Official OPPO BDP-93 Owner's Thread - Page 199

Thx for explaining this.

At the time the PS3 came out, HDMI handshaking was so unreliable they had no choice but to offer the settings tables that are in there for turning on and off the various output formats. That's not the way it is supposed to work.
--Bob

Thanks for the explanation,

I need to check with Atlona, because the AT-HD577 offers a feature to learn the EDID of the display connected to its output. Since my TV EDID most seemingly ask for a downmix to stereo, I*wonder why the Atlona does not do so.

I will ask in any case to Oppo, to check if they could not add the possibility to force stereo over LPCM in a future firmware, I won't loose anything to try...

You may also be experiencing a power sequencing issue.

Try making sure the Atlona is fully powered up before you turn on the Oppo. The Atlona may not be doing the handshake correctly while it is still powering up.

Also, make sure you have HDMI Audio LPCM set in the Oppo -- not HDMI Audio Auto. And in the video HDMI Options in the Oppo, set HDMI 1 Video Only to ON since you aren't using audio on it. Both of these will simplify the handshake if the Atlona is having trouble doing it correctly.

The EDID you recorded from your TV probably specifies 2 channel for LPCM, but may also allow traditional, lossy DD5.1 input.
--Bob

Thank you again for the input,

The Atlona is always powered up thus it should be performing the handshake correctly. I am however not sure if it is sending correctly the display EDID*as it is supposed to be, 2Ch LPCM...

As for the settings, I am already forcing LPCM*for HDMI*outputs and desactivating the sound on HDMI1.

I will wait to hear from either Oppo or Atlona on this.

In the meantime, I will be forced to use the optical out to have full sound even if it is only lossy tracks.

The Oppo has a top-quality DAC and analog outs that will be a better work-around. You should at least try it.

As a follow up, I did contact Oppo about this and was told there were no plans to add a screensaver to the music streaming via USB. My solution was to purchase a small HAIER 10" LCD portable TV that sits in my rack that I feed via a composite signal for use when listening to FLAC via USB (I leave my plasma off). It was $70 from Amazon and works fine for the purpose. It also gives me the GUI from my Denon AVP that I no longer have when watching the Oppo 93 since I have bypassed the Denon for BR 3D playback. Kind of a neat little TV - it comes with a remote and I can sequence it with my Harmony ONE. If anyone is interested, I can post some pictures and a link. The picture isn't that great since it is a composite feed but it does send it 16:9 and you can see the exact same screens that would normally be going to the main monitor.

I will see if I can try. But I really want to go through my DAC*(Weiss Dac2) which will have a way better analogue output stage than the Oppo, send whether if it is better to sacrifice lossless soundtrack to benefit from it, that I do not know.

Okay, thanks! I think I understand now. Just to follow KISS (Keep Is Super Simple), and to summarize, I believe there are 3 groups/timeframes of BD-players:

1. Players before 1/1/2011, like the Oppo's, still have physical analog outputs, and are also still able to output HD through their Component output. However, using a Blu-ray disc with ICT, it will only output SD over Component.
2. Players between 1/1/2011 and 1/1/2013, can still have the physical analog outputs, but they will not output HD through their Component output (no matter if ICT is used on a disc, or not).
3. Players after 1/1/2013 will not have physical analog outputs at all anymore.

I have a few questions remaining though:
- Would it theoretically be possible to change a group-1 player (i.e. the Oppo) to group-2 with a firmware-update?
- If so, is the newest 2011-update from Oppo affecting the HD-output over Component already? (I guess not, but could somebody confirm?)
- Does anybody here know if there is a standard ICT symbol, or that studios are free to choose how they mention it on their packaging?

Another factor to note in considering the Oppo is its spectacular SD-DVD upconversion ability. As you are just now buying your first BD player, you may still have and play SD-DVDs. If so, it is worth considering that the SD-DVD upconversion capabilities of the Oppo family of players is truly remarkable. Can it make any SD-DVD the PQ equal of BD? No, of course not. But the PQ improvement of most SD-DVDs is indeed quite significant - sufficiently significant that it really does give your old SD-DVD collection new life... (Especially for those titles that are not available on BD or that you simply do not want to replace/re-buy w/BD).

I only have the prior Oppo model (BDP-83) and not the new BDP-93 - and my understanding is that the SD-DVD upconversion capabilities of the new BDP-93 are still just a shade under those of the prior model (though that may change in future firmware updates for the 93 as Oppo continues to tweak its implementation of the new chipset used in the new model). However, that issue notwithstanding, my undertanding is that the SD-DVD upconversion capability of the 93 (even in its present "subject-to-further-improvement" firmware implementation) is still light years ahead of any SD-DVD upconversion you'll find in any of the ~$150 BD players...

If you don't play any SD-DVDs this is no big deal. However if you do...

I'd be interested to see a pic that shows how it looks in your rack. Thanks.

Also, is the text for the album/track listings readable at around 8 ft?

After doing the above suggested exercise, the remote is less sluggish but still has to be aimed directly at the unit where the H1 can be pointed at the wall or anywhere within a 10 foot radius of the unit.

Basically it's the difference between using a penlight flashlight and a high candlepower torch. Your H1 puts out more infrared light and lights up the whole room. The Oppo remote has to be aimed.
--Bob

My BDP-93 is having lots of issues trying to play certain Blu-Ray disks, and I wondered if anyone else out there is having similar issues. (I installed the BDP9x-38-0126 firmware from last week, but I was having these issues prior to installing it.)

The problem is that the player will sometimes play, and sometimes not play, certain blu-ray disks. All of the disks seem to be clean and scratch free, as far as I can tell. The player's behavior seems too random for it to be explained by smudges or scratches on the disks. I say that because the machine hangs up and becomes "brain dead" after failing to load certain disks, and thereafter cannot play any disk until I erase Persistent storage (which I knew had been a possible issue in the past), then turn the machine off and on again (sometimes also unplugging the unit and plugging it back in). But even this doesn't correct all of the issues.

To take one example, the machine has successfully played my copy of Kino's "The General" blu-ray for several weeks, but last week it suddenly refused to play the disk. When I tried to load it, I saw the rotating blue and white icon at the top left. Right after that, the screen went black and I saw a flash of white snow across the top horizontal quarter of the screen (this happens nearly every time a disk fails to load). Then I heard the machine's motor hunting, audibly cycling up and down in RPMs every second or so, for quite a long time, until it finally just stopped. I examined the disk, and it seemed completely clean and scratch and smudge free, as far as I could tell. Still, I cleaned it four times, but could not get it to load. Then, just to make things more mysterious, I loaded the disk in the machine today, and it played (!) I can't figure it out. (I'm keeping it in pause till tonight, when I plan to show it to some friends, since I can't afford to have it fail as it did when I wanted to show it last week).

I recently tried to play the blu-ray of Season II, Disk II of Rome, which I rented from Netflix. It came up as an "Unknown Disk." I tried cleaning the disk (which looked brand new), and that didn't help. I sent it back to Netflix, got another copy (which looked brand new and was smudge and scratch free), and it wouldn't play either. After trying to play this second copy, I tried playing the blu-ray of Hitchcock's Psycho just to see if the machine was working properly. It wouldn't load, saying "Unknown Disk" -- even though I had just played it the night before! I erased "Persistent Storage", turned off the machine, unplugged it, plugged it in again, turned it on, and now Psycho did load. I next tried to play the Rome disk, but still no luck. The machine was back in its "brain-dead' mode, and wouldn't play anything. I repeated the process outlined above, and then it again loaded Psycho correctly. The Netflix Rome Season II, Disk III disk also did not play, but the Rome Season II Disk 4 did. Both disks look completely clean and scratch-free. I've had hit-or-miss success with the Netflix blu-ray rentals. I was able to play a copy of "The Ghost Writer" with no problems, as well as "It's Complicated".

My blu-ray copy of Scott Pilgrim has played flawlessly for several weeks, but now for some reason, it won't play, even after several careful cleanings.

(I've also emailed Oppo support about this).

Thanks,

- Chris

Sounds like you very well could have a "hardware" issue

Chris,
What you are describing sounds like an optical drive hardware failure. The player is having trouble reading the discs.

Call Oppo and let them diagnose this with you. If that's what's up they'll get you a replacement under warranty lickety split.

This can happen if the laser head is out of alignment or if the positioning motor isn't responding fast enough.

There's not really anything you can do to fix it if that's what's up, so call Oppo.

It *IS* possible for you to damage a player so that it acts like this. The two most common things would be to put in a damaged or warped disc which bangs against the laser head (things sold as "cleaning discs" are notorious for this), or to use the player in a smoke filled room so that the laser lens gets oily smoke film all over it. But for a new player like yours you most likely just have a bad optical drive to begin with.
--Bob

Chris,
It is also just barely possible that you need to do a no-power reset on your player. If so, Oppo tech support will walk you through the process. But here's a simple version you can try right now.

Try this:

1) Remove the disc
2) Erase Persistent Storage
3) Power off
4) Pull the power plug for about 5 seconds
5) Power back up and try one of your problem discs.

If that cures the problem then, good, but if the problem comes back you should still call Oppo rather than just redoing this. I.e., this is NOT something you should have to do as a regular thing.
--Bob

Thanks everyone,

I did call Oppo, and they will be sending me a replacement unit.

- Chris

Yeah, their support is stellar. They just offered to replace my remote but I told them not to bother since a new one will not be much different and I will use my H1 for most functions.

And just so you know, Oppo does look at units that come back this way to find out what failed so they can improve the manufacturing Quality Control.
--Bob

There's a button on your remote that blanks all video output. Sending a black screen to your display, which with a plasma will likely result in the panel shutting off.

^ That's "Pure Mode". The "P" button towards the upper left. Also turns off the Front Panel.

Useful trick (in the new firmware): While in Pure mode, the "Light" button (lower right) will bring up the Front Panel briefly so you can check where you are in playback. Video remains muted. You've got to love a company which finds a good reason for actually sending an IR command just because you've pressed the button to turn on the backlight in the remote!
--Bob

Has anyone compared the 93's upscaling to the HQV Realta? I have a Denon 3930 DVD player that has the Realta chip and wondering if there has been any comparison. I am unsure which to use. It is hard to compare by switching discs from one player to another.

I believe that is correct, although for #3: I don't recall that analog video is forbidden on 2013 players, it is just that BR cannot produce any video at all over that output. If that's the case you could still use it for DVD, although I don't doubt that vendors will just drop it all together.


Sure, firmware is magic and can do anything.


There is no reason for that to happen; it is not required by licensing. I will check it for you the next time I have a moment.


I recall that packaging was supposed to indicate ICT but don't know about a logo. But note that packaging is often in error, and if they decide not to do it, who's going to make them?

-Bill

I am interested in this also. If I understand correctly, you are feeding the small TV with composite from a Denon AVR? Do you have to do anything special in the AVR config to make this work? Is the signal sent out via composite, regardless of what the HDMI out is doing?

Thx,

DE

You make them listen to the TV speakers? I hope Child Services doesn't hear about it

Hi
Just upgrated the firmware on my 93EU. After the upgrade i can't seem to return from the Home menu to the movie menu. What am I dooing wrong? Which button should i press to get back to the movie? Pressing the Return button does'nt help, No reaction....

I use Pure feature all the time with my 83SE. If my Panasonic plasma is on and I turn on the Pure feature my plasma does not power off. It works well so you do not have a static image on your display (for DVD-A menus) as you will get a black screen.

Bill

Select the Movie or Music item on Home menu and your disc will be listed in there to select and play.

There is no button to go back to the power up Oppo logo splash screen.
--Bob

The signal is not actually turned off for Pure Mode. Video is just muted to black. So the display may not power off even if it offers that feature on loss of signal.

The black video is necessary because HDMI audio is not a separate signal. It is embedded inside the video stream. Since Pure Mode still allows HDMI audio, the video can only be muted to black so there's still a video stream to carry the audio.
--Bob