Oppo UDP-203 Ultra HD Blu-ray Player

[NBPk402]

Just picked up a couple of 4K discs to try out in the 203... Deepwater Horizon, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

[AVSCraig]

Just picked up a couple of 4K discs to try out in the 203... Deepwater Horizon, and Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.

I think Deepwater Horizon just arrived from Amazon !! 

[TWISM]

Yup, I got The Accountant and Deep Water Horizon yesterday, trying to find some time to watch them!

[NBPk402]

I think Deepwater Horizon just arrived from Amazon !! 

That is where I usually get my BRs too. Today I redeemed a gift card at BB so I had to go to BB.

[claw]

UPS delivered my Oppo today.  Thanks Mike and AVS.

I initially connected it to a 1080p TV to do the Beta firmware update.  Then placed it into its permanent home.

Device chain is Oppo -> Denon x4200w -> JVC RS500.
Oppo supplied HDMI cable to AVR.   
Blue Jeans Series1 25 foot cable from AVR to RS500.

With factory Auto settings, Home screen came up with no issues.

Home Screen...........4K60 4:2:2 12-bit
UHD Disc.................4K24 4:2:2 BT2020 12-bit HDR
BD Disc...................4K24 4:2:2 BT709 12bit
HDR OFF.................4K24 4:2:2 SDR BT709 12-bit
HDR Strip Metadata..4K24 4:2:2 SDR BT2020 12bit
After stopping disc playback Home screen returns to 4K60 4:2:2 12-bit.


Changed display settings to:

Custom Resolution: UHD Auto
Color Space: 4:4:4

Home Screen....4K60 4:4:4 8-bit
UHD Disc..........4K24 4:4:4 BT.2020 12-bit HDR


Changed Display Settings to:

Output Resolution: Source Direct
Custom Resolution: UHD Auto

Menu.............1080p/60
UHD Disc.......4K24 4:2:2 BT.2020 12-bit HDR
Blu Ray Disc...1080p/24 4:4:4 12-bit BT709

With everything set to Auto, it appears that the Oppo and RS500 prefer 4:2:2 over 4:4:4 so I will leave it that way for now.  I might use Source Direct if standard Blu Ray at 1080p with JVC e-Shift looks better than the Oppo scaling output to 4K.

While I was experimenting with the display settings, I noticed that UHD HDR looked rather darker than I expected it to.  So I performed a quick check with the Masciola HDR 10 Black and White Clipping patterns.

With RS500:

Low Lamp
Iris: Manual -5

Gamma D: 12/2/7
Contrast: 10
Brightness: 1

Increased Contrast in the Oppo to +6 to be able to see the 1000 nit square in the white clipping pattern flash and nothing above.
Increased Brightness in the Oppo to +4 to be able to see the 77 bar in the black clipping pattern flash and nothing below.

With these settings I watched scenes from a number of my UHD discs in HDR and the RS500 iris set to manual -5.   This fixed the overly dark image I had previously noticed.   Image was so much better than my Samsung could ever do.

I was extremely impressed with HDR from Lucy, Kingsman, and Pacific Rim.   Star Trek Beyond was still somewhat dark, but it wasn't frustratingly so.  It looked like what you would expect to see in low light and night scenes.

I am going to stick with HDR for now.  At least until Oppo fixes BT.2020 SDR conversion.   But even then I believe I will still enjoy bright films like Kinsgman a lot more in HDR.


Edit:  I have backed off the Oppo brightness and contrast settings for HDR viewing to +3/+4 from +4/+6.   Perhaps my RS500 was not sufficiently warmed up when I made the first tests with the HDR patterns.

[richlife69]

You should check to see if your TV supports BT.2020 wide color gamut.    If not then you might want to set HDR to Off instead of Strip Metadata.

I had actually verified this before, but your post sent me back to make sure.  While the display looks good with BT.709 or BT.2020, the colors are cleaner with 2020.  Sort of what you expect with good eyesight.    

ellisr63, I finally unburied my bluray of The Endless River and have to agree.  I had sort of misplaced it (right next to the CD).  When it first came out, I had a totally different equipment layout (except my base 7.2 speakers).  Playing this BR on a DTS:X setup (A3060) with the OPPO makes an enormous difference.  Thanks once again...

[AVSMike]

Well soon I will have a projector to pair with my Oppo.

[AVSCraig]

Well soon I will have a projector to pair with my Oppo.

About time !

[ronman79]

And....it will be the ____________!!!!!

[ed weinman]

...well...I'm returning the OPPO 203...I put back the OPPO blu-ray player and it was like a breath of fresh air to just put in a blu-ray disc and have it start immediately with no video/sound problems...maybe I received very early on a unit from the first batch of units sold...maybe there is a problem with it...I just can't take the problems I've been having each and every time I try to watch something...

Perhaps the 205 might address some of these issues...the OPPO technician said that it might...(or not)...
I'll wait awhile after it's release and read from these discussion groups what the feelings are then...

It's a great disappointment because, when it did work (seldom) I loved the image/sound. 

[bmoney]

...well...I'm returning the OPPO 203...I put back the OPPO blu-ray player and it was like a breath of fresh air to just put in a blu-ray disc and have it start immediately with no video/sound problems...maybe I received very early on a unit from the first batch of units sold...maybe there is a problem with it...I just can't take the problems I've been having each and every time I try to watch something...

Perhaps the 205 might address some of these issues...the OPPO technician said that it might...(or not)...
I'll wait awhile after it's release and read from these discussion groups what the feelings are then...

It's a great disappointment because, when it did work (seldom) I loved the image/sound.

interesting...I think its unit to unit not necessarily when it was produced...my wife ordered mine as soon as preoreder opened....and she said it was shipped same day....so I definitely got first batch...and have had literally zero issues

too bad you have to send it back...I am enamored with mine

[AVSMike]

And....it will be the ____________!!!!!

RS4500.

[ed weinman]

interesting...I think its unit to unit not necessarily when it was produced...my wife ordered mine as soon as preoreder opened....and she said it was shipped same day....so I definitely got first batch...and have had literally zero issues

too bad you have to send it back...I am enamored with mine

bmoney,

What HDMI cable are you using?

[bmoney]

bmoney,

What HDMI cable are you using?

I forget exactly which one. But it is a 12$ white one from amazon

Edit;
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[ronman79]

RS4500.

I know we've already talked about this, Mike, but CONGRATS!!! So, how far is it from NW MS to your place!???