I could never own an LED TV for my main setup. I’m glad I have one of the last plasmas made, and I’m seriously glad OLED is becoming a real option now. It definitely wasn’t when plasma was still around.
It’s a pretty low-end LED too. Bought originally for college. I’m wary to buy a new TV now b/c 4K OLED is still quite expensive, and I don’t want to buy a set, only to move in a few years and have space for something bigger. Will probably just stick with what I have until I move again, even though the current space could probably justify a set in low-mid 40s inches.
I would put this in my sig if I weren’t so lazy.
Yeah, these things don’t have to built like Laserdisc players or a VCR even. I lament current players tend to look really generic and ugly these days. If you took the names off, could you tell who made it?
Every company used to have a style. I’ve wanted the rare RCA HD-DVD player because it amazingly resembles the silver and black family RCA VCR of my youth.
The fan noise would probably drive me insane though. 😉
Where were you in '77?
I just can’t justify picking one up before the company goes under, no matter how much I want to. I don’t have a 4K set, and it’s just too damned expensive.
“What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.”
Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death
I’ll go for #6:
- What’s an Oppo?
But in any case, I don’t use physical media players much these days anyways.
Yeah, these things don’t have to built like Laserdisc players or a VCR even. I lament current players tend to look really generic and ugly these days. If you took the names off, could you tell who made it?
You can if the player is a game console. 😉
But anyway, that HDDVD player is enormous. So footprint. Very waste.
chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.
accidental dooble pawst.
chyron just put a big Ric pic in your sig and be done with it.
Yeah, these things don’t have to built like Laserdisc players or a VCR even. I lament current players tend to look really generic and ugly these days. If you took the names off, could you tell who made it?
Sony has a distinct style, but other than that I agree.
The one player I really want is this:
That’s all you ever need.
I’ll go for #6:
- What’s an Oppo?
But in any case, I don’t use physical media players much these days anyways.
Yeah, these things don’t have to built like Laserdisc players or a VCR even. I lament current players tend to look really generic and ugly these days. If you took the names off, could you tell who made it?
You can if the player is a game console. 😉
But anyway, that HDDVD player is enormous. So footprint. Very waste.
Dude, it’s from over ten years ago. My first generation Blu Ray player had the same footprint as my Laserdisc player does. In fact, it had the same dimensions as a Sony LD player I once owned. (Early 1st gen DVD players were also huge and had cooling fans.) My other two HD-DVD players have sleeker profiles but they are second generation or so. And some of us like stacking components, so a certain width is preferred. If players get any smaller a puff of wind will knock them off a shelf. 😉
Where were you in '77?
Yeah, these things don’t have to built like Laserdisc players or a VCR even. I lament current players tend to look really generic and ugly these days. If you took the names off, could you tell who made it?
Sony has a distinct style, but other than that I agree.
The one player I really want is this:
That’s all you ever need.
Still holding out for a Betamax combo from Sony. 😛
Where were you in '77?
Apparently 203’s and 205’s are flying out the doors from all resellers – the less-popular 205’s may already be gone, 203’s may last a few more days. IMO this probably includes a lot of people buying in bulk to resell at a profit once they’re completely unavailable.
- What’s an Oppo?
I have a feeling I’ll be just fine.
I’ve never understood the rationale behind going overboard with audio/video equipment. I get spending a ton of money on a TV and speakers, but I don’t get spending hundreds on a blu-ray player or a thousand dollars on a turntable stylus.
The Person in Question
I spent 300 on my current audio technica turntable and it already sounds so much better than your “typical” record player I couldn’t imagine it having a ton to be gained, it sounds better than cds to my ears.
I’ve never understood the rationale behind going overboard with audio/video equipment. I get spending a ton of money on a TV and speakers, but I don’t get spending hundreds on a blu-ray player or a thousand dollars on a turntable stylus.
Video and audio decoding varies from player to player. Not to mention the prospect of all-regions and other formats, the quality of the upscaling algorithm, etc. etc.
I’ve never understood the rationale behind going overboard with audio/video equipment. I get spending a ton of money on a TV and speakers, but I don’t get spending hundreds on a blu-ray player or a thousand dollars on a turntable stylus.
Video and audio encoding varies from player to player.
No. Unless you meant “decoding”, and even then I’m doubtful unless the settings are just messed up on it.
I’ve never understood the rationale behind going overboard with audio/video equipment. I get spending a ton of money on a TV and speakers, but I don’t get spending hundreds on a blu-ray player or a thousand dollars on a turntable stylus.
Video and audio encoding varies from player to player.
No. Unless you meant “decoding”, and even then I’m doubtful unless the settings are just messed up on it.
Right.
I’ve never understood the rationale behind going overboard with audio/video equipment. I get spending a ton of money on a TV and speakers, but I don’t get spending hundreds on a blu-ray player or a thousand dollars on a turntable stylus.
Video and audio encoding varies from player to player.
No. Unless you meant “decoding”, and even then I’m doubtful unless the settings are just messed up on it.
In theory, you’re right. Taking bits on a disc and turning them into bits on a wire should be the same for all players. It should be a deterministic process, where input A always leads to output B. And for my part, what I like about Oppo has nothing to do with that, it’s more about other features (regions, outputs, projector support), so I’d buy the Oppo whether that was true or not.
But people who care more about this sort of thing than me have found not all players are the same in processing bits from the disc. First off, the video processors in many players apply some image cleanup routines automatically and in a way that can’t be turned off. Things like DNR, sharpening, etc. While it may create the appearance of a cleaner, crisper image for most consumers, the image displayed after processing does not match what’s on the disc bit-for-bit. Sharpening and DNR is fine for those who like it, but IMO it should be controlled at the endpoint, not introduced at the source, and certainly not in a way that can’t be disabled. Also, there are some colorspace conversions that are easy to get wrong without any obvious signs of issues. There was a comparison several years back of various players (I don’t think this was it, but it’s related), and the Oppos were the only ones outputting the correct RGB values. The others were only off by a bit, and probably not a noticeable amount either, but they were demonstrably wrong. And of course there’s your “this DAC is better than that DAC” argument on the audio side, which I think is pretty tedious because most audiophiles don’t want a flat response and therefore it’s completely subjective. So if you’re into this level of nitpickery, there are nits to pick. I’m firmly of the view that a measurable difference is not always a perceptible difference, and measurements can be abused to create the impression of difference where there really isn’t one, but no deviation at all from a reference value is nevertheless a pretty good sign – especially when your average video signal passes through two to three devices which can all alter the signal in a small imperceptible way which could add up to something that is perceptible in the end.
But again, I actually like other things about the player that are a bit more tangible than these minor audio and video differences.
Projector support? I have a projector and it would take any thing hdmi
Projector support? I have a projector and it would take any thing hdmi
I meant CIH anamorphic lens support, 21x9 flag, subtitle shift, etc. Not for projectors that just display the same image you’d see on a TV on a different medium. Basically there’s an internal anamorphic scaler option in the Oppo so you don’t have to buy a Lumagen Radiance (which goes for a few grand), and there’s also lots of niceties so you can do things that the Lumagen or fancy projector could never do, like subtitle shifting.
EDIT: If you read that whole linked CIH article, there’s a head-scratcher in there regarding what to do about The Dark Knight. The problem is that the disc isn’t authored correctly, or at least not authored correctly for CIH, making you choose between a movie that changes height or cropping the film, both of which are undesirable IMO. The author suggests the crop method, but that makes me wince. The proper thing would be to rip and re-encode the movie properly for CIH, so that the height of all aspect ratios are the same. That’s the way other multi-aspect ratio films have been done (i.e. Brainstorm) and it works well.
I put myself on the notification list for when OPPO restocks the 205. Just hoping they’ll add HDR10+ support via firmware. OPPO is saying they will later this year as long as the hardware can do it, so I have my fingers crossed.
I had the 83 and currently have the 103, both with region mods. Great players.
MTFBWY…A
Oppo has a good history of adding features via firmware and just generally being very good on the firmware front, but it’s really unclear to me how long this will continue. I’m not very comfortable buying a product based on what it might someday be able to do, rather than what it can do right now. Then again, this is the last stop on the Oppo line. You’re either getting on here or you’re not getting on.
EDIT: I guess I should add I now have the 203 with the bluraychip.dk hardware region mod and it’s been great.
In my experience, OPPO has done everything it’s ever said it would do, and since the parent company isn’t going away (just the org responsible for A/V stuff), I feel pretty good about it if they say they’re going to continue making firmware updates.
It looks like Panasonic has some high-end UHD players coming out also. Not sure if they’re destined for the US, though.
MTFBWY…A