近日OPPO在美国的官网上发布了充满“告别”意思的文章，根据“影音新生活”了解到，该文的意思应该是OPPO的光盘播放机研发将会告一段落，未来将会把资源投入到市场更为广阔的手机或者其他类型的媒体播放设备领域，对于广大影音爱好者来说，虽然多少会有失落感，但是面对科技迅猛发展的影音市场，OPPO此举其实十分明智，其实”告别”只为未来更好的相遇！
以下我们摘录了来自美国福布斯的介绍文章，有兴趣的朋友可以作延伸阅读：
Oppo Digital has revealed today that it is going to cease development of new products. In a formal press statement, the Chinese brand responsible for some of the AV world’s most respected high-end DVD, Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray players declared that ‘as Oppo 4K UHD players reach the pinnacle of their performance, it is time to say goodbye’.
The news will likely be received with shock and dismay by legions of serious AV fans given Oppo’s reputation for pushing performance boundaries with its uncompromising, cutting-edge products. It’s especially surprising given that the brand’s recent UDP-203?and UDP-205 4K Blu-ray players seemed to have proved impressively popular with discerning AV buyers despite their relatively high price points.
It seems that Oppo’s announcement isn’t just limited to the development of new products, either. It also looks like Oppo is winding down product production entirely. Certainly the Oppo Digital UK press announcement clearly states that the UK arm of the company with only continue to trade ‘while stocks last’, and ‘expects to close its doors in the summer’.
Clearly this all raises concerns for owners of Oppo products over whether the brand’s disc players, speakers, headphones, headphone amps and DACS will continue to receive service and firmware support.
This is an especially important issue when it comes to the 203 and 205 4K Blu-ray players, given that a) the 4K Blu-ray format is still evolving and b) one of Oppo’s main attractions is the regularity with which it issues firmware updates to fix bugs and add extra features – usually in response to feedback from its enthusiastic fanbase.
However, Oppo claims that while it will gradually stop manufacturing new products, ‘existing products will continue to be supported, warranties will still be valid, and both in-warranty and out-of-warranty repair services will continue to be available. Firmware will continue to be maintained and updates released from time to time.’
The tech support, warranty, servicing and spares business will apparently be handled by an as yet unnamed third party. It’s also worth mentioning that Oppo’s mobile phone business is unaffected by the announcement.
A few concerns…
While some of this sounds reassuring, however, I suspect that the words ‘from time to time’ won’t exactly fill Oppo owners with confidence that they’ll get as many firmware updates as they’ve become accustomed to receiving. Maybe it will just be ‘critical fixes’ from now on rather than lots of new features? And you can’t help but wonder if Oppo’s 4K Blu-ray players still get the promised update for delivering Dolby Vision compatibility with Sony’s newly Dolby Vision-enabled TVs.
I’ve asked Oppo to answer those two questions and will update this story if they reply with anything useful. I’ve also asked Cambridge Audio if Oppo’s announcement will impact its 4K Blu-ray player business, given that the British brand’s?CXUHD players have Oppo electronics at their heart.
For now, though, I’ll just wrap up this sad tale with a quote from Oppo Digital UK’s Managing Director, Nigel Rich:
‘We can be very proud of our achievements over the past few years. Along with market leading products, we have provided first rate customer service and support from our offices here in Norwich. I am very proud of our staff and very sad that we will now be closing our doors for good. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our European distributors, retailers and, of course most importantly, the people that have purchased OPPO products in Europe. We will continue to support products in and out of warranty and we have made provisions to continue this high level of service.’
