[grsimmon]

So lately I've been shopping around for an SACD player.   Oppo keeps coming up on the radar, and when I look at the finer print, they come with 1 year warranty.  I think that's lame and it turned out to be a deal breaker for me.  There are plenty others out there with weak warranties as well.  Some of the good guys (?):

Sony 5400ES (now discontinued)   5 year warranty
Marantz Reference line SACD.      5 year warranty
Marantz regular line  sacd,  3 year warranty
Denon DCD A100 sacd player,   5 year warranty

Now granted these are more expensive than Oppo, but especially if you can find demos, clearance etc it makes it easier. 


Basically I just felt like mentioning this because I think consumers deserve a good warranty when you're dropping $1k or more on a unit.   I think 1 year warranty is just unacceptable but doesn't really get mentioned in the glowing publication reviews out there....

[Phil A]

I believe Oppo sells extended warranties.  If you believe Oppo to be of the sound quality you prefer, what is the deal breaker for an extra few dollars that will still likely leave it priced below the products noted?  Do you want them to price it at $1,050 with a 3 year warranty instead of $1,000?

[Phil A]

I guess the 2 year additional warranty on the BDP-95 is $99 vs. $50 (which is more in line with the older cheaper models).  So I guess they could merely price it at $1,099 with a 3 year warranty.

[Sparky14]

Well, I'll agree that just comparing the length of warranties would cause concern.

However, in their advantage, I have found Oppo's service to be outstanding. Fair pricing for repairs, quick turnaround. I doubt you would get that from Sony/Marantz/Denon, they are just too big.

[Quiet Earth]

I think 1 year warranty is just unacceptable but doesn't really get mentioned in the glowing publication reviews out there....

I can certainly empathize with you grsimmon, but consider that a 1 year warranty is usually long enough to discover a problem if you are going to have one. With a 1 year warranty you have plenty of time to really use the machine and discover any glitches that it may develop. With a 90 day warranty you have to use the heck out of it to really break it in. (For lack of a better term.)


I have a little story about Oppo...... (kind of long winded)

I bought an Oppo 83 for the family blu ray player and it worked just fine for 6 or 7 months. Although to be fair, we didn't really use it much, and certainly not for blu rays yet, so maybe it would have only worked fine with blu ray discs for a couple of weeks. I don't know. Anyway, when we eventually picked up a few blu rays it started sticking and freezing the picture with blu ray discs. Just occasionally at first, and eventually all the time with every disc including DVDs. I went to the Oppo website and learned how to do firmware updates. It was easy to do and educational. The updates seemed to help for a couple of days, but eventually we realized that the 83 had a bigger problem and it needed to go back to the factory. (Some of our AC members also encouraged me. Thanks guys!  ) Fortunately I saved the box and packing.

We were getting close to the 1 year warranty expiration.

Oppo was excellent in the way they handled the return. I got online and answered a few customer service questions and they set me up with a RA number. They even e-mailed me the return shipping label to stick on the box. No charge to me. On top of that, they fixed it and returned it quickly.

I think if we would have used the machine a lot more in the beginning (and with blu rays) we would have discovered the problem sooner. If it was out of warranty and I had to pay for repairs, at least the service was handled very professionally.

[skunark]

I've dealt with Sony warranties before and vowed to avoid their products because of it.  I gave a new blu-ray player to my brother within 45 days it failed, Sony eagerly dealt  with him, but he received a similar model of a different color and refurbished.     

[Phil A]

I have 3 Oppo players.  I have a modded BDP-83 in the main system, a BDP-93 in the bedroom system and a DV980H in the basement system.  The DV980H was used in the bedroom system for years (although components in the bedroom and basement system see fairly light use) before I moved it to the basement system.  I think I called Oppo customer service once many years back and they were wonderful. 

I still have a Marantz DV9600 universal in the main system (was in the main system at one point, then went to the basement system and I moved it back) which I basically use as a CD transport as I like it a bit better than the BDP-83.  I have a Marantz SR-6003 in bedroom system and an old SR7300 OSE (orig. spec. ed.) laying around that I had in the basement system for a bit.  I've owned Sony components too.  I currently have a Blu-Ray/SACD player in the office system, a projector in the basement system and had an XA-777ES many years back which I had a mod done to.  I also owned a Sony TA-P9000ES for a bit.

I've had friend who have had trouble with Marantz service and also have read enough posts over the years to get a flavor about Sony's service.  For me, I'd prefer Oppo's service any day of the week.  As I noted for $99 for a BDP-95 (and less for a BDP-93) one can get a three year warranty.  I'll be looking at the next generation of Oppo players and probably rotate things around but probably keep the DV980H as with a 4 digit code on the remote I have a region free DVD player.

[srb]

All manufacturers calculate warranty periods into their pricing.  Making longer warranty periods available optionally, like Oppo, gives the consumer a choice.  Many people would prefer to pay less and take the chance.
 
Although 5 years is nice long warranty for a disc player, 3 years is far more common for those players that have longer than 1 year warranties.  Even Bryston, who has a 20 year warranty on analog electronics and 5 years on digital electronics, has a 3 year warranty on their MSRP $3195 BCD-1 CD player.
 
Even adding the 2 year warranty extension to the Oppo players ($568 for BDP-93 and $1098 for BDP-95), they are still good values and more than competitive.
 
Steve