Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsI am impressed with the Oppo UDP-203 - great 4k UHD picture, clarity, color, sound and outstanding 3D playback
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2017
I replaced my Samsung UBD-K8500 4k UHD player with the Oppo UDP-203 and let me just say that the 4k UHD video the Oppo puts out is breathtaking. I paid $399 for the Samsung when it first released as Samsung was one of the first to support 4K UHD media. Comparing the 4k UHD picture between the two players is no comparison at all. The picture clarity and color output on the Oppo is very obvious and blows the Samsung away. The Oppo supports the most current audio formats as well and the sound quality is equally impressive. The sound stage and the dynamic range of the Oppo stood apart from the Samsung player. It’s as if I was listening to two completely different stereo systems when comparing the Oppo to the Samsung and the Samsung supports the identical audio formats as the Oppo.
I don’t listen to a lot of music but I watch a ton of movies so in the Home Theater side of the house when watching DVD, Blu-Ray media or streaming movies via my Synology NAS using PLEX, the Oppo does a great job at doing so. To reliably play high bandwidth 4k UHD content, my Oppo connects via 1gig Ethernet interface and it plays all of my video files supporting MP4, MKV, M4V, MOV and I stream and play 1080 and 4K UHD content with no issues what so ever on the Oppo. I encountered issues when streaming high bandwidth 4k UHD content via WIFI using both 2.4 and 5.0 GHZ (On both the Oppo and Samsung). Even using the most current Orbi WIFI system with a satellite next door , the Oppo couldn’t reliably stream high bandwidth 4k UHD content in native formats, but hardwiring the network connection resolved this.
Yep the Oppo doesn’t have any video streaming widgets or functionality like the Samsung, but I got over that quickly. Just for grins I plugged the Samsung into the HDMI input on the OPPO and I can run all of my video streaming apps on the Samsung thru the Oppo. It’s one way to leverage the ROI on my Samsung.
Blu-Ray load times are quick, the menu system and setup are straight forward and the defaults work great, so out of the box you’re going to get a great picture and sound.
So my Oppo UDP-203 is the heart and soul of my 4k UHD Home Theater system. It feeds audio to my NAD 757 - 7.1 receiver via the 2nd HDMI channel on the Oppo to NAD receiver ; which doesn’t support HDMI 2.0. The NAD receiver drives Bowers & Wilkens 683s in the Front, HTM61 center channel, backend channels are handled by 2EA 685-S2 and 2EA Martin Login Encore TF with a B&W ASW610XP sub. The picture from the Oppo is presented directly to my LG 65EF9500 OLED via HDMI and deep color is enabled on the LG HDMI port. I am running Audioquest Forest HDMI 2.0 cables for connectivity.
In Summary:
This is what 4k UHD is all about. The picture, color and clarity are the best I’ve ever seen and the 3D picture coming from the Oppo UDP-203 is outstanding as well. I find myself buying more 3D Media as a result. It’s a $500+ investment that you won’t regret. This is my 2nd Oppo Drive. I also own the BDP-93 and It’s been running strong for years.