Steve, thanks for taking the time to do such reviews.
I own two of the Oppo UDP-203 and both are somehow broken. After installing firmware update UDP20X-60-0625 and or UDP20X-56-0224 they are somehow sending out a bad HDMI signal that is tripping the circuits in the HDMI input on every TV that I connect them to. (another member here explained it as a illegal HDMI format that trips the HDMI circuit in the TV preventing it from excepting any further signals correctly) I still get a picture, but it looks like the 4K TV's are displaying in washed out, 1080 resolution with the sharpness turned all the way down. I had to return the last four new TV's that I bought. I called support about the last TV and they sent me a firmware update which brought the TV back to life. However, as soon as I connected the Oppo and used it for about a half hour everything turned to crap again. When this happens the TV stays in this condition even though I disconnect the Oppo and throw it in the closet in disgust. I was told by a member to fix it all I had to do was turn off the power, unplug the TV from the outlet and then press and hold in the power button for a couple seconds to drain any residual energy and that would reset the HDMI circuits, but it didn't seem to work for me so I returned the TV. I think it has something to do with whenever I'm watching 50i or 60i content I always change the resolution to match. This always gave me better picture quality instead of leaving it set to auto and letting it be upscaled to 2160 Progressive. I also though it might be from changing the resolution during playback, but Oppo CS said it's okay to do.
I've been reading a lot of 4K player user manuals in search of a new player and sometimes come across this statement, "When this unit is connected to a TV that supports Dolby Vision, the resolution can only be set to [Auto] or [2160p]" Auto and 2160p are the same thing on the Oppo. This leads me to believe that there is some compatibility issue between interlace and Dolby Vision and maybe firmware update UDP20X-56-0224 or UDP20X-60-0625 which were focused on Dolby Vision is causing the problem.
Anyyyyyyyway, back to finding a new player. I love the fact that the Reavon UBR-X100 is about as close to the Oppo UDP-203 as one can get. I'm trilled that they incorporated the A-B Repeat and Zoom function into this unit, few do these days. This unit may very well be the replacement for my Oppo's if I can just find out a couple more details before pulling the trigger.
I'm assuming that you no longer have access to the unit, that it was just a loaner to do a review???
Well, maybe you can still help me. I read all the info I could find, but I'm still missing the little details. I have five questions that would best be asked of someone who actually used the equipment.
(1) Do you remember if the OSD can be completely turned off (as was possible with the Oppo)? In other words, when viewing a A-B repeat loop, are the letters AB stuck on the screen and on the persons face like a tattoo.
(2) Do you remember if Zooming can be shifted by using the up/down and right/left arrow keys to center the subject (as was possible with Oppo)?
(3) This one you probably never even thought of trying, but I'll ask. It's an easy way to learn guitar solos which are usually happening pretty fast. You just setup a loop of a live guitar solo on video, set the slow motion rate and let it play over and over again while you watch which notes are being played and play along with it. Eventually, your playing it at normal speed. So, do you know if A-B Repeat and Slow Motion work together in tandem? What I mean is will the unit hold the slow motion speed when the A-B Repeat loop ends and then starts over again from Point (A) or will it automatically revert back to normal speed. If it doesn't hold it's a real pain in the A becasue your holding the guitar with two hands and you have to keep grabbing the remote to set the slow motion rate all over again. This was possible with the Oppo, but only with two file types, MKV and Webm which worked out perfectly because when downloading videos from Youtube they are in the MKV format.
(4) Do you know what the HDD size limit is for connecting by USB? I used a 3TB MYBOOK drive with the Oppo, but some players support 4TB and some only 2TB.
(5) Last, but not least. You mentioned some of the supported formats, but where can I find the complete list, they are not listed in specs or anywhere else that I was able to find?
Sorry, I know it was a lot to read and by all means take your time getting back to me or you can just direct me to someone else that might know.
Thanks for your time Steve,
Bruce