Interest in Oppo

[odyssey]

Folks
I see a lot of interest in the Oppo DVD players (obviously for good reason). As some of you have pointed out, Oppo does have sales outlets in other countries even though they sell direct. Oppo does not follow a distributor model. They have only resellers. Without going too much into the differences, the margin for resellers in general is extremely low and such pricing is based on moving large volumes. If one considers shipping, duties, etc there is no way to compete with pricing if one got it direct through a friend, relative, etc. The other problem is service, units will have to be sent back to Oppo for repair. Shipping cost to send it back is prohibhitive, unless you folks tell me otherwise so what does it all mean -

1. Sales as a reseller can be done but no service
2. markup over the regular US pricing will be higher and cannot be compared to US retail, especially as duties/shipping as a function of cost of the product is extremely high. i.e., paying $100 shipping per unit for a player that costs $170 is high.

You guys still want it? I would be curious to know how much over US retail, you think will be reasonable...

cheers

 

[pnredkar]

Hi,

I am still very keen on either 981 or 983. If I convert using todays rate 981 is about Rs. 10000 and 983 is about Rs. 17000 in the US.

If 981 were upto Rs. 15000/-, it would figure very high in my must buy list. I would definitely skip if it were over Rs 20000/-. Similarly, upto Rs. 25000/- for 983 would be attractive; no-no over Rs. 30000/-. Is this a reasonable expectation?

Meanwhile, this is the reply that I received from Oppo today for my queries.

We still do not ship direct to India due to issues related to a proper post sales technical support experience and issues related to delivery services.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
2629B Terminal Blvd.
Mountain View, CA 94043
[email protected]
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

Regards,
Prasad Redkar.

 

[odyssey]

Hi Prasad
I suppose your expectations are reasonable in some sense As a consumer this is what I would have possible have said, however, those rates are not possible IMO. If US retail is 10K, add shipping, add duties and add VAT. If all this were only Rs 5K, then the Indian market would have been flooded with many more products. So as you can see from a business sense this is not doable. At this point, I am not even counting other factors like cost of capital, inventory turnover, etc etc if I look at it this way, dare I say that Rs 35K for the 983 that someone is selling it in Mumbai is starting to look reasonable?
this is also the reason why such components are generally reduced to grey market sales.

cheers

 

[pnredkar]

however, those rates are not possible IMO

- Prasad

 

[SKR]

I agree with Sridhar,
OPPO is selling like hot cake in USA and around the world,mainly for its vedeo qualities along with decent audio.
The margins for manufacturer and dealers will not be much for such low value items. But it is like working on volumes and selling hundreds of units every day.
Once when I wanted to order my first OPPO 970 on AUDIOGON web site they asked me to wait for 2 weeks because of back log.
But despite everything it is very difficult to get those sort of volumes even for OPPO in India due to additional cost due to higher import duties, freight etc.
Also Hi end audio in India is still in infancy stage despite economy doing so well as our priorities are different. In thailand we have 4 or 5 magazines in local language every month apart from international magazines.
OPPO was already there in Thailand for many years but under a different name of "SOKEN". At that time OPPO was not so popular.Only a year back they introduced 981 model under OPPO name and a few months back in 2008they brought in 980 and 983.
I bought one 983 in end of March. Now in May they ran out of stock when i wanted to buy for a friend.
I got few mails from HIFI vision members asking me details and help for OPPO
If any member wants thailand dealers detail I can give him or u can see on OPPO web site. If someone is coming to south east asia it is better to carry one as it is much within travel allowance.
But buy it for Vedeo mainly special 983. For audio too it is verygood but u have already other options like NAD etc.
SKR

 

[audiodelic]

Oppo does have nice product mix
980H- Cheap, decent upscaling, Universal Player
981HD- Good upscaling(Dcdi Faroudja), HDMI transport, Universal Player
983H - Unmatched video performance(Anchorbay Chipset),Upgraded audio circuitry, Universal Player.

Even if one has to pay Rs. 35K for a 983H its not all that bad when you consider how much you would have to pay for a Denon, Marantz or Yamaha high end player. The 983H beats most of these players in the benchmark.

Lot of critics said $400 is too expensive for an Oppo player. I would beg to differ since i think its expensive only cos they are using the same chip set being used in $3000 DVDO VP50. The player scored 100 on benchmarks which no other player has done.Soon the standard will be where majority of the people will be using their player just as a transport with HDMI 1.3.

Oppo is working on a blu ray player, Let's see what this great company have in stock for us next.

satish

I agree with Sridhar,
OPPO is selling like hot cake in USA and around the world,mainly for its vedeo qualities along with decent audio.
The margins for manufacturer and dealers will not be much for such low value items. But it is like working on volumes and selling hundreds of units every day.
Once when I wanted to order my first OPPO 970 on AUDIOGON web site they asked me to wait for 2 weeks because of back log.
But despite everything it is very difficult to get those sort of volumes even for OPPO in India due to additional cost due to higher import duties, freight etc.
Also Hi end audio in India is still in infancy stage despite economy doing so well as our priorities are different. In thailand we have 4 or 5 magazines in local language every month apart from international magazines.
OPPO was already there in Thailand for many years but under a different name of "SOKEN". At that time OPPO was not so popular.Only a year back they introduced 981 model under OPPO name and a few months back in 2008they brought in 980 and 983.
I bought one 983 in end of March. Now in May they ran out of stock when i wanted to buy for a friend.
I got few mails from HIFI vision members asking me details and help for OPPO
If any member wants thailand dealers detail I can give him or u can see on OPPO web site. If someone is coming to south east asia it is better to carry one as it is much within travel allowance.
But buy it for Vedeo mainly special 983. For audio too it is verygood but u have already other options like NAD etc.
SKR

 

[SKR]

Before one spends 35K on OPPO 983H make sure you can take full advantage of this VRS AnchorBay chipset technology and your associated equipment and software is capable of high resolution output.
If we are watching normal DVD's or copied we maynot get good quality picture. Similarly if LCD or PLASMA panels are not capable of high resolution or say 1080p, still we may not get full advantage of VRS technology and picture from a 4K and 35K player may look more or less similar thru HDMI.
SO I don't think it OPPO is worth 35K.
Better buy Sony playstation-3 with blue ray and very good audio which is the future.
Now OPPO knows Blue Ray technology has been launched and dispute between Blue Ray and High definition vedeo supported by Hitachi and few others is over. So they are able to get this VRS chipset for cheap for larger volumes. Ultimately DVD format will die a slow death and replaced by blue ray.
So what will happen to VRS Anchor Bay chipset. Best is to sell as much as you can before it becomes obsolete.
Please don't misunderstand me. i am not saying 983H is bad. It is a very good machine,but before u buy at 35K you have look into all these things. At 16 to 20K it is definitely a good bargain.

Still if anyone wants to spend 35K from an unauthorised person with no gurantee or service, it is better to take a flight from Kolkata to Bangkok and buy a 983 and go back without paying duty because it is within your duty limits. and may be spend a night in Pattaya beach (courtesy OPPO)
SKR

 

[SKR]

I had problems connecting my OPPO 983H to my philips LCD Panel via HDMI. and audiodelic helped me out.
Which shows it was launched in hurry without removing all bugs.
Even now it is not 100% OK and when u put the OPPO in PAUSE mode for say 5 or 10 minutes and than u press PAUSE or PLAY button the player does not start and we have to switch off the player and start again. Luckily it retains the last memory and start from where u had stopped.
Such problems will not come from an established company like Sony, Philips, Panasonic Etc.
OPPO customer service asked me to first switch on TV panel and there after OPPO 983H Why such conditions.
Luckily OPPO has a very good customer support.
But it was really disturbing when I faced all these problems after all I had purchased it after reading all good things about 983H and a perfect 100 on benchmark and had very high hopes.
My thanks to audiodelic in helping me out. Surprisingly Thailand dealer also did not know about this problem and UPGRADE SOFTWARE. And after audiodelic told me I educated them also and passed on the down load link.

 

[pnredkar]

Such problems will not come from an established company like Sony, Philips, Panasonic Etc.

Unfortunately, it is the big companies like the one you mentioned above which do not seem to support it customers. See AVSForum and you will see the number of bugs PS3 has and how slow Sony is in responding to them.

OPPO customer service asked me to first switch on TV panel and there after OPPO 983H Why such conditions.
Luckily OPPO has a very good customer support.

Again check the following thread on AVSForum:
Official OPPO DV-983H w/ ABT VRS FAQ/Dump - AVS Forum

Oppo insiders offer regular advise on this forum. As far as the bug that you say, its really HDMI specifications that are at fault. (People say that it was the HDMI specs that were released in a hurry). If you go through this thread, you will find that Oppo was always within the specifications, albeit with small tolerances. They had to increase the tolerances to fix the problems with some receivers. And this they did with just a firmware change. I am in the semiconductor industry, so I know that their base design has to be real good to be able to make such changes through just firmware.

Now, I neither work for Oppo nor am an owner of any Oppo machine. Then why am I so much interested in them. Because I see Oppo as a smart but honest company which really cares for its customers apart from making money. The cost of their products, the engineering and the customer care are all very highly rated. I would like more of such companies to succeed be it India or anywhere else.

Regards,
Prasad Redkar.

 

[audiodelic]

+1 prasad , Exactly what i had in mind.... As an a/v enthusiast i feel pride when i give my money to such a company as Oppo .

 

[SKR]

Mr.Prasad,
thank u very much for your views which I fully agree & appreciate. i am not a technical person so do not understand the technicalities like you do.
Firmware upgrade was great and i got educated by your thread about technology behing this..
But I was just replying to audiodelics comment that it is good value even at Rs.35,000-.
Even I said in my thread that OPPO has very good customer service and very good value from 16K to 20K.
I only said in view of other products like Sony playstation-3 which has CD,DVD and Blue Ray options and as blue ray has already been launched which will ultimately replace DVD,, I don't think it is a good value at 35K.
My comments about reliability of Sony etc. could be wrong but it may be because I never faced any problem and Sony is famous world wide.I may be excused if i was wrong there. PS3 unfortunately does not work with copied software.

After all every thing has to be valued with reference to its price, features, competetion and Quality
Even i own 3 models of Oppo namely 970,980 and 983 and I would not be doing so if it was not good.
I agree fully with you and will be looking forward to new products from Oppo, but still feel 983H may not be good value at 35K.

 

[pnredkar]

Hi SKR,

If you see my first post, I in fact agree with you. I said I was ready to pay upto Rs. 30000/- for a 983. (The fact that 983 is available for 35000/- has been stated but not confirmed)

But then good value is different for each person. The value of a product depends on three factors:

(1) What are its features?
(2) How good are the competitors?
(3) How badly you want it?

If you consider the scenario in India, for DVD playback 983 has no peers in pure technology terms (In about 2x the price range). However, how much of that technology helps me on my 32" LCD defines its value for me. The other important features are region-free playback, SACD/DVD-Audio playback, DIVX compatibility, firmware upgradability.

What are the competitors?
Denon with Faroudja at 32K - Technologically not good enough. Maybe good enough for 32" LCD but with possible macroblocking problems.

Sony PS3 -
In favour:
- Blu Ray (NOT Blue Ray) playback, but I dont need it right now and when I need it with the latest Blu Ray profile, is it upgradable to that? Or will I be left thinking that Y machine is better than this.

Against:
- Decent but not great upscaling
- No SACD or DVD-Audio playback (Not important to me)
- Not region free (Important to me)
- No DIVX (Important to me)
- Suspect with recorded media (Important to me)

For point (2), competitors not good enough for me. Given a choice, I will stick to Oppo.

The Oppo really kills everyone else for me on the third point. I love giant-killer machines, the Oppo is definitely one! You may say the same for PS3, but then I have cribs about the Blu-ray format itself (that the topic for a seperate discussion though)

The answers to the above three questions will determine how much VFM is the product for you. The answers may be different for you, me and Satish.

Regards,
Prasad.

 

[SKR]

Hi Prasad,
I couldn't agree more with you. It is the perception of each indivisual which decides VFM for HIMSELF,not for all. At 35K or 30K I would not buy 983H.

To summarise what I had said and probably you will agree.
1.OPPO is a very very good deal and vv good player.
2.It has excellant customer support and tecnically strong product.
3.At US prices it is a fantastic deal
4.In the range of above 20K the VFM will depend on person to person.,his use
future planning and his associated equipment.
(if u read my thread i said OPPO alone cannot give good pictures unless
supported by High resolution TV and software.)
5.Features like SACD, DVD audio depend on indivisual use. As imported CD's
are so expensive SACD & DVD audio will be even more.
6.Price and VFM each indivisual decides depending on his urgency of need of
this particular product,features, competetion and usage and his other
associated euipment.
7.Also a person decides when to switch to new technology like Blu Ray or
continue with present DVD for the time being and adopt WAIT AND WATCH
POLICY

Thanks for correcting spelling of BLU RAY, but i suppose on internet one should ignore spelling and grammar mistakes because such mistakes are normally made by most if not all because u r writing fast what is coming to yr mind and do not care for these things or look back to check. Now that I have been corrected I will make sure in future I will write Blu Ray only----Ha-Ha. Joking.
Thanks and regards
SKR

 

[pnredkar]

Thanks for correcting spelling of BLU RAY, but i suppose on internet one should ignore spelling and grammar mistakes because such mistakes are normally made by most if not all because u r writing fast what is coming to yr mind and do not care for these things or look back to check. Now that I have been corrected I will make sure in future I will write Blu Ray only----Ha-Ha. Joking.
Thanks and regards
SKR

No problem. Maybe, I am old fashioned!

Regards,
Prasad.

 

[odyssey]

Folks
There is a chance that we can carry Oppo 981 model (for now this is the only model) for roughly Rs 15.5K ~ 16K picked up in our Bangalore store.

Please indicate whether you would be interested in this model at this price

cheers

 

[venkatcr]

Now OPPO knows Blue Ray technology has been launched and dispute between Blue Ray and High definition vedeo supported by Hitachi and few others is over. So they are able to get this VRS chipset for cheap for larger volumes. Ultimately DVD format will die a slow death and replaced by blue ray. So what will happen to VRS Anchor Bay chipset. Best is to sell as much as you can before it becomes obsolete. SKR

SKR:

Before Opp launched the 983 they spoke a number of experts within the HiFi community about the longevity of DVD, HD-DVD, and Bluray. They also hired one of the big five for a market survey. The reason for doing this was whether to release another DVD Player or to jump into the BluRay wagon. Remember the 983 is the flagship of Oppo.

The survey gave them confidence that DVD will be around for another 10 years at least. In that time the technology of DVD will reach a stage where it will be very close to a BluRay.

Companies such as Panasonic have released DVD media that can store 200GB. On a rough scale that is 40 times the capacity of the current DVDs. Toshiba is releasing technical details about a DVD media and player that can store and read 400GB !!

In addition to all these, one of the main reasons that DVD will not die quickly is the huge amount of software on the DVD that is in the market. If you go to a shop such as Virgin, you will find at least a dozen bays with DVDs, and just one small rack for BluRay.

I have nothing against BluRay, but the prohibitive price of the players and the expensive media costs, keeps it out of most people's reach. I will be the first to buy a BluRay when I think the media is affordable. My logic is simple. Today, the cost of two movie tickets, pop corn, parking, petrol etc will add up to Rs.600 or more. I would any day plunk down the same amount to buy a DVD that has the same movie. I am certainly not the first day-first show kind.

An upscaling DVD player such as 983 coupled to a TV such as Panasonic, Pioneer or Hitachi, against a BluRay with the same TV - believe me for most movies, you have to strain your eyes to see the difference.

Cheers

 

[Kamal]

Thats app 62% over the US price!
Such high margins?

 

[pnredkar]

Hi,

I would be interested in the 981. Any chance of a 983 in the next year.

Regards,
Prasad.

 

[rikhav]

Thats app 62% over the US price!
Such high margins?

Hello Kamal Bhai,
As we all know the freight costs have gone up like anything in last few months. I am not sure how much does the freight cost adds up to the pricing of a DVD player as it will be not as heavy as a speaker or a amp, but still the fact remains freight charges have increased
Now it's human nature to compare prices like we all compare the hardware prices in india with prices in singapore and USA
And as you said a 60 percent difference will surely make a customer feel if its worth paying that much or not.
And also not having the top of line product from Oppo will make a differnece.

 

[kams]

Edited for some reason..Moderator please delete this...