Oppo UPD-205 or Pioneer UDP-LX800

[Guest miksmiks84]

Hi. I have an question to someone who might have experience with both of these players. I know Oppo stopped producing, and basically there was no competition on that level until Pioneer made LX500, LX800 players. But I do have question more so not who is better (sure any subjective experience interest me as well), but who have UHD ISO, BD ISO, BDMV folder playback possibility? I know that Oppo 203, 205 have with some modification or so called jailbreak, and then all possible formats are playable, BD and UHD menus too as I understood. But giving  that Oppo don't produce any players and modified ones can be bought only from Russia, plus price is extremely huge, then I want to understand if Pioneer LX models are doing what Oppo with mentioned content, and if there is any actual technical updates? Oppo 205 had headphone dac what is big deal to me. Will appreciate any recomendations or advice. I know Pioneer LX800 cost more than 2000 Eur, but so as Oppo 205 now. 

[betty boop]

The pioneer is SO expensive !

 

and if paying rip off prices on OPPO on eBay ? Why ? It’s crazy !

 

buy a media player for iso playback buy a headphone amp that’s those two requirements done

 

are there other specific reasons want either these players ?

[Guest miksmiks84]

Oppo if modified plays all. Price is very high but then again no other so called media player will not be even close on media playback, quality of picture. Egreat, zidoo, zappiti, dune they all are media players but neither comes close to Oppo. Not mentioning actual UHD disk playback smoothness. As well dac for phones alone would cost me 1000$ for rme adi-2 dac what is sure amazing. Concluding that it is half of Oppo price already. Anyways my question stays open for further discussion.

[Guest miksmiks84]

By the way what about Cambridge CXUHD? I just remembered this player too 

[cwt]

3 hours ago, miksmiks84 said:

, but who have UHD ISO, BD ISO, BDMV folder playback possibility? I know that Oppo 203, 205 have with some modification or so called jailbreak, and then all possible formats are playable, BD and UHD menus too as I understood.

Its not allowed for any licensed bluray player unfortunately to play iso's miksmik or even close to the codecs a good media player can - the pio lx500 doesn't even list mkv's under its codec list . The Russian alternative doesn't abide by copyright or zoning niceties needless to say.. 

I would suggest you have a look at the latest dune hd ultra ; its got separate power supplies ; top notch capacitors and sabre dacs with fully balanced xlr's [ reads like an oppo's specification ]

 http://dune-hd.com/eng/products/full_hd_media_players/62

[betty boop]

5 hours ago, miksmiks84 said:

Oppo if modified plays all. Price is very high but then again no other so called media player will not be even close on media playback, quality of picture. Egreat, zidoo, zappiti, dune they all are media players but neither comes close to Oppo. Not mentioning actual UHD disk playback smoothness. As well dac for phones alone would cost me 1000$ for rme adi-2 dac what is sure amazing. Concluding that it is half of Oppo price already. Anyways my question stays open for further discussion.

I've owned dune AND oppo same time. they both have their purpose in life....

 

I haven't as yet seen what specifically you are chasing that is so unique to the oppo. or if so unique would rule out the pio ? 

 

uhd playback ? am using pana ub9000 currently as player it seems to do a great job. I also own the 205 its a swiss army knit in replay capability, do you need its universal disc play ? you havent mentioned that ? 

 

5 hours ago, miksmiks84 said:

By the way what about Cambridge CXUHD? I just remembered this player too 

it uses same media trek platform as oppos so a universal player but a transport only ie no dac or analog stage.

[Guest]

Oppp simply because the pioneer is ugly

[Guest miksmiks84]

Well basically I would need for everything. I know that it does not exist - for everything, but as close as possible. Meaning UHD disc playback good but on last place I would say. Most important UHD folder, BD folder playback, perfect case scenario with all menus. So content playback from external hdd let's say. No interest in any NAS or plex media, Netflix etc, so basically zero interest in streaming whatsoever. Simple playback of UHD,BD folder/iso content. And second most important is good headphone support, so some good dac. I mean I was looking on additional solution with rme adi-2 dac but if purchase that then price becomes very heavy on all together. So for now I can't find perfect machine for me. All media boxes seems have too many flaws, built badly, many crappy parts inside, don't play my mentioned content with menus or play with many errors. So I went through all of them including Oppo and found that as best built machine + UHD disc player for sure. Probably it is not best solution but what I can say. Panasonic, pioneer, sony don't have these options plus Copyright issues I think so yeah either jailbreak Oppo or stick to Dune I guess but again I read in many places about questionable built quality. There is sure zidoo, egreat, himedia,zappiti but all of them perform weak, and are same in general. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Edited December 6, 2018 by miksmiks84

[TerryO]

If it's mainly for HT then what about the Oppo 203? easier to find and much less expensive. Back to back with the 205 it's not as good for 2-channel duties, but the differences are not huge.

 

cheers Terry.

Edited December 7, 2018 by TerryO

[Guest miksmiks84]

Yeah i was checking that too. What are biggest differences between 203 and 205? How actually is with future proof if I may say. Like how long these hardware specs will hold in daily usage considering that today for home viewing nothing higher is on horizon than 4K Dolby vision, HDR etc. I'm just thinking that considering Oppo is out of producing than these two are last models to buy. They will not get better but competition for sure will push newer stuff outside, maybe less quality but still. So for today's prices (and obviously my personal already mentioned specific needs) Oppo 203 would be suitable option if I know that I want peace in next few years regarding player capabilities?

Edited December 6, 2018 by miksmiks84

[TerryO]

As far as I know when it comes to HT duties both the 203 and the 205 are the same, but others on here will know for sure.

 

I just recently purchased another 205 when one popped up at the right price, that was more luck than anything else as I just happened to log on a couple of minutes after the seller advertised it. He was inundated with requests to buy, but it was a shame to hear that he was abused by a couple of different SNA members for not selling it to them after they had missed out and then offered more than the asking price. 

 

Anyway that makes it two 205's and one 203, however I didn't buy them to collect them as we now use all three players on a almost daily basis between HT and 2-channel duties, these really are excellent players and were a absolute bargain when new.

 

That should keep us going player wise for quite a while hopefully, the only one of the three I would consider selling is the 203 and then only if a really good CD player popped up at the right price or someone was looking at some kind of trade and wanted a 203 player.

 

cheers Terry

Edited December 6, 2018 by TerryO

[betty boop]

For Ht they are same and partly why have kept asking the need to try understand why want the OPPO 205. I suspect the Cambridge that uses same chipset Likely same drive will also be same

 

it won’t as cwt said do iso playback unless looking at jail breaking etc. then reliant on 3rd party ....

 

re uhd but unless wanting universal replay eg sacd/dvda then I haven’t read why want the oppo

 

i used dune myself had no bothers. Only reason got rid of it is my life doesn’t allow for spending hours upon hours ripping blu-Ray let alone uhds. And then storing and managing them when I’d Likely watch once  or if watched again 1-2 years down track just grab the disc. Plus the whole managing the data. When nas drive clapped out enough was enough.

 

re dacs and headphone plenty of options

 

the other her thing with OPPO even though own one what concerns me is ongoing support. I’m happy to take the punt but aware without the company behind I can’t seeing that ongoing ...has to be a sunset ! Some point in time ...it might continue to be supported somehow ... but it also might not ... what will fund ongoing support ? Since they won’t be selling players ?

 

re the pioneer it’s a LOT of money for what is relative unknown on the scene (for uhd universal). For money involved I’d like to see it proved in market place first

[Mobe1969]

Pioneer is an in production unit, and you can get a region free mod for it.  How good a player it is is a bit unknown yet really. No reviews of any great depth on it. The HDR tone mapping capabilities of it are unknown but it does seem to have some simple stuff, looking at the manual.

 

Honestly I'd be looking at the Panasonic 9000.

 

If you can get the oppo, and like the brand and the capabilities, it is way more of a known quantity than the pioneer.

[Guest miksmiks84]

Need of buying for example 205 is superb built quality, headphone dac, discs load quick and fast, possible to use content what I mentioned (don't know really if all because then I need to jailbreak), so that would be good investment. Sure if prices are overblown and nothing will change then I need to look somewhere else. For now yes I know, Oppo will not make anymore any players, nor support much as only I see these news here today: https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarcher/2018/12/06/oppo-4k-blu-ray-players-to-get-surprise-new-feature/amp/

 

Panasonic 9000 seems cool but again do someone knows if that player can do what I need? What about this Dune  HD Ultra 4K? Someone have this or it is not out yet? That have same dac as Oppo - ESS ES9038PRO.  Basically i would like to get that 205 if price would be ok but one who plays all content from HDD too. If not...Well then I don't know. Probably Dune...or Panasonic. Anyways that's why I am asking but sure nobody can't tell future or pricetag in near future.

 

Edited December 7, 2018 by miksmiks84

[TerryO]

@miksmiks84 thanks for the link on the Oppo update, interesting that they are still introducing class leading upgrades like this after they have ceased production of their players.

I also intend to order a linear power supply like @Tasso has as I will be very interested to hear and see what improvements that upgrade makes to both the 203 and the 205.

 

cheers Terry

Edited December 7, 2018 by TerryO

[cwt]

3 hours ago, miksmiks84 said:

Need of buying for example 205 is superb built quality, headphone dac, discs load quick and fast, possible to use content what I mentioned (don't know really if all because then I need to jailbreak), so that would be good investment. 

Panasonic 9000 seems cool but again do someone knows if that player can do what I need? What about this Dune  HD Ultra 4K? Someone have this or it is not out yet? That have same dac as Oppo - ESS ES9038PRO. 

With the Dune miksmiks it may pay to wait to see what sort of support it gets in the future ; its not getting the firmware upgrades you would expect at the moment from Dune looking at avs forum ; the changeover to a Realtek/android chipset away from a sigma solution hasn't done any favours it seems ..

If you can forget about headphones[ the pana has no jack and no separate dac] it is a quality piece with a well isolated psu and high quality components and it also has a hevc decoder for any h265 files as well as h264 for standard bluray ones ..  Its also got all the important hdr colour spaces covered with hdr10/+ and dolby vision . Theres always the option of buying a codec converter to make sure all your files are playable but the 9000 is quite fine especially with audio codecs like dsd..

 

[Guest miksmiks84]

What is linear power supply? What it does change? And codec converter for Panasonic 9000? What it is? Sorry I am not that advanced in this all field hehe. I might buy additional dac what I dream to buy for long http://www.rme-audio.de/en/products/adi_2-dac.php

 

Then I kind of don't need any internal dacs. 

[Guest miksmiks84]

Ok after reading about Panasonic 9000 more I understand it is no go. It does not playback media from HDD and I don't  need only that as some MKV files but all UHD folder and BD folder playback witj all menus. So yeah I guess options are very few to none here in general. Dune would kind fit but I read now about that bad firmware support and it is lame. To rely on company who literally don't care about product after it is released And don't roll out firmware for absolutely necessary video updates, that's no go. I don't know but it seems that Oppo and only that is my only player even if that is firstly disc player not media streamer or player but still, as now it shows they do still provide firmware updates 1.5 years after they closed production of hardware. It shows great love to fanbase. So I don't know but seems Oppo is only one I should get, other media players totally does not fit the bill with not caring about firmware updates and cheap built quality. Eh. Hope Oppo can support with update for few more years hehe.

[betty boop]

49 minutes ago, miksmiks84 said:

I don't know but it seems that Oppo and only that is my only player even if that is firstly disc player not media streamer or player but still, as now it shows they do still provide firmware updates 1.5 years after they closed production of hardware.

 

it hasnt been 1.5 years since they closed production of hardware  they only not that long ago ran the last run of their players. what happens in 1.5 years from now is anyones guess (say this as an oppo owner)

 

I can tell you categorically both oppo and cambridge both mediatek platforms will 100% NOT provide ANY support for ISO streaming. they removed this a long long ways back in the oppo 95/cambridge 751 players ( have owned both this series and seen the functionality removed and owned later players without the functionality present). if you are going to want some firmware updates on those it will have to be some 3rd party hackers to jailbreak and such. talking about oppo or cambridges support and for something not supported by them is drawing a very long bow

 

keep in mind what you are wanting is illegal by australian law which doesnt allow ripping and storage and replay of IP protected media and you are reminded of this every time you play a disc with those warnings at the start. so while there are people using media players for this kind of thing. and quite established and quite a few people use it, dont expect it to be in a fantastic completely slick fashion as you get with studio based released product supported with off the self product. because these support disc replay is the mainstream and supported by commercial released products supported by your consumer rights. 

 

 

[Guest miksmiks84]

Mhm well I do understand but then again do they play all media out of box not counting ISO? I'm not particularly worried about law and all that it's just I want to find good player who does what i need. I can't get my hands on all of them can't test them to say yes it works just like I imagined or it does not. That's why I need opinion only what I asked for. Law and Copyright things are something else. I do own my blu ray discs and UHD discs as well alot on HDD. That's why I need machine for all. But playing from folder is important because discs will play I have no doubt about it, more quite more fast etc, that will work. But HDD folder playback is not 100% known thing. In general if I don't jailbreak Oppo then what exactly content it plays of course not counting Blu ray and UHD discs?

[betty boop]

7 minutes ago, miksmiks84 said:

Mhm well I do understand but then again do they play all media out of box not counting ISO? I'm not particularly worried about law and all that it's just I want to find good player who does what i need. I can't get my hands on all of them can't test them to say yes it works just like I imagined or it does not. That's why I need opinion only what I asked for. Law and Copyright things are something else. I do own my blu ray discs and UHD discs as well alot on HDD. That's why I need machine for all. But playing from folder is important because discs will play I have no doubt about it, more quite more fast etc, that will work. But HDD folder playback is not 100% known thing. In general if I don't jailbreak Oppo then what exactly content it plays of course not counting Blu ray and UHD discs?

sorry no 100% no they do not allow ISO replay out of box. I repeat and won't again. that no they do not allow iso replay of movies eg blu-ray, uhd and all. you might not care about the law, but its what stops them doing so. the BDA would ban then and its a reason replay capability was removed by firmware update many model releases ago. I know as I experienced it.

 

as to what replay is capable all companies are quite clear in what media they can stream but you wont find ISO (blu-ray uhd Blu-Ray) disc images amongst them. if talking music they will do it specific formats check spec for detail (and we are allowed by law to format shift music) but I can tell you also owning a dedicated music streamer it kills these players in usability and capability.

 

as for disc replay apart from blu-ray and uhd blu-ray oppo, cambridge and pioneer will player cd/sacd/dvd/dvda. panasonic will do cd/dvd not sacd/dvda.

[Guest miksmiks84]

I'm not talking about ISO but folders  so folders WITH content UHD and Blu ray. Seems I mentioned that many times. ISO does not worry me if don't exist. I need folders who are BDMV UHD, and Blu ray. As far as I know they are played if apply jailbreak on Oppo. All is simple, I asked about it first place. 

[betty boop]

11 minutes ago, miksmiks84 said:

I'm not talking about ISO but folders  so folders WITH content UHD and Blu ray. Seems I mentioned that many times. ISO does not worry me if don't exist. I need folders who are BDMV UHD, and Blu ray. As far as I know they are played if apply jailbreak on Oppo. All is simple, I asked about it first place. 

not out of box 

 

you have said it yourself .....jailbreak ! 

 

how on earth do you expect to play BDMV UHD, and Blu ray from folders ripped to hard disc ... if they are not ISO ? unless talking some down resd formats or something.

[Guest miksmiks84]

Ok jailbreak then. About formats no I don't rip anything I get from torrents. I buy discs and get others as copy from net. Many are doing that so there is that format. I don't imagine e anything and just wanted simple answers. Arguments about nothing don't interest me. All folders I have is movies I own and? And i think that's why I need proper machine to do the job but not some disposable media streamers. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by miksmiks84

[betty boop]

17 minutes ago, miksmiks84 said:

Ok jailbreak then. About formats no I don't rip anything I get from torrents. I buy discs and get others as copy from net. Many are doing that so there is that format. I don't imagine e anything and just wanted simple answers. Arguments about nothing don't interest me. All folders I have is movies I own and? And i think that's why I need proper machine to do the job but not some disposable media streamers. 

sorry cant help you in that case. leave it to others to suggest.

 

the DISC players you are looking at are primarily built for DISC play.