As told in a story elsewhere, I wound up with two copies of: X-Men Apocalypse: 024543-226581, Disc 1, BD Main Feature.

One copy is in my Sony CX7000ES which is directly connected to my LG 4K TV.

The other copy I put into my iVid BD player with 4K upscale. It is pass-thru connected (av Receiver off) to my TV, in a different HDMI slot.

After adjusting the picture parameters to be "identical" on the two HDMI ports, and then freeze-framing both discs at "exactly" the same spot, I did a click compare, back and forth.

Upshot: yes, I could see a difference, albeit subtle. The 4K upscale process provided clear improvements in definition. I stared at length at more pimples, hair strands, clothing lint and eyebrows than I want to ever again!    But I could see it. In one shot of the airplane hanger, there were some PCs in the distance, with some text displayed. At that distance, of course you can't make out the text, but I believe that in the 4K upscale version, the mere fact that there were distinct lines of text, was more apparent, at a distance. In the non-scaled version, the lines of text was a bit more like a rectangular blob. But then, maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see ...

I tried to take a couple of snaps with my cellphone, but I'm not sure the results are conclusive when you view it in that way.

Here they are; can you tell?
Picture A

Picture B

Hard to tell - the phone camera, with all its moiré effects and what have you, just isn't good enough for this.

BTW both images are upscaled to 4K, in one case by your iVid, in the other by your TV.

Quoting bbbbb:

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Quoting mediadogg:

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Here they are; can you tell?

Looks like VHS.

Well, I meant discounting the obvious issues created by taking a cellphone picture, Kind of like when NASA decodes the few fuzzy pixels of an object from the outer fringes of space. Distinguishing one "fuzzy" from another "fuzzy" is often useful, although an uninformed viewer might dismiss them both as simply "fuzzy pictures."

Quoting mediadogg:

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Quote:

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Here they are; can you tell?

Looks like VHS.

Well, I meant discounting the obvious issues created by taking a cellphone picture, Kind of like when NASA decodes the few fuzzy pixels of an object from the outer fringes of space. Distinguishing one "fuzzy" from another "fuzzy" is often useful, although an uninformed viewer might dismiss them both as simply "fuzzy pictures."

You talk too much.

Oppo UDP-103 just arrived and installed. Some initial reactions:

To all that have recommended this amazing machine in various threads: THANK YOU!!!!     

First of all, I didn't even put in a disc yet. I just setup the network, set the output resolution and connected it directly to my LG 4K HDR TV. Thank goodness I bought good cables in the past. Everything seems to be so smooth and fast - operation of the remote, the menus, the wi-fi (too eager to bother with a cable for now). The streaming from my servers is ultra smooth and no glitches. Playing from my digital library, I took a double take to check if my receiver was on. It was not. My LG has a built in sub-woofer and decent speakers, but playing from the Oppo, I heard a richness I didn't know was there. And I have played directly from my LG network access and my Onkyo network access in the past. The sound was good, but not "head turning." Previously I would have said that "superior DACs" don't matter that much - the ear can only hear no more than 20 - 20K after all. But man, I hear all the tingling bells, chimes and deep bass - from just the TV speakers alone. Amazing, I stand converted.

Watched a few of my good quality 1080P videos from my server. Up-scaling rocks.

Can't wait to put in a true 4K HDR disc.

Round two: Turned on the Onkyo. Just for quickness, listening to the optical output from the LG for now. But I plan to also compare the coaxial and HDMI outputs directly from the Oppo. I don't expect to hear any difference from the audio tracks I'm using now - maybe later from an HDR disc. But for now, the clarity of the "bottom" when a bass line is present reminded me of the days when I had Ohm F's and McIntosh MC2100 Amps. Nothing has come close since. (I had to sell all that stuff during a bit of a crisis years ago. Can't afford those brands any more.)

Round Three: Still listening to audio source material. A lot of my favorites. Old Live recordings sound fresh again. Ironic that a device I bought primarily for its video qualities has actually done more to improve my audio.

Knockout Round: Finally popped in the 4K UHD Suicide Squad and was instantly unimpressed. Messing with the buttons, I noticed one labelled "UHD" on the remote. I pressed it and it forced my TV to reboot into UHD mode (never realized it wasn't). Then the whole world changed. The colors, the clarity really were dramatically improved and my screen was looking like a cinema presentation. It was more than just brightness - hard to explain, but really stunning. The Oppo has various "zoom" settings on the remote which allows you to better fill the screen real estate without losing much definition. I guess with 4K pixels available, you can afford to waste a few to stretch a bit, without the brain noticing any loss of detail.

Side benefit is that now that my TV has bee forced to HDR mode, everything looks much better, even when not using the Oppo. I surfed around again on Youtube for 4K trailers and music videos . Some really yummy stuff out there.

Downsides: (well nothing is perfect)

- Audio only second HDMI port. Really wish this had video, so I could use for my projector.
- SMB passwords not remembered (even though my settings said yes)??? (firmware update probably did this. If so, I will remove this item)

Quoting Mallrat:

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It's really fun to read your enthousiasm, makes me want to run out and buy one myself!

     

Thanks. I try to convey my true first impressions. We often see what we expect, so I like to highlight when I get a surprise, because I think those feelings are more credible - I wasn't expecting the good thing that happened ...

BTW I think you mean the Oppo 203.
The 103 was an earlier model from before the UHD disc era... 

Quoting specise_8472:

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Thanks for the review, your thoughts, on the UDP 203.
I am getting the UDP 205 shortly with the higher rated DACs. Just been released by local supplier.
Also is yours Region Free on BD? I am getting a Hardware moded 205.
I currently have the 103 moded, so need to get a region free one to play all my region A disks.

So based on your results, am looking forward to it.

Wow, I'm sure you will love it. I didn't get the region free model - a bit rich for my budget. I mentioned in a prior post about my all-region iVid machine. It will scale a regular BD to 4K but it will not play a 4K UHD disc. That is good enough for me now. Instead I put my funds towards a projector upgrade to go along with the Oppo. The Epson 5040ube has a 4-port up-scaling switch/transmitter for my closet-based equipment, and the Oppo is wired so that it up scales my a/v receiver and everything connected to it. I'm putting the Epson through its paces now.

Good luck also on your upgrade!