Official OPPO BDP-103 Owner's Thread - Page 165

Hi, I'm new, so please be gentle... I only have a rudimentary grasp of audio principles at this point, hope you folks may have some ideas to further this. Just upgraded speakers over the holidays to Polk monitor 75 mains, monitor 25c center. I have PSB side surrounds and rears with a Polk DSW550 sub. The 7.1 is going through a Yamaha RX V671 receiver. I'm happy with the speakers, but of course I'd like more power to the center and mains now, but have no pre outs on the Yamaha to run an amp, unfortunately. I'm getting my first Oppo (the 103) delivered, hopefully early next week. I've seen some discussion of it being used as a pre. Would I be able to run an amp from it to power my 3 up front speakers while letting the Yamaha do the surrounds? And if so, what happens to the 3 now amp powered speakers if I change sources from the Oppo to, say a cd player or tv in the system? Thanks, not really good at explaining things, hope it made sense...

I'm a bit confused by your Theoretical Plans, but I think I have a similar set up and have accomplished what you want in a much simpler way. I have a Pansonic 3D TV, a Pioneer non-3D AV Receiver, and the Oppo 103. Here's how I have it connected: HDMI 1 out from Oppo to Panasonic TV HDMI In; HDMI 2 out from Oppo to Pioneer HDMI in. This way no matter what I play on the Oppo, be it 3D Blu-ray, regular Blu-ray, DVD, movie files through the Oppo USB port, whatever, the video goes to the TV via HDMI 1 and the audio goes to the Pioneer via HDMI 2, thus getting all the-hi res video AND all the hi-res audio. I also have a Home Theater PC connected by HDMI 1.4a to the HDMI In on the Oppo, so anything from that PC gets video to the TV and audio to the Receiver. I have my DVR connected separately to the TV via HDMI and to the Receiver, for audio, via SPDIF. But if you don't have any other equipment such as the HTPC, you could connect your DVR/Cable Box through the Oppo HDMI In. All of this is controlled by a Harmony One remote and all works great.

Where I'm confused is where you use the dual monitor option on the Oppo. Do you have a second TV that was not listed? Or did you mean the split A/V option (pg. 12 of the Oppo manual).? This sends all video via HDMI 1 to the TV and all audio via HDMI 2 to the AV Receiver.

Hope this helps.

I am using the analog audio outputs of the Oppo. I figured it's DAC was better than the Kenwood's. Actually, in my A/B test I was using the analog outputs on both payers.

My receiver has a 'source direct' mode, which I have engaged. It is supposed to bypass all processing.

Video looks the same as my $125 Panasonic BDT220, which is just fine. Frankly, I don't think anyone can really improve on it, Most mid to high end players have (or should have) pretty much equal BD performance
these days. Any real improvements in the end will depend on the quality and settings of the display being used. Now, audio is a different thing altogether, as is disk handling.

I felt a little cheated having to spend another 50 bucks on a dongle to get Amazon video also. I had that on my cheaper player also.

I was using a Panny BT-220 for 3D, and an Oppo 83SE for 2D viewing and music. The 83SE had the edge on most 2D scenes, and sonically spanked the Panny. Most evident was soundstage -- the Panny didn't hold a candle to the Oppo especially after I got the hang of Audessy 32XT.

I bought the 103 so I could use a single player, plus I like to upgrade every other generation. IMHO the 103 crushes the Panny sonically, upstages the 83SE on 2D video and most music listening, and not to miss a chance to kick the Panny again, every 3D issue I was having vanished with the 103. The 83SE is really good sonically on some recordings, but in analog cannot put out half the soundstage the 103 produces properly equalized.

My internet is not up to HD streaming, so online services are not of value to me.

For the record I am running a Sony HW30 onto a 130" fixed screen with a Denon 4311 biamped into Paradigm towers in a 7.1 configuration. I might be pulling more performance from the 103 than a smaller screen or lesser rig can display.

Anyway, I really like the 103 --

They are great speakers, no doubt, just not sure what the weak link is and how weak it is.

I didn't notice any significant difference on the video either. However, I didn't really care about video performance as much as audio, so I didn't do significant testing.

The absence of Amazon streaming is a bummer for me too. You'd think for $500 you'd get all the major services.

I am probably going to return my player and put the $500+ towards a new amplifier. Then I'll wonder how the 103 would have sounded with it...

Hi,
I own the bdp-93 and I was wondering if it's worth upgrading to bdp-103.
I'm just interested in the 2D picture quality, can someone give me an advice regarding only about 2D picture quality?
I don't care too much about the other new features such as better audio quality, 4K upscale, DVD de-interlacing, 2D to 3D conversion, etc
Someone knows if the Marvell's Kyoto-G2H video processor is better than bdp-93 video processor?
Thank you

You care only for Blu-ray playback? The players are very much the same in this regard.

-Bill

Keep the 93, I have both.

I would agree, get by as cheap as you can (within reason) for ONLY Blu-Ray viewing unless you have video or processing demands lesser players can not handle, or you expect to go 4K in the near future.

Yes, only bd 2D picture quality, someone notice any difference?

No. Same thing.

you say have both? what do you like about the oppo 103 more then the 93 and vice versa?

Jacob

Picture-wise they are about the same. I can't see any difference. The 93 is more "stable" , although I had none of the problems reported here with the 103 (lipsync ?). The DVD upconversion also seems to be very close. I had no luck with the Roku stick on the 103 and would go with a regular Roku box instead. My reply was based on the fact that the OP already has the 93, in other words I see no reason to "upgrade".

I have both. PQ is very similar.
Pros/Cons.
103 is snappier. (Faster)
103 is a DMR. (Renderer)
103 has SMB support.
103 HDMI inputs are pretty handy still need work though.
103 Netflix client seems a little better for me.
93 ISO support

Roku Stick works fine on my 103. I've paired it with a Plex media server on my Mac and the combo works perfectly.

I am pretty much happy with my oppo 93. I dont see a reason to upgrade. I do have a roku xs. I find the PQ to be better on the 93. who knows.

Jacob

Yep, I returned my stick before this new firmware upgrade came up. I believe if I had waited it would have worked.

Hi All,

Just got my Oppo and new VT50 hooked up. Trying to test some Directv 3d from an HR-21/700. I'm getting the side-by-side picture issue. I've gone into the manual 3d settings on the Panny and selected side-by-side, but it is not correcting the issue. Any thoughts on getting this to work?

P.S. Setup is Directv => NAD T757 AVR (NAD doing nothing but video switching) => Oppo 103 => Panny VT50

3d Blu-ray works great, btw.

Here's an odd thing...

Last night and tonight while playing Under the Sea 3D and Avatar in 3D, had several instances of "screeching" audio with normal video play back. Had to stop and restart playback several times before screeching stopped and things played normally. This happened immediately after pushing play; not a situation of normal play interrupted by screeching.

Anyone encounter this?

This is likely a type of HDMI handshake failure. Your AVR is probably getting confused about whether HDMI Audio LPCM or HDMI Audio Bitstream is in use. Given the bandwidth of the 3D signal, your HDMI cabling may be marginal. Keep in mind that HDMI is an end to end protocol, so the problem could be the HDMI cable on the output side of the AVR.

If you are using HDMI Audio AUTO, try setting LPCM or Bitstream explicitly instead.

If you are using both HDMI outputs from the OPPO (HDMI 1 to your 3D TV and HDMI 2 to the AVR), go into Video Setup > 3D Setting and select the new Blank HDMI 2 option to simplify the combined audio/video HDMI signal being sent out on HDMI 2.
--Bob

The proper fix for this will likely require a fix in firmware from OPPO. I forget wither anyone has posted a workaround in the interim.
--Bob

Make sure you have DTS Neo:6 Mode set to OFF unless you are actually using it at the moment. Turning it on limits the rate of digital audio, including what gets sent to the DACs for Analog audio output.

If you are using the AVR for volume control, set the Volume in the 103 to 100 (buttons on remote), or set Volume FIXED in Setup.

Use a calibration disc to verify speaker levels are properly matched. Note that when using Source Direct in your AVR, the speaker volume trims offered by the AVR may not be functional. I recommend you use the LPCM test tracks from AIX Audio Calibration, Blu-ray. Avoid raising the individual speaker output volume trims in the OPPO into positive dB, as that may clip the inputs on your AVR in high volume passages (depending on how much input headroom is designed into your AVR).

Make sure you are only doing Crossover processing in one place. If you have speakers SMALL in the OPPO then you need to make sure the AVR is not ALSO trying to do Crossover processing. It is quite likely the AVR also makes its own Crossover processing non-functional when you use Analog Source Direct, in which case you need to set speakers SMALL as appropriate in the OPPO and make your choice of Crossover frequency in the OPPO as well. Be sure to double check your Sub volume setting as well with the calibration disc.

Pick high quality audio discs for making the comparisons. Many "normal" CDs have excessive compression authored in, as well as other shenanigans and short-cuts. Try some good SACD discs or try the Blu-ray music discs as from the 2L label. For example, their "The Nordic Sound". Poorer quality recordings will mask the true difference between players. Please note that there's nothing a good player can do to "fix" the damage in a poorer quality recording -- the information has already been lost. Indeed, it is a truism in this stuff that the better your playback setup, the WORSE poor recordings will sound as all their defects are brought to the fore.
--Bob

There are several problems with this. First, as I think you've already considered, if you change your Yamaha to a different input device there will be no way for the audio to get to your front speakers since only the OPPO is wired to your proposed, new, separate amp for the fronts.

You'd have to run your other source devices through the OPPO using it's HDMI inputs. For the TV, if its HDMI supports Audio Return Channel (ARC) you can send audio from its own off-the-air tuner BACK to the OPPO on the cable that would normally feed video from the OPPO to the TV (assuming you wire HDMI direct to the TV).

Second, your Yamaha AVR may "helpfully" apply some delay in the audio going through it to better match up to the video going through it. The problem is that won't happen for your fronts because they are bypassing the Yamaha. To avoid this you will need to wire HDMI 1 from the OPPO direct to your TV and then find the setting in the Yamaha which disables video processing. E.g., video "pass through" or video output disabled. This should keep the Yamaha from adding audio delay on the channels still going through it.

Third, you will need to do Volume control using he OPPO's remote as of course the volume knob on the Yamaha won't affect what's going to your new amp for the fronts. And THAT means you can't use HDMI audio to the Yamaha because there's no Volume control on the HDMI audio output!

So now you've got HDMI 1 to the TV, HDMI 2 unused, 3 channels of multi-channel Analog audio from the OPPO to your new amp, the rest of the multi-channel Analog from the OPPO to the Yamaha, the Yamaha set to do no video processing, other source devices connected through the OPPO, and Volume control handled by the OPPO.

All in all, it might be simpler to upgrade your AVR.
--Bob
Edited by Bob Pariseau - 1/26/13 at 10:22pm

Quick question. My secondary audio is set to on and I want to turn it off but it's greyed out and I'm unable to change it. Do I have something enabled/disabled that's not allowing me to set this? Any help would be appreciated.

Secondary Audio can not be changed while a disc is loaded (due to the bizarre way the Blu-ray specs allow discs to control when things can be changed). Stop the disc and you'll be able to change it.
--Bob

Thank you sir!

I will be getting the Oppo 103 Blu-Ray Player as I am selling my 83.

I used the source direct on the 83 for the Video processor in the Marantz.

Does any one have experience with the newerVideo processor in the Oppo and the Marantz VP-11S2?

I am guessing that the Oppo Video Chip since it is 5 years newer then the Marantz would be an improvement.

Thanks

Greg

Decisions,decisions….to purchase the Oppo-103 or 105,my Denon 4311CI is in the shop,my retailer stated if it can't be repaired I could upgrade to the Denon 4520CI.Thinking of selling my VT50 as soon as the PZT60's come out…got hundreds of Blu-Rays and ripped,movies flac files unto external hard drives.My satellite PVR would connect through either one ….I'M SO CONFUSED