only version that provides 3D audio. "Lucy" is a perfect example of that. And until my PJ gets calibrated by someone who is on top of the 4K mess, the Oppo allows me to strip off HDR and watch it that way. Then I don't have to deal with the overly dark scenes in so many movies, Lucy included.

Yes, very true that. But there are other 4K BR players that play nice right now; from Panasonic, and Samsung.

Chuck (and I'm sure Bud too); we read the right threads of our interest. ...The JVC projectors threads, the 4K BR players threads, ...all that jazz.
We're film lovers, no doubt, and we're not alone. And we're smart too; we can feel the overall trends, and we try our very best to learn and accommodate and respect.

I'm hurt, no doubt. But I'll remain calm, composed, and I will keep sharing my very best from this moving hobby that I love...because music and films matter.

If my brother would be asking me: "Robert, which 4K BR player should I get for my brand new LG OLED UHD DV TV"?
I'd probably say just wait a little; LG has one, Sony too. And their prices are $299 MSRP. ...Street will be less, and the Sony has a promo...two 4K BR titles to choose from about 15 titles, free. My brother is not rich, my Mom is; and to her I recommended the Panasonic 900 to go with her 4K Sony TV.
Her place (she lives in a luxurious condo) looks like Trump's penthouse in New York City. She's more into decoration than high tech. And she's a classical movie lover (live concerts) and film lover too. She likes films like 'The Revenant', 'The Hateful Eight', ...
She also loves cruise ships.

If a high-end videophile would ask me the same with his 9500 JVC projector; I think he would have already the answer to that.
Or he would be experimenting with the Oppo 203, or watching 4K BR movies with the Panny 900.
{My Mom she's no explorer, she wants to live life simply for the next 20 years or more.}

 

[audioguy]

I've read some more this morning; I'm going to be honest. Right now I am deeply suffering. I have never insulted anyone, like insulting to insult.
The music and movie hobby is one of my loved passions. I love people who share those passions like me. I love good nature/humorous/peaceful people.
I love learning, discussions, sharing, and yet all my privileges were unjustly taken away from me. I have no grudge, I don't even know what exactly transcended but I do know that it was unfair.

I find it extremely sad the situation right now.
Sorry about that; it's been almost a month and I've never mentioned it.

What privileges were taken away? And by whom and why?

If my brother would be asking me: "Robert, which 4K BR player should I get for my brand new LG OLED UHD DV TV"?
I'd probably say just wait a little; LG has one, Sony too. And their prices are $299 MSRP. ...Street will be less, and the Sony has a promo...two 4K BR titles to choose from about 15 titles, free.

4K apparently works a lot better on flat panel displays that on projectors since they simply don't have enough inherent brightness to provide all of the advantages. I would agree that, in your example, I would tell your brother to wait as well. Not only will some of the 4K kinks get worked out (studio standards among them) but more choice in hardware and software will be available.

 

[NorthStar]

..forgive me in advance for asking what might be a dumb question. I currently am running an old BDP-83 with an Epson 6010 FP. I don't intend to replace the 1080p Epson so is there an advantage in upgrading to the 4K Oppo? Thanks..

I my opinion, that would be a big fat "no" unless you are using analog outs from the BDP-83, in which case it might be big fat "maybe".

To me, the main purpose of the Oppo 4K BR player is to play 4K BR movies on a 4K display.
Two, the most important thing in life is "operation". Meaning that it has to work for what it was intended for.

So I'm with Chuck.