Official OPPO BDP-93 Owner's Thread - Page 503

Now that is sweet....I can retire both my Pana players AND 5 cables as well.

Many recent Blu-ray releases abroad of catalogue titles by major studios are region-free, even though Amazon sites in Europe (UK, France, Germany, etc.)frequently provide incorrect regional listings for such releases. A far more reliable source for Blu-ray releases is blu-ray.com.

I'd put upgrading the current upscaling capability of the QDEO chip at the top of the list of future refinements to the firmware. There is no technical reason for the Oppo 93 not to at least equal the upscaling peformance of Toshiba XA2.

I love the Oppo 93 but the XA2 is still the best DVD upscaler I have ever seen. The REON chip implementation on that player is very close to perfection.

Bill and Bob, thanks for the explanation of the "beta firmware updates". I had done a search on this thread under that phrase and, as you can imagine, got plenty of posts featuring every combination of the phrase and every occurrence of each word, but I didn't come across an actual explanation of what they were in relation to the OPPO.

Thanks again.

Very true. I don't think the XA2 has ever been surpassed by any other player in the upscaling department. Some earlier Oppo models actually came quite close, but the 93 represented a regression. However, I think its subpar upscaling performance has more to do with the current firmware than with the different chips used in the 93 and XA2. Hopefully, a few more iterations of firmware updates would produce better results.

It's also a different time, Blu-ray and streaming rule the roost, DVD not so much. I understand DVD sells well, but I'd think most folks willing to Pony up $500 for a player when good ones sell for $100, are more interested in it's other features. You cant make everyone happy, and if you are watching a large screen (60" and up), you should be using Blu anyways.

Your observation would apply only to those who do not already have an extensive DVD collection or those who are only interested in commercial cinema, but the hard fact is that films that have been released in Blu-ray so far still only represent a relatively small percentage of all films released in DVD, and many artistically important (but commercially less successful) films probably would never be released in Blu-ray.

As I stated earlier, I don't think there is any technical barrier to improving the 93's upscaling performance, and I fully expect it to happen in the near future.

Ive taken the stance, if it's only DVD I either do not watch it, or wait for it to hit HBO/Starz etc... in HD

The one DVD I watch a year looks like crap, regardless whats playing it back, im just always shocked that people act like DVD actually can be made to look good, when it cannot. This is why I cannot relate to "I wish this player did more with DVD PQ". But hey, whatever floats folks boats.

I guess what im trying to say is I understand the need to watch DVD, but splitting hairs of DVD PQ to me is just something I can't take serious, because they just dont look good at all to me. And yes, ive had a nice VP doing to work before, still crap.

I've been struggling a little having my player reliably retain auto-resume positions (of DVDs and non-java BDs). Could someone kindly verify they see the following particular behaviour?

• If the Home Menu is accessed either after a Stop or while a disc is playing (e.g. to access DLNA or network content) it is treated as a "full" Stop clearing the current disc's resume point. That disc cannot then be resumed.
  (If the disc is first ejected the resume memory is retained)

Thanks.

Correct. The resume function only works when you are watching a title, not from the menu.

BTW, my reply sounds more crabby than I meant, lack of coffee

Thanks for replying.

My concern is more that merely accessing the Home Menu after watching a disc part way through (not even trying to watch the disc again) wipes the resume point. Maybe no-one else ever does this?

In fact if you get to the Home Menu just after power-on (just possible when "loading" is displayed) then accessing the Home Menu and even launching the disc, any resume is retained OK.

Firefox Beta (using it for the lower memory imprint) must not have this sussed out yet. That link worked.

Using the Home button is implemented as if you had hit Stop twice and then hit Home. So yes, a disc's Resume Point is discarded if the disc has not already been ejected. (This does not apply to BD-Java Blu-ray discs, which can stash their Resume Point in their own, private disc memory.)

I'm not sure why Oppo did it this way. The change came in at the point where they enabled the use of Home button as another way to Stop a disc which was currently playing. Since there is still a disc in the tray at that point, I suspect they ran into some implementation problems regarding resumption of disc playback vs. playing a media file from Home menu when in that state.

It wouldn't hurt to email Oppo and ask them to try to handle this better.
--Bob

Just as with any format, there are a lot of crappy SD-DVDs out there. But there are also a lot of spectacularly good SD-DVDs.

The problem with viewing ANY SD content is that there is zero margin for error in the calibration of your video chain. With Blu-ray, your video calibration can be off a bit and you may very well not notice simply due to the higher resolution.

With SD-DVD (or ANY SD content) errors like that are invariably visible.

The bottom line is that most people have never seen just how good SD-DVD can look because they've never gone through the process of getting their video chain properly calibrated for SD video -- and/or they are playing mostly bad SD-DVD transfers.

It's easy to tell when someone is set up properly for SD-DVD and is playing good discs. The typical sign is that friends and relatives keep making comments like, "Boy that Blu-ray sure looks good!"

SD content broadcast on movie channels -- even HD movie channels -- is no match. First there are the problems in how the SD content was upscaled to HD by the movie channel to begin with. And then there's the problem of bit-starved, over-compressed "HD Lite" transmissions from far too many cable and satellite providers.

And don't even get me started on the quality of movie streaming services!

In any event, it remains the case that there are a ton of fine movies out there which are not yet available on Blu-ray. So quality SD-DVD playback should still be a priority for any true movie fan.

The trick is to calibrate for the best quality SD-DVD transfers. DON'T try to compensate or compromise for playback of poor or crappy transfers. If you find yourself watching one of those, live with it or change discs.

And be aware that with some hardware you will need to calibrate separately for SD and HD content playback. That shouldn't be the case, but bugs do crop up which make it so.

ETA: Sadly, newer SD-DVD releases now in the age of Blu-ray are LESS likely to be quality transfers than older SD-DVD titles released in the heyday of SD-DVD. EXAMPLE: The two disc, Blu-ray/SD-DVD, combo release of "Rango" has a Reference Quality transfer on the Blu-ray disc, but not on the accompanying SD-DVD disc -- which appears to have been authored assuming folks playing SD-DVD will have their TVs set up using the all too common, faulty, factory default, "torch mode" settings. Deep sigh....
--Bob

Nothing is "wiped" per se, it's just that when you exit the program and go to the main menu, there is no resume point saved. A resume point is set for the program when you hit "stop" while in the program. The menu is not part of the program, and the player has no way of knowing which program on the disc you were watching.

Im interested in this player for not only its ability to play PAL material, but it also plays SACD... The last SACD player i had was a Song from 2004 and had only analog 5 cable out connectors.

On this player, it will be using hdmi or optical to output the multi channel music? Which do you use/prefer? Thanks

Use HDMI or Analog cabling. Copy protection prevents transmission of SACD content over Optical Digital audio cabling.

I use HDMI.
--Bob

Thanks Bob

I was on the YouTube app today looking at 3D videos. Does anybody know a method to get ONLY 3D videos of one format (side by side, native...) through the search function? It is frustrating that I set my TV to side by side and only those will work when many more are different formats, or not 3D at all. Also, can the 3D tag be controlled?

This is still the most frustrating thing about 3D. Other than blu-ray 3D, I'm really guessing as to how to make it work.

The QDEO in the 93 does a fantastic job of upscaling in my opinion. I had an XA2 at a time when I owned a BDP-83 and preferred the BDP-83 and sold the XA2. The BDP-93 hold its own against the ABT2010 in my opinion, which I preferred over the XA2 for DVD playback. Mind you these are just our subjective opinions.

Yup, crap in...crap out. I just wait for Blu-ray or watch it on demand or cable. Hadn't watched star wars or LOTR or JP in years ...because i couldn't take it hurting my eyes anymore. The wait has paid off...all my favorites on Blu-ray within months of one another!

Even the better transfers did not leverage the full potential of the DVD format: it becomes more about the transfer than the format capability.

Sadly, I see Bluray going much the same way.

When they release 4K, I don't think I will bother, going by the track record so far.

I think the studios were stupid for not implementing superbit progressive unfiltered DVD to match the release of progressive HDTV sets, before considering Bluray.

At least the Oppo is doing its best to overcome some of those deficiencies, however I would like the addition of an adjustable pseudo-random noise generator to make DNRd sources look more "detailed", even if they aren't.

In fact it happens if the disc is already stopped. Pressing Home Menu acts as a second Stop then (watch the VFD) which wipes the resume point.

I have a lg 670 that works fine. Would I notice a substantial improvement by upgrading to the Oppo?I watch more DVD than Blu-Ray.

Ive had a 690, and IMO, yes. It's an overall better player, with more picture control.

Thanks for replying. I guess I will order the Oppo. I have a local dealer trying to talk me into a Pioneer for $399.00 or he really reccomenfs a Integra for $499.00. The Integra wont do Blu-ray but he claims it is really great on DVD. He suggests I keep the LG for the Blu-Ray & buy the Integra for DVD as it is far superior on that format. I do watch mostly Dvd.

Note sure what chip the Integra DVD uses, but I know the higher end Integra BR player has the Marvell just like the Oppo, and it costs more.

I got the Integra wrong. It plays Blu-Ray but not 3D. I was condsidering it because I dont watch much 3D & would keep the LG for that. Plus the dealer is local but I am thinking I would be shooting myself in the foot buy paying the same for it as the Oppo.

Thanks again. I think I better order the Oppo.