OPPO Digital Presents: DV-980H (1080p, SACD DSD, 7.1 Surround, USB 2.0) - Page 208

I have a similar problem with the skipping but with slightly different connections. HDMI to the TV and analog outs L/R to the receiver (no HDMI). Playing CD's on the Oppo skips or has "dropouts". Sometimes not right away but always at least after a few songs. If i turn on the TV the CD's magically play correctly with no skips at all. The receiver is not connected to the TV at all or anything else but the Oppo and some speakers. So freakin weird and has been bugging me forever.

After reading your post I may try an optical Oppo to receiver connection but then i'm using the receiver's Dac, bleh.

I love Oppo players but have never come across audio gear so buggy before.

Have you tried selecting audio only on the Oppo when playing CD's?

^^^ Good Q ^^^

I'm curious about that myself. I think the Oppo powers ALL video and ALL audio regardless of what you have hooked up. Might have an effect on performance on these older units.

Mike

yep...no difference, i was praying that would be the solution when i tried it months ago but it's not.

Sorry 'bout that.

I'm lucky enough to not have any issues like you describe. Until last month my Oppo was hooked up exactly as you describe, other than old non-HDMI Yamaha also had audio input from TV, analog I think.

I am sure you have done or considered the usual: swap cables, clean cable ends and connections with 60% ipa/water and micro fiber or Q-tips-let dry/or blow dry, clean disk tray, air clean laser area, take a chance with dvd head cleaner, rubbing blue-mud in the belly, naked dancing by the full moon, etc ......

I recently had cause to call Oppo customer service/technical. They were as helpful as can be regarding this unit that they sold me 2yrs ago. No disdainful sniffing at the fact that I have not purchased their latest and greatest. Just an honest attempt to apply their experience to my little problem. See what they have to say. (look at http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showp...postcount=6207, sounds like Oppo has looked at similar issues to yours and is waiting for decoder vendor to reply) Got to be worth another phone call. It sounds as though you are deeply fed up. Try one more time.

Best of luck,
Mike K

Would you expand on your statements?
Thank you

Maybe I am lucky> I have the 981, 983 and the BDP-83>ZERO problems>IT.

Zenyatto,

My amateur thinking was along the lines of power usage. AFIK the oppo 980 enables all possible video and audio outputs of source at all times, unless the video functions (mind this would include relatively power hungry DAC'd analog video outputs) are manually disabled by "Audio Only" on the remote. I'm thinking that if that is the case, the power supply is running pretty hard, close to its design limit. Giving it a break might ease the issues.

So, given the time factor in the glitches showing up as the poster's issues, perhaps a lessening of the load would benefit operation, or at least extend the time before faults occur. As a troubleshooting tool, that might tell you that the unit's power supply is going south. Maybe saying something about the filter capacitors or other elements.

I really didn't know, and thought that the just-prior-to-mine response to the posted problem was a pretty good question. There was also the possibility that something in the video channels of HDMI crossing over into the digital audio processing/handling early in the circuitry and again stressing some filtering component. Just musing in the dark (ok, puns are evil) on my part.

But then, maybe I was overthinking it.

Or, maybe the Oppo 980h does things differently than I had thought. Wouldn't be the first time, by a long shot.

I do envy you your 983!!

Mike K

Mikard:
The 983 does NOT support DSD, the BDP-83 does!

Zenyatto

OK...

Fortunately, this is a 980h thread.

Semper Fi

Mike

I have a similar setup (HDMI direct to TV, analog audio to processor). I noticed that if I turn the TV on or off when playing a CD, I'll hear "dropouts". It appears that anytime a "handshake" occurs via HDMI with the TV there is a dropout. If I just leave the TV on or off, then there are no dropouts.

Perhaps even though your TV is "off" when this occurs, there is some kind of handshake or communication going on between your TV and 980H that's causing the dropouts?

Just a thought.

Yep Saturn you hit the nail on the head. Your issue is almost identical to mine except I must have the TV powered on for the cd's to play perfectly. There definitely seems to be a HDMI handshake problem (shouldn't be attempting one) with the TV off even though I am not trying to use it for audio signals. If I remove the HDMI cable all together the cd's are back to normal.

Unfortunately it looks like I'll just have to use component cables to connect the TV to the Oppo instead.

Are you using the 980H or the TV for upconverting? With component you lose the ability for the 980H to do the upcoverting.

Would it be a major pain when playing CDs to turn the TV on and select "Audio only" on the 980H (so you don't have a static image on your TV)? This is probably what I would do.

In either case there may be a compromise that must be made, either in convenience or possibly video performance.

I'm using the Oppo for upconverting so I will indeed lose that ability with the component video connection.

I've tried using the Audio Only button but it has no effect. I still experience the dropouts if the television is not turned on.

Yep either way something is going to be compromised which really stinks. It defeats the purpose of buying the Oppo over a much cheaper DVD player. I had planned on buying one of the modded BDP-83SE's for my own system (connected the same way as the 980H) but after experiencing this I will take my business elsewhere.

I guess I'm fortunate that I only experience the dropouts when doing something on the TV (turning it on, turning it off, etc).

Also, I've yet to find any single player that does everything to my satisfaction (CDs, DVDs, BDs, DVD-A, SACD), so I have 3 players in my system. For CDs I usually use my Rotel 960, DVDs and BDs I use my Pioneer 320 (DVD upconversion is better than the 980H), DVD-A and SACD I use my 980H. I thought about getting the Oppo 83 to replace them all, but with the ongoing SACD issues that some are having I'll just stick with my current setup for now.

If you replace your 980H I would be interesting in hearing about what you got and what you think of it.

Thanks for all your help Saturn. I'm mostly a die hard 2 channel music guy and I'll occasionally watch live concert DVD's so I admit that my patience with all things HDMI is very very slim.

I've probably been too tough on the Oppo because it does do other things well and plenty of other players have issues too.

Since your are admittedly a "die hard 2 channel music guy", I'd suggest getting a separate high quality CD player and just use your 980H for DVDs (which it handles very well). With the CD player leaving HDMI out of the mix, you won't have to suffer its quirks when listening to music. It seems like the more "computer like" A/V components get, the more we get "computer like" glitches.

I also enjoy 2 channel music and find that my Rotel 960 fits the bill very well.

Unless you have a decent external scaler, I would not use the DV-980H for video. It lacks important zoom modes, such as the 133 % zoom to get rid of horizontal black bars on widescreen DVDs that are not anamorphic. In fact, I use my 980H as a dedicated audio player.

The 980H is something a bought for my sister, not something I am using myself. I figured it was an inexpensive player that would suffice for video and deliver decent audio as well. My hopes is that it would be a "set-it and forget it" type of component and would be easy for her to use. Unfortunately it's been a pain in my arse having to haul over to her house and troubleshoot the darn thing over and over. The solution so far has been for her to disconnect the HDMI cable whenever she listens to cd's then reconnect it when watching a movie.

I totally agree with your computer comment. I got out of HT years and years ago because of that trend. Quality 2 channel is fine for me.

Have you sent an email to Oppo support? They might be interested in trying to figure out why this is happening with your combination of A/V equipment. I haven't had the best luck with CD over HDMI either, but I ran an optical cable to the receiver (the HDMI is still connected for DVD and DVD-A) and just use its audio-only CD input selection and things are fine. Maybe it's something they can correct in firmware?

I haven't reported it since it isn't an issue that bothers me. I just figured it was a quirk of this player. However, unlike shodilik, I only have the dropouts when I turn the TV on or off, never while the TV is just sitting in an on or off state. But since you brought it up, I may go ahead and report it anyway.

In shodlik's case, I suspect that his particular TV/980H combo is trying to communicate via HDMI even when the TV is in an off state. Hard to say whether the TV or 980H is at fault here.

Sorry, shodulik's was the case I was referring to. My system drops audio when turning the TV off and on over HDMI, and I assumed that was just a symptom of the way HDCP is implemented over HDMI, and there is nothing anyone can do about that. I was saying the dropouts with the TV off should be reported, because maybe there is a way for the player to detect it has no video sink and then won't try to handshake, or maybe there is something else going on with that particular combination of AV equipment (it should be obvious by now that I have no idea how any of this actually works).

I think I may report it Dirac. It's just like saying you have a cd player and a VCR connected to preamp but in order for the cd's to play without dropouts the VCR has to be turned on also. Makes no sense but that's the problem the HDMI connection is causing. It should detect there is no video feed but it does not.

Ah, I see. Thanks for the clarification.

Although, maybe this will change things.

Niiiiiice!

Apologies for being off topic but I used an Oppo portable mp3/music/video player thingee last week and it was pretty damn cool. I had no idea Oppo even made them.

Has anyone had this issue with their 980?

I played a number of CD-Rs in my machine without problem, but when I inserted Taiyo-Yuden matte inkjet discs in the 980, I was unable to fast forward through songs. I had no problems selecting tracks, but the FF and rewind buttons wouldn't work. As soon as I put other brands in, I had no problems with these functions. Odd.

If I download 88.2kHz/24-bit files, is there a way to play them on the 980H.....either directly or by burning them to a disc?

I'm guessing you're referring to hirez flac files?

I tried some (a couple fo years ago) from a USB stick and got gobbledegook. Not sure what resolution I used. I'm thinking it was 96kHz/24bit.

The new Oppo BDP93 plays hirez flac. As does my AVR (Denon AVR3808).

blairy

I know I should just contact oppo even though I'm out of warranty, but I'm wondering if any of you have had issues with your transport? I had my main power board and my disc transport replaced once because the unit squealed in standby mode, and the transport was extremely loud when skipping ahead in chapters, loading, or fast forwarding. I sounded like a freight train. Unfortunately, the new transport that oppo put in is dead silent when fast forwarding and skipping tracks, but every dvd I play makes a low or high hum because it sounds like the transport is actually unbalanced and the disc is wobbling in the spindle. It's super annoying and happens on every dvd no matter what is being played. So now the unit isn't really quiet during playback like it should be. I'm waaay out of warranty, but I'm wondering if oppo might just sent me a new transport that I can put in the player. I opened her up, and it's not too complicated at all. I just don't want to pay for service and the part given that I"m going to be replacing this unit with a bdp-93 soon. The dv-980h fetches a good price on ebay, but I'm picky about this noise and don't want to sell it yet.