Official OPPO BDP-83 Owner's Thread [technical talk only] - Page 249

Or perhaps it's just a marketing gimic on Panasonic's part... Either way, discussion of the Panasonic player compared to the BDP-83 belongs in the Oppo BDP-83 versus other blu ray players thread, not the owner's thread which is already moving along fast enough for most of us.

There's a difference between Analog Audio and Analog Video circuits. The previous discussion concerning the Oppo was about disconnecting the Analog Audio board, not about disabling the analog video stuff. Analog video is much higher in frequency with larger currents and lower impedances. Shutting that down may help.

The point being made concerned the BP-83 upgrade by CustomHome Theater and the validity of turning OFF the analogue section if it were not going to be used. No one made any reference to comparisons between the two units. I for one am interested in the 83 and am also interested inknowing if any upgrades either by Oppo or others would be worthwhile in terms of the money spent and the overall improvement in reliability and quality of sound. That is the only point being made. Now lets see how you can distort that!
Finally, Panasonic is not know for sales gimicks of any kind!

Help me understand. What kind of electronics and speakers would you need to be able to actually here the difference?

All:

I was running some SACD's through the Oppo tonight and noticed a couple of things (read the first page bug list and didn't see these)

Player is set to use DSD for SACD and priority is given to multichannel in the Setup Menu. HDMI Audio is set to bitstream. Receiver is a Yamaha RX-Z7

I bought a few SACD's so that I could test this aspect of the player. I noticed while playing "Bach: the goldberg Variations--Glenn Gould" (Zenph) and "George Gershwin: Piano Concerto in F--Jon Nakamatsu (Harmonia Mundi) I could ocasionally hear some "popping" through the speakers. Have any EAP'ers noted this on these discs or any other SACD's? Also, "Live at the Blue Note--Michel Camilo" (Telarc)is not recognized as a DSD encoded disc.

The point of these questions is NOT necessarily about these particular SACD's, but rather to see if others are having issues with SACD playback with DSD enabled after the new firmware (the new firmware was supposed to address these issues) or if my player is defective.

FWIW, I posted a rather positive review of the Oppo a few pages back.

thanks!

Addendum: Oppo notified me that they are aware of this issue and that several others are having these problems with a variety of SACD's (see below). They are working on the solution as of this date.

Okay, we are a few hours from exactly mid-March. I've followed this thread daily and don't care whether the BDP-83 plays Three Jacks and a Jill's It's a Strange World We Live in Master Jack or any other obscure super double digital encoded analog annotated personal favorite disc of every EAPer or not. I know it will play blu ray movies extremely well (and I've got about 25 brand new ones collecting dust) and probably 99.9% of every thing else I own. Come on OPPO, release this thing, I just won't play the ones that don't work!

This sounds like a great feature, also maybe oppo could have a easy release of a 83 with no Analog parts in the very near future?

Excuse me, I meant Mid-April!

Played pretty much the whole disc via HDMI-LPCM and I got to say it was awesome. My Pre/Pro doesn't do the new the HD codecs but I did switch to bitstream and the 640K DD 5.1 track played fine. In both instances it started fine from the "play concert" menu.

I totally agree, and I am in exactly the same situation. COME ON OPPO let it go! We have had enough of this! I for one just need a great Blue Ray, a good DVD, and a good CD player. The rest would be great but I could live without it for the next six months or even a year if necessary. Even if the worst of the worst were to happen and I had to send it in for a hardware upgrade I would gladly do it at my expence.

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh!!!!

R

Still very happy with my replacement 83. I am not having the problems posted with HDCD. This is partly because I am somewhat more "low tech" than those who are posting problems. My RX-V2700 does not have a HDCD light... the 83 identifies the disks correctly and I can play them either in Bitstream or LPCM without issues. I have yet to find any skipping or studdering.

I just ripped one of my BD to a .mkv file 8.2Gigs in size and loaded it onto my WD TV media server as well as burning a DL DVD of the above. The WD and the OPPO are both going through the OPPO HDMI switch into the same DVD input on the Yamaha. There is no comparison on the clarity of the picture or of the sound... when playing the same file from the WD it does not look or sound anywhere as good as when playing it through the 83. The 83 approaches the quality of the original BD. Very impressive.

The only "issue" I am having is getting the "96/24" indicator on the Yamaha to light up. Neuromancer explained this to me in earlier posts... I have tried Baraka 5.1 HD-DTS (96/24) and DVD-A (also with 96/24 encoding) both in Bitstream and LPCM over HDMI. The Yamaha indicated DTS-ES Matrix 5.1 but no 96/24. Today I plugged in optical and tried to run the audio that way (possibly it was not being detected over HDMI) but still no luck (I clearly lose HD audio 5.1 over optical on some media and am better with HDMI). Still going to play with this (just for my curiosity). This is not an issue with the 83.

On an aside I went to audition new speakers today.... and called several Definitive Technology Dealers in Detroit and Ann Arbor. The local dealer here in Toledo had the STS set up (but not the ST).... and only to a cd player (could not play HDCD, SACD, DVD-A on his current room system). The one in Ann Arbor likewise was only set up for cd's. The Detroit dealer was using a BD player (which likewise could not play HDCD, SACD, or DVD-A) but offered to switch units as needed to play the other media. When I mentioned that I had the OPPO and could play virtually everything on a single unit he offered to hook it up for me if I wanted to bring it (and the media I wanted to audition) to his room system . We take for granted what this unit is capable of doing... but there are few others in any price range that has the versitility and capabilites of this one.

OT... has anyone had experience with the Def Tech ST vs the STS? If cost was not an option which would you pick?

Damit! Now i need to buy 8 new coaxial cords for the 83 or would rca's work just the same? When ever i get a 83 I will do a blind fold sound test.

One coaxial (digital out) and/or 8 RCA for 7.1

Spoke too soon.... 1st bug with a cd (Dagda - Celtic Trance 1999) just started repeating track 2.... I thought it sounded a little long. Still not a deal breaker.... my YES vote stands.

I got enough rca's laying around, just got to check if coaxial's will make a sound difference

Not a bad idea at all. Vast majority of the public will soon be hdmi only and digital. Develop a model that drops the analog circuitry, drops the price and you'll have one helluva device that will be more afforable for the general public and likely sell like hotcakes. Reduce the price versus the current model with analog connections that many are paying for and yet will never use. For those that need/want the analog capabilities let them pay a higher price for a separate model that maintains redundant technologies.

Oh and while we are ripping out all that useless analog circuitry pull the VRS processor too. I just want a digital transport that simply gives me what is on the disc.

Not for 7.1

What do u mean? I'm not talking about using the coaxial digital audio out, just using coaxial cables for analog 7.1 & which do u like better 7.1 analog or 7.1 hdmi for sound?

I use a Harmony Universal remote sometimes for basic functions, but still use the remote that comes with my devices for certain things. One thing that bugs me about OPPO's remote, ergonomics 101, put the buttons used most often where the thumb falls naturally. Start, stop, ff, rewind all require an uncomfortable shift of the hand because the buttons are placed too low. They could have placed less important buttons there. Frustrating.

Making one model of the 83 with a single swich that turns all analogue (both video and audio power) functions "OFF" would probably be the fastest and ideal solution for people wanting the best performance via HDMI. Making multiple models with different capabilities would add many production costs which would probably nulify the savings that would take place by removing that hardware altogether. I like this idea also, but would prefer to keep my analogue options open for the time being. Resale as a used unit might be more atractive to potential buyers of used equipment with all functions available at the turn or push of a switch!

Same BDP-83 setup, but into a Pioneer SC-07. I heard popping in the Tubular Bells SACD.

yup, i'm waiting for someone to give a good answer to this question as well...

imo, the whole "turn off other parts" routine is more "audiophile mumbo jumbo"... if it makes people feel better, fine, but i believe that it is highly unlikely that there's any audible difference, at least for 99.999% of people (i'll leave a small percentage open, since this thread isn't the place for another "well i can hear it" discussion)...

if that's the biggest "issue" facing the player now, i'll live with it...

This is only an OK option since having the capability to "turn off" analog capability will actually introduce more cost to the device. Better to have 2 different devices with different price points for 2 different markets and let the chips fall where the greater sales/margins exist. You can be assured this is absolutely going to happen anyway.

First you had VHS players, then Combo VHS/DVD players , then DVD only players. Transition technologies such as combo media players, AVRs and Media players with "oodles of connections options" to accomodate old/new technology...are generally short lived. Once the masses move...and they will move en mass to hdmi vs rca component/composite/s-video, then the manufacturers will drop the madness of "thousands" of connection options like a hot potato, just for the cost savings.

My guess is less than 2 years.

Is there a latest ETA for when this will be released?

the same as it's always been... "when it's ready"...

Get the ST. The STS are a scaled down (albeit very nice) version. The larger mid-range driver in the ST, along with the larger SW driver will make a difference.

For your reading enjoyment:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=625807

Anyone else have this issue with "The Spirit"?

My preamp (Anthem Statement D2) is showing that it is only outputting 2 channels when I choose the 7.1DTS-MA soundtrack..with the oppo doing the decoding. HDMI Audio is set to LPCM.

Now my D2 can only accept 5.1...so I wasn't exppecting the full 7.1....but the only way I could get more than 2 channels was to set it to Bitstream (then it just sends standard DTS). The front panel of the oppo indicated DTS-MA and MChannel...but when I check the incoming audio within the D2, it only shows 2 channel digital in. Anyone have this issue, or want to check if thier oppo can decode this disk properly (not bitstream)?

Thanks.

I'm not following you here. All of the "rca" cables that I have are simply coaxial cables with RCA connectors. Some of them are better than others, but they are all, none-the-less, using coaxial cable. What am I missing?