Down,
Audio delay is useful for constant lip sync issues that is caused by your display and/or player. It will not help those that are getting the intermittent lip sync problems.

Yes, the amount of video delay can fluctuate while watching a DVD. You set the audio delay to compensate for this. Hopefully the video and audio are synchronized most of the time. Ideally you set the audio delay to a level that, ON AVERAGE, causes the least amount of noticeable out-of-sync video. So sometimes you'll be adding delay when it's not needed. I've started affixing a small label inside my DVD cases to remind myself how much delay to add for the DVD's that give me problems.

way to go Scott.....I agree. On the tray issue; unless your kids are using the player, you should be fine. I think someone way earlier on this thread mentioned that they bent the tray almost in half and it bounced right back. I don't recommend trying that but it does at least suggest that thin doesn't always mean flimsy. I also agree that loading and unloading the tray is awfully quiet. If I had anything to suggest [as opposed to complain about] for the tray it would be that it loaded a little faster.
Javry

way to go Scott.....I agree. On the tray issue; unless your kids are using the player, you should be fine. I think someone way earlier on this thread mentioned that they bent the tray almost in half and it bounced right back. I don't recommend trying that but it does at least suggest that thin doesn't always mean flimsy. I also agree that loading and unloading the tray is awfully quiet. If I had anything to suggest [as opposed to complain about] for the tray it would be that it loaded a little faster.
Javry

Reminds me of the stories told by computer help desks..........people calling in complaining about their broken "cup holders" ........(the whole idea of CD's and DVD's and some sort of better human factors design is the real culprit here). Anyone have a top loader? Probably raise the cost of the unit quite a bit.

What model plasma TV do you have? Maybe someone else has the same display and has come up with a solution.

I have a 42" Viore Plasma made by Akai.

Down,
Audio delay is useful for constant lip sync issues that is caused by your display and/or player. It will not help those that are getting the intermittent lip sync problems.
Thanks :D

For the benefit of readers who may not understand the issue, burn-in on plasmas or any other display type is largely a factor of improper calibration. Leaving brightness and contrast boosted to over-high settings may cause images to burn-in on the screen. With proper calibration of these settings such as is possible with an $18 DVD like Digital Video Essentials, the letterboxing on 2.35:1 widescreen DVDs should not cause any fear of burn-in. Additionally, the 3-4 pixel border from the Oppo player is extraordinarily unlikely to cause burn-in. Furthermore, almost all consumer televisions have some degree of overscan built-in, which would hide that border off the screen anyway, as was demonstrated by the photos taken by Paul Bigelow earlier in the thread, making it a moot point.

That is all I have to say on the subject.

Leaving brightness and contrast boosted to over-high settings may cause images to burn-in on the screen. With proper calibration of these settings such as is possible with an $18 DVD like Digital Video Essentials, the letterboxing on 2.35:1 widescreen DVDs should not cause any fear of burn-in. Additionally, the 3-4 pixel border from the Oppo player is extraordinarily unlikely to cause burn-in.

The above is not accurate. Reducing brightness and contrast reduces burn in that is caused by bright stationary images such as logos, etc. It does not reduce the burn in caused by uneven phosphor burning caused by a constant border of UNLIGHTED pixels vs. the CONSTANT LIGHTED PIXELS OF THE IMAGE. Anobody stating otherwise is incorrect and does not understand plasma displays, or has a hidden agenda.

The above is not accurate. Reducing brightness and contrast reduces burn in that is caused by bright stationary images such as logos, etc. It does not reduce the burn in caused by uneven phospor burning caused by a constant border of UNLIGHTED pixels vs. the CONSTANT LIGHTED PIXELS OF THE IMAGE.
My question is... are you saying that consistantly watching letterboxed DVDs on a calibrated plasma is still going to result in bad burn-in? If so, why haven't more people complained about that? Wouldn't the "unlighted" pixels caused by the Oppo's issue with your plasma be essentially similar to the black letterboxing area from widescreen (2.35:1) DVDs?

I guess if the Oppo put a constant LIT border around the image, and your plasma was incorrectly calibrated, you could see burn-in. But the pixels are unlit, as you said, so why would that cause burn-in? This doesn't make sense.

Anobody stating otherwise is incorrect and does not understand plasma displays, or has a hidden agenda.
Well, I think your whole conspiracy theory fixation is ridiculous. I don't think anyone here has a problem discussing possible problems with the player, but all of your "hidden agenda" stuff is just plain dumb.

Again... I still don't understand why you still have this player. Will all of your problems with it, shouldn't you be using something else by now?

-Terry

My question is... are you saying that consistantly watching letterboxed DVDs on a calibrated plasma is still going to result in bad burn-in?

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. This is well documented. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=444258
Plasma owners should not watch letterbox material. Even the TV manual says not to watch in letterbox or pillarbox.

No problems with burn in with non-16:9 material within the viewing area of a Hitachi plasma after 1.75 years.

Having stated that, from the very start (and with every DVD player, D-VHS, and cable box) this plasma has a border around the entire periphery of a couple of pixels that have never lit. This situation exists even with the Hitachi's "screen wipe" function and using the built-in tuner. For whatever reasons, those pixels, are not lighting for any input or signal. Still, with no signal I can tell those pixels are getting electricity and take on the faint gray color associated with plasmas. Over the 1.75 years in which those pixels have never lit, they are faintly brighter than the surrounding pixels. It is unoticible during viewing.

Does burn in occur? Certainly. There's a burn in thread for discussion but these items can alleviate or prevent any noticible burn in withing the viewing area over the ususal life of the set:

1. Avoid non-16:9 material or zoom the material for the first couple of hundred hours of use.
2. Keep the contrast as low as one can prefer (keep it away from max)
3. Mix up the aspect ratio of the material and if one can adjust to it, use variable stretch or zoom modes for casual viewing.

The display should be fine.

Paul

No problems with burn in with non-16:9 material within the viewing area of a Hitachi plasma after 1.75 years.

Having stated that, from the very start (and with every DVD player, D-VHS, and cable box) this plasma has a border around the entire periphery of a couple of pixels that have never lit. This situation exists even with the Hitachi's "screen wipe" function and using the built-in tuner. For whatever reasons, those pixels, are not lighting for any input or signal. Still, with no signal I can tell those pixels are getting electricity and take on the faint gray color associated with plasmas. Over the 1.75 years in which those pixels have never lit, they are faintly brighter than the surrounding pixels. It is unoticible during viewing.

Does burn in occur? Certainly. There's a burn in thread for discussion but these items can alleviate or prevent any noticible burn in withing the viewing area over the ususal life of the set:

1. Avoid non-16:9 material or zoom the material for the first couple of hundred hours of use.
2. Keep the contrast as low as one can prefer (keep it away from max)
3. Mix up the aspect ratio of the material and if one can adjust to it, use variable stretch or zoom modes for casual viewing.

The display should be fine.

Paul

All good points. But why state that the issue is "moot", incorrectly assuming that because 1 TV overscans, therefore all TVs overscan. The border is an issue that can be easily fixed. But indicating that is moot willl not got the border resolved.

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. This is well documented. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=444258
Plasma owners should not watch letterbox material. Even the TV manual says not to watch in letterbox or pillarbox.
Whoa. That's nuts. I am glad I didn't get a plasma display, then. I like to watch DVDs and HD movies (from HDNet, for example) in their original aspect ratio. I would assume most people on AVS forum would be upset if they were not able to watch films in OAR.

Seems like, from reading that thread, that your plasma is incredibly sensitive to burn-in as it is.

-Terry

All good points. But why state that the issue is "moot", incorrectly assuming that because 1 TV overscans, therefore all TVs overscan. The border is an issue that can be easily fixed. But indicating that is moot willl not got the border resolved.

Those are neither my words nor assumptions. The description of my experience and previously supplied pictures reflects that of my equipment. If the display and/or connecting devices are obviously having a problem, by all means take corrective action including, but not limited to: repair, exchange, substitute a new model, and return/refund -- as the normal steps to avoid burn-in may not apply. The points given to avoid burn-in are typical and accepted methods with properly operating equipment.

Concerning the DV971H, the issue with screen size/pixels has been submitted to Oppo Digital for review.

Paul

Those are neither my words nor assumptions. The description of my experience and previously supplied pictures reflects that of my equipment. If the display and/or connecting devices are obviously having a problem, by all means take corrective action including, but not limited to: repair, exchange, substitute a new model, and return/refund -- as the normal steps to avoid burn-in may not apply. The points given to avoid burn-in are typical and accepted methods with properly operating equipment.

Concerning the DV971H, the issue with screen size/pixels has been submitted to Oppo Digital for review.

Paul

I was not attributing those quote to you, as they were posted by someone else. I sincerely apologize to you if my post could have been taken as attributing those quotes to you. I can see your point.

For those who still see too much macroblocking, check out my post in the Panasonic S97 thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6206200&&#post6206200

In short, I think that the gamma curve of your display device may be the reason for seeing this artifact. I believe that those displays with a gamma of 2.5 or higher will effectively mask MB. If your set was calibrated with a gamma of 2.2 I am 90% sure the MB artifacts will be very bad - even on a CRT!

For those who still see too much macroblocking, check out my post in the Panasonic S97 thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=6206200&&#post6206200

In short, I think that the gamma curve of your display device may be the reason for seeing this artifact. I believe that those displays with a gamma of 2.5 or higher will effectively mask MB. If your set was calibrated with a gamma of 2.2 I am 90% sure the MB artifacts will be very bad - even on a CRT! Thank you for sharing. I agree that gamma has a lot do with the macroblocking issue, but I'm still a wee bit skeptical.

The trouble is, I have no way to test your theory on my Samsung DLP. The set does not allow me to adjust gamma, it only allows me to pick from a limited selection of preset curves in the service menu.

An "out-of-the-box" Samsung DLP is terrible for macroblocking, primarily because its default "Dynamic" mode does not have an accurate gamma curve. It has a hump in the lower part of the curve that artificially boosts the dark scenes - causing macroblocking hell with a Faroudja player. Selecting gamma curve 0 (in the service menu) fixes the hump, and helps tremendously with macroblocking, but does not eliminate it. Perhaps (as you say) gamma is still lower than 2.5. I have never accurately measured gamma, because my Avia DVD is currently the only method I have, and that method is flawed when scaling the image for an HD screen (besides, it only gives a reading at one point in the middle of the gamma curve).

ANOTHER thing to consider... digital displays use digitized gamma curves that are not perfectly smooth... they are stepped... thus introducing a small amount of banding (and exaggerated macroblocking) to the image.

Gary

Unfortunately, the only way to test your set's gamma would be to use a colorimeter to measure the light output. I agree that the Avia gamma pattern is useless for most (all?) digital displays. Maybe a cheap Spyder2TV kit for (~$300 US) could be used. Hopefully someone in your area can lend you one! Then you can determine if my theory works. ;)

Also, gamma is a little more complicated - I believe that most CRTs' gamma curve is actually linear in the lower IRE part of the curve. Who knows if a digital display emulates this or not? What a pain in the b*tt. :)

It would be good to hear more feedback and tests of your theory from others too. Keep us posted.

Gary

Get a professional calibration.

i have a benq 8700+, same as maxleung i think. anyway after reading his theory i went into the service menu and adjusted the gamma with a paused scene with macroblocking. when i turned the gamma value down a couple of clicks the macroblocking went away and when i turned it back up it re appeared. i think maxleung is on to something here.

muncey

Somewhere earlier in this thread I read about a problem with the Oppo not automatically turning on the "alien language" kind of subtitles - those which are meant to be seen by an English-speaking viewer in an English language disk, such as those used in Star Wars IV to translate the words of Jabba the Hutt.

I have just had this same problem with my Oppo, playing a R2 DVD of Episode IV from the box set. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a workaround since pressing the subtitle button on the remote, either when the DVD is playing or when it is stopped, just brings up the operation-not-allowed symbol in the top left of the screen. So I am going to have to learn alien languages and pray for resolution in the next firmware release, unless anyone knows a way to solve this....

Andrew

PS. I just read about setting the subtitles to "none" in the setup menu before playing this kind of DVD. But when I tried that I found that my setup menu doesn't have "none" as an option for the subtitles! It just has "Auto" (which was no good since it gave me subtitles for all speech) or "off" which turns them all off, even the alien language ones, or a variety of other languages, none of which was called "none".

PS. I just read about setting the subtitles to "none" in the setup menu before playing this kind of DVD. But when I tried that I found that my setup menu doesn't have "none" as an option for the subtitles! It just has "Auto" (which was no good since it gave me subtitles for all speech) or "off" which turns them all off, even the alien language ones, or a variety of other languages, none of which was called "none".

"None" is meant for the DVD Menu's system, not the 5th Tab of the Oppo Setup. Go through the DVD menu system, change the subtitles to Off, and see what happens.

For those in the know...

Is this problem w/ subtitles only on certain discs? Cause I just realized I've been watching Lost the last week or so and all the subtitles have shown up no prob with no adj.

I may have to try Kill Bill as I've heard it's another problem disc (subtitle-wise).

J

Is this problem w/ subtitles only on certain discs? Cause I just realized I've been watching Lost the last week or so and all the subtitles have shown up no prob with no adj. Some disks have the subtitles for brief foreign dialog permanently imprinted on the image. These obviously show up just fine.

But some disks have those subtitles stored as an optional text field that can be superimposed on the image by the player. Currently, this type of subtitle does not automatically show up unless you select "none" or "off" in the DVD menu (not the player menu).

Gary

Get a professional calibration. Huh? A professional calibrator has access to the same preset gamma curves that I have access to. The pros always pick "gamma 0", just as I have, but that curve still shows macroblocking. True, they may be able to measure gamma accurately, but they certainly cannot adjust it.

Gary

Okay...Now I am thoroughly confused about the right way to display a pillarboxed image with the OPPO player.

I set the unit up and selected the "Wide" mode for my Sony GWII 50" LCD RP. I am using 720P out of the DVI port for anamorphic DVDs and the results are spectatcular! I could not get a 4:3 disc to go into the pillarbox mode in the 720P setting. When I would switch to 480P it went to a pillarbox image and would not go into a widescreen mode using the OPPO controls.

The interesting thing is that the Sony unit would not zoom at all with my Momitsu when I used the DVI connection at any resolution setting. With the OPPO, it will not zoom except with the 480P where I get the full-range of control.

Having said all of that, the 4:3 image in the 480P mode is fantastic and switching the DVI setting is not a big deal for me as I don't watch all that many 4:3 films. After reading through the thread again, however, I keep finding references to a "Wide/Squeeze" setting that permits pillarboxing at 720P with the OPPO player. Is this correct or am I misinterpreting what I am reading?

It would be nice to just leave it set at 720P as I was able to do with the Momitsu.

Thanks!

-Toonces

Toonces,
You need to set the Oppo to Wide/Squeeze (i think its labeled on the player as Wide/SQZ) mode for it to pillarbox. You stated that you have it set to wide mode, where it will not pillarbox.

Toonces,
You need to set the Oppo to Wide/Squeeze (i think its labeled on the player as Wide/SQZ) mode for it to pillarbox. You stated that you have it set to wide mode, where it will not pillarbox.

Yikes! Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees... :rolleyes: It just never occurred to me that it was a choice in the set-up menu.

Thanks again!

-Toonces

I wonder if using this adaptor one could use the Oppo at 720p & 1080i through component?

http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10419&cs_id=1041901&p_id=2398&style=&seq=1&format=1#largeimage

That adaptor will not work with digital DVI-D signals.

I guess that the reason is that component is not a digital signal. I should have realized this.

Huh? A professional calibrator has access to the same preset gamma curves that I have access to. The pros always pick "gamma 0", just as I have, but that curve still shows macroblocking. True, they may be able to measure gamma accurately, but they certainly cannot adjust it.

Gary
It's true most calibrators will set the display to what equates to gamma 2.2 and colour index at 6500K even though those settings paradoxily may not produce the best image on every display. That is why it is important to know where those reference settings are then adjust from there to suit your display/transport characteristics which only the viewer not the calibrator can better judge after many hours. Too many people just accept the calibrators settings as an end to themselves because they paid good money for the calibration.

Watched "Rising Sun" last night. This appears to be 1.85:1 anamorphic. With the Oppo set to Wide, and my Visio P50 also set to Wide, the picture was squashed. I had to change the Visio's mode to Zoom to get the correct ratio. This stretched the picture vertically but did not chop it off horizontally. I still had small letterbox bars at top and bottom, which I could eliminate by zooming the Oppo to 1.2, but this did stretch the image a small amount horizontally (I just tried that to see the effect, I watched the movie with the black bars). Problem was, watching the movie this way I lost the Oppo's OSD, it was above the viewing area so wasn't able to view chapters or time info. I haven't noticed this with any other disk so far, but haven't been playing that many movies that aren't 16:9 as I'm still breaking in the Visio (picture looks fantastic by the way).

If the movie is 1.85:1, shouldn't the Oppo display this natively without having to mess with the display's settings?

Rising Sun is not anamorphic.

View angel icon that pops up in Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction. I cant get rid of it. It come up on the first and last chapter of both movies then it goes away. Very annoying. Anyone else has this problem?

HD and Oppo neophyte here.

Can anyone tell me what resolution setting is going to be best for my Panasonic TH-50PHD7UY. I currently have it running through a dvi cable to my pdp and have it set to 720p.

Sorry if this is a stupid question!

HD and Oppo neophyte here.

Can anyone tell me what resolution setting is going to be best for my Panasonic TH-50PHD7UY. I currently have it running through a dvi cable to my pdp and have it set to 720p.

Sorry if this is a stupid question!


According to what I Googled your set has a resolution of 1366x768, therefore the 720p setting is the closest match is likely the best setting for you.

I still had small letterbox bars at top and bottom, which I could eliminate by zooming the Oppo to 1.2, but this did stretch the image a small amount horizontally Currently, a few of the Oppo's zooms do introduce a slight stretching of the image. It is a known issue, included in the defect list, and it should be fixed with new firmware.

Gary

Currently, a few of the Oppo's zooms do introduce a slight stretching of the image. It is a known issue, included in the defect list, and it should be fixed with new firmware.

Gary
I guess I wasn't clear. The Oppo didn't stretch, it squashed, horizontally the picture was the correct width, vertically it was compressed, people were short and wide, large horizontal black bars. When I hit the Zoom mode on the Visio, the picture expanded vertically, but remained the same width to what I would say was the correct aspect ratio, namely 1.85:1, with very narrow black bars top and bottom, which is what I would expect with 1.85:1 with a display that has very little overscan. This is what I would have thought the Oppo would have output, without having to go into Zoom mode on the Visio, as 1.78:1 films display correctly. Only, as I mentioned, the Oppo OSD display was displayed above the veiwable picture, the bottom edge of the OSD was just visable at the top of the screen.

I don't think "Rising Sun" was letterboxed as zooming with the Viso would have streched it horizontally as well. Maybe there is something paculiar with this film, a flag that's not being picked up correctly or something

View angel icon that pops up in Jackie Brown and Pulp Fiction. I cant get rid of it. It come up on the first and last chapter of both movies then it goes away. Very annoying. Anyone else has this problem?

The first menu tab in the Setup menu has a Angle toggle. It is defaulted to On.

Hagendos,
Since Rising Sun is not anamorphic, you need to set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ mode so it will pillarbox the picture on your display. This will put black bars on the sides of the picture in addition to the black bars above and below the picture. Now, using the Oppo's zoom, the picture will fit on your display.

I guess I wasn't clear. The Oppo didn't stretch, it squashed, horizontally the picture was the correct width, vertically it was compressed, people were short and wide, large horizontal black bars. When I hit the Zoom mode on the Visio, the picture expanded vertically, but remained the same width to what I would say was the correct aspect ratio, namely 1.85:1, with very narrow black bars top and bottom, which is what I would expect with 1.85:1 with a display that has very little overscan. This is what I would have thought the Oppo would have output, without having to go into Zoom mode on the Visio, as 1.78:1 films display correctly. Only, as I mentioned, the Oppo OSD display was displayed above the veiwable picture, the bottom edge of the OSD was just visable at the top of the screen.

I don't think "Rising Sun" was letterboxed as zooming with the Viso would have streched it horizontally as well. Maybe there is something paculiar with this film, a flag that's not being picked up correctly or somethingJa Phule and Shazam9999 are correct. Since the film is not anamorphic, you need to use Wide/SQZ mode and then zoom. The firmware issue I was referring to, is that the zoom currently stretches the image SLIGHTLY more in the horizontal direction than the vertical.

Gary

Had it for about 5 hours and here is my quick first night report.

Connected via dvi to hdmi cable. Oppo at 1080 on my Sony big tube 4:3 36" hdtv. Auto sets itself to widescreen when this dvd player is connected in that mode.

DVD: Advent Children, DVD-R. Worked great. No skipping or audio sync problems.

DVD: Formula 51, retail DVD. Once again no problems.

MP3 cd: Various. Had some issues playing some of the songs. Maybe a faulty burn? Seemed to load half way through some of the songs and pause for a second or two. Having it go from one song to another also seemed kind of slow.

SVCD: CD-R. Audio synch problems. Set delay at 50ms, seemed to fix it, or at least enough for me not to notice.

Audio CD: Phil Collins, retail. Worked pretty good. Some kind of pause while playing the first song half way through but worked fine after that.

DIVX: Various anime, DVD-R. One anime series seemed to have the subtitles cut off the bottom of the screen. Any ideas on that one? Works fine when playing it on the PC. Tried another series and everything worked fine but on that one the subtitles were up further and across the movie. Maybe some divx encodes with the subtitles too low get everything cut off on this player? Wonder why it shows up on computer monitor.



So far I see no reason not to run everything in 1080. Does anyone see why I should?

I did notice that if I set the dvi mode down to the lowest full screen standard it made the screen flicker. Any ideas on that one? Is playing standard rez on a dvi port not a good thing to do? Should I hook up standard cables for when I want to watch stuff in other modes?

DIVX: Various anime, DVD-R. One anime series seemed to have the subtitles cut off the bottom of the screen. Any ideas on that one? Works fine when playing it on the PC. Tried another series and everything worked fine but on that one the subtitles were up further and across the movie. Maybe some divx encodes with the subtitles too low get everything cut off on this player? Wonder why it shows up on computer monitor.

Most regular tv displays have around a 5% overscan, where all 4 sides are cropped off slightly. Most projectors and pc displays do not show any of this overscan.

Should Angle toggle be left to the default setting on, or turned off. Just wondering?

Mark

Mark, it has no effect on the picture quality. The angle feature is quite useful...
Sometimes DVD movies allow you to switch between the angles a picture is taken from...Good for porn DVDs :D

What should I be running things in to maxamize quality.. 720p or 1080i?

Yes, that is exactly what I am saying. This is well documented. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=444258
Plasma owners should not watch letterbox material. Even the TV manual says not to watch in letterbox or pillarbox.

THen why in the world would anyone want a plasma to begin with????? :eek:
Get a new TV!!!!! :mad:

What should I be running things in to maxamize quality.. 720p or 1080i?

This depends on your display unit. If the unit has a resolution of 1366x768, then you will want to use 720p. If you have a CRT, then you will want to use 1080i or 540p. Basically, just use the mode which most closely resembles your display devices native resolution.

1280x720 = 720p
1920x1080 = 1080i

Hagendos,
Since Rising Sun is not anamorphic, you need to set the Oppo to Wide/SQZ mode so it will pillarbox the picture on your display. This will put black bars on the sides of the picture in addition to the black bars above and below the picture. Now, using the Oppo's zoom, the picture will fit on your display.

I guess I don't know what anamorphic means, then. At any rate I did try the Oppo with the wide/squeeze mode (actually I tried every combination of modes available between the Oppo and the PDP), and it worked just as you mentioned. But leaving it in just the Wide mode, and zooming with the PDP's controls accomplished the same thing, and the picture looked better in my opinion.

I'll try to take some pictures to show what I mean.

I guess I don't know what anamorphic means, then. At any rate I did try the Oppo with the wide/squeeze mode (actually I tried every combination of modes available between the Oppo and the PDP), and it worked just as you mentioned. But leaving it in just the Wide mode, and zooming with the PDP's controls accomplished the same thing, and the picture looked better in my opinion.

I'll try to take some pictures to show what I mean.

I know what you mean. I'd recommend using your display's zoom option. The Oppo uses its mediatek chip to zoom in on the picture and not the faroudja chip. My Infocus 4805 does a much better job with non-anamorphic widescreen movies using its picture zoom options.

Should Angle toggle be left to the default setting on, or turned off. Just wondering?

Mark


I get it on some films either way. Apparently this isn't happening to everyone, but I'm 2 for 2.

THen why in the world would anyone want a plasma to begin with????? :eek:
Get a new TV!!!!! :mad:

Picture quality unmatched.

This depends on your display unit. If the unit has a resolution of 1366x768, then you will want to use 720p. If you have a CRT, then you will want to use 1080i or 540p. Basically, just use the mode which most closely resembles your display devices native resolution.

1280x720 = 720p
1920x1080 = 1080i

Have you actually gotten the Oppo to output 1920 x 1080, my display says it's receiving 1920x540 with the Oppo at 1080i setting.

anyone has had audio problems with their unit? When I first play a dvd i get no sound. i have to unplug the optical cable and plug it back in behind the oppo to get sound.

This depends on your display unit. If the unit has a resolution of 1366x768, then you will want to use 720p. If you have a CRT, then you will want to use 1080i or 540p. Basically, just use the mode which most closely resembles your display devices native resolution.

1280x720 = 720p
1920x1080 = 1080i


It's a 36" Sony CRT, 4:3, not 16:9.

Any ideas on that one?

It's a 36" Sony CRT, 4:3, not 16:9. In that case, just pick the resolution that looks best on your set.

Gary

Have you actually gotten the Oppo to output 1920 x 1080, my display says it's receiving 1920x540 with the Oppo at 1080i setting. Yes, some displays seem to interpret the 1080i and 540p signals interchangeably. Not a big deal. Pick the one that works best with your particular display.

Gary

Yes, some displays seem to interpret the 1080i and 540p signals interchangeably. Not a big deal. Pick the one that works best with your particular display.

Gary

Inputing 1080i from the Comcast box, the TV says it's receiving 1080i, not 1920 x 540

Picture quality unmatched.
I have an HLN617W from Samsung and I have yet to see a better picture anywhere! ;)

PLUS ...... NO BURN IN PROBLEMS AT ALL :D

I have an HLN617W from Samsung and I have yet to see a better picture anywhere! ;)

PLUS ...... NO BURN IN PROBLEMS AT ALL :D

Don't like DLPs, too bulky, viewing angle small, and bulb replacement needed about every 3 or 4years, depending on usage.

Inputing 1080i from the Comcast box, the TV says it's receiving 1080i, not 1920 x 540 Odd. Do you have the latest Oppo firmware (6/29/05)? If so, I wouldn't worry too much. Other TV's (including mine) report the resolution correctly.

Gary

Odd. Do you have the latest Oppo firmware (6/29/05)? If so, I wouldn't worry too much. Other TV's (including mine) report the resolution correctly.

Gary

Yes, I have the latest firmware. I am not too worried about that, just wondering if others had the same thing showing up.

Originally, the Oppo was delivered with (via DVI):

480p, 540p, 720p

Some sets accept 540p OK others do not. There were some reports of trouble with 540p (my Panasonic LCD included).

Later the resolutions (via firmware update) supplied became:

480p, 540p, 720p, 1080i

With the addition of 1080i my Panasonic worked OK and it resolved some other people's issues as well.

Paul

Originally, the Oppo was delivered with (via DVI):

480p, 540p, 720p

Some sets accept 540p OK others do not. There were some reports of trouble with 540p (my Panasonic LCD included).

Later the resolutions (via firmware update) supplied became:

480p, 540p, 720p, 1080i

With the addition of 1080i my Panasonic worked OK and it resolved some other people's issues as well.

Paul
Actually, if I remember correctly, my Oppo had 480p, 720p, 1080i (via DVI)... and later added 540p via firmware update.

-Terry

Terry,

Paul is correct. 540p was first, 1080i came later.

Terry,

Paul is correct. 540p was first, 1080i came later.

Really?

I thought 540P support was part of the 6/29 firmware?

Down,

It was initially called 1080i but my projector saw it as 540p. Paul's LCD TV would not synch.

The next time around, 1080i was 1080i, and 540p was 540p.

This can be twisted many ways.

Really?

I thought 540P support was part of the 6/29 firmware?
Ah... that must explain why my Sony LCD rear proj. could not sync to (what I thought was) 1080i. I guess, in fact, it was 540p.. which my set cannot sync to. Wow... what a (brief) bungle by Oppo.

Glad they resolved that in a hurry. (Although I, personally, use 720p anyway.)

-Terry

Don't like DLPs, too bulky, viewing angle small, and bulb replacement needed about every 3 or 4years, depending on usage.

I agree they are a little bulkier than plasma, but not much. But when the time comes for a new bulb, I basically have a new TV. If a pixel/mirror goes bad, it can be replaced with a new DLP chip. If a gas cell on a plasma goes bad, well, it just goes bad. There is no replacement. As for the viewing angle, that only affects up and down, not left and right. Most people sit at normal viewing level and have no problems. When I watch a movie on my Oppo, or better yet through HD....the picture looks nearly 3D. The images from HDNET are stunning on this set. You can see the oil in the pores of people's faces. :eek:

anyone has had audio problems with their unit? When I first play a dvd i get no sound. i have to unplug the optical cable and plug it back in behind the oppo to get sound.

Try COAX if you can and see if you get the same problem. If you don't, then it could be either the Oppo, or your receiver has a problem with it's optical connection.

i finally got around to trying a different optical cable. problem fixed. guess it was a bad cable. weird manifestation of the problem though. new problem. on one dvd, the tray gets jammed when it opens.

i finally got around to trying a different optical cable. problem fixed. guess it was a bad cable. weird manifestation of the problem though. new problem. on one dvd, the tray gets jammed when it opens.

Do you mean that the tray jams ONLY when this particular DVD is being removed? Or does it happen on all DVD's when being removed? If it's the latter, try waiting a few seconds after you push STOP on the remote for the DVD to spin down and resettle itself into the tray, then open the player.

If you open the tray too soon the DVD may still be spinning a little causing it to slip out of the indentation for the disk thereby causing it to catch on the upper portion of the player as it tries to eject.

If this is only happening on one particular DVD......then I am not sure what would cause that :(

i've only tried 3 dvds. it's only happening on one of them.

it's a cheap cheesy kids dvd. so maybe it's warped in some way.

I agree they are a little bulkier than plasma, but not much. But when the time comes for a new bulb, I basically have a new TV. If a pixel/mirror goes bad, it can be replaced with a new DLP chip. If a gas cell on a plasma goes bad, well, it just goes bad. There is no replacement. As for the viewing angle, that only affects up and down, not left and right. Most people sit at normal viewing level and have no problems. When I watch a movie on my Oppo, or better yet through HD....the picture looks nearly 3D. The images from HDNET are stunning on this set. You can see the oil in the pores of people's faces. :eek:

Yeah, I can see that too on the HD channels, like INHD, ESPN, HD discovery, etc. I bought a 4 year extended warranty just in case the glass goes bad. I needed 3.5" in depth b/c it's in the bedroom.

I need some direction on DVD-A playback. For some reason that I can't explain only one of 5 DVD-A discs plays back in Dobly D. For other discs the receiver displays PLIIx. One of the discs is in DTS but fails to display that on the receiver. Do I need to have the 5.1 cables connected in addition to the coax? I'm not sure which to use or if I should even have both sets of cables attached.

Also, does anyone have any problems with opening the disc tray? Sometimes I need to hit eject 3 or 4 times before it ejects.

Other than that, I love this dvd player.

Thanks in advance!

Tom

For DVD-A playback you need to connect the player to your receiver with the analog cables (you'll need 6 of them).

Speaking of DVD-A playback, does the bass management of the player function with DVD-A discs as well? or just with the built-in Dolby Digital decoder? Thanks.

For DVD-A playback you need to connect the player to your receiver with the analog cables (you'll need 6 of them).

I've got those cables connected, but shouldn't my receiver's display tell me that I am hearing a Dolby or DTS stream or is that only for digital cables?

I'm suprised this hasn't been posted already, but from the UK avforums

From Oppo support

The OPDV971H does not produce a true PAL signal. We did some
testing this morning and found that the PAL polarity falls just outside
of standard PAL when doing 576p/720p/1080i. This is normally not an
issue, because most display devices have large enough ranges in
horizontal scan rate to compensate for the problem. However, as noted
with your display unit, a Sony LCD, and a BenQ PE8700+, not all display
types have enough range to compensate for our lacking performance. For
such displays, oddities such as imporper display (shifting to the
right) or non-existent image are common.

Apparantely they ar eworking on it as a top priority

Your receiver will only display DTS or Dolby if it is decoding it. When playing DVD-Audio, your dvd player is doing the decoding. The receiver is only outputing and amplifying whatever is being sent from your dvd player.

My receiver doesn't display '5.1' or 'DTS' when playing DVD-A's. I've got a Denon receiver. In order to listen to DVD-A's (and SACD's) I have to select 'EXT IN' on my receiver. You should probably read your receiver manual in the section where it discusses playback of DVD-A's and SACD's.

Also, does anyone have any problems with opening the disc tray? Sometimes I need to hit eject 3 or 4 times before it ejects.

Other than that, I love this dvd player. If you are using the eject button on the front panel, you need to press the button a little more deliberately (slightly longer). If you are using the black remote, you may need to aim a little better, and press the button a wee bit harder.

Gary

If you are using the eject button on the front panel, you need to press the button a little more deliberately (slightly longer). If you are using the black remote, you may need to aim a little better, and press the button a wee bit harder.

Gary

To add to that, if you are trying to eject when you first turn on the player, you need to wait a good 10-15 seconds before pressing the eject button.

I agree they are a little bulkier than plasma, but not much. But when the time comes for a new bulb, I basically have a new TV. If a pixel/mirror goes bad, it can be replaced with a new DLP chip. If a gas cell on a plasma goes bad, well, it just goes bad. There is no replacement. As for the viewing angle, that only affects up and down, not left and right. Most people sit at normal viewing level and have no problems. When I watch a movie on my Oppo, or better yet through HD....the picture looks nearly 3D. The images from HDNET are stunning on this set. You can see the oil in the pores of people's faces. :eek:

I got the InFocus 61md10 for $2,305 after rebate and it is only 6.85" deep and mounts to the wall like a plasma. By the time the bulb burns out, I will be ready for something new anyway. My warranty got doubled because I bought it with my Visa Platinum.

AVIA just got delivered yesterday and the Oppo is on the UPS truck as we 'speak' so it looks like Friday night is installation/calibration time! I will take (and post) photos of my system before and after calibration and before and after Oppo so we can compare.

Does anyone have any suggestions for classic benchmark DVDs and scenes to use for comparisons? I have a bunch so there's a good chance I will have what you suggest (and if not Hollywood Video isn't far away).

Does anyone have any suggestions for classic benchmark DVDs and scenes to use for comparisons? I have a bunch so there's a good chance I will have what you suggest (and if not Hollywood Video isn't far away). To eliminate the subjective nature of evaluating and comparing images with other players, I first use Avia's resolution and sharpness patterns. But set the player to "WIDE" mode for this... "Wide/SQZ" mode pillar-boxes the Avia disk, and loses horizontal resolution.

Then I pick a range of high-quality DVD transfers to get an averaged feel for real-world performance. This thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=3451628&&#post3451628) has some good recommendations for reference-quality DVD's that you could try. Note that reference-quality refers to the DVD transfer (PQ), not necessarily the movie content.

From the above thread: "The definition of "reference" when evaluating DVDs: The DVD transfer should have low noise, very low edge enhancement, deep blacks and very few motion or compression related artifacts. The presence of these is allowed but they are NOT to be distracting".

Gary

To add to that, if you are trying to eject when you first turn on the player, you need to wait a good 10-15 seconds before pressing the eject button.

I agree, even my old $30 crappy DVD player does it in 4-5 seconds.
I actually noticed that the power up takes only about 7 seconds, the remaining 7-8 seconds are spent loading/trying to load disk.

It would also be nice if Oppo would power itself `on when you press eject/open button and close the tray when you power it off (without the remote). Again, even the cheapest DVD players do it.

Can the oppo be sdi modified? If so, has anyone done it? I searched this thread but couldn't find anything. I apologize if its been discussed already.

Thanks,
Eric

Can the oppo be sdi modified? If so, has anyone done it? Yes, it can be done. Check this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5122994&highlight=SDI+mod#post5122994). I don't think anyone here has tried it.

Gary

Thanks Gary.

If you are using the eject button on the front panel, you need to press the button a little more deliberately (slightly longer). If you are using the black remote, you may need to aim a little better, and press the button a wee bit harder.

Gary

and wait longer before hitting the button a second time, you might be telling to close just as it is about to open.

Does anyone know if the quality of the free DVI cable that comes with the player is good?
Specifically the 4 meter one.

The quality of the cable that comes with the Oppo is fine.

Any word on the DVD-DL issues as well as the sound delay?

Does anyone know if the quality of the free DVI cable that comes with the player is good?
Specifically the 4 meter one.
I received the DVI to HDMI cable and it works fine. In fact, they sent the cable out separately (and quickly) when i told them I ordered the player thru Amazon and the DVI to DVI is of no use to me with my Samsung.

Any word on the DVD-DL issues as well as the sound delay?I thought they were working on a firmware upgrade for the sound delay...50ms does not cut it...120ms would be cool. :)

does anyone know where I can buy the other remote for the oppo? the upgrade device sheet I found for me universal remote seems to be based on the other remote. I was able to change the dvd player to the other remote, but now I can't get into setup without swiching back and forth. I rather just have the other remote.

I would contact Oppo Digital for the new version remote. I have not seen it for sale as a separate item.

Paul

Any word on the DVD-DL issues as well as the sound delay?

I've been wondering this as well; especially the purported increase in audio delay to 120 ms.

Oppo? Do you frequent this board? Please let us know!

Thanks for the suggestion. They are sending me a silver remote. I already have the new version.

I would contact Oppo Digital for the new version remote. I have not seen it for sale as a separate item.

Paul

Hope this question hasn't been asked and answered a lot here. I got an Oppo a couple of weeks ago and need to know if the Oppo is outputting a DVI-Video or DVI-PC level signal. The start of this thread indicates that it can pass BTB and WTW, but I'm having some issues getting the black bars in the Avia pluge test to show up at the default settings.

I'm using the Oppo with the DVI input on a Lumagen HDP processor going to an Optoma H79 DLP projector.

Am I missing a menu item somewhere?

Joe Clark, To get the black bar signal you need to up the oppo's brightness a bit--some say as high as 5, but mine's set at 2 (for an AE700). Give it a try.

Dave

Hope this question hasn't been asked and answered a lot here. I got an Oppo a couple of weeks ago and need to know if the Oppo is outputting a DVI-Video or DVI-PC level signal. The start of this thread indicates that it can pass BTB and WTW, but I'm having some issues getting the black bars in the Avia pluge test to show up at the default settings.

I'm using the Oppo with the DVI input on a Lumagen HDP processor going to an Optoma H79 DLP projector.

Am I missing a menu item somewhere?The Oppo has DVI Video levels when its brightness is set to +5. The default brightness is a bit too low for some displays.

Gary

I just watched Toy Story 10th anniversary edition on my Oppo outputing 720p to my Sony WF655 and it's at least as good as The Incredibles broadcast on HDStarz (Saturday). It really shows what the machine can do with a quality source.

I noticed some very minimal MB in the early scene in the texture of the wallpaper, but that was really nothing. Totally imperceptible and I could still see the detail in the patterns. No other MB was evident.

Please see my review of the new Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD that I posted at HTF.

This was one of the first DVDs I had the chance to review using my new Oppo DVD player (on a BenQ 8700+)

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htforum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=240450&perpage=30&display=&pagenumber=1

The review says you used a Momitsu v880 for Toy Story. Did you rewatch with the Oppo? Any difference?

Edited. Just read page 3.

Good review, BTW.

I heard from Oppo that there is a new firmware version in Beta. Do any of the testers know what has been fixed? Give us a hint.

Hey digibal235,

I'll update the review to mention that I switched to the OPPO after my first viewing...

I heard from Oppo that there is a new firmware version in Beta. Do any of the testers know what has been fixed? Give us a hint.

FYI, beta testers are not allowed to discuss firmware still in development. Be patient.

Please see my review of the new Toy Story 10th Anniversary DVD that I posted at HTF.

This was one of the first DVDs I had the chance to review using my new Oppo DVD player (on a BenQ 8700+)

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htf...y=&pagenumber=1

David, that was a very good review of the Toy Story DVD. I actually decided to buy Toy Story yesterday because I was curious what a reference DVD for PQ would look like on my display. I need some help in solving a PQ problem though. What I'm seeing is like a ripple effect (curved bands of shimmering) in the rear seat upholstery of the minivan. This is the only problem I've seen on this DVD. I don't even see the problem you speak of regarding the antenna at the beginning of track 10. The scene I'm referring to begins just after the start of track 12 at approximately 29:51 into the movie. I'm using the Oppo player with the DVD output. My 50" Sony Grand Wega LCD RP has been calibrated to the Avia DVD but tonight I calibrated it using THX Optimizer to see if that would help. No luck. I tried reducing my display's sharpness to 0 and at various other levels but that didn't help either. Normally it's set at 1/16 of full scale, if that. I couldn't figure out how to post a link to a picture but it's posted under screen shots in the photo gallery. Any advice anyone?

Have you tried turning CCS on (or Off, depending on what it is at now). I know in Finding Nemo I had some weird visual artifacts on ocean surrfaces when I had CCS off.

What I'm seeing is like a ripple effect (curved bands of shimmering) in the rear seat upholstery of the minivan. This is the only problem I've seen on this DVD.

I noticed that too...I'm 99% sure that's also a result of the minimal HF filtering in this transfer so we're seeing aliasing as the "camera moves" and the HF detail starts to max out the 720 x 480 matrix.

I think that this was the only scene where it became obvious..and IMO is still a preferred artifact to having an overly-soft picture.

In any case...rest assured it's not your display or DVD player...I'm pretty sure this aliasing is in the source.

I always have CCS on. I tried turning it off tonight and the problem was worse.

Thanks a lot Dave. I was starting to panic! :)

I always have CCS on. I tried turning it off tonight and the problem was worse.

The conventional wisdom seems to say that CCS should usually be turned off, but I also now leave CCS on all the time. I've yet to find a problem with it on, but frequently see artifacting with it set to off.

hmmm. I'll try turning it on as well. What does it "do" exactly? (CSS)

-dave

hmmm. I'll try turning it on as well. What does it "do" exactly? (CSS)

-dave
Here's a pretty good explanation of CSS from the other Oppo thread, it's also technically explained on the Faroudja site.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=5876963&highlight=css#post5876963

CSS (cross color suppression) removes errors from improper Y/C separation such as dot crawl (moving dots along color edges). It's effect is most noticeable along the edge of sharply defined color transitions. It's best used with composite and S-video signal inputs, not DVDs so much. On the downside, it can cause flickering in highly saturated colors (like the toy box top in Toy Story). That's why it's usually recommended that it be turned off.

Question from a newbie. Just got the Oppo from Amazon and was reading through the manual. My Samsung HL-R5667W manual shows two DVI inputs and one HDMI. When in fact, there are only one HDMI and no DVI inputs on the TV. I plan to hook it up with DVI from the Oppo to HDMI on TV and an optical cable to the amp for sound. The manual doesn't address this configuration. Does anyone have their's this way or have any input before I try?

Question from a newbie. Just got the Oppo from Amazon and was reading through the manual. My Samsung HL-R5667W manual shows two DVI inputs and one HDMI. When in fact, there are only one HDMI and no DVI inputs on the TV. I plan to hook it up with DVI from the Oppo to HDMI on TV and an optical cable to the amp for sound. The manual doesn't address this configuration. Does anyone have their's this way or have any input before I try?

The Samsung HLR series (other than the high-end 78 1080p models) only has one digital input (HDMI) but includes an ATSC tuner. You were probably looking at last year's model the HLP which had one HDMI and one DVI but no ATSC tuner. In any event, I have the HLP and have my Oppo connected to the HDMI input. Oppo provided an HDMI to DVI hybrid cable which works fine. Haven't had any problems. You will need to go into the Oppo's setup menu and adjust brightness to +5 in order to get proper black levels. Other than that, should be all set.

Do you think they re gonna add the 480i/576i DVI in the next firmware that is actually testing??

Thanks for the information

Do you think they re gonna add the 480i/576i DVI in the next firmware that is actually testing??

Thanks for the information

No. They designed the 971H to only support progressive (outside of 1080i) through the DVI output. You will not see 480i/576i via DVI.

I plan to hook it up with DVI from the Oppo to HDMI on TV and an optical cable to the amp for sound. The manual doesn't address this configuration. Does anyone have their's this way or have any input before I try? [QUOTE]

I have no problems at all with this configuration.

I am really thinking of picking up one of these Oppo players. I have a Vinc Bravo D2 which I set away for warranty work over 3 months ago. Vinc still has not shipped a replacement back to me. Before I plunge for an Oppo I have a few questions.

-Can you manually adjust the zoom on non anamorphic movies or divx rips? On my Bravo I can adjust vertical and horizontal zoom 1 click at a time on divx. Its really helpful in getting the picture to fit perfectly.

-If anyone has this player and toshiba 51h83 or something similar, do you get vertical jailbars at 1080i and a large horizontal bar in 720p? I get this on my bravo and i have heard of other people having this same problem on different upconverting players.

-Does this player support mp3 id3 tags?

Thanks alot guys!

Thanks Ericscott and dusterscott. One additional question - How do I tell if I have the latest firmware? I have the black remote if that means anything. Thanks.

Press Setup, followed by 9-2-1-0. You'll see a menu pop up with (among other things) the firmware version. The current factory firmware is OP971-8-0624. If updated with a CD, the version is 0628.

This is also how you would change the region code to region free (enter "0").

Alexxkid -

At this time, they only have the generic Zoom settings (1x, 1.5x, 2.0x, etc) available.

I wish I could answer that question.

The OPDV971H will not read ID3 Tags from MP3 files. It just reads the filenames.

Alexxkid -

At this time, they only have the generic Zoom settings (1x, 1.5x, 2.0x, etc) available.

I wish I could answer that question.

The OPDV971H will not read ID3 Tags from MP3 files. It just reads the filenames.

Thanks alot, I bought one anyways. Will see how it goes.. Is Oppo still doing firmware updates? Can you give them sugestions?

I believe they are still doin firmware updates. Just send them an email with suggestions, they are nice people.

Oppo was supposedly hoping to release a new firmware update at the end of September that would increase the adjustable audio delay function up to 100-120 ms from the current 60 ms. Tomorrow is the last day of September. Any word on the release?

what is their email address?

Oppo was supposedly hoping to release a new firmware update at the end of September that would increase the adjustable audio delay function up to 100-120 ms from the current 60 ms. Tomorrow is the last day of September. Any word on the release?

The end of September was never promised, just a hoped for date. I think it's now still a couple weeks or more away.

all of this players problems sound exactly like the problems my friend had with this player.
LG LDA-531 1080i Upconverting Progressive Scan DVD Player With DivX

Has anyone used this player and can compare?

There are two points I think it is rather important and I hope they are not just me.

1/ When first power on of the DVD player all the analogue audio outputs are at max full volumn! I was caught a couple of times and this can do serious damages to the speakers if the source/ dvd has high volumn material like the THX trailer. Because I connect these direct to power amps that have no volumn controls.

2/ When power off the CD tray should close automatically like any other dvd players that I have used so far rangeing from $39 to $1300 a piece.

I hope OPPO is watching this thread.

Oppo was supposedly hoping to release a new firmware update at the end of September that would increase the adjustable audio delay function up to 100-120 ms from the current 60 ms. Tomorrow is the last day of September. Any word on the release?

The last correspondence I had with Oppo stated that the firmware (most likely next week) will not have the increased delay in it. The new firmware will mainly address Divx playback. The firmware after that will most likely fix PAL and an increased delay (if they can even do so - the CSR I talked with was not very optimistic about the increased audio delay)

what is their email address?

Service@oppodigital.com

There are two points I think it is rather important and I hope they are not just me.

1/ When first power on of the DVD player all the analogue audio outputs are at max full volumn! I was caught a couple of times and this can do serious damages to the speakers if the source/ dvd has high volumn material like the THX trailer. Because I connect these direct to power amps that have no volumn controls.

This is due to the nature of the volume and key controls not being part of the stored memory. Everytime the unit is shut off, all memory that is not associated to the firmware (Setup information) is cleared. I don't know why it isn't permanently stored, but it isn't.

2/ When power off the CD tray should close automatically like any other dvd players that I have used so far rangeing from $39 to $1300 a piece.

I hope OPPO is watching this thread.

This is a hardware defect. If you turn off the power on the unit itself, the tray will stay out because there is no signal sent to check if the tray is still out. However, if you use the power button on the remote, there is an extra check to see if the tray is still out. If it is, it will be recalled.

So how bad is the macroblocking? Is it noticable on every movie or just some?

Ok I officially have the worst luck of all time. I have been waiting for my Bravo D2 warranty replacement for 3 months. I called Vinc at least 6 times, they kept saying they had no replacement units to send please wait 2 weeks. So i was so sick of waiting I bought an Oppo off ebay. Not 30min later do I get an email from Vinc that my Bravo had shipped via FedEx earlier today. ARGHGHGHGHGHHGHGH!!! Now I have 2 players. All I can hope is that the Oppo beats out the Bravo and I can sell it on Ebay, but jesus christ...

Ok I officially have the worst luck of all time. I have been waiting for my Bravo D2 warranty replacement for 3 months. I called Vinc at least 6 times, they kept saying they had no replacement units to send please wait 2 weeks. So i was so sick of waiting I bought an Oppo off ebay. Not 30min later do I get an email from Vinc that my Bravo had shipped via FedEx earlier today. ARGHGHGHGHGHHGHGH!!! Now I have 2 players. All I can hope is that the Oppo beats out the Bravo and I can sell it on Ebay, but jesus christ...

Be happy. The Oppo is the much better player over the D2. Keep the Bravo as a backup. Everyone should have at least 2 DVD players. Myself, I have about 8, not counting DVD-Rom units.

So how bad is the macroblocking? Is it noticable on every movie or just some?

I finally got my Oppo and hooked it up to my Fujitsu 50" plasma, which is based on Panasonic glass - a notorious combination that allegedly results in noticeable macroblocking.

After playing around with the DVD player the last 2 days and going through at least 20 different DVDs, I don't notice any more artifacts than on my old Panasonic RP56. I can easily make certain darker scenes exhibit blockiness and appear artifact ridden by raising the brightness. However, this effect is no different on my other 2 DVD players as well as my cable HD DVR.

i say give it a shot. Oppo has excellent customer service and a good return policy if you don't like what you see.

While I believe there is macroblocking, I think people tend to overscrutinize the image quality purposely staring at their sets from up close to try to find problems w/ the PQ. I have found at my regular seating distance, which is actually pretty close at 8' from a 50" screen, the image is very good.

The truth of the matter is DVD is fairly low res and utilizes an old compression scheme. Compression artifacts are apparent if you get close enough to the TV regardless of what DVD player/TV combination you have.

I will say though that I don't see too much of a benefit when switching btw 480p - 540p - 720p - 1080i. Not surprising as there is no way upconversion could make a DVD appear anything close to a true HD image.

Thanks for clearing things up. Regarding the maximum volume output I would think that it should be default as minimum at start up if it can not be stored rather than waking up the dead and a shock to all speakers. One can take time to find the remote and raise the volume rather than rush to find the remote and try to lower the volume while being blasted at full volume and imagine you have 5 channels of 200Watt power amps plus subwoofers!.

Oppo put out a press release Wednesday "officially" introducting the OPDV971H. I feel so cutting edge. Does this mean that CNET will finally get off their asses and look at this machine?

Link (http://www.oppodigital.com/Press_Release_092805.html)


OPPO Digital Debuts High Performance, Upconverting DVD Player for Home Theater and HD Savvy Consumers

OPPO OPDV971H Scales Standard Definition DVDs to High Definition Resolutions on HDTVs and Projectors

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. September 28, 2005 – OPPO Digital, Inc., a leading A/V consumer electronics manufacturer, today officially introduced its high performance, stylish OPPO OPDV971H DVI DVD player for HDTVs and projectors. Available today with an MSRP of $249, consumers can purchase the OPDV971H from authorized resellers listed at http://www.oppodigital.com.

OPPO Digital’s OPDV971H features Faroudja's Emmy award-winning DCDi® deinterlacing and cutting-edge scaling technology to up-convert standard video in DVDs to HD resolutions. DCDi (Directional Correlational Deinterlacing) technology eliminates the jagginess that conventional upconverters introduced to diagonal edges in video. Faroudja’s unique DCDi algorithm identifies all the moving edges in a scene and adjusts the angle of interpolation at each pixel so that the interpolation always follows the edge instead of crossing it, eliminating staircasing or jagged edge artifacts.

Featuring a slim and elegant design, the OPDV971H also offers digital DVI output at 480p/540p/720p/1080i resolutions, which offers clearer pictures and an enhanced viewing experience. With support for DVD, DVD+/-RW, DivX, VCD, SVCD, CD+R/-RW, HDCD, WMA, Xvid, digital picture (JPEG) CDs, NTSC and PAL, OPDV971H is one of the most versatile players on the market.

“As HDTVs are approaching mass appeal, OPPO Digital enables consumers to enrich their home theater and DVD viewing experience by combining performance, advanced technology, and value – as well as extending the opportunity for high resolution on-demand entertainment,” said Jin Pi, CEO of OPPO Digital. “During its initial market shipments, the OPDV971H already received a tremendous level of enthusiastic support from the home theater and A/V community. We look forward to helping more consumers get the most out of their DVD collections and high performance HDTVs and projectors.”

“After owning two very expensive players, which had issues the manufacturer has failed to address, I can truthfully say that the OPDV971H is one of the best players on the market today at any price,” said Rudy Beatty, an OPPO customer, “OPPO, you rock.”

About OPPO Digital, Inc.

Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, OPPO Digital, Inc., manufactures and markets digital electronics for A/V enthusiasts and video savvy consumers that deliver style, innovation, value, and performance . The company's leading R&D, high-performance A/V products, and strong customer focus distinguish it from traditional consumer-electronics brands.

The company is located in Mountain View , Calif. More information can be found online at http://www.oppodigital.com.

I'm posting this in both Oppo threads.

Currently, it appears that you can only frame advance,

Frame Advance: Press Pause first, then FF to advance a frame at a time


Jim
Does anyone know how to frame advance on the Oppo? The above method doesn't work for me, as soon as I hit the FF button, it fast forwards... :confused:

I'd like to know too.

Does anyone know how to frame advance on the Oppo? The above method doesn't work for me, as soon as I hit the FF button, it fast forwards... :confused:If you have the silver remote you press pause, pause, pause... to advance one frame at a time.

Frame advance with the black remote will be addressed in a firmware release.

Gary

Thanks for clearing things up. Regarding the maximum volume output I would think that it should be default as minimum at start up if it can not be stored rather than waking up the dead and a shock to all speakers. One can take time to find the remote and raise the volume rather than rush to find the remote and try to lower the volume while being blasted at full volume and imagine you have 5 channels of 200Watt power amps plus subwoofers!.

Oppo most likely assumed that people who will be using the analog outputs would be mating it with a device that has its own volume control. It never occured to them that a user would be using a device which lacks its own internal volume controls. If I can use a really crappy analogy, it was like the Apollo engineers who designed two different scrubbers for the lunar madual and and lunar lander because they never forsaw a sequence of events that would require the two to be interchangeable.

Does anyone know how to frame advance on the Oppo? The above method doesn't work for me, as soon as I hit the FF button, it fast forwards... :confused:

The only way to do frame advancement with the black remote at this time is to press the Keyboard button and use its interface.

But be warned, the stepping on the 971H at this time does 2 frames, not 1. When I was testing the AVIA de-interlacing test, only the odd fields were being displayed when I frame stepped. The even fields were ignored.

In which mode were you in for the frame test? 720p or 1080i?

The only way to do frame advancement with the black remote at this time is to press the Keyboard button and use its interface.

But be warned, the stepping on the 971H at this time does 2 frames, not 1. When I was testing the AVIA de-interlacing test, only the odd fields were being displayed when I frame stepped. The even fields were ignored.
I will try that tonight, thanks!

In which mode were you in for the frame test? 720p or 1080i?

I was using 720p on my TH-42PX50U. I will try it again later tonight with the Black remote and the Silver remote to see if I get the same results.

If you are in a progressive mode, then wouldn't you only see the progressive frames when you frame step? To see the odd/even lines seperately you would have to switch to 1080i.

I have the black remote, but I use the codes in my Harmony remote. I'll try the pause, pause frame step tonight.

If you are in a progressive mode, then wouldn't you only see the progressive frames when you frame step? To see the odd/even lines seperately you would have to switch to 1080i.

I have the black remote, but I use the codes in my Harmony remote. I'll try the pause, pause frame step tonight.

Sorry, I was incorrect in my first statement. I didn't mean to say AVIA, I mean to say the Faroudja Demo Disc. There is a test that hass ODD and EVEN fields. During playback, both fields show up correctly. However, when you step frames, the EVEN fields completely disappear. I know that progressive scanning displays ODD and EVEN fields at the same time, rather than in sequential order. So I don't know if this normal, or if this is a problem with the stepping design of the OPDV971H.

I tried it at 1080i on a Sharp Aquos here at work, and the samething happened.

OUCH!

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12467

Hang on to your Oppo....it may become very valuable.

OUCH!

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/12467

Hang on to your Oppo....it may become very valuable.

That only applies to an older MTK chipsets. Most current MTK boards being used, which includes the Oppo OPDV971H, are not part of this infringement.

Not to get too excited:

http://www.mtk.com.tw/press_room/20050929_en.pdf

MediaTek and Zoran are suing each other.

Paul

I think Zoran is just mad that their chips are not motion adaptive. :)

The last correspondence I had with Oppo stated that the firmware (most likely next week) will not have the increased delay in it. The new firmware will mainly address Divx playback.


the Oppo's already capable of playing most of the Divx/Xvid movies that my lower-end Philips DVP642 and my mate's Lite-On baulks at, though it could only output the audio from an HR Xvid file that i had tried feeding it (encoded from HDTV, 1920 x 1088 @16000 kbps), the video freezing at the directory menu screen.

so any improvement/extensions to MPEG4 playback capability in the next firmware update would be most welcome, in addition to all the other wish-list items mentioned previously on this board... :)

I was deciding between the Oppo and the Panny 97S. I finally decided on the Oppo and just order one.

I believe I read that someone did a SDI mod to an Oppo, has anyone else did or heard of this mod. If this mod can be done how much better PQ could I expect? Also, the processor is an HD iScan+.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

I am interested too in adding an SDI output ;) ;)
Any pics?? :o

I just got done watching ROTK EE, and noticed an annoying horizontal line extending across the screen about 1/2" above the bottom black bar, and 1/2" below the top black bar. I don't see this line on material that takes up the whole screen. I also checked out The Incredibles, and I see the same line just above/below the black bars.

I've got my Oppo connected via DVI->HDMI to my Samsung 6168. Any thoughts on what I'm seeing?

Be happy. The Oppo is the much better player over the D2. Keep the Bravo as a backup. Everyone should have at least 2 DVD players. Myself, I have about 8, not counting DVD-Rom units.

8!!!! DVD players, I want your job, lmao :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I just got done watching ROTK EE, and noticed an annoying horizontal line extending across the screen about 1/2" above the bottom black bar, and 1/2" below the top black bar. I don't see this line on material that takes up the whole screen. I also checked out The Incredibles, and I see the same line just above/below the black bars.

I've got my Oppo connected via DVI->HDMI to my Samsung 6168. Any thoughts on what I'm seeing?

I get that too - although it's not black but more of a dark version of the pixels that should be there. This is with a Sanyo Z2 projector. I pretty much ignore it now TBH.

But you should ask Oppo what they think and then let us know. I was wondering whether it had anything to do with the underscan issue.

Andrew

SDI mod anyone????????

Any info would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Mark

the Oppo's already capable of playing most of the Divx/Xvid movies that my lower-end Philips DVP642 and my mate's Lite-On baulks at ...


One fatal flaw however, and the new firmware is supposed to fix it:

The Oppo will only play back MPEG4 files (ACCURATELY) that have been encoded with the same vertical resolution as the MPEG1/2 standard. Any other vertical resolution gets stretched to fit the TV screen. The distortion is unacceptable.

At least the Philips does this right.

The Philips DVP 642 doesn't do it right either. Its aspect ratio is flawed and incorrect. Its vertical resolution is squashed on many mpeg-4 files.

The squashing must be less objectionable than the stretching, since I've never seemed to notice.

I have both players. In general, watching a variety of MPEG4 files on the Philips is better than watching them on the Oppo. In fact I don't even bother trying on the Oppo.

the Oppo's already capable of playing most of the Divx/Xvid movies that my lower-end Philips DVP642 and my mate's Lite-On baulks at, though it could only output the audio from an HR Xvid file that i had tried feeding it (encoded from HDTV, 1920 x 1088 @16000 kbps), the video freezing at the directory menu screen.

so any improvement/extensions to MPEG4 playback capability in the next firmware update would be most welcome, in addition to all the other wish-list items mentioned previously on this board... :)

From what I have gathered, it is designed to address proper aspect ratio support, not media support. Sadly, looks like we will have to wait for another firmware to bring in more compatability.

SDI mod anyone????????

Any info would be much appreciated.

Regards,
Mark
There you go..

pixelmagic (http://www.pixelmagicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=639&highlight=oppo)

I would like to try it.

This dark line that you are seeing is NOT caused by the oppo, but an artifact of edge enhancement I believe or a type of ghosting. I have seen the same dark line on all 3 dvd players I own, and all three displays. Oppo, Panny RP56 and Xbox all exhibit this line. They are all hooked up differently as well. However certain movies like Star Wars, Passion of the Christ do not have it. In fact, it is so faint, I am surprised you see it. Not an OPPO Problem.

Mark

This dark line that you are seeing is NOT caused by the oppo, but an artifact of edge enhancement I believe or a type of ghosting. I have seen the same dark line on all 3 dvd players I own, and all three displays. Oppo, Panny RP56 and Xbox all exhibit this line. They are all hooked up differently as well. However certain movies like Star Wars, Passion of the Christ do not have it. In fact, it is so faint, I am surprised you see it. Not an OPPO Problem.

Mark

I can't really see how it could relate to edge enhancement, since it doesn't follow the edges of any images. It also doesn't look anything like analogue ghosting or pixel fringing. But I did wonder whether it might be related to the DVI cable since mine is 7.5 metres long (although it is a high quality lead). I will need to try it with the short lead but that will involve moving the Oppo, which is not terribly convenient.

I didn't see the line with my previous Sony DVD player and the same PJ and films, but that was through a component input.

Andrew

Well...the Oppo is out of the HT room. :mad:

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean last night. Few minutes into the movie, my wife blurts out "The sound doesn't match!!!" (referring to synch issues). In 13 years of watching movies with her....she's never commenting on anything like that.

Then, the icing on the cake, about half-way through the movie she starts asking me "Why is the black purple?" and "Why does it look so blocky?" refering to macroblocking. Again, my wife has NEVER commented on anything remotely like this before.

I've been officially ordered to return the Lite-On back to the HT room and find a new home (probably bedroom) for the Oppo. Oh well.... :rolleyes:

Well...the Oppo is out of the HT room. :mad:

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean last night. Few minutes into the movie, my wife blurts out "The sound doesn't match!!!" (referring to synch issues). In 13 years of watching movies with her....she's never commenting on anything like that.

Then, the icing on the cake, about half-way through the movie she starts asking me "Why is the black purple?" and "Why does it look so blocky?" refering to macroblocking. Again, my wife has NEVER commented on anything remotely like this before.

I've been officially ordered to return the Lite-On back to the HT room and find a new home (probably bedroom) for the Oppo. Oh well.... :rolleyes:

The Pirates of the Carribean dvd is considered to be one of the worst looking dvds out.

AndrewB., I have two DVD Players connected via component cables, and one DVI, and they all exhibit this on three different type of displays. As for edge enhancement, when a dvd is mastered in superscope, the black bars are part of the video signal and image. Therefore, the border of the black bars and white background can cause ghosting that you are seeing. I can't see this being a huge issue since you can barely see it and it is so close to the edge of the picture. Some 2.35:1 dvds do not have this line as I mentioned above.


As for Pirates of the carribean. Horrible looking movie. To judge your oppo on this movie is silly. I have had the Oppo for a month now, and have had no Lip Sync issues and the picture is way above my other dvd player.

Mark

make sure you didn't go into setup while the movie was playing. i did that once and the lip sync was very noticeable, even by my wife who also has never complained about that. played back the same movie and the issue was gone.

Well...the Oppo is out of the HT room. :mad:

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean last night. Few minutes into the movie, my wife blurts out "The sound doesn't match!!!" (referring to synch issues). In 13 years of watching movies with her....she's never commenting on anything like that.

Then, the icing on the cake, about half-way through the movie she starts asking me "Why is the black purple?" and "Why does it look so blocky?" refering to macroblocking. Again, my wife has NEVER commented on anything remotely like this before.

I've been officially ordered to return the Lite-On back to the HT room and find a new home (probably bedroom) for the Oppo. Oh well.... :rolleyes:

AndrewB., I have two DVD Players connected via component cables, and one DVI, and they all exhibit this on three different type of displays. As for edge enhancement, when a dvd is mastered in superscope, the black bars are part of the video signal and image. Therefore, the border of the black bars and white background can cause ghosting that you are seeing. I can't see this being a huge issue since you can barely see it and it is so close to the edge of the picture. Some 2.35:1 dvds do not have this line as I mentioned above.

[snip]

Mark

I'll have a look again via component. It's possible I was looking more critically since it is a new DVD player!

I understand your point about the edges of the black bars ghosting. Since some 2.35:1 DVDs don't have it then does that mean it is a problem with the DVD/transfer rather than with the Oppo?

Andrew

Watched Pirates of the Caribbean last night. Few minutes into the movie, my wife blurts out "The sound doesn't match!!!" (referring to synch issues). In 13 years of watching movies with her....she's never commenting on anything like that.

Then, the icing on the cake, about half-way through the movie she starts asking me "Why is the black purple?" and "Why does it look so blocky?" refering to macroblocking. Again, my wife has NEVER commented on anything remotely like this before.

I've been officially ordered to return the Lite-On back to the HT room and find a new home (probably bedroom) for the Oppo. Oh well....

That movie is awful (picture quality)...I reviewed it for home theater forum. Lots of MPEG noise and loaded with ringing from EE. I honestly was a bit shocked...though it didn't look much better in the theater either (sans the EE of course). All that ghosting you see is IN THE DVD of this badly mastered title.

Don't write off the OPPO just yet...almost all of the issues you stated can be addressed via calibration if the source material is not to blame...you can adjust the time delay for audio (already did this myself and no more problems) and black-level/contrast can be tweaked so that the player and PJ "match" each other and don't exaggerate the MPEG noise.

NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE TO RECALIBRATE YOUR PJ WHEN USING THE OPPO...did you set the brightness of the OPPO to +5? You'll need to do that and then recalibrate your PJ with AVIA to get everything looking just right...but when you do...it's worth it!

SDI mod anyone????????Yes, an SDI mod can be done. Check this site (http://www.pixelmagicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=325). A BBK (Oppo equivalent) was successfully modified. Good pictures were included. Read the whole thread very carefully.

Why don't you guys search this thread? The link to this info has been posted before... just on the previous page, as a matter of fact.

Gary

QUESTION:

Has anyone mentioned to OPPO the need for a decent "zoom mode" for non-anamorphic lbx material?

What bugs me about the OPPO is that it doesn't convert aspect ratio. My old Momitsu would keep everything 16x9 and pillarbox 4x3 material as well "zoom" letterbox material to properly fill the 16x9 screen area when I hit "zoom".

Zooming 4x3 lbx on the Oppo doesn't work (stays 4x3). Would be an easy firmware update...

am I the only one who's been bothered by the lack of aspect ratio control? I HATE having to switch modes on my projector when going back/forth from the film to the special features etc. It also makes it more complicated for others to use the HT system...the momitsu make it "press play" easy to watch a movie...aspect ratio rarely had to be touched and when it did it was just a simple "zoom" on the DVD remote control...

Yes, an SDI mod can be done. Check this site (http://www.pixelmagicforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=325). A BBK (Oppo equivalent) was successfully modified. Good pictures were included. Read the whole thread very carefully.

Why don't you guys search this thread? The link to this info has been posted before... just on the previous page, as a matter of fact.

Gary

A little off topic....What does SDI interface with? Is this hardware that is made to bypass the DCDI functions, for example, to a seperate video processor?

QUESTION:

Has anyone mentioned to OPPO the need for a decent "zoom mode" for non-anamorphic lbx material?

What bugs me about the OPPO is that it doesn't convert aspect ratio. My old Momitsu would keep everything 16x9 and pillarbox 4x3 material as well "zoom" letterbox material to properly fill the 16x9 screen area when I hit "zoom".

Zooming 4x3 lbx on the Oppo doesn't work (stays 4x3). Would be an easy firmware update...Yes, Oppo is working on this. It is unfortunately not a simple firmware update at all, because every DVD zoom also affects AVI playback. So it has been a major challenge for them.

Gary

A little off topic....What does SDI interface with? Is this hardware that is made to bypass the DCDI functions, for example, to a seperate video processor?Yes, the SDI mod interfaces with certain external scalers and bypasses the image processing in the player.

That movie is awful (picture quality)...I reviewed it for home theater forum. Lots of MPEG noise and loaded with ringing from EE. I honestly was a bit shocked...though it didn't look much better in the theater either (sans the EE of course). All that ghosting you see is IN THE DVD of this badly mastered title.

Don't write off the OPPO just yet...almost all of the issues you stated can be addressed via calibration if the source material is not to blame...you can adjust the time delay for audio (already did this myself and no more problems) and black-level/contrast can be tweaked so that the player and PJ "match" each other and don't exaggerate the MPEG noise.

NOTE: YOU WILL HAVE TO RECALIBRATE YOUR PJ WHEN USING THE OPPO...did you set the brightness of the OPPO to +5? You'll need to do that and then recalibrate your PJ with AVIA to get everything looking just right...but when you do...it's worth it!

Thanks for the advice. I'll give that a shot. I have to say that I didn't even notice the synch problem myself until she said anything....but the macroblocking was really bad. Right now my brightness is at +2.

Thanks again.

Hi. Just upgraded my firmware to 0628.. As advertized, it solved my problem with shimmering/flickering in 1080i. But now, I have a new problem that I haven't seen posted here:

Randomly, every couple or few seconds, the display will jump or twitch briefly. This happens not only during playback, but any time the player is powered on. Blue Oppo welcome screen, setup screens, and during playback/paused images -- they all have this random "jump" or twitch in the image, mostly on the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen. If there is a playback symbol being displayed at the time (i.e. the [||] pause symbol), the symbol will twitch along with it.

Also, on certain very light / bright scenes (but not all), the top edge of the image will wiggle/vibrate horizontally -- similar to the above, but a continuous vibration rather than random twitch. Again, any playback symbol being displayed will wiggle with the rest of the top of the image.

Anyone else notice this after upgrading to 0628?

Hi. Just upgraded my firmware to 0628.. As advertized, it solved my problem with shimmering/flickering in 1080i. But now, I have a new problem that I haven't seen posted here:

Randomly, every couple or few seconds, the display will jump or twitch briefly. This happens not only during playback, but any time the player is powered on. Blue Oppo welcome screen, setup screens, and during playback/paused images -- they all have this random "jump" or twitch in the image, mostly on the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen. If there is a playback symbol being displayed at the time (i.e. the [||] pause symbol), the symbol will twitch along with it.

Also, on certain very light / bright scenes (but not all), the top edge of the image will wiggle/vibrate horizontally -- similar to the above, but a continuous vibration rather than random twitch. Again, any playback symbol being displayed will wiggle with the rest of the top of the image.

Anyone else notice this after upgrading to 0628?

The only thing I can think of is a "failed" firmware upgrade. The 971H does not do ECC when it is being upgraded, and can do rather unusual things if the firmware did not properly stick to the unit. Attempt another firmware upgrade and see if that doesn't solve your problem.

Outside of that, I can't think of a single reason why this would be happening to your unit. Hopefully someone else can be of more service to you.

Hi All.
I tried hooking up my player through HDMI for the first time yesterday and had the same problem. I recieved my player about 6 weeks ago so I assume it has the latest firmware. I tried hitting 9210 on the remote and nothing. I figure I'll give Oppo a call tomorrow.
Zaxdad

Do you have "True Life" set to on? The Oppo will jump like you're describing if it's set to off (bcs it turns off the DCDI deinterlacing engine or something)

Yes, Oppo is working on this. It is unfortunately not a simple firmware update at all, because every DVD zoom also affects AVI playback. So it has been a major challenge for them.


Could you explain what's so complicated about it? I dont' get how zooming the picture...which ought to be just like scaling...would be a challenge?

Do you have "True Life" set to on? The Oppo will jump like you're describing if it's set to off (bcs it turns off the DCDI deinterlacing engine or something)

TrueLife will turn off the entire processing of the Faroudja chipset, including DCDi, TrueLife, 3:2 pulldown and all other cadences. The new firmware is supposed to address this by just turning off the video enhancer that is TrueLife.

QUESTION:

Has anyone mentioned to OPPO the need for a decent "zoom mode" for non-anamorphic lbx material?

What bugs me about the OPPO is that it doesn't convert aspect ratio. My old Momitsu would keep everything 16x9 and pillarbox 4x3 material as well "zoom" letterbox material to properly fill the 16x9 screen area when I hit "zoom".

Zooming 4x3 lbx on the Oppo doesn't work (stays 4x3). Would be an easy firmware update...

If you change your television type to Wide/SQZ, 4:3 content will remain pillarboxed (retaining its original aspect ratio). Pressing the Zoom button until Zoom 2.0 is selected will completely fill the screen for all non-Anamorphic DVDs.

However, Zooming will turn off DCDi. This is another thing that is rumored to have been fixed in the current beta firmware.

If you change your television type to Wide/SQZ, 4:3 content will remain pillarboxed (retaining its original aspect ratio). Pressing the Zoom button until Zoom 2.0 is selected will completely fill the screen for all non-Anamorphic DVDs.


That's not the way my player (supposedly with the latest firmware) behaves...when it gets a 4x3 encoded DVD it does not pillarbox...and I have to switch my projector from "16x9" mode to "4x3" mode so that the projector will add the pillarboxing and properly display the 1.33:1 image. Zooming the 4x3 DVD (letterbox or not) via the DVD player then is contrained to this inner 1.33:1 area on the screen. Expanding the image via 16x9 mode using the PJ remote distorts the image making it "fat" so I can only use the projector's own "zoom" which is not of great quality. My Panny RP91 looked SO GOOD when it zoomed non-anamorphic WS DVDs!!!

In any case, if they fix this with the new firmware I'll be a happy camper...would love to zoom on the DVD remote and leave the PJ set up in "16x9" without having to even deal with its own aspect ratio adjustment.

Hi. Just upgraded my firmware to 0628.. As advertized, it solved my problem with shimmering/flickering in 1080i. But now, I have a new problem that I haven't seen posted here:

Randomly, every couple or few seconds, the display will jump or twitch briefly. This happens not only during playback, but any time the player is powered on. Blue Oppo welcome screen, setup screens, and during playback/paused images -- they all have this random "jump" or twitch in the image, mostly on the top 1/3 or 1/4 of the screen. If there is a playback symbol being displayed at the time (i.e. the [||] pause symbol), the symbol will twitch along with it.

Also, on certain very light / bright scenes (but not all), the top edge of the image will wiggle/vibrate horizontally -- similar to the above, but a continuous vibration rather than random twitch. Again, any playback symbol being displayed will wiggle with the rest of the top of the image.

Anyone else notice this after upgrading to 0628?



My first player started to do this. Oppo will probably replace it. Give them a call, they should be cool about it.

However, Zooming will turn off DCDi. This is another thing that is rumored to have been fixed in the current beta firmware.

This would be awesome.

That's not the way my player (supposedly with the latest firmware) behaves...when it gets a 4x3 encoded DVD it does not pillarbox...and I have to switch my projector from "16x9" mode to "4x3" mode so that the projector will add the pillarboxing and properly display the 1.33:1 image. Zooming the 4x3 DVD (letterbox or not) via the DVD player then is contrained to this inner 1.33:1 area on the screen. Expanding the image via 16x9 mode using the PJ remote distorts the image making it "fat" so I can only use the projector's own "zoom" which is not of great quality. My Panny RP91 looked SO GOOD when it zoomed non-anamorphic WS DVDs!!!

In any case, if they fix this with the new firmware I'll be a happy camper...would love to zoom on the DVD remote and leave the PJ set up in "16x9" without having to even deal with its own aspect ratio adjustment.

The Oppo should pillarbox 4:3 dvd as long as you have the Oppo tv type set to Wide/SQZ as Neuromancer stated. From here, you can use the zoom for non anamorphic dvds in order to make it fit your screen.

Unfortunately, the Oppo uses the mediatek chip to do the zoom, so the picture is not as good as me using my projector's aspect ratio control to zoom in on non anamorphic titles.

Can anyone in the know can confirm the options of custom resolutions or 48Hz with the beta firmware?

Dan

Oh...now I understand...the "wide/sqz" is on the OPPO player (I thought the TV).

I'll try that!

Though given the mediatch issue you've explained it may not be superior to the PJ's own (not so great) zoom.

So...the next firmware upgrade is supposed to preserve faroudja processing with the zoom? Maybe improve PQ?

DaViD Boulet,

Make sure that you selected Wide/SQZ for TV Display under the first tab of the Setup Menu. Yo u should be good to go after that. (Bah, too late for this one).

The Zoom through the player will keep DCDi working, but as posted earlier, the MTK mainboard is handling the Zoom functionality, which severly decreases the video quality.

Can anyone in the know can confirm the options of custom resolutions or 48Hz with the beta firmware?

Dan

Custom resolutions have not been addressed. The new firmware is designed to fix several small features (TrueLife, Zoom, and 2:2 Cadence) and fix DivX aspect ratio support.

PAL issues will be addressed in another firmware upgrade, but to the extent of support (such as 48hz or the re-introduction of PAL-M) is highly suspect.

Custom resolutions will probably never see the light of day. Most likely they will just fix the underscan issue.

Hi all,
BTW - the information in this post with the technical info and test is astounding.

Okay here is my setup. I have a Denon AVR4806 linked to a Sony Cineza VPL-HS51 via a bettercables HDMI-HDMI cable, projecting onto a 119" da-lite Cinema Contour Hi Contrast Cinema Vision screen and basically I'm trying to get the best picture bang for the buck (as I completely decimated my budget with the above purchases!!!). The 4806 has a DVI input as well as several HDMI - so I would probably just use the DVI cable provided with the player.

My current DVD player (playing thru component) basically has really bad (read crap) picture quality. I have a HD DVR also hooked thru the 4806 via component input - the picture quality I get when watching the HD stuff is simply astounding. When I switch to the DVD the quality basically sucks (blurry images, "aura" around various image components etc.) - so I'm thinking that it is likely the DVD player - it is a Sony DVP-NC655P and is several years old - and my latest quality purchases are probably just showing up the weaknesses of this old boat. So - folks in the 4806 thread pointed me in the direction of the oppo - and having read all about it - it sounds an incredible buy for the price.
So if anyone has any thoughts/concerns/advice about plugging this little beasty into my setup before I drop the cash please fell free to fill me in.

If you have any suggestions that I should incorporate on the setup after I get it - that would also be welcome.

Many thanks to you all.

Hi all,
BTW - the information in this post with the technical info and test is astounding.

Okay here is my setup. I have a Denon AVR4806 linked to a Sony Cineza VPL-HS51 via a bettercables HDMI-HDMI cable, projecting onto a 119" da-lite Cinema Contour Hi Contrast Cinema Vision screen and basically I'm trying to get the best picture bang for the buck (as I completely decimated my budget with the above purchases!!!). The 4806 has a DVI input as well as several HDMI - so I would probably just use the DVI cable provided with the player.

My current DVD player (playing thru component) basically has really bad (read crap) picture quality. I have a HD DVR also hooked thru the 4806 via component input - the picture quality I get when watching the HD stuff is simply astounding. When I switch to the DVD the quality basically sucks (blurry images, "aura" around various image components etc.) - so I'm thinking that it is likely the DVD player - it is a Sony DVP-NC655P and is several years old - and my latest quality purchases are probably just showing up the weaknesses of this old boat. So - folks in the 4806 thread pointed me in the direction of the oppo - and having read all about it - it sounds an incredible buy for the price.
So if anyone has any thoughts/concerns/advice about plugging this little beasty into my setup before I drop the cash please fell free to fill me in.

If you have any suggestions that I should incorporate on the setup after I get it - that would also be welcome.

Many thanks to you all.

The Oppo should work well in your set up. People have reports of macroblocking for the Oppo (and other faroudja based players) but I believe the hs51 does not show macroblocking. I think Kris Deering tested the Oppo with his hs51 with good results.

Once you get the player, set the Oppo's brightness to +5 and then calibrate your display with AVIA, or DVE.

Let us know how it works out!

If you use a DVI-D to HDMI cable, will you still need to connect audio cables?

If you use a DVI-D to HDMI cable, will you still need to connect audio cables?

Yes, probably either a coax or an optical cable for 5.1.

so glad to have a forum like this to get informed...now I understand the "wide/sqz" setting and am enjoying not having to switch between 16x3 and 4x3 mode on my PJ!!!

:D :D :D

Make sure that you selected Wide/SQZ for TV Display under the first tab of the Setup Menu.

Do you keep yours on SQZ? I switch depending on what I'm watching. I'm assuming I'll get better quality with widescreen material if I do that, but I may be fooling myself.

so glad to have a forum like this to get informed...now I understand the "wide/sqz" setting and am enjoying not having to switch between 16x3 and 4x3 mode on my PJ!!!

:D :D :D

David,

I know it's been said on here before, but a word of caution regarding the Wide/Sqz mode with 4:3 material. The reduction in resolution is significant! I have now adjusted my viewing habits where the default for me is the Wide/Sqz setting. I find it incredibly convenient for viewing extra features that are almost always non-anamorphic and set up for 4:3 sets.

When I am watching an entire film that is in the 4:3 format or has a non-anamorphic transfer, however, I go to the 480P setting which is pillar-boxed on my Sony LCD rear projector. The resolution is dramatically better than squeezing it at 720P in the Wide/Sqz setting.

It may not be the same for everyone's set-up, but for me the difference is so great that I have no problem with changing the OPPO back and forth. One of my favorite indy films, Waterland, was just released on DVD in Canada in a non-anamorhpic transfer. The film has an OAR of 2.35:1 and it looked like crap in the Wide/Sqz mode. In 480P, and enlarged using the Sony's zoom, the image was very acceptable.

-Toonces

Do you keep yours on SQZ? I switch depending on what I'm watching. I'm assuming I'll get better quality with widescreen material if I do that, but I may be fooling myself.

With anamorphic widescreen material there is no difference between choosing "Wide" or "Wide/SQZ". The only difference comes with discs flagged as 4:3, which the Oppo scales down to fit within a pillarboxed portion of the screen.

This is useful if your display locks out aspect ratio control on 480p or upscaled resolutions (many do), but if the display still offers full aspect ratio control at those resolutions you are better off leaving the Oppo in "Wide" mode and adjusting the aspect ratio at the display. "Wide/SQZ" throws out a 25% of the available horizontal resolution and noticeably degrades picture quality.

Again...

great to have this forum to offer such good advice. I'll compare some native 4x3 material both ways...I may end up leaving it set up for sqz for the roomates to simplify things but use the native wide mode and the PJ's 4x3 mode for myself...

thanks!!!

I set my Oppo to 'Wide/Squeeze' for Full Screen DVD's and 'Wide' for Widescreen DVD's. I believe the image is stretched horizontally when watching Full Screen DVD's with the Oppo set at 'Wide'. If I don't want to see black bars while watching Full Screen DVD's, I stretch the picture in my display's menu, preserving the original aspect ratio but losing a bit of the picture from the top and bottom.

I agree. If I'm watching a 4:3 dvd, I will set it to wide and let my display scale it to 4:3. But I will leave it on Wide/SQZ most of the time since most of my viewing is of anamorphic dvd and the pillarboxing is useful for extras. IMO, they should start making the extras in 16:9. Most of the extras on my PAL Hong Kong Legends dvds are all 16:9.

I fear my 2 week old Oppo has died. Last night it locked up near the end of a DVD. I had to unplug it for a few minutes to get it to do anything. After plugging it back in, I hit "eject" on the remote. The OSD message said "open", but it took about a full minute for the drawer to open. I then loaded a DVD which had played fine in the Oppo a few days ago. The OSD said "loading" but the play never brought up the DVD's menu screen. Again, after hitting "eject" it took about a minute for the drawer to open.

Is this thing dead or is there something I can do to get it running again?


Thanks.

I see that the Oppo manual says you can view jpeg pictures through it. How does one do this? Do I just write my jpegs to a CD-R or CD-RW and the Oppo will recognize them?

Thanks.

Yes, also mp3 and mpeg.

Paul

I fear my 2 week old Oppo has died. Last night it locked up near the end of a DVD. I had to unplug it for a few minutes to get it to do anything. After plugging it back in, I hit "eject" on the remote. The OSD message said "open", but it took about a full minute for the drawer to open. I then loaded a DVD which had played fine in the Oppo a few days ago. The OSD said "loading" but the play never brought up the DVD's menu screen. Again, after hitting "eject" it took about a minute for the drawer to open.

Is this thing dead or is there something I can do to get it running again?


Thanks.

It happens to me every now and then. I just power off and power on and it seems to work fine. If it keeps happening consistently, I'd contact Oppo.

What kind of tests have been done which suggest that wd/sq mode removes up to '25%' (according to Josh Z) of the resolution from film in 4:3 aspect ratio?

This is a real concern as in HDMI mode my AE700 pj locks the aspect ratio (either 16:9 with whatever necessary black bars, or 4:3). It's also not something I'd particularly noticed. About half of the films I view are 4:3 and they seem to be fine. Great transfers like Casablanca SE or Now, Voyager or the R2 Tartan Persona look magnificent.

I'm not doubting this because people can obviously test their systems in ways I can't but I would like to know what the evidence is.

Anyway, the misfortunes of a locked aspect ratio is another reason to hope the new firmware does solve the zoom probelm (for non-anamorphic letterbox pictures).

Dave

What kind of tests have been done which suggest that wd/sq mode removes up to '25%' (according to Josh Z) of the resolution from film in 4:3 aspect ratio?

It's basic math. DVD has a resolution of 720x480 pixels (the pixels are not square). If your display locks into widescreen mode, this means that those 720x480 pixels will create a 1.78:1 image. The 4:3 center portion of that 1.78:1 image has a resolution of only 540x480 pixels, with the other 180 pixels used to create the black pillarbox bars. That's a loss of 25% horizontal resolution.

This might be avoided if the Oppo were to upscale the 720x480 resolution to 720p or 1080i first before pillarboxing, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. The way the Oppo is designed, the pillarbox scaling is performed first by the Mediatek MPEG decoder and then the lower 540x480 resolution is upscaled by the Faroudja chip. The upscaling process can't reclaim those 180 pixels of real picture detail that were thrown out during the pillarboxing.

This is why it's better to send the full original 720x480 resolution to the display, and let the display pillarbox it, if possible.

It's basic math. DVD has a resolution of 720x480 pixels (the pixels are not square). If your display locks into widescreen mode, this means that those 720x480 pixels will create a 1.78:1 image. The 4:3 center portion of that 1.78:1 image has a resolution of only 540x480 pixels, with the other 180 pixels used to create the black pillarbox bars. That's a loss of 25% horizontal resolution.

This might be avoided if the Oppo were to upscale the 720x480 resolution to 720p or 1080i first before pillarboxing, but unfortunately it doesn't work that way. The way the Oppo is designed, the pillarbox scaling is performed first by the Mediatek MPEG decoder and then the lower 540x480 resolution is upscaled by the Faroudja chip. The upscaling process can't reclaim those 180 pixels of real picture detail that were thrown out during the pillarboxing.

This is why it's better to send the full original 720x480 resolution to the display, and let the display pillarbox it, if possible.

All of this is unfortunately correct. Though I do wonder, how do other Faroudja based upscalers tackle the 4:3 issue? Do they zoom and crop 4:3 letterbox content after it has been uspcaled? But what about 1:33:1 content? Can the Faroudja chipset be made to pillarbox on its own? *head explodes*

All of this is unfortunately correct. Though I do wonder, how do other Faroudja based upscalers tackle the 4:3 issue? Do they zoom and crop 4:3 letterbox content after it has been uspcaled? But what about 1:33:1 content? Can the Faroudja chipset be made to pillarbox on its own? *head explodes*

Samsung just doesn't with it all on the HD-931. It drove me crazy as I couldn't Pillarbox an image at all that critter...Everything that came out of the DVI port was widescreen...period!

-Toonces

Samsung just doesn't with it all on the HD-931. It drove me crazy as I couldn't Pillarbox an image at all that critter...Everything that came out of the DVI port was widescreen...period!

Technically, the signal coming out of the player is neither widescreen nor "full-frame". The signal is 720x480 pixels, and it is up to the display to determine whether that should be shown as 4:3 or 16:9. The problem comes with displays that have a design defect that locks into 16:9 mode on all progressive or upscaled content regardless of actual aspect ratio.

It's not a requirement of the DVD spec for players to pillarbox 4:3 or non-anamorphic content. That's strictly an optional feature.

All of this is unfortunately correct. Though I do wonder, how do other Faroudja based upscalers tackle the 4:3 issue? The Panasonic S97 does the same "squeeze" for 4:3 content as the Oppo, thus it also loses resolution. It is unavoidable if the player has to pillarbox.

With the current Oppo firmware, though, as soon as you zoom in, the image snaps out of "SQZ" mode and regains full horizontal resolution. (The only catch is that it currently does not maintain the correct aspect ratio in the 1.2x and 1.5x zooms - the image is not stretched quite enough in the vertical direction). Oppo is working on this.

Gary

The Panasonic S97 does the same "squeeze" for 4:3 content as the Oppo, thus it also loses resolution. It is unavoidable if the player has to pillarbox.

With the current Oppo firmware, though, as soon as you zoom in, the image snaps out of "SQZ" mode and regains full horizontal resolution. (The only catch is that it currently does not maintain the correct aspect ratio in the 1.2x and 1.5x zooms - the image is not stretched quite enough in the vertical direction). Oppo is working on this.

Gary

So pillarboxing of an upscaled image through any Faroudja based chipset will alwasy result in a loss of video quality? I would assume that other units that utilize, for example, the MTK upscaler would beable to decode, upscale and then pillarbox the resulting image because the the decoder and upscaler are on the same board (same capabilities). Am I totaly wrong?

The Panasonic S97 does the same "squeeze" for 4:3 content as the Oppo, thus it also loses resolution. It is unavoidable if the player has to pillarbox.


ASSUMING YOU'VE GOT A NATIVE 1280 x 720 digital display...

Yes, but if you pass the image in 16x9 mode (using all 1280 horizontal pixels for picture) to your PJ, then your projector down-scales that to only occupy the pixels in the inner 1.33:1 are and adds pillarboxing on its own...so in theory you end up with the SAME number of horizontal pixels displaying your image. ...so it shouldn't be the case that having the DVD player do the pillarboxing reduces quality...if done properly either method should produce identical results...and if done *really* properly the DVD scaling would have the advantage because it would remove one unnecessary scaling stage.

If the DVD player's pillarboxing is reducing image quality versus leaving the image "16x9" and having the PJ's scaler down-scale it to pillarbox it...then it's a design flaw.

The exception would be if you had a display with a native horizontal resolution greater than 1280...in which case it could have rendered more horizontal image information than the DVD player's pillarboxed 1280 x 720 image.

Sounds like something that the OPPO techs ought to fix.

Could you explain what's so complicated about it? I dont' get how zooming the picture...which ought to be just like scaling...would be a challenge? The zoom firmware is complicated because DVD pixels are not square and AVI pixels are. So for DVD movies, it is necessary for the player to zoom more in the vertical direction than the horizontal. Additionally, there is anamorphic and non-anamorphic content to deal with. Each zoom has to take into consideration what the source format is, then the decision has to be made whether the Mediatek chip or the Faroudja chip should be responsible for the stretch in each direction (or which of them is capable of such).

If the DVD player's pillarboxing is reducing image quality versus leaving the image "16x9" and having the PJ's scaler down-scale it to pillarbox it...then it's a design flaw.

Sounds like something that the OPPO techs ought to fix. Maybe true, but only if the hardware is capable.

Gary

Faroudja fli2310 chip is capable of pillarboxing.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:cVyKYMyWqD4J:gnss.com/products/C0702-PBR-03B.PDF+genesis+fli2310&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Faroudja fli2310 chip is capable of pillarboxing.
http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:cVyKYMyWqD4J:gnss.com/products/C0702-PBR-03B.PDF+genesis+fli2310&hl=en&client=firefox-a

Interesting. You should send the link to Oppo and see what their response is.

I don't have any non-anamorphic DVDs anymore, but I would love to see more features put into the 971H.

I wonder if you can help with a couple of issues.

Okay, today I set up my oppo to my Fuji HD plasma via dvi. It has a native resolution of 1024 x 1024.

However in the set up mode I am unable to enter or click on the icon at the far right of the menu set up screen. I believe it should be the "initial set up page". Therefore I can't access those settings. Further, when playing Lord of the Rings region 4 (I am in Sydney) I am unable to upscale. When pressing the dvi button the invalid symbol button comes up

I have tried a couple of other discs and no change.

I have connected via dvi to dvi.

Any thoughts ?

I wonder if you can help with a couple of issues.

Okay, today I set up my oppo to my Fuji HD plasma via dvi.

However in the set up mode I am unable to enter or click on the icon at the far right of the menu set up screen. I believe it should be the "initial set up page". Therefore I can't access those settings.
Refer to Oppo FAQ "How do I access the 5th tab..."

Further, when playing Lord of the Rings region 4 (I am in Sydney) I am unable to upscale. When pressing the dvi button the invalid symbol button comes up

I have tried a couple of other discs and no change.

I have connected via dvi to dvi.

Any thoughts ?
Refer to Oppo FAQ "Whenever I press the DVI button I get an 'Illegal Operation'"

:)

Refer to Oppo FAQ "How do I access the 5th tab..."


Refer to Oppo FAQ "Whenever I press the DVI button I get an 'Illegal Operation'"

:)

Sorry hoffho, I have searched for the info but no joy, can you link me in the right direction ?

Ta muchly :o

ah ha, thought you meant on this site.... found it on the oppo site, tried to link for others but unable to as i am a newbie doofus :)

Thanks for having a go at clearing up that wd/sq issue JoshZ. The numbers certainly make sense. And David Boulet point seems to stand too. Why doesn't the oppo scale a 4:3 image at least as well as--if not better than--the display device? One for oppo's techs. It's also something I thought I'd check out as best I could. So...

Now, for a subjective opinion I spent an hour trying the different options on three 4:3 DVDs whose transfer reputations are impeccable: the R2 Gone With the Wind, the R1 Children of Paradise (criterion) and the R2 Persona. In each case I thought that setting the oppo at 480p and letting the player (AE700, DVI to HDMI, screen size 72" diagonal, 1.7x seating distance) set the aspect ratio produces a marginally--very marginally--sharper picture, but, and this is a big but, the picture also looked more brittle, edgy, noisy and overall ever so very slightly less pleasing than when the oppo was set at 720p in wd/squeeze mode, which produced a smoother, very slightly brighter image with neglible detail loss.

So for my set up there is next to no difference and the convenience of wd/sq mode will mean that's going to remain the default setting.

This is probably one of those inexplicable subjective things

Dave

ah ha, thought you meant on this site.... found it on the oppo site, tried to link for others but unable to as i am a newbie doofus :)

Remember kids, reading is not only fun, it is also informative!

I wouldn't sweat not knowing how to access the Fifth Menu tab, or to change DVI modes, since the manual is so poorly documented. Thank God they finally added the updated FAQ section several weeks ago. I bet their email server is sighing a breath of relief as well.

ah ha, thought you meant on this site.... found it on the oppo site, tried to link for others but unable to as i am a newbie doofus :)
I couldn't post any links also...but wait...this is my 5th post! :D

Has anyone experienced this? Watching a dvd all basic actions, ff/pause/etc, didn't try everything, are working from programed MX-800 remote. After movie is over a macro turns off PJ and receiver but not the Oppo, it's not in the macro and the blue lights are still on. At this point the Oppo becomes unresponsive to remote commands or even pressing the eject button on the face of the unit. In order to open the tray I have to turn off the power using the power button then turn the Oppo back on and press the eject button. Not a problem but was wondering if anyone else has seen this or has any ideas.

Has anyone experienced this? Watching a dvd all basic actions, ff/pause/etc, didn't try everything, are working from programed MX-800 remote. After movie is over a macro turns off PJ and receiver but not the Oppo, it's not in the macro and the blue lights are still on. At this point the Oppo becomes unresponsive to remote commands or even pressing the eject button on the face of the unit. In order to open the tray I have to turn off the power using the power button then turn the Oppo back on and press the eject button. Not a problem but was wondering if anyone else has seen this or has any ideas.

Yes, it happens sometimes for me. After powering off and back on, its back to normal. It can be a small inconvenience sometimes but not enough to be a big deal for me.

Sorry hoffho, I have searched for the info but no joy, can you link me in the right direction ?

Ta muchly :o
The setup tab and scaling aren't accessible with a disk in the player. Take the disk out and then make your changes.

The disc can be in the player. You just have to press stop twice before you can access that setup tab.

The disc can be in the player. You just have to press stop twice before you can access that setup tab.

It is very odd that pressing the Stop button twice makes the player "think" that the disc has been ejected. If you try to resume playback after pressing Stop twice, it will begin like you just inserted it. Very strange.

It is very odd that pressing the Stop button twice makes the player "think" that the disc has been ejected. If you try to resume playback after pressing Stop twice, it will begin like you just inserted it. Very strange.

Not really....I don't think eject , per se, has anything to do with it. I believe what it is looking for is to see if a "Last Memory" is in place. Hitting stops once stores a marker for restarting the DVD. Hitting stop twice clears the memory as if the DVD had never been loaded at all.

-Toonces

I couldn't post any links also...but wait...this is my 5th post! :D


congrats .....nearly, profile still says 4th post, I am waaaaaay ahead :p

Seriously, thanks for help all. All set up and works brilliantly, Lord of the Rings has neer looked better, i am seeing different colours for the first time in several scenes, it almost looks like 3d combined with my new plasma :cool:

Mrs holo on the other hand likes the look of the plasma and oppo more but only grudgingly accepts that the picture is better !
I am now persuading her a new Marantz receiver will also look sooooo much better than our clunky black Yammy ;)

congrats .....nearly, profile still says 4th post, I am waaaaaay ahead :p

Seriously, thanks for help all. All set up and works brilliantly, Lord of the Rings has neer looked better, i am seeing different colours for the first time in several scenes, it almost looks like 3d combined with my new plasma :cool:

Mrs holo on the other hand likes the look of the plasma and oppo more but only grudgingly accepts that the picture is better !
I am now persuading her a new Marantz receiver will also look sooooo much better than our clunky black Yammy ;)

I forsee a divorce in the near future. The cards never lie.

Glad to hear that you are another happy OPDV971H user.

Hi

after following the Oppo-threads here, I just could not figure out one thing:

- does the DV971H (and/or their european sibling from BBK) still have a black pixel border around the picture?

- if so, can & will that be corrected with a new firmware?

- I read about the black pixels being dangerous due to burn-in-issues. Does that only apply to certain displays? Which displays does it apply to and why?

- I will both get an Oppo and a Sanyo Z4 next week - do I have to take care about that issue? How do I get rid of it without two times resizing the picture (first time upscaling to 720p inside the Oppo and then inside the Z4, if possible at all)

Thanks for taking care about my question - I am sorry, if I should have overlooked the answer in this huge thread.

Joerg

quick reminder...

what's the code/process to set the OPPO to region-free playback?

thanks! (just couldn't stand searching through the 50 pages of posts...)

Hi

after following the Oppo-threads here, I just could not figure out one thing:

- does the DV971H (and/or their european sibling from BBK) still have a black pixel border around the picture?

- if so, can & will that be corrected with a new firmware?

- I read about the black pixels being dangerous due to burn-in-issues. Does that only apply to certain displays? Which displays does it apply to and why?

- I will both get an Oppo and a Sanyo Z4 next week - do I have to take care about that issue? How do I get rid of it without two times resizing the picture (first time upscaling to 720p inside the Oppo and then inside the Z4, if possible at all)

Thanks for taking care about my question - I am sorry, if I should have overlooked the answer in this huge thread.

Joerg

It still has the border, and should be a concern only to Plasma owners

quick reminder...

what's the code/process to set the OPPO to region-free playback?

thanks! (just couldn't stand searching through the 50 pages of posts...)
TO MAKE THE OPPO REGION FREE:

• Press Setup on remote control to access the setup page
• Enter 9210 on the remote
• A secret menu will pop up
• Select 0 to 6 in region code (0 is region free)
• Press Setup on remote again to exit

quick reminder...

what's the code/process to set the OPPO to region-free playback?

thanks! (just couldn't stand searching through the 50 pages of posts...)

Only had to search the first post! ;)

Tried to put a lot of info there.

Paul

Paul,

You're right.
I copied and pasted the text from a small note I made about the Oppo. I forgot I took this from your post in the first place.
Sorry and thanks for the effort you put into this. :)

Hi

From a new Oppo user with a couple questions.

Commercial DVD's play good on the Oppo (except as below). However, DVD's that I record on my Pioneer 231s and a neighabors DVD recorder wont play. After the DVD loads. the first screen I see has a yellow folder symbol and the text "DVD_RTAV" beside it. I cannot find a way to get out of the folder to find a menu to play the DVD or access any features of the machine. I have tried turning off and back on but it's always the same yellow folder. I am using a Samsung 5667W DLP set with DVI to HDMI. I recorded on DVD-RW and the other recorder was a DVD_R but neigher will play on the Oppo. Have I got something set up wrong? Any ideas how to get out of the folder to a usable menu?

DVD's I buy in the store allways played full screen on previous players I have owned but the Oppo has bars at top and bottom so it isn't full screen. I am set on Wide and the TV is on 16.9. Would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Hi

From a new Oppo user with a couple questions.

Commercial DVD's play good on the Oppo (except as below). However, DVD's that I record on my Pioneer 231s and a neighabors DVD recorder wont play. After the DVD loads. the first screen I see has a yellow folder symbol and the text "DVD_RTAV" beside it. I cannot find a way to get out of the folder to find a menu to play the DVD or access any features of the machine. I have tried turning off and back on but it's always the same yellow folder. I am using a Samsung 5667W DLP set with DVI to HDMI. I recorded on DVD-RW and the other recorder was a DVD_R but neigher will play on the Oppo. Have I got something set up wrong? Any ideas how to get out of the folder to a usable menu?

DVD's I buy in the store allways played full screen on previous players I have owned but the Oppo has bars at top and bottom so it isn't full screen. I am set on Wide and the TV is on 16.9. Would appreciate any help. Thanks.

Can you select the folder and broswe it? If so, what are the contents of the subsequent folders? There might also be a compatability issue. I know that stand alone DVD recordings (when working) will improperly playback on the OPDV971H. Playback anomalies include freezing, speeding up, and stopping completely.

The borders at the top and bottom (and most likely sides) are due to a slight underscanning by the OPDV971H. If the bars are at the top and bottom on content greater than 1:85:1, such as 2:35:1, then this is normal, since the aspect ratio is wider than your display unit.