Oppo UDP-203 UHD Blu-ray Player Review

Oppo UDP-203 UHD Blu-ray Player Review

Oppo is a Chinese company specialised in electronics and Blu-ray players, and a major stakeholder in smartphones manufacturing. It ranks 5th in the world among mobile phone manufacturers. We selected one of the brand’s most popular Blu-ray players for our audio and video tests.

Design

The exterior design of the Oppo player promises very high quality, the housing is made of solid metal, which dampens vibrations very effectively and protects the electronics. The front panel is made of brushed aluminium, featuring a clean, pleasant and modern-looking style. The classic-looking device has a 43 cm wide, black, square housing with silver disc-shaped legs.

The front panel’s style is stripped-down with only a UHD sign on it. The round shaped control knobs are arranged in a cross. The device does not take up too much space with its size of 43x31x7.9 cm and 4.3 kg weight. There is only a piece of USB 2.0 socket on the front.

The 2 USB 3.0 sockets on the back, which also accept an external HDD, allows you to play audio and media files from an external storage device. We can connect to the local network with a Gigabit LAN socket. A Wifi connection is also possible, which we found to be fairly stable when connected to a router. In addition to the stereo signals, all 7.1 channel signals can be received via the 2 RCA connectors. The player has 2 HDMI outputs and 1 HDMI input. The main output is 2.0, making it UHD compatible, the other 1.4 is audio output. This allows you to connect an ultra HD display with the main output and an amplifier with the audio output. This solution is also advantageous because it allows the audio and video to travel smoothly on shorter signal paths, separated from each other.

The RS-232C port is responsible for system integration. The trigger input and output and the infrared receiver guarantees communication with other devices. You may want to download the latest software the first time you install it. The menu is clear, very easy to navigate featuring teal graphics and wallpapers. We have several adjustment options, such as brightness, contrast, … etc. Not only can you watch movies or listen to music, you can also watch photos with this Blue-ray player.

Lots of features, advanced technology

The 4K UHD can also play Blu ray discs that meet the latest and older standards. (CD, DVD, Blu ray DVD Audio, SACD, Kodak Picture CD, Video CD). Content shared on a NAS or PC is also available over Ethernet network. The 8-channel, 32-bit AKM AK4458 VN DAC is responsible for audio decoding, enabling it to play 192 kHz / 32bit files, and works well with DSP formats sampled at 5.56 MHz. It supports Dolby Atmos and DTS: X formats when playing Blu ray movies for surround sound.

It is also excellent in video processing. Thanks to the quad-core Mediatek OP8591 SoC chip, the player can handle native 4K videos, and even processing lower-resolution material is no problem. Thanks to the advanced signal processing, noise filtering and image enhancement ensure excellent playback quality. In addition, the UPD-203 can convert HDR content to SDR format, which is beneficial for TVs or projectors that do not have HDR compatibility. The most common updates are also available: 4K / 60p, 4K / 30p, 4K / 24p. It also supports HEVC H264 VP9 4K and HI10P formats. It can also handle 10-bit HD and 12-bit Dolby Vision to handle sampling of 4: 4: 4 uncompressed, 4: 2: 2 and 4: 2: 0 compressed colours.

The heavy plastic remote control also has a backlight, which, thanks to the motion detection function, is activated as soon as you take the remote control in your hands. Extremely sensitive, perhaps overly sensitive. You can also control the device with an Android or iOS-based mobile device using a free downloadable APP.

Test

We tested the Oppo player in an average-sized living room of roughly 30 square feet. Teamed with Yamaha HS8 active studio monitors, we first tried it for the 2011 action thriller movie Unknown on DVD starring Liam Neeson. We found that the image was pleasant, resolution good with the right colours. We couldn’t complain about image quality or report sound issues. We then watched the 2017 biographical film Papillon, retailing the life of Henry Charriere. We were satisfied with the performance of the player this time as well. In terms of colour, resolution, stability, we obtained detailed and accurate images. Spaciousness was also excellent.

We also tried the Oppo player for music. We listened to Lennon’s hit Chellamokers & Illenium feat Stella Takeaway. The sound was okay, providing clear, detailed and dynamic performance. What I didn’t like so much about the player was that even though content shared over the local network was available, unfortunately we couldn’t access online services like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify. But this is not a really serious problem, since thanks to the HDMI input on the back, this problem can also be solved by connecting a device suitable for access to streaming service providers. (According to the manufacturer, the image resolution of online streaming media content is not nearly as good as that of DVDs, so it did not consider this feature necessary to include in the device.)

Overall

Thanks to the high-quality design,the wide range of functions and image quality, the Oppo player was absolutely convincing. The DVD tray was stable enough, no rattles heard; it seems that every detail has been looked after by the designers. We absolutely recommend the Oppo Blu-ray player. We just missed the access to online streaming services, and it was a little awkward that the remote control is more sensitive to touch than necessary.

Of course, as with all hi-fi and audio devices, acoustic treatment of the room where you use it matters a lot as far as sound and performance of the devices are concerned. In rooms with sound reverberations for instance, movies and music will not sound the way you would expect and want, so it is recommended to acoustically treat walls, ceiling and windows with sound absorbing and diffuser panels,  if we really want to achieve perfect results.

Written by Róbert Polgár