Official OPPO DV-983H w/ ABT VRS FAQ/Dump - Page 177

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the feedback. yes, I should have mentioned the A-Z order as well. Thanks for your link to an alternative OPPO FAQ. I'm expecting my BD in a week or so, hopefully.
In the meantime, for my Issue #2 I'm right now playing with the file cluster size for FAT32. My USB HDD is set to 32KB cluster by default and it faults. I already checked the 64Kb option - the player doesn't even detect the connection, so my last option is to test the 16KB size. I'll update this thread in any case.
Have a good weekend,
VPB

I have OPPO 971, will there be a significant improvement of picture quality with a 983?


thanks

That's going to depend on a lot of factors, many of them subjective. It depends on screen size and viewing distance, the type of display, the type of discs you play, whether you use a calibration disc and your viewing preferences.

Using a small LCD, the 971 seems soft by comparison to the 983H, which has a sharper image but is still film-like. I struggled with excess green on both the 971 and 981, and this is much reduced with the 983H. I don't know what the cause of that is.

People with larger displays and viewing angles report more dramatic improvement.

Also, I recall the 971 had an amount of underscan: small black margins on the right and left. This is gone with later players.

-Bill

Thanks Bill, I am using a front, PJ Panny 900. I am thinking of upgrading to the BDP-983, but was not sure if I wanted to go with a different brand, say Sony.

Another thing to consider is that for $100 more you can get the OPPO BDP-83 Blu-ray player which has the same DVD performance as the 983H.

That's using the retail price for a new machine. The 983H is out of production now and you may find it cheaper used.

-Bill

The plan is to buy the OPPO BDP-83, I just wanted to ensure I was getting a superior upconversion to what I have currently.

Thanks

I have both the Oppo DV-983H and BDP-83 and the Panasonic PT-AE900U and the DVD performance is excellent with either and of course Blu-ray with the BDP-83 makes the choice easy as to which player to get.

Chris

I've had my 983 since they were first introduced and all has been well. But now I've jumped from an XBR1 (720P NR) to an XBR8 (1080P NR). With the Beta firmware there is a handshack problem with the 983 set to 1080P HDMI setting. I reverted back to the latest official firmware and the problem is resolved. Now since I have many PAL discs in my collection I'm left to choose which shortcoming is the least offensive, the handshack problem (with the bera firmware) or the PAL 4:3 DVD Aspect Ratio Detection problem (with the DV983H-07-0619 firmware). There are work arounds for each issue but it seems to me that these are problems that could have been worked out long ago. I know, I know ! OPPO is a small co. and with the BDP-83 in development, etc., etc.. At the very least, now that the 83 is launched, can we, at the very least, have the beta firmware finalized?

I think were SOL in receiving any new firmware from Oppo for our $400 players. Even after they get the bugs out of the new BDP-83 player. It's a BD player, therefore it's going to need constant updates just to play new releases. They aren't going to have any time for the 983.

New fw for what?

Read my previous post . Just one example of 'for what'!

No offense, but that is not OPPO's problem, that is your problem.
OPPO can't be responsible for continued compatibility with every new product that hits the market.
You should be happy that you at least have a workaround available.

I apologize if this has been answered previously but will the 983 pass via HDMI the full audio resolution of HDCD? I also remember reading awhile back that even with regular Cd's, if you use the toslink/spdif output you are limiting the sonic range of CD and in order to hear the full sonic range you had to go analog. If this is true, will hooking my 983 via HDMI directly to the receiver solve this issue as well?

In your own words, yes, you have a problem.

OPPO can not go back to the drawing table and engineer a firmware revision for every piece of new hardware that can be paired with their players.
If condescension is what you see in my post, then you were not paying very much attention. I wasn't being condescending at all. I was just making what I believe to be a factual statement.

Well the fact that johnf14's New PJ works at 1080p with the official firmware version DV983H-07-0619, but it will not work at 1080p with the beta firmware suggests that there is something changed in the beta firmware that is causing the problem!

So this would suggest that it is a OPPO firmware problem.

Simply dismissing any problems as not OPPO's problem is very dismissive of the complaints, and if this is the way OPPO support is going, it will be a detriment to their reputation.

By the way I am very happy with my 983, but if they could get rid of a couple bugs it would be much better.

Beta firmware is beta firmware. It should be expected that there are going to be glitches.
The DV-983H is a discontinued model. How many other OEMs (not counting Blu-ray) will create new fw fixes for discontinued products? None that I can think of.
Maybe OPPO will grace owners with another fw revision. I don't really know.

John's old display worked with the beta firmware, but the new display does not. Which came first, the chicken or the egg? Just because the old fw works with the new display does not make it better fw. OPPO may be doing everything right, but something in the software of the display still causes the issue. This is all pure speculatory though.

OPPO worked hard to make the 983 everything it could be. I'd say they have a right to no more fw revisions, but like I said, no one knows and we'll just have to wait and see.

True but it is reasonable to expect if they release a beta firmware it will become an official release at some point.

Yamaha have for some AVR's.

We can only hope so.

If they do abandon support for the 983 their premium player at the time it would be very disappointing for a company that has built a reputation for excellent support, the last beta firmware was released when the 983 was still in the product line, so hopefully they can get a final firmware for the 983 to correct these bugs if possible.

I do understand they were concentrating on getting the Blu-ray player released but now that is out, hopefully they can revisit the 983 to try correct these problems.

Cheers.

I would generally agree with that. I think OPPO owes owners of the BDP-83 at least one more solid firmware. At least that is how I would feel if I still owned one. I sold mine a while ago knowing how much better the BDP-83 was.

I'm also disappointed, for 400$ DVD player, we can only except perfection, or at least great support from the manufacturer.
I felt betrayed when Oppo discontinued the player so quickly. I was expecting all the bugs to be still fixed but it looks like they don't care anymore.
That will make me think twice before recommending or buying another Oppo product.

No one is asking OPPO to go back to the drawing board for every new piece of hardware. If you were paying attention before sounding off you would have noticed that I was refering to a handshake problem between the 983 and an XBR8 (a 2008 model) using the beta firmware (released months after the XBR8's introduction). When I reverted back to the last official firmware the handshack problem was resolved (of course the problems that were resolved by the beta firmaware are now back). So at most what I'm asking is that OPPO keep up with there own firmware releases.

In other words, to make it clear for you, the earlier firmware works with the "new hardware" and the newer (albeit beta firmware) does not. So, it's not a matter of keeping up with new hardware. I'm simply asking OPPO if they are willing to keep up with themselves. I know this is beta firmware and perhaps this is just an oversight that can easily be corrected. In which case my post can be seen as an error report. If OPPO has no intention of finalizing the beta firmware a simple acknowledgement of that fact will suffice and I can stop following this thread and learn to live with the shortcomings of the 983 (to nice a machine to disgard, I would just like it to be the best it possibly can be.)

Perhaps 'Neuromancer' is lurking about and can give a more reasoned and helpful response, as is his custom? To that end.........

Has OPPO abandoned the 983, once and for all? Or, is it possible the beta firmware will be finalized with the correction I refer to? Not such an outlandish request, is it?

I haven't been following all of this, but did you ask OPPO these questions? What did they say?

-Bill

Glad to see there are some who react without knee-jerks. You have nailed the situation exactly.

Yes! Waiting for a reply.

Like I already said, just because the tv happens to work with the official firmware and not the beta, doesn't mean that there is an error in the firmware.
Continuing to sling mud my way is surely not going to get the problem solved for you.

Let us know what they say. I don't know whether the problem with the beta firmware is with your display or the firmware. Because the older official firmware doesn't have the handshake issue isn't an indication the beta firmware is at fault, after all, it worked with your previous display. The beta firmware and last official firmware don't result in handshake problems for me with three different displays and almost all other displays as far as I know. If it is limited to just your model, I am going to point the finger at the display as the most likely culprit. I don't really know how one determines which HDMI device is not in compliance when we have a handshake problem with player and display.

Have you contacted Sony asking for a fix since your DV-983H worked with your previous Sony display? I am very happy with the DV-983H and I would like to see an official firmware update improving on the beta release but I don't know if it is reasonable to expect it. Neuromancer believes this is the end of the line and he could sure be right.

Chris

I have received a reply from OPPO but it was to ask a few questions about my situation. I have responded and will report back with any useful info.

I have been able to access another display. It's another Sony my neighbor just purchased . It's a newly released XBR9 and it behaves the same way as my XBR8. Probably not much help since both sets are recent Sony models from2008 & 2009 with similar software.

In regards to my older display (XBR1) you must understand that it has a native resolution of 720P. The beta firmware will work on all 3 of the models ,XBR1, XBR8 and XBR9 with the HDMI setting at 480P, 720P & 1080I. The problem occurs only at 1080P on both the XBR8 & XBR9.

One of the workarounds, I mentioned earlier, is to cycle through the HDMI settings. Once switched to 480 the handshake will be made and you can continue back to 1080P and maintain the handshake. Also I found that if you turn the player on via the eject button then press play a handshake will sometimes be made as the disc tray retracts. Unfortunately this second workaround doesn't work every time. If it did it would be very easy to live with.

You have tried using a different high quality hdmi cable, right?

I more or less expected to hear something along these lines. Thanks for taking the time to reply. I do appreciate it.

Yes that was my first step.