Oppo UDP-203 4K UHD Blueray player

Emlyn · December 2016

Right, the 203 has no analog video outputs so makes sense for the 205 to not have them either. There's no reason for OPPO to eliminate analog audio outputs from the 205 as that is its sole purpose for existing above the price point of the 203.

mrbiron · December 2016

I wish companies that produce receivers would do the same. Strip 80% of the obsolete connections and get with the times. We're not running VHS anymore....

pitdogg2 · December 2016

My point was this folks. We really do not know what is in store in say 10yrs down the road. Will the analog outputs for sound still be around maybe I can't say for sure. DAC's are getting a lot cheaper the great dac's used now in these players that are so coveted are right now being used in high end pre's and AVR's or will be soon. Next year they may be in the mid grade gear or soon after. My point was keeping it the digital realm for all bass management and such was not so bad for me with my 3805/3910 combo.

Am I missing something here as we now send a digital signal to the TV through the HDMI. Are we watching a digital picture from our display? The only analog I thought was the sound coming out of the speakers. That too may change as Meridian made active digital speakers 20yrs. ago who's to say in the future we will not be hooking up our speakers to an Ethernet cable? Well that certainly would negate any analog outputs on our gear if it did happen. If Hollywood had their way we would not be buying 5"disc's now the problem is our internet infrastructure is woefully inadequate now for most streaming on a grand scale in 4K-5K with HDR according to an article I have recently read somewhere. The bandwidth this stuff uses is huuuge and most providers are not prepared yet.

And then there's this from a link provided in this thread.

"That 4k TV You Just Bought Is Already Obsolete

Sadly, the Ultra HD rollout has been a confusing mess. The UHD Alliance only just recently settled on some of these critical features, and 4k TVs purchased in the past (even many still available in stores today) may not be compatible with either the enhanced colors or High Dynamic Range. To truly take advantage of everything that Ultra HD Blu-ray offers, you need to have a display labeled with the new “Ultra HD Premium” branding.

Even then, with three competing optional HDR standards, there’s no guarantee that the HDR decoder built into any given Ultra HD Premium set will be able to decode the HDR format on a specific Ultra HD Blu-ray disc. What a disaster!"

In the same link it showed that some movies are being filmed in 5K and down converted to 4K so how long can 4K be around?

I'm just playing devils advocate here thinking a little outside the box. We are now buying stuff that is mostly obsolete as we buy it so manufacturers can recoup R&D on the next big thing they are already bringing out in 16mo. It's crazy trying to keep up.

My kids do not want any media they stream everything. In the insurance industry I'm in kids do not want reps to bother them they want a website to buy everything click pay boom done. It seems to be what all the industry is working on to some degree as the younger generation wants everything on their smart phone.

let the flaming begin I'm donning my fire-suit

Thorton · December 2016

"Does the UDP-203 have any built-in streaming services such as Netflix or VUDU? In order to provide a premium user experience with quick start-up times and fast response, the UDP-203 is designed with a purist approach in mind for disc and file playback, and so it does not carry internet video and music streaming apps. Instead, an HDMI 2.0 input port that supports UHD resolution is available for users to connect an external streaming device. This approach affords users the flexibility to choose from a wide range of streaming devices and easily upgrade as streaming technologies evolve, while still taking advantage of the UDP-203's audio and video processing capabilities."

Not a deal breaker but I wish the player had streaming apps so I could use the dedicated audio out instead of the TV ARC for Amazon Prime. Especially if Amazon ever goes Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD Master Audio. I'd prefer not to have to purchase an external streamer.

mdaudioguy · December 2016

DSkip wrote: »

Who does analog video anymore? Is that a thing?

Lol, my VCR crushes all your digital crap. Ones and zeroes??? Please...

ken brydson · December 2016

mdaudioguy wrote: »

DSkip wrote: »

Who does analog video anymore? Is that a thing?

Lol, my VCR crushes all your digital crap. Ones and zeroes??? Please...

Don't get us started on laserdiscs. I've got a 16 page thread to throw at ya...

footwedge · December 2016

mrbiron wrote: »

I wish companies that produce receivers would do the same. Strip 80% of the obsolete connections and get with the times. We're not running VHS anymore....

Agree 100%.

tonyb · December 2016

Agreed on the video outputs, but audio outputs won't be disappearing anytime soon.

We've had this discussion before about connections. Remember the whole HDMI thing and their constant versions ? The industry changes things on purpose, built in obsolesce so you have to keep buying new gear every few years to stay current.

Doing away with analog outputs is akin to cutting off your nose to spite your face in the audio world. All those BDP'ers without analog outputs are basically just transports. Your receiver is doing all the decoding and using it's dac .

polkfarmboy · December 2016

Has anyone here streamed 4k? If so what is the damage to your broadband bandwidth allowance?

BlueFox · December 2016

I received this yesterday, and just hooked it up. Very simple swap out with the 103. Unplug the power, HDMI, and Ethernet, and plug into the 203. Being so new it came with a firmware upgrade disk, which installed with no issue. A quick run through of the Setup options showed nothing needed to be changed, and a quick test with a Blue Ray showed it was working as expected.

Now the HT is warming up, and maybe 5 hours or so from now I will install the Mad Max 4K UHD disk, and see what happens. I am debating whether to play my regular Blue Ray version before the 4K, or after the 4K, in order to get an idea of the improvement.

All in all, the 203 is typical Oppo. It is well packed, and in a nice bag. The manual is extensive, and the remote is very close to the 103 remote. One thing I like already about the remote is that it is motion sensitive. Pick it up, and the buttons light up. Put it down, and it goes dark.

Time to pack up the 103 into the 203 box.

ken brydson · December 2016

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Has anyone here streamed 4k? If so what is the damage to your broadband bandwidth allowance?

You and damage go hand in hand...

ken brydson · December 2016

DSkip wrote: »

ken brydson wrote: »

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Has anyone here streamed 4k? If so what is the damage to your broadband bandwidth allowance?

You and damage go hand in hand...

Actually I think damage fears pfb more than pfb fears damage.

Kinda Chuck Norris thing?

afterburnt · December 2016

I do need a new universal transport, why should I get this over a Marantz 5000 series.? I am more interested in the Oppo's 4k upconvert but what's really important is the DAC for music

BlueFox · December 2016

Last night around 11PM I decided to try out the Oppo and TV with the Mad Max 4K UHD BlueRay, and I get this message on the screen.

WTF!?!? Does that mean?

Since by then I have had a few beers I decide that troubleshooting has DANGER written all over it, so I went back to the stereo.

Today I spent a lot of time trying to understand the issue, and this is what found out. If I go to both the TV and the Oppo and switch HDR from Auto to On then I get a great looking picture. If I put a regular BR in then that looks terrible, so I am assuming I am getting a 4K HDR picture. However, that message still appears when the Oppo is first turned on.

Another thing I discovered is the Onkyo SC5509 preamp has HDMI sync problems when the TV and Oppo are in HDR mode. To fix that I have to run the HDMI cable from the Oppo to the TV versus from the Onkyo to the TV, and run a cable from the Oppo Audio Out HDMI port to the Onkyo.

Also, something futzed up the TV during all this, and it stopped responding to the remote. I had to power cycle the TV to regain control. I need to hook the TV up to the home network and see if there any firmware updates. Plus Monday I need to contact Sony and Oppo to let them know of this issue.

Thorton · December 2016

HDMI is a pain in the buttski. I don't believe your 5509 is HDMI 2.0 compliant so you would need to connect the Oppo directly to the TV and the HDMI audio out on the Oppo to the 5509 as you've done. I've had to hook my video sources directly to the TV and not through the pre/pro since the picture quality was lowered.

Emlyn · December 2016

Thorton wrote: »

HDMI is a pain in the buttski. I don't believe your 5509 is HDMI 2.0 compliant so you would need to connect the Oppo directly to the TV and the HDMI audio out on the Oppo to the 5509 as you've done. I've had to hook my video sources directly to the TV and not through the pre/pro since the picture quality was lowered.

Right, the Onkyo will not pass through the native 4K image or HDR since it's a 3 or 4 year old model. It will only upscale a Blu-Ray or other less than 4K video source to 4K. This is why the 4K players have two HDMI outputs, one for connection of video straight to a TV and one for audio into an older receiver or pre/pro. Running through a recently released receiver or pre/pro with HDMI 2.0 compliance only requires one HDMI connection into the receiver or pre-pro then out to the TV. My receiver is HDMI 2.0 compliant as is my TV so I get the 4K image directly but my TV is two years old so does not process the HDR coding.

This stuff is way more subversive in getting people to spend more money than 3D video processing was. Fortunately, the manufacturers provide two HDMI outputs for a 4K player as a partial work around. HDR is the big deal with the new format though, so not having an HDR compatible TV is a bummer.

BlueFox · December 2016

So I was thinking about what I wrote above, and it occurred to me all my experiments were trying to get rid of the onscreen message, and not about whether the disk played or not. I just went back and set everything to Auto versus HDR being forced On. It turns out the movie plays as expected, and looks great, so it must be 4K. This is great since it would be a PITA to have to go through this exercise when going between regular BRs and 4K BRs.

Emlyn · December 2016

I sometimes get the message popup with a Samsung player too in Auto mode, but the movie plays through in 4K format fine anyway.

honestaquarian · December 2016

I own an Onkyo PR-SC5509 (*which was the subject of a HUGE debate/argument here on the forum a while back about the upgrade company upgrades to it-which COMPLETELY changed the sound for the better by an order of magnitude*)
ANYWAY It does not pass 4K,it only upsacles to 4K.So you would need to use the audio only out to the Onkyo and the other HDMI 2.0 compliant out directly to the display device like you did.

BlueFox · December 2016

I missed that SC5509 thread, but I like mine. It was a big upgrade for me over the Sony AVR I was using just as a preamp.

Emlyn · December 2016

There's no reason to get rid of the SC5509 other than conveience. Just need to run two HDMI cables out of the Oppo and put up with an inconvenience of switching TV inputs to see the 4K video. I got a new receiver not because of the Samsung 4K player, which has dual HDMI outputs, but because I got an Amazon Fire 4K box that does not have dual HDMI outputs.

BlueFox · December 2016

One other thing I need to is move the Xbox One HDMI from the Onk to the Oppo HDMI In connector. It's a good thing I don't have other HDMI devices.

honestaquarian · December 2016

BlueFox wrote: »

I missed that SC5509 thread, but I like mine. It was a big upgrade for me over the Sony AVR I was using just as a preamp.

You might get a lot of laughs out of it or be highly offended by the way all of those guys ganged up on me. I got my 5509 for free because my 5508 fell victim to Onkyo's infamous HDMI board failure issues. Even though I got the 5508 from accessories4less.com (*they're an authorized Onkyo B-stock reseller*) and it had just exited it's one year warranty five minutes prior. Onkyo decided to give a replacement unit,because the parts for the fix were on backorder for six months.
Well imagine my surprise when I discovered the 5509 sounded NOTHING AT ALL like the 5508!

While it has excellent bass and midrange detail that was literally being thrown at you. It was hard,BRIGHT,forward,glassy sounding and just plain fatiguing to listen to. Since the first 5509 that they sent me had an issue and would not turn on,so I had to send it back and wait for another one.I thought there was something wrong with this one and brought it to the shop. They said they could find any problems with it and that they contacted Onkyo about it and were told that Onkyo changed the audio engine in it to favor home theater. They suggested I use the EQ,which I did,but still wasn't satisfied. So I contacted David Schulte at the Upgrade company and just as I was about to send it to him the audio went out. I contacted Onkyo and for some inexplicable reason I got no answer from them. David told me about Onkyo's free repair program for that other VERY common issue (*one of the Canadian guys on here had the saame issue with his Onkyo receiver and I also had the same issue with my Integra stereo receiver and one of my friends has the sameissue with his Onkyo receiver*) So I sent the preamp to them to get it fixed and had them ship it to the Upgrade company when they were done.
Long story short the bright,hard,glassy,fatiguing,forward sound is long gone and it sounds even better than the 5508!

honestaquarian · December 2016

BTW The 5509 didn't have an HDMI board issue,it was an audio chip issue.Same for my Integra which was also repaired for free.

BlueFox · December 2016

I guess I lucked out on this as mine sounds great. In fact while I had the house remodeled I had to use the HT for music. Other than putting the Lumin into the system as a music source the rest stayed the same, and I loved it. I seriously considered selling the two channel and just using the HT for both video and audio.

HT

Onkyo SC5509 pre
Oppo 203 UHD BR
Cambridge Audio 840W amps (2) - front
Sunfire TGA-5400 amp - center and rear
Bryston BDP-1 file player
Auralic Vega DAC
Xbox One

Aerial Acoustics 7T speakers - front
PSB Synchrony One - rear
PSB Synchrony One Center
Polk LSiW sub

MIT Shotgun XLR S.1 interconnects
Shunyata Anaconda digital IC
Shunyata Venom speaker cables
Shunyata Triton v2 power conditioner
All power cords are Shunyata models, except for stupid built in cord on TV.

Sony XBR-75Z9D TV 75"
Shunyata Hydra AV power conditioner (Shunyata Denali 2000 on order)

Mapleshade Samson racks for electronics.
Mapleshade Micropoint Brass Footers on all electronics.

tonyb · December 2016

Bud, have you spun any CD's in it yet ? How would you compare it to the 103 for music ?

BlueFox · December 2016

No CDs. I never tried the 103 for music.

I finished the 4K UHD Mad Max movie last night, and it was great. With the 75" TV it was like being at the movies. I can't wait to get in 4K Rogue One, Doctor Strange, and other new movies I haven't yet seen.

The only negative I have noticed with the Oppo 203 is the DVD spinning seems to be louder than the 103. I don't remember noticing it before, but now I do.

mantis · December 2016

I do Integra So I'm not completely up to date with Onkyo.
Is the Onkyo SC5509 the current Model? Reason I ask is Last Years Integra only had 1 4k input which I was pulling my hair out trying to figure a similar issue that you had with the 5509. I ended up replacing it with a new model and now all the HDMI inputs are 4k.
I'm thinking this is your issue. I'd read the manual and learn which input is 4k, this will probably solve your HDMI issue.

mantis · December 2016

It's nice to see Opponents is still around and didn't fall victim to all the Bull crap sales of all the cheap crap players on the market. I hate every single one of them.
I see the quality of Blu ray just in the toilet as the market is flooded with sub par crap junk trash players.
It's been going on for years. Only a small few are even worth buying anymore. Oppo might be the best one on the market.
Over the years Pioneer and Sony have made great quality players but I feel they haven't made a quality player in forever. Even the current models of Pioneer lack features and stability.
Denon and Marantz players are basically exactly the same thing and are not even that good at all.
So who is making a quality player these days? I see Oppo and thats it.

honestaquarian · December 2016

mantis wrote: »

I do Integra So I'm not completely up to date with Onkyo.
Is the Onkyo SC5509 the current Model? Reason I ask is Last Years Integra only had 1 4k input which I was pulling my hair out trying to figure a similar issue that you had with the 5509. I ended up replacing it with a new model and now all the HDMI inputs are 4k.
I'm thinking this is your issue. I'd read the manual and learn which input is 4k, this will probably solve your HDMI issue.

@mantis
The PR-SC5509 was replaced by the PR-SC5530 which was replaced by the PR-RZ5100 that just came out this year and is the current model and is actually a hundred bucks less than the previous two

Oppo UDP-203 4K UHD Blueray player

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