OPPO Digital shutting down! (1 Viewer)

[CraigF]

The problem with the SONY player is that it doesn't support Dolby Vision which (after seeing some content with DV) is a requirement in my book.

If you're referring to what I said, I was only talking about a "general purpose" player for everything except UHD (i.e. the Sony all-region versions). I kind of lean towards the Panny UHDP these days (I mean if I was going to get a new one), but no experience, only Oppo and Samsung.

 

[Edwin-S]

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to the UBP-X800 4K player from SONY. It is their native 4K player which is available as a region-free player from specialty shops such as 220 electronics in the USA.

 

[PMF]

Sorry for the confusion. I was referring to the UBP-X800 4K player from SONY. It is their native 4K player which is available as a region-free player from specialty shops such as 220 electronics in the USA.

220 Electronics.
They're the very group that's selling the Oppo 205 for $3,500.
Oh, yes, they specialize in many things, indeed.

 

[Edwin-S]

I wasn't commenting on their ethics, only on the fact that they sell modified region-free players that are generally not available directly from the manufacturer or mainstream retailers. It sounds like the 205 is becoming hard to come by so that particular retailer is trying to take advantage of the situation. It behooves people to actually take the time and research if any particular player is available from another source for a more reasonable price before dropping 3500 dollars on a purchase.

 

[Edwin-S]

None of this would even be necessary if shit-stain studios such as DISNEY, LIONSGATE and others hadn't dropped domestic releases of 3D films, forcing domestic collectors to order region-locked 3D releases or 3D releases in general from foreign sources.

 

[PMF]

[...]that particular retailer is trying to take advantage of the situation.[...]

None of this would even be necessary if shit-stain studios such as DISNEY, LIONSGATE and others hadn't dropped domestic releases of 3D films, forcing domestic collectors to order region-locked 3D releases or 3D releases in general from foreign sources.

I sincerely doubt that ABC Electronics disgusting price hike has anything thing to do with Disney, Lionsgate, et al.

 

[Edwin-S]

I think you have totally misunderstood what I was getting at. I wouldn't even have to look at purchasing a C$749 (before taxes and shipping) 203 blu-ray player plus the cost of the region-free plug-in board if asshold studios such as Lionsgate and Disney hadn't dropped support of domestic 3D releases.

Thanks to the policies of shit-stain studios, like Lionsgate, I have to spend a pile of cash on a region-free player just so that I can watch my3D copy of Valerian even though I already own a perfectly capable 3D player in the form of a Samsung K-8500 UHD player. Do I think that purchasing a US$3500 dollar player (C$4500) is in support of some sort of cause? No. Would I spend that kind of money? No.

I think there wouldn't have to be any reason to spend that kind of money if studios and TV manufacturers hadn't been assholes in dropping support of a format that has been in existence for six to eight years now.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Can we stop with the name-calling of the studios and TV manufacturers! We all know that companies have little regard for their consumers.

 

[Edwin-S]

I'm sorry if I'm not feeling particularly magnanimous to studios when I have to look at spending 800 dollars to watch movies that I have purchased thanks to their policies. Anyway, I've said my piece.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I think there's some confusion about whether one needs an Oppo to view imported 3D content. One does not. You can get a region-free modified player from brands like LG and Samsung that cost a small fraction of what an Oppo costs. A Blu-ray disc that's 1080p/24 will play on any machine in the world once the region locking is defeated. There's no conversion required.

When you buy an Oppo, you're buying a lot more. You're buying a player that can convert video formats, which doesn't come into play with theatrically released 3D movies, but is a factor with PAL DVDs, and bonus features that are 25fps or 1080i/50. The Oppo also plays audio formats that are basically extinct, like SACD and DVD-A. The Oppo also has a tremendous upscaler, playing back regular SD DVDs better on an HD setup than most other players. I find value in all of that.

But if your only goal for home entertainment is simply to watch a region locked 3D movie disc, the kind that the domestic branches of studios aren't distributing on disc in the US anymore, you can do that with a modded LG player that costs about $100.

 

[Edwin-S]

I don't want a rack full of players. I was only looking at this one because it is easily converted to region-free play without using hacked firmware that comes from who-knows-where. It also supports DV which the SONY, SAMSUNG, etc. hacked 4K players don't. I would prefer the Panasonic player when it comes out, but, again, it would require a firmware hack to be region-free and I don't know if it is going support DV.

Edit: It looks like the upcoming Panasonic player does support DV. I may have to wait and see if a hacked region-free version shows up for sale. Not sure it makes sense to spend money on a brand that is essentially dead.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I don't think any of the region-modified players for Blu-ray are using hacked firmware; my understanding, which may be incorrect, is that they all require a physical modification. It was DVD that could be hacked to be region free by using firmware, but when the Blu-ray spec was developed, the BDA (the group that designs the specifications and gives out the license to call a product "Blu-ray") required that the region coding couldn't be defeated with just software.

Therefore, as I understand it, any player that's been made to operate as region free has had some kind of hardware modification to it. My understanding is that they all basically work the way the Oppo mod does, in that you need to enter a code in your remote and then restart the machine in order to switch it to another region, and then do the same thing to return it to the original region afterwards.

The Oppo was unique in that the mod was more consumer friendly and could be added externally without opening up the box, whereas the other brands didn't have all of the external ports that the Oppo does, so they require the mod to be installed internally.

 

[Edwin-S]

Okay. That is good information to learn. I'll probably wait until Panasonic releases their machine. I'm pretty sure a modded region-free version will soon follow. If I have to spend the dollars then I'd rather it be on a product that I know will be supported.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

In the past couple days I've been looking at Bombay and 220 to see what my future options would be, and they're advertising on all of their players that they can have the firmware upgraded without defeating the mod (which is how it is on the Oppo too). I've never purchased from either, but their websites say they offer lifetime support for the product. If the region-free part stops working, they'll fix it.

I know there are a lot of people on this forum and elsewhere who are region free but never went the Oppo route, so I'm not too worried about that.

I'm more concerned about losing the conversion ability that the Oppo has, as well as the support for the dated audio formats like SACD and DVD-A. I don't have a ton of discs that require conversions or that are in those audio formats, but the ones I do have are important to me.

 

[Nelson Au]

Last night I thought I’d play an SACD on my Oppo 105. It was great I could, I don’t have very many SACD discs myself. I’ve been meaning to chase down a few more titles that are favorites.

That’s well said about what the valuable aspects of an Oppo player is. I appreciate having one machine that can read FLAC and ALAC files which are what I mainly have. I have a few WAV files too. I’m reading about something I hadn’t known too much about and that is streaming music files from my home network straight to the Oppo. Though I like how I can now just pull files from a USB drive that’s directly connected to the Oppo.

Buying a new Oppo now is certainly a risk. I’m gambling Oppo’s technical staff will keep my machine working for at least 5 years and longer if we’re lucky. If the disc transport system itself is solid, I imagine it will be good for a long time.

Josh, I had forgotten about the upscaling feature too. As you know, I’ve been watching a lot of DVD’s of older titles on discs that are older transfers and so far the image quality has been great for what it is.

 

[dpippel]

None of this would even be necessary if shit-stain studios such as DISNEY, LIONSGATE and others hadn't dropped domestic releases of 3D films, forcing domestic collectors to order region-locked 3D releases or 3D releases in general from foreign sources.

There are PLENTY of region-locked Blu-ray releases that aren't 3D, so it's far from the only thing driving the need. IMO a region-free player is a necessity if you're a videophile. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't watch my Region B Studio Canal release of Quatermass and the Pit occasionally.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I probably switch regions more often to watch Jimmy Stewart westerns on BD than 3D.

 

[Edwin-S]

There are PLENTY of region-locked Blu-ray releases that aren't 3D, so it's far from the only thing driving the need. IMO a region-free player is a necessity if you're a videophile. I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't watch my Region B Studio Canal release of Quatermass and the Pit occasionally.

That's true. I forgot that there are a lot of people who import shows that have never seen or will never see a release over here and that most of those discs will be locked. I haven't imported too many discs. Ordering from the UK is not cheap for Canadians. The Valerian 4K combo pack and Planes: Fire and Rescue 3D was the first time I had ordered from the UK. I ordered the 4K/3D combo of Valerian from the UK because the ad copy gave the impression that the entire package was region-free while the truth was that the 3D copy was region B locked.

 

[CraigF]

Rack full of players...that's me. (And they think 8xHDMI inputs is enough.) Different strengths. Also to preserve the Oppos for doing what they're best at, and using the cheapo region-free Sony for doing all the mundane stuff, the stuff that's hard to get "wrong" these days. Even DVD, which seems to be quite easy to get wrong: these universal players seem to actually be quite good at them now from what I've seen and read. That used to be IMO strictly the domain of Oppo. If anyone here still cares about DVDs (I lnow I know, some of you do, it's the only available disc format for some content, some of the streams are simply awful).

The place I ordered that universal Sony BDP was Multi-System Electronics. I think it was shipped from the U.S., but I ordered from amazon.ca...anyway it came quickly. I looked around and was pretty sure that this is the "same" company as 220 and Bombay etc., but was a couple years ago and I forget exactly.

Two days ago I checked there (MSE) and they still had the 203 available at the "regular" Canadian price, plus the CA$100 for the region-free which is the only version they sell. Their region-free mods for other players are hardware, you select region on the remote with one of the "color" keys when the loader is open, no fancy key sequences etc. needed. Firmware updates (the Sony had a lot) work normally.

 

[SAhmed]

Talking about a "rack full of players" just as a side note to the 93 and 203 I have a HD DVD and Pioneer Laser Disc player both of which are rarely used but valued for those few discs that are not otherwise available. (I know other folks will be a similar boat but brought it up on the basis of "almost extinct" hardware - kinda )

Regards