OPPO BDP-103 Universal Disc Player (SACD / DVD-Audio / 3D Blu-ray)

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Admittedly, my audio and video equipment would be considered low end by most who might consider the OPPO BDP-103. That said, after 3 years of nothing but frustration with my highly rated "cheap" Samsung player ($80), using the OPPO has been a great joy. Perhaps my imagination, but I swear I hear a difference in the audio even on my modest system. Alas, the video is what it is ... no difference there, but I didnt really expect it on my system. My big caveat to anybody getting this unit is ... read the manual! Ive seen many reviews which claim something isnt working but, after my 2 hours of manual reading, found references where certain features will work only with a specific level of updates or specific choices in Settings. If youre not a manual reader, well, hopefully you have enough experience in modern equipment to just know what to do, or you have a friend who knows, or that you dont really need an advanced feature. For my purposes, the system was easily connected to my TV as well as my audio system. Everything works perfectly. The wifi connection was easy. So far, it has read every file format Ive thrown at it. I love that it has its own screen (my previous cheap player required the TV to be on to keep track of what was going on, which is silly for audio only). The remote: This is bitter-sweet for me. On the one hand, its BIG and HEAVY. On the other hand, its big and heavy. I love the heft, and the buttons are big enough my 60+-yr-old eyes can read the captions. But it is big and heavy. The reason for only 4-stars? As I stated earlier, for many features, it is essential to read the manual to verify everything is "right" to make it work. It would be better if the device was self-analyzing and would give messages through the TV with specific help, with selections to go directly to the appropriate setting to alter things when the player is asked to do something the current settings dont support. For any who might care ... this is my second OPPO, the first being purchased 12 years ago. It is still going strong at another home. I hope my 103 will give me similar longevity. One last item - I installed the OPPO media control app on my Android phone. I almost didnt after reading several reviews, but am glad I did. Most complaints seem to come from a lack of connection to their network (did they connect the wifi USB stick or a wired connector to the OPPO? Who knows), or the apparent incomplete set of buttons on the remote control function. Regarding the latter ... When selecting the remote control it defaults to the middle 1/3rd of the actual remote. This contains most of the moment to moment controls. If you want to have access to the other buttons, simply scroll up or down. While I have not done a button-by-button comparison, it appears to me that every button on the remote is replicated on the remote control portion of the media controller app. So, bottom line - if you can afford it, I highly recommend the OPPO BDP-103, even if the rest of your system components arent of the same caliber. After only a few days, Im glad I made this purchase.

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I started on my journey to replace my first generation Samsung Blu ray player after black friday in November 2015. I got a great deal on a Sony BDPS3500 which worked pretty well. However, it was so light, small and flimsy that a simple touch of my finger to open the tray or power it off , sent the player sliding to the floor. I took it back and replaced it with a BD-J7500 Blu ray player. This unit was a little more on the "beefy" side. But the plastic housing was warped and looked cheap. It worked ok until I put a new Blu ray disk (Spectre) in which contains mostly a dark and muddied tone in the picture which produced some artifacts that I couldnt get rid of. I have always dreamed of having an Oppo. But I couldnt justify the price. So I had to resolve my problem with my issues with previous players by going ahead with the Oppo. Well, it didnt start off well. I set up the player as specified in the owners manual. The recommended hdmi output is hdmi-1. The picture sucked! After a few e-mails back and forth the CS Rep had me restore the player to factory settings. The picture turned out fine. But when I changed the input to hdmi-2, effectively bypassing the Qdeo Video Processor, the picture was even better. I rented a Red Box copy of The Martian and the picture was unbelievable! The Oppo is light years ahead of anything else I have seen. The sound is even more spectacular. Im still not sure that the Qdeo Video Processor works at its peak on my machine. But with the picture and sound I have now, Im happy!

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I have been a long time believer in OPPO DVD and Blu-Ray players going back to the introduction of the OPDV971H, the very first OPPO DVD player. You do get what you pay for, sometimes, and OPPO players have always bested other players available at a given generation of technology and always been worth their higher selling prices. I had been very enthusiastic about my prior OPPO BDP-83 Blu-Ray player. But I had decided to upgrade to a BDP-103 after buying a 4K UHD TV. I have not been disappointed. Although the Anchor Bay chip set used for processing video disc to output on the BDP-83 had been exemplary its 1080P output still left you at the mercy of the upscaling abilities of a 4K UHD TV. When the BDP-103 is set to forced 4K output the Marvell QDEO chip set in the BDP-103 clearly produces better upscaling results than the 1080P source upscaling abilities of both a Samsung 4K UHD and a Vizio 4K UHD set that I have tried the BDP-103 with. Blu-Ray output to 4K UHD TVs has been extraordinary. Detail resolution and tonality have been outstanding. Although the BDP-103 has extensive picture settings for basic issues like contrast, brightness and so forth the addition of color, sharpness and detail enhancement settings that use powerful capabilities pf the Marvell QDEO video chip contribute to the players exceptional picture quality. The Marvell QDEO video chip is capable of producing extraordinary image quality and upscaling results. The QDEO chip employs processes that, and this is supposition on my part, derived both from observed results and a QDEO tech brief on its technology, that seem to employ techniques similar to those used in some Photoshop plug-ins to enhance micro-contrast differences between lines and gradations as well as shadow to highlight gradation in areas of the image. The end result, no matter how it is achieved, can have amazing tonal dimension and depth and yield an image of extraordinary sharpness and life like character while in no way calling attention to itself as an effect. I have tried a number of other players with upscaling, and 4K UHD TVs with their own internal upscaling, and no player or TV comes even close to the tonal and upscaling results of the BDP-103 and the Marvell QDEO video chip. The player also has exceptional noise filtering abilities and controls. As always, its important to make sure that you set x.v. color/deep color output to at least 10 bits if your set supports 10 or 12 bit color spaces. DVD upscaling is remarkably good. When upscaling on the BDP-103 is set to forced 4K output it correctly converts NTSC DVDs to 24P and PAL DVDs to 25P output. Another plus is that UHD 4K upscaled content from the BDP-103 does not requires HDMI v2.0 or HDCP 2.2 compliant connections or pass through. The additional 2nd HDMI output on the BDP-103, that does not use the QDEO chip-set for processing, is of little interest to me, and I dont use 3D, so I have not been able to test that functionality. The BDP-103 offers limited streaming video options with Netflix, VUDU, YouTube and a few other minor choices. But the apps for these services have not been updated since the players introduction and OPPO customer service has stated that neither Amazon Prime nor HULU are willing to support the OPPO streaming platform. As streaming video options have, since the introduction of the BDP-103, become ubiquitous on smart TVs and so forth OPPO is probably wise to not put further energy into their players also being video streaming devices. But for Blu-Ray and DVD playback to 4K TVs the BDP-103 has been extraordinarily good, and clearly bests the BDP-83 in that regard. RECOMMENDED.

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Super great audio visual item to invest in. Super logical organization for a complex piece of equipment. Upgrades DVDs like I never saw before. Plays Any disc I can find to throw at it and eeks out every benefit. I bought it mostly for the sacd and dsd signal carrying capacity. It does that fine through the hdmi #2 output but not through the hdmi 1. So I opted for the 103D model as it sends dsd through both hdmi outputs. Found this on unofficial Oppo website after ordering this unit. I have been chasing quality audio for decades. This is the most amazing bang for your buck technology I have seen. Its a big mistake to think of it as an expensive blu ray player as it is a truly Universal disc player and Computer to maximize your audio and video inputs Automatically. I just found Fellini 8 1/2 , two Kubricks, and Goldfinger in cheap used DVD format -- say $4-- and I know the Oppo will up convert pic and sound to such a high quality I wont need the bluray or even think I am missing it. I did it with South Pacific DVD remastered and others. Now I am running the 103d audio off its rca jacks instead of through the hdtv as I had it set up at first and the Oppo DACs five a distinctly better sound. Steve Hoffmans website sold me on this unit over the years. He loves it and he is a professional music masterer with 750 albums to his credit.

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This is my first blu-ray player and Im glad I went ahead and spent the money on such a good one; features I didnt even realize it had or I needed have really come in handy. I have played several blu-ray discs and DVDs and the picture and sound are amazing. The ability to split the audio and video between my TV and receiver has given me the flexibility to configure my system in a much more convenient way than I would otherwise have been able to do without losing HD sound. It does a great job upscaling DVDs and playing music from a USB device. Ive been trying to play my FLAC files directly from an external hard drive for quite a while and Ive had a couple different devices that would do that, but it was always kind of clunky and I usually found it not even worth the trouble. This player has finally allowed me to do this easily, especially with the smart phone app. The app not only works flawlessly as a remote, but allows you to browse through any files (music, video, pictures) on attached USB devices and then play without having to scroll through on-screen menus. It is incredibly convenient. When gapless play becomes accessible with the app (and I have been assured it is coming in a future upgrade) I expect I will just put away the remote. Ive also had the opportunity to contact Oppos customer service by both email and phone and they excel there as well. There was no problem with my player, I emailed about accessing gapless play for music files and called about a possible issue with firmware upgrade. My emails were answered within minutes (even on a Sunday) and when I called I was not even put on hold; he stayed on with me until the problem was fixed. Cant really ask for more than that.

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The OPPO 103 is exactly what I needed. I LOVE to listen to all kinds of music. Watching Blu-rays is secondary and the OPPO 103 does a stellar job of that. Ive watched from "Apocalypse Now" to Queens: "Rock Montreal" and the audio and video are top-notch. After 8 months with the OPPO 103, my only pet peeve was not being able to watch TV, while playing and listening to my CDs and USB Digital music library. Now, that has been solved. I hooked up an Eyoyo 8" Monitor to my OPPO 103 using a HDMI Switch Bi-Directional Switcher - 1 HDMI going to my Samsung LED TV and 1 HDMI going to the Eyoyo 8" Monitor. I can now play and listen to my Digital Music via USB and CDs from my OPPO 103 while navigating by remote the OPPOs menu on the Eyoyo 8" Monitor while watching cable TV (with NO audio) at the sametime. I have SMSLs DP1 preamp hooked up to an optical switcher box. To control the volume for my TV and music - Im using the RCA outputs from the DP1 (instead of the OPPOs remote and RCAs because the volume out control wasnt as good as the DP1) plugged into an Analog to Digital Converter with the optical plugged into a 2x4 TOSlink Optical Audio Splitter Distribution Amplifier Amp which distributes the audio into my 3 pairs of active speakers with a subwoofer and center speaker. Also, I have my PC (along with my TV and OPPOs optical out) plugged into the aforementioned Toslink Optical Audio Switcher Box with a remote for all my audio. The audio can be totally separate from the video - YEA!!! The OPPO 103 plays my audio with a smoothness, balance and warmth at a very detailed level. I can sit on my couch and change the volume for TV and music audio using the DP1s Remote - which works great. Im in Hog Heaven. Back in the day I would listen to my Cassettes, CDs and FM radio on my early 90s NAD Audio equipment while watching TV (with NO audio). Now, with my new setup, I LOVE listening to my Digital music on my OPPO 103 while watching News, Sports, the Weather Channel, TCM, etc. on my TV (with No sound). Im no snobby audiophile, I just enjoy high quality background music from Mozart to Sade, along with some moderately loud "Surfin Bird" by the Trashmen to The Beatles to ELO to some outrageously loud AC/DC, Jimi Hendrix, The Cult or Van Halen while watching cable TV with NO sound. Im in 7th Heaven with this OPPO 103... UPDATE: 7/25/2018 --- In concert with the OPPO 103, I experimented to see what a DAC between the Essence HDACC (which I highly recommend) and my speakers would sound like. I’ve watched Cable TV, USB Digital music through my HDACC via PC, USB thumbdrive from my OPPO through the HDACC and watched again 2 Blu-ray live concerts (ELO’s Zoom and Queen’s Rock Montreal) and 1 Blu-ray Movie (Apocalypse Now) from my OPPO 103 Universal player’s HDMI video only output to my LED TV and HDMI audio only output hooked up to the HDACC and outputting from the HDACCs Optical output into the SMSLs DP1(which sounds fantastic and I highly recommend) and then, I tried out the M6 in the same configuration out to a center speaker, subwoofer and 3 pairs of fairly inexpensive active speakers (maybe $1500 total). The SMSLs DP1 is cheaper and sounds incredible in this configuration!!! The M6 sounded metallic with muddy bass. I used all the different PCM Filter and Sound Color settings and it only made it worse or had no effect. I contacted SMSLs customer service and they told me there is no bass or treble functions in the M6. I have been blown away by the improvement of sound using the OPPO 103 and the DP1 working in conjunction with the HDACC and IS the best money Ive ever spent for low to moderately priced equipment. The soundstage, the openess, the airiness, the somewhat surround-like/live effect (even though I only have a 2.1 setup with 3 pairs of optical connected of not so fancy active speakers) with the HDACC’s HDMI de-embedder and supporter of DTS Master HD and Dolby True HD Blu-rays - is incredible.

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The packaging on this device is amazing. Sets a great tone for the rest of the experience, and you wont be disappointed by anything else it has to offer. I have yet to begin to fully tap into this devices power, but I have enjoyed a lot of it so far. The upscaling in the video is amazing. The functionality to upscale from a 2D DVD to 3D is amazing. (How do they do that?) Both image and SQ are exceptional all around. BR picture and sound quality is amazing. I have this connected to a BENQ 3D projector to a 110" screen, planning to upgrade to 140" in another month. Drastic difference in quality from my previous BD player. I also run my XBOX through this and noticed an improvement in picture quality and much smoother edges. The network capability is amazing. We had issues with a previous BR player and the netflix functionality. Continual buffering and picture/sound quality issues. Changing nothing but the device (same network connection and cable) to this Oppo has made netflix streaming flawless. Picture and sound quality is no longer an issue, and no more buffering. When my wife notices a difference and is happy, there is definitely an improvement! Connection to network storage of videos, pictures, and Music is also very smooth and fast. Having over 8TB of information on my network, it breezes through it all with little effort, and has been able to play every file type I have thrown at it. (Previous BRP could not do that). I would highly recommend this to anyone looking to seriously upgrade their BR capability in the lower end of the high-end market. Worth every penny.

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So, considering there are nearly 800 reviews on this unit what could I say that hasnt already been said ? I discovered for myself that all Blu-ray/DVD players are NOT the same. So will you when you set this one up. The video is amazing, of course. The options for configuration are the most comprehensive Ive ever seen. The quality of the unit is apparent immediately. What blew me away the most is how much BETTER my CDs sounded. The OPPO has given my CD collection new life. Even my old AAD CDs sounded more detailed and crisp than I would have ever expected. I absolutely love this player, and if you are serious about your audio you will too. Im sure of it. Highly recommended.

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I thought the price was steep, but bought this based on positive reviews. I was tired of going through cheap DVD and BluRay players and wanted one that would last. This has been nothing but trouble. After numerous problems (many are echoed in other one star reviews here), I contacted Oppo and sent the player in to them for service. What a joke! They blamed the DVD I sent in (one of many that had issues with freezing and even causing the player to restart at times). They told me they replaced parts anyway, despite being convinced it was our faulty DVDs. Funny, as others have said it’s acitally Blu-ray Discs that fare worst on this player. My only recourse at this point is to add one more one star review of this and beg anyone considering buying ANY product from this company: don’t do it!! Customer service is lacking and you will regret spending your hard earned money on these overpriced products. I believe the company has folded anyway, so you are unlikely to even get the crappy customer service I received.

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This is an impressive product. The quality was higher than I expected. It is closer to high end audio than consumer electronics. The best thing for me was the sensibility of the menues and buttons. It seems like most of the stuff you buy today have UI as a second thought. I have no trouble getting this to do what I want with no issues. I am a bit of an audiophile and I really wanted the 105, but I cheaped out at the last min and bought this guy along with a musical fidelity VA-90 Dac for 300$. I figured I am still much cheaper than the 105 and I have the flexibility of the external DAC. The good and bad news is this player sounds literally exactly the same through its analog outs as it doses through SPDIF to the DAC. I am starting to further doubt the street cred of the audiophile community. Not that My 2 channel system has roughly the same value as a crappy but late model used car, so it should be capable of resolving such difference. Anyways the player sounds fantastic by its self, no need for an external DAC

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