Official OPPO BDP-83 Owner's Thread [technical talk only] - Page 166

After loading the current firmware (yes, I verified it) I just ran through my admittedly limited DVD-A collection and no luck on any of the titles. I was able to access the menus of all of the disks but in trying to play the lossless tracks in either multichannel or stereo ... no go. For most of the DVD-A's they played, but there was continous break up. In one case (Seal DVD-A) there was no sound except the Title intro music.

I am in the first fifty and have hardly had a chance to use my BDP-83.

I downloaded firmware update BDP-83-16-0320 today and updated using a USB Flash without a hitch. I dropped in a DVD-A and loved it.

Life is good!

I started up with Transformers BD again this morning and it worked better with a couple of freezes with video on the screen and I think it skipped several chapters once. After that it pretty much played through until the end. Then I went back to the chapter at 58 minutes 34 seconds where it froze before and this time it worked. That was the last time it worked without problems.

I then put in a DVD, Star Wars I and it was fine except for the layer change which took about 30 seconds or maybe more. After that I suspected that the problem with Transformers could be layer related also at least partially. Next up I tried one of the first BD I bought Sky High. It will not play at all. I cleaned it several times even when it did not need it; it still will not make it to the menu. Once it started playing the anti-piracy commercial Disney used for maybe 20 seconds then it stopped. It plays fine on my Sony 550. I then tried Transporter 1 BD and it too will not play. I then tried turn it off and unplugging it for 20 minutes and that has not worked.

It is obvious to me that the unit is defective. I'd certainly like it to work but so far it is not working. What ever is wrong it was progressive but fast. The box was almost pristine except for one small 1/8 puncture and every thing in the box was neatly wrapped with no sign of trauma.

What should I do? What will OPPO do?

While it worked sound and PQ was great, features seem great .

Oh, I ran the upgrade firmware function just incase it was not done before leaving CA. The function said I had the newest version.


Ug. I sent OPPO an email.

You've got a 1-year warranty. I presume they'll fix it.

-Bill

Did you remember to set HDMI audio to LPCM?

Hi Jack,

I am using both 5.1 and 2-ch analog outs, and both of them are louder than my digital coax/optical connections, about 3dB to be more specific. There is a test you can do rather quickly. That is, use another CD/DVD player and hook up its analog outs (maybe only the 2-ch if you don't have time) to your pre/pro and see what volume level you get on that input. I actually did that with an el cheapo player and again found my digital conn to be 3dB lower than the analog conn. Your analog volume level seems quite low and I would suspect a setup error (no disrespect intended) - such as using the 5.1's front L/R outputs in place of the dedicated 2-ch output - or maybe that's just the way your pre/pro handles the analog inputs.

BTW, it has not been mentioned (or maybe I overlooked) but I've had to do the 10dB boost for the LFE. In the player speaker config, my fronts are at -3dB and my LFe at +7 and all things seem to be ok, even when I toggle between digital and analog conn. Hope this helps.

Bummer as it surely has more than enough horse power to decode WMA lossless. Hopefully this gets a firmware update.

Better yet, last I looked, according to the EAP T&Cs Oppo will take it back and offer a full refund (except original shipping charges to you) within 30 days of it being offered for sale to the general public (which is still in the future!).

So you have at least 30 days to figure out whether you want to keep it, even after trading for a replacement with Oppo.

At least, that's how I understand it.

shinksma

I assume you mean digital connections on your processor from other equipment. Right?


Yes, a good idea but it's not very easy for me to get at the back of my processor (and I'm feeling kind of lazy)


No offense taken. I screw up all the time. No I'm pretty sure that I have the speaker configuration correct in the Oppo. It's 5.1. I don't do any 2 channel listening anymore. I suspect that it is my processor. I'm pretty sure I can correct in the processor but I'm still trying to figure out how to do it. I have to go into the configuration software and play around or hope that some kind soul on the Meridian site tells me how to set trims separately for the MC analog inputs.

Thanks.

Does the 83 have coax or optical (or both) digital sound out jack for use with an outboard DAC for stereo?

Please see:

• the first post in this thread
  
• the FAQ
  
• the OPPO BDP-83 Product Page
  
• the online manual

-Bill

So far I've played 3 BD movies, of these Baraka was the only one that showed problems - in chapter 18 there was a lot of stuttering of both the video and audio.

I did some research on the internet, and it seems that Baraka chapter 18 causes freezes in some players and not others. The Oppo seems to be an intermediate case - it didn't actually freeze on me, but it didn't play well either.

Sorry, Bill. Didn't start reading this 167 page thread from the beginning.

Oops...I think you left out a key word here.....ON or OFF?

Off.

It's OFF when not viewing 24p material. I tried such, and it worked great. While its not as stupid simple as if it were in the resolution menu, its still way easier than what I had to do before.

So you manually turn 24p conversion ON for 1080/24 content, and OFF for everything else?? Then basically, you never "convert" anything? Sorry to be so dense, but I'm just getting more confused...

I was lucky enough to get selected for EAP2 and got my player yesterday. It's replacing a profile 1.0 player so I'm looking forward to taking advantage of the functionality previously hidden from me. I went through the basic setup and even some of the advance but at this stage, I'm leaving most things at default since that's what most people will probably do.

First impressions are positive. Player is *very* fast at loading and playing discs. I've only played one movie all the way through (Live Free or Die Hard) and there were no problems.

I have run into a couple of issues that may or may not be bugs. Some may be related to disc authoring. FWIW, the Oppo is connected via HDMI to a Yamaha RX-V1800 AVR (1.3a capable). The AVR has been flashed to the March 2009 version of firmware. I have a 7.1 set up with a back surround right / left in addition to the "standard" surround r/l.

DVD-Audio
I only have two DVD-A discs, both are BlueMan Group (www.amazon.com/Blue-Man-Group-Audio/dp/B000051S65/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1238107221&sr=8-1 and www.amazon.com/Complex-Blue-Man-Group/dp/B00008OWZD/ref=pd_bxgy_m_img_b) which may be the problem.

When HDMI is set to bitstream, the AVR switches to DD True-HD but the audio drops out every 3 to 5 seconds. I called Yamaha today and they said that the true encoding of a DVD-A disk is either DD or DTS and, as a result, they just take the bitstream and run it through the appropriate decoder. It appears as though the Oppo has a problem sending the bitstream out.

When HDMI is set to LPCM, the audio is perfect *BUT* you lose fast forward functionality on the display. By this I mean that when you hit fast forward, the timecode on the Oppo display does not change so you have no idea where you are when you hit "play." The display does update when it begins to play at normal speed. This does not happen when HDMI is set to bitstream. With bitstream, when F/Fing, the timecodes is updated on the Oppo display as the disk position moves forward so you know where you are in the track.

Next bug - regardless of HDMI setting, the chapter forward button allows you to move from one track to the next track. However, the chapter back button, only allows you to move to beginning of the current track, you can not move from track 3 to track 2 for example.

Audio decoding quirks
These observations may simply due to the fact that the AVR "knows" more about the speakers than the Oppo since I haven't done any speaker set-up on the Oppo.

In playing some DTS HD MA disks, if HDMI is set to LPCM, the AVR only senses it's getting audio on 5.1 channels. However, if HDMI is set to bitstream, the AVR indicates it's decoding into all 7.1 speakers. Shouldn't it be the same?

On the Stargate Extended Blu-ray (the movie, not the TV series), the case indicates encoding in DTS-HD Hi Res. When HDMI is set to LPCM, AVR receives 6.1 (one single back surround). When HDMI is set to bitstream, AVR decodes to 7.1. This is most likely an encoding issue on the disc.

I didn't see any difference when playing a DD True HD disc (August Rush). Regardless of HDMI setting AVR only decoded to 5.1.

BD-Live
Really odd things here. It's enabled in the Oppo and the connection test works fine yet there are major differences between discs.

Kung-Fu Panda worked perfectly. Downloaded content without a problem, played flawlessly, erased easily.

Transformers doesn't work at all. When you select BD-Live, the disc reports error "Net0010: the player is not connected to the internet or is not capable of BD-Live. Consult owners manual." When you select "try again" from the error box, a new error appears, this time from what appears to be the Oppo - "This setting is prohibited. Please set up again." and the disc is rebooted to the beginning as if it was newly inserted.

Iron Man kind of worked. When disc is first inserted, you're offered the ability to download. If you say "no" then go to BD-Live in the extras menu, you can not get anything. The disc reports that the player is not connected to the internet similar to Transformers. If, however, you say "yes" to the disc-load prompt, it will take several minutes for the initial menus to load while the BD-Live content is downloaded but you can select BD-Live from the extras menu and see one item (Iron Man IQ) even though the screen makes it appear as though there could be other choices to the right and left.

Dark Knight was able to select BD-Live option while movie was playing. Got a spinning disk on screen in the middle of the movie for several minutes while the download occurred and the movie played. The movie menu system was locked up but that's disc encoding.

The end
Have more testing to do but thought I'd pass along what I've seen and get feedback. I'd love to know a couple of discs that have PIP so I can test secondary audio. Discs like Ratatouille, Wall*E with additional content play like a dream.

----------------------------------------
Carlton
EAP-2
Flower Mound, TX

It may be just me, but I have to say that I wold have voted, "YES" when the Fedex person delivered it

OPPO customer service responded to my email very fast. They are sending me a replacement unit with out the accessories. It should be an easy exchange since they also are sending a mailing label. I look forward to the new unit. Once again I will be on fedex watch soon......

You're welcome Jack,
I connect both digital and analog outs from the Oppo to my pre/pro, digital is used for DVDs and analog for BDs. Then I use the volume level from the digital connection as the reference and set the speaker trims on the Oppo such that the volume would not change when I toggle between the inputs. At this point it looks like your issue is processor specific and I hope fellow Meridians can help you out.

I only had about an hour last night to hook it up. It was a breeze to get started, as all have mentioned. I was tired and probably should have just waited until tomorrow to do this and as a result, I had left the protective film on the front, not realizing that when I hit eject, it didn't allow the drawer to open (can you say GRINDDDD). Off to a bad start.. hope that didn't prematurely wear the gears??

I popped in Pineapple Express, that I only started to watch the night before on my Memorex MVBD-2510 as a quick comparison, mostly for loading times. I can say that it loaded about 50 seconds faster (rough estimate), to the popcorn animation. The first major scene, where a character is being interrogated, the wall in the background had less noise in the picture, than on the Memorex. The detail looked crisp (still have to tweak) and audio seemed to be fine. I had set it up to LPCM for now. I toggled between the two (LPCM and bitstream) and didn't notice anything, but probably wouldn't over HDMI. More to come in the BD/DVD department...

I finally dropped in Dark Side of the Moon SACD, that I just bought. I can't say I am a big fan or even know the album all that well, but I was familiar enough with it (seems to be a highly recommended reference disc). I have to say it sounded excellent and it drew me in. I am not sure it if was good or bad, but I was falling asleep at times..lol. I was either really tired or listening to it just put me in a trance of sorts. I have several other DVD-A's and a couple SACD's to still put through the paces...stay tuned.

Aren't we supposed to be a little more discerning than that?

In some ways, I'm sort of glad that mine froze once during initial setup. It took that "maybe I finally found the perfect player" illusion off the table from the outset, so now I'm looking at it a bit more objectively.

Hi all,

When playing a DVD and zooming in to "full" or 1.2x, 1.3x, etc, then you turn on OSD do you see it? On mine, I can't see it; and when the zoom is 1/2 the OSD is also shrunk along with the picture. I am thinking the OSD should ALWAYS be displayed in the same place and size. Is this a bug? Any comments?

Yes, happened to me too.....

I think the -83 decodes as well as most (many/all???) AVR's. Assuming your AVR has quality PCM circuitry, there should be no difference.


Don't fill the bong up so much next time

Agreed. We supposed to be voting based on how a typical user would react to the player, not how an enthusiast would react which means it has to be close to perfect.

DVD-Audio obviously isn't ready for general release yet. I'm sure OPPO will get this taken care of, but unless they were to release the player without DVD-Audio enabled at all, this alone would force me to vote no until it's working properly.

The only problem I've encountered so far was the HDMI handshake issue. I turned the player on once before my other devices were turned on and got the funky green and blurry picture a few other people have seen. This is with a Denon AVP-A1HDCI surround sound processor and Mitsubishi WD-65835 as the display. Turning the player off and then back on resolved the problem and as someone suggested switching resolutions would probably take care of it as well. Again, until OPPO updates the firmware to get these handshake issues to a minimum, I would have to vote no for now. They don't necessarily have to get it fixed for my particular hardware combination, but they do need to get it to a point where it either doesn't happen at all or only happens with a very small percent of hardware.

That said, I'm otherwise very impressed so far, but I haven't tested much beyond a few Blurays yet.