Oppo DV971H FAQ / Brain Dump [Text View] - Page 11

GSB

12-23-05, 07:02 PM

I just got an Oppo DVD player and 65" HP DLP TV and when I use the component or s-video outputs from the Oppo it looks ok. When I go DVI-to-HDMI there are times it looks outstanding; however other times, especially like close up face shots I can see large areas of either red or green. These areas aren't uniform and really kill the image. Is this common with the player? I tried out LoTR, Battlestar Galatica 2nd Season, Spiderman 2, and American Pie and all the movies have the blue/red issues. Are there any setting to get rid of this? I didn't see anything that would fix this.Sounds like a case of oversaturation. Turn your TV's color saturation down until the picture looks more natural (particularly fleshtones and sunlit faces). There are other things that can cause this, like a bad DVD transfer, or bad colorwheel sync in a DLPTV, but try the saturation first, followed by a hue adjustment.

Remember too, that some movies are recorded with a color cast, like green in "The Matrix".

Beyond that, you really should consider a full calibration of your setup.

Gary

mike-mtl

12-23-05, 08:51 PM

1. What's the max resolution of DIVX/Xvid files that OPPO can support?
JazzHero,

Based on some tests I've done (I encoded a 1 minute clip at various resolutions), the maximum resolution on the OPDV971H is 720x576 regardless of the video material. It looks like the chip is locked on DVD specifications (NTSC/PAL) and not on specific types of encoding. I know it says the max is 720x480 on the Oppo web site, but a PAL DivX (720x576) will play just fine.

As for HD DivX material, they don't play on the Oppo. All you get is sound but no image.

Hope this helps.

CJayB

12-23-05, 08:59 PM

SightSeeker1,

"Twister" (a guilty pleasure!) is an early DVD mastering that was mediocre to begin with that's never been updated. It needs a new transfer -- badly.

Paul

Actually, Twister (a guilty pleasure for me as well) was remastered several years ago (at the same time they remastered Interview With the Vampire). I have not looked at the remastered disc in quite some time and so don't remember exactly how good or bad it is, but I can say that the remastered version is much better than the original release which had some bad compression artifacts (blowing hair is not all clumped together in the remastered version in one of the scenes). I have not looked at Twister on the Oppo.

jjufon

12-23-05, 09:58 PM

Paul,
i would like to add a request to your list of "would like to have".
The ability to set the led display, to display one of the OSD items; like the title countdown, without it showing on the screen full time.

thanks!
JJ

Kapolei01

12-24-05, 12:06 AM

Bud-man

12-24-05, 03:45 AM

With the known issue of component output isnt good, what about "fooling" the dvi out with a dvi to component cable????????

Neuromancer

12-24-05, 06:17 AM

With the known issue of component output isnt good, what about "fooling" the dvi out with a dvi to component cable????????

Unless you have a transcoding DVI-Component box, this is impossible. The OPDV971H sends out a DVI-D (digital) signal, which does not contain an analog signal required for component video transportation.

Neuromancer

12-24-05, 06:20 AM

Hi,

I bought the Oppo at the end of Nov 05 (using a Sony 65in HDTV rear projection HD ready monitor) and the picture is breathtaking (using DVI input scaled to 1080i) so I'm very pleased with the player's picture and surprisingly good sound. However, I can't seem to get the OPPO to play any of my burned DVD discs:( I have movies/TV show recordings on JVC, Sony, Memorex, and Fuji DVD media and the Oppo won't play any of them! The blank discs used are DVD-R, and -RW discs and the Oppo wouldn't play them regardless of whether the discs were recorded in VR or Video mode. The Oppo is a refurbished model with the latest firmware (111B?) bought directly from Oppo Digital. Anyone else experienced difficulty with this? I haven't emailed Oppo yet; I thought I'd ask on this forum first. Thanks in advance.

Send OPPO a sample DVD, or try DVD+R/RW media. I personally don't use DVD-R media, so I can't comment on their compatibility, but I can say that all of my DVD+R/RW/DL media has yet to trigger a "No Disc" error.

BenDover

12-24-05, 09:00 AM

Hi,

I bought the Oppo at the end of Nov 05 (using a Sony 65in HDTV rear projection HD ready monitor) and the picture is breathtaking (using DVI input scaled to 1080i) so I'm very pleased with the player's picture and surprisingly good sound. However, I can't seem to get the OPPO to play any of my burned DVD discs:( I have movies/TV show recordings on JVC, Sony, Memorex, and Fuji DVD media and the Oppo won't play any of them! The blank discs used are DVD-R, and -RW discs and the Oppo wouldn't play them regardless of whether the discs were recorded in VR or Video mode. The Oppo is a refurbished model with the latest firmware (111B?) bought directly from Oppo Digital. Anyone else experienced difficulty with this? I haven't emailed Oppo yet; I thought I'd ask on this forum first. Thanks in advance.

Could just be an incompatibility with the authoring software that you used...try burning unprocessed files, i.e., mp3 or avi files, to a -RW disc and rule out that it isn't a problem with reading the -RW media. Burn it as a data disc, not a video or -vr disc.

I know this doesn't help you with the discs you've already authored, but if you have the original source files you can create new discs...it is also much quicker/easier to just burn the files then it is to transcode/author dvds! beauty of the oppo and similar players.

hsinnott

12-24-05, 10:18 AM

dusterscott

12-24-05, 10:31 AM

Mine stays cool but I have it on top of my AV equipment rack where it gets ample ventilation. If that's not an option for you, you might consider one of those small, quiet fans at the back of the shelf you have it sitting on.

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 11:14 AM

No heat problems. Mine is not enclosed or in a cabinet. Since the case is metal it can also act as a heat sink for whatever is below it -- an amp, for example. Some cable boxes run very hot as well.

Paul

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 11:18 AM

Kapolei01,

The Oppo plays my media (TDK/Sony) from a Sony RDR-GX7 OK. However, VR mode is not compatible with the Oppo.

Paul

Iamjcl

12-24-05, 11:31 AM

I'm sure this is a simple question, but couldn't find anybody else having this issue.

Subtitles are always on by default (regular DVDs), even though in the OPPO setup menu I have subtitles "Off". Its easy enough to turn them off, but its annoying that they always come up.

Is there something I'm missing ?

Thanks for any help.

- Chris

lexx

12-24-05, 11:36 AM

I just got an Oppo DVD player and 65" HP DLP TV and when I use the component or s-video outputs from the Oppo it looks ok. When I go DVI-to-HDMI there are times it looks outstanding; however other times, especially like close up face shots I can see large areas of either red or green. These areas aren't uniform and really kill the image. Is this common with the player? I tried out LoTR, Battlestar Galatica 2nd Season, Spiderman 2, and American Pie and all the movies have the blue/red issues. Are there any setting to get rid of this? I didn't see anything that would fix this.

Kenih

I have this same combination of 65" HP and the Oppo with latest firmware. I have none of these problems you describe. Picture is outstanding with all my DVDs. Well, the Superbit ones are uniformly good, but there are old ones that aren't perfect, but I assume that's due to all the compression or whatever it is that makes DVDs bad from the get-go.

My suggestion is to choose "normal" for your picture mode, and reset that mode to the default setting. I don't have the oppo manual in front of me, but reset it to its factory default settings too. Turn everything off. Connect via DVI to HDMI2 on the HP. Unplug any component cables from the Oppo. Restart everything (HP after the fan stops) and try your problem DVD again. Don't adjust the Oppo output. Just try it at the factory default, not 1080i. You can fiddle later.

That's my suggestion. Good Luck

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 11:55 AM

Subtitles are always on by default (regular DVDs), even though in the OPPO setup menu I have subtitles "Off". Its easy enough to turn them off, but its annoying that they always come up.
- Chris

Chris,

Which firmware version is being used? What DVDs are being used? Burned, commercial? Any common examples? I never have subtitles automatically pop up without explicitly forcing them through either the DVD menu or the Subtitle button on the remote.

Paul

Iamjcl

12-24-05, 12:06 PM

Paul,

Thanks for the reply.

Latest firmware (November IIRC), commercial DVDs which are all region 1. I'm not sure I've put a disc in that DIDN'T have subtitles on automatically (yet, again, it still shows as "off" in the OPPO setup screen).

Also, to hit you with another quick question, what is the video1 / video2 distinction ?

BTW, all viewing is region 1, NTSC via DVI @ 1080i to a 1080p display device.

- Thanks a bunch.

- Chris

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 12:20 PM

Chris,

I have the November 1111B as well and subtitle is set to OFF. I put in a standard, commercial, Hollywood DVD such as the "The Mummy" (just tried it) and the subtitles are not on unless I turn them on. What DVDs are being used? Anime, common DVDs? Specific titles?

Video 2 allows for 2:2 cadence for PAL discs. Most users can set at Video 2 (unless component is used) and be just fine.

Have a look at the first post of this thread for lots of detailed info and tips and tricks.

Paul

CJayB

12-24-05, 12:57 PM

Anyone noticed how warm the Oppo gets? I emailed Oppo and they said it was normal as the player has no ventilation- I've owned about 5 DVD players and none have gotten as warm as the Oppo...and none of those had any ventilation either...any comments?
"Heat is the enemy of all electronics"

I've found that a good way to cool down hot equipment is to get one of those laptop fans that come in a rectangular plastic box with three small fans and a vent. They fit under the laptops, but I use one of the fans on top of my video processor and it keeps the unit completely cool. My Oppo sits out in the open on top of my equipment rack so I don't have a heat problem.

ZZtop

12-24-05, 02:02 PM

Well after trying it again this morning on the plasma tv display and no success, I took the oppo to a dvi monitor and plugged it in, to tes the dvi port and it was working just fine.

I took it back to the plasma and voila, dvi output, I am not sure why now suddenly it works. Why now I don't know, I will see if the same trick works for the Pioneer 79avi, but I doubt it, the oppo has no hdcp, the 79avi does and I suspect the computer monitor just woke up the dvi port on the oppo somehow.

Iamjcl

12-24-05, 03:12 PM

HappySonyLCDman

12-24-05, 03:53 PM

Really? I am still looking for something wrong with my 5910!?!

How about the price you paid for it???

I'm still looking for a problem with my OPPO - Cant find one!

Jeff

aaronwt

12-24-05, 03:57 PM

Paul,

"Herbie-Fully Loaded", and "Lilo and Stitch" are 2 titles that come to mind. These are the last 2 movies that were watched while a babysitter was with my kids - the first couldn't find a way to turn subtitles "off", so watched the whole movie with Spanish subtitles! The other babysitter figured out how to turn them off.

- Chris
Can't you turn them of in the language section of the DVD menu?

CJayB

12-24-05, 04:16 PM

How about the price you paid for it???

I'm still looking for a problem with my OPPO - Cant find one!

Jeff

How true, for $3500 the thing had better be perfect, but even at that price the 5910 did not get perfect scores, so doesn't that make it less than perfect? And for $3,500 it's not even region-free (a huge problem to me, having a couple hundred DVDs from other regions, and that alone means I wouldn't trade my Oppo for the 5910 if I could only have one player).

Kapolei01

12-24-05, 04:40 PM

[QUOTE=Paul Bigelow]Kapolei01,

The Oppo plays my media (TDK/Sony) from a Sony RDR-GX7 OK. However, VR mode is not compatible with the Oppo.
___________________________________________________________
Thanks to all who responded,

I'll try all of your suggestions. I also went ahead and emailed Oppo Digital and it was also suggested that I use DVD+R/+RW media. Paul, I have the Sony RDR-GX300 (I also have a JVC DRM10S, and a Samsung DVD recorder). I calibrated my Sony using a DVE disk, with the Oppo set to the following: CCS off, TrueLife Off, brightness at -5, contrast 02, color saturation at 03, noise reduction (medium) with no signs of macroblocking. I had to turn up color saturation because even after I calibrated using DVE, I found the color saturation lacking until I dialed it up a bit on the Oppo. The Oppo's a wonderful player for the price. Thanks again guys for your suggestions. Merry X-Mas and Happy New Years! :D

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 07:46 PM

Merry Christmas to everyone and a big thanks to every participant in this thread. With everyone's help, the DV971H is getting better and better.

Paul

rontop

12-24-05, 08:00 PM

Here is where I am coming from:

Old DVD player - JVC HR-XVC33U combo VHS/DVD
Sony 30FX955 direct-view CRT HDTV
New DVD player - brand new Oppo with 1111b firmware on HDMI/DVI output

Because of the above, I had high hopes for the Oppo -- too high, I guess. Maybe the JVC and/or the Sony are just doing a really good job of the playback/scaling.

Here are the features of the JVC that I miss on the Oppo:

1) Good Zoom quality up to 64x. Every zoom level on the JVC looks better than any zoom level on the Oppo. What is up with that? Supposedly the best scaler available, and zoom looks awful.
2) DVD position memory for 30 discs. The memory for 1 disc on the Oppo doesn't even work reliably, and/or the fact that on reinsertion of the disc the option to resume times out so quickly that it often doesn't matter whether it did remember the previous position.
3) FF with sound. The JVC allows 1.5x playback with sound. This is great for locating dialog, or for keeping track of the plot in a movie that you don't have the patience to watch at 1x.
4) Bit-rate display. Great for checking whether it is just a bad DVD transfer or some other problem.
5) Can't exit from the zoom mode without going through every mode? Maybe I just don't know how to exit zoom directly back to normal mode.
6) A tray that allows me to remove the DVD by handling the edges. I also don't really like having to slide the DVD back into position. Is it just mine that doesn't come out far enough to drop the DVD straight down?
7) A readable and useful written manual. This one seems like a first-year project for an English-as-second-language student. I thought Oppo was a U.S. company. Why is the manual so badly written? And why is no feature explained? e.g. "TrueLife : Used to set TureLife" (sp). No hint of what TrueLife does. Even on the web site there is only a bad picture to explain the function.
8) Menu navigation is not very well done. Pressing the up button does not wrap around to the bottom of selections. Must go down through every option to get to the bottom. I guess I won't notice this as much when I am done trying out all the options.

Things that seem to be broken:

1) Slide Show type DVDs do not play correctly. Pause button causes skip to next slide. Back button does not go back.
2) Zoom on slideshow DVDs does not change until the next slide is displayed. Can't zoom in on a picture while it is displayed.
3) There seems to be some sort of processing being done even when every option is set to Off (besides the upscaling, of course.) Some DVD show effects in certain areas like eyes, small details etc. In some cases, my old DVD player looks better. This even after I learned that the best display is usually with every selectable feature on the Oppo turned off.
4) Noise Reduction has so many side effects that it appears to be useless. Is this feature meant just for still images, or what? At anything other than Low, there are trailing, ghosting, smearing, etc. on moving images.

One of the only things that the Oppo seems to do better than the JVC is to display imaging-processing test DVDs. Even then, the tests that show the white bars on black background that move like a clock's hand still shows a lot of aliasing (stair-stepping.) It does play back the Todd-AO version of "Oklahoma!" without the brightness pulsing, which is an improvement over the JVC.

Again, maybe I just expected too much. I just am not blown away by an improvement in the picture like I thought I would be. Any comments or tips specific to the above?

Ron

ZZtop

12-24-05, 08:33 PM

Apparently the problem lies in the conversion from DVI to HDMI out players into the pioneer plasma.

I use an Aurora A303 card to get the dvi socket with HDCP on the plasma (pio 503cmx). All my dvi players work just fine, but using the hdmi outputs to adpaters or cables that convert to DVI into the plasma fail.

I am thinking its a bug in the Aurora A303 cards dvi implementation.

The dvd players flash like there is no proper handshake with the plasma when trying to go HDMI to DVI.

This 3rd gen panel just may not do HDMI in via DVI. That would really bother me, this card cost close to 600$ bucks and Aurora proposed proper HDCP and DVI implentation. If an HDMI to DVI cable just pulls off the video part to input via DVI, I am wondering why this is not working.

I see many other members have done this apparently ( HDMI to DVI) on devices without an issue.

So, my oppo is working just fine, now to test it out :D

I brought home season 2 of Battlestar Galactica on dvd, though 34.99$ for half a season is a bit pricey in my book

Neuromancer

12-24-05, 09:04 PM

ZZtop,

At least we don't pay 100+ dollars ala Star Trek for each full season.

Hopefully you will find a way to get the OPPO and the Pioneer working together properly.

ZZtop

12-24-05, 09:54 PM

ZZtop,

At least we don't pau 100+ dollars ala Star Trek for each full season.

Hopefully you will find a way to get the OPPO and the Pioneer working together properly.

I got it working Neueromancer, after it hooking it to a monitor and then switching back to the plasma it worked just fine.

I now think that it was set to some dvi resolution the pioneer could not intially (perhaps 576p or something )by accident, and I had a disk playing.

The dvi button to change resolutions does not work while a disc is playing so it probably never changed when I was blindly pressing it hoping for an image to appear.

I like it, comparing to my 2910 will be fun.

Iamjcl

12-24-05, 10:40 PM

Well,

The subtitle issue is now gone - it must have been a bad flash somehow. I re-burned another .ISO of the same (latest) firmware and re-flashed. Its fine now.

Thanks.

- Chris

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 11:17 PM

Chris,

Reflashing the firmware also resets the setttings to default as well. Perhaps the setting for subtitles was fixed "ON".

Paul

Paul Bigelow

12-24-05, 11:56 PM

Neuromancer

12-25-05, 12:07 AM

I got it working Neueromancer, after it hooking it to a monitor and then switching back to the plasma it worked just fine.

I now think that it was set to some dvi resolution the pioneer could not intially (perhaps 576p or something )by accident, and I had a disk playing.

The dvi button to change resolutions does not work while a disc is playing so it probably never changed when I was blindly pressing it hoping for an image to appear.

I like it, comparing to my 2910 will be fun.

I thought as much, as you can see from my response in the other thread *cough*.

Glad you are enjoying the OPPO.

rontop

12-25-05, 08:59 AM

Ron,

Sometimes these things don't work out. Some CRT users don't notice much improvement in picture quality with upconverting players in general. Stairstepping really shouldn't be seen unless the display is introducing it -- that's why I don't send any 480i/p signal to my Panasonic LCD display.

How is the DV971H connected? If composite, S-Video, or component is being used then that would explain the stair-stepping and possibly other picture issues as those outputs are 480i only and the Faroudja deinterlacing processing is only enabled for the DVI output. If composite, S-Video, or component is being used then the signal deinterlacing is being performed by the display.

Features:

1.The quality of the zoom is a known issue -- it's mediocre at best, some pleyers do it well, others do not.

2. One memory position only. Another known item. Until recently the player used to have no disc position memory.

3. No sound with FF.

4. No bit rate display.

5. Must "scroll" through the zoom to exit zoom mode. Again, the zoom mode is not a strong point of the DV971H.

6. The DVD disc insertion is a bit unusual but I think many have become used to it. I handle the discs by inserting a finger into the DVD's center hole and with a tilting action and pressing lightly on the sides with the thumb and middle finger the disc is placed on the tray with no scratching or sliding around.

7. The manual is outdated. There have been many changes to the firmware and the remote since the introduction of the player late last year. The manual is being worked on.

8. The menu navigation is typical of players that utilize the MediaTek chip. It is rudimentary but some improvements have been made.

Defects:

1. & 2. Page 21 of the manual describes the operation of viewing .jpg files. it's a bit cumbersome.

3. Can't say for sure what is being seen but, sometimes, edge enhancement can give the appearance of addtional detail with small, contrasting items such as eyes because false information (white) is being enhanced. What happens if Sharpness is set to medium? If the eyes then look "right" then it is edge enhancement that is giving the impression of additional detail. Until the 0628 firmware edge enhancement could not be turned off.

4. Until the 1022 firmware there was no noise reduction at all. Noise reduction comes with a penalty of loss of detail and some smearing. Some processors do this better than others but all I've ever seen have issues even at the lowest settings. Some viewers desire to see the grain as it is an indicator of detail and considered part of the movie itself. Still, the option is offered if the noise is objectionable.

Paul

Paul,

Thanks for the responses.

- I forgot to mention that the player is hooked up DVI, so I am getting the best that it can give. Also I have no experience with any previous firmware revisions, only the 1111b.

1. You say "zoom mode is not a strong point". Does this imply that there is nothing that can be done, or that nothing will be done about this? Again, I am just surprised that the zoom would be disappointing on an "upconverting" player, especially one with such a good reputation.

2. The manual being outdated is one thing, but this one is imcomplete for the features that it lists and poorly written. I'm just sayin'.

3. What I called "slide-show" DVD is not just JPG files burned to a DVD. It is a type of DVD that can be made in Nero, for example, that has VOB, IFO, etc. structure.

4. As for the "edge enhancement" that you tried to help explain, remember that I said all the "features" of the Oppo are turned off when I see this. Therefore, turning Sharpness to medium would probably only make it worse. I will continue to play with settings to see what I can figure out.

Thanks again for the reply. I always like to check whether there is just something I am missing.

Ron

DanTana

12-25-05, 01:58 PM

I would like to see some sort of display adjustment in the next firmware. My screen is off to the left and it would be nice to adjust it via the Oppo instead of the TV.

dtorz21

12-26-05, 12:51 AM

Curious about anyones experience watching war of the worlds with the oppo. I just got it, along with a new dlp tv, and was blown away with the first few disks i put in...nemo, gladiator, spiderman... then i watched war of the worlds and was really disappointed. the whole movie seemed kinda fuzzy, and in the first 30 minutes the scenes by tom cruises house near that bridge were so bright it was barely watchable and almost becoming blurry... by the way the tv was calibrated thoroughly with avia before watching any movies....

is there something wrong with the wotw dvd transfer itself or did i do something wrong with setup.... or was this just a fluke?

aaronwt

12-26-05, 01:05 AM

I noticed the sound more because I was watching my whole condo shake with the DTS soundtrack. There is alot of subsonic bass and it really puts you in the middle of it, plus the bass is a little too hot. The DVD picture is exactly how I remember it in the movie theater. Alot of film grain or grain added by Spielberg in post production.

2manyDVDs

12-26-05, 02:38 AM

... then i watched war of the worlds and was really disappointed. the whole movie seemed kinda fuzzy, and in the first 30 minutes the scenes by tom cruises house near that bridge were so bright it was barely watchable and almost becoming blurry...

is there something wrong with the wotw dvd transfer itself or did i do something wrong with setup.... or was this just a fluke?

I recently watched War of the Worlds and I think it just may be the artistic rendering of the early scenes that are throwing you... i.e. they are supposed to look that way. Altered color pallette, glowing halo effect, etc. Either that or both our Oppo's are doing the same thing :) I saw WOTW in a theater last Summer and I don't remember the effect, but I think it was likely true to the film. Once they were "on the run" however, I thought the image was sharp and clear. This was a great flick to inaugurate my new sub-woofer, BTW.

-Merry Christmas

duckbill

12-26-05, 02:51 AM

Some news from that russian site (http://bbk985s.narod.ru/oppo971.html):
They added Nero Digital (*.mp4) support.

Just tried this fw and it works fine! Now I donating them 10$!
Good job pals!

dgkp

12-26-05, 06:19 AM

dgkp

12-26-05, 06:21 AM

I would like to see some sort of display adjustment in the next firmware. My screen is off to the left and it would be nice to adjust it via the Oppo instead of the TV.
Do you have the 1111b firmware that causes this problem on some displays? If so wind back to the 1022b firmware and adjust brightness to -3 (see first post for adivce on this). The oppo shouldn't need adjusting it's a bug in the 1111b firmware.

Dave

shelly

12-26-05, 10:44 AM

ashen-shugar

12-26-05, 12:02 PM

i was thrilled when the fix for divx aspect ration was finally released. being an avid divx watcher, the oppo finally fulfilled all my needs with the latest bios.

however i noticed a problem with subtitles for divx files. even though there was documented support for idx, srt, sub etc, the subtitles either played in the wrong language, or flashed erratically, or would result in choppy playback such that some divx files would play only when subtitle function was disabled. wonder if anyone else is having similar problems with this latest bios. the subtitles display fine in contrast, on pc playback, so there is no issue with subtitle corruption or naming. hope the oppo people are listening in and can offer me a solution or at least factor this into the next bios fix.

rickie

12-26-05, 12:02 PM

C. Hamilton

12-26-05, 12:08 PM

Paul,

"Herbie-Fully Loaded", and "Lilo and Stitch" are 2 titles that come to mind. These are the last 2 movies that were watched while a babysitter was with my kids - the first couldn't find a way to turn subtitles "off", so watched the whole movie with Spanish subtitles! The other babysitter figured out how to turn them off.

- Chris

I also just saw this the other night with Kronk's New Groove (Disney). I tried turning them off with no luck. Seemed it was the Spanish titles coming up.

Casey

Paul Bigelow

12-26-05, 01:36 PM

Hmmm.... all Disney, so far.

Paul

Neuromancer

12-26-05, 03:55 PM

I also just saw this the other night with Kronk's New Groove (Disney). I tried turning them off with no luck. Seemed it was the Spanish titles coming up.

Casey

Make sure you turn off Subtitles through the DVD Menu's system (usually in the Audio Setup) for Disney DVDs. Otherwise, all important text will come up as the next featured subtitle (outside of English).

73ChargerFan

12-26-05, 04:03 PM

Neuromancer

12-26-05, 04:13 PM

Neuromancer

12-26-05, 04:17 PM

How can I get the Oppo to default to Subtitle Off? I cannot find this option anywhere in the setup menus.

Every DVD I play starts off with the subtitles on, and pressing the subtitle button on the remote forces me to cycle through all possible. I've got one with 5 english, plus spanish and french subtitle options and I have to press the button repeatedly to get them off. Star Wars goes "BLAST BLAST" and MIB goes "BANG BANG" with guns. Kinda funny the first few times, but now I want them OFF.

I didn't have this problem with my previous player. My Oppo is new, with the latest firmware preinstalled.

Thanks.

Press Eject. Press Left on the navigation pad to go to the Fifth Menu Tab (Advance Setup). Select Subtitles then select OFF.

Additionally, some DVDs will not show subtitles correctly, or show improper subtitles. Make sure you turn off Subtitles through the DVD Menu's system (usually in the Audio Setup).

rily

12-26-05, 04:22 PM

73ChargerFan

12-26-05, 06:41 PM

Sounds like you'll need to use a RCA stereo to 1/8" stereo converter, if they make such an animal (3.5mm is 1/8"). Then plug the audio cable into Oppo into the MIX out on the left.

73ChargerFan

12-26-05, 07:35 PM

I found a 6' long cable online here. (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021804&p_id=665&seq=1&format=2&style=)

Neuromancer

12-26-05, 07:52 PM

Just got my Oppo and have a quick audio setup question. My Sharp LCD has one audio jack with the DVI input. Sharp says to use a 3.5 mm stereo cable. Should I use the digital audio out on the Oppo? What is the best cable to use?

You just need a RCA to 3.5mm adapter. Any electronics store will carry these for about 2~3 dollars.

73ChargerFan

12-26-05, 08:21 PM

Neuromancer, thanks for pointing me to the appropriate menu. I couldn't access it with a disk playing, and didn't find a reference to this in the manual.

rily

12-26-05, 10:24 PM

73ChargerFan/Neuromancer

Thanks for the info on the adapter.

Hyperlite

12-26-05, 10:38 PM

Anyone out there using the oppo with a Toshiba 42HP95? Anything to report?

DodgeViper

12-26-05, 11:27 PM

Hi All,

I have sarted a thread and poll called "Rate Your OPPO DVD Player" With over 7000 post regarding this DVD I and others would like to hear your input.

Please rate your OPPO DVD player. A vote of number 1 would be a poor player and vote of number 10 would be a top notch player. Granted I know this is a loaded question in regards to features, video playback, etc. I am looking for your overall experience with the DVD player.

If you place a vote please take a minute and post why you gave the player the score you gave.

POLL VOTE (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=621005)

Gilley

12-27-05, 12:40 PM

Dixie Flatline

12-27-05, 01:30 PM

Is the Oppo capable of outputting 480i through the DVI output?

I'm thinking about an external scaler such as the Lumagen and to keep the signal interlaced and all digital to let the Lumagen deinterlace and scale would be perfect. I am currently looking at the Pioneer Elite 79avi for this use as it can pass 480i through its HDMI connection.
No, but there is discussion here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=619439) of an upcoming DV970H model, which would have HDMI output, no Faroudja chip, and 480i output over HDMI. It would pretty much be ideal for feeding a scaler via HDMI (plus being a heckuvalot cheaper than the 79AVi, and it would still have all the advantages of the core Mediatek chipset).

Gilley

12-27-05, 01:40 PM

Thanks Dixie. I'll keep an eye on it.

mbroder

12-27-05, 02:45 PM

Just got my Oppo for X-mas. This is my first DVD player capable of DVD-audio, so I don't know too much about the setup and the manual isn't very well written.

Can I get 5.1 channel sound for DVD-audio through the optical digital output? Or does it have to be hooked up with the 5.1 analog outputs? My current receiver is semi-ancient... It has coax and optical inputs for Dolby Digital and DTS, however I'm not sure if the 5.1 analog inputs for DVD support DVD-audio. I don't think DVD-Audio was around when the receiver was made. Does it really matter, or should it work anyway?

If the 5.1 analog outputs are the only way to use the DVD-Audio feature, will any audio cables with rca ends work, or are there special cables for this?

Also, what settings in the Oppo setup menu should I be using to enable DVD-Audio playback?

Sorry for the seemingly dumb questions, but my passion has always been more on the video end of home theater. I really am looking forward to listening to some of my wife's DVD-Audio collection (she has DVD-Audio in her car. It's freakin' awsome!) in my home theater.

Thanks in advance for your informed replies.

Mark

Neuromancer

12-27-05, 03:09 PM

For DVD-Audio, there are two ways of getting 5.1 audio.

Digital: This assumes that the DVD-A disc contains a Dolby Digital or DTS audio stream.
Analog: You will need 6 analog audio cables to play back DVD-Audio discs in their proper format.

To use the Digital option, press Setup. Change DVD-Audio from "DVD-Audio" to "DVD-Video".

For analog, your receiver does not have to support DVD-Audio, as the OPDV971H is doing all the hardware decoding. All your receiver needs to do is accept and process the decoded audio information. You can use standard RCA cables for this application.

Gruson

12-27-05, 05:31 PM

Ok,

The audio "sync" problem is driving me nuts.

Certain discs REALLY get out of sync for the entire movie.

Is OPPO working on a fix for this?

I love the player...when it actually works right.

Neuromancer

12-27-05, 06:06 PM

Ok,

The audio "sync" problem is driving me nuts.

Certain discs REALLY get out of sync for the entire movie.

Is OPPO working on a fix for this?

I love the player...when it actually works right.

Use an audio delay if you have not done so already. And OPPO has a new firmware in the works with increased audio-delay functionality, but it is not ready for prime time (the delay is now in 20ms instead of 10ms intervals. They need to go back and change the UI to allow for scrolling of text to allow 10ms intervals to be selectable).

SteveEast

12-27-05, 06:57 PM

My kid's Thunderbirds DVDs (NTSC) have 2 audio tracks; a 2.0 and a 5.1. On my Toshiba SD-V592 when I use the audio button to select the audio track the display moves between the following selections:

1 Eng
XXD
2/0 CH

2 Eng
XXD
3/2.1 CH

(where XX is the Dolby Digital DreverseD logo.

On my Oppo I see:

Audio 1/2 XXD English
Audio 2/2 XXD English

so there's no visual way to distinguish between the audio tracks. I only noticed it on these DVDs because the default audio track is the stereo rather than the 5.1 and I wanted to select the latter.

Just an observation...

Steve.

Hyperlite

12-28-05, 09:23 AM

anyone using the 971H with a Toshiba 42HP95? any issues?

lexx

12-28-05, 09:31 AM

Ok,

The audio "sync" problem is driving me nuts.

Certain discs REALLY get out of sync for the entire movie.

Is OPPO working on a fix for this?

I love the player...when it actually works right.

Gruson

As you may know, audio sync is a problem with modern TVs because of the amount of video processing involved to produce the picture. The audio "gets there" before the video.

Some TVs have a more pronounced lag than others. Samsung DLPs seems to have more complaints about this than others, but it is present in most TVs and really seems to come up more with gamers, where there is a large amount of processing going on.

I doubt your problem is the oppo alone. This doesn't seem to be an overly common complaint on this thread. It may be something else in your set-up or perhaps the kind of DVDs you are watching (burned as opposed to bought).

I think the Oppo has a 50ms delay, however this is general conceded as not enough. You should have the ability to delay audio with a minimum of 160ms to cover most circumstances.

Common solutions are to get this delay unit by Felston (http://www.felston.com/), but it isn't cheap, or upgrade to a recently manufactured receiver since most of them have audio sync built in since this is a pretty common problem with modern equipment.

Paul Bigelow

12-28-05, 11:23 AM

Also, the delay setting should be set and left alone and tried for a few movies for evaluation -- without entering the setup menus. If one enters the menus to constantly set and reset the delay, the act of entering the menus will introduce some delay making it nearly impossible to find a good, consistent, setting.

Paul

javry

12-28-05, 11:46 AM

rontop

12-28-05, 12:26 PM

Gruson
I doubt your problem is the oppo alone. This doesn't seem to be an overly common complaint on this thread. It may be something else in your set-up or perhaps the kind of DVDs you are watching (burned as opposed to bought).
.
.
.
Common solutions are to get this delay unit by Felston (http://www.felston.com/), but it isn't cheap, or upgrade to a recently manufactured receiver since most of them have audio sync built in since this is a pretty common problem with modern equipment.

Since all you have to do to see a delay is bring up the Oppo's menu while viewing a DVD, then this delay, at least, appears to be all Oppo. Admittedly, this is only one of the delays that people are seeing, but a separate piece of hardware is not an appropriate solution for this one.

Ron

mczolton

12-28-05, 12:40 PM

ugabuga

12-28-05, 12:44 PM

I just received my Oppo a few days ago. It did not come with the new remote, but I emailed them and they are sending me the new one for free. I have a question guys. How are you calibrating audio for DVD-A and pro-logic 2 using the Oppo? I calibrated DD with the usual combination of Avia and DVE, but have no idea how to for other audio formats.

Neuromancer

12-28-05, 01:11 PM

The audio delay issue with the 971H has been an "on and off again" theme for as long as I've owned the unit. Look back through some of the earlier threads or other posts. It's the first thing I noticed when turning the unit on. The THX Optimizer in the Incredibles DVD is what really bought the issue to my attention. What came out of the speakers would lag behind what was on the display by one speaker. I sent an email to the guys at Oppo. They said they were aware of the problem and were working on it.
Javry

The THX Optimizer is a strange one, as some people report problems on only certain discs, or problems across the board. It is unlikely that OPPO will fix this THX issue as it takes about 1~2 seconds for the OPDV971H to buffer the original video feed, which is enough time to completely offset the video and audio. The only way OPPO could get around this is if they turned off the Faroudja chipset fully.

kanefsky

12-28-05, 01:27 PM

Does anyone have a test pattern that can be used to quantify the amount of delay required for a particular Oppo/display combination? I know the GetGray calibration disc has an audio synchronization pattern, but the audio portion of the disc has yet to be implemented and thus is not useful at this point. I don't see that Avia or DVE include a test for this.

Thanks,
Mark

The delay issue isn't about a fixed amount of delay for a given display. That can easily be corrected for. It's about an unpredictable amount of delay which changes from disc to disc or from moment to moment, or depending on which features of the player you're using (play, stop, setup, etc.)

I've only seen it on a couple discs myself, but I've verified that the same disc worked OK on another player.

--
Steve

mczolton

12-28-05, 01:42 PM

The delay issue isn't about a fixed amount of delay for a given display. That can easily be corrected for. It's about an unpredictable amount of delay which changes from disc to disc or from moment to moment, or depending on which features of the player you're using (play, stop, setup, etc.)

I've only seen it on a couple discs myself, but I've verified that the same disc worked OK on another player.

--
Steve

Steve, I understand that the delay issue most people are experiencing varies from disc to disc. I should have been more clear. I wasn't referring to the variable audio delay on a per disc basis. Rather, I was referring to the need for audio delay in general (across all discs).

Since you mention that a fixed amount of delay for a given display can be corrected for, how are you able to quantify this? I would certainly feel more comfortable having a test pattern that can analyze the need for a delay (in general) than relying on my own subjective opinion.

Thanks,
Mark

rickie

12-28-05, 01:49 PM

Ok,

The audio "sync" problem is driving me nuts.

Certain discs REALLY get out of sync for the entire movie.

Is OPPO working on a fix for this?

I love the player...when it actually works right.

When i first got the oppo, late last spring, I thought the audio sync problem was going to be a show stopper. probably in first 3 or four day, it seemed like every other dvd had an intermittent problem. Tried numerous things, nothing worked. Since it was intermittent, audio delay settings dont help.

Finaly decided to wait to see what OPPO did with firmware releases. Also had a couple of other issues.

However, it seems like i see the problem very rarely now. I'm not sure what changed, though it may have to do with not going into setup nearly as much as i used to.

In any event, it still happens on my oppo, but pretty rarely on commercial dvds.

Rick

javry

12-28-05, 02:27 PM

The delay issue isn't about a fixed amount of delay for a given display. That can easily be corrected for. It's about an unpredictable amount of delay which changes from disc to disc or from moment to moment, or depending on which features of the player you're using (play, stop, setup, etc.)

I've only seen it on a couple discs myself, but I've verified that the same disc worked OK on another player.

--
Steve

This sounds about right. There doesn't appear to be a consistent pattern that you can nail down and whatever the Oppo does when the issue appears, it isn't replicated in other players. Perhaps we could put together a list of the "top ten" things we would like to see Oppo manage in the next firmware upgrade and include this issue in the list. From my experience, they've always been reponsive to stuff like that.

Javry

SteveEast

12-28-05, 03:09 PM

This sounds about right. There doesn't appear to be a consistent pattern that you can nail down and whatever the Oppo does when the issue appears, it isn't replicated in other players. Perhaps we could put together a list of the "top ten" things we would like to see Oppo manage in the next firmware upgrade and include this issue in the list. From my experience, they've always been reponsive to stuff like that.

Javry

It's already #1 in the DEFECT/WISH LIST in post #1 at the start of this thread.

Steve.

kanefsky

12-28-05, 03:42 PM

Since you mention that a fixed amount of delay for a given display can be corrected for, how are you able to quantify this? I would certainly feel more comfortable having a test pattern that can analyze the need for a delay (in general) than relying on my own subjective opinion.

DVE has an A/V Timing Clock test in title 16, chapter 5.

--
Steve

Josh Z

12-28-05, 03:51 PM

How are you calibrating audio for DVD-A and pro-logic 2 using the Oppo? I calibrated DD with the usual combination of Avia and DVE, but have no idea how to for other audio formats.

You only need to set your speaker levels once. You don't need to calibrate separately for different audio formats. The relative difference from one speaker to the next will remain the same no matter which format you listen to.

mczolton

12-28-05, 06:01 PM

DVE has an A/V Timing Clock test in title 16, chapter 5.

--
Steve

Thanks, I must have missed that in the index. I will check it out.

Mark

DodgeViper

12-29-05, 12:40 AM

Again I would like to personally invite all OPPO owners to take part in Rate Your OPPO DVD Player. Feedback has been overwhelming. Currently with 114 members casting their opinion the DVD play has a total score of 8.1, with the majority votes placing the OPPO Player at 8.9. It’s very obvious that this $200.00 player is more than an entry level player. Imagine quality and customer support rates very high. In today world getting customer service is a joke.

Please take a minute and cast your vote. Please take a minute to write why you like or dislike the DVD player including the score you have given this player…

RATE YOUR OPPO (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=621005)

SightSeeker1

12-29-05, 09:48 AM

I get mine today. Can't wait to try it out. I noticed last night watching Serenity that it was VERY noisy on my Toshiba DVD. Hope to see it nice and clear tonight.

GFletch

12-29-05, 11:55 AM

Here's something I'd like to see added to the wish list. Auto power on and execution from any front panel button. Also a speedier response time from remote when resuming play, from PAUSE or STOP. Actually I can't recall if the response is slow from STOP, but it's slow enough from PAUSE to make you second guess.

ugabuga

12-29-05, 12:01 PM

mczolton

12-29-05, 12:09 PM

I have a question guys. How are you calibrating audio for DVD-A and pro-logic 2 using the Oppo? I calibrated DD with the usual combination of Avia and DVE, but have no idea how to for other audio formats.

Someone answered this for you about four posts ago. Check here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6800875&&#post6800875).

Mark

SightSeeker1

12-29-05, 01:11 PM

Well when I was at lunch today the Oppo came in. First impressions......Looks great!!!!

First thing I noticed I turned down my brightness from 57 to 44. I have a Toshiba 51HC85 and I have always been irritated at the black levels in the picture. If someone is wearing something dark it just seems black with no shadows. Also shadows are black with no shading. It's like this on HD as well. Now I did have my other Toshiba progressive DVD player ($60 at Target) and Box hooked up component. I noticed I can see the detail in the shadows now and picture seems like it should on a regular tube TV. Now I want to hook up my cable box HDMI but I'm using the plug for the Oppo :(

One thing I'm noticing is the picture is still a little noisy. It is WAY better but still there. I adjusted the sharpness down until it's gone but the detail gets lost too. I have all of the features turned off I think. I'll have to play with it more.
Another thing is the 1080i signal is shaky. I'm not going to be able to use it which kind of ticks me off since my TV is 1080i. I'm running it 720p -> 1080i right now and it looks good. My TV has a 540p setting so maybe I'll match the resolution.

justsc

12-29-05, 02:00 PM

...Another thing is the 1080i signal is shaky. I'm not going to be able to use it which kind of ticks me off since my TV is 1080i. I'm running it 720p -> 1080i right now and it looks good. My TV has a 540p setting so maybe I'll match the resolution.
Same thing on my tube set. So I've just settled on 720p and it looks great there.

SightSeeker1

12-29-05, 02:06 PM

Same thing on my tube set. So I've just settled on 720p and it looks great there.

What are your settings? I know Paul likes to have everything turned off I'm just wondering if anyone likes the True Life, CCS, or NR turned on. I didn't have any time to play with any of it but if someone else likes it I can't tell myself I don't. :) Just making sure everyone is the same on all of that.

ugabuga

12-29-05, 03:11 PM

Ok to calibrate pro-logic 2 and dvd-a, what are you using for the calibrations? Test tones? Avia and DVE have pink noise tests for DD and DTS, so what are you guys using?

Josh Z

12-29-05, 04:01 PM

Ok to calibrate pro-logic 2 and dvd-a, what are you using for the calibrations? Test tones? Avia and DVE have pink noise tests for DD and DTS, so what are you guys using?

You need a sound level meter and test tones. Those tones may be generated by your receiver, or may be found on a test disc like Avia or DVE. It doesn't really matter which you use. The point of speaker calibration is to set the relative difference from one speaker to the next to properly account for speaker position, room acoustics, and whatnot. Once the levels are identical among all speakers, you're properly calibrated for all audio formats. You don't need to calibrate each audio format separately.

jmytyk

12-29-05, 07:38 PM

Quesion about this Oppo.

Is it possible to run in in a silent mode- meaning, no OSD, no "play" triangle, no "pause" ||, etc...

Thanks- Jon

Neuromancer

12-29-05, 07:48 PM

Quesion about this Oppo.

Is it possible to run in in a silent mode- meaning, no OSD, no "play" triangle, no "pause" ||, etc...

Thanks- Jon

No, there is no silent mode for the OPDV971H.

Ja Phule

12-29-05, 10:18 PM

Stimby

12-29-05, 10:30 PM

http://personal.inet.fi/cool/mediatek/programs/mtkremaker.html

Heres the tool used, at your own risk of course.

Ja Phule

12-29-05, 11:29 PM

http://personal.inet.fi/cool/mediatek/programs/mtkremaker.html

Heres the tool used, at your own risk of course.

Cool, I think I'm gonna let someone try it first.. Neuromancer? :)

GSB

12-30-05, 03:09 AM

Cool, I think I'm gonna let someone try it first.. Neuromancer? :)CHICKEN! You were the one who asked for it!

Just teasing, of course.

Gary

Neuromancer

12-30-05, 03:33 AM

Cool, I think I'm gonna let someone try it first.. Neuromancer? :)

I'll give it a try tomorrow morning.

GSB

12-30-05, 07:31 AM

You may remember that, with the 1022 firmware, I managed to use the OPPO's Brightness and Contrast settings to suppress macroblocking on my DLP TV. Unfortunately, deviating from Studio-RGB (DVD standard – digital values 16-235), causes minor banding. Therefore, my final result was always a compromise between macroblock performance and smoothness in a gray ramp.

With the latest firmware, I have recalibrated my display dozens of times, and made some interesting new discoveries:
I found that the "ghosting" on still images (that we recently discussed), seems to have a very close correlation to macroblock-enhancement on my DLP TV.
I also found that the OPPO's Saturation control affects the severity of ghosting and macroblocking, just as the Brightness and Contrast controls do. When ghosting is left on the blue OPPO logo, or when the player is paused on a scene with macroblocking, I can cause the ghosting or macroblocking to worsen, or virtually disappear, just by tweaking the Saturation control. Note that this is not a linear relationship. As you adjust the Saturation control between min and max values, the macroblocking comes and goes in cycles, it does not steadily increase.
To summarize:
With the 1111B firmware, I now leave the OPPO's Brightness and Contrast controls at their default values (0) to prevent the possiblity of banding. I turn OFF the "Truelife" and "Noise Reduction" features. Then I tweak the Saturation control a few clicks in either direction and pick the setting that best suppresses macroblock-enhancement. Finally, I compensate for the saturation changes by adjusting the display's saturation control. (The controls on my display also affect the severity of the macroblocking, but to a smaller degree).

The OPPO's "Noise Reduction" feature (set to "LOW", with Truelife set to "OFF") can also suppress digital noise and macroblocking on a badly encoded disk. Set it back to "OFF" afterward.

For best results, of course, the display should first be properly calibrated to use its FULL range of available contrast. This made BY FAR the biggest difference of all, on both of my DLP sets.

Here are a few related posts that may prove useful:
Macroblocking... Description and Examples (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6846236&&#post6846236)
Kris Deering on Macroblocking in the Source: "SW2 - Attack of the Clones" (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6415307&&#post6415307)
MPEG2 Compression Causes Digtal Broadcast Macroblocking Too (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=606578)
More on Macroblocking Problems (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6746147&&#post6746147)
OPPO Settings (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6722751&&#post6722751) (particularly point #4).
Samsung DLP Calibration Crash-Course (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5120358&&#post5120358)
Gary

plughplover

12-30-05, 03:37 PM

Another thing is the 1080i signal is shaky. I'm not going to be able to use it which kind of ticks me off since my TV is 1080i. I'm running it 720p -> 1080i right now and it looks good. My TV has a 540p setting so maybe I'll match the resolution.
Just noticed this last night as well (new Oppo, 1111B firmware)

At 1080i into my crt, on the Oppo logo screen, the horizontal-ish portions of the logo flicker. Rock solid at 480p and 720p.

On a seperate topic, was given a Philips universal learning remote for x-mas, which of course does not know the Oppo. Any chance a downgrade to 1022 firmware and silver remote codes would be 'helpful'?

plughplover

12-30-05, 05:59 PM

just made an interesting discovery about an aspect of the audio sync problem

Have been experimenting with various source material; the other day I played a MPEG2 clip I downloaded that very quickly showed significant lip-sync issues.

The clip is (I believe) a dvb capture from BBC-3 of Pink Floyd's Live8 performance. According to GSpot it is a 720x576 16:9 PAL mpeg2 video with Mpeg1 layer 2 48kHz stereo audio. I burned it to an ISO with some other files for playback.

What I discovered is that (1) my display supports PAL input {!} and (2) when I switch the Oppo to PAL mode and play this clip the audio sync problem vanishes.

It appears as though the Oppo's PAL->NTSC processing is the culprit in this case.

I've noted some sync issues with some avi's as well - I'm going to go back and see if they were 25fps or not...

Neuromancer

12-31-05, 01:12 AM

plughplover,

PAL-NTSC conversions will always be out of synch due to the difference in film speeds. The audio and video are off by about 4%. Playing the disc back in its native form will bring both back into synch.

DivX files recorded at 25 could foreseably benefit from PAL playback. Give it a try.

Trance Dog

12-31-05, 12:56 PM

Someone should convince those firmware modders to write a compiler that will let us modify the start up image with our own. That would be cool. :) Now if someone could do that for my projector too....

It is possible to do because there is a special software exists spesifically for this purpose. Involves a little bit of work, though.

You should check the MTZ's web-page, it has a lot of info about modding MTK firmwares. There is also a yahoo group where mtk modders hang out. But this one is a major league thing. I wouldn't understand a half of the things they say because their main language is assembly, and I don't remember it anymore:-)

plughplover

12-31-05, 02:54 PM

PAL-NTSC conversions will always be out of synch due to the difference in film speeds. The audio and video are off by about 4%. Playing the disc back in its native form will bring both back into synch.
This is not a film conversion - ie not 24fps film sped up to 25fps for PAL - rather it was a digital capture of a live PAL broadcast.

Playing around, I found another way to get this MPEG2 file to play correctly. I can play it in NTSC mode with no audio sync problems if I set 'Video mode' to Video2 (which as I understand it enables 2:2 cadence detection but ALSO disables NTSC conversion on the analog video outputs).

To summarize: 720x576 16:9 PAL Mpeg2 file with MP2 audio, 1111B firmware
1) TV Type setting = NTSC, Video Mode = Video1 -> audio sync problem
2) TV Type setting = PAL, Video Mode = Video1 -> no sync problem
3) TV Type setting = PAL, Video mode = Video2 -> no sync problem
4) TV Type setting = NTSC, Video Mode = Video2 -> no sync problem

Based upon my (limited) understanding of how the Oppo works, case 1 has the Mediatek doing PAL to NTSC conversion (so the 480i analog video output can work), vs case 2 and 3 with no conversion at all, vs case 4 with Mediatek NOT doing NTSC conversion, rather handled by Faroujda instead(?).

73ChargerFan

12-31-05, 03:00 PM

Can someone please write a how-to guide to this player?

arikevin

12-31-05, 03:09 PM

Hi guys,

I have just received my Oppo DVD Player on Saturday morning from Amazon.com. Played around with it for a little while. I have updated the firmware as well :)

I have an Optoma H27 projector. I connect Oppo and Optoma H27 via DVI. The projector's native resolution is 854x480. Should I upscale the Oppo to 720? or just use 480? Are some features enabled in 720, eg. the Farudja (spelling?) processing?

Another question, what is Video 1 and Video 2? Which one should I use to be problem free?

I noticed that A Bug's Life (first edition of the Region 1 Collector's edition) does not look great on my projector. A lot of reviews from DVD websites saying that the PQ is reference quality. However, it looks "compressed". Is there any problem with my projector? That was the first disc I played on Oppo after I did some calibration because it has been bugging me even when I was still using HTPC (DVI connectivity).

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Kevin

GSB

12-31-05, 07:11 PM

I noticed that A Bug's Life (first edition of the Region 1 Collector's edition) does not look great on my projector. A lot of reviews from DVD websites saying that the PQ is reference quality. However, it looks "compressed". Is there any problem with my projector? That was the first disc I played on Oppo after I did some calibration because it has been bugging me even when I was still using HTPC (DVI connectivity). Hi Kevin

Since your projector's native resolution is 854x480, you should try all the DVI output resolutions, and pick the one that looks best to you. Look for stability and resolution in the image.

I don't know what you mean by "some calibration", or "looks compressed". You may need more extensive calibration (or repair) to get it right, especially since you had the same problem when using your DVI HTPC. You'll need to raise this issue on the projector threads. "A Bug's Life" should look excellent, except maybe for a few bits of macroblocking (compression stuff) in a few places, like CH22.

Gary

GSB

12-31-05, 07:17 PM

Can someone please write a how-to guide to this player?How to what? I assume you read the manual and the first post in this thread?

73ChargerFan

12-31-05, 07:33 PM

The manual is this product's weak point, and from what I've been reading, there is a lot of tweaking that can or should be done.

Just a few days ago, for instance, I couldn't figure out how to turn off subtitles (it was set to always on.) The "magic" was to eject the tray, go to settings then hit the left button. Up came a menu item that I couldn't reach before (I've always got a disk in the player) and the manual isn't clear about. I tried the the search functions here at AVS.

To Turn off Subtitles:
Eject the tray
Go into Settings
Hit the Left Button

This is the kind of stuff that should be in the manual, and could be in a How-To. The first post of this thread has a wealth of info, but isn't what I'm talking about. Have you never seen a HOWTO document?

I really like this player, and this web site is indispensable. But it'll take a month of reading anecdotal observations to learn what I need.

Paul Bigelow

12-31-05, 08:40 PM

It's being worked on.

Paul

Bitgod

12-31-05, 10:27 PM

Ran into some audio goofiness yesterday, and yes, I'm using the coax digital. Maybe I'll go out and buy another optical cable. Anyway, I popped in a few discs just to take a look at them, I hadn't since I got the Oppo, and so I was jumping around chapters, and sometimes the audio wouldn't be playing. If I quicklly FF or RW a little and then played, the audio would come back. This happened with both discs, but I decided no biggie, it's not how I normally watch DVDs, as long as the audio is there when I start playing a movie, that's fine.

So I break out my new Serenity DVD and play it, plays fine and dandy, afterwards I go into the bonus section and watch the outtakes. I have it playing them all in a row. During 2 of the clips, the audio wouldn't play and I'd RW it back to the beginning and play it and the audio would play. Then I went through the outtakes again, listening to the commentary track this time, and it did it once, on one of the same tracks it balked at the first time. SHRUG

Paul Bigelow

01-01-06, 12:29 AM

Never had a problem like that. Maybe others can chime in. I don't have Serenity.

Any firmware update applied recently?

Paul

GSB

01-01-06, 04:11 AM

I've never experienced anything like that either.

arikevin

01-01-06, 11:08 AM

Hi,

I would like to know the difference between Video 1 and Video 2. I am currently hooking the player with my H27 via DVI.

Thank you in advanced.

Paul Bigelow

01-01-06, 01:03 PM

arikevin

01-01-06, 01:16 PM

Paul, thank you. :)

AndrewB.

01-01-06, 02:18 PM

From the release notes, available here:

http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_firmware_1022_release_note.html

1. Support 2:2 cadence for PAL movies.

In the “General Setup” menu page, there is now a “Video Mode” option. The choices are “Video 1” and “Video 2”. The “Video 1” mode is the same as the previous version firmware, which does not support 2:2 cadence for PAL movies. The “Video 2” mode supports 2:2 cadence for PAL movies. However in “Video 2” mode all analog video outputs (Composite, S-Video, Component) will not perform NTSC/PAL system conversion. The video output from any of the analog connectors will have the same NTSC or PAL system as encoded on the DVD disc itself.

In summary:

* If you mainly watch North American NTSC versions of movies and video programs on DVD, and would like to keep the NTSC/PAL system conversion function on the analog video outputs, you should select the “Video 1” mode. In this case imported PAL discs with 2:2 cadence will still play, but not with the best possible picture quality.
* If you only use the DVI video output and would like to get the best possible picture quality for both NTSC and PAL discs, you should select the “Video 2” mode. In this case the analog video outputs will not perform NTSC/PAL system conversion.

Could anyone help me to understand one additional technicality relating to cadence? I am in the UK but have a Sanyo Z2 projector hooked up to my Oppo and the Z2 can accept PAL or NTSC inputs. So I run my Oppo on "Video 2" with the PAL/NTSC/Auto setting in the setup menu set to "Auto". My understanding is that by doing this I will watch NTSC DVDs as NTSC and PAL as PAL. But I have one issue which is that some PAL DVDs (eg "The Blue Planet" which is a TV documentary) seem to be causing the Oppo problems. I am seeing that kind of horizontal shearing effect that I used to see with my old Sony DVD player when I was forcing it to use a prog scan "film" mode on material that originated from TV. Now the Sony had a setting to switch to prog scan "video" mode which allowed you to force it to treat the material correctly. Does the Oppo have any such facility? I have noticed before on other material (eg trailers before the main feature on some Disney DVDs) that it seems to take a while to switch into the correct mode.

I have a feeling that this is something to do with cadences but just can't get my head around 2:2 3:2, 4:4:2 (soccer joke) or whatever...

Please enlighten me in short words!

Thanks

Andrew

kkkacbo

01-01-06, 03:37 PM

looking to buy Oppo DVD, to hook up to panny or dell 50" plasma. Am also looking at a pioneer 1015 AV receiver and Orb 6.1 speaker set up. Also on Dish. Question is what is the best way to hook this stuff up to maximize experience and/or do I need to consider different components?

Am Newbie to all this stuff and all this tech stuff is way over the head of this banker!

Any help would be appreciated

73ChargerFan

01-01-06, 03:44 PM

kkkacbo, the Oppo looks best using its HDMI output, but the 1015 only does component video output. If you hook the Oppo direct to the plasma and everything else through the pioneer, then it will look best. If you want everthing switched through your receiver, then the 1015 is not your piece.

Current receivers that switch HDMI signals seem to be having problems with various components. Wait 2 weeks and see what is announced at the CES 2006.

FWIW, I'd spend a week or two reading various posts here on AVS. There is a wealth of information, and specific questions are easier to answer than general newbie ones.

powered monk

01-01-06, 03:58 PM

Cool, I think I'm gonna let someone try it first.. Neuromancer? :)
I got it to work... going to show results as soon as I have 5 posts ;)

powered monk

01-01-06, 04:01 PM

Heres the tool used, at your own risk of course.
Thanks, that is very helpful!

powered monk

01-01-06, 04:07 PM

Hi all!

Some russians made modded firmware for oppo 971h. I just found it at bbk985s.narod.ru

Now I am upgrading my player.

This news switched me from read-only mode on this forum to read-write!

I hope it'll work!
I tried the hacked firmware and had trouble... Sometimes DVDs would load with no sound and switching between audio tracks would always make it loose all audio. I'm using a coaxial cable, wonder if that had something to do with it.

Otherwise, I'd use this firmware... long file names are nice!

powered monk

01-01-06, 04:12 PM

I got it to work... post to follow shortly

powered monk

01-01-06, 04:17 PM

Thanks, I must have missed that in the index. I will check it out.

Mark

DVE isn't very easy to navigate. There's probably even an episode of MASH hidden in there... :confused:

bakpakva

01-01-06, 04:20 PM

I tried the hacked firmware and had trouble... Sometimes DVDs would load with no sound and switching between audio tracks would always make it loose all audio. I'm using a coaxial cable, wonder if that had something to do with it.

Otherwise, I'd use this firmware... long file names are nice!

I didn't have any problems with the hacked firmware so far this weekend. I can try to confirm any problems you have noticed. I didn't have any problems with the audio, but I will try switching between tracks tonight when we watch something. I usually just keep it in DD5.1 or DTS. Anything else you noticed about the firmware?

powered monk

01-01-06, 04:31 PM

I was able to modify the background picture on my Oppo.

Here is the result (http://www.behoppy.com/oppo/2006-01-01_background.jpg).

It took several tries to get it right. First, I used the MTK MPEG (http://personal.inet.fi/cool/mediatek/programs/mtkmpegtool.html) Tool to convert the .BMP to a single frame of MPEG. This worked and was very easy to use, but by default it uses maximum compression. This resulted in a nasty looking, blocky background. There is a batch file in there that could probably be edited to bump up quality...

For the second try, I went back to 2001 when I'd hacked the background of an Apex 660, using this method (http://www.nerd-out.com/darrenk/Backgrounds/Background.htm). A little ungainly, but you can control the level of compression (I used "1" for none). MKLOGO and c2bin worked great:

Results with MTK MPEG defaults (http://www.behoppy.com/oppo/high_compression.jpg)
Results with MKLOGO, set at 1 (http://www.behoppy.com/oppo/no_compression.jpg)

Oppo's original background MPEG frame is about 41k in size. The compressed MTK one was half that size, and the uncompressed one was double that (82k). Both worked fine. It's noteworthy that a much larger background image did work! The EPROM apparently has extra space, and Oppo's firmware authors must have set some aside for background logos or future features or..? We'll have to see if this changes as new firmwares are released.

Finally, I used the MTK ReMaker (http://personal.inet.fi/cool/mediatek/programs/mtkremaker.html) to add it into the 1111B firmware.

I take no responsibility if your player croaks, your copy of Serenity plays backwards or your surround channels fly off the wall and freak out the cat.
Having said that, here is the ISO (www.behoppy.com/oppo/1111B_Nicole.rar).

powered monk

01-01-06, 06:39 PM

I didn't have any problems with the hacked firmware so far this weekend. I can try to confirm any problems you have noticed. I didn't have any problems with the audio, but I will try switching between tracks tonight when we watch something. I usually just keep it in DD5.1 or DTS. Anything else you noticed about the firmware?

I only tried a few DivX files and one DVD (Conan the Complete Quest). Powering off the unit and turning it back on sometimes gave audio and always failed when the audio track was changed. Any audio setting I tried after that, remained silent. The only audio connection I tried was over coaxial.

The Russian firmware I was using was also one I had hacked a new background picture into, so that might be part of the problem... the picture's larger file size might have overwrote some code (I mean, if you're going to void the warranty, might as well really void it!). :D

Flashing back to the Oppo 1111B fixed the audio. Weird.

bakpakva

01-01-06, 07:04 PM

The Russian firmware I was using was also one I had hacked a new background picture into, so that might be part of the problem... the picture's larger file size might have overwrote some code (I mean, if you're going to void the warranty, might as well really void it!). :D

Flashing back to the Oppo 1111B fixed the audio. Weird.

Very cool. I will have to look into the process for replacing the background. It would be great to have my theater logo as the Oppo background. The process looked rather involved though, so not sure if I could get it to work.

Paul Bigelow

01-01-06, 08:44 PM

Here's a concise guide that may help:

ratnamg

01-01-06, 08:56 PM

hi
I dont know if it is just me but I couldnt get the word document to download. Can you please repost?

Paul Bigelow

01-01-06, 09:00 PM

Try "right click"
then select "Save link target as:"

I'm able to click on it and save it to hard drive.

Paul

jgoggan

01-01-06, 11:55 PM

Just noticed this last night as well (new Oppo, 1111B firmware)

At 1080i into my crt, on the Oppo logo screen, the horizontal-ish portions of the logo flicker. Rock solid at 480p and 720p.

Same here -- on my Hitachi 57" RPTV (which is 1080i native). 720p looks great, but 1080i is quite visibly shaky.

However, Hooking up my old VOOM box via DVI, I get the exact same thing -- 1080i shakes. So, I've been assuming this was a problem with my TV, not with the Oppo.

Is anyone that had 1080i from their Oppo before that was fine saying that it is now shaky with the new firmware? Or is everyone seeing this either new to Oppo or have always seen it with every firmware? Personally, I'm new to the Oppo -- so I've only ever used 1111B.

- John...

jgoggan

01-02-06, 12:14 AM

Just to note them... These are the suggestions that I recently sent to Oppo. Note that I'm a new user that just got the Oppo a few days ago. Most of these are things that my Panny did that I wish the Oppo did -- plus a few others...

1. If the drive tray is open and I power the unit off, it should pull in the tray first. Leaving it open and powering off just seems weird. Commonly, when I'm done watching a movie, I hit eject, pull out the disc, and just hit power. My Panny would close and shut off. The Oppo just powers down with the tray left open.

2. Similarly, if it is off and I hit tray open, it should power on -- so that I don't have to hit two buttons every time I watch a movie. Most players seem to do this -- they power up and open when the tray eject button is pressed -- even if they were "off" before.

3. Increase the time before the screensaver kicks in. It seems very quick after I pause a movie. Screen burn takes quite a while these days -- and we even have some TVs (DLP, for example) that won't burn at all. In any case, I think it should stay paused for 5+ minutes at least before the screensaver should have to kick in.

4. Is there some layer change problem? I'm running the latest firmware and I guess I expect "seamless" layer changes. This is how the DVD Benchmark Shootout describes it -- because of buffering. However, I just wanted "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and there was a noticeable pause on the layer change. The buffering seemed to work fine on most other movies -- as I didn't see the layer change on several others. Any ideas?

5. Sound during FF/REW would be great. Most of my other players have had this at 2x and even 4x speed. I'd like to see the Oppo have it one day too if possible.

Note that I'm very happy with the unit though -- just wanted to share a few things that I'd like to see better/different in the future.

- John...

guapote

01-02-06, 12:17 AM

Anybody have any thoughts on my post from yesterday?

Hi, I am having a strange experience with my new Oppo. I have had it for a few weeks and have very recently decided to buy some DVD AUDIO's to see how they sound. Most of them have been great but I have tried two Neil Young offerings (Greendale and On the Beach) and neither will play they both lock up my Oppo's ( I have two and they both lock up). Is there a known issue with Neil Young DVD AUDIO's and the Oppo? If so why just his discs? It seems very strange.

shelly

01-02-06, 12:39 AM

In summary:

* If you mainly watch North American NTSC versions of movies and video programs on DVD, and would like to keep the NTSC/PAL system conversion function on the analog video outputs, you should select the “Video 1” mode. In this case imported PAL discs with 2:2 cadence will still play, but not with the best possible picture quality.
* If you only use the DVI video output and would like to get the best possible picture quality for both NTSC and PAL discs, you should select the “Video 2” mode. In this case the analog video outputs will not perform NTSC/PAL system conversion.

I had been using the default Video 1 mode but wanted to change to Video 2 following your post.

I cannot access Video to make the change. It is grayed out on my General Settings screen as is dvd audio. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Shelly

TerryJ

01-02-06, 12:45 AM

I had been using the default Video 1 mode but wanted to change to Video 2 following your post.

I cannot access Video to make the change. It is grayed out on my General Settings screen as is dvd audio. Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Shelly
Hit STOP to stop the disc. Hit STOP again. Go to the setup menu and you should be able to change the Video 1 mode to Video 2 now.

-Terry

Paul Bigelow

01-02-06, 12:47 AM

Shelly,

Stop the player to eject the disc and make the change or
Turn on the player but insert no disc to make the change.

This setting and many others are described at the first post of the thread or the recently creeated settings guide (see six posts back) Have a read! ;)

Paul

Bitgod

01-02-06, 03:38 AM

Never had a problem like that. Maybe others can chime in. I don't have Serenity.

Any firmware update applied recently?

Paul

Nope, I'm using the 1111B that it came with, I got my unit in late Nov. Right after 1111B came out and right before the new remotes came out. :)

b@nned

01-02-06, 04:01 AM

I don't know if this already has been mentioned but does anyone know when oppo will release an updated dvd player with HDMI output instead of the current DVI?

johnkn7

01-02-06, 06:54 AM

dusterscott

01-02-06, 07:08 AM

My Oppo 971H should be arriving by Friday. Can't wait to try it out! Will be connecting to the HDMI input of a Maxent MX-42X3, software Ver 050608. Any first-time issues or settings I should look out for? At some point, I will need to get a 2-port HDMI switch box. Looking at the one that Monoprice is selling with the I-R remote.
John

I've been using a Gefen HDMI switcher in my system. I use it to switch between the Oppo and my Samsung OTA STB since I only have one DVI input on my display. It's worked well for me but now I have another digital source so I'm thinking about purchasing monoprice's 4:1 switcher. Gefen wants too many $$$ for theirs and they will only give me $159 trade-in on my 2:1 switcher that retails for $224 new. Monoprice's switcher is supposed to be available within a couple of weeks. Has anyone beta tested a Monoprice switcher with the Oppo. Any comments?

Bud-man

01-02-06, 10:09 AM

shelly

01-02-06, 10:38 AM

Thanks a lot. I got it to work now. I had just pressed Stop one time when I had trouble accessing this. The manual could use some improvements.

Shelly

BBBoT

01-02-06, 11:18 AM

Sorry for what is likely a very stupid question. My setup is the Oppo DVD player, a Yamaha HTR-5990 receiver and a Westy 37" LCD.
The receiver and the TV have component inputs with labels YPbPr but the Oppo's component output is listed as YCbCr. From what I can gather from the web, one is digital and the other analog. Are these compatible or would hooking it up this way cause problems?
I'm currently using the DVI -> HDMI cable to go into the receiver, but eventually I may want to use the component output to free up one of the HDMI inputs on the receiver.
I love the Oppo. I had gotten a Samsung HDMI player, but it would not work right with my setup - only output 480p as if 720p and 1080i were not supported. My HD Tivo and the Oppo DVD player both work fine with the receiver at 720p. :)

Paul Bigelow

01-02-06, 11:54 AM

Imprecise labeling. The connection should work fine. Just make sure red is connected to red, blue connected to blue....

Picturewise, the difference is that the Oppo is only 480i on component, there is no 480p or upconversion on component. On component there is none of the wonderful Faroudja processing that makes the DVI so special.

Paul

GFletch

01-02-06, 12:17 PM

I tried the hacked firmware and had trouble... Sometimes DVDs would load with no sound and switching between audio tracks would always make it loose all audio. I'm using a coaxial cable, wonder if that had something to do with it.

Otherwise, I'd use this firmware... long file names are nice!

Try pushing the MUTE button to regain sound. Changing the audio stream on the fly seems to MUTE the player. Time will tell if this is a problem I can live with. I don't usually change the audio stream once I've selected it in the menu at start up. I had one other problem with a deleted scene from "Out Of The Blue". The beginning of one scene had no audio for about 30 seconds.

plughplover

01-02-06, 12:33 PM

Same here -- on my Hitachi 57" RPTV (which is 1080i native). 720p looks great, but 1080i is quite visibly shaky.

However, Hooking up my old VOOM box via DVI, I get the exact same thing -- 1080i shakes. So, I've been assuming this was a problem with my TV, not with the Oppo.

Is anyone that had 1080i from their Oppo before that was fine saying that it is now shaky with the new firmware? Or is everyone seeing this either new to Oppo or have always seen it with every firmware? Personally, I'm new to the Oppo -- so I've only ever used 1111B.

- John...

New to both the crt and the Oppo. The only other 1080i source I currently have is via the built-in hdtv tuner, and I haven't noticed any flicker there (but I haven't actually looked for it on a static image). It's quite visible on the Oppo logo screen at 1080i.

Are 1080i native crt owners the only people seeing this?

Neuromancer

01-02-06, 12:57 PM

New to both the crt and the Oppo. The only other 1080i source I currently have is via the built-in hdtv tuner, and I haven't noticed any flicker there (but I haven't actually looked for it on a static image). It's quite visible on the Oppo logo screen at 1080i.

Are 1080i native crt owners the only people seeing this?

Pretty much, yes. CRT users will ussually get flickering and light "waves" at 1080i.

Jerm357

01-02-06, 01:03 PM

New to both the crt and the Oppo. The only other 1080i source I currently have is via the built-in hdtv tuner, and I haven't noticed any flicker there (but I haven't actually looked for it on a static image). It's quite visible on the Oppo logo screen at 1080i.

Are 1080i native crt owners the only people seeing this?

mine does too at 1080i it flickers and some times on 480p it jumps real bad but 720p is perfect

GFletch

01-02-06, 01:11 PM

Weird. I have the Hitachi 51S500 CRT and it doesn't flicker at all with the Oppo at 1080i. I checked carefully too because it's been a fairly big gripe of mine.

Jerm357

01-02-06, 01:13 PM

Is any one else with a crt having a 480p jumpping issue?

Neuromancer

01-02-06, 01:35 PM

Is any one else with a crt having a 480p jumpping issue?

I think that is mainly a Sony issue. I know the HS420 has major 480p problems (which is fixed throught the Service Menu of the television device). I do not know about SX955 series though.

plughplover

01-02-06, 02:20 PM

Weird. I have the Hitachi 51S500 CRT and it doesn't flicker at all with the Oppo at 1080i. I checked carefully too because it's been a fairly big gripe of mine.

What firmware rev are you running in your Oppo?

Jerm357

01-02-06, 02:42 PM

I think that is mainly a Sony issue. I know the HS420 has major 480p problems (which is fixed throught the Service Menu of the television device). I do not know about SX955 series though.

Thats what I thought. Im not too worried about it as long as 720p looks so good.

mike-mtl

01-02-06, 03:12 PM

Here's a concise guide that may help:Thank you Paul! Nice guide you made there.:)

jgoggan

01-02-06, 03:35 PM

Got a reply back from Oppo for those interested in what they said about my suggestions...

1. If the drive tray is open and I power the unit off, it should pull in the tray first. Leaving it open and powering off just seems weird.

This is not possible. They say that the power button is hard coded to only support power on/off and cannot be made to also bring in the tray first with this hardware. :(

Note that if you power off with the remote, it will close the tray first.

2. Similarly, if it is off and I hit tray open, it should power on -- so that I don't have to hit two buttons every time I watch a movie. Most players seem to do this -- they power up and open when the tray eject button is pressed -- even if they were "off" before.

Again, not possible with this hardware -- it is being looked at for the next hardware revision. :(

3. Increase the time before the screensaver kicks in. It seems very quick after I pause a movie. Screen burn takes quite a while these days -- and we even have some TVs (DLP, for example) that won't burn at all. In any case, I think it should stay paused for 5+ minutes at least before the screensaver should have to kick in.

They adjusted it to be so quick because of worried customers afraid of screen burn. What a bunch of crap. Caving in to fools that think their new HDTV is going to burn with only 5 minutes of a frozen image. Don't cater to the ignorant, IMO.

I suggest a user setting then -- and they said that they'd put it on the list, but had higher priority items to get to.

4. Is there some layer change problem? I'm running the latest firmware and I guess I expect "seamless" layer changes. This is how the DVD Benchmark Shootout describes it -- because of buffering. However, I just wanted "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and there was a noticeable pause on the layer change. The buffering seemed to work fine on most other movies -- as I didn't see the layer change on several others. Any ideas?

Oppo says that it is normally buffered and seamless, but does "choke" now and then on some discs. No biggie.

5. Sound during FF/REW would be great. Most of my other players have had this at 2x and even 4x speed. I'd like to see the Oppo have it one day too if possible.

They've got it on the list of requests.

- John...

guapote

01-02-06, 03:51 PM

Anybody?

mike mcdaniel

01-02-06, 03:57 PM

Hello i have this switcher and it works great.

mike mcdaniel

01-02-06, 03:58 PM

I've been using a Gefen HDMI switcher in my system. I use it to switch between the Oppo and my Samsung OTA STB since I only have one DVI input on my display. It's worked well for me but now I have another digital source so I'm thinking about purchasing monoprice's 4:1 switcher. Gefen wants too many $$$ for theirs and they will only give me $159 trade-in on my 2:1 switcher that retails for $224 new. Monoprice's switcher is supposed to be available within a couple of weeks. Has anyone beta tested a Monoprice switcher with the Oppo. Any comments?

I have the switcher and it works great.... The 4 into 1 switcher that is.... :D

Neuromancer

01-02-06, 05:02 PM

Don't cater to the ignorant, IMO.

Obviously, you don't do technical support for a living. Catering to the "ignorant" is what makes the difference between a stroll in the park, and an uphill marathon.

jgoggan

01-02-06, 05:53 PM

Obviously, you don't do technical support for a living. Catering to the "ignorant" is what makes the difference between a stroll in the park, and an uphill marathon.

Actually, I have done tech support -- and I still stand by my belief that companies should not make modifications to their products just because some of their customers don't understand the technology -- when said changes are negatives for those that do.

I understand making customer changes because customers are fools. I just disagree with doing it when there is a negative side for the customers that are not fools.

Catering to the ignorant at the expense of the informed is a bad idea, methinks.

- John...

Paul Bigelow

01-02-06, 06:50 PM

I find no fault with the screen saver or its timing. If I'm annoyed by the screen saver, I'll turn it off.

Having said that, I supppose a setting could be made to adjust the time but I think there's lot of "irons in the fire" at the present time and there needs to be a balance between "features" and "fixes".

Paul

Josh Z

01-02-06, 07:40 PM

PAL-NTSC conversions will always be out of synch due to the difference in film speeds. The audio and video are off by about 4%. Playing the disc back in its native form will bring both back into synch.

PAL to NTSC conversion does not change the speed of either the video or audio. Both continue to play at their original PAL speed and will be in sync with each other.

The 4% speedup occurs during the conversion of 35mm film to PAL video. Both video and audio are sped up equally.

jgoggan

01-02-06, 07:51 PM

I find no fault with the screen saver or its timing. If I'm annoyed by the screen saver, I'll turn it off.

I simply think it comes on way too quickly. Sometimes I've paused to actually look at something and it kicks in. I think having it be more like 5 minutes would be more reasonable -- and certainly isn't going to burn anything in anywhere.

Having said that, I supppose a setting could be made to adjust the time but I think there's lot of "irons in the fire" at the present time and there needs to be a balance between "features" and "fixes".

Agreed, of course. I didn't say it was a big issue at all. It was just one of the things on my minor list of suggestions. No biggie -- I didn't mean to get people all riled up. heh.

- John...

Neuromancer

01-02-06, 08:13 PM

PAL to NTSC conversion does not change the speed of either the video or audio. Both continue to play at their original PAL speed and will be in sync with each other.

The 4% speedup occurs during the conversion of 35mm film to PAL video. Both video and audio are sped up equally.

My screwup. Shouldn't be posting on the forums so close to my New Year's festivities. I need at least a week to properly detox myself.

b@nned

01-02-06, 08:43 PM

I don't know if this already has been mentioned but does anyone know when oppo will release an updated dvd player with HDMI output instead of the current DVI?
Does anyone have any info on this, I don't want to make a separate topic on it?

GFletch

01-02-06, 08:46 PM

What firmware rev are you running in your Oppo?

I'm currently running the Russian rev. but I've never had an issue with flickering.

Paul Bigelow

01-02-06, 10:59 PM

Does anyone have any info on this, I don't want to make a separate topic on it?

Already been done. Have a read here for some tantalizing tidbits now that the "cat's out of the bag":

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=619439

Paul

deez

01-03-06, 12:50 AM

For some reason, to my eyes, my Hitachi 57s500 looks better with my OPPO at 480p over dvi ........can this be true or am i crazy?

ps-I realize that my rptv will take the 480p and display it at 1080i......

deez

01-03-06, 01:37 AM

alexkidd

01-03-06, 04:22 AM

Ok i just did the newest firmware upgrade on my OPPO and now the picture is way too far to the left! If I watch something 4:3 the picture is noticeably off center now. I don't see any menu options on the OPPO to center the screen. Can anyone help me out?

AndrewB.

01-03-06, 04:52 AM

Could anyone help me to understand one additional technicality relating to cadence? I am in the UK but have a Sanyo Z2 projector hooked up to my Oppo and the Z2 can accept PAL or NTSC inputs. So I run my Oppo on "Video 2" with the PAL/NTSC/Auto setting in the setup menu set to "Auto". My understanding is that by doing this I will watch NTSC DVDs as NTSC and PAL as PAL. But I have one issue which is that some PAL DVDs (eg "The Blue Planet" which is a TV documentary) seem to be causing the Oppo problems. I am seeing that kind of horizontal shearing effect that I used to see with my old Sony DVD player when I was forcing it to use a prog scan "film" mode on material that originated from TV. Now the Sony had a setting to switch to prog scan "video" mode which allowed you to force it to treat the material correctly. Does the Oppo have any such facility? I have noticed before on other material (eg trailers before the main feature on some Disney DVDs) that it seems to take a while to switch into the correct mode.

I have a feeling that this is something to do with cadences but just can't get my head around 2:2 3:2, 4:4:2 (soccer joke) or whatever...

Please enlighten me in short words!

Thanks

Andrew

Does anyone understand the technicalities enough to help me?

Thanks

Andrew

Trance Dog

01-03-06, 05:12 AM

Which version did you put? If it is 1111B, you need to go back to 1022 until this bug is solved.

GSB

01-03-06, 05:22 AM

But I have one issue which is that some PAL DVDs (eg "The Blue Planet" which is a TV documentary) seem to be causing the Oppo problems. I am seeing that kind of horizontal shearing effect that I used to see with my old Sony DVD player when I was forcing it to use a prog scan "film" mode on material that originated from TV.I don't watch PAL movies (so I'm not 100% sure about this) but I believe OPPO is still working on a couple of issues with 2:2 cadence for PAL. Next firmware may fix it.

Gary

GSB

01-03-06, 05:25 AM

Is anyone that had 1080i from their Oppo before that was fine saying that it is now shaky with the new firmware? Or is everyone seeing this either new to Oppo or have always seen it with every firmware? Personally, I'm new to the Oppo -- so I've only ever used 1111B. 1080i is rock-solid on my Samsung DLP (new FW and old).

Gary

rontop

01-03-06, 10:02 AM

Here is another one for the FAQ. Using the frame-stepping feature can cause the Oppo to stop responding for long periods of time. If you move back and forth through several frames repeatedly, the problem can be reproduced. Oppo support has acknowledged that this is one of the ways to cause a buffer overflow and can cause the player to stop responding for up to 15 minutes.

Anybody else notice either of these with the 1111B firmware?

1) FF modes incorrect. 2x FF is faster (and smoother) than 4x FF. 8x doesn't look twice as fast as 4x, etc.
2) When using 480P over DVI, 4:3 program material is squeezed horizontally when the player is set to WIDE/SQZ. I have to change back to WIDE to get 4:3 to display correctly. I usually use WIDE/SQZ to keep the player from stretching 4:3 material when using 720P output.

Ron

Neuromancer

01-03-06, 11:53 AM

Does anyone understand the technicalities enough to help me?

Thanks

Andrew

The 2:2 Cadence in the OPDV971H at this time is very rudimentary. On Blue Planet, the OPDV971H will easily lose the 2:2 flags if you stop, pause, rewind, fast forward, skip, or do any other commands which will interrupt playback. There are several cases in the film as well where the flag is not read properly to begin with (either the DVDs or OPPO's fault), which will cause the tearing.

Neuromancer

01-03-06, 11:56 AM

2) When using 480P over DVI, 4:3 program material is squeezed horizontally when the player is set to WIDE/SQZ. I have to change back to WIDE to get 4:3 to display correctly. I usually use WIDE/SQZ to keep the player from stretching 4:3 material when using 720P output.

What display device are you using? If it is a Sony, I will blame their 16:9 Enhancer. If something else, I will still blame some variant of the 16:9 Enhancer.

rontop

01-03-06, 12:20 PM

What display device are you using? If it is a Sony, I will blame their 16:9 Enhancer. If something else, I will still blame some variant of the 16:9 Enhancer.

Can you give me more information on what you mean? It is a Sony, but what enhancement would be applied to 4:3 that would cause it to be squeezed? Is this "enhancer" something that is only applied to HDMI input? I have not seen this behavior with another DVD player on component inputs, and it is not applied to 720P input.

Thanks,

Ron

Neuromancer

01-03-06, 12:38 PM

Can you give me more information on what you mean? It is a Sony, but what enhancement would be applied to 4:3 that would cause it to be squeezed? Is this "enhancer" something that is only applied to HDMI input? I have not seen this behavior with another DVD player on component inputs, and it is not applied to 720P input.

Thanks,

Ron

I had many issues in the past with Sony CRT based display devices which would improperly flag the incoming digital transmission. I forget what series Sony my brother has, but when we used the OPDV971H on his display, we would get odd results. 4:3 content would be squeezed horizontally when using 480p and the OPDV971H was set to Wide/SQZ. Using Normal/LB (oddly) would solve the problem.

720p would stretch 4:3 content even though the OPDV971H was set to Wide/SQZ, because the internal 16:9 Enhancer presumed that all information being sent to its digital input was widescreen.

Could just be a quirk of his unit, or the beginnings of a long term annoyance.

Paul Bigelow

01-03-06, 03:23 PM

4:3 material at 480p looks OK in Wide/SQZ on Panasonic TC-22LH1.

Paul

alexkidd

01-04-06, 02:58 AM

dgkp

01-04-06, 04:04 AM

Nobody can help me with this problem?

Nobody's helping becuase this has been discussed a hundred times above. You need to roll back to the last firmware (1022b) as the latest (1111b) has known problems with some displays which are as you describe.

Dave

EDIT: actually, trancedog advised you of this above, but didn't connect to your quote.

Paul Bigelow

01-04-06, 09:00 AM

alexkidd,

The image displacement is described in the first post of this thread and has the suggested remedy (flash 1022). Have a read. There's lots of tips and even a guide to DV-971H settings that refects all the new settings in the Setup menu over the past year.

Paul

AndrewB.

01-04-06, 10:48 AM

The 2:2 Cadence in the OPDV971H at this time is very rudimentary. On Blue Planet, the OPDV971H will easily lose the 2:2 flags if you stop, pause, rewind, fast forward, skip, or do any other commands which will interrupt playback. There are several cases in the film as well where the flag is not read properly to begin with (either the DVDs or OPPO's fault), which will cause the tearing.

Thanks for the info (and to GSB). I had a feeling it had something to do with cadence, somehow.

Is this fixed in the mysterious Russian firmware that is circulating?

EDIT: I see that the Secrets test looked at 2:2 film cadence but not 2:2 video cadence. Is that because there isn't any such thing as 2:2 video or 2:2 mixed?

I also just read this which suggests to me that perhaps the Oppo is encountering a different type of 2:2 cadence/pulldown which might be what is causing this rare problem on some discs only:

2-2 Pulldown

PAL (and SECAM) use a 50 field per second scan rate. The most common method of putting 24 fps film on PAL video is called 2-2 pulldown.and each film frame is scanned twice. The film movement is sped up slightly to be 25 fps rather than 24 fps. This causes the film to run in less time and also causes music in the audio track(s) to be played back at a slightly higher pitch. However the process is referred to as 2-2 pulldown (referring to the pulldown claw film advance) rather than 2-2 pullup, the term "pullup" refers to the speeding up in time of a program.

A less common version of 2-2 pulldown keeps the 24 fps film playback speed, but has scanning of every twelfth film frame 3 times. De-interlacers with 2-2 pulldown sensing for PAL need to take this into account, otherwise the threesomes will be treated as a bad edit every 12 frames and/or the de-interlacer may fail to lock onto the 2-2 pulldown cadence.

Does that sound plausible?

alexkidd

01-04-06, 11:30 AM

shaka999

01-04-06, 11:57 AM

Hey everyone,

I ordered a new Oppo unit around Christmas. Overall I'm pretty impressed with the picture but I do have one issue. When playing some DIVX content the audio is way out of sync with the picture. I've done some searching here and haven't found this specificially discussed so ...

I'm using the DVI output along with stereo connections to a Sony A10 model TV. The Oppo is set to 720p output and the audio is set to stereo downconversion. I've tried setting the audio delay all the way to the max 50ms and it still not close. If I change the audio setting to LT/RT then things are fine.

I will note that only some DIVX files have this issue. I ripped a movie myself and it worked great. The movie only had the 5.1 audio channel and in the stereo downconversion it worked fine. The files I'm having issue with are TV shows downloaded off the net. These files play just fine on my PC but not on the Oppo.

I haven't checked the exact audio tracks that are in the DIVX files but I suspect its not 5.1 and somehow the stereo downconversion is getting screwed up.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Ja Phule

01-04-06, 12:02 PM

leoday

01-04-06, 12:08 PM

Hyperlite

01-04-06, 12:22 PM

NEED HELP with new purchase ...

If I buy the OPPO will I be able to listen to the tv sound thru 5.1 speaker system without buying a receiver?

I'm trying to get the best sound (5.1) using only the OPPO DVD and SONY SXRD. If I have to buy a receiver to distribute the sound then so-be-it.

suggestions?

there is a picture of the back panel of the oppo on the website...you will have to buy a reciever as far as i know.

Neuromancer

01-04-06, 01:24 PM

NEED HELP with new purchase ...

If I buy the OPPO will I be able to listen to the tv sound thru 5.1 speaker system without buying a receiver?

I'm trying to get the best sound (5.1) using only the OPPO DVD and SONY SXRD. If I have to buy a receiver to distribute the sound then so-be-it.

suggestions?

You will need some kind of amplification (like a receiver) to play 5.1 audio, as the OPDV971H does not have any audio amplification.

PedroV

01-04-06, 01:27 PM

Pic of oppo's back panel:
http://www.oppodigital.com/images/OPDV971H_image1.jpg

The oppo has 1 digital and 5.1 analogue output.
You have two ways to get 5.1 sound output:

1- You connect the digital out (coax or optical) to a surround processor/receiver and let it decode and amplify the 5.1 channels.

2- You connect the 5.1 analogue outputs to a Processor/receiver with 5.1 analogue input capability and let it just amplify the signals.

Which way will yield better results depends on which will be better at decoding the digital signal coming from the DVD.
I hope I was clear, English not being my mother language. :)

leoday

01-04-06, 02:13 PM

Neuromancer

01-04-06, 02:37 PM

Thanks all.

After looking at the back of the OPPO I see connections for 3 speakers and a woofer,(no 5.1). Connecting speakers to these outputs tells me this would only have approx' the same volume as the tv(no amplifier) with 1 center and 2 front speakers along with the woofer...or am I missing something? I now know I'll need a receiver for true 5.1 surround but I don't understand the reason for the OPPO connections if I'm using dvi-hdmi cable for video and optical cable for sound from the dvd to tv.

The OPDV971H has multi-channel analog outputs to facilitate DVD-Audio playback in its full 5.1 glory.

And there are connections for 5 speakers and a subwoofer. Each channel has two speakers assigned to it (left and right), except the center channel and subwoofer, which are single analog connections.

BlizzWave

01-04-06, 02:42 PM

Hmm.. Does the BBK DV971H have HDCP on the dvi output? or is it like the OPPO with no HDCP on the DVI output?

Neuromancer

01-04-06, 04:31 PM

No HDCP, just like the OPDV971H.

leoday

01-04-06, 04:35 PM

sorry... what is HDCP?

plughplover

01-04-06, 04:44 PM

The OPDV971H has multi-channel analog outputs to facilitate DVD-Audio playback in its full 5.1 glory.

And there are connections for 5 speakers and a subwoofer. Each channel has two speakers assigned to it (left and right), except the center channel and subwoofer, which are single analog connections.

This discussion reminded me of a question...

In addition to the 6 RCA jacks for 5.1 analog audio output, the Oppo also has ANOTHER pair of RCA jacks for down-mixed analog audio output.

This would seem to imply that you could, for example, wire this downmixed audio output to a stereo input pair on a TV AND connect the other 6 RCA jacks to a multi-channel amplifier.

However, the speaker setup screen implies an either/or setup. That is, the "Downmix" option has 4 choices - LT/RT, Stereo, V.Surr, and 5.1.

You set Downmix to 5.1 to send decoded audio to the 6 RCA jacks, OR set Downmix to one of the other three choices to send downmixed audio to the 'mixed' audio output jacks.

This seems odd to me. Why aren't the 'discrete' 5.1 outputs *always* 5.1, and the Downmix setup option only controls the "mixed" audio output rca pair?

Which leads to the questions - When I select Downmix=5.1, what am I getting on the 'mixed' output? When I select Downmix=other, what am I getting on the discrete outputs?

-------------------------

Well, after asking the above questions, I decided to find out the answer...

Based upon a bunch of plugging, unplugging, and swapping cables, I deduced that the "Front" output jacks and the "Mixed" output jacks are 'the same'. They appear to be sharing the same pair of DACs, hence 5.1 and downmix modes are mutually exclusive.

Ja Phule

01-04-06, 04:45 PM

The Oppo's 5.1 output will need some sort of amplification for speakers. You will likely need an amp to power the speakers or use powered speakers (ie speakers with built in amps). That is, if you're not using a receiver with 5.1 inputs.

leoday

01-04-06, 04:50 PM

Ja Phule

01-04-06, 05:16 PM

THE WHOLE STORY...

When the family watches tv on cable they can hear the volume through the tv audio.

If I want to watch...say football, I want to listen to the game through the 5.1 surround (pro logic). And of course dvd movies through 5.1 surround going through the receiver (or through the OPPO, if possible, and eliminate the receiver).

In my case the receiver will only be used as an amp. :confused:

The Oppo's 5.1 output is there for it's ability to play/decode DVD-Audio (music format). Though it will also decode Dolby Digital and DTS. You can use the Oppo and connect it to a 5.1 receiver via optical/coax digital output and let the receiver decode the Dolby Digital/DTS from DVD-Video (dvd movies). You can connect the sound from your cable (if using a cable box) to the receiver's analog inputs and it will output it in 5.1 using Dolby Pro Logic II. Without a cable box, some tv's have an audio output that you can connect to the receiver.

Is there a reason why you are trying to avoid a receiver? Is it due to space or are you trying to save some money? Do you have a set of 5.1 speakers or is that something you are also looking into?

GSB

01-04-06, 05:27 PM

If I want to watch...say football, I want to listen to the game through the 5.1 surround (pro logic). And of course dvd movies through 5.1 surround going through the receiver (or through the OPPO, if possible, and eliminate the receiver). You cannot drive speakers with a DVD player. You have to have an external amplifier for each channel. So, to amplify 5.1 channels, you need a receiver.

Gary

shaka999

01-04-06, 05:30 PM

There are so many ways to encode divx, it's no surprise some divx is out of sync. I too get this. If there was a standard set to encode divx then it wouldn't be a problem. Using Dr. Divx software to encode divx files to divx certified standards should play better.

Yeah, I realize its not simple task but using xvid with windows media player on a PC seems to handle all the formats I try. I'd like a player that could do the same.

Ja Phule

01-04-06, 05:38 PM

Yeah, I realize its not simple task but using xvid with windows media player on a PC seems to handle all the formats I try. I'd like a player that could do the same.

There's only so much that a $200 dvd player can do. A pc can be upgraded via hardware or software to play practically anything. If you want flawless playback of video files you should look into an htpc. I just got my xbox modded, and it seems to play any video files I throw at it (except HD). Then again, the xbox is practically a pc anyway.

leoday

01-04-06, 05:44 PM

RESPECTFULLY...my wife gets a little confused using more then one remote.

I ordered a 60" Sony sxrd and plan on ordering the OPPO 971,RECEIVER(not yet sure which one,any suggestions?) and 5 SPEAKERS/WOOFER 6.1(again,not sure which ones..large room).

I already have an older sound system in the room which is why I really didn't want another receiver but I now know this is the only way to go for all that I'm going to invest.

again, suggestions welcome...

Ja Phule

01-04-06, 06:29 PM

leoday,
It all depends on your budget. Is it $200 or $2000 for everything? You should also start asking in the receiver and speakers forum. For speakers I'd advise you to go out and listen to some for yourself and find one that sounds good to you.

mbroder

01-04-06, 07:19 PM

I just got my Oppo for X-mas. I think I got it dialed in pretty well with my IF4805. It really is razor sharp.

Anyway, what's the difference between the new and old remotes for this thing? Mine came with the old remote. I emailed them and I received my new one today. Is the only difference the ergonomics and the glow in the dark buttons? Is there any functional differences? Just curious! :confused: I'll probably use my Harmony 880 anyway, but I was wondering if there is something to get excited about that I'm missing..

Neuromancer

01-04-06, 08:11 PM

mbroder,

There is no functional difference besides the glow-in-the-dark keypads.

Paul Bigelow

01-05-06, 01:37 AM

plughplover,

The downmix affects the RCA outputs only. The L & R output is mainly for L & R input to TV sets or a two-channel amplifier. If I recall, when the mixed L & R are connected and the downmix is 5.1 then the front L & R are sent to the "mixed" L & R outputs.

See the Oppo Settings Guide I wrote and have a link to on the first post. It explains some configuration options.

Paul

plughplover

01-05-06, 07:39 AM

plughplover,

The downmix affects the RCA outputs only. The L & R output is mainly for L & R input to TV sets or a two-channel amplifier. If I recall, when the mixed L & R are connected and the downmix is 5.1 then the front L & R are sent to the "mixed" L & R outputs.

and conversely, when downmix is set to LT/RT, Stereo, or V.Surr the L & R Front jacks also have the downmixed audio

Yes, that is what I found in my testing as well...

ie, even though there are a total of 8 audio connectors, it appears there are only 6 DACs in the Oppo - the Front and Mixed jacks are just wired in parallel

hsinnott

01-05-06, 10:32 AM

hsinnott

01-05-06, 10:35 AM

rontop

01-05-06, 11:47 AM

I had many issues in the past with Sony CRT based display devices which would improperly flag the incoming digital transmission. I forget what series Sony my brother has, but when we used the OPDV971H on his display, we would get odd results. 4:3 content would be squeezed horizontally when using 480p and the OPDV971H was set to Wide/SQZ. Using Normal/LB (oddly) would solve the problem.

720p would stretch 4:3 content even though the OPDV971H was set to Wide/SQZ, because the internal 16:9 Enhancer presumed that all information being sent to its digital input was widescreen.

Could just be a quirk of his unit, or the beginnings of a long term annoyance.

Well, Oppo Support confirmed what I was seeing with this response:

"When displaying an image on a 4:3 display, setting the OPDV971H to
Wide/SQZ will create horizontal compression, as the image is being
compressed by the OPDV971H already, and the 4:3 display is not
stretching the image. Setting the OPDV971H to Normal/PS, Normal/LB, or
Wide will not have this compression applied to the 4:3 content,
therefore displaying correctly.

We were able to get our hands on a Sony widescreen CRT for testing. On
the Sony, we found that it presumed all content being presented to it
through the digital input at 480p was 4:3. As such, Wide/SQZ at 480p
was being compressed by the OPPO (in anticipation of being displayed on
a 16:9 display), but was never corrected by the Sony (ie stretched)."

So they are assuming that the display is going to be stretching 4:3 content (which seems to me to be a mistake.) The other test I did was to connect the composite output to my computer capture card to confirm that the image was being compressed even when not connected to a certain brand of display. In Wide/SQZ the image was compressed and in Wide it was normal 4:3.

This seems to leave us with these choices:

1) When using the Oppo at 720 or 1080, set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching 4:3 DVDs (as Wide will do.)
2) When using the Oppo at 480, set the Oppo to Wide to keep it from compressing 4:3 DVDs

Ron

Toonces T. Cat

01-05-06, 12:28 PM

This seems to leave us with these choices:

1) When using the Oppo at 720 or 1080, set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching 4:3 DVDs (as Wide will do.)
2) When using the Oppo at 480, set the Oppo to Wide to keep it from compressing 4:3 DVDs

Ron

Ron,

Good summary, but I prefer the following choices:

1) Use the "Wide" mode at all times except when viewing DVDs with variable aspect ratios...like supplementals that jump from widescreen to fullscreen mode.

2) Use 720p or 1080i for anamorphic material...which should automatically expand to fill the screen while maintaining the correct OAR

...and

3) Use 480p with all non-anamorphic materials and use the monitor's zoom feature to fill the screen while maintaining the correct OAR

I know the above would depend on monitor capabilities, but for my Sony units I find it to be the only way to avoid the loathesome horizontal compression that happens with the "Wide/Sqz" mode on 4:3 source material.

-Toonces

dusterscott

01-05-06, 12:29 PM

<This seems to leave us with these choices:

1) When using the Oppo at 720 or 1080, set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching 4:3 DVDs (as Wide will do.)
2) When using the Oppo at 480, set the Oppo to Wide to keep it from compressing 4:3 DVDs

Ron>

Ron,

This is exactly what I do with my Sony RP LCD display and Oppo.

Northropa

01-05-06, 12:32 PM

RESPECTFULLY...my wife gets a little confused using more then one remote.

Try one of the Logitech Harmony remote controls - they are the answer to the wife/remote problem. Takes a little time to set up online, but then its a one button push to start any activity and the remote's buttons default to control the device(s) that are in use for that activity. E.g. if you watch a DVD using sound sent through the receiver it will switch on the DVD player pick the right input on the TV and on the receiver, change TV aspect ratio if necessary and the transport buttons will control the DVD player but volume will control the receiver not TV. If you watch cable through a cable box direct to TV and not using the receiver, channel up/down will control cable box but volume will control TV.

Good luck,
Andrew

dgkp

01-05-06, 01:59 PM

Ron,

I know the above would depend on monitor capabilities, but for my Sony units I find it to be the only way to avoid the loathesome horizontal compression that happens with the "Wide/Sqz" mode on 4:3 source material.

-Toonces

I know we've been here before but... There are two things to bear in mind: firstly, on my set up (ae700) there is no 'loathsome horizontal compression'--the wd/sq at 720p mode on 4:3 images are only very sightly different from 480p wide AR set by the pj (even tested using calibration discs). Secondly, in wide mode with the aspect ratio set by the pj there is significant cropping--about 3-5% on each side (this maybe a problem with the panny/oppo combo).

I stick to wd/sq and I know a lot of other users are happy with this too--I watch at least as much 4:3 material as I do 16:9 material.

I think you've have to have a serious set up (more serious than at 720 native resolution pj) to really notice the difference between the two settings.

Forgive me, Toonces, for rolling this out one more time.

Dave

GSB

01-05-06, 02:15 PM

So they are assuming that the display is going to be stretching 4:3 content (which seems to me to be a mistake.) This statement is not true.

The 480p signal that comes out of a standard digital 480p player (like the OPPO) is ALWAYS 480x720 pixels. Even when Wide/SQZ mode squeezes the image, the player simply uses black pixels to create the pillar-box bars. A 16:9 widescreen TV does not have to do anything to the aspect ratio of that signal, just display it. However, a 4:3 fullscreen TV could choose to either crop off the sides of the image (the pillar-box bars), or simply squeeze the image onto the screen (in which case it should be fed with "Wide" mode, not "Wide/SQZ" made).

Your TV seems to crop for 720p and 1080i, but squeeze for 480p. Your solutions still work, though.

Gary

ronjon2

01-05-06, 02:55 PM

GSB

01-05-06, 03:40 PM

I lost you somewhere in the above discussion. I have a Samsung 5667 DLP and all the commercial DVD's I watch (new releases) always have the bars at top and bottom. I am running in 720p but have never found a way to fill the screen with DVD's. Am I missing something?You're not missing anything. The OPPO and the Samsung both display the image correctly at 720p.

It is NOT true that all commercial DVD's have bars at top and bottom... ONLY those mastered with an aspect ratio greater than 16:9.

Any DVD that is recorded with an aspect ratio of 16:9 will fill the screen perfectly. Anything less than 16:9 will have bars on the sides, instead of top and bottom.

Gary

rontop

01-05-06, 05:12 PM

I know we've been here before but... There are two things to bear in mind: firstly, on my set up (ae700) there is no 'loathsome horizontal compression'--the wd/sq at 720p mode on 4:3 images are only very sightly different from 480p wide AR set by the pj (even tested using calibration discs). Secondly, in wide mode with the aspect ratio set by the pj there is significant cropping--about 3-5% on each side (this maybe a problem with the panny/oppo combo).

I stick to wd/sq and I know a lot of other users are happy with this too--I watch at least as much 4:3 material as I do 16:9 material.

I think you've have to have a serious set up (more serious than at 720 native resolution pj) to really notice the difference between the two settings.

Forgive me, Toonces, for rolling this out one more time.

Dave

I didn't know that this had already been a topic of discussion. My point is that there should be a setting that does not molest the image in either case. That is, where is doesn't compress the image and it doesn't stretch the image. It should pass 4:3 as 4:3 and 16:9 as 16:9. The compression that we are talking about is due to the fact that the Oppo puts the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 pillarbox and then squeezes it so that it fits back into 4:3. It is quite significant.

Ron

rontop

01-05-06, 05:52 PM

This statement is not true.

The 480p signal that comes out of the OPPO is ALWAYS 480x720 pixels. Even when Wide/SQZ mode squeezes the image, the player simply uses black pixels to create the pillar-box bars. A widescreen TV does not have to do anything to the aspect ratio of the signal, just display it. But a 4:3 TV should either cut off the sides (the pillar-box bars) OR compress the image vertically and add letterbox bars on the top and bottom like most 4:3 TV's do.

Your TV does this correctly for 720p and 1080i, but not 480p. Your solutions still work, though.

Gary

Gary,

I think we must be talking about slightly different things. If I have a 4:3 DVD and am displaying on a 4:3 TV, the player shouldn't be pillarboxing or squeezing the image. It should just pass it along so the display can display it fullscreen. Same thing if I have a 16:9 TV. 16:9 TVs can display 4:3 content by putting it in the middle of the display area. You are correct in saying that a widescreen should not have to to anything to display the image, but the problem is that the way it is implemented they are expecting that a widescreen TV WILL stretch the image that is sent to it.

Ron

bitemymac

01-05-06, 06:25 PM

Gary,

I think we must be talking about slightly different things. If I have a 4:3 DVD and am displaying on a 4:3 TV, the player shouldn't be pillarboxing or squeezing the image. It should just pass it along so the display can display it fullscreen. Same thing if I have a 16:9 TV. 16:9 TVs can display 4:3 content by putting it in the middle of the display area. You are correct in saying that a widescreen should not have to to anything to display the image, but the problem is that the way it is implemented they are expecting that a widescreen TV WILL stretch the image that is sent to it.

Ron

I think oppo does those things... no?...

for 4:3 tv you just need to set to pilar box and set the display to 4:3 and all the contents should be fill the 4:3 screen, no?...

For 16:9 display, as long as the output resolution is set to 520p or higher, and set to sqz/wide and also set the display to 16:9 and all the 4:3 dvd should play at it's aspect ratio..... Oh and the TV should be set to normal or aspect setting.

GSB

01-05-06, 07:56 PM

I think we must be talking about slightly different things. If I have a 4:3 DVD and am displaying on a 4:3 TV, the player shouldn't be pillarboxing or squeezing the image. It should just pass it along so the display can display it fullscreen. Same thing if I have a 16:9 TV. 16:9 TVs can display 4:3 content by putting it in the middle of the display area. You are correct in saying that a widescreen should not have to to anything to display the image, but the problem is that the way it is implemented they are expecting that a widescreen TV WILL stretch the image that is sent to it. Ron, a widescreen TV only stretches the image horizontally for an analog connection. The TV doesn't do any stretching for a digital connection. At 480p resolution for example, the TV is expecting 720x480 pixels - the signal standard for DVD and 480p EDTV – and that’s exactly what the OPPO and other players put out.

The OPPO's "Wide" mode passes the full DVD image in that 720x480 format, with NO pillar-box bars, NO squeezing, NO lost pixels, and NO loss of resolution. A widescreen TV would then have to add the pillar-box bars for 4:3 content.

The OPPO's "Wide/SQZ" mode caters specifically to widescreen TV’s that cannot add the pillar-box bars for 4:3 content. Don't use it for your TV.

See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5124988&&#post5124988) for a pictorial presentation of anamorphic video, the OPPO's "Wide/SQZ" mode, and its limitations.

Gary

Hammie

01-05-06, 08:23 PM

GSB

01-05-06, 08:30 PM

Has anyone ever been able to force DVD-A multichannel out the RCA's? I'm not sure if it my receiver or the player, but I need to manually switch my receiver to Multi-channel analog even though it is set to auto (options are optical, coaxial, analog, auto). My receiver is a Sony STR-DE675 and connected to the Oppo via digital coax and multichannel RCA's. The OPPO puts out digital and analog audio simultaneously. If the DVD-Audio disk has a Dolby/DTS track on it, the receiver will be getting both analog (DVD-A) and digital (DD/DTS) signals and it may decide to lock onto the digital output, mistakenly thinking it is a superior connection.

Gary

Brett Miles

01-06-06, 02:37 AM

My early mini-review:
(No, I don't do a lot of reviews, and I'm just going to spit things out as I think about them.) Well, I received my Oppo this week. It was painful seeing the tracking state on Friday that it was on a truck for delivery and knowing I had to wait through a UPS 3 day weekend before it was delivered :( . I'm using it with a Mitsubishi 48413 RPTV, and assuming it passes the audition it will be replacing a 1998 Sony player (!). Yeah, it's outdated but it just keeps plugging along. I tried a Denon 2910 shortly after they were released and returned it mainly due to a) slow response, and b) MB . My inital reactions are that the Oppo is much better in those two areas at a price I can live with given any other little flaws. I wasn't willing to do that at the Denon price. (FWIW, the 2910 has probably improved through FW updates since I auditioned it.) I used the first scene of "Monster's, Inc," and I just don't see the MB any more. I also tried "A Bug's Life" scene 22 and did not see anything here either. I do notice a slight jitter with 1080i, as has been discussed. I only noticed this on the "OPPO" screen and don't anticipate it being a bother during actual viewing (not that they shouldn't still fix it). I also have the previously described left shift. I notice some definite yellow/blue banding on the Avia gray screens which slowing progress from light to dark. (Sorry, I can't remember what the test is called but it's not the one with definited progressing gray bars.) I went back an checked this on the Sony and notice some similar effects but not as bad. I do not like the disc tray at all. The Sony has notches at the sides so you can actually get the disc out of the tray, and it fully extends so you don't have to do that akward angling to get the disc in. I'm anal about disc scratches, and I can see this tray being a source of aggravation. I already dropped one trying to get it out because it fell off my finger. A question:

I noticed that on the Avia special color bars > split 50 bars there is a weird light blue vertical blocking in part of the right central magenta bar. Even more interesting is that it seems to remain in the overlapping magenta bar when I reverse chapter skip back to the test before, but it is not in that test if I accessed it directly. Has anyone else seen this?

GSB

01-06-06, 03:38 AM

...I notice some definite yellow/blue banding on the Avia gray screens which slowing progress from light to dark. (Sorry, I can't remember what the test is called but it's not the one with definited progressing gray bars.) I went back an checked this on the Sony and notice some similar effects but not as bad...

I noticed that on the Avia special color bars > split 50 bars there is a weird light blue vertical blocking in part of the right central magenta bar. Even more interesting is that it seems to remain in the overlapping magenta bar when I reverse chapter skip back to the test before, but it is not in that test if I accessed it directly. Has anyone else seen this?Nice review. But you didn't tell us what kind of display you have. It sounds as though your display needs a good grayscale calibration.

The artifacts in the Avia split 50 bars could be macroblocking. I don't see it on mine, but I calibrated my set carefully, using the technique posted here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6811617&&#post6811617). See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6722751&&#post6722751) too.

The yellow/blue banding in the Avia grayscale ramps is not likely to be coming from the OPPO. My DLP does that kind of thing when out of calibration, or when the color-wheel timing is off. The fact that your Sony player also does this to some extent, is further proof.

Another thing... the Avia gray ramps are not very smooth to begin with, so don't bank too much on those results. The Avia ramp patterns frustrated me no end until I bought DVE. The DVE gray ramps are beautifully clean in comparison. Now I realise that I wasted many hours trying to get the Avia ramps to look the way DVE does.

Gary

Brett Miles

01-06-06, 04:06 AM

. . . I'm using it with a Mitsubishi 48413 RPTV . . .

Ahhh, check again ;) . I'm sure the TV needs a grayscale calibration. I never wanted to fork over the money for ISF, and the chance of getting someone qualified around here is probably not great anyway. I had seen that previous post you referenced and forgotten about it. I'll see what happens in that magenta stripe when I play with the Oppo controls. So far everything is at 0 with the other video settings set to "off." I forgot to mention that I'm also seeing a "problem" on the Y/C delay test. It seems to line up best with the -.07 (? whichever the first negative is, I think that's the number). The Oppo passes this on the Secrets test, so it's probably something with the display. What causes that besides the player, and can I diy tweak it?

GSB

01-06-06, 04:20 AM

Ahhh, check again ;) Oh yes, now I see it!
I forgot to mention that I'm also seeing a "problem" on the Y/C delay test. It seems to line up best with the -.07 (? whichever the first negative is, I think that's the number). The Oppo passes this on the Secrets test, so it's probably something with the display. What causes that besides the player, and can I diy tweak it? Y/C is a wee bit off on my display too. It's not the OPPO, so it must be somewhere in the display circuitry. No adjustment, I'm afraid, but 0.07 is close enough.

Gary

rontop

01-06-06, 08:59 AM

Ron, a widescreen TV only stretches the image horizontally for an analog connection. It doesn't do any stretching for a digital connection. At 480p resolution for example, it is expecting 720x480 square pixels - the signal standard for 480p digital TV – and that’s exactly what the OPPO and other players put out. It is the player’s responsibility to stretch the video into the full 720x480 pixel frame/format.

If you select “Wide” mode, the OPPO will pass the full DVD frame in the standard 720x480 format, with NO pillar-box bars, NO squeezing, and NO loss of resolution. It will "just pass it along", as you said. A widescreen TV would then have to add the pillar-box bars for 4:3 content. However, a 4:3 TV would not have to add the bars - it would just squeeze it onto the screen.

The “Wide/SQZ” mode caters specifically to widescreen TV’s that cannot add the pillar-box bars for 4:3 content. Don't use it for your TV.

See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5124988&&#post5124988) for a pictorial presentation of anamorphic video, the OPPO's "Wide/SQZ" mode, and its limitations.

Gary

Gary,

I know which modes to use as I stated in my first post on this subject. My point is that it is inconsistent. If I am displaying 4:3 on a widescreen TV at 720, I MUST set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching the 4:3 content to fill the widescreen display (setting to Wide mode WILL stretch the image.) If I use 480 output from the Oppo, I MUST set it to Wide to keep it from compressing the 4:3 content. I'm not saying that in this mode the Oppo is putting out anything other than a 720x480 signal, it is just that it is doing so only after compressing the image from the DVD and filling in the sides with pillarboxes. If you don't stretch the image at the display, it appears distorted. There should be a setting in the Oppo that indicates that I have a wide TV. This would tell it that the display can handle 4:3 and 16:9 without the player having to do any stretching or compressing.

By the way, my display does not stretch the image horizontally when using the analog connections (unless I tell it to.)

Ron

dgkp

01-06-06, 10:00 AM

Gary,

I know which modes to use as I stated in my first post on this subject. My point is that it is inconsistent. If I am displaying 4:3 on a widescreen TV at 720, I MUST set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching the 4:3 content to fill the widescreen display (setting to Wide mode WILL stretch the image.) If I use 480 output from the Oppo, I MUST set it to Wide to keep it from compressing the 4:3 content. I'm not saying that in this mode the Oppo is putting out anything other than a 720x480 signal, it is just that it is doing so only after compressing the image from the DVD and filling in the sides with pillarboxes. If you don't stretch the image at the display, it appears distorted. There should be a setting in the Oppo that indicates that I have a wide TV. This would tell it that the display can handle 4:3 and 16:9 without the player having to do any stretching or compressing.

By the way, my display does not stretch the image horizontally when using the analog connections (unless I tell it to.)

Ron

The problem isn't with the oppo. It's rather that very few displays can force the aspect ratio from a 720p digital source (e.g., DVI/HMDI). The display will play only what the oppo sends. The oppo tries to account for this by offering us the extra feature of wd/sq--albeit with marginal (often tolerable) resolution loss (maybe this is something they can work on?). Analog connections are more flexible, as are the non-upscaled 480p/576p from the oppo over DVI. Using these you can set the AR on your display as Toonces amongst some others heartily recommends.

Dave

digibal235

01-06-06, 11:04 AM

The compression that we are talking about is due to the fact that the Oppo puts the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 pillarbox and then squeezes it so that it fits back into 4:3. It is quite significant.

Hopefully, OPPO can patch this with firmware. If not, I can live with it. I leave mine set on Wide/SQ. I mostly watch anamorphic material. When I do watch 4:3, I take OPPO's pillar-barred image and use the wide zoom feature on my Sony. It fills the widescreen and zooms in on the center to cut distortion.

Of course I'd like to have no resolution loss in the image just because I choose to input it to my display in a certain way, but have been unable to perceive big penalties with the current incarnation.

aprest

01-06-06, 11:27 AM

I just received a new Oppo DV971H (shipped direct from Oppo). It plays fine with commercial DVDs but hesitates or "stutters" periodically with DVDs that I have burned on my Panasonic ES10, a Sony GX7 and two different Sony GX300 DVD recorders.

These DVD-Rs play fine on all of my DVD recorders and older DVD players using "progressive" ouput on component cables. However when playing these DVD-Rs on the Oppo using the DVI to HDMI output to my Panasonic 42PX-50U plasma you can see a very slight hesitation every few minutes. For example, in the opening scene of Starsky & Hutch when the camera is skimming across the surface of the ocean you can see the water surface pause for probably ~10 milliseconds, and when the drug dealer shoots one of his henchmen on the boat his arm and mouth pause slightly and for a few frames the audio/video sync is lost and then recovers. I have tried a number of DVD-Rs and they all demonstrate this problem using the Oppo. The place in the movie where the hesitation occurs is reproducble.

The DVD-Rs are 1:45 to 2:30 hours in length and were burned from Tivo'ed HD content using three different DirecTV HR10-250 Tivo HD STBs set to output 16:9 "letterbox" anamorphic video to the DVD recorders.

Note that the video is fed direct to the Panasonic plasma using the DVI to HDMI cable (Oppo set to "wide") and the audio is fed to my Yamaha receiver using the coax digital cable output. With commercial DVDs I have not seen a "lip sync" or hesitation problem.

Has anyone else seen this problem? Is there a setting on the Oppo that I might have missed? This is my first experience using a a DVD player that has a DVI output - is it possible that the problem involves the upconversion to 720p/1080i? Since the problem doesn't occur with with my other DVD recorders/players using component outputs could there be a buffering problem with the Oppo?

plughplover

01-06-06, 11:34 AM

The oppo tries to account for this by offering us the extra feature of wd/sq--albeit with marginal (often tolerable) resolution loss (maybe this is something they can work on?).

I'm curious... Can someome explain the resolution loss?

For the following, assume
720x480 resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio input
1280x720 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio output
(input is ntsc pixels, output is square pixels)

the inner 4:3 portion of the output is
720 / 3 * 4 == 960 x 720 square pixels

So to display the input in the 4:3 portion of the output, the Oppo has to up-scale the input 720 horizontal ntsc pixels to 960 sqr pixels (centered in the 1280 available) and up-scale the 480 vertical to 720.

Where is the resolution loss occuring?

Josh Z

01-06-06, 11:37 AM

Ja Phule

01-06-06, 12:21 PM

I'm curious... Can someome explain the resolution loss?

For the following, assume
720x480 resolution, 4:3 aspect ratio input
1280x720 resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio output
(input is ntsc pixels, output is square pixels)

the inner 4:3 portion of the output is
720 / 3 * 4 == 960 x 720 square pixels

So to display the input in the 4:3 portion of the output, the Oppo has to up-scale the input 720 horizontal ntsc pixels to 960 sqr pixels (centered in the 1280 available) and up-scale the 480 vertical to 720.

Where is the resolution loss occuring?

In Wide/SQZ mode, the Oppo will add black borders to the sides of the 4:3 image. This is done before the video is scaled to the output resolution. So the input is 720x480, and the Oppo will add black borders into the 720x480 input, meaning the actual picture image is reduced to less than 640 horizontal resolution, with 100+ of the actual 720 horizontal resolution occupied by the black borders. Though don't quote me on these numbers, just some quick math that I may be off on.

What we want Oppo to do is add the black borders after the image is scaled.

rontop

01-06-06, 01:05 PM

Why are you switching back and forth from 720p to 480p? Why not just leave the player at one and be done with it?

Sombody always wants to know "why" you don't just avoid the problems... :) The point still is that regardless of whether I am using 720 or 480, the player should not do odd things to the image (stretching or compressing), unless I tell it to. But if you must know some cases where the problem bothers me in particular, here goes. If I want to use the proportional stretching of my display (instead of the non-proportional stretching of the Oppo) for 4:3 sources, it only works on 480 inputs. If I want to use the signal from the composite output of the Oppo, that will always only be 480.

Ron

aprest

01-06-06, 01:14 PM

Ja Phule

01-06-06, 01:19 PM

I just tried using the component outputs of the Oppo to feed the Panasonic plasma and still get the "stuttering" every few minutes - so it is not a DVI/HDMI output problem. I then played the same DVD-R in my Sony GX300 feeding the same Panasonic plasma uisng component cables and there is no "stuttering".

This is a known issue with the Oppo. It seems people using dvd recorders are having issues with playback on the Oppo.

plughplover

01-06-06, 01:34 PM

In Wide/SQZ mode, the Oppo will add black borders to the sides of the 4:3 image. This is done before the video is scaled to the output resolution. So the input is 720x480, and the Oppo will add black borders into the 720x480 input, meaning the actual picture image is reduced to less than 640 horizontal resolution, with 100+ of the actual 720 horizontal resolution occupied by the black borders. Though don't quote me on these numbers, just some quick math that I may be off on.

What we want Oppo to do is add the black borders after the image is scaled.
Thanks for the info.

While backtracking this discussion, I found a pointer to this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5124988&&#post5124988) which says basically the same thing.
So, a DVI player doesn't necessarily have to lose horizontal resolution when displaying a pillar-boxed 4:3 image on a 16:9 display. The player could scale the full 720x480 DVD image (non-square pixels) to 960x720 (square pixels), and then add the black side-bars for 1280x720 resolution.

Unfortunately, though, many players, including the Oppo in Wide/SQZ mode, use the MPEG decoder to squeeze the image for the analog output, before the Faroudja chip scales the image for the DVI output. The Faroudja chip then has to scale an image that has lost some of its original resolution.

Gary

But I wonder if this is still true, given the Video2 mode?

From the Oppo release notes:
The “Video 2” mode supports 2:2 cadence for PAL movies. However in “Video 2” mode all analog video outputs (Composite, S-Video, Component) will not perform NTSC/PAL system conversion. The video output from any of the analog connectors will have the same NTSC or PAL system as encoded on the DVD disc itself.

That is, in this mode the Mediatek chip does not do 576->480 scaling, it's done by the Faroudja. Does Video2 mode also move the wide/sqz scaling off the mediatek?

And on a related note, where/when is the Zoom functionality implimented?

What prompted my interest is I recently acquired, and tried to play, a 4:3 PAL dvd that contains letterboxed material. I found two "setups" that allowed me to play this with the letterboxed material expanded to fill the screen.

1) TV Type = NTSC, TV Display=Wide, 480p output, and using the display's Zoom
2) TV Type = PAL, TV Display=Wide/Sqz, 720p output, and using Oppo zoom = 1.5
[both with Video Mode = Video2]

Note: My display accept Oppo PAL mode output via digital input at HDTV resolutions, but screws up at 576p resolution, precluding PAL / Wide / 576p / display's zoom (sigh), and the display's zoom feature is disabled at 720p/1080i (though it will still do a 4:3 squeeze).

As I figure it, (1) means I've lost vertical resolution (576 down to 480 before zooming) but keeps the horizontal, and (2) keeps the vertical resolution, but I'm trying to figure out what I've got horizontally...

Let's see... If the Zoom is applied before the squeeze, or Mediatek does, then Faroudja does, or Video2 doesn't do, and garble dribble blah :confused:

GSB

01-06-06, 02:21 PM

While backtracking this discussion, I found a pointer to this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5124988&&#post5124988) which says basically the same thing.

But I wonder if this is still true, given the Video2 mode?

From the Oppo release notes:
The “Video 2” mode supports 2:2 cadence for PAL movies. However in “Video 2” mode all analog video outputs (Composite, S-Video, Component) will not perform NTSC/PAL system conversion. The video output from any of the analog connectors will have the same NTSC or PAL system as encoded on the DVD disc itself. With 4:3 material in "Wide/SQZ" mode, loss of resolution still occurs with the "Video 2" setting. However, when OPPO addresses this issue, "Video 2" will probably be the right mode to fix it.

Gary

GSB

01-06-06, 02:54 PM

I know which modes to use as I stated in my first post on this subject. My point is that it is inconsistent. If I am displaying 4:3 on a widescreen TV at 720, I MUST set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ to keep it from stretching the 4:3 content to fill the widescreen display (setting to Wide mode WILL stretch the image.) If I use 480 output from the Oppo, I MUST set it to Wide to keep it from compressing the 4:3 content. Ron, I know this must be getting frustrating for you, but it is NOT the OPPO that is inconsistent - it's your TV.

When using 480P over DVI, 4:3 program material is squeezed horizontally when the player is set to WIDE/SQZ. I have to change back to WIDE to get 4:3 to display correctly. I usually use WIDE/SQZ to keep the player from stretching 4:3 material when using 720P output. I clearly understand the issue you have described, but this does NOT exist on the vast majority of displays. The OPPO handles "Wide" and Wide/SQZ" in exactly the same way for ALL output resolutions. For some strange reason, certain Sony TV's handle 480p differently to 720p and 1080i. This was also confirmed by Neuromancer, in his replies to your original post.

The compression that we are talking about is due to the fact that the Oppo puts the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 pillarbox and then squeezes it so that it fits back into 4:3. It is quite significant.Not true. The Oppo puts the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 pillarbox and YOUR TV then squeezes it again (on the 480p input).

Gary

Josh Z

01-06-06, 03:05 PM

Sombody always wants to know "why" you don't just avoid the problems... :) The point still is that regardless of whether I am using 720 or 480, the player should not do odd things to the image (stretching or compressing), unless I tell it to.

But you are telling it to. By setting the player for Wide/SQZ, you are specifically instructing the player to pillarbox the 4:3 picture inside its 720x480 pixel output. By setting it for just Wide, you're telling it not to do that.

This isn't a problem with the Oppo. It's a problem with your TV and the way that you're using it. The Oppo is doing exactly what you're instructing it to.

rontop

01-06-06, 03:51 PM

But you are telling it to. By setting the player for Wide/SQZ, you are specifically instructing the player to pillarbox the 4:3 picture inside its 720x480 pixel output. By setting it for just Wide, you're telling it not to do that.

This isn't a problem with the Oppo. It's a problem with your TV and the way that you're using it. The Oppo is doing exactly what you're instructing it to.

I knew you were going to say this. Yes, Wide/SQZ is the setting that tells the Oppo to squeeze and pillarbox the content UNLESS you are in 720 mode. Then it tells the Oppo to stretch the content (within the parameters of my original description.) For me, this is the inconsistency. I just want a mode that tells the Oppo to not do anything.

rontop

01-06-06, 03:59 PM

Ron, I know this must be getting frustrating for you, but it is NOT the OPPO that is inconsistent - it's your TV.

I clearly understand the issue you have described, but this does NOT exist on the vast majority of displays. The OPPO handles "Wide" and Wide/SQZ" in exactly the same way for ALL output resolutions. For some strange reason, certain Sony TV's handle 480p differently to 720p and 1080i. This was also confirmed by Neuromancer, in his replies to your original post.

Not true. The Oppo puts the 4:3 image inside a 16:9 pillarbox and YOUR TV then squeezes it again (on the 480p input).

Gary

Yes, it is getting frustrating to the point that I am going to leave it to whoever else might want to continue. I will refer you back to the original post that included a quote from Oppo support where they clearly state that they are compressing the image.

"When displaying an image on a 4:3 display, setting the OPDV971H to Wide/SQZ will create horizontal compression, as the image is being compressed by the OPDV971H already, and the 4:3 display is not stretching the image." -and- "On the Sony, we found that it presumed all content being presented to it through the digital input at 480p was 4:3. As such, Wide/SQZ at 480p was being compressed by the OPPO (in anticipation of being displayed on a 16:9 display), but was never corrected by the Sony (ie stretched)."

Ron

GSB

01-06-06, 04:34 PM

Wide/SQZ is the setting that tells the Oppo to squeeze and pillarbox the content UNLESS you are in 720 mode. Then it tells the Oppo to stretch the content. No. 480p and 720p are BOTH squeezed the same way by the OPPO. Your TV squeezes 480p a second time.

Gary

GSB

01-06-06, 04:39 PM

I will refer you back to the original post that included a quote from Oppo support where they clearly state that they are compressing the image.

"When displaying an image on a 4:3 display, setting the OPDV971H to Wide/SQZ will create horizontal compression, as the image is being compressed by the OPDV971H already, and the 4:3 display is not stretching the image." -and- "On the Sony, we found that it presumed all content being presented to it through the digital input at 480p was 4:3. As such, Wide/SQZ at 480p was being compressed by the OPPO (in anticipation of being displayed on a 16:9 display), but was never corrected by the Sony (ie stretched)." What OPPO Support means is that the player correctly and consistently compresses 4:3 content in "Wide/SQZ" mode for both 480p AND 720p... but the Sony display does something inconsistent for 480p and 720p (stretching 720p and not 480p, or put another way, compressing 480p and not 720p).

What you describe does NOT occur on other displays (aside from a few Sony models).

Gary