[murphy11]

Yeah, back in MY day, things were better!  - said every old guy, ever

Too funny One of my greatest joys these days is to tell I remember when stories and I’m not even that old.

[Shogun]

How do they continue to exist to provide this support when existing product inventory is depleted and there is no new revenue in the pipeline from development and sale of new products 

Oppo Digital is a independant oversea division of BBK Electronics from Guangdong province of China, founded in 2004. BBK is huge, they sell smarphones under the Oppo, Vivo and Oneplus brand. They are the third biggest smarphones manufacturer worldwide, with 199 million sold in 2017. Oppo Digital sales revenu look like some pocket change compare to its smarphone divisions.

Here's two clues, who is the boss of Oppo Digital:

It has been 14 years since we established OPPO Digital in the United States

Review of their first product in 2005: http://www.projectorcentral.com/oppo_opdv971h_dvd_player.htm

So who is Oppo? They certainly are not a household name and with good reason as Oppo is a newly created North American branch of BBK Electronics of China, a giant in the manufacture of consumer electronics, employing 12,000 people worldwide. So while Oppo is a new name, the company and the technology behind it are quite substantial.

Oppo's task in North America is to build the Oppo brand by focusing on quality and customer support. You will not find this product at a local store just yet. Oppo wants to build demand by first establishing its reputation. To do this, it wants some firsthand experience with its customers and the fastest way to get it is to sell direct

[charmerci]

Have not seen anything about Amazon doing it. Amazon has pissed off its resellers selling CDs, by not letting them list items.

What Amazon did was stop ordinary people (like me) re-sell their CD's. You need to be an official "reseller" - not just a guy buying, copying and then re-selling those CD's.

[ctviggen]

Hmmm. Makes me think I should buy a 4K player while I still can.

Only problem for me with Oppo is that quality costs...$1,300 for their best 4k player is steep.  $550 for their cheap 4k player.  Though I've had my Oppo BDP-83 for a while now.  Also, I'm behind the times...I still buy DVDs and not Blurays, though I buy Blurays too.  No 4k though, even though I have a 4k TV. 

[poseidonsvoice]

From Oppo Digital

Anand,

We will not be liquidating the remaining products as we anticipating that we will be able to sell out of all remaining stock, and the stock which we can't sell, can always be used for parts for replacing and repairing OPPO products which are in and out of warranty.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
162 Constitution Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

Best,
Anand.

[rbbert]

...not just a guy buying, copying and then re-selling those CD's.

Which is, of course, illegal

[Letitroll98]

I still have one of their original products, the DV-970HD, that is acting as a transport for cd's in my system.  Funny, it's finally giving up the ghost now that the company is shuttering its doors.  I bet they were afraid of the warranty work on my unit so they closed instead. 

[witchdoctor]

Streaming services are replacing BRD players and Oppo sees the writing on the walls

[mav52]

I've enjoyed the OPPO products and have owned each one since the 83 and still have a 93 , 105 and a 203.  The 203 works great in the HT area and I'm thinking about getting another , just case.

[wushuliu]

Why are you all assuming that disc sales have to do with Oppo closing down? Have you checked the resale value of the players? They are not even reducing prices on current inventory per Anand's post. So it has nothing to do with 'spinners' and declining disc sales. Not with product sales like that. Try finding an old BDP 83 for under $300 shipped on ebay. What 10 yr old blu ray player has that value?

If they were really wanting to stay in business and make money they could have simply pivoted over to headphones and head gear, not shut it down. They could have expanded their line up to include cheaper and more expensive headphones like everyone else is doing and made $$$$$ thanks to their brand recognition and reputation, with *significantly* cheaper production and distribution costs. Heck, It's what everyone else is doing.

Whatever their reasons are for closing (I think this branch was more a boutique 'hobby' for the main company), it's not because of physical disc sales.

[poseidonsvoice]

Whatever their reasons are for closing (I think this branch was more a boutique 'hobby' for the main company), it's not because of physical disc sales.

I think there may be some truth to this.

Best,
Anand.

[bobbyhamil]

What happens to the makers of cell phones when those phones tank. don't laugh'it's going to happen. when will cd and dvd players come back in the future?  anybody's guess.

       Thanks bgh

[RDavidson]

I think the problem is three-fold:

1. They stopped streaming support when they rolled out their new players. Seemingly not a huge deal because things like Roku are available inexpensively and have more capabilities (as they point out on their website). Problem is, streaming is a big feature that helped make the older models great bang for the buck...especially with streaming becoming more popular. No one wants to buy extra boxes when they can get a great all-in-one, do-it-all unit.

2. They STUPIDLY only gave the new players 1 HDMI input! A lot of people like to use the input to enhance the picture  quality from their cable box. So...with no onboard streaming, one would have to unplug their cable box then plug their Roku in or vice versa or get ANOTHER box (ie an HDMI switch box or HT receiver or some other complicated / less elegant solution)!

3. The prices stayed the same! Less features + Same prices = Decreased value propositions. Did anyone in their marketing department look at this?

Rant over.

[RPM123]

Well, if you were thinking of buying a 205, they are all sold out at the retail price...everywhere! Resellers are offering them from $2195 up to $3500 on eBay.  There are still some 203's available though at a few sites.

[poseidonsvoice]

Well, if you were thinking of buying a 205, they are all sold out at the retail price...everywhere! Resellers are offering them from $2195 up to $3500 on eBay.  There are still some 203's available though at a few sites.

Wow. You are absolutely right. The 205 is unobtanium.

Best,
Anand.

[poseidonsvoice]

Question and Answer Session with Oppo with Scott Wilkinson of AVS Forums:

Q: Why is Oppo terminating its product manufacturing?

A: The revenue from sales cannot offset the cost of developing players and maintaining a production facility.

Q: The announcement says Oppo will “gradually” stop making products. How gradually?

A: We are in the process of manufacturing our last batch of products. If there is no change to delay or speed up the production, we expect the last product to come out of the factory in June.

Q: When production stops, will you continue to sell products in your inventory? How long do you anticipate that might last?

A: Yes, we will continue to sell products in our inventory. It is hard to predict how long that might last; based on the previous rate, it may last 2-3 months. However, demand may slow down given the announcement, or perhaps people will want to get products while they can and the inventory will be sold out quickly.

Q: What will happen to the company in the long term? Will it change its focus in some way, or will it stay open long enough to support its products for some period of time? Are we talking months or years?

A: The company will transition from product development to product support. We are committed to supporting the products for as long as we can. For those who just purchased one of our products or will purchase them, we will honor the 2-year manufacturer’s warranty, so we are talking about years rather than months. This is also why we made the announcement now, so customers can make an informed decision regarding future purchases, and we can plan to have the proper resources to support the customers and products.

Q: Regarding the UDP-203 and 205 UHD Blu-ray players, have you released a firmware update that addresses the Sony implementation of Dolby Vision in its TVs? If you haven’t issued that update, do you expect to? If so, when?

A: We have firmware that supports Sony’s implementation of Dolby Vision in its TVs. The firmware is undergoing testing by Dolby right now. We hope to make it available to customers as soon as the test concludes that there is no problem with existing Dolby Vison-capable TVs as well as Sony TVs.


_______________________________________ __________________________________



Best,
Anand.

[PeteG]

Thanks for the info.

[rbbert]

FWIW, much of that Q&A is already out of date.  205’s are essentially gone, and Oppo has about 200 203’s left as of this morning.  Best Buy appears to be the only outside retailer who might have 205’s, barring returns.  Oppo does have a waiting list for people who might want to buy returned players.  They have also announced they are considering another production run of 205’s; if that happens they expect them to be available in August.

[jonbee]

Bad news. Great products, best support in the business. I've probably owned at least 8 of their players. The 103, 105 etc. are like swiss army knives for video, and are bulletproof too. I guess too many are choosing cheap throw aways.

[kgturner]

I had anticipated replacing my old Sony Blu-ray player with an Oppo later this year. With the recent news, what do you think is my best option:

used 103D, new 203, or ???

Kevin T