Official OPPO BDP-103/BDP-105 Anticipation Thread - Page 88

Also check out the releases from 2L, "The Nordic Sound":

http://www.2l.no

They have some titles as Blu-ray only, and others which are Blu-ray plus SACD 2 disc sets so you can compare for yourself.

I use the 2L discs as source content for testing high bit rate audio on Blu-ray, as well as for SACD testing. Much of their stuff is available through, e.g., Amazon. They also have some sampler collections.
--Bob

the 2L stuff is awesome. You can download them from HDtracks but if you want it in multichannel you have to get the bluray. Amazon carries them.

Why do we have to pay $100/month in operator plan fees for an iPhone here? You guys get away with under $20/month. (Sure, we can get $50/month plans here, but low-end plans like that are available free or under $10 in many European countries). Smartphone owners, think of it like this: In a year you will have saved the difference in price on the Oppo thanks you your low cost smartphone plans!

Some things are less expensive here, other things less expensive over there. That's life!

No. The principal factor is market differences:

US customers are quicker to buy (less time spent on sales people, and more on-line sales)
US customers are more willing to buy without a trial (no open-box units needed, no demo needed, more on-line sales)
US customers that end up disliking the unit are less likely to return it for a refund.
US customers make spontaneous purchases. Some units never leave the box (Europeans just shake their heads in disbelief).
US customers don't require prices with margins for haggle.

European customers are generally way more cautious. They need a store demo. They want to try the unit in their home. They are quick to excersize the government stipulated rights of a 14 day return. The stores end up with used units that they have to sell at low cost.

And maybe most important: In Europe people are accustomed to a haggle margin. Somebody recently told me NOBODY pays MSRP. With that attitude, resellers need a margin for haggle, which is not the case with the US prices.

I think that Europeans may not understand that the US prices $499/$999 have NO room for haggling. People pay these prices AND shipping on top! (I noticed that even MusicDirect will charge shipping on the $1199 Oppo 105 although they normally offer free shipping).

Hope this makes things a little bit clear why the Euro prices are what they are. It's not rocket science!

Hi Guys,

I've been reading for a while now but can somebody please tell me if Oppo has fixed the inherent audio delay defect known and described by Bob P. about 50 pages back?

Thanks kindly

I'm using the BDP-105 as my disc player and preamp. 5.1 analog connections to a Outlaw amp, model 7500 (200 watts per channel). The 105 has plenty of gain for the amp feeding a Monitor Audio Gold speaker set. My setup includes two Definitive Tech' subs with a Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer management system, a Pioneer 60" Pro 141FD monitor and a TiVo. When I installed the 105 last week I added a Darbee Visual Presence gadget to the video feed. For my A/V needs this is a great system.
Edited by elphillips - 11/24/12 at 12:15pm

In the 1114B Public Beta firmware, the situation is improved for shiny disc playback, but not yet completely fixed. The maximum error is about 1/2 what it was with the Official 1018 firmware, and there are more cases where sync is CORRECT. For the HDMI Inputs, the sync error is unchanged from Official 1018 firmware. OPPO Engineering is still working on both of these, and I fully expect they'll deliver complete solutions in future firmware.
--Bob

Aren't we done anticipating now that both the 103 and 105 are in full production? Should this thread be cloase and all discussions moved to the Official 105 thread?

 

Just asking ....

 

- David

Hello,

A little help if possible. I just purchased the BDP-103 from Magnolia. I'm having problems getting my receiver to "play" along with the Oppo. I have a Pioneer Elite VSX-94THX receiver that is not 3D pass though and is from 2007 which is the reason I purchased the Oppo. I have the Oppo HDMI 1 running directly into my 3D TV, then HDMI 2 running to my receiver, then my receiver to my tv. What's happening is that the HDMI light on my receiver keeps blinking and won't stay solid. While it blinks the picture on the tv flashes off and on and will not stay "still", nor do I have any audio coming from the receiver. It's like the receiver won't "lock-in" with the Oppo. Any ideas to fix these 2 problems ? I'm sure it's something simple, I'm just not very savvy with this type of thing. I would appreciate any help or insight.

Thanks !

^ First, that's very interesting news about Magnolia, as they still are not showing either the 103 or 105 on their web site!

Anyway, for your question: The new 1114B Public Beta firmware, with its new Blank HDMI 2 setting, will likely solve your problem getting your older Pioneer receiver to work for audio when playing 3D video.

See the Support page for the 103 at the OPPO Digital web site.
--Bob

Glad to see this is a development problem and not just in my set up. As I mentioned above, the 105 is my preamp as well as a disc player. On broadcast material the sound sync, or lip sync, is off by as much as a full second. This problem only occurs on about 20% of the program material.

I had something like that happening and it was a HDMI cable with a connector that got worn out.

I used to have lip sync on my older OPPO 93, AppleTV and Denon A100 combo. It was at times off by many seconds. I even suffered thru this while watching the entire "24" TV series episodes. I since got rid of AppleTV. Netflix is quite awesome and a huge improvement thru the OPPO 103 while watching foreign films and yes watching "24" all over again as I was amazed at the difference. VUDU allowed me to get rid of DirecTV and also upped my network speed. It can very well be a combination of your equipment - overly use of, quick expectations or something else. I also have an SC-67 in another room. Airplay and itunes directly to vs. trying thru the AppleTV is a night and day difference. Yes I have minimal amount of equipment and no issues. My combos at this time are Denon A100/Oppo103/5.1. SC-67 with airplay presently / 2.1 combo - soon to get another OPPO 103 for my Pioneer. Airplay is great with my 2.1 combo until my other OPPO 103 arrives
Dave

Yeah Bob, I went into a actual Best Buy store that had Magnolia in it here about 20 mins from my house, and they called their Magnolia A/V store in Chicago, Illinois that's a store of it's own (not in a Best Buy store). I gave them all of my information, CC, etc., and they shipped it to my local Best Buy store for pickup that does not have Magnolia about 1 mile from my house. They would not ship it directly to my home for some reason.

Thanks for the tip though !

^ Even though Magnolia AV (the stand-alone store chain) still doesn't list the 103 or 105 on their web site, one of the other Beta Testers spotted that they included a photo of the 103 in their "Black Friday" Holiday Gift Guide! Curiously, the text that goes with it just describes it as an OPPO player -- no model number. But the photo they used is obviously of the 103 (you can see the 2 input ports on the right side of the front panel).

Anyway, now that the Black Friday crush is behind them, I imagine they'll update their web site as well to list the 103/105 normally.
--Bob

Hi Bob,

Isn't it a bit disquieting that Oppo could not get a fundamental element like audio synchronization correct right out of the box? I want the 103 but why would I retire my PS3 to instal a machine which could or will produce dialogue imperfectly matched to the speaker's lips and ruin the film experience for me? Sigh.

We know from past players that getting everyone's AVR synced up simultaneously, especially with all the various parameters in use, takes some doing. They have many vendor-specific quirks to deal with.

If you are happy with your PS3 you should stick with it.

-Bill

it sounds like it's working correctly for most people

Hi Bill,

I'm not referring to the audio delays induced by different audio configurations/devices. I'm talking about the sync issue inherent in the Oppo itself which Bob P. has described. I can understand the former because of myriad devices and set up out there in the real world but the sync issue intrinsic to the Oppo itself is harder to fathom.

From everything I have read in these threads, it is not inherent with the Oppo by itself but only in conjunction with certain AVRs. With many (most?) AVRs and pre/pros there are no lip synch issues but with some there is. This seems to be why it is taking some time to get a full fix since the possible different AVRs or pre/pros that may be used with the Oppo are quite numerous.

I see, and hear, the lip synch delay on some broadcast material and I'm not using receiver or pre/pro. The 105 is my pre/pro with a TiVo connected to the 105's HDMI IN-BACK port. I have not seen a synch problem on the two discs I've played.
Edited by elphillips - 11/26/12 at 7:36pm

FWIW I have a 95 connected directly to a Bryston 3BST on the mains and a Lexicon (Bryston) 512 for the other 5 channels. The speakers are PSB Stratus Gold Mains, PSB C6i center, paradigm adp370 surrounds and cheap rears. I had an Arcam AVR300 7.1 receiver on it's own first, then with the bryston 3bst on the mains, then with the lexicon. Adding the 3bst opened up the sound stage unbelievably, and the 512 helped more. Taking the arcam all the way out opened everything up even more, with better air and imaging. I tried going back to the avr300 as a pre-amp after a couple months and it was immediately and easily heard as a step down. The arcam is what I consider a mid level receiver, went for around $2500 when new. The brystons are a step up in quality and seem to be a great match for the oppo95 and stratus golds.
I'd say unless you have a high end, 3K plus pre-amp and very good cables, you're better off connecting directly. It's working great for me.
Edited by mikepos - 11/26/12 at 6:49pm

My room is 18x14x7.9 feet. Careful placement of the speakers, sub and seating, along with some absorbtive panels to catch first reflections off the side walls, have gievn me pretty good results and I don't miss room corrections. i do need some bass traps to even out a hump around 60hz IIARC but other than that it's gold except that my 105" screen pushes my stratus gold mains too far apart for top imaging, but it's nnot too bad. I'm running the 95 directly into Bryston/Lexicon amps.

Lip synch issues in broadcast material is often in the source. Take the Oppo out of the system for broadcasts with lip synch issues and you may still find synch problems. I have found that lip synch problems are more frequent with HD broadcasts, often locally produced ones like news shows.

I don't know, another 35 million Democrats would not solve any of their problems...

I have seen the 2L titles on Amazon, and wondered if they were worth trying. I once bought 2 Acoustic Reality Experience audio-only blu-rays, their sound was ok, the musicianship just ok, and the disc authoring terrible: no menu, forwarding to the the next track sometimes dropped you out of the hi-res and into a low-res sound track, and this put me off small labels. But I have ordered one 2L disc on your say-so from MDT in the UK (Flute Mysteries) (have been happy with previous purchases from them, price-wise and deiivery-wise).

The Acoustic Reality Experience BDs are remixed/remastered from licenced and previously released materials, for the most part, and of variable quality.  2L is a real label offering high quality original recordings.  No comparison. Also, the 2L recordings are available on BDs and/or SACD as well as downloads.

Edited by Kal Rubinson - 11/27/12 at 8:36pm

If you have the 105 or an external DAC you can just goto HDTRACKS.com and play thier sample files (they stream the same files and the same rate that you wind up paying for but only for 10 seconds). This will give you a feel for how they sound. Just realize the hdtracks files are not multichannel.

And while there are 2L albums of music I normally wouldn't listen to but love because they sound go great, there are albums I still can't even listen to. (I just can't get into that specific music no matter how it sounds - their music covers a wide variety of stuff. But the dueling violins on the 2L audiophile reference album - amazing.

Thanks Bob, TME110, and Kal, re refs for 2L

Your comments are reassuring, and also explain my disappointment in the Acoustic Reality discs. If any of you haven;t already done so, you might like some of the hi-res recordings from MA Recordings.

http://www.marecordings.com/main/default.php?cPath=43&osCsid=1555e6083c95e67d1e5cb74358614fd9

I bought their DVD Rom disc La Segunda 24bit, 176.4 wav (I think) files. Stereo, not multi-channel, but beautiful sound. I''ve played it through the analogue hookup from my Oppo 95 to the NAD T775 av receiver - very impressive. Also, the main guy there is very good at answering email queries, so they have a very "feel-good" customer service attitude.

I'll report back after I receive my 2L blu-ray.

If you are just looking to test high bit rate media files, Linn Records has some *FREE* FLAC download test clips that you can use:

http://www.linnrecords.com/linn-downloads-testfiles.aspx

These are brief tests, but they do let you try high bit rate for both stereo and 5.1. For example, put these on a USB stick and play them via the Music icon on Home Menu in the OPPO.

Note that ALAC is not supported on the OPPO, so stick to the FLAC files. I don't believe Linn currently offers 5.1 downloads for PURCHASE, but the test clip can be used to validate that things are working now for use with files from other sources.
--Bob