End of an Era: OPPO Digital Announces Its Retirement

End of an Era: OPPO Digital Announces Its Retirement​

(OPPO Digital)(April 3, 2018) The market has spoken: OPPO Digital plans to stop manufacturing products. The company has spent the last 14 years leading the disc player segment, producing the industry’s best DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD Blu-ray players. Many of the models have been celebrated by home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles alike, largely due to their ability to play nearly any disc format available, including SACDs.

While generally regarded as pricey, OPPO’s players have collected universal praise for parts selection and build quality, in addition to resoundingly superior customer support. In fact, the company’s legendary industry status was largely built upon quick firmware updates and friendly customer interactions.

In recent years, OPPO has branched into Hi-Fi audio realms, releasing several different planar magnetic headphones, audiophile DACs, and its well-reviewed Sonica wireless speaker.

According to OPPO’s blog announcement, the company is planning to “gradually stop manufacturing new products.” And for those new and existing customers, the company will continue to support warranties, offer repair services, and issue firmware updates “from time to time.” OPPO says that its UPD-203 and UDP-205 4K Blu-ray players are the most likely candidates to receive firmware upgrades in the months ahead.

Buyers that have purchased an OPPO product during the last 30 days can still return their purchase for a full refund.

Ultimately, this is an incredibly sad day for fans of disc-based media, highlighting the fact that the CD and Blu-ray market is in serious distress. Warning signs have been abundantly present, however, headlined by Best Buy’s recent decision to cease in-store compact disc sales this summer. And, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, disc sales fell 14% last year while revenue generated by rentals slid 17%. The future is obviously subscription-based streaming, which officially surpassed physical media’s sales dominance during 2016. Add to that the looming rollout of HDMI 2.1 and the potential for 8K media in the coming years, and one has to wonder if any company will have success conjuring healthy sales as new players are needed to meet technology demands.

I’ve reached out to OPPO with a few questions and will update this article as more information becomes available.


Editor's Note:

OPPO kindly replied to our request for additional information. The company contact re-itterated that the news is a "sad announcement for all us involved," and confirmed that the company's choice to cease production is largely due to sales numbers simply not supporting the long term viability of the business. It was added that a rather complex web of factors have contributed to the situation.

The company is actively building its last batch of products and predicts that its store front will remain stocked through June or July. OPPO chose to go public with its decision now so that it has the proper staff on hand to service its customers, which clearly fits with its long history of amazing customer service. It's expected that product support will extend for several years into the future.

 

[Tony V.]

I haven't seen a streaming service yet that gives full channel uncompressed audio or video so until that happends it's not for me.

 

[RF-Guy]

I just picked up a UDP-205 about two weeks ago. I wonder if I should return it and get something else from a company that will be around for awhile.... It is really a nice piece of hardware, and my HT is using it as the preamp. To replace it would require going back to using a separate preamp and player.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I just picked up a UDP-205 about two weeks ago. I wonder if I should return it and get something else from a company that will be around for awhile.... It is really a nice piece of hardware, and my HT is using it as the preamp. To replace it would require going back to using a separate preamp and player.

This kind of technology has a shelf life shorter than its operation life. In other words I suspect it will be obsolete before it breaks. Oppo has said they will stick around for service for the time being, so you should be ok while it matters.

 

[Flak]

Yes, I share the discomfort but the market has changed and we will still see the highly regarded Oppo brand in other categories of products, i.e.:
https://www.dirac.com/latest-produc...0/oppo-r15-r15-dream-mirror-edition-announced

Flavio

 

[tripplej]

Oppo phones are great from what I hear and since they are not part of oppo digital, they will remain and continue to grow.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I just picked up a UDP-205 about two weeks ago. I wonder if I should return it and get something else from a company that will be around for awhile.... It is really a nice piece of hardware, and my HT is using it as the preamp. To replace it would require going back to using a separate preamp and player.

My understanding is that OPPO is indicating that it expects to offer service for years rather than months. More than likely that could translate into 2 years.

My honest (totally biased) opinion is that you're fine with your UDP-205. More than likely, it will receive the same (if not better) support than competing products during its useful HDMI 2.0 life. Of course, I could be wrong about that, but the way OPPO is approaching this close of production, it's safe to assume they're serious about continuing support.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Oppo phones are great from what I hear and since they are not part of oppo digital, they will remain and continue to grow.

OPPO phones are apparently a huge hit in China... and, not surprisingly, that part of the business is reportedly healthy. And as @Flak points out, phones are big business. Look at DIRAC. They're more well known (world-wide) for audio on cell phones and in cars.

 

[Tom Obrien]

Sad to see this quality manufacturer retire. My OPPO UDP-203 is an amazing player. Folks these days don’t like to pay big dollars for outstanding gear. Cheap and nasty is the norm now.

 

[AudiocRaver]

It makes me sad, too, I always thought of Oppo as a cool company that makes cool products.

Their Sonica series must have been meant to help them move from disks to streaming, but too little too late.

 

[mechman]

I just pulled this out of a storage stack and plugged it in: still works.

OPPO’s DV-970HD DVD player.

If I’m not mistaken, this is circa 2006 (which may as well be 100 years ago in AV time)

View attachment 7349

I believe I have one of these sitting in it's box in my garage!

 

[tripplej]

That is awesome you guys still have the old DVD player.. As the say goes, old is gold.

 

[JimShaw]

I am really sad this has happened.

Not only a great product BUT superior customer service. This is where most companies have trouble, they have one or the other. It is a rare company that combines both.

Oppo, sad to see you go.

.

 

[tesseract]

I will miss their planar 'phones the most.

 

[tripplej]

For those still interested in getting their last production run, see link: https://oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/lastbatch.aspx

 

[JimShaw]

I keep thinking...

Maybe I should order another 203 as a back up???? in case the one I now have goes bad which it already has but was fixed by Oppo.

Am I thinking dumb or smart??

.

 

[Allan T.]

I keep thinking...

Maybe I should order another 203 as a back up???? in case the one I now have goes bad which it already has but was fixed by Oppo.

Am I thinking dumb or smart??

.

If you buy a second player, pull it out of the box and start using it while you can still get warranty service. This should ensure that you have two good functional players for years. . .

 

[JimShaw]

If you buy a second player, pull it out of the box and start using it while you can still get warranty service. This should ensure that you have two good functional players for years. . .

It looks like I might do it. And, Yes, I agree. Replace the 203 that I have and play its replacement for a year to test.

I looked at the new Pansonic 9000 coming and it will have D.V. along with HDR10+ but I don't think SACD. Cambridge's CXUHD looks good but not worth $150 more than the 203

 

[AudiocRaver]

Smart. I do that with computer motherboards. Remember that new ttechnology can obsolete your spare units pretty fast, though, and the approach does not always pay off.

Excellent advice to put it to work right away. A backup system that is not tested regulary can let you down. Same with backup gear.

 

[tripplej]

Might be good idea for those who have an Oppo to get a spare remote from their website.. Later, you will not get a replacement.

 

[JimShaw]

Smart. I do that with computer motherboards. Remember that new technology can obsolete your spare units pretty fast, though, and the approach does not always pay off.

Excellent advice to put it to work right away. A backup system that is not tested regulary can let you down. Same with backup gear.

My thinking is: The next new tech will probably be 8K and my guess is that could be 4-5 years away before 8K players, TV's and discs come together. By that time, I'll sell my Oppos to neighbors who are finally getting into 4K discs. I'm just now getting them into Blu-rays

 

[Isaac Sykes]

End of an Era: OPPO Digital Announces Its Retirement​

(OPPO Digital)(April 3, 2018) The market has spoken: OPPO Digital plans to stop manufacturing products. The company has spent the last 14 years leading the disc player segment, producing the industry’s best DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD Blu-ray players. Many of the models have been celebrated by home theater enthusiasts and audiophiles alike, largely due to their ability to play nearly any disc format available, including SACDs.

While generally regarded as pricey, OPPO’s players have collected universal praise for parts selection and build quality, in addition to resoundingly superior customer support. In fact, the company’s legendary industry status was largely built upon quick firmware updates and friendly customer interactions.

In recent years, OPPO has branched into Hi-Fi audio realms, releasing several different planar magnetic headphones, audiophile DACs, and its well-reviewed Sonica wireless speaker.

According to OPPO’s blog announcement, the company is planning to “gradually stop manufacturing new products.” And for those new and existing customers, the company will continue to support warranties, offer repair services, and issue firmware updates “from time to time.” OPPO says that its UPD-203 and UDP-205 4K Blu-ray players are the most likely candidates to receive firmware upgrades in the months ahead.

Buyers that have purchased an OPPO product during the last 30 days can still return their purchase for a full refund.

Ultimately, this is an incredibly sad day for fans of disc-based media, highlighting the fact that the CD and Blu-ray market is in serious distress. Warning signs have been abundantly present, however, headlined by Best Buy’s recent decision to cease in-store compact disc sales this summer. And, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, disc sales fell 14% last year while revenue generated by rentals slid 17%. The future is obviously subscription-based streaming, which officially surpassed physical media’s sales dominance during 2016. Add to that the looming rollout of HDMI 2.1 and the potential for 8K media in the coming years, and one has to wonder if any company will have success conjuring healthy sales as new players are needed to meet technology demands.

I’ve reached out to OPPO with a few questions and will update this article as more information becomes available.


Editor's Note:

OPPO kindly replied to our request for additional information. The company contact re-itterated that the news is a "sad announcement for all us involved," and confirmed that the company's choice to cease production is largely due to sales numbers simply not supporting the long term viability of the business. It was added that a rather complex web of factors have contributed to the situation.

The company is actively building its last batch of products and predicts that its store front will remain stocked through June or July. OPPO chose to go public with its decision now so that it has the proper staff on hand to service its customers, which clearly fits with its long history of amazing customer service. It's expected that product support will extend for several years into the future.

Just to be clear does this announcement affect the headphone and wireless speaker production as well, or just the Blu-ray players Oppo produces?

 

[tripplej]

yes, Oppo Digital ends headphones as well as players. see link.

 

[JimShaw]

?) I considered buying a back-up 203 for the future?

??) Then I thought it might be better to put the Oppo extended warranty on the 203 that I now have giving me another year of warranty and then see what happens to the players 2-3 years from now. Maybe that's the best way to go for the future??

 

[Todd Anderson]

Just to be clear does this announcement affect the headphone and wireless speaker production as well, or just the Blu-ray players Oppo produces?

Unfortunately, it’s all in the same boat.

 

[Todd Anderson]

?) I considered buying a back-up 203 for the future?

??) Then I thought it might be better to put the Oppo extended warranty on the 203 that I now have giving me another year of warranty and then see what happens to the players 2-3 years from now. Maybe that's the best way to go for the future??

The risk becomes, what if support ultimately dries up in 2 years?

Personally, I think you’ll be okay with one. Worst case, you could make a move on a used 203 or buy a Cambridge Audio.

Do you have an older 105 or 103 for SACD duty in a pinch?