jjcool

I'm surprised they lasted this long. With what they charged for a player, I'm surprised that anyone actually bought one.

BuckNaked2k

This is sad. I have two BDP-93s with region-free mod. Both work great and are ideal for my purposes (not interested in 4K). While this model hasn't had a FW update in 100 years, I have yet to encounter a disc the 93 doesn't like.

Sonic

They remind me of Pioneer. They went out in a similar fashion. I always saw Oppo as a brand that catered to the quality av enthusiast. Their players are gorgeous.

Would be great if another company would take over the blu/4k player helm, but I doubt it.

BuckNaked2k

Remember when Marantz released a Blu-ray player that was 3X the price, but the innards were 100% Oppo?

melasnus

Obviously you've never had one.
Oppos are bullet-proof and have always had the highest technology available.
Ask ANY Oppo owner if they regretted their purchase...
As a matter of fact, I do.
Can't remember the model# though....

Jay G.

Just because Netflix doesn't have them doesn't mean they're not available for streaming.

Vudu, Amazon, iTunes, Google, etc all sell 4K digital copies of movies, before they come out on disc.

Disney is starting up its own streaming service, where all their movies/shows are going to migrate to once the contract with Netflix is up.

Other new releases are split across the multitude of streaming services. Now that HBO, Showtime, etc have their own standalone streaming services, the movies they get aren't going onto Netflix. Amazon Prime is a big competitor. Hulu has movies.

Netflix used to be the one-stop-shop for streaming, but now there's a ton of competitors, which has split up the availability of "big-time" movies.

jjcool

I havent, mostly because I dont spend money unnecessarily.

Paul_SD

I've had my region free modded Oppo 103 four years now, and dread the day it finally quits.
Best player I've ever owned.

My next one was definitely going to be another Oppo (region free), and I've been lusting after the 205 (formerly 105), and thought for certain that would be the next one.

When I chanced across the news here Tuesday, I called up the dealer I got my last one from and wanted to make sure there was enough stock for me to wait a few days for my CC bill to roll over before placing the order. "Oh sure, we have plenty in stock now. And if by some incredible chance we sold out by then, we'll be getting another supply in shortly."

That was Tuesday. Since then the price has been getting marked up steadily and now they're down to their last unit- unless they already had an order for it while I was on the phone with them.
I was OK with ponying up the $1400 for a modded 205 knowing this was going to be a last chance purchase. I just wanted to wait a few days to make it more convenient as far as the billing.
$1700 is just too rich for me. Can't justify it, especially as I'll likely be needing to replace my 16 year old NAD AVR soon as well.

My 203 should be showing up next Tuesday.

Alan Smithee

Oppo is going to be the DeLorean of electronics.

kefrank

That's a somewhat odd perspective as I believe Oppo has generally been widely considered an excellent value brand. Their players represented a product with high-tier quality at a mid-tier price. I understand some consumers will never consider anything outside low-tier prices, but especially in the home theater market, there is plenty of room for the kind of value offered at the kind of prices Oppo was charging.

Jay G.

We're DeLoreans more style over substance? Plus, Oppo still has a thriving cell phone business in China.

Paul_SD

I won't be at all surprised to see the order get cancelled tomorrow since there was only one unit left as of few hours ago, but just for the hell of it I put an order in for the 205 from the same vendor (JVB Digital) that I ordered the 203 from earlier today.

I really regret not pouncing on it two days ago when I had a clear shot (and it was $300 less).

Worst case scenario is I have to put one of the units up for sale on amazon. Or eBay. Or audiogon. Or AVS...

melasnus

Since you're replacing your AVR, the 203 should work fine as a transport.

melasnus

Nope...wrong analogy.

Exactly.
Oppos compared well with much higher priced players, as well as with many boutique manufacturers.

mphtrilogy

This stinks, I bought the 203 last summer and loce it.. hope they can continue to support....
Glad I bought it though... might need to last awhile...

PhantomStranger

Supposedly Oppo is seeing a tremendous rush of sales after the announcement and they are going to run out of units in the next week.

I expect to see speculators buying up the last units to flip later for more on eBay, down the line.

Paul_SD

Already happening.

There was a massive run on them in the last couple days and now the 205 is essentially sold out.
There's one code free dealer that apparently has some stock left, but their price jumped from $1499 on Monday to $2499 today.

Oppo itself is sold out of the 205s and it's iffy whether they will do another production run. I think the numbers are there to support it, but their mfg capacity is monopolized for the cellphones I guess.

The dealer I ordered the 203 from told me Oppo isn't going to be wholesaling any more units to dealers.
Now, I don't know if this meant any more units that they might have now (which doesn't matter because they are out of stock anyway) or if this also includes any future last production run.

There are still a good number of 203's out there if people want them. Those should last through the weekend at least. They'll probably all be gone by this time next week and then people's only choice will be eBay at a huge mark up with little to no support.

melasnus

I don't need another 4K player, otherwise I would pick one up.
I have the 83 SE, the 95, and the old 970.
All work perfectly.

Alan Smithee

This made me cry:

Paul_SD

When a vendor that you've come to view as a gold standard for a quality product, w/ attendant service at a fair market price calls it quits, it's depressing. Yeah, I can fully relate.

It doesn't matter what the business is- there are still local eateries that closed their doors over 30 years ago that I miss greatly. I was crushed seeing them go then, and that nostalgic ache is still intense to this day sometimes.

Oppo is/was a class act. Unless you got a rare lemon, the sense of pride they had in their product was palpable as soon as you started to unbox it. and it carried through day to day use.

Josh Zyber has a great eulogy on Highdefdigest


BTW, that dealer that I mentioned previously that marked it up to $2500 yesterday, marked it up another $200 overnight. I called this morning to check what their stock depth was and they were down to their last one. I jokingly said to him " you don't plan on raising the price anymore today, do you?" and he just laughed and said no.

That was 11 AM this morning. I checked the site again about an hour ago and it was priced at $3500 now. At this point actually selling it might not be the intention. If they are a dealer that has one of the last units available, it will drive people to the site where they are more likely to purchase something else. Can't really blame them for using it as bait- not when the bait is higher priced than the alternatives they would rather move.

Sonic

Ridiculous

Check this out:

https://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/lastbatch.aspx

mrhan

Why would you say that? DeLoreans were awful cars. Read some old road tests online. Every car magazine that reviewed it in 1981 said it was a piece of shit and slow as fuck. They are only worth some money now because of the nostalgia. Nothing more.

Paul_SD

Yeah I saw that.

I have a strong feeling there will be another run of the 205. But it will only be available through Oppo. Not a problem at all for most people.
August through the end of October is my busiest time of the year, and I'm on the road for most of it. Bad time to make any purchases that need to be delivered. especially anything that should be vetted while a 30 day return policy is ticking away.

Turned out the order I placed the other day actually went through. A 205 is sitting in my rack right now (with a 203 still sealed in the box sitting a few feet away). The tracking estimated a Monday delivery, but the both showed up today.

I paid a premium, over and above the usual for a Region free hardware mod, but I honestly expected the order would never go through. Not crazy about dropping a few hundred more than I have to, but at least the "feeding frenzy" premium was still significantly less than what other sellers were trying to get- and more than half less compared to what they are asking now.

Those prices will of course have to go down once any new stock comes in.
In the meantime though, if I reach the conclusion that this is much more machine than I will ever possibly need, I'm pretty sure I can re-sell and recoup exactly what I paid.

That was the plan anyway.

Till then I'm Oppo rich and cash poor.

Sonic

Congrats! Enjoy that.

I been contemplating picking up a 203 but the price holds me back.

It's amazing how much of the current 4K players out there are so ugly looking especially the Panasonics.

Paul_SD

Thanks!

I got the 205 up and running after a little shaky start. Had to restore the factory defaults after I goofed up the settings the first time, but everything seems to be properly set now.

I was damn near giddy, when demoing familiar scenes last night just before I packed it in, to be able to discern definitive improvements via the better DACs in the 205 over what were already very good ones in the 103. Everything that already sounded amazing before has been kicked up another notch or three.

I was leaning to selling it after finally satisfying my curiosity as to what the fuss was all about. Now I'm going to be more than happy to keep it.

Haven't vetted the 203 through yet, but if it's anything like the 103 (and it should be even better), I expect it's a premium ride in it's own right.
I know that when people are used to paying $100-$200 for a player that $550 is a tough pill to swallow, but I sincerely feel the value there is going to be readily apparent in the long run.

But then again, I'm looking at these as sources for 1200+ pieces of legacy media. If I was primarily interested in the 4K capability, and didn't have to replace anything now, I'd probably be fine waiting to see what Panasonic or Cambridge (if you want a shot at something that might approach the 205), come up with.

The feeding frenzy is going to die down now with a backlash due to the speculators and with more stock on both units coming in the summer (Oppo just confirmed another run for the 205s). That means the finite stock won't be depleted for a little while yet. I won't be surprised to see units still available going into November.