Official OPPO BDP-83 Owner's Thread [technical talk only] - Page 197

Originally Posted by Martin Butler

SACD out via HDMI set to LPCM.

Originally Posted by Smarty-pants

Martin,

In the menu, under Playbcak Setup, set SACD Priority to STEREO.
Under Audio Format Setup, set HDMI Audio to LPCM, SACD Output to PCM, and LPCM Rate to 48k.
Under Audio Processing, make sure the DPL2 and DRC are turned OFF.

Hope this helps...

Originally Posted by dmcdayton

Right now I'd vote no until these issues resolved:
1-DVDA matured
2-Disc vibration investigated
3-Lip sync issues

The last 2 may be unfair to blame Oppo, Im taking a few discs to stores this weekend to see how other players perfom. I'd say they are 95% there. The only thing that gives me pause is if there's new issue around the transport that required switching hdw.

Originally Posted by mkbruce

I meant "audio leading the video".

I know that audio delay for analog outputs is on the feature request list. Anyone have any ideas of how likely is it that this feature is implemented? The current lip-sync problem is not bearable in my system.

Magnus

Originally Posted by PooperScooper

If you can't see any of the data below 16 at any brightness setting, then your display (or player setup) is clipping BTB. If your display is expecting PC video levels, then you are going to have issues calibrating - your grayscale will never be correct when watching BDs with studio levels. Also, whenever you change brightness, recheck contrast (and vice versa).

larry

Originally Posted by HT_n_Me

Basically they responded...well here is the cut and paste:
"In terms of audio performance, each generation of our players have been designed from the beginning to exceed the audio clarity of the previous generation. The more products we make, the tighter our response to audio clarity. We have also been getting help from independent third party manufacturers and personal who have helped us increase the audio performance of our players."

So does anyone know who these third parties are? Anyone know what internals as far as processor is being used? I'm just curious, thats all. I've not heard this sort of sound playback from a player that costs as little as the 83 does. I was considering adding a NAD M5 for SACD use but now....

Originally Posted by jam88

Astounding! Oppo has just released the BDP-83 for sale on their website.

Originally Posted by JaredB

For those having issues with Baraka, you guys know that there are known issues with this bluray disc right? You may want to try it on other players to make sure you're not one of the people that got a damaged disc.
The theory I've heard is that the cardboard packaging of the disc resulted in scratched or even warped discs.
I know that the company is now putting the disc out in a regular plastic bluray case and a friend of mine was able to get his bad (cardboard package) disc replaced for free with the plastic cased version by sending it back to company.

Originally Posted by progprog

What? The link doesn't work.

April Fools!!!!

PS. That's all in good fun and everything, but on this thread, these things get taken too seriously....

Originally Posted by jam88

Astounding! Oppo has just released the BDP-83 for sale on their website.

Originally Posted by progprog

What? The link doesn't work.

April Fools!!!!

PS. That's all in good fun and everything, but on this thread, these things get taken too seriously....

Originally Posted by jam88

Read this previous post I made with links to other posts that provide more information on the audio guts of the 83. As to which independent third party manufacturers have helped them on the design of the analog section, I don't remember reading anything on that, sorry. It'd be pretty interesting to know though.

Originally Posted by yarrumc

As I stated in my last post, I don't see anything below 16, but I do above, after cranking up the brightness. Since I know my AVR clips BTB and WTW, then what is the proper way to dial in my settings with a calibration disc? I have done this numerous times before and have had no issues, so I have to blame my new AVR for my new challenges. I can't be the only one in here that has come across this? I have the S&M disc, AVSHD 709 v1.2, AVIA and DVE calibration discs, in case anyone wants me to use a certain one for reference.

Thanks for the help.

Originally Posted by HT_n_Me

Thanks Jam88, I did read Gonk's review but that old post from the dead thread was new to me. Gonk does a good job - I've seen him post nice pieces on the Outlaw forum too. Helpful guy.

I'm not using any of the analog connections. I probably won't ever unless I move it to my other system and that ain't gonna happen any time soon.

Originally Posted by dmcdayton

I think Oppo's intent is to market as a 'Universal Player' so I think DVDA is in play for voting. We all owe them an honest critique to save them $$ on returns/complaints. Right? (or are we just rubber stamping as a "hobbiest release"?). I want Oppo to suceed with this, hence Im critical

Originally Posted by Smarty-pants

Ok, I just read Bob's post and now I need to take a nap .
Good one Bob! Anyone who's not sure how to calibrate their display, it doesn't get much more simple than that. I'd print out Bob's post, and read through it as you are calibrating with the Spears & Munsil disc.

Now, what about sharpness, detail, and edge enhancment? What if my display has adjustments for virtical and horizontal sharpness and/or high/low band?

We will also make an announcement with regards to OPPO new blu-ray with Nuforce Edition for enhanced audio.

Originally Posted by Bob Pariseau

First of all, try the alternate data formats from the Oppo to your AVR and from your AVR to your display. Some devices only clip YCbCr or only clip RGB. Please note that if you use what the Oppo calls "RGB PC Level" that there is no place in the data format for Blacker than Black or Peak White data so they will, necessarily, be clipped. Other devices often call this format something like "Extended RGB" or even "Enhanced RBG" although there's certainly no reason to prefer it for home theater use. The PS3 calls it "RGB Full" (although the PS3 has a bug that even clips BTB and PW data when using "RGB Limited").

What the Oppo calls "RGB Video Level" and others usually call "Studio RGB" WILL pass BTB and PW data to properly engineered and set up receivers and displays. For some background on what's going on in these data formats and some hints as to why you might prefer one over the other when paired with particular hardware, please do look in the FAQ that you will find linked at the top of the first post in this thread.

I wrote up some details in another thread some time back that you can find by looking at the "Terminology and Technology" post links collected in the first post of this other thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=678260

Again, it is worth trying to find a way to set up your hardware to pass BTB and PW data, but with some AVRs and displays you just won't be able to do it.

In that case you can still use the Spears & Munsil disc to calibrate your video levels.

I'm going to assume you are directly connected to a display. If connected through an AVR, you have an additional point of adjustment.

The first suggestion is that you leave the Oppo's Picture Adjustment settings at their factory default values. Try calibrating using only the controls in your Display. If that doesn't provide a complete solution, next look for level adjustment settings in your AVR. If that too doesn't provide a complete solution, or if you are having problems coming up with display/AVR settings that work for all your source devices (and your display/AVR don't provide separate settings memories for use with different devices), then, finally, use the controls in the Oppo.

The reason for this is that the Oppo puts out "correct" levels at its default settings. So if you find things are not right using those default settings then that's an indication there is something wrong in the settings in your display and/or AVR.

One more preliminary: The factory default settings in most displays are flat out WRONG for best quality viewing. These are the justifiably disparaged "torch mode" settings -- WAY too bright and contrasty, overly sharpness "enhanced", way too cool a color temperature, and overly red pushed to compensate for the faulty color temperature. The "torch mode" settings are designed to be eye catching in garish store lighting. So do not hesitate to move away, often far away, from the factory default settings. Everybody has to do that. Many modern displays offer "picture modes" that are different combos of factory default settings. Avoid like the plague any modes labeled, "vibrant", "dynamic", "scorch your eyballs" or the like. Try to find one labeled "movies". If you can't figure out which to use, pick the one that looks darkest and softest and start from there. And don't assume you can pick just any "picture mode" and alter it via user settings to be correct. "Picture modes" often make hidden setting changes in the background that you can not alter from the user controls. So find the correct "picture mode" to begin with and make your adjustments from there.

So again, assuming you are directly connected to a display, you will use the Brightness control in the display to adjust Black levels (a good way to remember this is that they both start with "B"). You will use the Contrast (or Picture) control to control White levels. The two controls interact so you will need to iterate to find the sweet spot setting for both of them that works best.

The next thing you need to know is that the data coming off an SD-DVD or Blu-Ray disc encodes "Black" as digital 16 and "Reference White" as digital 235. The range from 1 to 15 is the Blacker than Black data (not intended to be seen) and the range from 236 to 254 is the Peak White data (intended to be seen but not essential). 0 and 255 are reserved values.

The Spears & Munsil charts actually label blocks that have been encoded with values above and below Black and Reference White.

Use the Dynamic Range Low chart for a best look at Black levels. Use the Dynamic Range High chart for a best look at White levels. Use the Contrast chart to view both at the same time in an image that's got a kind of "in between" average image brightness.

So what you do is lower the Brightness control until 17 and above become invisible (blend into the black background) and then raise it until 18 becomes slightly visible (and perhaps just the slightest hint of parts of 17 are also visible -- i.e., a few "dither pixels" light up). Note that you should NOT see 16 = Black or below. All of that data should merge into one, uniform, indistinguishable "Black". Also note that you will need to check this sort of thing in a darkened room.

Please note that some displays have "floating" black levels that vary according to the average brightness on screen. So if you look at say the Pluge Low and Pluge High charts you may see a distinct change in your effective black levels. Some such displays have dynamic brightness or automatic brightness settings that can be turned off to prevent this. If not, you will need to pick a compromise Brightness setting that works well across a range of content for you. Typically you would target a lower Brightness setting that works well in dark scenes so that you don't see noise in dark scenes -- at the expense of losing some "near black" details in brighter scenes.

At the other end, lower Contrast quite a bit. The bright blocks in the Dynamic Range High chart should be visible although you won't see any above 234 due the clipping in your display or AVR. Now raise Contrast until whites have a pleasing "whiteness" to them rather than looking grayish, but don't raise it so far that you lose the ability to distinguish the blocks at and below 234. If those blocks at and below 234 start to blend into one common "white", lower Contrast until they become visible again.

You may find that you have a small set of Brightness/Contrast pairs that look equally good. If so, you can choose between those pairs by viewing the gray scale ramp on the Contrast chart. Pick the pair that produces the smoothest look to the ramp -- the least amount of "banding".

Brightness and Contrast control the end points of the gray scale ramp. The response of the display to values between Black and Reference White is controlled by the Gamma setting. Many modern displays have Gamma set too low by factory default as this gives "false pop" to the imaging in stores. Just another "torch mode" setting.

Adjusting Gamma is complicated. Doing it right requires an optical sensor tool. Nobody has much luck trying to do full Gamma curve adjustments by eye alone -- although some displays offer a single, all in one Gamma adjustment that may prove helpful. So I'll only point out here that if you do adjust Gamma you will probably find that Gamma, Brightness, and Contrast ALL interact. So you will need to iterate -- re-checking Brightness and Contrast as you adjust Gamma. [Proper Gamma correction is a major factor in eliminating "banding" or "false contours" in your video. So it is worth the effort to get right. But as I said, this is complicated.]

There's a whole forum here devoted to Video Calibration. Check out the sticky threads in that forum for additional suggestions.

ETA: If your display and AVR *DON'T* clip the BTB and PW data you still want to adjust Black levels so that 16 and below are completely invisible. At the other end, see if you can find a Contrast setting that is high enough to give a pleasing "whiteness" to whites but also low enough so that you can distinguish the Peak White blocks all the way up to 252 or even 253. NOTE: The "correct" Contrast setting will almost certainly be quite a bit lower than its factory default setting.