Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player

[bmoney]

problem does not exist here

[richlife69]

Numerous reports in the other forum of the Oppo not being able to play some UHD discs, video and/or audio stuttering, and complete lockup.   Suggestions made to wash the disc, even before first play?   

Never had any issue with the Samsung player even with my fingerprints on the disc.

I think the disc washing is just a placebo effect.  At this point, just ejecting and reinserting the disc probably works just as well.

Maybe there is a problem with the laser in some units, or a firmware update is needed to fine tune read error correction algorithms.   Could be anything.

Actually, I've had this problem with every CD/DVD/BR/UHD BR player I've owned.  That includes the current Samsung which is only a few weeks old.  The solution, as you suggest, is often to open the drive, remove and re-insert the disc.  That probably causes the laser to re-alighn, so end of problem.  I have yet to wash a disc with the Samsung.

Another not so innocuous fix (especially for loud drive noise when playing) is to simply rub the disc edge all the way around firmly to clean or burnish any roughness (an actual reported manufacturing issue).  That worked for two previously problem free discs when used in the Samsung.

So I don't think these are "placebo" effects.  I think they are real, but easily resolved.

As for the OPPO (yes, I'm still waiting  ), out of the thousands and thousands of "first day" ship players, there really are only a few hundred complaints most of which are generally similar.  Most of these are expected to be resolved with firmware.  It's far to early in the product cycle to start the blame game.  If you are an early adopter, yes, you may get the "early adopter blues".  But most don't and almost all will get resolved with the first FW update. 

I think it's admirable of OPPO to avoid slamming out "fixes" without ensuring that they are actually fixes.  Of course, that is exactly why so many people rushed to the gate to get a 203 as soon as they were available -- the anticipation of a quality product and support.  Sort of comical, isn't it?

[AVSCraig]

I've had one or two lockups with the Samsung 4K player so far, one of which forced me to pull the power cord on it, to get it to do anything. No problems yet with the Panasonic, but I've only had it a week !

[AVSMike]

so good news and bad news...

good news is the wife somehow went online and pre-orded a opp 203 for me..and it was under the tree as the surprise of a lifetime!!! (yup shes a keeper)

bad is I wont be supporting AVS science :? but im sure I will be buying somthing from you at some point

hooked it up last night....and ran a few movie demos...so far so good!  I cant wait for HDR stripping to be corrected...cause some movies are so dark...I need to tweak a bit...but I think the oppo upscales better than the sammy...and it feels sooo good to finally have a quality player in the rack again!

merry xmas!

I have canceled your order. Hopefully Oppo gets the issues resolved quickly.

[bmoney]

I have canceled your order. Hopefully Oppo gets the issues resolved quickly.

Thanks Mike. I kinda feel guilty not buying one here. But hey a present is a present hahah.

So far I have had zero issues (other than the wrong hdr stripping). Knock on wood

[richlife69]

Love the wife and tip the hat to AVS -- not much more you can do.   

On the side, we watched the BR of Batman vs Superman last night (note, not the UHD) and had a total hang during the big Superman/monster battle.  Just stopped.  No remote, no front panel control until a very slow response to the Power button shut it down just before I pulled the plug.  Lost all location info, but after jumping to that scene again, played right through. 

Did not like the movie and will be returning the Samsung next week...

[AVSCraig]

Love the wife and tip the hat to AVS -- not much more you can do.   

On the side, we watched the BR of Batman vs Superman last night (note, not the UHD) and had a total hang during the big Superman/monster battle.  Just stopped.  No remote, no front panel control until a very slow response to the Power button shut it down just before I pulled the plug.  Lost all location info, but after jumping to that scene again, played right through. 

Did not like the movie and will be returning the Samsung next week...

That is irritating. Sounds like the movie was irritating too ( I have no interest in that title ).

[bmoney]

Ive watched probably 6 UHD discs (and more with just demoing them) and 10 BD and have had ZERO pauses, skips, dropouts etc...

maybe I am a lucky one

[jkasanic]

Never owned an Oppo as I've always thought of them as reference quality disc based players and I like to rip my media and store on my UnRAID server for ease of playback. With 4K now though and the inability (for the time being anyway) to rip discs, I could see myself moving in this direction once I upgrade my projector.  Just curious for those of you previous owners that may also stream media how playback of mkv's is with Oppo players (in particular 1:1 rips with HD audio like Atmos or DTS:X)? I just upgraded my media streamer in the hopes of eliminating some audio dropouts with Atmos content.

Well, guess I should've thought of this but since the Oppo has an optical drive, Cinavia is in effect which makes this basically useless as a media streamer.  Oh well...

[bmoney]

so IM thinking...this machine is sooo much better with HDR than the samsung (it crushed blacks badly) I may not even need the HDR-->SDR stripping.....time will tell when the firmware comes out...but so far the picture is gorgeous

and the upscaling is outstanding

[claw]

I think the disc washing is just a placebo effect.  At this point, just ejecting and reinserting the disc probably works just as well.

Maybe there is a problem with the laser in some units, or a firmware update is needed to fine tune read error correction algorithms.   Could be anything.

Huh... Oppo responding to an owner that has playback issues with some UHD discs...

We have logged your observations, but it is likely that we are already working on firmware that will address the issues that you have observed, as we are aware of some issues with the error correction used with UHD Blu-rays that will result in the type of errors that you have observed.

[ed weinman]

I received my OPPO 203 player early on upon it's issuance. I turn the player on and the OPPO menu screen appears.  However, when I start a disc (whether it be blu-ray or 4K) the initial studio trade mark sound is truncated so that I hear only the last few bars of the music.  The video does not appear at all...all this is before getting to the disc menu.  I think I'm also having problems with the 4K handshake to my JVC DLA-RS500U projector which seems to delay revving up for the 4K video/sound signal.

I'm having a similar problem with the projector and 4K NETFLIX (which I started a discussion on in the projector section).

Is this a OPPO problem and/or a JVC problem?  With both NETFLIX and OPPO problems, I'm ready to return the OPPO (if they take returns) and reduce my NETFLIX subscription to eliminate 4K so that, at least, I'll be able to watch NETFLIX via the e-shift of the projector.

Any suggestions would be greatly appeciated.

[NBPk402]

I received my OPPO 203 player early on upon it's issuance. I turn the player on and the OPPO menu screen appears.  However, when I start a disc (whether it be blu-ray or 4K) the initial studio trade mark sound is truncated so that I hear only the last few bars of the music.  The video does not appear at all...all this is before getting to the disc menu.  I think I'm also having problems with the 4K handshake to my JVC DLA-RS500U projector which seems to delay revving up for the 4K video/sound signal.

I'm having a similar problem with the projector and 4K NETFLIX (which I started a discussion on in the projector section).

Is this a OPPO problem and/or a JVC problem?  With both NETFLIX and OPPO problems, I'm ready to return the OPPO (if they take returns) and reduce my NETFLIX subscription to eliminate 4K so that, at least, I'll be able to watch NETFLIX via the e-shift of the projector.

Any suggestions would be greatly appeciated.

Have you tried the 2 HDMI cable trick...where one HDMI cable goes to the AVP/AVR (for audio), and the other goes to your projector?

[ed weinman]

Have you tried the 2 HDMI cable trick...where one HDMI cable goes to the AVP/AVR (for audio), and the other goes to your projector?

ellisr63,
...that's how I have it set up...the OPPO is 4k HDMI'd directly to the JVC HDMI 1 input.  I have the Anthem Statement D2v3d surround processor and the OPPO HDMI audio out put is connected to the Anthem.

[NBPk402]

ellisr63,
...that's how I have it set up...the OPPO is 4k HDMI'd directly to the JVC HDMI 1 input.  I have the Anthem Statement D2v3d surround processor and the OPPO HDMI audio out put is connected to the Anthem.

What HDMI cable are you using... I ask this because I have seen elsewhere that the cable can make a difference in working with the Oppo.