I watched a few more scenes from my PAL dvd collection. I can definitely say that (at least on my tv) there is no distinguishable difference in PQ between R1 NTSC and R2 PAL discs with the new firmware. I also have noticed (and I think there were other comments regarding this earlier) that lipsync errors (which were minor in my case and only showed up on 1 PAL dvd) have been fixed.

This is due to the 2:2 Cadence. PAL syncing issues should not be as much of a problem now that proper 2:2 Cadence is in effect.

The booktype is set to DVD-Rom and I made the NEC drive burn this 8x TDK +R media at 8x. It played once... did not play again. All of my older TDK 4x DVD+R recordings are playing fine. I've even burned with my old 4x drive on the 8x TDK media and that disc doesn't play either.

I will research this TDK 8x media on those web sites (I've used them in the past and maybe TDK switched manufacturers), but all of my other DVD players and all of my friends DVD players play all of these discs....

TDK has several media codes. "Made in Japan" discs are generally Taio Yoden. Taio Yoden is considered one of the best media that is out there on the market. "Made In Taiwan" discs are generally CMC media. CMC is very hit or miss, and is considered low grade. TDK also has been making their own discs recently (TDK0001 to 3) which are also very hit or miss.

You can check out VCDHelp Media Code List for TDK (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?dvdmediasearch=TDK&dvdmediadvdridsearch=&type=3&size=All&dvdburnspeed=All&order=Name&hits=25&country=&search=Search+or+List+Media) for more information.

Great,..wasnt sure if the 2:2 cadence was implemented proper from what i read, but if the problem is minor then i'll stick to the 1011 firmware.

cheers

Great,..wasnt sure if the 2:2 cadence was implemented proper from what i read, but if the problem is minor then i'll stick to the 1011 firmware.

cheers

The problem was people were testing the 2:2 cadence using HQV on a NTSC television set with the 1012 firmware, which does not do PAL/NTSC or NTSC 2:2 cadence. With the 1011 firmware, the 2:2 cadence works as it should.

Next question..

I have a 36" 4:3 hdtv with the Oppo hooked up via a hdmi port.

In the settings for the player what type of TV do I say I have? It's a 4:3 tv but when stuff is hooked up via the port and you tell it to go into 720 or 1080 mode the TV auto switches itself to 16:9 mode since that is what the signal is.

The oppo has settings for a square letterbox, a letterbox square, a wide, and the square pan and scan.

Anyone have any ideas on what I should select?

Since your tv goes into 16:9 mode, set the Oppo to Wide mode. Use the Wide/SQZ mode if you want it to automatically pillarbox 4:3 dvds.

Next question..

I have a 36" 4:3 hdtv with the Oppo hooked up via a hdmi port.

In the settings for the player what type of TV do I say I have? It's a 4:3 tv but when stuff is hooked up via the port and you tell it to go into 720 or 1080 mode the TV auto switches itself to 16:9 mode since that is what the signal is.

The oppo has settings for a square letterbox, a letterbox square, a wide, and the square pan and scan.

Anyone have any ideas on what I should select?

Since you have a 4:3 television, though, you should select Normal/LB (letterbox) to preserve the aspect ratio of all films.

I also wanted to add that I concur with those who have said that the previous +5 brightness now equates to -3, not to 0. I noticed immediately that 0 was too bright, and did an Avia brightness calibration. Sure enough, -3 was spot-on.

I want to confirm the same findings after now watching several discs, includng some I specifically use to test macroblocking. With the prior firmware and Oppo brightness set to +5, I had the brightness on my iScan HD+ set to 0; now with the new firmware I have to set the Oppo to -3 if I want to keep the HD+ at 0 and get the same levels as before. This setting also seems to be the best one for keeping macroblocking at bay, and with the new firmware, unlike with the prior firmware, I almost never see macroblocking except on discs where I also see it on my other DVD players (I have a Panasonic RP-91 and Panasonic HS2 DVD recorder hooked up in my system along with the Oppo).

I wonder if there is ONE THX disc that might be close the AVIA and DVE, it'd help if we can find one close for users that haven't invested in AVIA or DVE.


Oddly, it seems every time I check the Optimizer, when I see it available, it is always right on with my settings arrived at with Avia. Maybe I'm just beating the odds, but I wonder if this is just a comment from the past that has been passed around for so long, everyone believes it. I'd like to know for sure. Anyone have a disc(s) where the optimizer is inaccurate?

Anyone had a chance to compare the OPPO against the new Sony DVP NS 3100ES? I just bought the SXRD and asked on the SXRD thread but no one answered...

If anyone has an opinion please let me know.

Rahi

The Sony 975 compares well with the Oppo. It's picture is just as good without macroblocking and it has less noise in the video feed.

I was originally at 0 with the previous firmware. Now I have it at -7 or -8. I won't know specifically till night falls.

That is why I posted before that it was not good to have 0 equal to +5 on old

Thanks Mike and others, I forwarded the Burn at Once site over and hope to get the proper CD tonight.

I play "Guitar" too. I wish I had an Apple / Pro Tools set-up, but I'm a poor man. I use Cakewalk's Sonar III and utilize a EMU 1212m, now if only I was savvy with a midi controller I could be a 1-man band, for now I'm just vocal & guitars...............I've been playin' since '75 and I'm still tryin' to get the riffs right!!

What kinda set-up u got GtrMn? An Apple and Pro Tools?

Since your tv goes into 16:9 mode, set the Oppo to Wide mode. Use the Wide/SQZ mode if you want it to automatically pillarbox 4:3 dvds.


Since you have a 4:3 television, though, you should select Normal/LB (letterbox) to preserve the aspect ratio of all films.

Ha. Two different answers right after each other.

Can anyone second either of those motions?

That is why I posted before that it was not good to have 0 equal to +5 on old


I think the bottom-line on the whole brightness issue, IMHO, is that it's being put out there from OPPO's take as though it was a linear change of +5 steps on their scale. From the end-user's POV it is not linear. Many here were using +5 as their "calibrated" setting and now have to use -3 to get the same results on-screen....a difference of 8 points on the OPPO scale. I was using "0" as my calibrated setting and to get back to the same point I have to use -5 on the OPPO scale...a difference of 5 points.

And for any that may be wondering, I am using the DVE and the THX Optimizer from the "T2 eXtreme Edition" both of which give me the same result...There might be a hair's worth of difference, but you'd need instrumentation to detect it...;)

I have to add that in my almost 42 years of studying, designing, working on, and generally earning a living from things that are filled with electronic components, I have never seen a truly linear redesign of a piece of equipment...Sorry, but that is not how circuitry works unless very sophisticated...and usually very expensive...compensation and balancing comonents are built into the system.

I think it's the principle reason people can build swimming pools in their backyards with the profits garnered from keeping this stuff in calibration...:D

-Toonces

So far so good with new firmware...

Ha. Two different answers right after each other.

Can anyone second either of those motions?

If your TV is truly 4:3, then I'm not sure how you can get true 16:9. I'm new to this aspect of display for HD myself, but that doesn't sound tech. possible. I'd go with the Normal/LB setting myself. What would you pillarbox on a 4:3 TV?

Of course, I could be completely wrong here. I'm sure someone will be quick to correct me if I am. :)

I just flashed the new firmware this morning and it looks like 2:2 cadence is working. I tried out my new R2 PAL copy of Flash Gordon (1980) and the opening scene was a great example of 2:2 cadence not working. The opening scene is a 1st person perspective looking through a futuristic target viewfinder. The scene displays 4 red prongs diagonally pointing towards the planet Earth. With the 6/29 firmware there were terrible jaggies in these prongs, now they are as smooth as any R1 disc would be. Also it looks like the audio delay is fixed evident at the start of a movie. Any Star Wars film was a good example of this. Part of the drum cadence would always get cut off during the opening Fox Fanfare. Now it's all there!

It's interesting that this problem (audio delay) has not been discussed before by others. I've noticed it all along with my setup (Oppo connected to Theta Casanova processor). Anyway, I'm glad it's been fixed. I wonder if it's really a by product of any other fix. I'll have to keep alert to see if by some happy chance the lip sync has gone "away"

I think Paul mentioned it in his request list for fixes. It definately is not a problem any longer. Audio starts right up like any other player I've owned. Lip sync on NTSC discs has never been a problem for me. I've tried a couple of my PAL dvd's, and it looks like the lip sync is dead on (at least in my situation). One more question: would the 2:2 cadence fix also improve overall fidelity of a dvd? I watched my entire R2 copy of Flash Gordon (1980) and it looked and sounded great! No reason to ever pick up a R1 copy, even if it's finally released. I found the 5.1 audio much more precise and less diffuse compared to the 6/29 firmware.

It's interesting that this problem (audio delay) has not been discussed before by others. I've noticed it all along with my setup (Oppo connected to Theta Casanova processor). Anyway, I'm glad it's been fixed. I wonder if it's really a by product of any other fix. I'll have to keep alert to see if by some happy chance the lip sync has gone "away"

I would bet that lip-sync/video delay/audio delay has been the most heavily-discussed issue in this thread.

Dear All,

Considering this player vs. the Sony NS 3100ES for use with the new 60" SXRD TV.

Just one question, regarding the OPPO:

When you buy from OPPO does it automatically come with the latest firmware updates, or do you still have to update it, on arrival?

What about purchasing from other sources?

Thanks

Dear All,

Considering this player vs. the Sony NS 3100ES for use with the new 60" SXRD TV.

Just one question, regarding the OPPO:

When you buy from OPPO does it automatically come with the latest firmware updates, or do you still have to update it, on arrival?

What about purchasing from other sources?

Thanks

i'm using the Oppo with my Sony 50WE610 with great results... i ordered my oppo 1 day after the older firmware was released (June 30th) and at that time it came with the new firmware. i was assume any orders you place now will get the new firmware *if purchased from Oppo (which i did, and shipping was very fast)

Ha. Two different answers right after each other.

Can anyone second either of those motions?

You mentioned that your tv automatically locks to 16:9 mode when in 720p or 1080i. So I'm assuming that you cannot set your tv back to 4:3 mode in 720p or 1080i so 4:3/LB mode will not work.

Is there any way to set your fronts and center to large in audio setup and still have the sub be active in DVD-audio? This was mentioned before. I just upgraded to the new firmware, and can't remember if this was the case before. If I set my fronts and center to large (I prefer that for music, so instrument and vocals ranges aren't chopped up across the 80hz crossover) the sub is not active. If I set them to small, the sub is active. This is with the subwoofer option set to "on" for all scenarios.

Thanks!

Wes

ps if it's not the case, could OPPO make the subwoofer menu like my Denon receivers: off, on, and on plus mains (which runs the sub with speakers set to large)

You mentioned that your tv automatically locks to 16:9 mode when in 720p or 1080i. So I'm assuming that you cannot set your tv back to 4:3 mode in 720p or 1080i so 4:3/LB mode will not work.

Yup.

Once it goes to one of the high res modes the tv locks into 16:9.

I've noticed this too. If you set the speakers to large, the sub is disabled. If u set the speakers on small, on then the sub kicks in. Also, btw this is tied in to the setting of your mains (L & R). If u set the mains to small, center to large and the surrounds to small/large, the subwoofer will be active!...bizzare.

Same here, I hope they get this fixed in the next firmware upgrade....I have alot of DVD-Audio Discs......

Same here, I hope they get this fixed in the next firmware upgrade....I have alot of DVD-Audio Discs......

If this is something we want, we need to get it on the list (the ability to run the mains and center large and still have the sub active)

GSB, can you help? This doesn't seem like too big a deal.

Thanks,

Wes

I use another player for playing SACD's and DVD-A's but if I did use the Oppo for playing DVD-A's I would most certainly want to have the ability to play surround sound music with my subwoofer on!

The best sounding for my case:

Front L & R : Large
Rear L & R : Large
Center : Off
Subwoofer : On

Ok..did a test with the speaker setup option on the analog out. All these configs were tested with the subwoofer set to - ON.

Config 1:
Mains - Large
Center - Large/Small
Rears - Small/Large
Subwoofer - ** No output **

Config 2:
Mains - Small
Center - Large/Small
Rears - Small/Large
Subwoofer - ** With output **

Conclusion: If the Mains were set as small, bass will be routed to the subwoofer. If the Mains were set to Large, bass will not be routed at all and i think the subwoofer will be disabled.

As Wes has stated, this is a small issue, some changes to the Bass Management algorithm will correct this. Also if Oppo could put in a bass management system to set the bass cut off to the speakers, that would be ideal, ie: settings for 80hz, 60hz etc..

I've noticed this too. If you set the speakers to large, the sub is disabled. If u set the speakers on small, on then the sub kicks in. Also, btw this is tied in to the setting of your mains (L & R). If u set the mains to small, center to large and the surrounds to small/large, the subwoofer will be active!...bizzare.

This is normal. If the speakers are set to small, then it is assumed that they don't have a large enough woofer for "bass" to be acceptable, so bass information is sent to the subwoofer. If the speakers are set to large, then it is assumed that speakers have an adequate woofer, and no bass is sent to the subwoofer.

This is how most receiver/DAVID players are designed. Normally, this is not a problem because LFLIFEhannels are designed to handle the bass no matter what the settings. However, DAVID-A does not carry a LIFE channel, so the bass information is not passed along to the subwoofer when the speakers are set to large.

Ideally, Op should have included a bass management system to compensate for this. It was most likely overlooked because it is always advisable to leave your speakers at small and allow your subwoofer to handle all bass responses which fall at or below the threshold of hearing.

This is normal. If the speakers are set to small, then it is assumed that they don't have a large enough woofer for "bass" to be acceptable, so bass information is sent to the subwoofer. If the speakers are set to large, then it is assumed that speakers have an adequate woofer, and no bass is sent to the subwoofer.

This is how most receiver/DAVID players are designed. Normally, this is not a problem because LFLIFEhannels are designed to handle the bass no matter what the settings. However, DAVID-A does not carry a LIFE channel, so the bass information is not passed along to the subwoofer when the speakers are set to large.

I don't agree. Even my entry level Denon receiver has 3 options, sub off, sub on, and sub+mains. A lot of people run full range mains and center, but still want the sub for the last octave on the bottom.

I don't like to cross over at 80hz in the receiver for music. I'd rather take the natural roll-off slope from the speakers and dial the sub into that. There's way too much important stuff around 80hz, and no matter how great your sub blends with your mains, you will still have serious time alignment with the sound coming form a totally separate source below the 80hz crossover.

I don't think it should be too difficult for OPPO to fix. Multiple crossover points might be more complex, I don't know. . .

Wes

wes nance,

The problem becomes how much is too much? There is a point in which too many features becomes a nuasance to the customer. If anything, Oppo should remove most of the advanced audio features and offload it completely to the receiver.

And you are comparing features that are on a receiver and features on a DVD player. I would assume that the features on the receiver would be much more robust in the audio catagory because that is specifically what it is designed for. As I just said, I would much rather see some features trimmed before more features are introduced.

wes nance,

The problem becomes how much is too much? There is a point in which too many features becomes a nuasance to the customer. If anything, Oppo should remove most of the advanced audio features and offload it completely to the receiver.

And you are comparing features that are on a receiver and features on a DVD player. I would assume that the features on the receiver would be much more robust in the audio catagory because that is specifically what it is designed for. As I just said, I would much rather see some features trimmed before more features are introduced.

Yep, I agree, too many features can be burdensome.

wes nance,

The problem becomes how much is too much? There is a point in which too many features becomes a nuasance to the customer. If anything, Oppo should remove most of the advanced audio features and offload it completely to the receiver.

And you are comparing features that are on a receiver and features on a DVD player. I would assume that the features on the receiver would be much more robust in the audio catagory because that is specifically what it is designed for. As I just said, I would much rather see some features trimmed before more features are introduced.

Again, let's look at what's being discussed. The OPPO in this scenario is functioning as a DVD audio player. Bass management for DVD audio is done at the player, not the receiver, because the receiver is only seeing the analog 6 channel in, so what gets sent to that sub input is what goes to the sub. This particular feature can't be offloaded to the receiver.

Do you even use the OPPO for DVD audio?

it is always advisable to leave your speakers at small and allow your subwoofer to handle all bass responses which fall at or below the threshold of hearing.

Again, for reasons listed above, we disagree on this. 80 hz, where the crossover is, is not anywhere close to being below the threshold of hearing. To the contrary, it carries a lot of information for male voice, lower guitar, bass, etc., where a lot of musical information is, and right at that point you are chopping the frequency range up and sending it to 2 different places.

There are plenty of people who have mains that go strongly down to 40 hz or even a little lower, then use the sub to cover 40hz on down (mine goes down to 10). This is not uncommon, especially with higher end installations. I personally have bookshelf speakers all the way around, and for HT I set them to small, but for music things definitely sound better with them set to large, but then I still need the sub to fill in below the 60hz roll off of the mains.

I am in agreement with Wes.

Neuromancer:

It's always advisable to set front left and front right speakers to small??? Why would I want to set speaker type to 'small' for my left and right speakers (4-way tower speakers with 15" woofers)? Speaker type should be set to 'small' or 'large' depending on how well your speakers handle loud bass frequencies. A proper bass management system should be considered an important issue to address in the next firmware version.

I think we are asking for a lot for a $200- player, next item we may want to complaint is that it does not do popcorn and not have a feature that display on screen that who is at the front door while we are lost in the movie!

I think OPPO is committed to making this player the best it can be.

Look at this firmware- now we can access dvd-video (dolby digital,etc.) parts of a dvd audio disc. That wasn't that important to me, mostly because *I didn't understand why it was necessary* but I'm sure with one of my dvd audio discs I'll end up using that feature and being glad it's there.

One of the key features of a dvd audio player is bass management, just like one of the key features of a dvd video player is quality of picture, etc.

I use my OPPO much more for dvd video than audio, but I don't see a reason to not ask, as long as the priorities are the audio sync and the underscan, both of which I experienc on my display.

I also want to be clear that I'm not complaining. I think this is a great product from a great company. This forum is dedicated to making this player better, and so I'm pointing out another fairly simple feature that could improve.

Wes

Audio sync for me is becomming a real pain. I'm running to a BenQ7800.
I had my audio delay set to -30. It seemed ok, but the last week I have been noticing it on DVD's I didnt notice it on before.

Batman Returns was really bad. It started off ok, but about 2/3's into the film, the audio was off.

Did I read somewhere that if you hit stop, and play the movie again, the Audio sync corrects itself? What if you just hit Pause? Didnt seem to work for me.

From what I gather, Oppo is still working this issue and the new firmware does nothing to improve or correct it. Bummer.

Should I increase the audio delay setting in the Oppo up to 50?

Any ideas?

There are 2 separate issues with audio sync:

1. Whether the audio is early, period, which can be fixed in the menu with the delay settings

2. The audio sync drifts, gradually the video lags farther and farther behind the audio. This can be fixed with a pause, or sometimes stopping the dvd. This is the big one we're hoping OPPO finds a better fix than the current one. I've heard from some that they had less issues with the new firmware. I flashed yesterday, but haven't watched a dvd yet.

So, not much to do. You can increase the setting to 50ms, and there seems to be some evidence that if you access the setup menu during the movie (without stopping it) that can somehow make it worse as well.

Wes

Ha. Two different answers right after each other.

Can anyone second either of those motions?

Your TV has a 16:9 squeeze mode. You should set the Oppo for "Wide". The "LBX" mode throws out 25% of the vertical resolution available on the disc so as to downconvert an anamorphic DVD to non-anamorphic letterbox. Your TV can handle the full anamorphic resolution on the DVD and squeeze it to the proper aspect ratio, so you should never use "LBX" under any circumstances.

Yep, I agree, too many features can be burdensome.

I completely disagree, the more features the better.

But the way to do it is with what other manufacturers have done using a two-tiered approach, with both a basic menu for beginners and an advanced menu for experienced users.

A lot of people run full range mains and center, but still want the sub for the last octave on the bottom.

I don't like to cross over at 80hz in the receiver for music. I'd rather take the natural roll-off slope from the speakers and dial the sub into that. The sub should definitely be available when mains are set to large. The receiver cannot handle this for DVD-A, so the player has to.

This is not necessarily adding a feature either. We can already turn the sub on/off when mains are set to small... We should be able to do the same when mains are set to large.

While bass-management crossover points are nice to have, they are not a necessity. The natural rolloff of the speakers is far less detectable than the harsh phase-shifted rolloff of a filter. The sub can be tweaked to compensate.

GSB, spot on with the bass management config.

I think it "would" be nice to have a filter select on the bass cut offs. Again this is a small issue to fix when the subwoofer is set to 'on', it should be on regardless whether the speaker settings are set to small or large. As noted most "large" speakers cant effectively produce bass within the regions of 30hz or lower, and thats why we have subwoofers to supplement that.

If the Oppo wasnt intended to cater for audio, they WOULDNT include a Cirrus Logice dsp, 24bit 192khz dacs and have DD, DTS and Prologic 2 decoding!.. Hence if its there, and there are some small quirks with its implementation, then we as the consumer should inform them of it..it also assists Oppo in making this dvd player a better player in the sub$300 market!

As for additional features, i think it helps the Oppo being more flexible as a dvd player within the $200 range..and its quite marketable if it is. At the moment, living in a PAL system country, the 2:2 cadence fix was quite noticable in the pic quality for PAL discs.

I just talked to Oppo, they are pretty sure it is the cable lenghth.

They did say this "The OPDV971H produces a slightly
weak DVI output compared to the competition."


I'm planning on feeding an Oppo to my 4805 using a 24' run.

Just how weak is "slightly weak"? Can I expect to have signal problems? :confused:

Having to install a repeater, IMHO, offsets the inherent value of this player.

I'm planning on feeding an Oppo to my 4805 using a 24' run.

Just how weak is "slightly weak"? Can I expect to have signal problems? :confused:

Having to install a repeater, IMHO, offsets the inherent value of this player.

The cable length is very dependent on the quality of the DVI cable (its guage, etc), the output DVI signal, and the signal requirements of the receiving equipement. I am right now using a 25' DVI-D cable (Monoprice branded) with a Optoma H78 projector, and I have no problem with this setup at all. However, your mileage will very.

The sub should definitely be available when mains are set to large. The receiver cannot handle this for DVD-A, so the player has to.

This is not necessarily adding a feature either. We can already turn the sub on/off when mains are set to small... We should be able to do the same when mains are set to large.

While bass-management crossover points are nice to have, they are not a necessity. The natural rolloff of the speakers is far less detectable than the harsh phase-shifted rolloff of a filter. The sub can be tweaked to compensate.

True true. But I personally would prefer that the naked audio be sent to my receiver, who is designed specifically for audio decoding and processing.

EDIT: I was unclear in this statement. I am talking in general, about the way the OPPO's Audio Setup is designed. The current implementation will effect multi-channel and Mix outputs, which are directly related to DVD audio playback, and DVD-A. The above comment was not designed to address DVD-A exclusively. Sorry for the confusion.
-----

And to answer wes nance, no, I do not listen to DVD-Audio that much. The media just does not have enough support for me to tank a lot of money into. DVD-A/SACD, therefore, are not important factors to me. As long as my audio playback from the DVDs are fine, then I am complacent about other features.

Lodge a complaint with OPPO if this is something that should be fixed. They can disregard your request, but it is always good for a vocal outcry to reach the people who actually make the product. Community outcry means nothing unless the heads that be are aware of it.

True true. But I personaly would prefer that the naked audio be sent to my receiver, who is designed specifically for audio decoding and processing.

Ok, but just to be clear, that can't work for DVD audio for reasons cited above, because the *dvd* player is doing the dvd audio decoding, so your receiver is not involved in all in that.

We are not talking DTS or Dolby Digital feeds, we are talking the DVD audio 5.1 tracks that are decoded by the OPPO and fed to the receiver via analog connections. There is nothing to decode at the receiver's level, it's getting an analog audio signal.

Wes

wes nance,

My comment is about the way the Audio Setup is handled in general. If you multi-channel out, then the speaker sizes will effect how the bass is managed. I am not talking about DVD-Audio exclusively. I didn't make that clear in my post to GSB.

True true. But I personally would prefer that the naked audio be sent to my receiver, who is designed specifically for audio decoding and processing.

... The above comment was not designed to address DVD-A exclusively.

... As long as my audio playback from the DVDs are fine, then I am complacent about other features. Yes, I tend to agree as far as DVD playback is concerned - I also use the optical output and let my receiver do its work.

However, for serious CD listening, I often prefer the sound of the Oppo's high-quality 192kHz on-board DAC - it does a better job than my receiver (EXCEPT for the lack of subwoofer output when the front speakers are set to "large").

With DVD-A, we have no option but to rely on those analog outputs.

Since the Oppo is designed and advertised as a DVD-A player with high-quality audio outputs, I'm sure that Oppo Digital would be open to making this very minor adjustment that would mean a very major improvement to the audio output.

Just to be clear, we do not expect Oppo to provide a cross-over when front speakers are set to "large" - only to enable the sub on/off control (which is already in place for "small" speakers anyway).

Idog1969, the lip-sync on Batman (R2 anyway) was a real problem for me too and that's at 50ms delay on the oppo. Indeed when I added the extra 68ms delay I can get through my Receiver it's still not quite perfect, though certainly watchable. So as much a 150ms might be needed--though, as everyone will chime in, it's display dependent (mines an AE700). If you use a reciever check if you can add any delay.

This would also help with audio delay drift (which appears to be your problem--though it wasn't what I noticid) becuase it appears that we are more sensitive to the audio preceding the video than vice-versa.

I've now set the extra receiver delay as the default. I think it improves things dramatically.

Dave

Just adjusted my brightness settings on AVIA. I left the Oppo at 0 brightness and adjusted my display's brightness. Only I had to drop the contrast down a significant amount (on the display) to get to black. I noticed MB for the first time with Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. It was pretty noticable. However the brighter scenes looked very HD and only a few of the darker sequences (not all or most) showed MB.

I also noticed MB for the first time with the new firmware on the Oppo. On the Oppo screen.

Hmmm what should I make with that?

I apologize for not thoroughly reading all 144 pages (!!!) of this thread, but perhaps someone could answer this question:

I know the Oppo handles MPEG-4 video ... but does it do so for HD resolutions (not upconvert, but true HD rez files) ?

I also noticed MB for the first time with the new firmware on the Oppo. On the Oppo screen.

Hmmm what should I make with that?

Is that before or after re-calibrating after the new firmware? That brightness change can make a lot of weird things happen unless you re-calibrate.

Since I'm using the same setup as JaPhule, I dropped my brightness from +5 to -3, and didn't notice any adverse changes to my quality of display.

Wes

Hi

I am using a Panny TC-32LX50 and an OPPO OPDV971H. They are connected using a DVI-HDMI cable.

I think this TV max is 720p. Should I set the OPPO to 720p or 1080i ?

Hi

I am using a Panny TC-32LX50 and an OPPO OPDV971H. They are connected using a DVI-HDMI cable.

I think this TV max is 720p. Should I set the OPPO to 720p or 1080i ?

Find out your tv's native resolution and set the Oppo to output that resolution. If you have a resolution that the Oppo doesn't support, send the one that results in the best picture quality for you.

Yes, I tend to agree as far as DVD playback is concerned - I also use the optical output and let my receiver do its work.

However, for serious CD listening, I often prefer the sound of the Oppo's high-quality 192kHz on-board DAC - it does a better job than my receiver (EXCEPT for the lack of subwoofer output when the front speakers are set to "large").

With DVD-A, we have no option but to rely on those analog outputs.

Since the Oppo is designed and advertised as a DVD-A player with high-quality audio outputs, I'm sure that Oppo Digital would be open to making this very minor adjustment that would mean a very major improvement to the audio output.

Just to be clear, we do not expect Oppo to provide a cross-over when front speakers are set to "large" - only to enable the sub on/off control (which is already in place for "small" speakers anyway).

Good comments. I'll hit up OPPO and see what they say. I should get a response within an hour or two.

I apologize for not thoroughly reading all 144 pages (!!!) of this thread, but perhaps someone could answer this question:

I know the Oppo handles MPEG-4 video ... but does it do so for HD resolutions (not upconvert, but true HD rez files) ?

No. Currently the highest supported resolution is 720x480.

Just adjusted my brightness settings on AVIA. I left the Oppo at 0 brightness and adjusted my display's brightness. Only I had to drop the contrast down a significant amount (on the display) to get to black. I noticed MB for the first time with Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. It was pretty noticable. However the brighter scenes looked very HD and only a few of the darker sequences (not all or most) showed MB.

Its been a while since I've watched FF: Spirits Within, so I can't comment on this being a DVD problem, or a calibration problem. Try dropping the brightness on the OPPO to -3 and recalibrate. It seems we have a new brightness dictum of -3 now.

I also noticed MB for the first time with the new firmware on the Oppo. On the Oppo screen.

Hmmm what should I make with that? Wes has it right. Macroblocking is very dependant on your brightness setting (among other things). The new firmware tweaked the brightness setting.

So you have two choices: Either calibrate your display's brightness to the Oppo's new brightness setting, or calibrate the Oppo's brightness to the display's brightness setting.

It is possible that one of those choices will be better than the other, so try them both if you like. Results will vary from one display-type to another.

Just tried the Oppo on Batman Begins. In the first quarter of the movie, the blacks were a shimmering dark gray; ugly snow. After about an hour it settled down. Has anyone else noticed this on Batman or should I suspect my player? Haven't been able to get the firmware to load so I am still at +5 brightness on the original set. I ran the DVE disk without problem.

Just adjusted my brightness settings on AVIA. I left the Oppo at 0 brightness and adjusted my display's brightness. Only I had to drop the contrast down a significant amount (on the display) to get to black. I noticed MB for the first time with Final Fantasy The Spirits Within. It was pretty noticable. However the brighter scenes looked very HD and only a few of the darker sequences (not all or most) showed MB.See my last post. But there is more:

Reducing contrast on a digital display can also contribute to macroblocking, because it reduces the number of digital steps available to render a smooth grayscale ramp. Therefore, banding (and related macroblocking) can become worse. Using the FULL range of available contrast is recommended.

Unlike the situation with phosphor CRT TV's, there is no need to reduce contrast on a digital microdisplay like DLP, because contrast does not adjust the intensity of the bulb, nor does it cause any burn-in or blooming effects, it only adjusts the percentage of time that the mirrors are on. Any reduction in contrast is simply a waste of available light and precious digital steps.

Dropping the contrast a significant amount (on your display) to get to black, doesn't sound right. That could be the reason for the macroblocking.

Just tried the Oppo on Batman Begins. In the first quarter of the movie, the blacks were a shimmering dark gray; ugly snow. After about an hour it settled down. Has anyone else noticed this on Batman or should I suspect my player? Haven't been able to get the firmware to load so I am still at +5 brightness on the original set. I ran the DVE disk without problem.
Are you using a CRT HDTV? If so it can take from 45 minutes to an hour for the television to "warm up," so to speak. Your contrast, brightness and convergence can be way off within the first half hour or so. This could maybe explain the extra "noise" in the picture.

Just tried the Oppo on Batman Begins. In the first quarter of the movie, the blacks were a shimmering dark gray; ugly snow. After about an hour it settled down. Has anyone else noticed this on Batman or should I suspect my player? Haven't been able to get the firmware to load so I am still at +5 brightness on the original set. I ran the DVE disk without problem. Have you correctly calibrated your display's brightness to the Oppo's output, using Avia/DVE? It is unlikely that the player is the cause of your symptom.

Anybody try the new firmware? I downloaded the file but I son't see .bin anywhere in the name. My computer is a pretty basic Dell so I have no clue how to specify the CD burner to burn as an ISO file as oppossed to a data file and the search and help of windows yields no clue. Any ideas?

:) d

Anybody try the new firmware? I downloaded the file but I son't see .bin anywhere in the name. My computer is a pretty basic Dell so I have no clue how to specify the CD burner to burn as an ISO file as oppossed to a data file and the search and help of windows yields no clue. Any ideas?

:) d

What software are you burning with? Explicit instructions are on Oppo's website if you're using Roxio.

Hiya Scott! I tried twice, once with just the basic Dell cd software that came with it and a second time with SONIC. Each time the burn of the file to cd was supposedly successful and it states that it IS an ISO image file but it doesn't have the .bin name. It just has the name of the file itself, .iso that I downloaded from the OPPO site. I have previously burned a .bin file from the Keohi site for the zenith 318 component firmware successfully but in that case I manually renamed the file to lgromout.bin. No problems. I don't know what Roxio is. Any suggestions? If I download Roxio, will it be easily understandable? Do I have to rename the file? And why didn't oppo make it easier?
Thanx

edit... never mind. I read further on, (duh!) and found the Roxio info.

Thanx! D

RONJON2:

What you are seeing in Batman Begins is inherent to a bad dvd transfer..........Or rather, they did that on purpose to give the film that grainy comic book look....i have read a few reveiws of this movie and all of them point out the same thing you are seeing.

Anybody try the new firmware? I downloaded the file but I son't see .bin anywhere in the name. My computer is a pretty basic Dell so I have no clue how to specify the CD burner to burn as an ISO file as oppossed to a data file and the search and help of windows yields no clue. Any ideas?

:) d

It was recommended earlier to download the freeware program Burn At Once (http://www.burnatonce.com/index.htm?downloads)

RONJON2:

What you are seeing in Batman Begins is inherent to a bad dvd transfer..........Or rather, they did that on purpose to give the film that grainy comic book look....i have read a few reveiws of this movie and all of them point out the same thing you are seeing.

Which will probably infuriate those those using the DNR ;)

Here's a question I never considered?

Are the 5.1 analog outs of the OPPO engaged on normal DTS, Dolby Digital, etc., audio tracks from video dvd's?

Here's why I'm asking- I'm running a Denon 1801 receiver from around 2001 or so, which does DTS, etc., but not Prologic II. I'm wondering if the Dolby Digital and DTS decoders in my receiver are inferior to the ones in the OPPO. Should I try running movies through the analog outputs into my receiver?

Maybe I'm way off here, all this audio talk has my head spinning.

I just came upstairs and am done watching for the night, so I can't test whether I can get audio from the analog outputs during Dolby Digital or DTS video dvd's. Anybody else know?

Wes

Are the 5.1 analog outs of the OPPO engaged on normal DTS, Dolby Digital, etc., audio tracks from video dvd's?

Here's why I'm asking- I'm running a Denon 1801 receiver from around 2001 or so, which does DTS, etc., but not Prologic II. I'm wondering if the Dolby Digital and DTS decoders in my receiver are inferior to the ones in the OPPO. Should I try running movies through the analog outputs into my receiver? Yes, the 5.1 analog outputs are engaged if you set the audio output mode to 5.1 channel. Give it a try and compare the results.

Am I missing something (it wouldn't be the first time!). So many of you seem to be wowed by the new firmware--I've noticed no difference to pq (all that matters) at all. A caveat to the following gripe: I love my oppo + ae700 and use it everyday, 2 or 3 times a day when time allows.

We have the new brightness setting--I used to be at +5 now, to get the same effect on Avia I'm at -3. We have a new font--admittedly it's nicer. But everything that macroblocked before still does. I can't see any difference between having truelife on or off in terms of EE (or in terms of anything else, eg. mb.). I'm not sure what difference 2:2 cadence should make and as I haven't noticed any I guess it was never going to be much (I watch 70% PAL DVDs). The zoom is still wretched in terms of pq as has been noticed above. OK, I don't use DivX or DVD-A so maybe there never was going to be much. But I have to say I'm nonplussed with the whole thing--so far...

Now, I would be really grateful for anything I should be noticing with respect to improved pq on DVD playback?

Thanks,

Dave

I'd like to to eat some words here. I'm using the second recent firmware which doesn't automatically choose PAL or NTSC. Anyway, over the last week I have noticed a definite improvement on PAL images. For example in the famous opening shot of Star Wars, the the emerging ship used to shudder into life--now it glides (it was all down hill after that shot for Lucas). So thumbs up to PAL 2:2 cadence. Now truelife can be turned off "clayface" is much reduced in less the perfectly authored discs (e.g., the blustering face of Col. Blimp (R2)). This was a definite problem with the oppo before. The Dual-layer support is also good. The oppo now plays discs that my sony used to spit out--it even plays things I assumed were coasters (I'm now wondering how many I needlessly chucked out!).

So, I'm very happily digesting my own complaints. I think these largely arose from a fit of pique regarding the lack of a much improved zoom (but....has anyone noticed their lip-sync is a bit worse after the new firmware?).

Dave

Reducing contrast on a digital display can also contribute to macroblocking, ...

Thanks. I'll re-calibrate to -3 tonight and bump my contrast back to original. I watched Festival Express and saw rampant MB in the older footage which I don't recall seeing in the past. Also, when the picture went to split screen, the image cleared.

For those who upgraded to the 1012 firmware while it was on the Oppo site, what version string does your player show? I ordered from Oppo directly, my player shipped on 10/17, and it turned up on the doorstep yesterday. So far it's very nice even through 480i composite-video output, since I don't have a decent TV to hook it up to yet (still waiting on my SXRD to be delivered). The curious thing is, the firmware version shown on the "secret menu" (Setup-9-2-1-0) is "OP971-C-1012B". If you upgraded to 1012 from the website, does it show this string, or just "OP971-C-1012" as the version? I'm wondering if what I've got is a beta version of the 1012 firmware.

I haven't seen any issues with it yet, so I'll probably just wait until the final 1012 is released before I upgrade, but I thought this was curious.

Thanks. I'll re-calibrate to -3 tonight and bump my contrast back to original. I watched Festival Express and saw rampant MB in the older footage which I don't recall seeing in the past. Also, when the picture went to split screen, the image cleared.
There is definately something up with the new baseline brightness level, and it's not just changing numbers. I used to be at O with the 0628 firmware and after upgrading last week I had to go down to -7 or -8 with same television settings. At -8 I wasn't able to get BTB and at -7 the picture just looked too hot even after recalibrating my television. I too noticed more picture noise even with the new adjustments like being able to shut off TrueLife. Overall the picture that I fell in love with was lost with the new firmware so I downgraded back to the 0628. All is back to normal.

The new replacement firmware, OP971-D-1022, should be posted sometime today. Check the Oppo website periodically during the day.

I'm planning on feeding an Oppo to my 4805 using a 24' run.

Just how weak is "slightly weak"? Can I expect to have signal problems? :confused:

Having to install a repeater, IMHO, offsets the inherent value of this player.


For my 4805/oppo setup, I am using a 25' DVI-DVI cable from monoprice and an m1-dvi adapter from rite-av and have no problems.

The new replacement firmware, OP971-D-1022, should be posted sometime today. Check the Oppo website periodically during the day.
Mike,

Thanks for the heads-up. The new download page and release notes already seem to be in place (and are accessible via some trivial URL fiddling), but it's probably best to wait until they've updated the main support page with the proper information and links. I notice that the release notes are pretty much identical to the notes for 1011, except that they've removed the boldface warning about the "slight problem with 2:2 cadence support". Doesn't look like they've made any other changes since 1012/1011 (not that we were expecting any, I don't think.)

Well, I installed the firmware yesterday and now with my PAL discs there are WEIRD color anomalies and jitters whenever I chapter skip or hit menu while playing. Odd... I do have MANY PAL discs and output PAL natively without NTSC conversion so the 2:2 support for me was interesting. Wish they would fix the brightness when switching to PAL issue... and what's with the lack of subtitles for certain DVDs when charcters speak...?

Anybody else...?

:) d

Dixie, can you post a direct link to the newer download page? I can't find it even with fiddling. Thanx!

Dixie, can you post a direct link to the newer download page? I can't find it even with fiddling. Thanx!
Release notes are here (http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_firmware_1022_release_note.html).
Download and installation instructions are here (http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_firmware_1022_download.html).

The ISO download on that page does work, but I wouldn't encourage anyone to download it until Oppo's officially blessed the release by linking it from the main support page. You never know if they're still doing last-minute testing... :eek:

Well, I installed the firmware yesterday and now with my PAL discs there are WEIRD color anomalies and jitters whenever I chapter skip or hit menu while playing. Odd... I do have MANY PAL discs and output PAL natively without NTSC conversion so the 2:2 support for me was interesting. Reflash the firmware... but wait until the official release!
Wish they would fix the brightness when switching to PAL issue... and what's with the lack of subtitles for certain DVDs when charcters speak...? Both are known defects that should be addressed in a future firmware rerlease.

Thanx GSB!

So what is the consensus re: PQ with newer firmware vs. old? Better? Worse?

:) d

Hi again, so with the DVD-audio playability, will that work over just the digital coax audio output or are 6 RCA cables still required like my previous JVC DVD/ DVD-audio player, one reason I never tried it, didn't want to deal with all those cables...

:) d

Hi again, so with the DVD-audio playability, will that work over just the digital coax audio output or are 6 RCA cables still required like my previous JVC DVD/ DVD-audio player, one reason I never tried it, didn't want to deal with all those cables...

DVD-Audio cannot be transmitted over digital coax or Toslink. It requires the 6-channel analog connections. This has nothing to do with the player; it's a limitation of the audio format.

and what's with the lack of subtitles for certain DVDs when charcters speak...?

This has been covered earlier in the thread. It's a known bug. To get around it, when starting your DVD be sure to go into the disc's set-up menus (the disc's menus, mind you, not the Oppo's menus) and choose "None". It sounds counter-intuitive, but it will work.

Hi again, so with the DVD-audio playability, will that work over just the digital coax audio output or are 6 RCA cables still required like my previous JVC DVD/ DVD-audio player, one reason I never tried it, didn't want to deal with all those cables... DVD-A only works through the analog connections. Copyright restrictions.

The PQ with the latest firmware is better for 2 reasons: 2:2 cadence support for PAL video, and the "Truelife" and "Noise Reduction" tweaks that can help with certain displays or some DVD material.

Reflash the firmware... but wait until the official release!


YES.

I forgot about the detective abilities of people on this forum. ;)

YES.

I forgot about the detective abilities of people on this forum. ;)

They wouldn't have found it without the heads up about the firmware being called OP971-D-1022. You ruined OPPO's surprise!

Now we just need to wait for the official live statement.

Mike,

Thanks for the heads-up. The new download page and release notes already seem to be in place (and are accessible via some trivial URL fiddling), but it's probably best to wait until they've updated the main support page with the proper information and links. I notice that the release notes are pretty much identical to the notes for 1011, except that they've removed the boldface warning about the "slight problem with 2:2 cadence support". Doesn't look like they've made any other changes since 1012/1011 (not that we were expecting any, I don't think.)

Yeah, they just put back in the proper PAL/NTSC conversion switching which was improperly implimented in the OP971H-C-1012 firmware. I was hoping for a little bonus for being such a patient little brat, but it doesn't look like there are any.

They wouldn't have found it without the heads up about the firmware being called OP971-D-1022. You ruined OPPO's surprise!


Mea culpa. :(

The upgrade was just released on the OPPO's web site.... official now. :-)

The upgrade was just released on the OPPO's web site.... official now. :-)

I don't see it.

I don't see it.

Make sure you refresh the page.

Make sure you refresh the page.

Man, I think I am going to dump Firefox. Pages and images are not displaying properly sometimes so I don't know what I am missing. I see now with IE but not when using Firefox.

They wouldn't have found it without the heads up about the firmware being called OP971-D-1022. You ruined OPPO's surprise!

Now we just need to wait for the official live statement.
Yeah, well, I'll take any hints I can get. :D The other interesting thing I found while poking around, related to my earlier question about the 1012B firmware that was preinstalled on my player, is that there are separate downloads on the site for the 1012 image and the 1012B image. So it looks like there was a beta version of 1012 that was shipped on some players, but never officially released on the web.

Incidentally, for those who did jump the gun, please note that the official ISO file now linked from the Oppo pages has a different name from the one that was there before they announced. May be the same file with a different name, but I'd definitely re-download if you pulled the "Firmware_1022.iso" file before.

Yeah, well, I'll take any hints I can get. :D The other interesting thing I found while poking around, related to my earlier question about the 1012B firmware that was preinstalled on my player, is that there are separate downloads on the site for the 1012 image and the 1012B image. So it looks like there was a beta version of 1012 that was shipped on some players, but never officially released on the web.

Incidentally, for those who did jump the gun, please note that the official ISO file now linked from the Oppo pages has a different name from the one that was there before they announced. May be the same file with a different name, but I'd definitely re-download if you pulled the "Firmware_1022.iso" file before.

"B" stands for Black, which corresponds to the black remote (black face; silver body). 1012 was on the web for a day, but was pulled after they discovered that the NTSC/PAL conversion was not doing the 2:2 pulldown. It was replaced with 1011 in the interim, until today.

"B" stands for Black, which corresponds to the black remote (black face; silver body). 1012 was on the web for a day, but was pulled after they discovered that the NTSC/PAL conversion was not doing the 2:2 pulldown. It was replaced with 1011 in the interim, until today.
D'oh! That didn't occur to me. :o So for firmware version xxxx, xxxxB is the identical version which supports the black remote by default, and never gets officially posted on the web, but does get installed at the factory for new players that ship with the black remote. That makes more sense than shipping players with a beta version of the firmware...

Thanks for pointing that out. I guess they don't normally post the xxxxB versions to avoid confusion; it's probably easier to just have people do the STOP button routine after the upgrade then let them try and figure out which version to download... :rolleyes:

Dixie Flatline -

Since OPPO ships all their units with the latest firmware, having a specialized Black remote only firmware makes it much easier to update their units (otherwise each unit will require the additional "press stop for 5 second" procedure).

They don't post the B revision precisely because the B revision does not allow for IR switching. If you downloaded the B revision and you still have the old glow in the dark silver remote, you would be screwed!

Hello all,

Just for the record, I downloaded the latest 1022 firmware and burned a CD on my iMac G5 successfully using Apple's Disk Utility software. The Oppo updated like a champ. Latest firmware confirmed. Also, I note that the firmware bin file downloaded before and after it was "officially" posted is exactly the same size - 1,240,152 bytes.

Hi:

Just flashed my Oppo with the 1022 bin file.

Now my silver remote has the keys mixed up:

* setup advances the pitch (AKA key+, faster playback speed)
* skip sets Volume to +20

etc.

I'm sure the new firmware is in the machine as my formerly black edges are now gray (reflecting the higher default brightness) but I've lost control with my (silver) remote.


Help!!

Push and hold the "Stop" button on the player for 3-4 seconds and then release. You should see either "Old RC" or "New RC" on your display's screen. If it says "Old RC", it had been set for the new remote and should now work with your silver remote. If it says "New RC", repeat the procedure.

Does the OPPO have similar previous/next remote control limitations (for mpg, divx, xvid files), that the Avel LinkPlayer2 has, as mentioned here?
http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showthread.php?t=835
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6380735&&#post6380735

Ok great. So yesterday I downloaded the oppo reccomended ISO file thingy and it worked like a charm. I made the CD, updated the firmware and all was well. Today I tried to download the newer firmware and I keep getting error messages. Unable to lock the volume for exclusive access. What the HELL does that mean?!?!?

:( grrr....

Ok great. So yesterday I downloaded the oppo reccomended ISO file thingy and it worked like a charm. I made the CD, updated the firmware and all was well. Today I tried to download the newer firmware and I keep getting error messages. Unable to lock the volume for exclusive access. What the HELL does that mean?!?!?

:( grrr....

Try restarting your computer and attempting to write the CD again. I get this everyonce and a while in XP and a restart solves my problem.

I see that with the new 10-22 firmware, besides the PAL fix, Oppo finally has TruLife above CSS and Sharpness in the menu, where TruLife logically belongs since it controls the other two settings.

Does the OPPO have similar previous/next remote control limitations (for mpg, divx, xvid files), that the Avel LinkPlayer2 has, as mentioned here?
http://www.iodata.com/usa/forum/showthread.php?t=835
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6380735&&#post6380735

Pressing the Skip buttons will skip to the next or previous DivX/XviD/MPEG file within the same directory. Though last time I checked, this did not work on MP3s. I will have to check up on that later tonight.

I see that with the new 10-22 firmware, besides the PAL fix, Oppo finally has TruLife above CSS and Sharpness in the menu, where TruLife logically belongs since it controls the other two settings.

Though it does seem that if you turn DNR On, then TrueLife Off, DNR is still working properly. CCS, on the other hand, will always be Off if TrueLife is Off IIRC. I will need to test it again tonight (along with the MP3 skipping non-functionality).

Though it does seem that if you turn DNR On, then TrueLife Off, DNR is still working properly. CCS, on the other hand, will always be Off if TrueLife is Off IIRC. I will need to test it again tonight (along with the MP3 skipping non-functionality).

Not so. Turn TruLife ON, then turn CSS ON, and if you turn TruLife back Off, CSS will still be On and at least partially functioning, as I can clearly see the difference with CSS On versus Off, whether or not TruLife is On. Now as to whether CSS behaves exactly the same with TruLife On or Off, I can't say, because with my system I find the image difficult to watch with TruLife On. By the same token, I always leave CSS turned On because I see a reduction of artifacts and noise if I keep it On. I think part of the reason that my system seems to behave differently than most systems and doesn't like TruLife, is that I have an analog display with only component; however, I use DVI at 720P out of the Oppo into an iScan HD+ that does an excellant job of coverting 720P DVI into 1080i component.

Pressing the Skip buttons will skip to the next or previous DivX/XviD/MPEG file within the same directory. Though last time I checked, this did not work on MP3s. I will have to check up on that later tonight.

Thanks for confirming this.

Three more questions:

1) When a mpg/xvid/divx completes playing, will it automatically start playing the next file in sequence?

2) When the last file in a folder completes playing will it automatically start playing the first file in the next folder below?

3) Does it play High Definition xvid/divx? I couldn't find a reference to this in this thread or any oppo review. My Philips dvp642 divx player can only play resolutions equal to or less than 720 pixels. The Avel Linkplayer2 can handle anything above 720. I'm wondering if the OPPO can as well?

Thanks.

well, first disc that just barfed on the most-recent-till-tonight version of firmware...

Disc Two of Penn and Teller's BULLSH*T wouldnt' get past the FBI warning screen. Just sat there, cycling... put it in my RP-82, plays fine...

odd, huh?

I've not noticed a definitive claim on the Oppo (or this) site that tells me that the latest firmware is an improvement over the one I did a couple days ago save the Pal issue... I've noticed some have seen changes in the setup menu. Is there a definitive list of what's new between the two most recent updates?

Finally, I'm getting lost in all the options - on a CRT RPTV, what's the ideal setup now for CSS, Truelife, etc.? I'm back to brightness 0 as mentioned above, a good thing, but a bit uneasy about some of the other settings.

Thanks for confirming this.

Three more questions:

1) When a mpg/xvid/divx completes playing, will it automatically start playing the next file in sequence?

2) When the last file in a folder completes playing will it automatically start playing the first file in the next folder below?

3) Does it play High Definition xvid/divx? I couldn't find a reference to this in this thread or any oppo review. My Philips dvp642 divx player can only play resolutions equal to or less than 720 pixels. The Avel Linkplayer2 can handle anything above 720. I'm wondering if the OPPO can as well?

Thanks.

1. Yes
2. Not sure
3. No, only players that can play hd divx are players using the new sigma chip like the iodata, buffalo linktheater, and snazio.

well, first disc that just barfed on the most-recent-till-tonight version of firmware...

Disc Two of Penn and Teller's BULLSH*T wouldnt' get past the FBI warning screen. Just sat there, cycling... put it in my RP-82, plays fine...

odd, huh?

I've not noticed a definitive claim on the Oppo (or this) site that tells me that the latest firmware is an improvement over the one I did a couple days ago save the Pal issue... I've noticed some have seen changes in the setup menu. Is there a definitive list of what's new between the two most recent updates?

Finally, I'm getting lost in all the options - on a CRT RPTV, what's the ideal setup now for CSS, Truelife, etc.? I'm back to brightness 0 as mentioned above, a good thing, but a bit uneasy about some of the other settings.

Did your disc play fine on the Oppo before or is it the first time? Some discs will loop on that fbi screen because it sees the player as region free, usually setting it to region 1 (or whatever region it is) will correct it. I'd rather just try to jump to another screen by title/chapter.

well, first disc that just barfed on the most-recent-till-tonight version of firmware...

Disc Two of Penn and Teller's BULLSH*T wouldnt' get past the FBI warning screen. Just sat there, cycling... put it in my RP-82, plays fine...

odd, huh?

I've not noticed a definitive claim on the Oppo (or this) site that tells me that the latest firmware is an improvement over the one I did a couple days ago save the Pal issue... I've noticed some have seen changes in the setup menu. Is there a definitive list of what's new between the two most recent updates?

Finally, I'm getting lost in all the options - on a CRT RPTV, what's the ideal setup now for CSS, Truelife, etc.? I'm back to brightness 0 as mentioned above, a good thing, but a bit uneasy about some of the other settings.

what Ja Phule said (making sure the region is set to R1). If that does not work, then Stop DVD playback. Once you are back to the OPPO screen, press the Menu button to go directly to the feature (it is called Direct Play). This should get you past that pesky FBI warning. *stabs FBI* Is it just me, or do I hear ... sirens?

2) When the last file in a folder completes playing will it automatically start playing the first file in the next folder below?


There is no option in the 971H at this time to allow for next/previous folder playback. By default, the 971H will stop playback at the end of the folder you are currently in. This was on my wish list (mainly for MP3 playback* but so far OPPO has not included it in a firmware. I am still crossing my fingers.

Push and hold the "Stop" button on the player for 3-4 seconds and then release. You should see either "Old RC" or "New RC" on your display's screen. If it says "Old RC", it had been set for the new remote and should now work with your silver remote. If it says "New RC", repeat the procedure.

Prior to your advice, I had held down the STOP button on the remote, without effect -- SINCE THE KEYS WERE MIXED UP it wasn't sending the STOP command!! Doh!

Pushing & holding the STOP button on the unit itself (far right button) and then releasing after 7 seconds or so did get the unit to switch remotes.

It turn out that my unit (purchased end of June) has a NEW RC, although I thought, because of it's silver body, that it was an OLD RC. I guess it's the black face around the buttons that makes the difference.

Thanks for spelling out the tip -- after changing to Old RC and having the same mixed up keys, I changed to New RC and it works as intended. Woohoo. Success!!

...interesting. Didn't try the disc before the fw upgrade, sounds entirely plausible that it's the region setting issue. Fascinating.

I've noticed on the OPPO firmware page this line - "Stay focused and be patient during this process." Hillarious... Like they've seen more than their share of "I pooched my unit..." calls. God hope that people will heed these words and treat these upgrades with respect - it's obviously the reason that hardly any "major" company lets these upgrades into the public's grubby little hands...

rclams,

They recently added a picture of the remote on the firmware page. If you don't see the image, refresh your web browser. For some reason, I have major issues with caching in FireFox and the OPPO website. Instead of checking for new information automatically, I have to manually refresh the page and check for updates. For the longest time I didn't know they updated the FAQ page until I accidently reloaded the page.

sharkshark,

Allowing user upgradeability is both a curse and a blessing. It is a curse, because you have to worry about impatient/ignorant people toasting the unit. On the other hand, it is a blessing because you don't have to spend the money, time, and resources upgrading units all the time. As a consumer, it is a blessing for the same reason, with the addition of "no down time".

I was always annoyed when I had to send in DVD units, or other hardware, to the factory or authorized repair center for upgrades. What is worse is when companies will not allow you to upgrade your firmware unless you are experiencing problems with your current unit. I guess "new features" and "fixed" don't fall into the category of "problems" to some companies.

hey, I'm so with you. I've been singing the praises of dl'able firmware on this baby for hundreds of posts above... well, maybe not hundreds... dozens... several.

in fact, I'm able to forgive a whole lot of "quirks" about this bad boy only because I know people are working very hard to make it all so much better.

quirk update: just tested disc two of season one of Penn and Teller's BS again in both region 1 and 0 options, with the newest firmware. No dice, won't get past the FBI screen. You get a weird "cough" of music from the title screen, but nothing else, just a loop of the FBI. Damn FBI. Not even my Federal Gov't screwing up playback.

Title doesn't work, menu, chapter number, etc., all cuz, well, you can't do those things when the FBI screen locks out all other commands. For now, I use my '82. For later, well, add it to the pile... :)

sharkshark,

Can you Stop DVD playback at the FBI warning? If you can, you can take advantage of the Direct Play feature. When the DVD is stopped, press the Menu button to directly access the main feature.

Actually, now that I think of it, my friend had the same exact problem with his season one disc 2 of Bull Sh*t. I dont think he ever got it to work on his unit, but all other discs worked perfectly.

...nope, gotta eject to make it work. Plus, it barfed on disc 3. When it's not almost 4am I'll play with it more...

With the new adjustments, that gives us much more combination of configuration!

Would somebody be rather nice to tell me which configuration (CCS-TrueLife-NR) should give best PQ with a projector DLP PE8700+ connected in DVI 720p?

OPPO is sending me a disc with the new firmware. I'm looking forward to trying Truelife off. Since the OPPO has the same processing chip as my former DVD player (Denon 3910) I'm hoping this upgrade brings the OPPO a little closer to the 3910's stellar pq. The OPPO bettered the $2000 Pioneer 9500's pq but is a bit less sharp and doesn't handle rapid motion quite as well as the Denon 3910 did. We'll see...

Meanwhile, I only noticed yesterday that when I'm listening to a CD and I want to go back to the beginning of the track I'm listening to, hitting "skip" takes me to the previous track and then I have to hit skip forward to get to the beginning of my current track. It's become quite annoying because I'm a musician and sometimes need to go back and forth on a track for learning purposes, ouch!

Hi again, so with the DVD-audio playability, will that work over just the digital coax audio output or are 6 RCA cables still required like my previous JVC DVD/ DVD-audio player, one reason I never tried it, didn't want to deal with all those cables...

:) d

It depends on your definition of playability. If you are satisfied with stereo DVD-Audio, then you can use the coax. If you want 5.1 DVD-Audio, you have to use the analog cables.

I have a high-end stereo DAC connected to the Oppo. I use the "PCM" and "96K" settings in the Oppo setup, and have defined the speakers to be stereo. Most DVD-A titles have an audio setup option page where you can choose the stereo tracks instead of 5.1. This does work and does sound better than CDs.

It depends on your definition of playability. If you are satisfied with stereo DVD-Audio, then you can use the coax. If you want 5.1 DVD-Audio, you have to use the analog cables.

I have a high-end stereo DAC connected to the Oppo. I use the "PCM" and "96K" settings in the Oppo setup, and have defined the speakers to be stereo. Most DVD-A titles have an audio setup option page where you can choose the stereo tracks instead of 5.1. This does work and does sound better than CDs.

I haven't tried it (because I don't need to; I have full 5.1 analog cables and a dedicated 2 channel analog set of cables, along with the coax for movies) BUT, I am very skeptical/surprised to hear that the Oppo will send compressed ppcm (MLP 2.0) along the digital coax path and allow a DAC to decode it. The only other possibility is that the Oppo decodes it first then sends it digital coax, but in that case you may not want to resample it again. In most other DVD-A players, even the stereo hirez layers need to go through analog cables, not coax. The exception would be when the stereo hirez layer is NOT truly MLP 2.0 (packed pcm) but simply pcm. I'd venture that the number of discs capable of that is very low...but this is all speculation; I use analog cables for all hirez anyway. If anyone can explain how a DVD-Audio disc can be heard in all its hirez glory through coax I'd like to understand. Thx

If anyone can explain how a DVD-Audio disc can be heard in all its hirez glory through coax I'd like to understand. Thx

sure.... it can't.

:)

You are correct - there must be some downconversion going on. MLP's bandwidth is simply not going to to through a toslink/coax pipe, stereo or no. My friend above, even for stereo, hook up decent analogue cables to your CD input, switch from digital and enjoy the difference that may or may not be perceptable given your ears/system....

Almost every DVD-A disc includes a hi-rez stereo track, ensure you select that option rather than having a 5.1 folddown or some such mix. Or, thanks to the new features of the firmware, choose the dvd-video layer and select the DTS or DD option. Digital friendly they are!

I am very skeptical/surprised to hear that the Oppo will send compressed ppcm (MLP 2.0) along the digital coax path and allow a DAC to decode it.

I'm glad you're skeptical, because it's not MLP. It is stereo PCM. MLP is not an issue, the Oppo decodes the MLP.

In most other DVD-A players, even the stereo hirez layers need to go through analog cables, not coax.

That is because other DVD-A players are over-protective on the digital rights managment issue, and refuse to play at all. DRM on the major labels DVD-A requires down-rezzing to 48KHz. Some labels don't DRM. 24bit 48KHz is still much better than CDs. Try it and see!

sure.... it can't.

:)

You are correct - there must be some downconversion going on. MLP's bandwidth is simply not going to to through a toslink/coax pipe, stereo or no.

Stereo 96K PCM bandwidth is 6.14MHz. SPDIF transmitters and receivers can easily do this. Good optical cable and transmitters/ receivers can do 15MHz.

sure.... it can't.

:)

You are correct - there must be some downconversion going on. MLP's bandwidth is simply not going to to through a toslink/coax pipe, stereo or no. My friend above, even for stereo, hook up decent analogue cables to your CD input, switch from digital and enjoy the difference that may or may not be perceptable given your ears/system....

Almost every DVD-A disc includes a hi-rez stereo track, ensure you select that option rather than having a 5.1 folddown or some such mix. Or, thanks to the new features of the firmware, choose the dvd-video layer and select the DTS or DD option. Digital friendly they are!

I'm not here to debate my own point, but this isn;t the first time someone has said that DVD-A hirez can be obtained (read: glitch in design) through coax. In fact, if you download any of a number of the cheaper Japanese DVD-A player manuals ( my example, Samsung HD841, Page 11) they say this :
"• DVD-AUDIO only plays back two channel audio through the Digital Audio out. Multi-channel DVD-Audio discs are output through the Analog outputs."

I dunno how they do it, unless:
a) it's a typo and all players based on this chassis use the same typo
b) the MLP 2.0 tracks are downconverted, therefore not real hirez
c) their demo disc was only pcm 24/96 and they assumed all were that way; the true MLP stuff would be just hiss or worse

Summary, most good stereo DVD-A tracks are 24/192, and those would necessarily have to be sampled/manipulated. However, there are decent 24/48 stereo tracks (Beck Guero, both Donald Fagen releases), and some 24/96 stuff....maybe those will work ok. ?

I know many folks who get their blood pressure up because their SACD player converts from DSD to pcm. Imagine what those folks would think if their ppcm was converted to lower rez!!

Many of the latest responses occurred while I was typing and cut-pasting from the 841 manual.


Soooooo.....why would anyone take an incredible-sounding 24/192 layer and downconvert/downsample (with questionable downsampling software) it to 24/48 on coax? To save on $50 worth of cables?

Sorry to bloat the Oppo thread with this, but these misconceptions are widespread on the forum.


b) the MLP 2.0 tracks are downconverted, therefore not real hirez


MLP, Meridian Lossless Packing, doesn't determine the audio resolution. It is a lossless compression/ decompression scheme devised to save bits and bandwidth on the DVD media.

The digital audio is unchanged after the MLP process is done. The resolution after is the same as before compression. Just like zip files work on text, it's lossless.

DTS is lossy and loses audio quality, by the way.



Soooooo.....why would anyone take an incredible-sounding 24/192 layer and downconvert/downsample (with questionable downsampling software) it to 24/48 on coax? To save on $50 worth of cables?


No. The DAC audio circuit in the Oppo may have cost 10 bucks. My external high-end DAC has an MSRP five times what the Oppo cost. If you have never heard the difference, you should go down to your local high end stereo shop and ask for an audition. The sound from the DAC at 24/48KHz is much, much better than the Oppo at 192KHz.

For me, it's worthwhile. I don't have a multichannel audio system and the sound is better over the coax. Your mileage may vary.

No. The DAC audio circuit in the Oppo may have cost 10 bucks. My external high-end DAC has an MSRP five times what the Oppo cost. If you have never heard the difference, you should go down to your local high end stereo shop and ask for an audition. The sound from the DAC at 24/48KHz is much, much better than the Oppo at 192KHz.

For me, it's worthwhile. I don't have a multichannel audio system and the sound is better over the coax. Your mileage may vary.

My posts were not meant to sh%^ on your dac quality. I own a very hi-end dac (Audio Note) and understand the process. However, if the cheap Oppo is doing downconverting to 24/48 how is that a good thing, regardless of the quality at the other end? (BTW, I'll have to try it, though).

No one said DTS was anything but lossy. :confused:

My posts were not meant to sh%^ on your dac quality. I own a very hi-end dac (Audio Note) and understand the process. However, if the cheap Oppo is doing downconverting to 24/48 how is that a good thing, regardless of the quality at the other end? (BTW, I'll have to try ti, though).

No one said DTS was anything but lossy. :confused:

Downconverting isn't a good thing.

Despite what the big labels say, DRM is costing them a lot of sales. I would buy many more DVD-As if they weren't restricted with DRM. Just compare the sales of the superior DVD-A format with the old CD format. Why is it like that? My theory is that DRM has killed DVD audio. People can't rip songs for their car or ipod, and won't pay extra for quality they can't hear on an average stereo.

That being said, the difference in playback between 192, 96 and 48 isn't as important as good mastering.

sorry about being off topic to the Oppo thread.

I've just installed the update. However, I'm somewhat confused about which, if any, Speaker Setup settings to use. I won't be listening to DVD-A. I'll just be listening to "regular" CDs. I'll also be viewing DVDs (with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS; my Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver can also decode). I'm passing audio to the receiver via coax. Do the OPPO's settings for Speaker Setup only apply if one outputs audio via 5.1 Analog? If not, and I have a 5.1 speaker system (i.e., with sub), which settings should I use? Also, on the General Setup Page, for DVD-Audio Mode, should I use DVD-Audio or DVD-Video? Thanks in advance.

rossl,

I actually enjoyed you and ted_b discussing DVD-A, since it is something I always hear about as a buzz word, but never actually bothered to get down the nitty gritty of its feature set and practical use. Plus it is relevent, since the OPPO does support DVD-A.

I've just installed the update. However, I'm somewhat confused about which, if any, Speaker Setup settings to use. I won't be listening to DVD-A. I'll just be listening to "regular" CDs. I'll also be viewing DVDs (with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS; my Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver can also decode). I'm passing audio to the receiver via coax. Do the OPPO's settings for Speaker Setup only apply if one outputs audio via 5.1 Analog? If not, and I have a 5.1 speaker system (i.e., with sub), which settings should I use? Also, on the General Setup Page, for DVD-Audio Mode, should I use DVD-Audio or DVD-Video? Thanks in advance.

The Speaker settings should not interfere with Digital Outputs.

DVD Audio = The player will play the DVD-Audio tracks of a DVD-Audio disc.
DVD Video = The player will play the DVD-Video or DTS/Dolby tracks of a DVD-Audio disc.
These settings do not effect normal DVD playback.

I've just installed the update. However, I'm somewhat confused about which, if any, Speaker Setup settings to use. I won't be listening to DVD-A. I'll just be listening to "regular" CDs. I'll also be viewing DVDs (with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS; my Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver can also decode). I'm passing audio to the receiver via coax. Do the OPPO's settings for Speaker Setup only apply if one outputs audio via 5.1 Analog? If not, and I have a 5.1 speaker system (i.e., with sub), which settings should I use? Also, on the General Setup Page, for DVD-Audio Mode, should I use DVD-Audio or DVD-Video? Thanks in advance.

First, setting your player to DVD-Audio or Video is irrelevant for you. Either will work. it's only an issue if your player can read both layers (i.e DVD-Audio player) and you want to force it to read the one you want. Your player reads the DVD-V folder only, so no issue.

Second, if you are letting the receiver to do decoding of DD and DTS then don't worry about speaker settings. Set your digital output to raw, and go for it.

EDIT: Neuro beat me to it.
Ted

I've just installed the update. However, I'm somewhat confused about which, if any, Speaker Setup settings to use. I won't be listening to DVD-A. I'll just be listening to "regular" CDs. I'll also be viewing DVDs (with Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS; my Yamaha RX-V2400 receiver can also decode). I'm passing audio to the receiver via coax. Do the OPPO's settings for Speaker Setup only apply if one outputs audio via 5.1 Analog? If not, and I have a 5.1 speaker system (i.e., with sub), which settings should I use? Also, on the General Setup Page, for DVD-Audio Mode, should I use DVD-Audio or DVD-Video? Thanks in advance.

I believe the speaker controls only apply to the analog outputs. These settings should be OK for your Yamaha:

downmix - 5.1
spdif - raw
lpcm out - Yamaha should be able to do 96K, but I don't know for sure. Check the manual for maximum SPDIF data rate and set the Oppo to that rate.

The defaults for these settings should be OK but you may want to experiment to see if anything sounds better:

pro logic
dolby digital

In my understanding, the "DVD-Audio Mode" setting on the General Setup Page only applies to DVD-A disks. It allows you to listen to the audio material contained in the VIDEO_TS folder on the DVD instead of the AUDIO_TS folder.

OK, shame on me for not checking this earlier (can't find DualDisc posts) but......at least with the new firmware (and maybe before) the Oppo freezes and does not perform on the DVD-Audio layer of the Talking Heads brick Dualdisc set. It reads the cd side fine. It reads the DVD-V layer of the DVD side fine. Just not the hirez layer (the reason i bought the discs). It reads my other DVD-A's (not Dualdisc) fine. I have a backup player (Technics) but Oppo is no go right now. It's only reason for existence in my theater is inexpensive DVD-A (before the new HD hirez audio stuff comes out in next 12 months or so) since I already have a great video source.

OK, shame on me for not checking this earlier (can't find DualDisc posts) but......at least with the new firmware (and maybe before) the Oppo freezes and does not perform on the DVD-Audio layer of the Talking Heads brick Dualdisc set. It reads the cd side fine. It reads the DVD-V layer of the DVD side fine. Just not the hirez layer (the reason i bought the discs). It reads my other DVD-A's (not Dualdisc) fine. I have a backup player (Technics) but Oppo is no go right now. It's only reason for existence in my theater is inexpensive DVD-A (before the new HD hirez audio stuff comes out in next 12 months or so) since I already have a great video source.

I have the dualdisc Switchfoot "Nothing is Sound". It is the only dualdisc that I have, and the dvd audio side works fine.

That's the only feedback I can offer you for dualdisc.

Thanks,

Wes

Thanks. Figured it was still just over analog for the DVD-a. My receiver and oppo are at "oppo-site" ends of the room. One long coax is fine. 6..? mmmmm,,,, no. So, even if you are using just one dig. coax, you should set downmix to 5.1? I guess I just had it at stereo.

Sorry to bloat the Oppo thread with this, but these misconceptions are widespread on the forum.



MLP, Meridian Lossless Packing, doesn't determine the audio resolution. It is a lossless compression/ decompression scheme devised to save bits and bandwidth on the DVD media.

The digital audio is unchanged after the MLP process is done. The resolution after is the same as before compression. Just like zip files work on text, it's lossless.

DTS is lossy and loses audio quality, by the way.




No. The DAC audio circuit in the Oppo may have cost 10 bucks. My external high-end DAC has an MSRP five times what the Oppo cost. If you have never heard the difference, you should go down to your local high end stereo shop and ask for an audition. The sound from the DAC at 24/48KHz is much, much better than the Oppo at 192KHz.

For me, it's worthwhile. I don't have a multichannel audio system and the sound is better over the coax. Your mileage may vary.

I just heard MLP 5.1 lastnight, compared to DTS. It was from the Toy Matinee dvd-a disk. I thought MLP didn't sound nearly as good as DTS. I was switching between the two and DTS was louder and seemed more prominent.

As far as I know, the 5.1 on a dualdisc is just dolby digital 5.1, not dvd-audio. Dualdiscs do not work in every drive due to the discs thickness I believe.

:)

As far as I know, the 5.1 on a dualdisc is just dolby digital 5.1, not dvd-audio. Dualdiscs do not work in every drive due to the discs thickness I believe.

:)

No, that's only Sony family Dualdiscs (they don't support the DVD-Audio format)!! Believe me, this set IS DVD-Audio, as are many DualDiscs. As far as thickness goes, yes some players and drives are well known for not accpeting the tolerances of the crappy DualDisc format...but Oppo does. The dualdisc like Dave Matthews (Sony-affiliated label, not DVD-A) is just as thick and plays fine. The Oppo even loads the DVD-A folder and all the title info; just when it goes to "tracks" or "Play" it freezes up.

Brick is incredible, by the way. On my other DVD-A player (and my PC which is DVD-A capable) the MLP 5.1 is so well done (see surround forum for more review, info).

I just heard MLP 5.1 lastnight, compared to DTS. It was from the Toy Matinee dvd-a disk. I thought MLP didn't sound nearly as good as DTS. I was switching between the two and DTS was louder and seemed more prominent That's an illusion. DTS has always been a little louder, but it is lossy (compressed). MLP is lossless (no compression).

Sorry ted, my bad. I thought the name "dualdisc" was a sony copyright and they were all the same. I have 2 sonys and they play fine for me.

:) d

Last night I tried 7 retail DVD's from different movie Studios. The breakpoint did not work on any of them, even though all the correct procedures were followed and the appropriate messages appeared. I think I'll try reflashing the firmware, but only after v1012 is rereleased.Unfortunately, reflashing the 1022 firmware did not fix this problem for me. The breakpoint messages appear correctly, but when I hit "Select", my DVD's all start at the beginning of the disk (FBI logo or whatever).

I just looked at the reviews of "Brick" on amazon and they are saying the DVD-A material will not play on any of these other DVD-A players:

Onkyo DV-sp502
Pioneer 588A
Pioneer 578A
Yamaha C750
Yamaha C6720

Looks like we need new firmware!

I just looked at the reviews of "Brick" on amazon and they are saying the DVD-A material will not play on any of these other DVD-A players:

Onkyo DV-sp502
Pioneer 588A
Pioneer 578A
Yamaha C750
Yamaha C6720

Looks like we need new firmware!

I think we need a new pressing!

Unfortunately, reflashing the 1022 firmware did not fix this problem for me. The breakpoint messages appear correctly, but when I hit "Select", my DVD's all start at the beginning of the disk (FBI logo or whatever).

That is very odd. As I said before, the only Disc I had a problem with was the Lion King SE, which would always boot me to one of the advertisements for Disney World.

I just looked at the reviews of "Brick" on amazon and they are saying the DVD-A material will not play on any of these other DVD-A players:

Onkyo DV-sp502
Pioneer 588A
Pioneer 578A
Yamaha C750
Yamaha C6720

Looks like we need new firmware!


I thought it was just me (and it still could be), but I am unable to get Neil Young's Greendale DVD-A to play in the Oppo. It hangs and requires a full power down, can't even eject the disk. It does play the DTS track if I set the Oppo for DVD-Video. According to the disk it is suppose to have a 96kHz/24 bit for dvd-a players. It also has the DTS track for dvd-video players. I do see files in the audio_ts files when I view them on my pc, but not sure what extension dvd-a uses? Is it the .aob or .mkb files or something else?

I'll be damned....same thing. Add Greendale to the list of DVD-A's that Oppo won't play. Similar to Brick, it loads as a DVD-A, navigates the title area fine, goes to title areas like audio setup, links, etc but doesn't play the tracks. Also, similar to Brick, the Oppo freezes in 5.1 mode and requires a power down. In 2 channel mode (picking stereo in the disc's audio setup) it freezes but reacts to the "stop" command, rather than requiring a power down to get the damn thing to eject.

I do see files in the audio_ts files when I view them on my pc, but not sure what extension dvd-a uses? Is it the .aob or .mkb files or something else?

The DVD-A files are the AOB files in the AUDIO_TS directory.

I have Neil Young's "Harvest" DVD-A and it plays fine. I bought it used, so I don't know how old the pressing is.

The DVD-A files are the AOB files in the AUDIO_TS directory.

I have Neil Young's "Harvest" DVD-A and it plays fine. I bought it used, so I don't know how old the pressing is.

Weird. Same player, same disc. Did you update to the latest firmware?

I thought it was just me (and it still could be), but I am unable to get Neil Young's Greendale DVD-A to play in the Oppo. It hangs and requires a full power down, can't even eject the disk. It does play the DTS track if I set the Oppo for DVD-Video. According to the disk it is suppose to have a 96kHz/24 bit for dvd-a players. It also has the DTS track for dvd-video players. I do see files in the audio_ts files when I view them on my pc, but not sure what extension dvd-a uses? Is it the .aob or .mkb files or something else?

Did it run properly before on the 0628 firmware? Try downgrading and seeing what happens with the older firmware.

Did it run properly before on the 0628 firmware? Try downgrading and seeing what happens with the older firmware.

Downgraded back to 0628 and no change. Brick (Dualdisc DVD-A set) and Greendale DVD-A's perform the same (i.e titles work, tracks don't work and freeze up machine)

Downgraded back to 0628 and no change. Brick (Dualdisc DVD-A set) and Greendale DVD-A's perform the same (i.e titles work, tracks don't work and freeze up machine)

At least it is not another broken firmware. Saves OPPO the time of having to recall their firmware again :D

I don't listen to DVD-Audio discs, but that doesn't stop me from hoping OPPO will find a fix for this problem.

At least it is not another broken firmware. Saves OPPO the time of having to recall their firmware again :D

I don't listen to DVD-Audio discs, but that doesn't stop me from hoping OPPO will find a fix for this problem.

Yeah, I've been in touch with Oppo support during this. I'm sending them one of the Brick discs to do testing on.

Installed the update tonight. Quick and easy. One thing that has improved, at least on my system, is the speed at which the Oppo sends audio out to the receiver for decoding.
Before this update, there would often be a half second, or second, of delay in audio from when a program started or menu appeared on screen. Now the audio works instantly.

Installed the update tonight. Quick and easy. One thing that has improved, at least on my system, is the speed at which the Oppo sends audio out to the receiver for decoding.
Before this update, there would often be a half second, or second, of delay in audio from when a program started or menu appeared on screen. Now the audio works instantly.

I'll have to test the THX Audio Optimizer tomorrow and see what I get in terms of syncing.

Yeah, I've been in touch with Oppo support during this. I'm sending them one of the Brick discs to do testing on.

Thanks for the effort, Ted. Do the Brick discs have a hi-rez stereo track or is it just the 5.1 in 24/96?

Thanks for the effort, Ted. Do the Brick discs have a hi-rez stereo track or is it just the 5.1 in 24/96?

They have a stereo hirez layer, as well. Oppo freezes on that, too.

The stereo hirez layer sounds much better than previous redbook iterations, but the real gem in this set is the 5.1 mix. Wow. (This is all based on hearing via my other DVD-A sources: PC and Technics DVD-A machine).

Deleted Text.. redundant info.. excuse please.

When you hit the "skip" button to replay the beginning of a CD track you're listening to, do you guys get the previous track instead and then have to swip forward, or is it only me?

Unfortunately, reflashing the 1022 firmware did not fix this problem for me. The breakpoint messages appear correctly, but when I hit "Select", my DVD's all start at the beginning of the disk (FBI logo or whatever).

This is indeed very strange. The breakpoint works for me every time. Are you using a universal remote instead of the original? If so check the IR code for SELECT, it should be different than PLAY, otherwise if SELECT uses the PLAY code it will work just like normal, but not when resuming breakpoint.

No matter if I have the Oppo player on Auto or PAL, it says Wrong Region. It's only a couple of months old. Do I have to enter a code?

No matter if I have the Oppo player on Auto or PAL, it says Wrong Region. It's only a couple of months old. Do I have to enter a code?
Sounds like it's not set for region-free. At the "OPPO" screen (and with no disc in the drive, I believe), hit SETUP-9-2-1-0 on the remote. You'll get a window showing firmware and hardware versions, and the region setting. Hit a key 0-6 to set the region -- you probably want 0 for region-free.

This is indeed very strange. The breakpoint works for me every time. Are you using a universal remote instead of the original? If so check the IR code for SELECT, it should be different than PLAY, otherwise if SELECT uses the PLAY code it will work just like normal, but not when resuming breakpoint.No, I'm using the original (silver) remote. "Select" and "Play" both have the same effect.

When you hit the "skip" button to replay the beginning of a CD track you're listening to, do you guys get the previous track instead and then have to swip forward, or is it only me?Yes, the backward-skip button skips to the PREVIOUS track. Frustrating. That used to occur with DVD navigation too, but Oppo fixed it with firmware. I wonder why the fix only addressed DVD playback and not CD?

k, one undocumented improvement over the last few firmware updates is that the delay I've experienced between tracks on the DVD-A of Night at the Opera (look, I dunno, some 2000 posts back and you'll see me talking about it) has significantly reduced. I don't know if something inadvertant repaired the issue, but the delay is now down to pretty much tolerable (but still audible) levels on the first three tracks.

Further, I've had no trouble whatsoever playing Harvest DVD-A.

As for dual disc, I've got a couple that I've tested, the first and latest Oasis albums, and they played fine. I'm sad to hear that the Brick set's giving you trouble, it looks like a magnificent set quite frankly. Byrne in 5.1... mmmm.....

No, I'm using the original (silver) remote. "Select" and "Play" both have the same effect.

Well then, that would appear to be the problem. The Silver remote will NOT resume the breakpoint. I have both the Silver and the Black remote and confirmed the problem. OPPO has already been sent a message.

I'll have to test the THX Audio Optimizer tomorrow and see what I get in terms of syncing.

Tested, and still out of synch by one speaker using the Incredibles and Star Wars. I guess there was no magical, secret synching fixing in the new firmware.

When I powered on the Oppo last night, it had the same DVD+R in it that had worked the night before with what I thought were the ideal settings for a backup to play on this player... well, I received the infamous "No Disc" again. So, I'm starting to get the feeling that DVD+-R's in the Oppo will be flakey... so, either I do have a bad unit (which I doubt since every commercial DVD is playing just fine) or this unit just isn't going to provide the same disc to disc compatibility that my Denon, XBOX, and most other commercial players offer. I'm sending these discs to Oppo, but I will probably have to return the unit. :-(

I can't believe that I'm the only person that is seeing these types of issues...


I am seeing these issues with my DVD+R backups as well. I exclusively use Memorex media, in a range of 4x - 16x rated, and burned anywhere between 4x and 12x.

My backups will rarely play in the Oppo when ('No Disc') , but yes, will play on my other players (PS2, Philips DVP642, and (2) seperate DVD drives on my PC) just fine.

The only thing I have noticed - which is EXTREMELY ODD (anybody have any ideas on this??)) - is that to make a backup play on the Oppo, I have to first insert a commercial DVD into the Oppo, let it begin playing, eject that commercial disc, insert my backup, and my DVD+R backup that just didnt play now plays. WHAT GIVES?! I dont want to go through this process with a commercial disc each time I want to watch a backup disc! :mad:

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR DO I HAVE A FAULTY UNIT???
DOES ANYONE ELSE USE MEMOREX DVD+R MEDIA???

Here's a quote from an email I got from Oppo once:

"We have found MKM...001 media code to be the best for our
player. MKM can be found in Verbatim, Imation, Philips, and several
other brands. We recommend that you stay away from Ritek media codes."

I believe that on videohelp.com it states that Memorex discs use Ritek codes.

I accidentally bought a spindle of Memorex DVD+R' discs, and I've been using them mostly for data backups, but as long as I burn at 8x or lower the Oppo doesn't have a problem playing DivX files off of those discs. I haven't tried burning at 12x or 16x yet, maybe I'll give it a shot, nor have I tried backing up a movie onto a Memorex. The last movie I backed up, I used a GQ disc (cheapies from Fry's) and it worked perfectly. Those GQ's haven't failed me yet.

SV

SV

Well then, that would appear to be the problem. The Silver remote will NOT resume the breakpoint. I have both the Silver and the Black remote and confirmed the problem. OPPO has already been sent a message.AHAH! Nice detective work! I'll try my black remote. I suppose this will be a relatively minor fix for the engineers.

The only thing I have noticed - which is EXTREMELY ODD... is that to make a backup play on the Oppo, I have to first insert a commercial DVD into the Oppo, let it begin playing, eject that commercial disc, insert my backup, and my DVD+R backup that just didnt play now plays. More good detective work! This information could prove VERY helpful to Oppo (for diagnosis of the problem). This just may indicate a firmware glitch.

This forum is truly a valuable place for us to share our knowledge and experiences. We have many technically-minded people here, even many experts in various fields.

Just think how different the world would be... what might be possible... and how far ahead technology would be... if, like us, the high-tech industry would openly share their knowledge and inventions! Unfortunately, the stick-in-the-spokes, is money.

AHAH! Nice detective work! I'll try my black remote. I suppose this will be a relatively minor fix for the engineers.

Damnit Gary, you could have saved us a lot of "that is odd" comments if you had told about using the Silver rremote.

I'll have to reprogram my Pioneer remote tonight to reflect my findings. I would have found this earlier (my Pioneer is programmed to the Silver remote) but when I did all my testing of the firmware, I used the Black remote simply because I had access to all the buttons (the Pioneer is set to handle the necessary buttons like Play, Skip, Audio, etc).

Damnit Gary, you could have saved us a lot of "that is odd" comments if you had told about using the Silver rremote. Snigger! Who would have thought?

OK, you did! As for me, I assumed "Select" is "Select". Turns out there's a bit of discrimination going on here... NOT all "Selects'" are created equal!

how do you all seem to have -both- remotes? did I miss the part where I write oppo and get one for myself? I thought the new one was supposed to be worse...

so confused....heh

how do you all seem to have -both- remotes? did I miss the part where I write oppo and get one for myself? I thought the new one was supposed to be worse...

so confused....heh

Pretty much, if you bought the unit before July (like me), you will have the old Silver remote. If you purchased after that date, then you will have the Black remote.

If you have the old Silver remote, OPPO will send you a Black remote upon request.

I thought the new one was supposed to be worse... Yes, I think the new one is worse... that's why I'm using the old one! Both have their merits though.

...ok, humour me... what's the new one got? I see no obvious difference about the buttons, and save the (annoying) need to switch it at firmware, I'm not sure what actual functionality warranted the switch...

if this is detailed explicitly somewhere in this bloated thread, please let me know... Oppo's site and a quick search were unhelpful in providing explicit, a/b comparisons of the remote. As I'm likely to keep using my Marantz R2000 with whichever code set proves the best, it'd be nice to know.

I guess I can always email and request one anyway (they're shipping for free?!), but it'd be nice to know why it's worth the hassle for me (and them!)

ps. forgot to mention, season 2 of P&T's BullSh**t plays find on the oppo... :)

Speaking of remotes, I talked to a Oppo tech last week and told him I wish they could make a backlit remote. He told me they were working on a new remote (#3), he didn't think it would be backlit, but more towards glow in the dark. Time will tell.

For those who have installed the new firmware, can you tell us if it solves the reported audio synch problems with this player? This is the main issue holding me back from making the purchase...

Thanks.

Rahi

For those who have installed the new firmware, can you tell us if it solves the reported audio synch problems with this player? This is the main issue holding me back from making the purchase...

Thanks.

Rahi

No. The OP971-D-1022 (previously 1012) does not have any fixes pertaining to audio-sync issues. The next firmware is their likely target.

...ok, humour me... what's the new one got? I see no obvious difference about the buttons, and save the (annoying) need to switch it at firmware, I'm not sure what actual functionality warranted the switch...

if this is detailed explicitly somewhere in this bloated thread, please let me know... Oppo's site and a quick search were unhelpful in providing explicit, a/b comparisons of the remote. As I'm likely to keep using my Marantz R2000 with whichever code set proves the best, it'd be nice to know.

I guess I can always email and request one anyway (they're shipping for free?!), but it'd be nice to know why it's worth the hassle for me (and them!)

ps. forgot to mention, season 2 of P&T's BullSh**t plays find on the oppo... :)

The Black remote is larger, the keys are jeweled (not glow in the dark round buttons) and the placement of some of the buttons have been changed. Some for the better, and some for the worse. Black Remote (http://www.oppodigital.com/images/opdv971h_black_remote.jpg) Silver Remote (all the way to the Left) (http://www.audioholics.com/news/uploads/OppoDV971HDVD.jpg)

...of course, the existing (white) one is "glowy", or at least the buttons are... I guess it'd be nice to have the actual text readable in the dark, but it it's not defeatable then it's kinda pointless... hell, let's have Oppo give up all new illuminated remotes, sacd support, winning lottery tix... :)

we can always dream...

I put my gear in a new shelf last week, so I had to unplug everything. Now my receiver (Arcam AVR300) doesn't "see" the coax digital signal, so I tried an optical cable and it does see it. There's nothing wrong with the coax cable, I checked. I've tried shutting the receiver down completely and restarting a while later but nothing changes.

Does the OPPO output coax, optical and analogue audio at the same time? Is there something in OPPO's set up I'm missing?

If you have the old Silver remote, OPPO will send you a Black remote upon request.
Is there any functionality difference or significant ergonomic improvements in the new remote?

Forgot to ask.. does anyone have the OPPO's remote code number so I can program my RC-500 universal remote?

So what are people w/ DLP RPs using for the True Life setting?

Just upgraded to 1022 yesterday (BTW I have a Samsung HLP 5063W, which has been ISF calibrated) and when viewing the NASA montage at the beginning of DVE, the picture seemed less noisy (esp. the blue sky background) with TrueLife set to Off (I also had CCS and DNR left in their default Off positions).

I know that this has probably been discussed to death here and is largely display specific, just wondering if others w/ DLPs could chime in on their current settings.

BTW, my brightness was fine at 0 and my I lowered my contrast to -5 (previously I had brightness at +6 and contrast at -5); TV has been calibrated so no adjustments on the Samsung.

I put my gear in a new shelf last week, so I had to unplug everything. Now my receiver (Arcam AVR300) doesn't "see" the coax digital signal, so I tried an optical cable and it does see it. There's nothing wrong with the coax cable, I checked. I've tried shutting the receiver down completely and restarting a while later but nothing changes.

Does the OPPO output coax, optical and analogue audio at the same time? Is there something in OPPO's set up I'm missing?

All outputs are live at the same time. I have a problem with a coax cable to my cable box where I would get no audio. I found out that I had to unplug the coax, then replug it back into the source, and the audio would be back. Don't know if this will work on the OPPO, but it can't hurt to try.

Is there any functionality difference or significant ergonomic improvements in the new remote?

In fact, there is less ergonomics on the black remote because it is pretty much just a rectangular slab with buttons on it. At least the Silver remote has a little humb at the bottom.

There is no functionality difference now. It used to be that if you had the Black remote, you could not use the step functions (this has been corrected).

Forgot to ask.. does anyone have the OPPO's remote code number so I can program my RC-500 universal remote?

I'm not sure what remote that is, but if you're looking for a 3 or 4 digit preprogrammed code, they're not the same for every brand of remote. Also, only the PC-programmable remotes currently have the Oppo in their database. If your remote can learn, that's your best bet.

Speaking of remotes, I talked to a Oppo tech last week and told him I wish they could make a backlit remote. He told me they were working on a new remote (#3), he didn't think it would be backlit, but more towards glow in the dark. Time will tell.

Yes, the main plan is to get rid of the awful button layout of the current remote (the previous model wasn't much better). The plan is that the new remote, when finished, will be made available for free to current Oppo owners.

just upgraded to latest firmware. Turned noise reduction to low and noticed a smoothness that really made a difference to me. Truelife is still on - need to try with it off.

it might be my imagination, or just the new NR, but picture seems better.

Hello Forum....regarding the software upgrade....do you have to use an empty CD-r?

I cant get mine to work right..........??!!

MrBoost said,DOES ANYONE ELSE USE MEMOREX DVD+R MEDIA???

Using Mexmorex 4x +/- R's, TDK 8x -R's, CompUSA 1x -R's, Verbatim 8x +/- R's and others. Everything plays without any problems. Using various burning software and Panny DVD recorder wth recorded TV movies and what can I say...OPPO plays everything I throw at it!

Good luck,
Robert

Than Neuromancer, I tried that once and it worked, tried again...no good. Who knows, I'll try again. Still, I should be able to unplug/plug and not lose a digital signal, damn it! (It might not be the OPPO, we'll see..)

Mike SRC, I do have a learning remote, I was hoping to save time by trying the 3 digit code first, oh well..

Neuromancer, that article on lip sync was interesting. Especially this:

"For the most part, these standards or guidelines are in agreement that lip sync errors start to become noticeable if the audio leads the video by 25 ms to 35 ms, or if the audio lags the video by 80 ms to 90 ms. The smaller limit on advanced audio tends to support the theory that advanced audio is more annoying because it is an unnatural condition."

If true this would suggest that oppo need to add significant extra audio delay to make sure that in any noticable error the video precedes the audio as the article suggests there is much more room there, and I guess that makes sense as sound travels more slowly than light and we are actually used to a certain amount--even if very small--of delay.

In my own set up (oppo to ae700, sony DDW870 6.1) the video definitely lags the audio even at +50ms. It's only very rarely annoying, but if the error was the other way maybe it wouldn't even register.

Dave


The article you referenced is excellent and is included on the Technical Details page of a site specializing in lip-sync correction products with several others you might find interesting:

Do a Yahoo search for "lip-sync error" and that site should be the first natural listing.

Another article included there is a Stanford research paper which confirms that our brains find out of sync programming less persuasive or believable even when we do not notice the lip-sync issue. That basically means a viewer's enjoyment of movies may be impacted even if he doesn't notice the lip-sync problem consciously! (We do have to find characters persuasive and believable to really enjoy most movies don't we?)

A third article is written by a VP for a TV broadcaster which really brings the "real world" issues of what is discussed in the article you referenced to life. It address what they do at their 15 stations to "add no video delay" but points out that the signals they receive from the networks are often already out of sync.

Something everyone needs to realize is that there is nothing in the video and audio signals to define (or watermark) when they are actually in-sync. We all realize it wasn't needed in the 1940's when the TV standards were created and there was no digital processing to delay the video but amazingly such a feature is also absent the far more recently created HDTV standard. SMPTE has recently called upon the industry to suggest changes to address this but we aren't likely to see anything for many years to come.

Here is the direct link to the lip-sync error correction articles I mentioned to save you a Yahoo search.

www.LipFix.com/Technical_Details.html

Sorry, I typed the link wrong:

http://lipfix.com/technical_details.html

Something everyone needs to realize is that there is nothing in the video and audio signals to define (or watermark) when they are actually in-sync. ...amazingly such a feature is also absent the far more recently created HDTV standard. SMPTE has recently called upon the industry to suggest changes to address this but we aren't likely to see anything for many years to come.Oh FOOEY!! I can't believe it! Are we going to have to suffer with lip-sync issues on HiDef DVD too?

Hello Forum....regarding the software upgrade....do you have to use an empty CD-r?

I cant get mine to work right..........??!!Yes, the CD has to be empty (only the .bin file on it). Follow the instructions on the Oppo site EXACTLY!!

So what are people w/ DLP RPs using for the True Life setting?

Just upgraded to 1022 yesterday (BTW I have a Samsung HLP 5063W, which has been ISF calibrated) and when viewing the NASA montage at the beginning of DVE, the picture seemed less noisy (esp. the blue sky background) with TrueLife set to Off (I also had CCS and DNR left in their default Off positions). Hello Eric. I have a Samsung HLP4674W and I'm currently using the same settings as you. (True Life, CCS and DNR all OFF). However, results do vary a little from one disk to another, so I'm still experimenting.

I was actually referring to HDTV broadcasts where video delays can occur at every stage in the chain. The problem is worse with HD images due to their size causing longer processing delays in switchers and especially when "bugs" are applied or I should say 'overlaid' on the broadcast. (Those dancing characters that advertise the next program distracting you from the current program are one of the worst causes of variable lip-sync error.)

The lip-sync error in DVDs is usually caused by the original content being off and the encoding process and is often off by a fixed amount for the entire DVD. If poorly encoded different scenes may be off by a different amount due to the extra time fast changing scenes take to encode relative to slow changing scenes but the technology is there today to keep that in-sync if applied properly.

I therefore do not think you will see any greater lip-sync problem with HD DVDs. But I haven't seen any yet so that's just my guess.

Hello Eric. I have a Samsung HLP4674W and I'm currently using the same settings as you are for True Life, CCS and DNR. However, results do vary a little from one disk to another, so I'm still experimenting.

Thanks. Will definitely need to do some more experimenting. But I am all for reducing the number of "image enhancement" features that seem to screw up the picture more than they help sometimes.

MrBoost said,

Using Mexmorex 4x +/- R's, TDK 8x -R's, CompUSA 1x -R's, Verbatim 8x +/- R's and others. Everything plays without any problems. Using various burning software and Panny DVD recorder wth recorded TV movies and what can I say...OPPO plays everything I throw at it!

Good luck,
Robert


Thanks Robert, I think I am going to contact Oppo's service about getting a replacement unit. I really appreciate the feedback.

Another article included there is a Stanford research paper which confirms that our brains find out of sync programming less persuasive or believable even when we do not notice the lip-sync issue. That basically means a viewer's enjoyment of movies may be impacted even if he doesn't notice the lip-sync problem consciously! (We do have to find characters persuasive and believable to really enjoy most movies don't we?)

That's another good argument against dubbing foreign language movies, too.

I own a Samsung HLP-5674W.

I have kept true life, CCS, and DNR to off.

The picture is better. I'm not sure why, it just looks smoother.

I have Brightness at -3 and Contrast at 0.

I own a Samsung HLP-5674W.

I have kept true life, CCS, and DNR to off.

The picture is better. I'm not sure why, it just looks smoother.

I have Brightness at -3 and Contrast at 0.

Agreed - from what I saw, it just looked smoother.

I did some serious testing with the new firmware PQ processing options.

With my NEC plasma through the DVI-D connection, i found that the "Optimum" PQ settings were:

True Life - off
DNR - low
CSS - off

This gave me a nice smoother pic, without the perceived 'grainy' pic noise that is sometimes noticable with poorer mastering copies and compressed avi's & divx formats.

Overall with the PQ settings, this seems to best fit my taste:

Sharpness - off
Brightness - 0
Contrast - -1
Saturation - -1

** THese settings were tuned to my pretuned NEC plasma's pic settings, which are a few notches below the 'default' factory settings for picture adjustments. As with all display devices, there is NO one sweet spot that fits all, so unfortunately this is only a guide, and as always your personal preferences will influence what u like or dont like in terms of PQ

I did some serious testing with the new firmware PQ processing options...

As with all display devices, there is NO one sweet spot that fits all, so unfortunately this is only a guide, and as always your personal preferences will influence what u like or dont like in terms of PQWell said. Thanks for sharing. I also found that setting NR to "Low" can help a handful of DVD's that suffer with grain, noise or even macroblocking, but for the rest of my collection, I prefer it "Off".

interesting. I find that Truelife being on with DNR=Low yields the best picture.

so many options to tweak! arrggh.

Yeah i know the feeling as thats what i meant when going through several scenes from discs when tweaking the settings on the Oppo.

Even the settings i've settled with are the 'best' compromised settings that seems do well for all the scenes in the movies i've tested.

Just view it as an opportunity to watch more on the Oppo and sneak in some tweaking here and there!

Looks like they got rid of the Macrovision menu. No more 1234 goodness for us it seems. Good thing VHS is dead to me!

I watched "Idle Hands" last night and was greeted with the worst disc I've seen to date to reveal macroblocking. Whoa, what a mess. A good reason to have a backup player in the rack. Ugly.

Originally posted by GSB:
Well said. Thanks for sharing. I also found that setting NR to "Low" can help a handful of DVD's that suffer with grain, noise or even macroblocking, but for the rest of my collection, I prefer it "Off".

I did some testing and found the same thing. Poorly transferred DVDs (Harry Potter, others) looked better with True Life on and DNR set to low. This seems to greatly "smooth out" grainy DVDs. On better transfers, all are set to off.

It's a pain, but at least the player has these OPTIONS!

...and what a picture:)

Can the DNR be left on? Does it have any negative impact on clean DVD's?

Call me stupid, but isn't DNR for audio? That's what it's been for every other piece of equipment I've owned. How would that effect picture quality?

DNR is "digital noise reduction" for PQ. Not audio.

DNR is "digital noise reduction" for PQ. Not audio.

I've seen it used for both audio and video, but usually refers to video.

either way its a noise reduction algorithm. Setting this to "low" on the Oppo is a good all round setting but if the dvd was mastered well then u wont need it.

All these settings are generic and can be adjusted to suit each movie/personal taste for PQ. If u think 'true life' or DNR looks good on the PQ then use it!

Can the DNR be left on? Does it have any negative impact on clean DVD's?

I haven't played much with the DNR settings on the Oppo, but in general digital noise reduction has a side effect of softening and filtering the video image. Depending on the complexity of the algorithms used, this can be handled better in some machines than in others.

I leave the Oppo's DNR off.

Sorry guys I had a question answered some time back and have tried for hours to find it in this thread and did a search and can't find it.

The answer told me what buttons to push on the remote that went directly to the movie and by-passed all the warnings screens. I had several Sony DVD's the would just keep looping the warning screens over and over and never would play!!!!!!!!!!

I went to the new remote and can't remember the button combination that worked perfect when I tried it a month ago. I promise to write it down this time in the back of my manual.

It was not switching the region, although I will try that if i can't find this post in this thread that gave me a remote control fix, I do remember the button fix took place at the opening OPPO blue screen..................... :)

Thanks in advance

IIRC it's - Stop, then Menu- for Direct Play

Or when the disk starts to load, wait for the "DVD-Video" OSD message, then hit the "menu" button on the remote. That will bypass the all garbage and take you directly to the root menu.

EDIT: Dagnamit! This is what I get for not refreshing my screen! Two people beat me to the punch

Thanks guys, Stop then Menu worked perfect on all 6 movies that would not play past the Warning screens.

I did write it down in the Manual this time!!!!!!! so I don't bug you guys again with the same stupid questions. :o

question,

is Faroudja deinterlacing bypassed when you zoom on the oppo? I was watching a 4x3 lbx dvd and so I decided to "zoom" it. As soon as I did, I noticed artifacts that looked like bad deinterlacing...especially on vertically moving detail like scrolling film credits.

Any way to fix this?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6450233&&#post6450233

Paul

question,

is Faroudja deinterlacing bypassed when you zoom on the oppo? I was watching a 4x3 lbx dvd and so I decided to "zoom" it. As soon as I did, I noticed artifacts that looked like bad deinterlacing...especially on vertically moving detail like scrolling film credits.

Any way to fix this?

Very good question David, I've noticed the same artifacts myself after zooming a few times, my wife hates letterbox.

I don't think it turns Off DCDi, but it greatly diminishes its ability to process the video. The zoom is applied through the MTK board, and not the Faroudja chipset. Because of this, the image being presented to the Faroudja is so distorted, it can't effectively process the video.

Prove me wrong children. Prove me wrong. /Skinner

PS. I love posting on two boards!

Ahh...so the "zooming" might be being performed *before* the Faroudja chip even gets the video to analyze it? That's dumb...I would have thought that even if another chip did the zooming...that the faroudja would have *first* deinterlaced to you'd have a clean 480P image to work from to scale.

But the image I'm seeing certainly looks bad enough to represent the former methodology!

DaViD Boulet,

I am pretty damned sure that the video is Zoomed and then sent to the Faroudja for processing. I think Ja Phule and/or Josh Z came to the same conclusiong when the 1012 firmware was released.

Ahh...so the "zooming" might be being performed *before* the Faroudja chip even gets the video to analyze it? That's dumb...I would have thought that even if another chip did the zooming...that the faroudja would have *first* deinterlaced to you'd have a clean 480P image to work from to scale. There is a good reason for this. But there is hope.

See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6452270&&#post6452270).

thanks Gary. See my comments in that thread...

Is there really proper 2:2 Cadence support with latest OP971-D-1022 firmware? I can't seem to get mine to pass the "Secrets" AVIA Moving Zone Plate test or the HQV Benchmark test scene. I have mine set to Auto Display type and Video 2 mode (I see no difference over Video 1 mode). Is anyone else having any luck?

For details on the 2-2 Cadence, Film Flags Secrets test (for those of you who have not used it, look here):

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html

My S97 nails this when set to Auto2 mode.

Oppo comments on zooming issue:

In all actuality, the zooming through the MTK board was not a decision based off of the analog outputs. It was based off of Genesis not providing us with the Faroudja source code. We write all of our code based off of nodes, not off of the original source code. Depending on how one node talks to each other, we either get a picture, a compromised picture, or no picture at all.

Because we do not have access to the source code, we do not know which nodes need to be implemented between the MTK and Genesis chipsets. We have been working sometime on this problem, but have not had that much success. The Faroudja chipset alone has 500 nodes. Simple permutations on the Faroudja chipset alone is a nightmare. Add in the several thousand nodes found on the MTK, and you can see why we are a little slow in implementing new features on the OPDV971H.

But do not fret, if it can increase video quality, we will find a way of doing it. The last firmware is our testament to pulling out as many video bells and whistles as possible, and we aren't going to stop anytime soon.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

Is there really proper 2:2 Cadence support with latest OP971-D-1022 firmware? I can't seem to get mine to pass the "Secrets" AVIA Moving Zone Plate test or the HQV Benchmark test scene. I have mine set to Auto Display type and Video 2 mode (I see no difference over Video 1 mode). Is anyone else having any luck?

For details on the 2-2 Cadence, Film Flags Secrets test (for those of you who have not used it, look here):

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/volume_10_1/dvd-benchmark-guide-to-progressive-scan-shootout-1-2003.html

My S97 nails this when set to Auto2 mode.

I can get it to lock on movies and a Microsoft test pattern, but not on any of the synthetic benchmarks contained on the AVIA or HQV discs.

I can get it to lock on movies and a Microsoft test pattern, but not on any of the synthetic benchmarks contained on the AVIA or HQV discs.
Which I guess all that matters anyways. I think the 2:2 cadence works wonderful. There is really no discernable difference in picture quality between my NTSC DVD's and the PAL DVD's I own. The player's brightness does have to be adjusted up one and then back when watching a PAL DVD, but I hear Oppo is working on that.

I can get it to lock on movies and a Microsoft test pattern, but not on any of the synthetic benchmarks contained on the AVIA or HQV discs.

Most likely they've implemented 2:2 pulldown detection only for PAL encoded DVDs, hence the zone plate on AVIA (which is NTSC) and the HQV will fail. For a sythetic test you should use the PAL version of DVE which includes the Fresnel movine zone plate in a 2:2 cadence, supposedely generated in frame rate motion.

Oppo comments on zooming issue:

That is the single most impressive reply from a customer service representative that I've ever seen or heard about.

I'll buy everything Oppo puts out.

That is the single most impressive reply from a customer service representative that I've ever seen or heard about.

I'll buy everything Oppo puts out.

I hope they will come out with more products.

That is the single most impressive reply from a customer service representative that I've ever seen or heard about.

I'll buy everything Oppo puts out.
Every interaction I've had with their tech support via email has been both A) informative and B) entertaining. Not to mention that I've gotten quick (within an hour) email responses from them at 11:30 PM West Coast time, which suggests ... dedication. Great dedication. :)