Oppo themselves thought they would run out of 203s by early June at the latest. They may have miscalculated. I think people are automatically assuming Oppo's decision portends a dire fate for physical media, but anyone paying attention to Oppo over the past couple of years realized they made several critical business errors bringing out their line of UHD players, which had less to do with physical media's decline and more about their own actions. The lack of streaming, general reports of discs not working on early units, the pricing - I could go on and on breaking down how Oppo ended up folding.
Sorry, but it’s all about the death of physical media. It’s not just Oppo that is facing this reality.
I believe the 205 has one SMPS with a bobbin transformer and one linear power supply with a toroidal transformer.
I'd have to disagree with you on the fact that Oppo is getting out of the A/V business due to mistakes on their part. If that was true then why are their players in such high demand? Sure Oppo dropped streaming on the 203 and 205 but streaming devices are readily available if one needs that feature. I have no desire for streaming so Oppo players are a perfect fit. As far as having 4K disc playback issues I do recall reading about that. But Oppo worked that out and the 203 and 205 are not having those issues now from what I've read. If you look at any 4k players most have had issues at launch or at other times. No such thing as a perfect player.
Here's one from a different title Bill.. Pioneer BDP-LX88 review - Blu-ray Players I'll take a guess and say the What Hifi review nicked a star because the Pioneer was a bit lean for its liking and didn't big up on the streaming functions. I could stream a bunch of services off my old Sony TV from 2011. I wouldn't look to a player to do it I must admit, so WHF's gripe is a little off piste in 2015. Otherwise, in the right system I think the Pioneer would be a good shout. Horses for courses and all that. I recall WHF reckoned my old Marantz SA7001-KI CD player was lean sounding, but it worked a treat in my setup at the time.
Looks very nice! No asynchronous USB DAC input, optical input, or coax input. That means one has to use the Pioneer's own interface in order to stream through its DAC (via network or attached USB stick/hard drive). That's a deal-breaker for me, although I'm sure for some others it's not.
They wrote me and said they thought that they easily had enough on stock, to the point that the OPPO rep said I should have no problem ordering a 203 after I moved to Colorado (June 1st). In fact, he thought their current stock would last through the summer. So it appears that they underestimated -- drastically -- the demand for 203s -- that might justify them making another production run (same story, different chapter, for the 205).
Did you get it on eBay? I grabbed one there since it was such a ridiculous price. Mine is a bit beat up but works perfectly. And yes, the audio through the analogs is superb.
My understanding from the WHF review was very positive, that they had given the LX58 5 stars and, in their opinion, the LX88 just wasn't worth the extra money combined with none 4k which was just coming in dropped it a star. If I remember correctly WHF didn't specify whether they were using the analogue or HDMI out either. Hence their review and star rating was, IMO, tainted. Maybe my recollection is wrong?
If they’re in such “high” demand, why are they calling it a day? I think it’s a combo of product decisions in the near term and the longer term viability of their niche.
Back when Oppo first made the announcement I called and they said there should be enough stock of 205s to last till June. Well the demand for the 205 caused availability to be gone within a week or two if my memory serves me right.
They didn't quote me June on the 205, but were very noncommittal in early April. I think the reports of the 205 being sold out started around April 6. Surprised them for sure. Laughingly, one article announcing Oppo's decision speculated on price drops to clear out stock...
I think BBK reallocated their manufacturing assets away from the low margin, low volume business, namely audio-video; and towards, instead, their high margin, high volume business, phones. As none of us were invited to the board room, all we can do is speculate.
Have you previously owned a 83? My experience is that the 83 has had the best up-scaling DVD chip ever (Anchor Bay VRS).
I think that is the gist of it: BBK is the OEM, and if they said they don't want to build Oppo Digital's players for them anymore, then the decision has been made higher up the food chain. Presumably BBK have some seats on Oppo Digital's board and probably also called the shots on the wind-down through that mechanism. Knowing the folks at Oppo Digital and their enthusiasm for the brand, its mission, and its products--as well as its customer base--I have to think that this decision was probably somewhat forced upon them, and not something they would enter into of their own volition.
They're not the only ones. Cambridge ditched the DACs in their current universal player rendering it transport only. The sales in volume aren't there, not for the kind of gear at that level that's being turned out.
205 does streaming but no apps. You can use it through smart TV or Chromecast etc to give useful streaming capabilities.
I think BBK has successfully destroyed something uncommonly rare in business today: a company which makes truly great award winning products and invites long-term appreciation for the product line and loyalty for the brand from consumers because of the customer service and product quality. People don't just own an OPPO machine, they have pride in it and want to tell others about it. Flippin' cellphones are as much of a curse as they are an incredible convenience. The cellphone has caused so many things to crumble in modern society.
Why on earth has Cambridge done that? With cheap memory and high end musical servers available now there is little point of a transport only device today?
Yes, but it's mainly UK companies like the BFI and Arrow who insist on doing this and it is primarily because over here the DVD market is still 10 times bigger than Blu-ray (let alone 4K). Put simply, most people who bother to buy films these days will make casual purchases at supermarkets whilst waiting to pay for their shopping. These people will buy the cheapest option: DVD. The supposed idea behind the "Dual Format" releases is to tease people who buy the DVD with the prospect that they also own a superior mastering of the same film which they can benefit from only by upgrading their equipment to Blu-ray and / or HDTV. Most households have the latter but surprisingly few have the former. The dual format is to promote and encourage migration to full HD formats.
Yes, it was on Ebay for $279. Amazon is selling the UBP-X800 for $298 right now, so yeah, a ridiculous price as you say.
