I would like definitive proof as to why a non HDCP source would work with an HDCP display. all im hearing is conjecture. that way ill know if my tv is broken or not. ( i tried using the latest 4/30 firmware by the way)

Good question... anyone????

Originally posted by GSB
I rented "Phantom of the Opera" tonight, and selected the only English soundtrack (DD5.1). The lip-sync was indeed bad in a few places, and it seemed to come and go. So I nailed down 2 really bad spots: Time 00:02:11 (auctioneer’s gavel) and 00:13:11 (Minnie Driver yelling at the management). I rewound those scenes over and over, and the bad sync was perfectly repeatable.

So I tried the Oppo's component and composite outputs, with the same display. The sync was identical. Next, I tried the DVD in a Pioneer 480i player with component output, again with the same display. The sync was identical. Lastly, I tried the DVD in a new Broksonic 480i/480p player, connected to an old Toshiba CRT TV. You guessed it… the sync was identical… and it made no difference whether I used the optical audio output to my receiver, or whether I relied on the composite connection to transmit the audio to the TV speakers (along with the video).

Case closed on "Phantom of the Opera". The lip-sync problem is not coming from the Oppo - it’s on the DVD - again!

RLReady, "...three or four times of stop/start..." simply got you to a place on the disk where the sync was OK.

Gary

I don't think that just because you found a couple of spots where there are repeatable lip-sync problems you can say 'Case closed on Phantom of the Opera'. I'm sure you could go through almost any disc and find spots where there is bad dubbing or a mis-timed sound effect or even a disc mastering problem.

This seems very different than what's happening on the Oppo - Just because you're not seeing the problem doesn't mean that others aren't.

When the sync is off, it stays off. Badly off. Watch the same disc on another player on the same TV and the problem isn't there.

Watch the same disc on the Oppo with the component output and the problem isn't there.

Watch the same scene again though the DVI output and the delay may or may not be there. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it's really bad, sometimes it's barely noticeable. Sometimes it's fine.

It sounds as though there is a known problem with the processor - tying to blame it purely on discs and displays just seems counter productive.

Maybe some setups are more prone to it than others. Maybe some individual 971's are more prone to it than others, but the problem does exist.

Oppo need to acknowledge the problem and do their best to fix or at least minimize it, or I think they'll be seeing a lot of returned players.

Pete.

Originally posted by MikeK614
I would like definitive proof as to why a non HDCP source would work with an HDCP display. all im hearing is conjecture. that way ill know if my tv is broken or not. ( i tried using the latest 4/30 firmware by the way)

I don't know what else to say other than that the HDCP spec is such that an HDCP session will result in the exchange of keys between the source and display device. The source device will query the display to make sure that the equipment is HDCP compliant before video is shown. Non-HDCP sources will work with any HDCP compliant display, but the HDCP compliant sources will show an image only on HDCP compliant display.

I have not heard of any HDCP compliant display excluding non-HDCP sources. Such a product would be doomed in today's market where many sources are not HDCP compliant.

Originally posted by MikeK614
I would like definitive proof as to why a non HDCP source would work with an HDCP display. all im hearing is conjecture. that way ill know if my tv is broken or not. ( i tried using the latest 4/30 firmware by the way)

Well, you already got the correct answer. Personally, I used a Bravo D1 DVD player and the Oppo with my HDCP-enabled NEC HT1000 projector using the DVI connection. No problems.

After reading the first 30 or so pages of this thread,I have purchased the Oppo. But after reading the last 10 pages of this thread I am starting to get some buyers remorse. My main concern is with the lip-sync issue and macroblocking.

I have a Sone Grand Wega KF-42WE610, has anyone here paired the oppo to this TV? What can anyone tell me about my setup.

Thanks.

Did they get the Faroudja Sharpness enhance thing turned off yet?

Mikef2000,

I don't think you should have buyer's remorse. Remember, this forum consists of a hardcore group of audiophiles and videophiles. This is a very good player that is simply getting nit-picked like all the others in here. I personally have yet to see any lip-sync issues. I am using the Oppo connected via DVI at 720p to my Z2 projector and optical audio connected to my Denon AVR5800 receiver. I have no macroblocking with my display as well.

Originally posted by guitarman
Did they get the Faroudja Sharpness enhance thing turned off yet?

Not yet.

I agree with LiteUp!

Mikef2000,

Some of us pick apart fine aspects of DVD player performance (as well as other components) because it is fun for us to do so. Many of the problems discussed won't be noticed by the majority of the public. Since all of us nuts, er, videophiles have been thrown into one basket at AVS any problem discussed can appear to be a huge issue. Some are major and serious and some are just part of the relentless pursuit for perfection.

The Oppo is an excellent player and if the past actions by Oppo is any indication it's only going to get better.

Paul

....not to mention this player plays basically anything you put in it's tray....DiVx, xViD, region free, DVD +/-R +/-RW, DVD+R DL, etc.

Originally posted by LiteUp!
Remember, this forum consists of a hardcore group of audiofiles and videofiles.

Not to mention audiophiles and videophiles.

LOL!!! Oops!

Originally posted by Mikef2000
After reading the first 30 or so pages of this thread,I have purchased the Oppo. But after reading the last 10 pages of this thread I am starting to get some buyers remorse. My main concern is with the lip-sync issue and macroblocking.

I have a Sone Grand Wega KF-42WE610, has anyone here paired the oppo to this TV? What can anyone tell me about my setup.

Thanks.

Sony GW4s dont sync 1080i

Blame HDCP then!

Im wondering how plasma's will work with this unit as well....a Mits 61"....anyone else using plasma+oppo?...specifically talking macroblocking......?


ps:This unit is unbeatable in every area hands down in my opinion........199$??? come on......on my setup it is hd and not hd like.......in fact i soon will have a momitsu on ebay because of the oppo..........

Originally posted by Jack Gilvey
If that were the case, would the hum stop when I hit "Pause"? As I mentioned, I wouldn't expect ground-loop hum to behave like that. It's as if the hum is part of the digital signal sent by the Oppo over Toslink, it mutes when the output is muted.

If the Oppo is connected via toslink digital then it cannot be contributing to a ground loop hum as far as I understand. It must be a grounding issue with the pre/pro, the sub, or an internal issue with interference in the Oppo that's being passed along IMO. I'd eliminate the possibility of a ground hum in all your other devices before blaming the Oppo though.

Originally posted by MikeK614
I would like definitive proof as to why a non HDCP source would work with an HDCP display. all im hearing is conjecture. that way ill know if my tv is broken or not. ( i tried using the latest 4/30 firmware by the way)

Mike,
What Mike is telling you is true. I have a Sim2 300 plus that is not HDCP compliant. I also have an Esoteric DV-50s that is HDCP compliant through DVI. Guess what. They won't talk to each other....even if I use an Iscan HD+. I have to use component out from the DV-50s and then DVI from the HD+ to the PJ. The Oppo, of course, is not HDCP compliant....and guess what there....I can go directly from the DVI out of the Oppo to the PJ. The same thing would happen if I plugged the DVI from the Oppo to an HDCP compliant PJ. There's tons of guys on this very thread that are doing it.

The rule is:

"THE SOURCE RULES"

HDCP source = HDCP Display
NON HDCP Source = NON HDCP or HDCP display
Javry

I'll second Mike and Javry.

The source component has the final say as far as HDCP is concerned.

If the HDCP source does not recognize that the display has HDCP the connection is rejected and either static or a warning message will appear.

If the source is not HDCP then the TV will not care -- HDCP capable or not.

Try another DVI- equipped item such as a DVI equipped cable box.

Resources:

HDCP site: http://www.digital-cp.com/home
HDCP specification doc: http://www.digital-cp.com/home/HDCPSpecificationRev1_1.pdf

The proof is contained within that document.

Paul

I recently purchased an OPPO and am very pleased, looks great on my infocus 4805 via DVI.
One question, I would like to free up some hard drive space by burning some divx movies.
Any recommendations for shareware/ free software to accomplish this (using a plextor 708a)

Thanks
:confused: :confused:

well I guess I have to make a call to get my tv fixed then if all that is correct

Originally posted by mcpfrid
I recently purchased an OPPO and am very pleased, looks great on my infocus 4805 via DVI.
One question, I would like to free up some hard drive space by burning some divx movies.
Any recommendations for shareware/ free software to accomplish this (using a plextor 708a)

Thanks
:confused: :confused:

Can't you use Dr. DivX for this?
Javry

Originally posted by MikeK614
well I guess I have to make a call to get my tv fixed then if all that is correct

Mike,
Have you tried seeing if the TV has an HDCP on/off feature? I think someone recommended it earlier.
Javry

I don't think it has an hdcp on/off. ive tried using it with my explorer 4200 hd cable box though dvi with no luck. but when i hooked it up to my computer, it was recognized as a hd display, even though no picture would show up

Zoro: "Sony GW4s dont sync 1080i

Blame HDCP then!"


I'm aware that my TV will scale everything to 720p. But if I try to send 1080i signal it will just downconvert it to 720p. However I undestand that I MAY get a better PQ if I output 1080i from my DVD player.

Are you saying that my TV wont even recognize 1080i signals?

BTW, I thought my TV was GWIII... I may be mistaken.

Originally posted by Mikef2000
I'm aware that my TV will scale everything to 720p. But if I try to send 1080i signal it will just downconvert it to 720p. However I undestand that I MAY get a better PQ if I output 1080i from my DVD player. That's not necessarily a good idea. For best results, the player should always send the native resolution of your display. The more up/down conversions your setup has to do, the more video delays and artifacts you will see.

Gary

Originally posted by zoro
Sony GW4s dont sync 1080i

Blame HDCP then!
My KDF-55XS955 (GW4) set works with the Oppo at 1080i now (after the May 7th firmware update.)

-Terry

Originally posted by petec43
Just because you're not seeing the [lip-sync] problem doesn't mean that others aren't. OK Pete, where’s your evidence? "Moulin Rouge" and some of the other DVD's you mentioned, are known to have sync problems on the disk. Present us with a solid example.
Originally posted by petec43
This seems very different than what's happening on the Oppo… When the sync is off, it stays off. Badly off. Watch the same disc on another player on the same TV and the problem isn't there. The sync problem you describe, stays bad. Those who saw problems on “Phantom of the Opera” and elsewhere, saw it come and go. Using another player (your advice), we proved conclusively that the DVD was the cause.
Originally posted by petec43
It sounds as though there is a known problem with the processor - tying to blame it purely on discs and displays just seems counter productive. Yes, it is a known problem with the Faroudja processor, but some manufacturers have fixed it. Maybe Oppo has too. Can you prove otherwise?

I own “Pirates of the Caribbean”, a DVD that would regularly cause my old Samsung HLN DLP (with Faroudja) to do what you’ve described. Not ONCE has it happened on the Oppo!

I watch 3-4 movies per week, and I still have not had a single case that I could pin conclusively on the Oppo.

Originally posted by petec43
Oppo need to acknowledge the problem and do their best to fix or at least minimize it, or I think they'll be seeing a lot of returned players. That seems pretty arrogant - coming from a person without solid evidence to support their claim. You already lost credibility when you vehemently stated that the Samsung HLP4674 doesn’t have video delay (proof is all over this forum).

I will ask Oppo to give us a sound delay option (if it is possible) to compensate for cumulative video delays. But that could never compensate for bad sync recorded on a disk.

Gary

Originally posted by Jack Gilvey
If that were the case, would the hum stop when I hit "Pause"? As I mentioned, I wouldn't expect ground-loop hum to behave like that. It's as if the hum is part of the digital signal sent by the Oppo over Toslink, it mutes when the output is muted. This problem of yours is perplexing me. I don't notice any hum in my sub (using Toslink optical).

Many subwoofers shut themselves down if no sub signal is received from the receiver. That could explain the hum stopping when you hit "Pause", or when the soundtrack mutes the sub channel.

It is not possible to induce ground-loop audio hum on a digital signal - especially not an optical connection. The digital signal comes straight off the disk without being converted to analog, so the hum can't be coming from the player. It is possible that the soundtrack has hum recorded on it, or that your receiver/sub setup has a ground-loop problem.

Gary

called sony. gonna have a repair guy look at it. Noone else with a 34XBR960 set has tried using this player?

Originally posted by GSB
OK Pete, where’s your evidence? "Moulin Rouge" and some of the other DVD's you mentioned, are known to have sync problems on the disk. Present us with a solid example.
The sync problem you describe, stays bad. Those who saw problems on “Phantom of the Opera” and elsewhere, saw it come and go. Using another player (your advice), we proved conclusively that the DVD was the cause.
Yes, it is a known problem with the Faroudja processor, but some manufacturers have fixed it. Maybe Oppo has too. Can you prove otherwise?

I own “Pirates of the Caribbean”, a DVD that would regularly cause my old Samsung HLN DLP (with Faroudja) to do what you’ve described. Not ONCE has it happened on the Oppo!

I watch 3-4 movies per week, and I still have not had a single case that I could pin conclusively on the Oppo.

That seems pretty arrogant - coming from a person without solid evidence to support their claim. You already lost credibility when you vehemently stated that the Samsung HLP4674 doesn’t have video delay (proof is all over this forum).

I will ask Oppo to give us a sound delay option (if it is possible) to compensate for cumulative video delays. But that could never compensate for bad sync recorded on a disk.

Gary

Hi Gary,

The only 'evidence' I have are the DVD's I've seen where it's a problem. In the week or so I've had the player I've seen sync problems on titles such as Valmont, LOTR, Hunt for Red October, Sideways, Shakespeare in Love, Shawshank Redemption and Mary Poppins amongst others (No, I haven't watched all of them all the way through, some I've just put in to check - I do have other things to do :) ).

About 80% of the discs I've played have had some sort of problem. Some worse than others. Giving exact scenes doesn't seem to make much sense, because the problem is unrepeatable. Most of the discs I'd watched previously on another player and never noticed any problems.

I don't think I ever said that the HLP4674 doesn't have a video delay. All I can say is that I've never noticed any delay with anything other than the OPPO as an input, and then only with through DVI.

The only thing I can tell you about is what I'm seeing. Can I 'prove' it's the OPPO? No. But I'm struggling to come to any other conclusion. I certainly don't consider myself an audio/video expert, just an average user. But I can assure you I'm not imagining problems where they don't exist. I just wanted to bring attention to the issue in the hope that it could be fixed.

If you choose not to believe me, there isn't much I can do about that.

Just so you don't think I'm just being totally negative about the player, other than this issue, I love it. The picture quality is outstanding. It's great to be able to view JPG's on the TV, it plays PAL discs with no problems. I'd really love to be able to keep it, but the sync problem that I'm seeing is just too bad and too frequent to live with.... maybe it's just me?

Pete.

Originally posted by Mikef2000
After reading the first 30 or so pages of this thread,I have purchased the Oppo. But after reading the last 10 pages of this thread I am starting to get some buyers remorse. My main concern is with the lip-sync issue and macroblocking.

I have a Sone Grand Wega KF-42WE610, has anyone here paired the oppo to this TV? What can anyone tell me about my setup.

Thanks.

I have a Sony KF-50WE610. Oppo looks great at 720p over DVI on this TV.
I'm looking for ways to get DivX to watch on this Oppo-Sony combo. I'm lucky
to live near an Oppo distributor and he allowed me to come & pick it up, saving
$19.00. Whoo hoo!!!

Originally posted by MikeK614
I don't think it has an hdcp on/off. ive tried using it with my explorer 4200 hd cable box though dvi with no luck. but when i hooked it up to my computer, it was recognized as a hd display, even though no picture would show up

Well...that makes it pretty clear. I'm sure hoping you have a good return policy with your dealer. You should be able to get this fixed with out any "out of pocket" expense.....here's hoping.
Javry

Originally posted by MikeK614
called sony. gonna have a repair guy look at it. Noone else with a 34XBR960 set has tried using this player?

As mentioned before, I use a PJ. Sold my bigscreen a few months ago. Let us know how things go with the repair guy.
Javry

Hello,

Perhaps this is just all a misunderstanding. I think the word "proof" at this point given the tone of discussion may considered a bit confrontational.

I think the specific *information* Gary is requesting would be along the lines of:

1) Disc Title
2) Length of time watched before sync error is noticed
3) Specific time on DVD when the sync error is noticed

It seems obvious to a lot of us that there is a audio sync problem so in debugging and fixing a problem there is nothing like a well-defined recreate scenario. I think that's all that's being asked.

Paul

I use it at present in DVI 1080i on my BenQ PE8700+ projector .

I would like to use it with the native resolution of the projector but in 720p, the screen is not filled completely... there is a small white framing on the around the border of the screen. :(

Here my first impressions: The picture is more "3D" that with my LG7832NXC in YUV 1080i. And I would say that the traveling are more accurate. On the other hand, for the bad transfer DVD, that does not forgive! A function kind "mosquito" would be the welcome!

The quality of sound is as better as on my LG. I am in a hurry well to test an DVD-audio! For the moment, no problem of syncronisation video/audio.

On the other hand, as much of other mentioned it, there is often an effect of staircase on the vertical lines. It is not much disturbing but nevertheless present.

Did somebody notice flickering ? Especially very visible in the DVD menus.

By hoping that all these small bug is as soon as possible to correct via firmware update . Without these small problem it would be perfect DVD player !

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
Hello,

Perhaps this is just all a misunderstanding. I think the word "proof" at this point given the tone of discussion may considered a bit confrontational.

I think the specific *information* Gary is requesting would be along the lines of:

1) Disc Title
2) Length of time watched before sync error is noticed
3) Specific time on DVD when the sync error is noticed

It seems obvious to a lot of us that there is a audio sync problem so in debugging and fixing a problem there is nothing like a well-defined recreate scenario. I think that's all that's being asked.

Paul

Hi Paul,

That makes sense - the next time it happens, I'll take notes, but so far I certainly haven't noticed any pattern to it.

Sometimes you can be watching a movie for an hour or more and suddenly it appears. If you stop the player and start it again in the same place, it's fine. Sometimes it takes a couple of stops to fix it.

I've also gone straight to a point in the middle of a movie and had the sync be out almost immediately.

Pete.

Pete,

Those results seem to mirror my experience as well. I need to take some notes also.

Paul

Originally posted by simarddominic

Did somebody notice flickering ? Especially very visible in the DVD menus.


Yep, some buttons were almost bouncing !

Originally posted by MikeK614
called sony. gonna have a repair guy look at it. Noone else with a 34XBR960 set has tried using this player?

I understand what you are going thru. I have a 34 xs955 and i got it to work with a hdmi to dvi cable and the may 7 firmware. the PQ is almost flawless and i still weep at the clarity of the screen when i watch old movies like total recall. Oppo sure impressed me.

Does anyone have a real datasheet on the FLI-2310? Not a flyer, but a *real* datasheet with pinout description, voltages, implemenation examples, suggested circuit layouts, etc.

Paul

lol....this player has taken me on and audio video emotional roller coaster.....haha very funny........so what are you guys doing???Go buy an oppo i mean really willl your dennon make you weep?i dont think so!!!!lol

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
Does anyone have a real datasheet on the FLI-2310? Not a flyer, but a *real* datasheet with pinout description, voltages, implemenation examples, suggested circuit layouts, etc.

Paul

Not really. Best I could find was:

http://www.genesis-microchip.com/products/C0702-PBR-03B.PDF

Sooke

I think they would be pretty stupid to hand that out to the general public without an NDA.

Update: This player definitely DOES work with the Sony 34XBR960. I just tried hooking it up in my local electronics store and it works fine. My HDMI input just happens to be broken. If you have this TV, don't hesitate to buy this player.

If the Oppo is connected via toslink digital then it cannot be contributing to a ground loop hum as far as I understand. It must be a grounding issue with the pre/pro, the sub, or an internal issue with interference in the Oppo that's being passed along IMO. I'd eliminate the possibility of a ground hum in all your other devices before blaming the Oppo though.

Will do, but I've never had this problem with any device with this receiver or sub amp. At this point, your internal interference suggestion sounds likely.

It is not possible to induce ground-loop audio hum on a digital signal - especially not an optical connection. The digital signal comes straight off the disk without being converted to analog, so the hum can't be coming from the player. It is possible that the soundtrack has hum recorded on it, or that your receiver/sub setup has a ground-loop problem.
It hums on all soundtracks, and stops when paused. Hums like a Druid on DVD-Audio, too. Haven't had this problem before, with any player. I'll keep trying, I love this player.

Originally posted by MikeK614
Update: This player definitely DOES work with the Sony 34XBR960. I just tried hooking it up in my local electronics store and it works fine. My HDMI input just happens to be broken. If you have this TV, don't hesitate to buy this player.

way to go Mike. sounds like things are finally working out. are they going to let you switch the TV out?
Javry

Originally posted by Jack Gilvey
It hums on all soundtracks, and stops when paused. Hums like a Druid on DVD-Audio, too. Haven't had this problem before, with any player. I'll keep trying, I love this player. Very odd! Is the player in contact with the receiver, or in close proximity? It is possible that the hum is being electrically, magnetically or capacitively induced into the amp circuitry.

Plug the player and receiver into the same outlet, physically separate the units from each other, and route all audio cables away from the player. Be particularly careful where you route the sub input cable. If it still hums, maybe you do have a problem unit and you should contact Oppo.

Gary

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
Does anyone have a real datasheet on the FLI-2310? Not a flyer, but a *real* datasheet with pinout description, voltages, implemenation examples, suggested circuit layouts, etc. No, and I've searched long and hard for one. Even at the websites where you pay money to access datasheets, they only provide the product brief for this chip. If you ever find one, please let me know!

Gary

Originally posted by petec43
Can I 'prove' it's the OPPO? No. But I'm struggling to come to any other conclusion. I certainly don't consider myself an audio/video expert, just an average user. But I can assure you I'm not imagining problems where they don't exist. I just wanted to bring attention to the issue in the hope that it could be fixed. Pete

I’m glad you’ve joined us here, because you seem motivated enough to help us find evidence of this issue, if it exists (it's been on the defect list from the start). We welcome everybody’s input, as long as it's accurate. You (and everyone else) can be a tremendous help if you do two things when you notice a sync problem:

Make absolutely sure that the DVD isn't at fault.
If someone says, “I paused a bunch of times and it went away”, that doesn’t help much, because some soundtracks wander in and out of sync all the time (like “Phantom of the Opera”). To be more accurate, rewind the scene a few times, and check it carefully... If the bad sync recurs in the same place, it’s probably on the disk (you can check via the composite/component connection, remembering that the DVI connection does delay the video slightly longer). Also keep in mind that DVD “Special Features” are often recorded with bad sync.

If the DVD isn't at fault, tell us which DVD and where you saw the problem.
Certain scenes on certain DVD’s tend to trigger such a problem more easily. Gary

Guys, I'm about to get an Oppo but a couple questions.

1) Has the price ever dropped below $199? Or where you can get it for less than $199?

2) How many days did it take to ship to your door? I live in the Mid-Atlantic region so I'm guessing that my delivery will be one of the slowest coming out of CA where Oppo will be shipped from.

I'm hooking this to a Sony 40" XBR800 and had to make sure my display was HDCP before getting this DVD player. Thanks!

F23Coupe

Guys, I'm about to get an Oppo but a couple questions.

1) Has the price ever dropped below $199? Or where you can get it for less than $199?

2) How many days did it take to ship to your door? I live in the Mid-Atlantic region so I'm guessing that my delivery will be one of the slowest coming out of CA where Oppo will be shipped from.

I'm hooking this to a Sony 40" XBR800 and had to make sure my display was HDCP before getting this DVD player. Thanks!


1]Cheaper than 199$ are you kidding me? For what this player does price should not even be in question!!! lol thats funny.....

2] 2 days, I live in California- I bought from extremephono in San Jose.....

3]Do not worry about HDCP my penny pinching friend as this unit is free from that.

Originally posted by F23Coupe
Guys, I'm about to get an Oppo but a couple questions.

1) Has the price ever dropped below $199? Or where you can get it for less than $199?

2) How many days did it take to ship to your door? I live in the Mid-Atlantic region so I'm guessing that my delivery will be one of the slowest coming out of CA where Oppo will be shipped from.

I'm hooking this to a Sony 40" XBR800 and had to make sure my display was HDCP before getting this DVD player. Thanks!

Hello,

My experience is:

1) No.

2) Oppo shipped USPS Priority Mail (Their choice.) from CA. very promptly after my online order. I received it in Maine two days later! :)

3) Just to clarify what has already been said on this thread. The Oppo DV971H doesn't care whether the display is or isn't HDCP. It plays with both. :D

Dana

Hey peeps, I am a proud owner of the Infocus 4805 and the Oppo dvd player.

Which connection should I be using to the projector, DVI or Component?

Which resolution should I set the DVD player to 480p, 720p or 1080i?

Thanks for the help.

There is no should or wrong, but:

The fabulous results for the Oppo are for the DVI output. That's what I would use.

As for resolution, use your eyes but I would try 720p first.

Paul

If we're making a wish-list for new firmware here, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit-rate meter included in the OSD function, preferably one with separate audio and video measurements.

Originally posted by Jack Gilvey
Will do, but I've never had this problem with any device with this receiver or sub amp. At this point, your internal interference suggestion sounds likely.


It hums on all soundtracks, and stops when paused. Hums like a Druid on DVD-Audio, too. Haven't had this problem before, with any player. I'll keep trying, I love this player.

Anyone considered whether your receiver is connected to the Oppo via metal ground on DVI to display, metal ground on display back to receiver (other video connection?), so Toslink cable not even the issue?

BB

Originally posted by thegamer36
Hey peeps, I am a proud owner of the Infocus 4805 and the Oppo dvd player.

Which connection should I be using to the projector, DVI or Component?

Which resolution should I set the DVD player to 480p, 720p or 1080i?

Thanks for the help.

I have both the 4805 and the Oppo. I have tried all and finally settled on 720p over DVI.

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
There is no should or wrong, but:

The fabulous results for the Oppo are for the DVI output. That's what I would use.

As for resolution, use your eyes but I would try 720p first.

Paul

Paul,
No big deal, but I guess I'm a little confused by your response to the poster's question. In my mind there IS a right or wrong here...the player doesn't scale (i.e even work in his example) using component, so why would you even infer that component is a choice, given his question about which DVD resolution to use? Maybe you were just being nice, or am I missing something here about the 4805....
Ted

Originally posted by F23Coupe
Guys, I'm about to get an Oppo but a couple questions.

1) Has the price ever dropped below $199? Or where you can get it for less than $199?

I think Oppo requires their authorized resellers to advertise it at that price. That's usually the case when everyone's got the same price.

2) How many days did it take to ship to your door? I live in the Mid-Atlantic region so I'm guessing that my delivery will be one of the slowest coming out of CA where Oppo will be shipped from.

I'm in MN, but I paid for 2-Day shipping from MikeSRC at Surf Audio Video, also in CA but cheaper shipping.


Hey peeps, I am a proud owner of the Infocus 4805 and the Oppo dvd player.

Which connection should I be using to the projector, DVI or Component?

Which resolution should I set the DVD player to 480p, 720p or 1080i?

I have both as well. I've been going back and forth between 480P and 720P over DVI. You do not want to use the component output of the Oppo as it defeats the purpose of having the player. I think the 720P is a good choice as well. I think 1080i results in too much processing.

Originally posted by ted_b
Paul,
No big deal, but I guess I'm a little confused by your response to the poster's question. In my mind there IS a right or wrong here...the player doesn't scale (i.e even work in his example) using component, so why would you even infer that component is a choice, given his question about which DVD resolution to use? Maybe you were just being nice, or am I missing something here about the 4805....
Ted

I think he was considering the oppo as a 480i player (over component) in addition to it being a upscaling player as the 4805 also uses its own Faroudja processing over 480i signals.

+1

I tesded the oppo on my 1280 x 720 BenQ PE8700+ yesterday and the PQ is better in 720p.

That is more close to the HDTV quality which I saw on DVD.

Outstanding !

I love this player !

Originally posted by Josh Z
If we're making a wish-list for new firmware here, I wouldn't mind seeing a bit-rate meter included in the OSD function, preferably one with separate audio and video measurements.

It should be pretty easy. The firmware already has the routines to show a menu with the bit rate.

In my modified firmware, I assigned a useless button in the RC to show this menu.

BTW: My player is the Russian BBK 985S, but the RCs are different.

Originally posted by TerryJ
My KDF-55XS955 (GW4) set works with the Oppo at 1080i now (after the May 7th firmware update.)

-Terry

I'm sorry if I can't keep up. But can somebody please post a link to this May 7th firmware update. I too have the sony xs TV and would like to try the 1080i setting.

My initial experience with the Oppo + Sony XS via 720p/HDMI combination led me to say what's the big deal? The picture did not blow away my 5 year old sony ns400 non progressive dvd player, connected via component cables. Like Terry had said, I guess Sony's scaler does such an excellent job, the upgrade to Oppo is not a must.

After calibrating the Oppo with an Avia disk I can see some improvement, although not that much. With that said, I would like to reserve my final judgement after I see how it works via 1080i, which I believe is Sony's native resolution.

Terry, how do you like the 1080i over 720p?

Guys, thanks a bunch.

Where can you get it shipped for less than $14? Amazon.com and Oppo charges about $14.49 and another place offers it for a little less than $14. If you can share some good shipping deals, that'd be great. Are there more stores than the ones listed on Oppo's site? Thanks.

There probably arent any other stores. This player is an absolute steal at $300-$400. I'd order from Extremem Phono because they participate in this forum and helped establish the communications between some of the members here and Oppo whereas Amazon is, well, Amazon.

The more I'm able to watch on this player, the more impressed I get. With the 1080i fix in the last firmware, this player has given me a stunning image.

About the only thing I'm not totally nuts about (aside from a few of the high priority items like the image shimmer and the Faroudja video delay) is the player's zoom of non-anamorphic widescreen. I know that Oppo is working on this, so I'm not sure if this is relevant. I find that when I use the zoom to properly display non-anamorphic widescreen, the image is jittery and riddled with artifacts. It's a worse image than either the Zenith 318 or the Samsungs produce on non-anamorphic material. I don't know if this is something that is being worked on on the Oppo end or not. But I'd also like to suggest Oppo going further with what they did on the 4:3 pillarbox setting and checking discs for the 4:3 letterbox flag that most all discs have. Therefore, 4:3 pan and scan would correctly pillarbox the image in the 16:9 frame and 4:3 letterbox would vertically stretch the image to correctly display in the 16:9 frame automatically. This might allow Oppo to really refine the vertical stretch for non-anamorphic widescreen material and improve picture quality on the vast majority of discs out there. Two of the absolute best looking non-anamorphic discs that I have seen vertically stretched are Streets of Fire and The Game. On the Oppo they look good, but not as good as I've seen them look on other players. This might be a side effect of the player's shimmering problem, but I thought I would throw out this suggestion as a way to further push the capabilities of this outstanding player.

Having said that... I, IN NO WAY, intend this suggestion as a push for Oppo to do additional work or as a complaint about this player. I'm totally floored by the outstanding work Oppo has done on this player and their commitment to their customers. This is merely a suggestion to improve on this amazing player.

Cliff

Originally posted by ted_b
Paul,
No big deal, but I guess I'm a little confused by your response to the poster's question. In my mind there IS a right or wrong here...the player doesn't scale (i.e even work in his example) using component, so why would you even infer that component is a choice, given his question about which DVD resolution to use? Maybe you were just being nice, or am I missing something here about the 4805....
Ted

Maybe it's just how I express things. Remember, I did recommend the DVI should he wish to take adavantage of the reported Secrets' benefits along with a suggested resolution.

Still, some people prefer 480i over component -- depending upon the quality of the display's/projector's scaler.

Paul

Originally posted by thegamer36
Hey peeps, I am a proud owner of the Infocus 4805 and the Oppo dvd player.

Which connection should I be using to the projector, DVI or Component?

Which resolution should I set the DVD player to 480p, 720p or 1080i?

Thanks for the help.

as far as resolution is concerned, i find that a lot of it depends on the movie. all three through dvi work pretty well. the test i use is to put up the logo screen, focus on the outer edge of the bottom emblem. you'll notice that it's curvature changes in clerity as you scroll through the 3 res options. pick the one that works best given your other components. then just for grins, periodically stop a movie, change the res [by pressing the dvi button at the bottom left of the remote]. then press play. the movie will resume where it left off. i also find that for my system, the oppo works best when it bypasses any other processing and goes straight to the projector.
Javry

Originally posted by Ja Phule
I think he was considering the oppo as a 480i player (over component) in addition to it being a upscaling player as the 4805 also uses its own Faroudja processing over 480i signals.

I think you're right. I tried the component out at 480i into my Sim2 300+, which also scales through Faroudja to 720p. Even with the scaling, the PQ was nowhere near what it is using the 720p DVI signal straight from the player. This is kind've wierd too because I do this with the XP-30 all the time and also my DV-50s....and it works pretty well.

This w'end I'm going to try a Oppo 480i signal through an Iscan HD+. I'm not expecting anything great but then again....you never know.
Javry

Originally posted by F23Coupe
Guys, thanks a bunch.

Where can you get it shipped for less than $14? Amazon.com and Oppo charges about $14.49 and another place offers it for a little less than $14. If you can share some good shipping deals, that'd be great. Are there more stores than the ones listed on Oppo's site? Thanks.

Hey Coupe,
No hits intended but why not just take the plunge? At 215 bucks shipped, you're already getting one heck of a deal....especially considering the quality of the machine. Shipping anything from CA for 15 bucks is pretty cheap already.
Javry

Very odd! Is the player in contact with the receiver, or in close proximity? It is possible that the hum is being electrically, magnetically or capacitively induced into the amp circuitry.

Plug the player and receiver into the same outlet, physically separate the units from each other, and route all audio cables away from the player. Be particularly careful where you route the sub input cable. If it still hums, maybe you do have a problem unit and you should contact Oppo.



Ok,progress. :) I unhooked all 6 of the analog outs for DVD-A and left only Toslink intact and the hum is gone. Now I have to find the source of the hum when analog is hooked up. Still, I wonder why the pausing stopped it...

Pausing would, in most equipment, engage a muting circuit sending the signal to ground.

Paul

Does/will Oppo support Divx HD?

http://www.divx.com/hd/?hppromos=hdpage

Originally posted by Jack Gilvey
Ok,progress. :) I unhooked all 6 of the analog outs for DVD-A and left only Toslink intact and the hum is gone. Now I have to find the source of the hum when analog is hooked up. Still, I wonder why the pausing stopped it...

It sounds like you have a ground loop through the RCA jacks. I also had this
problem at first. After eliminating the cable TV & everything else, I grounded the DVD player itself by attaching a wire through one of the DVD's screw and
tying it with other ground wires from equipments that do not have a grounded
plug like the VCR, the TV, the AV processor, together and plug the bundle into
one of the open ground sockets on the power strip. No more hum.

Originally posted by gevorg
Does/will Oppo support Divx HD?

http://www.divx.com/hd/?hppromos=hdpage
No.

Will future players from Oppo support it? Anyone's guess.

-Terry

Originally posted by TerryJ
No.

Will future players from Oppo support it? Anyone's guess.

-Terry

Too bad. The LinkPlayer2 which came out before Oppo already supports HD Divx. OppoDigital should really call the Oppo "Upconverting-to-HD Divx DVD Player" instead of "HDTV-Ready Divx DVD Player".

Originally posted by onay32
I'm sorry if I can't keep up. But can somebody please post a link to this May 7th firmware update. I too have the sony xs TV and would like to try the 1080i setting. onay32, links to the May 7 and April 13 firmware versions are here (http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_support.html).

Originally posted by onay32
My initial experience with the Oppo + Sony XS via 720p/HDMI combination led me to say what's the big deal? The picture did not blow away my 5 year old sony ns400 non progressive dvd player, connected via component cables. Like Terry had said, I guess Sony's scaler does such an excellent job, the upgrade to Oppo is not a must. My DLP TV and the Oppo both use the same Faroudja chip, so the picture looks very similar, whether using DVI or component connections. The deinterlacing and scaling performance is pretty much identical. BUT... the difference is very clear when you know what to look for:

Firstly, DVI eliminates the noise and inaccuracies introduced by analog connections, and by the D-to-A and A-to-D conversions that have to take place on each end. Digitally generated movies, like "The Incredibles", look especially clear over DVI, because the colors are rock solid, with no noisy dithering going on.

Secondly, DVI also guarantees no banding and no loss of detail caused by analog inaccuracies in the player and/or in the display. A smoothly graduated color or gray-scale ramp, looks much better over DVI.

Gary

GSB, I notice a big difference in 'sharpness/detail' when viewing DVI at 720P vs. 480i on component on my HLP4674. Twice now I have been watching a movie and thought 'this doesn't look that good', and both times I had stopped on the component connection when switching inputs on the HLP. I switched to the DVI input and the picture regained that 'darn close to true HD' look that I love about this player. I know that both the oppo and the HLP use the Faroudja chip, but the extra digital/analog conversion of the 480i path seems to cause a loss in detail to me.

There's actually more than the extra D/A conversion involved here. Several aspects of the component output are not up to the same performance level of the DVI. But as you know, this player was designed and expected to be used with the DVI connection.

Something fun, I've been trying: Using the DVI PC mode in on a Sharp TC-26D7U, auto configure, and then tweak the screen. Pretty nice picture and no pixels cut off.

Paul

Originally posted by simarddominic
I use it at present in DVI 1080i on my BenQ PE8700+ projector .

I would like to use it with the native resolution of the projector but in 720p, the screen is not filled completely... there is a small white framing on the around the border of the screen. :(

>>>>>Well I too have an 8700+ and see precisely the same effect with 720p

Here my first impressions: The picture is more "3D" that with my LG7832NXC in YUV 1080i. And I would say that the traveling are more accurate. On the other hand, for the bad transfer DVD, that does not forgive! A function kind "mosquito" would be the welcome!

The quality of sound is as better as on my LG. I am in a hurry well to test an DVD-audio! For the moment, no problem of syncronisation video/audio.

On the other hand, as much of other mentioned it, there is often an effect of staircase on the vertical lines. It is not much disturbing but nevertheless present.

>>>>>>Agree here too. Though it's not substantial.

Did somebody notice flickering ? Especially very visible in the DVD menus.

>>>>>>Yes. Though not as much as I've seen on some other players.

By hoping that all these small bug is as soon as possible to correct via firmware update . Without these small problem it would be perfect DVD player ! [FONT=century gothic][FONT=century gothic][COLOR=red][COLOR=red]

I am having pretty big problems with the lip sync being off. I see this intermittently and last night with Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events it was fine up to the very end where the girl is reading the letter from her parents then it was off by at least a full second if not more. Pausing and playing didn't seem to help. The oppo is connected to a 37" Sharp Aquos by DVI. And I have the April update.

Is there any downside to converting the DVI output to HDMI? I've heard some mention of potential issues with color when converting DVI to HDMI but haven't had any luck finding more information.

Problems arise with HMDI - DVI conversion, however, DVI - HMDI conversion has no problems.

My Oppo has firmware OP971-3-0423. Is this before or after the big April update? The player seems to have some of the features listed on the Oppo web site (more zoom options, subwoofer defaults to off), but not others (the disc tray won't close when I hit power).

Is it worth installing the OP971-2-0412 firmware?

Originally posted by Josh Z
My Oppo has firmware OP971-3-0423. Is this before or after the big April update? The player seems to have some of the features listed on the Oppo web site (more zoom options, subwoofer defaults to off), but not others (the disc tray won't close when I hit power).

Is it worth installing the OP971-2-0412 firmware? You have the latest version with all the OP971-2-0412 fixes (big April update), plus the following fixes:
1080i DVI output incompatibility issue with a small percentage of display models of Toshiba, Sony and Samsung. Symptoms include screen rolling, shaking or blackout.
Player tray randomly shuts down itself in high static environment. I would recommend leaving it as-is until the next version.

Gary

Originally posted by dylang
I am having pretty big problems with the lip sync being off. I see this intermittently and last night with Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events it was fine up to the very end where the girl is reading the letter from her parents then it was off by at least a full second if not more. Pausing and playing didn't seem to help. The oppo is connected to a 37" Sharp Aquos by DVI. And I have the April update. dylang, the lip-sync problem is on the defect list, but we need more information for Oppo to fix this.

Please read this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5576842#post5576842).

Gary

It was a rented dvd that I already returned so I can't be to specific. But I'll try and be more diligent next time. As I said though this does happen quite a bit and since I haven't seen this behavior with other players I'm going to stick with this being the fault of the oppo.

Any chance the Oppo will support Nero Digital?

Originally posted by simone
Any chance the Oppo will support Nero Digital? Not likely.

Gary

Originally posted by GSB
You have the latest version with all the OP971-2-0412 fixes (big April update), plus the following fixes:
1080i DVI output incompatibility issue with a small percentage of display models of Toshiba, Sony and Samsung. Symptoms include screen rolling, shaking or blackout.
Player tray randomly shuts down itself in high static environment. I would recommend leaving it as-is until the next version.

OK, thanks. It seems that with this firmware they forgot to include the part about the disc tray retracting when you power off.

I have another suggestion for our firmware wish-list, as well. The ability to reposition subtitles on the screen. This would be helpful for those discs where the subtitles normally fall in the black letterbox bar, which is a nuisance for front projection users who mask their screen.

OPPO OPDV971H DVI DVD Player Firmware Release Notes
Version: OP971-2-0430 Release Date: May 7, 2005

This release of firmware addressed the following 2 issues:

1080i DVI output incompatibility issue with a small percentage of display models of Toshiba, Sony and Samsung. Symptoms include screen rolling, shaking or blackout.
Player tray randomly shuts down itself in high static environment.

Here is the latest firmware from the oppo site. My self I will not need it. I enjoy the way mine is performing now and I don't seem to have any problems with it. It sure is nice to see a company stay on top of the consumers concerns. To bad the rest of the manufacturing industry isn't as concerned as Oppo is.

Is anyone using a DVI-DVI cable with a length around 10m/33feet or higher? Did it work ok... was it a higher quality one? I ordered one for $50 but saw some for $200 !?

I am using one that is 25' at about half the price that works fine. Make sure you can return it if it will not work. Check for noise and sparkles.

Btw for those that dont check oppo digital faq page often they now list what divx / xvid subtitle formats are supported. I personally tested .srt and .idx/.sub and they work fine.

And this player pq is excellent with sanyo plv-z3 720p lcd projector :)

audio sync delay: watched Finding Neverland last night. The sync very slowly came visible and gradually became worse. Since this is not a sudden thing there is no way to exactly pinpoint it. Pausing and starting did not solve the issue but stopping and restarting seemed to work ok.

I don't think keeping track of where the audio bug appears and in what movie is going to help since going to that track and scene will appear to be fine if you were to check it yourself. It's a build up that's occurring.

I apologize if this info is contained earlier in the thread, but I don't have quite enough time to read 93 pages...

I have an Infocus 5700 PJ, and want to add the Oppo DVD. When I asked an an installer on the AV PJ display forum if he thought it would be a good combination, he said for me to try to ascertain if the Oppo had TrueLife adjustment capabilities:

"TrueLife in on your SP5700 menu - it is the Faroudja tweaking - chroma detail, etc. That has been the biggest complaint of the Faroudja based upconverting players - is the Faroudja implementation is fixed and suboptimal. I don't keep up on the reviews of DVDs so cannot say anything specific about the Oppo. Find the TrueLife menu and post it's contents to the DVD forum and see if they know if it has the tweaks."

The idea, I think, is poorly executed "upgrades" (ie, to a DVI capable DVD player) are no better than well executed component signals scaled at the PJ.

Any thoughts/suggestions?

Also - any insight on the release date of the Oppo DVD recorder?

Originally posted by Josh Z
OK, thanks. It seems that with this firmware they forgot to include the part about the disc tray retracting when you power off. No it wasn't forgotten. The tray retraction "feature" is what causes the random closing of the tray in high static environments. They disabled it on purpose.

Originally posted by Josh Z
I have another suggestion for our firmware wish-list, as well. The ability to reposition subtitles on the screen. This would be helpful for those discs where the subtitles normally fall in the black letterbox bar, which is a nuisance for front projection users who mask their screen. OK, I'll add it.

Gary

Originally posted by alvinmc
I have an Infocus 5700 PJ, and want to add the Oppo DVD. When I asked an an installer on the AV PJ display forum if he thought it would be a good combination, he said for me to try to ascertain if the Oppo had TrueLife adjustment capabilities: No it does not, but that should eventually happen through firmware upgrades.
Originally posted by alvinmc
The idea, I think, is poorly executed "upgrades" (ie, to a DVI capable DVD player) are no better than well executed component signals scaled at the PJ. True. Fortunately, the Oppo is a well-executed DVI player as far as hardware is concerned. The user-upgradeable firmware is being updated on a regular basis, and the the player is getting better all the time. If you properly calibrate your display to the Oppo's output, the picture over DVI is much nicer than component (more detail, less noise) but you need to find out if your display is susceptible to the Faroudja macroblocking bug first. Maybe that's what the installer was refering to.

Originally posted by alvinmc
Also - any insight on the release date of the Oppo DVD recorder? No.

Gary

Originally posted by dylang
I don't think keeping track of where the audio bug appears and in what movie is going to help since going to that track and scene will appear to be fine if you were to check it yourself. How do you know that? Did you rewind the scene? Did you check it carefully to verify no sync problem on the DVD? If there's NOTHING that can be done to help Oppo find the problem, how are they going to fix it?

Originally posted by dylang
It's a build up that's occurring. That's an interesting theory, but how do you support it? Nobody on any of the other lip-sync discussions has ever mentioned this. Lip-sync is a funny thing, because we cannot measure it easily, so our perception of the delay may change, depending on the sounds being uttered, and so on. Could it possibly have been a two-step increase in the delay? Maybe the first step was on the DVD?

Think like an engineer, be more analytical. Eliminate as many variables as possible. Start by rewinding the scene and checking the DVD.

Gary

Allright, I received my Oppo on Wednesday and have been running it through its paces this weekend.

It's a nice unit, an excellent value for the money, and thus far probably the best region-free DVD player I've owned. However, some of the problems discussed in this thread were very visible on my screen, and to me quite distracting. The shimmer problem is very prevalent, especially on animated titles, which tend to have lots of fine line detail. I did run into lip sync problems as well. It seems to be worse on PAL discs, but it's very hard to reproduce the occurences.

The inability to turn the Faroudja sharpness enhancement all the way off is extremely problematic, as the player does add minor edge ringing to most discs. In fact, I was unimpressed with the natural sharpness of the image. It looks to me like the video image is a little soft and then artificially sharpened. My primary player is a Denon 1600 via SDI, and that has a more naturally sharp and detailed image without the edge ringing (except of course for when it is a part of the DVD being watched). And the Oppo doesn't measure nearly as well on the Avia resolution patterns.

This isn't so much a problem on well-mastered discs, which tend to look great on the Oppo, but on mediocre discs the Oppo picture comes out looking more "processed" than my Denon.

Prior to doing a full calibration for the new player, I was seeing some macroblocking, but after properly adjusting my brightness and contrast this has fortunately not been very visible on my screen.

Don't get me wrong. I like the player and have not yet finished my testing, but unless some of these problems can be addressed in a future firmware upgrade I personally would not rate this machine in the same league as some of the high-end players on the market, as the Secrets review seems to imply.

My $.02 for now.

I have the Oppo since 3 weeks ago. I watch many movies so far and was not bother by lip-sync issue. I did saw what it could look like. Once in a movie I had to go backward to review a scene. Hitting reverse and play cause lip-sync issue for a few seconds before getting back to normal. I found it strange and test it a few times. Sometime it was really bad for a few seconds, sometime it start playing perfect right away.

I am not dismissing the fact that some people could experience trouble with audio after experiencing what I did. None of my other players ever showed this behavior. Maybe it's worst on some machines.

Bruno

Originally posted by Josh Z
Allright, I received my Oppo on Wednesday and have been running it through its paces this weekend.

It's a nice unit, an excellent value for the money, and thus far probably the best region-free DVD player I've owned. However, some of the problems discussed in this thread were very visible on my screen, and to me quite distracting. The shimmer problem is very prevalent, especially on animated titles, which tend to have lots of fine line detail. I did run into lip sync problems as well. It seems to be worse on PAL discs, but it's very hard to reproduce the occurences.

The inability to turn the Faroudja sharpness enhancement all the way off is extremely problematic, as the player does add minor edge ringing to most discs. In fact, I was unimpressed with the natural sharpness of the image. It looks to me like the video image is a little soft and then artificially sharpened. My primary player is a Denon 1600 via SDI, and that has a more naturally sharp and detailed image without the edge ringing (except of course for when it is a part of the DVD being watched). And the Oppo doesn't measure nearly as well on the Avia resolution patterns.

This isn't so much a problem on well-mastered discs, which tend to look great on the Oppo, but on mediocre discs the Oppo picture comes out looking more "processed" than my Denon.

Prior to doing a full calibration for the new player, I was seeing some macroblocking, but after properly adjusting my brightness and contrast this has fortunately not been very visible on my screen.

Don't get me wrong. I like the player and have not yet finished my testing, but unless some of these problems can be addressed in a future firmware upgrade I personally would not rate this machine in the same league as some of the high-end players on the market, as the Secrets review seems to imply.

My $.02 for now.

I agree with your statement. I watch part of Treasure planet tonight with my 2 years old and found the shimmer problem really bad. I did't see the Panasonic S97 in action. But I think it's probably a better buy then the Oppo at this point. Just hope that a the firmware upgrade that will correct those point would be out soon.

Bruno

Hm, I have an Oppo on the way. I see more complaints these days than before. Is Oppo aware of these happenings?

Oppo is very much aware of the current issues with the player and is working on it.

Keep in mind that AVS is an intense stew of *very* enthusiastic video buffs on a quest for perfection. What is intensely discussed here might not be noticed by 99% of the population. In any event, in its present state, the video is superlative. We're just trying to make an excellent picture even better and Oppo has been very responsive.

Paul

I own both the Panasonic 97S and the Oppo. I had the 97S first but I needed a player for region free disks. Both are great players and you won't go wrong with either one. The picture is very close. I can't say which one is better. The Panasonic has more choices for tweaking but the region free feature and support from Oppo must be considered along with the one year warranty vs 90 days for the Panasonic. I also believe that Oppo will continue to work on making their player even better with new
firmware updates. The build quality seems equal and I love both players. If I had to make a choice I would go with the Oppo because of their great support for this player.

Originally posted by rwestley
The build quality seems equal and I love both players. If I had to make a choice I would go with the Oppo because of their great support for this player.

That's what bothers me. I like what I read about the Oppo with regards to performance, but I wonder how much continued support it will need.

I think their support is a great. How many other companies would listen to us. Most players are not even in the Oppo class. Look at the Secrets review. OPPO is trying to make a great player even better. I don't understand why the support would bother anyone. As Paul has said in a previous post 99% of the people would be happy with the player as is.

Seems to be a very popular player...

Martin

LOL.....The audacity of some of you folks is highlarious.....I can only give my opinion and that is the oppo has:
1]great support
2]great picture
3]dvd audio
4]excellent scaling-very very very close to hd
5]very very very cheap in price(199$)
6]excellent build quality

and to top that off has region and hdcp free and a full function screensaver......

All this for 199$!!!!

Go get yours today!!!

But what about the li psyn ch probl em ?

And the shshshshimmmmemmmmerrrringinging problem ?

Those cannot be denied !

I don't think anyone is trying to deny problems, for that matter the 2-2 Cadence issue can't be denied either. No player is perfect.

Have a look at the "Secrets..." score and see what problems the Oppo doesn't have.

Oppo is working on the problems.

Paul

excellent build quality

Compared to what?! :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Axatax
Compared to what?! :rolleyes:

Other $200 players perhaps? The Denon 1910 is quite chintzy at it's asking price of $269.

GSB, I have an item I'd like to ask to go into the "wishlist" portion of the list if you don't mind and it isn't already there. My new plasma set does not support changing the color of the black bars when in 4:3 viewing mode to a shade of grey to prevent burn-in. It would be cool if the Oppo had adjustable color (greys) for it's letterboxing/pillarboxing bars. If all the aspect ratio controls on the Oppo are eventually right, then I shouldn't ever have to take my tv out of the standard widescreen mode anyway. Thanks. :)

Originally posted by deez
LOL.....The audacity of some of you folks is highlarious.....I can only give my opinion and that is the oppo has:


You forgot to mention divx/xvid support with subtitles. Atleast thats one of the features i wanted.

Yes well i dont watch much porn...err i mean divx...lol...and i compare this unit to say the only competition it has the pan s97 and the denon 5910....the pan s97 is $300 if you can find it and the denon is $3500........end of discussion.....and there are a lot more features i dont use that others do like pal and divx..

Originally posted by Xcalibur_255
GSB, I have an item I'd like to ask to go into the "wishlist"... My new plasma set does not support changing the color of the black bars when in 4:3 viewing mode to a shade of grey to prevent burn-in. It would be cool if the Oppo had adjustable color (greys) for it's letterboxing/pillarboxing bars. Sounds reasonable, but why adjustable shades of gray? Do any other players offer this option?

Gary

Some HD cable boxes offer adjustable "shades of gray" side bars. If the movie is predominantly dark, glaring gray side bars can be a bit distracting, thus the request for adjustable.

Paul

Yeah, that's about it. The purpose of adjustable is so you can match the grey bars to the relative APL of the video content you are watching so the pixels are burning in at a similar rate.

Well, I finally have my Oppo and have another potential issue to report concerning the 1080i issues. It *could* be the display as well, I'm trying to figure it out. Any input is appreciated. I am matching the Oppo to a Viore V42PD45M 42" HD Plasma display. This plasma is 1024x1024 interlaced display and supports both 720p and 1080i input.

I've tried all the resolutions on the Oppo so far. 480p looks okay, 720p better, but 1080i looks very bad. The display reports the input resolution as 1920x540x60Hz when it should be 1920x1080. There is a large amount of pixel shifting and line shimmer and what appears to be dot crawl on the edge of the image.

Also of interest, the Oppo exhibits underscan at all resolutions on my display. The Viore is confirmed to have zero overscan/underscan. It looks best at 720p with minimal underscan, but slightly skewed left (more underscan at the right side). In 1080i there is considerable underscan on the right side. The whole image appears shifted by about 150 or so pixels. 480p appears similar to 720p except with more underscan all around, but still not as bad as the 1080i setting.

The Viore disables all picture adjustments except for brightness and contrast while receiving a DVI signal (which I found unusual), so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the video coming out of the Oppo is good. I've found that adjusting picture in the player never produces as good a picture as adjusting at the display.

Any thoughts? I'm wondering if the Viore's interlaced display has anything to do with the 1080i resolution error, but I think the Oppo isn't reporting the signal correctly to the display.

Please check the Oppo "hotfix" here: http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_support.html

Some displays do not support 540p (my Panasonic LCD is an example). The hotfix cleared it up.

Paul

Thanks.

Most displays (especially digital) use 540P as the default when they get a 1080i signal since they have the same scan rate. This is probably the issue.

Firmware updates make me a little nervous for fear of ruining the player (I seem to have terrible luck with things like this), but I'll give it a try. If the picture in 1080i is better than 720p (which is my theory) then it'll be worth it.

I find it interesting that all the top players seem to be buggy, (whether they sport Faroujda or Sigma engines). At least in the $100-250 range.

About the only one that seems fairly trouble-free is the Toshiba... but Tosh gets a fairly lukewarm reception in critical reviews.

The prices are dropping for full featured players on the next models coming out, hopefully they are also more reliable. They will probably all be about downright perfect when HD DVD players finally hit the scene.

HELP!

The combination of the Oppo and my Viore plasma looks like complete, utter, desolate, ****. To call it bad would be an insult to bad. Anything that is darker than a light shade of grey is nothing but pure macroblocking on any video mode. The blocks are scrambled bursts of random colors. It is utterly unwatchable. This is with the latest firmware installed too. The plasma looked great in the store. I ran DVE through it using two different players there and never saw anything like this. This sucks. :(

Sounds like you may need to choose a player that isn't using the Genesis 2310 scaling chip. It's been widely reported to enhance the already present macroblocks.

Has anyone hooked this player up to a SONY LCD RPTV?

I just got the 50WE955 3 weeks ago and I was looking at getting a upconverting dvd player.

Since it sounds like the macroblocking is dependent on the display I was wondering if anyone had a similar setup and if there were any problems.

HELP!

The combination of the Oppo and my Viore plasma looks like complete, utter, desolate, ****. To call it bad would be an insult to bad. Anything that is darker than a light shade of grey is nothing but pure macroblocking on any video mode. The blocks are scrambled bursts of random colors. It is utterly unwatchable. This is with the latest firmware installed too. The plasma looked great in the store. I ran DVE through it using two different players there and never saw anything like this. This sucks.


Your plasma has problems of false contouring, I would recommend you get a DVD player without a Farjouda chipset. Unfortunately, this excludes all the best DVD players in this price range

Since macroblock enhance is a problem give the Sony DVP-NS975V a try.

Paul

I am not convinced Faroujda is the 'holy grail' for all displays, I believe this was borne out with tests down by UMR on the Grand Wega displays. Most of his comparisons were with the Momitsu player which uses Sigma Designs, which also scores high by various reviewers (depending on the specific player).
Unfortunately, Sony has had their problems with the 975 (I can attest to that), but providing an excellent image has not been one of them.

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
I don't think anyone is trying to deny problems, for that matter the 2-2 Cadence issue can't be denied either. No player is perfect.

Have a look at the "Secrets..." score and see what problems the Oppo doesn't have.

Oppo is working on the problems.

Paul



What is the 2-2 cadence problem and how does it effect PAL countries??? I emialed oppo and they couldnt tell me ...

Originally posted by pinkspiDeR
Has anyone hooked this player up to a SONY LCD RPTV?

I just got the 50WE955 3 weeks ago and I was looking at getting a upconverting dvd player.

Since it sounds like the macroblocking is dependent on the display I was wondering if anyone had a similar setup and if there were any problems. I have a Sony LCD RPTV (KDF55XS955)... 55"... and at this point in the game... I would not recommend the Oppo for these sets. The macroblocking and shimmering/vertical line issues are very apparent to me. I had my set ISF calibrated and I also recalibrated for the Oppo... and I can't get over those problems.

I have a Pioneer 588a that is much smoother - no macroblocking and clean vertical lines with no shimmering and less added "sharpness" (the unwanted kind) - at 480p... than the Oppo at 720p or 1080i.

I am hoping the Oppo has new firmware updates to fix these issues... but at this point, despite the high ratings in the Secrets shootout, it is not a superior image in my mind to other players in its price range (on the Sony sets, anyway.)

-Terry

Are there any other players that have similar functionality?

I play lots of Korean/Japanese stuff so being region code free was a definite plus, and then I also have lots of divx files with and without external subtitle files so that was also a plus.

I see that there is a separate thread about the giec gk-3288 model, but I don't see any reviews on it yet.

Abort crisis. I believe the plasma panel is defective. When I mean macroblocking I'm not talking about the usual stuff. I mean like what graphics look like when you try to print them on a 15 year old 75dpi laser printer, except with each pixel a randomly shifting color of the rainbow. The plasma was defective. The Oppo, btw, worked fine until I returned the display I bought it for. I regret installing the hotfix firmware since Oppo states you shouldn't unless your display required it. I thought that might've been the solution at the time. Hopefully it doesn't matter. By the time I can actually use the thing again (have found a new display to buy) there will probably be another new major firmware release. I can hope anyway. :)

Originally posted by pinkspiDeR
Are there any other players that have similar functionality?

My old divx cds work fine with oppo and also divx and xvid dvds. So probably not really atleast for same pq class.

of course not..remember the better the material the better the results,..but still i have seen some very nicely done xvid and divx material...but i m wondering if th eoppo would play them well..

Martin

Originally posted by Prehjan
[B]of course not..remember the better the material the better the results,..but still i have seen some very nicely done xvid and divx material...but i m wondering if th eoppo would play them well../B]

Oppo would probably be best player currently available for those. That is if you use dvi output.

is the dvi hdcp compliant??
i menan does it use hdcp?

thansk

Martin

Originally posted by dazbug
What is the 2-2 cadence problem and how does it effect PAL countries??? I emialed oppo and they couldnt tell me ...

Hello.

A new post on the Home Theater&High Fi Forum here http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2415 has the answer:

"I talked to the OPPO people and they informed me 2-2 cadence is only applicable to older PAL sources that have been converted to DVD. So I don't need to worry about it."

Dana

Originally posted by Prehjan
[B]is the dvi hdcp compliant??
i menan does it use hdcp?/B]

No it doesnt use hdcp at all and is "hdcp free". It works with hdcp and non-hdcp displays.

cool..in that case i m gonna order one soon...(i think!)..but seriously..oppo seems to be the most bang for the buck to the performace and versatility...
i mean it is the onlt player that pops up in my reaseach each time i read something on decent players..

thanks

Martin

Does this player up-convert through DVI and HDMI?
I have a friend who is looking for a low buck up-converting player and I told him about this one.

Craig

Anyone using Oppo with IF4805 over DVI???

Ready to startup new HT and have 10 meter Infocus DVI cable to my PJ but want to be assured that the Oppo will work better over DVI than my component cables with my existing Sony 575.

Originally posted by suffolk112000
Does this player up-convert through DVI and HDMI?

It up-converts through DVI. I use it connected to my sanyo plv-z3 hdmi input with hdmi-dvi cable.

Had a real bad case of lip-sync last night, probably on the order of a 1/2 second lag between audio and video. Here are the gory details :

Oppo running the latest "big" update (4/13 or 4/15, I forget), running at 480p over DVI. Audio via coaxial digital cable.

Pulp Fiction Collector's Edition, Region 1, Disk 1

From main menu, choose audio, select DTS 5.1, return to main menu

From main menu, choose scenes, select Scene 2 (I think?). The one where Sam Jackson and Travolta go to retrieve the briefcase for the first time. As the scene progresses, the sync gets pretty bad. By the time Jackson whips out his pistol and starts into his biblical verses, the sync is probably 1/2 second off.

Originally posted by jriihi
My old divx cds work fine with oppo and also divx and xvid dvds. So probably not really atleast for same pq class.

The Xvid functionality doesn't seem to be documented. It's good to know it does work though. I was worrying about that point.

Originally posted by Xcalibur_255
I regret installing the hotfix firmware since Oppo states you shouldn't unless your display required it.

Can't you just install the April firmware again? That should overwrite everything to back where it was before the hotfix.

Originally posted by jriihi
It up-converts through DVI. I use it connected to my sanyo plv-z3 hdmi input with hdmi-dvi cable.

Thanks jriihi! :)

Craig

Originally posted by Prehjan
cool..in that case i m gonna order one soon...(i think!)..but seriously..oppo seems to be the most bang for the buck to the performace and versatility...
i mean it is the onlt player that pops up in my reaseach each time i read something on decent players..

thanks

Martin

I am seriously considering the Oppo...(getting a refund from Sony). and I hear many positives, but invariably, every time I log on to this thread the last few posts are about more upgrades and firmware changes.

If I buy one right now, is there a good chance I will not have to update anything? I can sit down and pop in a good music CD or movie DVD and just enjoy it?

Gary,

Can you give an update on what Oppo is working on and what firmware upgrades they are focusing on and when they think that the next firmware will be released?

Thanks

Do a search on this thread. Gary (GSM) has listed the wishlist and key bug list several times. And it has been stated, several times, that no formal date is available for the next firmware. Just based on their track record, though, it could be in the next 30 days or so.

Ted

Originally posted by Paul Simoneau
Had a real bad case of lip-sync last night, probably on the order of a 1/2 second lag between audio and video. Here are the gory details :

Oppo running the latest "big" update (4/13 or 4/15, I forget), running at 480p over DVI. Audio via coaxial digital cable.

Pulp Fiction Collector's Edition, Region 1, Disk 1

From main menu, choose audio, select DTS 5.1, return to main menu

From main menu, choose scenes, select Scene 2 (I think?). The one where Sam Jackson and Travolta go to retrieve the briefcase for the first time. As the scene progresses, the sync gets pretty bad. By the time Jackson whips out his pistol and starts into his biblical verses, the sync is probably 1/2 second off.

I have the disk, will check it tonight at 480p via toslink for sound and DVI for video on my 4805 PJ. Is it the same with DD 5.1 ??? Could also check the same scene with xp30-components.

Gary: would it be possible that the lipsynch issue could be enhanced by some audio settings (Setup menu: 48Khz-96khz, Raw, etc.) ??? If you don't have this issue, would you mind sharing your detailed setup options ?

i was hoping somebody would be reporting this by now. last night we were watching In Good Company. All of a sudden the audio went out, after a few seconds the movie became very choppy to the point where we had to press stop. I went back to the same chapter and the problem got even worse, now it was getting choppy all the way where it played okay. I had to get the DVD out and play it on my other DVD player where we ended up finishing the movie without any problem. I'm really getting frustrated with this player and seriously considering taking it back. Especially since there is not much difference with the quality of picture I am seeing. Probably best to hold off and wait for the Blu Ray. Mind you, this is not the first time this happened. I had the same problems watching National Treasure, although they weren't that bad, just a few seconds of audio dropout. I thought maybe it was just the disc or something. But last night, was totally a different story. I am guessing this may have to do something with their latest firmware fix for the 1080i problem. I have been using it on my Sony 60XS. Like TerryJ said, if you have the XS or GW IV this player might not make a big difference for you. And YES, I have calibrated it with the Avia disk.

Does anybody know the return policy on this player? I don't think I've had it for more than 30 days.

Cricricri I have been watching this lip sync problem for a while now because I have watched all the movies listed and have had no problem. I have had the Oppo for 3 weeks and have only made 1 firmware up date to take care of the tray closing to soon.

I have not been able to sysn at 1080I on my Benq PE7700 PJ, but I do have the firmware up date but have not gotten around to installing it because I don't think it would improve anything over the native res of 720 anyway.

I think I'll hold off until I am sure the 1080 fix is not the lip sync problem.

I will look at my setup tonight and give you the sound settings I am using just in case this helps you. I can tell you I am running an Onkyo 770 receiver with an optical cable from the Oppo.

Originally posted by checklst
Cricricri I have been watching this lip sync problem for a while now because I have watched all the movies listed and have had no problem. I have had the Oppo for 3 weeks and have only made 1 firmware up date to take care of the tray closing to soon.

I have not been able to sysn at 1080I on my Benq PE7700 PJ, but I do have the firmware up date but have not gotten around to installing it because I don't think it would improve anything over the native res of 720 anyway.

I think I'll hold off until I am sure the 1080 fix is not the lip sync problem.

I will look at my setup tonight and give you the sound settings I am using just in case this helps you. I can tell you I am running an Onkyo 770 receiver with an optical cable from the Oppo.

Fine, thanks ! I have the HT-510 Onkyo receiver from the S760 HTIB ! Let me know your settings !

Need advice

First let me say that I am new to this site so forgive my ignorance.

Should I buy the Oppo or the Pan S97?
I have a Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector on the way and the cable run will be 40ft from the dvd player to the Z3. If I go with the Oppo I will be converting DVI to HDMI. both players seem to have some problems after reading posts on this site and Oppo seems to be trying hard to fix the problems and Pan recently had a firmware update. So what player should I go with?

Thanks
Jeremy

Originally posted by checklst
I have not been able to sysn at 1080I on my Benq PE7700 PJ, but I do have the firmware up date but have not gotten around to installing it because I don't think it would improve anything over the native res of 720 anyway.


I wouldn't bother updating the firmware to get 1080i. I've tried a Bravo D2 via 720p and 1080i with the Toshiba MT700 (the BenQ's brother) and 720p is definitely better (as you would expect). Unfortuantely, my reciver just dies the other day, so I'm not able to check any digital lip sync problems until I get it back from repair. I haven't noticed any problems over the analog audio output.

Originally posted by wensteph
Can't you just install the April firmware again? That should overwrite everything to back where it was before the hotfix.

I didn't think so. Upgrade instructions differ depending upon which current firmware version you had. There aren't any instructions for going back to the April firmware. I'm not concerned, since the next major release will most likely include the hotfix as well. It increases compatibility, so I don't see why they wouldn't keep it in the major release.

Oppo says not to do the hotfix unless necessary, but I think I'm worried about nothing. I fail to see wht it could've harmed.

Originally posted by ted_b
Do a search on this thread. Gary (GSM) has listed the wishlist and key bug list several times. And it has been stated, several times, that no formal date is available for the next firmware. Just based on their track record, though, it could be in the next 30 days or so.

Ted

I have read the outstanding problem and wish lists, but Gary has not said what he believes OPPO is focusing their attention on. I am sure that the next release will not address all of the wish list or problems, but I am curious to learn which ones thay plan on addressing on the next release.

I am encouraged that OPPO is working with someone here to resolve outstanding problems.

Just a note which probably doesn't have anything to do with anyone else's audio problems.... but....

The other night I was watching a movie and the audio kept dropping out. Each time, I looked to my preamp/pro's face to see if it had to reaquire the signal...and it did not.

In the end, it was a combination of using the optical output of the Oppo and my digital audio switcher.

Once I switched to the coax digital output, no more dropouts. Maybe, the Oppo's optical digital output stops "flashing" during silences and automatic digital audio switches(and some preamp/pros-receivers) think the source is done???

Originally posted by Jeremy77
I have a Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector on the way and the cable run will be 40ft from the dvd player to the Z3. If I go with the Oppo I will be converting DVI to HDMI.

I have Oppo with Sanyo PLV-Z3 and hdmi-dvi cable. I get excellent pq from this combination.

Originally posted by MikeSRC
I wouldn't bother updating the firmware to get 1080i. I've tried a Bravo D2 via 720p and 1080i with the Toshiba MT700 (the BenQ's brother) and 720p is definitely better (as you would expect). Unfortuantely, my reciver just dies the other day, so I'm not able to check any digital lip sync problems until I get it back from repair. I haven't noticed any problems over the analog audio output.

Thanks Mike I won't waste my time and who knows maybe the 1080 fix induced the lip sync problem. I know you are enjoying your TM700 just as much as I on the PE7700; man the picture is beautiful on these units.

The slightly humorous part is I paid a couple hundred dollars more for Senseye, and by- pass it using up scale DCDi player and you have a DCDi build in and go with an external DCDi go figure.

I needed a good DVD player and spent the extra dollars to go 720P digital all the way to the chip. Sometimes I wonder which one gave me the slight sharpness increase, the DCDI chip or the DVI-D cable keeping it digital all the way??? I never saw any 3:2 pull down problems with the Senseye on 480I but I like the OPPO image on most DVD’s better,(slighty sharper) but a few DVD’s look better on component 480I with Senseye, it seems to be up to the quality of the original film maker or possably how the conversion to DVD was handled. Well that my un qualified opinion anyway.

Checklst

Originally posted by videoaddikt
I am not convinced Faroujda is the 'holy grail' for all displays, I believe this was borne out with tests down by UMR on the Grand Wega displays. Most of his comparisons were with the Momitsu player which uses Sigma Designs, which also scores high by various reviewers (depending on the specific player).
Unfortunately, Sony has had their problems with the 975 (I can attest to that), but providing an excellent image has not been one of them.

I have never touched a Momitsu player. I have touched a Denon 3800, Panasonic XP30, Bravo D1, Sony DVP-S7000 and a Denon DVD-3910 pretty extensively. I prefer the 3800 from that list.

YOu can downgrade from the hotfix firmware to the 4/12 release.' Follow the 1/29 firmware option.

Just wondering, out of how many movies you watch, how many have lip sync issues?

I watched Apollo 13, Star Trek DS9, LOTR ROTK, and Dances with Wolves on the unit without any lip sync issues. These are all well authored discs however.

Originally posted by Paul Simoneau
Had a real bad case of lip-sync last night, probably on the order of a 1/2 second lag between audio and video. Here are the gory details :

Oppo running the latest "big" update (4/13 or 4/15, I forget), running at 480p over DVI. Audio via coaxial digital cable.

Pulp Fiction Collector's Edition, Region 1, Disk 1

From main menu, choose audio, select DTS 5.1, return to main menu

From main menu, choose scenes, select Scene 2 (I think?). The one where Sam Jackson and Travolta go to retrieve the briefcase for the first time. As the scene progresses, the sync gets pretty bad. By the time Jackson whips out his pistol and starts into his biblical verses, the sync is probably 1/2 second off.

Just checked with same setup: everything seemed fine except for the last three seconds (just before he shot the guy). But I got a case in the diner, when Mia talks about her pilot to Travolta. I retried to watch this very same scene, but nothing happened...

The issue with the 1080i hotfix is that some displays will not produce a watchable picture with 540p and/or 720p and may do a mediocre job scaling 480i/p yet do a fantastic job with 1080i.

The 1080i hotfix may not be for everyone but for those who really need it -- it's just the ticket.

Paul

Originally posted by mooney
Anyone using Oppo with IF4805 over DVI???

Ready to startup new HT and have 10 meter Infocus DVI cable to my PJ but want to be assured that the Oppo will work better over DVI than my component cables with my existing Sony 575.

Oppo works great with my 4805

My set-up: Bravo D1, JVC SX21 w/panamorph, 122" Firehawk, Denon AVR 3802.

I bought the Oppo because the D1 was beginning to freeze up (have already had Vinc replace the loader a year ago), and I wanted a back-up with DVI, non-HDCP.

I've had the Oppo for a few days. Some preliminary observations:

- The "shimmer" or "jaggies" effect is real, though not (yet) a dealbreaker. I did an A/B test with the Bravo and Oppo on a scene from The Merchant of Venice, featuring diamond-shaped mullions in a window in the background--lots of shimmer bait (dark thin diagonals against a bright white background), and boy, did the Oppo ever shimmer. The Bravo just showed these diagonals somewhat soft. Prefer the Bravo, more film-like.

- The lipsynch problem is real, though so far not frequent enough (yet) to be a dealbreaker. Only once in ny viewing thus far (10-20 minute clips from A. I., ROTK, Finding Nemo, Moulin Rouge, and all of Merchant of Venice) did the lip synch problem become so pronounced as to be truly distracting. It was during A. I., and the stop/play fix fixed it, but that's a bother. If it increases, it will be a dealbreaker.

- The angle icon coming on is indeed annoying. I realize this problem is infrequent and only lasts five seconds and so is not high on the list, but when it happens, it's really really annoying.

- The build quality and general functionality is a huge improvement over the D1, but I guess we all know that by now. :)

Some questions (and, yes, I have read through this entire thread, though I may have forgotten a few things):

- Which DVI output is preferred with my setup: 480, 720, 1080? I did run through all of them and, honestly, couldn't see a difference.

- What are the real chances that the shimmer and lip synch problems will be fixed with a firmware upgrade?

Thanks for all the great information here, and if I can try anything on my setup for a prospective buyer, let me know.

- Tom

Wes

Thanks for the report on using the Oppo W/DVI feeding the 4805.

Is your 4805 an early one with original firmware or later?

Originally posted by mooney
Wes

Thanks for the report on using the Oppo W/DVI feeding the 4805.

Is your 4805 an early one with original firmware or later?

Original firmware, I'm waiting for Infocus to release a new one without the flicker issue that people have reported.

I know there are some slight issues with the OPPO, but I've been totally happy with how totally stable it is, no pixel cropping, etc. It's a great combination with the 4805 in my opinion.

Wes

Originally posted by jriihi
I have Oppo with Sanyo PLV-Z3 and hdmi-dvi cable. I get excellent pq from this combination.

Thanks for the info jriihi

Questions: have you had any problems with "shimmer" or "jaggies" with the Oppo on your Z3? also have you noticed any lip-sync problems with the audio?

Thanks again
Jeremy

In all my viewing, since January, I have not noticed any LipSynch problems.

That said, I have a problem with the player defaulting to English subtitles on all material. I have to try more than two times before it is fixed.

Ideas?

oooh bummer..bummbed plasma..that gotta hurt...but jump back up on the horse!

Martin

Originally posted by GoSpurs99
In all my viewing, since January, I have not noticed any LipSynch problems.

That said, I have a problem with the player defaulting to English subtitles on all material. I have to try more than two times before it is fixed.

Ideas? Odd. Has it always done that, or did it start after one of the upgrades? What do you usually do to fix it?

Gary

Originally posted by TexasAggie
I have read the outstanding problem and wish lists, but Gary has not said what he believes OPPO is focusing their attention on. I am sure that the next release will not address all of the wish list or problems, but I am curious to learn which ones thay plan on addressing on the next release.

I am encouraged that OPPO is working with someone here to resolve outstanding problems. It's too difficult to speculate. There are multiple issues being addressed simultaneously. The fixes that make it into the next release, are typically the ones that have been completed and beta tested to satisfaction. Oppo is certainly giving priority to the issues at the top of the list, but some of those are the most difficult or time-consuming to fix, so they may, or may not, make it into the next release.

Gary

Originally posted by onay32
i was hoping somebody would be reporting this by now. last night we were watching In Good Company. All of a sudden the audio went out, after a few seconds the movie became very choppy to the point where we had to press stop. I went back to the same chapter and the problem got even worse, now it was getting choppy all the way where it played okay. That sounds very typical of a bad disk, scratch, abrasion or fingerprint. If you rent DVD's, ALWAYS check the surface very carefully, and wipe off any muck with a clean, lint-free cloth. (Never wipe in a circular pattern - it only takes one tiny radial scratch along a DVD track to cause issues like that).

But if the disk is brand new and perfectly clean, maybe the Oppo has dust on the laser or an alignment problem that could easily have happened in shipping. I've seen the way the couriers trash stuff. Contact Oppo if it continues on other clean disks.

Gary

Originally posted by Cricricri
Gary: would it be possible that the lipsynch issue could be enhanced by some audio settings (Setup menu: 48Khz-96khz, Raw, etc.) ??? No. It's a VIDEO delay issue, and is not affected by your audio setup. However, someone reported that non-5.1 tracks are more susceptible, but perhaps those tracks were not well sync'ed in the mastering of the DVD... we don't know for sure. DVD "Special Features" are notorious for badly recorded A/V sync.

I do see lip-sync issues, but, until now, I have always found the problem to be on the DVD, just made slightly worse by normal delays in the player and display.

Gary

To those who are asking about overwriting with April firmware (to go back where it was before the hotfix)...

Yes, you can go back to a previous release, but there is no need. The May firmware is identical to the April firmware, except for the 1080i and tray fixes. And NO... the 1080i fix has nothing to do with lip-sync, or other performance issues.

Oppo recommends you only apply the May firmware if your display is 1080i native and does not sync properly (or your tray closes randomly). The reason: the next general firmware release will likely have those fixes anyway. Plus, with each firmware update you do, the potential for screwing something up increases... especially as you become overconfident or impatient. Another thing, I'm not sure about Oppo's IC's, but some devices do not allow indefinite reflashing of firmware, so take it easy.

Gary

Originally posted by Paul Simoneau
Had a real bad case of lip-sync last night, probably on the order of a 1/2 second lag between audio and video. Here are the gory details :

Oppo running the latest "big" update (4/13 or 4/15, I forget), running at 480p over DVI. Audio via coaxial digital cable.

Pulp Fiction Collector's Edition, Region 1, Disk 1

From main menu, choose audio, select DTS 5.1, return to main menu

From main menu, choose scenes, select Scene 2 (I think?). The one where Sam Jackson and Travolta go to retrieve the briefcase for the first time. As the scene progresses, the sync gets pretty bad. By the time Jackson whips out his pistol and starts into his biblical verses, the sync is probably 1/2 second off. Is it repeatable with this method of yours? Does the sync correct itself when you stop and resume play? Is it repeatable if you rewind the scene?

Gary

Tom,

Unfortunately, since your projector does not have any native resolution that matches 480p, 720p, or 1080i, your projector (1400x1050 native) is going to scale whatever you send to it anyway...you will likely not get any improvement with an upconverting DVD player. Also, your projector is 4:3 and not 16:9.

480p = 720x480
720p = 1280x720
1080i = 1920x1080

The point is to only scale one time. 480p will likely give you the best picture.

The advantage to getting an upscaling payer will be most realized by those that have a digital (fixed pixel) display (not an analog tube or CRT) that can use it at it's native resolution (1280x720 or 1920x1080).

Originally posted by Penman
My set-up: Bravo D1, JVC SX21 w/panamorph, 122" Firehawk, Denon AVR 3802.

- Which DVI output is preferred with my setup: 480, 720, 1080? I did run through all of them and, honestly, couldn't see a difference.

- Tom

I keep seeing posts from people saying that you are not likely to get a major quality upgrade using upscaling DVD players at 720p or 1080i with tube or CRT displays, but this is not what I've found. Using my 53" Sony RPTV that is CRT based I see a very major quality boost using 1080i, and even on a 26" Samsung CRT tube I sometimes use I see a small increase in quality using the old LiteOn 2001 upscaling player with 1080i component output, and the LiteOn is no match for the improvements you see with the Oppo. In the next week or so I also plan on hooking up the Oppo to the Samsung to see what happens.

Originally posted by CJayB
In the next week or so I also plan on hooking up the Oppo to the Samsung to see what happens.
If you would, please share your results with us in this thread, I am very close to purchasing a 30" Samsung CRT tube (my first HDTV), and I am curious about how much of a difference you will see.

BTW, thanks everyone for keeping this very informative thread going. I always heavily research any components before I buy them, and this thread has been a great help (it took me quite a while to read through the whole thing, yikes! :eek: ), and convinced me to finally register and participate on the forum (been lurking for a while). And thanks Gary, for keeping the thread on-track and up to date!

-Matt

Originally posted by CJayB
I keep seeing posts from people saying that you are not likely to get a major quality upgrade using upscaling DVD players at 720p or 1080i with tube or CRT displays, but this is not what I've found. Using my 53" Sony RPTV that is CRT based I see a very major quality boost using 1080i, and even on a 26" Samsung CRT tube I sometimes use I see a small increase in quality using the old LiteOn 2001 upscaling player with 1080i component output, and the LiteOn is no match for the improvements you see with the Oppo. In the next week or so I also plan on hooking up the Oppo to the Samsung to see what happens.

I totally agree with you. I think one has to keep in mind that some upconverting DVD players do more than just upconvert, such as perform noise reduction and picture enhancements. Also, the DVD player may also upconvert significantly better than the CRT.

In my instance, the OPPO puts out a picture that is noticeably better than any other player that I've used (Zenith, Momitsu, Toshiba). In some instances, I have compared the OPPO picture with HD feeds, and have to admit that the OPPO fares well. Of course, when it is a great HD feed, there is no comparison.

So, it might be a disservice to some CRT owners to indicate that the OPPO will not improve there picture. My experience shows just the opposite.

I just got my unit, have some questions...

- what IRE setting does the player have (7.5)
- is the DVI PC or video level (video, right)
- is the power supply really multi voltage capable (mislabled 110/60 only)

thanks

Originally posted by thuety
I just got my unit, have some questions...
- is the power supply really multi voltage capable (mislabled 110/60 only)


Yes its multi voltage.

GSB,

The problem with the subtitles started a couple of weeks ago, I've done all the FW updates.

Also, is HDTV Xvid a future possibility, or is that a hardware issue?

Thanks

Haven't bought the Oppo yet, but have a question:

When playing a DVDA, must you use the analog multichannel outputs, or can you use the digital output (coax or optical)?

Thanks,

Sooke

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
The issue with the 1080i hotfix is that some displays will not produce a watchable picture with 540p and/or 720p and may do a mediocre job scaling 480i/p yet do a fantastic job with 1080i.

The 1080i hotfix may not be for everyone but for those who really need it -- it's just the ticket.

Paul

That's what I needed to know. I'll downgrade back to the old firmware.

Originally posted by Jeremy77
Questions: have you had any problems with "shimmer" or "jaggies" with the Oppo on your Z3?

Little flickering sometimes.

also have you noticed any lip-sync problems with the audio?

Not so far. I am using coaxial connection to yamaha receiver.

Well I have the OPPO and my first impressions compared to the other sub $400 dollar price is quiet impressive. First off I must say it has one of the nicest packing covers instead of plastic. Well built
and all functions perform smoothly and quick. Like Cary audio it uses
Blue lighting that is somewhat cool and somewhat annoying mainly from the open/close button. If this unit would be mounted abouve your tv it might prove to be to much of a distraction. I haven't found a dimming feature, but it would be nice to have one. The Video is the best I've seen and that was only through component video connections.
It has some unique feaures I haven't seen on a dvd player before, such as preset Eq settings that some are a quick fix to some fields.
Then there is a spacial enhancement with different settings.
I through in Metalica's Black album on DVD-A to test the audio because I now how this sounds through my Toshiba SD4700 and Pioneer 578, but right now the unit is what I would call a little on the bright side, so I will give it some more burn in time, but all in all very impressed especially for the dollar. Yes I know I should have put this in the review column

Well I can tell you that hooking it up to a high def LCD with the HDMI is amazing, but the component video is excellent and as good as any player I've had from $400 0n down. including the Toshiba SD4700
DVDA player from 2001 and the pioneer universal 563. and damn this is the only player that allows you to adjust the sharpness, bright, and contrast if need be. Short of that you would have to jump to the Denon at $600, or higher. If there is one out there that plays everything but sacd with this build quality and features like th Oppo
for $200 or less I want to know what it is? If you look at the DVD Benchmarks they all did very poor on the HDMI side compared to the Oppo and your right they didn't test it on composite, or component,but I wonder how many on the AVS forum have actually used this player. I bet not many. Its better than the Pioneer 563 and the toshiba sd 4700, oh and my sony dvd player. YMMV

Originally posted by Paulc35
Blue lighting that is somewhat cool and somewhat annoying mainly from the open/close button. If this unit would be mounted abouve your tv it might prove to be to much of a distraction. I haven't found a dimming feature, but it would be nice to have one.


Press "setup" and in the "general settings", put the "light control" at "off".

Thank you,,,

I like it put that open and close button can be distracting

My OPPO just arrived and I was blown away. The PQ between this and my old DVD player is like night and day(I have it set at 720p). Just to think how much time I have underused my HDTV set is depressing.

I have yet to recalibrate my TV with the player, but I should be doing it over the weekend..

I do need help with one thing. The Audio settings. How should I put the SPDIF settings, LPCM OUT settings and DOLBY DIGITAL SETTINGS and the speaker settings. I just want to get the pure audio to my Reciever and let it handle it.

I would appreciate any help.


FYI, the first thing I did was program my Marter Home Theater Remote and put away that crappy conytoller that came with the OPPO. I guess it's asking too much to expect a great remote control also. ;-)

Originally posted by Mikef2000
I do need help with one thing. The Audio settings. How should I put the SPDIF settings, LPCM OUT settings and DOLBY DIGITAL SETTINGS and the speaker settings. I just want to get the pure audio to my Reciever and let it handle it.
If you connect with 1 coax or optical cable just set the digital out to raw. You can forget the speaker size, it's only for the multichannel output.

I am also noticing shimmering and lipsync probs. Is there something I can do to fix the lip sync? It's really annoying.

Originally posted by SamRS
Is there something I can do to fix the lip sync? The lip-sync problem is on the defect list, but we need more information for Oppo to fix it.

Make sure it's not the DVD at fault. Read this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?postid=5576842#post5576842).

Gary

Originally posted by sooke
Haven't bought the Oppo yet, but have a question:

When playing a DVDA, must you use the analog multichannel outputs, or can you use the digital output (coax or optical)? You must use the analog multichannel outputs. It's part of the DVD-A copy protection scheme.

Gary

Originally posted by thuety
- what IRE setting does the player have (7.5) IRE is a measurement of analog output level. If you are refering to the DVI output, your question is meaningless. If you mean, "does it pass blacker-than-black?" the answer is yes.
Originally posted by thuety
- is the DVI PC or video level (video, right) Video level, as it should be.

Gary

Originally posted by GoSpurs99
The problem with the subtitles started a couple of weeks ago, I've done all the FW updates. Very strange. Nobody else is experiencing this issue. Try pulling the plug for 30 seconds to see if it will reset this behavior. If that doesn't work, I'd recommend reflashing the firmware (preferably wait until the next release). Always burn a fresh, unscratched CD at a slow speed to ensure a perfect copy. It's worth the extra care.
Originally posted by GoSpurs99
Also, is HDTV Xvid a future possibility, or is that a hardware issue? Honestly, I don't know.

Gary

Originally posted by Matthew C
BTW, thanks everyone for keeping this very informative thread going. I always heavily research any components before I buy them, and this thread has been a great help (it took me quite a while to read through the whole thing, yikes! :eek: ), and convinced me to finally register and participate on the forum (been lurking for a while). And thanks Gary, for keeping the thread on-track and up to date! Glad you joined us. It was this thread that convinced me to go for the Oppo, too. I strongly believe in doing solid research before parting with my hard-earned cash. That way, I seldom experience buyer's remorse. Expensive big-name brands are nice to brag with, but I prefer to see real-world performance and quality that challenges (or beats) the big names, at a fraction of the cost.

Gary

OK--I read the first 45 pages of this thread and then skipped to the end. Maybe I missed it, but has anyone done a direct comparison to the Bravo D2 in terms of PQ?

I liked the picture on the D2, but just can't take it's terrible quirks, most importantly, deciding it doesn't want to work half the time.

I went ahead and ordered the OPPO and am hoping it can be the D2 without the lockup problems. If it's even better, I'm psyched.

Also, how does this OPPO compare to the S97/S77, which were the other players I was considering? I like the DVI out on the OPPO, rather than HDMI, since my projector takes DVI and I know of some problems with converters.

Thanks!

I hooked the Oppo up to my panasonic 37' plasma using the DVI to HDMI. The picture looks bad and it is very noisy. Is this a macroblocking issue or internal scaling done by the TV? Also, the audio is not in sync with the video either.

Are there any DVI upconverting players that work well with the plasmas?

OK--I read the first 45 pages of this thread and then skipped to the end. Maybe I missed it, but has anyone done a direct comparison to the Bravo D2 in terms of PQ?
Since I couldn't get a picture with either sample of the amateurish D2 I had, the Oppo wins easily.

Along the same lines as Jack, I had the D1 and isnt the D2 just the next release that actuall loaded disks more than 75% of the time? The Bravos do not hold a candle to the oppo.

Originally posted by mcbuckeye
OK--I read the first 45 pages of this thread and then skipped to the end. Maybe I missed it, but has anyone done a direct comparison to the Bravo D2 in terms of PQ?

I liked the picture on the D2, but just can't take it's terrible quirks, most importantly, deciding it doesn't want to work half the time.

I went ahead and ordered the OPPO and am hoping it can be the D2 without the lockup problems. If it's even better, I'm psyched.

Also, how does this OPPO compare to the S97/S77, which were the other players I was considering? I like the DVI out on the OPPO, rather than HDMI, since my projector takes DVI and I know of some problems with converters.

Thanks!

Hello,

Yes, you missed it. I reported (several pages ago) that I was using a Bravo D2 with my Sony XBR910 34" CRT 1080i capable HDTV via a DVI connection. I liked the D2 PQ but wanted a region free player. I didn't have any lockup problems with the D2 although it is quirky and it has a lousy remote.

I bought the Oppo with the mid-April firmware about a month ago. The PQ of the Oppo is outstanding. (I know folks on this thread and elsewhere say that an upconverting player isn't important with a CRT HDTV but the PQ couldn't be better - and the Oppo is better than the D2.) And it is more versatile. I have had occasional lip sync problems with the Oppo. I had none with the D2 so I think it may be the difference in the two chips.

In my judgment the Oppo is better than the D2 now. (And of course the Shootout confirms it.) Perhaps more important, the Oppo is still getting better while the occasional D2 firmware upgrades are just bug fixes.

Get the Oppo.

Dana

My friend received an Oppo dvd player recently to complement his Sony HS51. Upon plugging it into the projector and running 1280x720 over HDMI, we did notice that macro blocking was reduced, contrast was enhanced and clarity was improved from his Panasonic DVD player he was running over s-video (gasp). Unfortunately, we also noticed that, out of the box, the Oppo seemed to be veeeery dim. It also had a red tint which we noticed in some THX test patterns that were supposed to change from black to white in increments of grays. Also, there may have been some crushing of the whites and blacks as he didn't notice much difference between the bars at the opposing ends of the test pattern described above.

Are these issues common? Are there easy tweaks that everyone makes to the player to correct for them? The dimness and red push were quite disturbing, especially.

My apologies if this has been addressed earlier. I lost track of this thread many pages back...

reaper

My HT is currently in storage, but I also thought the Oppo was dim. My first question when I get the HT setup again was going to be how to fix that, so I will be watching this for replies.

I have the Oppo with the HS51 and out of the box the player was indeed dim. I had to up the brightness on the player +3 to be able to get the BTB bar in the Video Essential Test Pattern. As far as a red push goes, some of it is attributed to the iris on the projector, there is a slight color shift depending on what image is displayed. I am also using the color settings that Kris Deering posted in the projector forums (minus a few clicks on the Green Bias) which seems to give a good color reproduction.

Originally posted by GoSpurs99
Also, is HDTV Xvid a future possibility, or is that a hardware issue?

Xvid is an open source mp4 codec that is continually under development. There's no telling where it'll go or if they will attempt this. There could be licensing issues that would prevent it. I'm amazed (and pleased) that the Oppo plays Xvid files at all.

Oppo vs Bravo D2

I second Jack Gilveys comments...never could get picture with the D2 over DVI on my 4805.

Just ordered an Oppo...

My Oppo shoud arrive tomorrow, I have a Hitachi CRT with HDMI and was planning on using the DVI cable that comes with it. According to the Oppo website I would need a DVI to HDMI convertor or a DVI/Male to HDMI/Male. Before I buy anything could someone confirm.

Thanks,
Brent

Originally posted by smithb39
My Oppo shoud arrive tomorrow, I have a Hitachi CRT with HDMI and was planning on using the DVI cable that comes with it. According to the Oppo website I would need a DVI to HDMI convertor or a DVI/Male to HDMI/Male. Before I buy anything could someone confirm.

Thanks,
Brent

The cable adapter is a DVI-D female to HDMI adapter, I use one on my PE7700 that is a HDMI input.

Hi everyone,

I got Oppo this morning and at lunch break I went to get an DVI to HDMI adapter for JVC 52z575 (using the DVI cable that came with the DVD player). I can't seem to change the output mode (720p, 1080i, 480p) while playing a movie. I got the TV last weekend so everything's new to me. I couldn't tell whether I'm getting 720p or not. Any ideas?

Thanks.

Thanks for all of the Help!

I went ahead and ordered the Oppo, I figured with a MSRP of $199 and a very high rating on Secrets, 1y warranty and 30 day money back guarantee, that I could not go wrong.

Picked up a 40ft DVI to HDMI cable from a sponsor of this site
They also have a money back guarantee if the cable does not work.

I will post a reply once everything arrives and I have a chance to set-up and view the Oppo with my Sanyo PLV-Z3 projector.

Jeremy

Originally posted by els74
I can't seem to change the output mode (720p, 1080i, 480p) while playing a movie. I got the TV last weekend so everything's new to me. I couldn't tell whether I'm getting 720p or not. Any ideas?


It won't switch while you're playing a movie. While the movie is playing, press STOP then press the DVI button to change modes, then press play. Repeat until you find the resolution you like.

Originally posted by els74
I can't seem to change the output mode (720p, 1080i, 480p) while playing a movie. I got the TV last weekend so everything's new to me. I couldn't tell whether I'm getting 720p or not. To add to Renaldo's comments: The Oppo reports it's resolution on-screen as you hit the DVI button. Some displays go blank for a few seconds when switching DVI resolution, so you might miss the Oppo's report. In that case, watch the component/composite output while switching resolution.

Gary

Originally posted by reaper
Unfortunately, we also noticed that, out of the box, the Oppo seemed to be veeeery dim. It also had a red tint which we noticed in some THX test patterns that were supposed to change from black to white in increments of grays. Also, there may have been some crushing of the whites and blacks as he didn't notice much difference between the bars at the opposing ends of the test pattern described above.

Are these issues common? Are there easy tweaks that everyone makes to the player to correct for them? The dimness and red push were quite disturbing, especially. No, these issues are not common, but are typical of a display that has not been properly calibrated to the new source. The Oppo's output doesn't require tweaking. Adjustments should preferably be done on the display, unless the display has to share the DVI port with another device.

A full calibration with DVE/Avia is always ESSENTIAL to get the best picture out of your new equipment.

Gary

Thanks guys! After changing the DVI output mode to 720p I noticed significant improvement in PQ. Glad I picked Oppo...a few days earlier it was a toss up between Bravo D2 and Oppo but after reading some threads about D2 I decided to go with Oppo. I didn't see much difference between 720p and 1080i if any at all. I'm going to stick with 720p since my TV native resolution is 720p. It's interesting to note that the blacks improved over the non-progressive DVD player I had hooked up to the TV earlier. Although, in some scenes, I noticed some artifacts or fuzzy (right word?) in the dark background (i.e. sky at night). It was brief and wasn't too distracting.

BTW, should I get the latest firmware? I don't know the version it currently has; I'll have to read the manual and check the web site for further info.

Hello

I am using coax cable to connect to the reciever instead of optical and it seems that lip sync has gotten better. It's still noticable but barely. It occurs on different DVDs. It seems that it occurs when playing a scene for a while. With Optical cable; I noticed Lip sync on Bedazzaled, I haven't noticed it at all on Series of Unfortunate events (optical cable).

Regarding the shimmer problem ,this is an artifact that really ruins everything about the player.
I wonder if it is caused by something Kris mentioned with the faroudja 2310 chip having the CCS on full with no way of turning it off.
I used a high quality 6 foot Monster 500 dvi cable and it ruins the picture because as soon as you see movement you are pulled right to it.It actually seemed less visable using the 5 foot dvd cable that came with the player.Putting up the color bar test pattern on the HQV test dvd show all kinds of shimmering and movement on the resolution sweeps.
It does pass the moving 3 bars for excellent deinterlacing but I will stick with my rock solid Pioneer 59avi unless the shimmering can be fixed.
You can even see it on dvds like I robot.It looks like noise and jaggies that the player is having a hard time resolving.

One other thing I would like to see on the player is for the blacker than black stripe to be much more visable like it is on my Pioneer 59avi.
The pioneer gives more detail in the low blacks because of this.

BTB more visible?

The point of the BTB stripe is to adjust the display to not see it. If the player passes the BTB then the player is OK. Adjust the display's brightness until the BTB stripe *just* disappears and blends into the rest of the background. At that point the black level is correctly adjusted.

If one leaves the BTB stripe so that it is visible, the black level is too high and low brightness detail is being overemphasized.

Paul

If one leaves the BTB stripe so that it is visible, the black level is too high and low brightness detail is being overemphasized. I think what he was saying was that in his display if he adjusted it correctly, it looked way too dark. I actually have very little experience dealing with DVD players with video settings (gamma, brightness, etc.) vs just having settings on the display. For example, I might be able to set the DVD player to -3 brightness and then adjust the display or set the DVD player to +3 and adjust the display. I bet other aspects of the picture besides what shows up in this one test would be effected, so how do I pick the right combination?

Basically, if possible (the display remembers the settings for each input), leave the player adjustments alone and use the display's controls. I would only give the player's brightness a little boost only if the BTB stripe could not be seen at the display regardless of the display's brightness setting.

If one has become accostomed to an brightness/contrast boosted picture, a calibrated picture, may look a bit dull and not "right".

IMHO

Paul

The more I watch the Oppo, the more the shimmer/jaggies annoy. I switched back to the Bravo D1, and the pic improvement was noticeable. Combined with the lip synch problem, this is moving into dealbreaker territory. :(

Unless I hear a reason to think that the firmware updates will fix these two problems, I'll be returning mine...

- Tom

If one has become accostomed to an brightness/contrast boosted picture, a calibrated picture, may look a bit dull and not "right". I've been calibrating my picture via Avia forever so I dont boost my settings to taste. The same "results" with the Avia test patterns will give me a different overall picture than those results with Avia on the Bravo (which is broken and I no longer have).

The problems have been reported. Awaiting feedback.

Paul

Has anyone tried the oppo with a Yamaha 500LPX? It seems that some sources have these 2 problems and some don't or hardly notice it. Thanks for any reply.

Well, I personally was not accustomed to any type of display... but I do want to be able to feel like I can comfortably see what is on the screen. When it is so dark that details are hard to make out, I feel uncomfortable.. like I am missing something. That is the feeling I got watching Matrix Reloaded with the Oppo and HS51 and no calibration.

The problem of "shimering" is really that which should be the priority number one to be solved by Oppo... I watched "The incredible" yesterday evening and it is really disturbing.

Paul,FYI, My display is ISF calibrated.
Also, both players(oppo and pioneer) black levels are set so the bar just disappears into the background(using DVE) but, The pioneer shows much more detail where the oppo is crushed at a certain point.
When you raise up the brightness so the blacker than black bars are visable the pioneer is much darker and more visable whereas the bar on the oppo is barely visable.
With both players properly setup the pioneer picture is more detailed ,Fact.

Originally posted by simarddominic
The problem of "shimering" is really that which should be the priority number one to be solved by Oppo... I watched "The incredible" yesterday evening and it is really disturbing.

Just got mine and hooked it up and put in The Incredibles too. Noticed some "shimmering," but I've been reading so much about it here that I'm not sure if I'm looking for it more or if I would have seen it on my Bravo D2 also.

Can't check the D2 as it's now dead.

I will report more after I check my firmware level and do a quick and dirty calibration.

Originally posted by mcbuckeye
Just got mine and hooked it up and put in The Incredibles too. Noticed some "shimmering," but I've been reading so much about it here that I'm not sure if I'm looking for it more or if I would have seen it on my Bravo D2 also.

Can't check the D2 as it's now dead.

I will report more after I check my firmware level and do a quick and dirty calibration.

Look at the edges of the tie of Mister Incredible when he work for the insurance company. It is the more obvious example of this "shimering".

On my Zenith, edges are perfectly defined. On the other hand, and it is what is frustrating, without considering this problem, the PQ of Oppo is really higher than Zenith. I hope that Oppo will fix this problem very soon!

Has there been a stated (at least theoretical) cause of the "shimmering?"

If so, is it something that's potentially fixable through firmware, or is it a lost cause?

Does anyone know if the shimmering also happens through the component output? Or is it just through DVI?

I have to say, I never noticed anything but a rock-solid picture on the Bravo D2. Too bad it was so flaky and finally died an early death.

I currently have the Bravo D1 and feel that it's pq. is outstanding. If things hold true for this player as it has for many Bravo's; I will need another player. My display is not HDCP, so I guess I don't have many choices. I have not noticed lip-sync or shemmering on the D1 with the Yamaha LPX500.
Well, I guess my best option is to hope the D1 holds up until a fix is found. I appreciate all the info. that has been given on this player. Thanks Paul.

what would be a better dvd player picture quality wise and dd and dts sound wise out of the opp OR Sony 975?

I like the oppo, but doubt the sound would match the sony?

(im using a sherwood Newcastle R 965) + Panasonic 700 proj

comment appreciated

Originally posted by dazbug
what would be a better dvd player picture quality wise and dd and dts sound wise out of the opp OR Sony 975?

I like the oppo, but doubt the sound would match the sony?

(im using a sherwood Newcastle R 965) + Panasonic 700 proj

comment appreciated

Hello,

Check out Ted's comments on audio on page 65. "Overall, I am blown away by the sound of this little machine. I'm sure the Denon 3910 trounces it, and my HT system is articulate enough to hear the difference, but at this point in time in the life of hi-rez, blue-ray, etc it just ain't worth it."

Dana

I sold my Denon 2910 months ago and bought the Oppo instead. All of these players are basically taking 480i material and scaling it to 720p or 1080i...and given the mathematics involved, I'm surprised that they're able to produce a watchable image at all. Shimmering (which I've never seen) and lip-sync issues (which I see as infrequently with the Oppo as I did with all 3 of the Denons I've owned in the past) may be a "deal breaker" for many, but I choose to be realistic. When I become the owner of a true high definition DVD player, and experience problems of this nature playing back true high definition discs, then I'll complain-----LOUDLY.

Originally posted by Rudy1
I sold my Denon 2910 months ago and bought the Oppo instead. All of these players are basically taking 480i material and scaling it to 720p or 1080i...and given the mathematics involved, I'm surprised that they're able to produce a watchable image at all. Shimmering (which I've never seen) and lip-sync issues (which I see as infrequently with the Oppo as I did with all 3 of the Denons I've owned in the past) may be a "deal breaker" for many, but I choose to be realistic. When I become the owner of a true high definition DVD player, and experience problems of this nature playing back true high definition discs, then I'll complain-----LOUDLY.

Good point. However, my Bravo D2 had excellent PQ given the same 480i source DVDs and doesn't have the shimmering or lip-sync issues.

I understand these are side-effects of the Faroudja chip. This is the first player/device I've owned with the Faroudja, but given these problems, I'm amazed at how good of a reputation Faroudja has.

The Faroudja is a very complex chip requiring careful implementation. Like any chip (or computer program, for that matter) that allows for a high degree of customization, the chances of introducing customizations that may not be desired, are also increased. Some of these customizations are made utilizing the judgement of the developers, who, like any viewer, can have varying opinions on what makes a good picture.

For example, some people want a "sharp looking" picture which has the side effect of introducing the edge enhancement. Videophiles dislike it. Oppo made a choice, that choice can be revised. The Vertical Edge Enhancement can be manipulated.

While the "Secrets..." test score may not tell the whole story, it does indicate what is being done right by this player -- few players are in this league.

Paul

Rudy, how about sharing with us what display you use?

Originally posted by nothru22
Rudy, how about sharing with us what display you use?

A Toshiba 46HM84.

Hi Paul,

When you say: "Oppo made a choice, that choice can be revised. The Vertical Edge Enhancement can be manipulated"

...do you mean in the next model or in a firmware upgrade to the current 971?

Thanks for all the expertise,

Tom

Originally posted by Paul Bigelow
The Faroudja is a very complex chip requiring careful implementation. Like any chip (or computer program, for that matter) that allows for a high degree of customization, the chances of introducing customizations that may not be desired, are also increased. Some of these customizations are made utilizing the judgement of the developers, who, like any viewer, can have varying opinions on what makes a good picture.

For example, some people want a "sharp looking" picture which has the side effect of introducing the edge enhancement. Videophiles dislike it. Oppo made a choice, that choice can be revised. The Vertical Edge Enhancement can be manipulated.

While the "Secrets..." test score may not tell the whole story, it does indicate what is being done right by this player -- few players are in this league.

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for all your insight. You seem to be very knowledgeable on this player and the Panasonic S97. At this point (with most recent firmware releases), which one do you prefer? With the firmware improvements you expect soon, which do you think you'd prefer?

How about the S77?

I've never seen an S97, but I'm thinking of ordering one to either replace or augment the Oppo I just got.

My display is a JVC DLA-HX1 projector in a dedicated room. The only reason I ordered the Oppo instead of the S97 in the first place was the DVI out on the Oppo, instead of HDMI. I figured it would be better to eliminate one more potential problem, the HDMI to DVI converter.

I watch a lot of animated movies (4 kids) as well as lots of "normal" movies.

Thanks for your help.

Well, my 2 week old Oppo emitted a bit of smoke last night and stopped functioning properly. Crap. Back to the (flakier with each use) Bravo until I can get a replacement.

BB

Hey guys,
I was watching Monster INC. on my Memorex 2042 and noticed the shimmering you guys have been talking about. It was very evident on Sullys fur. You would see it at the end of his fur. My player is made by WInbase electronics who makes the oppo. It might be a problem with all of the players they make. Doesn't sound like a chip problem. I am waiting for a firmware fix for this and the lip sync issue before I push the trigger and buy this player. My Memorex has a very good PQ and like the oppo has great response and layer changes. Of course PQ depends on the transfer. I just cannot understand why the companies that transfer these films cannot do a better job on transfers. I was watching a league of ext gentleman and the transfer was very good. Then we watched spiderman 2 and I was very dissapointed with the transfer. I just do not understand why.

Hi theroys88,
I think that most transfers are done fairly well by now .What you are talking about are artifacts that will not be seen on a dvd player that is working properly.
Try this:
Take the Incredibles and/ or I ROBOT and where you see areas of the picture that look like the Oppo has a hard time resolving compare the same dvd on a Panny XP30,RP82,Pioneer 59avi,or any Denon player and get back to me and tell me it is just the dvd.