The Oppo UDP-203 arrived today

jdandy

jdandy

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My new Oppo UDP-203 ultra high def 4K HDR Blu-ray player arrived today. It is quite attractive. Owning a number of Oppo Blu-ray players made setup a snap. I never even opened the owner's manual. The player comes with a 6 foot HDMI cable that Oppo makes a point of saying is a premium HDMI cable. I am using this cable for the time being but will ultimately make a comparison of it with the Wireworld Starlight 7 HDMI cable I had been using on the Oppo BDP-95 that the UDP-203 replaced. It will be interesting to note the differences, if any. I am only using the stereo outputs to feed the analog signal to my C2300/MC452/PMC EB1i sound system in the living room.

I have the UDP-203 Ethernet connected to my home network so as soon as I powered it on I was asked if I wanted to download the latest firmware. I clicked on YES and it took less than 2 minutes for the latest firmware to download, install, and reboot the player.

The remote control is a bit different from previous Oppo Blu-ray players. Some control buttons have been relocated and the back light for the buttons is now motion activated. I am going to watch how much quicker the batteries become exhusted with this feature turned on. If it consumes battery power at a quicker rate I will defeat the motion activation feature for back lighting.

Once connections were made and setup was complete I watched the only 4K Blu-ray movie that arrive yet, Mechanic Resurrection with Jason Statham and Jessica Alba. It is an action thriller that looks incredibly sharp and detailed on the new Sony XBR65X900E television recently installed in the living room. The clarity of the picture is astonishing. Needless to say, I will be purchasing new movies in 4K. The sound, even in two channel was awe inspiring. My JL Audio Fathom f113 subwoofer had the couch and my lounge chair pulsing and vibrating with the explosions. The sound from the UDP-203 is excellent. The picture is fabulous. The Oppo and the Sony have transformed my living room movie watching experience.
 
The rear layout is a bit different as well - here is a pic of the back of a 103D and a 203

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Last night I decided to see how the Oppo UDP-203 and the Sony XBR65X900E handles regular DVD video and Blu-ray video playback. I watched the movie The Best Of Me on regular DVD, then watched the Jason Statham movie Safe on Blu-ray. Both video formats benefited from the upconversion of the Oppo UDP-203 video processor and the Sony X1 processor. Although the video from the Best Of Me DVD was improved to an extent that provided a picture quality with sharper resolution, the picture quality still did not rise to the level of standard Blu-ray performance. I wasn't expecting it to, although the improved level was beneficial and pleasant.

Playing the Blu-ray movie Safe in the Oppo UDP-203 delivered a better up-scaling experience than standard DVD. The Blu-ray video quality, although not completely at the resolution level of 4K, was upconverted to a level of clarity that exceeded the normal Blu-ray experience. Color saturation was deeper, contrast and edge definition appeared sharper and brighter. Although not at the complete level of 4K performance, Blu-ray playback on the UDP-203 and the 4K Sony is impressive and bests by a surprising margin the standard Blu-ray experience on a 1080P player and television
 
jdandy said:
Blu-ray playback on the UDP-203 and the 4K Sony is impressive and bests by a surprising margin the standard Blu-ray experience on a 1080P player and television
Click to expand...

If you don't mind the hassle, you can try setting the UDP-203 output to 1080p/24 for Blu-ray discs, vs output to 4K. This way you can compare the upscaling of the X900E vs UDP-203. In particular, if you play a Sony "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray disc, you should turn on Mastered in 4K setting in X900E.
 
wklie said:
If you don't mind the hassle, you can try setting the UDP-203 output to 1080p/24 for Blu-ray discs, vs output to 4K. This way you can compare the upscaling of the X900E vs UDP-203. In particular, if you play a Sony "Mastered in 4K" Blu-ray disc, you should turn on Mastered in 4K setting in X900E.
Click to expand...

Peter.......Thanks for those tips. I will play with the settings.
 
I bought a 203 late last year. Nice player. I also plugged in a backup USB hard drive containing my CD collection. It does a nice job as a server.
 
Dan, thanks for the review.

I am currently toying with the idea of purchasing a new television. I have a very old 42" Panny plasma, and it's getting a bit antiquated. Because I have a large collection of DVDs, I am deciding between a 1080p set, to preserve the longevity of my current collection, or going with a 4K for the future. If I go the 4K route, I will be looking at a large repurchase of all of my movies, unless the upscaled picture quality from my Oppo BDP-95 would be "acceptable". Upscaled DVDs on my current rig look pretty amazing. I do realize it will never approach Blu-ray/1080p, but if it is even close to what I get currently, then I would definitely prefer to go with a 4K OLED for the perfect black and incredible color. I just never liked LCD/LED sets, and was sad to see plasma go by the wayside, but OLED has re-sparked my interest.

I have always preferred the look of DVDs over Blu-ray, as the higher resolution movies look more like live video to me than the old DVD format. For those of us in the Over 50 Crowd, my eyes aren't what they once were, so ultimate sharpness isn't as important. I plan on checking things out in person sometime soon, but I figured I would get people's opinion that currently have a 4K set and first-hand knowledge of upscaled DVDs.

Thanks for anything you choose to share,

C
 
Might want to buy another one as Oppo announced yesterday they are no longer making players after supply runs out..which they estimate is sometime in the summer.
 
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