OPPO BDP-103/105

[teachsac]

I seriously doubt they will add Amazon. They didn't with the 93. Honestly. I don't want another box. No room after adding the second amp.

S~

 

[Ilya]

I seriously doubt they will add Amazon. They didn't with the 93. Honestly. I don't want another box. No room after adding the second amp.

S~

Roku is so small now that you can easily hide it behind other components. I would prefer that to a dongle sticking out from the front panel of the player.

Sent from my iPad 3 using SatelliteGuys

 

[gadgtfreek]

New FW is out for download, and the 103 is now for public sale.

 

[Ilya]

Yes! Just got it!
Here are the release notes according to Oppo:

Release date: October 22, 2012.
Category: Latest Official Release

Main Version: BDP10X-33-1018
Loader Version: 6U0800 (BDP-103), 7B0300 (BDP-105)
Sub Version: MCU103-05-0916 (BDP-103), MCU105-04-0916 (BDP-105)

This version is designed for the OPPO BDP-103 and BDP-105 Blu-ray Disc players. Comparing to the previous Official release version BDP10X-32-0921, the major changes included in this version are:
1.Resolved several minor issues based on customer feedback from the player's pre-release program.
2.Improved the system stability when the player is set to "Quick Start" mode, or when the customer is navigating a large amount of media files using the Photo, Music, or Video options found in the HOME menu.
3.General disc compatibility improvement based on recent and upcoming Blu-ray releases as well as user-submitted disc samples.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Input control for universal remotes is great now, glad they added it.

 

[Ilya]

Interesting: even though I installed the new version and accepted the reset to factory settings, the installation has not invalidated my region-free mod. Good! I won't have to re-apply it.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I didnt get the reset being required, odd and annoying.

 

[Ilya]

It is usually recommended to reset just to be on a safe side, especially coming from a pre-release version.

 

[gadgtfreek]

I guess I dont ever remember having to do that on my 93.

 

[ronton3]

A BDP 83(like I still have) just sold for 470. on Ebay today. I will soon sell mine and get the 103. I am excited by the HDMI inputs otherwise I would probably not upgrade. ron

 

[Ilya]

Since I have two identical projectors at the moment (Epson sent me a replacement unit) I am going to do a side-by-side comparison of the two HDMI outputs, since they have a different video processor. I'll see if I can spot any difference.

Sent from my iPhone5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Ilya]

Ok, so I setup two projectors one on top of the other and pointed them to the same screen and adjusted them so that the two images would perfectly overlap. Connected them directly to the two outputs of the player. Then I covered the left side of one light beam and the right side of the other with the black boxes (those that the OPPO's remote and cables came in). So the two sides of the screen are controlled by two separate outputs: a perfect split-screen!

That part was easy. The real problem was to make the two parts of the screen look the same. Although the two projectors are of the same model, they are not identical. I spent two hours with the DVE calibration disk, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make them look identical. The main challenge is that one of the projectors has a new lamp, while the lamp in the second one has significant number of hours on it.

So, I adjusted them the best I could and now I am going to watch various HD and SD materials. Should I notice any significant difference I will just switch the outputs to see if the difference is output-specific. Wish me luck!

Sent from my iPhone5 using SatelliteGuys

 

[Ilya]

Well, after spending some time doing side-by-side comparison of the two HDMI outputs, I can say that the Marvell's Qdeo processing (HDMI output 1) does make a difference, particularly for DVD up-conversion. Here are my observations:

1. To my eyes, DVDs looked significantly better via HDMI 1. For example, the video noise in dark low-contrast scenes was noticeably reduced. I hate video noise, so for me it's a big deal. In brighter scenes, however, the difference was less noticeable.

2. I couldn't see much difference on Blu-ray materials. Both outputs looked pretty good to me. If there was any difference, it was almost unperceivable.

3. Output 1 handles HDMI mode transitions (switching from one resolution to another) much more gracefully than output 2: it blacks out the image until the transition is over, while output 1 flashes. Perhaps this can be corrected with future firmware updates.

4. On a couple of occasions output 2 has failed to play DVDs with 24p conversion at 36bit color. Not sure why. Perhaps a bug that can be corrected, or perhaps it was the projector's fault.

So, to me, the HDMI output 1 (the one with Qdeo) is noticeably better in video quality and it is the one that should be used for the main TV output, just like OPPO recommends.

Sent from my iPad 3 using SatelliteGuys

 

[gadgtfreek]

Excellent!

For now, Ive set my HR34 to native off and straight 1080i out into the 103. That way I can feed 1080p/60 from HDMI 1 to the GT30, and bitstream DD 5.1 from HDMI 2 to the Onkyo. Reason being is HDMI audio sounds better to me than running Digital Coax from the 34 to the AVR, plus that gives me lip sync issues. Hopefully they fix the bug so I can turn Native back on, but if they dont, no biggie.

 

[Ilya]

I've just posted my review here: http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/294648-OPPO-BDP-103-Blu-ray-Player-Review
Have a look!

 

[king3pj]

Ok I see that the new OPPO has the ability to accept other video signals and use the Marvell Qdeo video processing chip for scaling all the way up to 4K if anyone actually has a 4K display. My Onkyo TX-NR609 that I bought about a year ago for under $400 also has the Marvell Qdeo chip with 4K scaling. My question is this. Is Marvell Qdeo just Marvell Qdeo or are there different levels of this processing chip? I would say the scaling on my AVR is very good but I guess I just have a hard time believing that my year old, mid range AVR has the same video chip as these high end OPPOs.

 

[gadgtfreek]

If implemented properly, the scaling should be the same, sometimes the Oppo might offer more PQ tweaks. The AVR's might be OK, but I trust the Oppo to send accurate video after scaling, before I do an AVR.

HTM did a review of the 1008 Onkyo and found scaling to be fine, only the chroma resolution was a slight issue for the HDMI output, and they passthru everything fine. Saying all that, I have a 818 and a 103, and I only send HDMI 2 bitstream audio to the Onkyo, I run my Directv thru the 103 and let it scale everything to 1080p/60 for my display. I left the AVR out of the video chain.

 

[gadgtfreek]

With the latest HR34 firmware, my HDCP content warnings have stopped popping up when trying to tune to HBO/Cinemax. I thought it was the Oppo, but I guess something Directv changed fixed it.

 

[gadgtfreek]

Summing It Up
As you can probably tell, I really like the BDP-103. Sure, at $499 it’s a lot more expensive than other players I’ve reviewed this year. But let’s look at what the Oppo brings to the table: near-flawless playback of Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD discs; support for both DVD-Audio and SACD audio formats; home network streaming as well as some of the most popular online streaming offerings; the ability to use the player’s best-in-class video processing for other components in your system via its HDMI inputs; and finally, the best customer service in the business. If that isn’t worth a few extra dollars, then I don’t know what is. Highly recommended.

Link

 

[gadgtfreek]

Latest Public Beta Test Release

Release date: November 20, 2012.
Category: Latest Public Beta Release

Main Version: BDP10X-37-1114B
Loader Version: 6U0900 (BDP-103), 7B0600 (BDP-105)
Sub Version: MCU103-05-0916 (BDP-103), MCU105-04-1113 (BDP-105)

Release Notes:

This version is designed for the OPPO BDP-103 and BDP-105 Blu-ray Disc players. Comparing to the previous Official release version BDP10X-33-1018, the major changes included in this version are:

• Added support for "Rhapsody" online music and "CinemaNow" movie/TV streaming services.
• Added the "Blank HDMI 2" option in the Setup Menu -> Video Setup -> 3D Setting. This allows the player to force HDMI 2 to output a 2D blank screen when HDMI 1 outputs 3D video. Some customers reported that during 3D movie playback, when HDMI 1 was connected to a 3D display and HDMI 2 was connected to a non-3D receiver which in turn is connected to the same 3D display, there was no audio coming from the receiver. This issue has been resolved.
• Resolved the incorrect aspect ratio (AR) during some user-created media. In the previous firmware the player may have unnecessarily pillarboxed or stretched the video of some user-created media files. This issue has been resolved.
• Resolved an incompatibility with older Digital Coaxial or Optical receivers where streaming services (such as Netflix, YouTube) produced no audio.
• Improved the user experience in the HOME menu and the Media Center (Photo, Music, or Movie) e.g., Added Thumbnail View mode for Movie and Music, and the customer can press RED COLOR button to quickly switch between File List mode and Thumbnail View mode.
• Added "Sleep Timer" option in the Setup Menu -> Device Setup. This allows the player to turn itself off after a specific amount of time.
• Added support for converting Side-by-Side and Top-Bottom formatted MKV into 3D. During the playback of a compatible MKV, press the 3D button on the remote once to turn on the "2D->3D" conversion then press the 3D button again to display the "3D Setting" menu. Select "Side-by-Side" or "Top-Bottom" to match the source to convert the image to 3D.
• Added "CD Program Play" function for CD/SACD playback. During the disc playback, press the YELLOW COLOR button to bring the “Program Play” interface. Here you can use the LEFT/RIGHT ARROW button to set a desired playlist.
• General disc compatibility improvement based on recent and upcoming Blu-ray releases as well as user-submitted disc samples.
• Special notices:
• In order to facilitate the user experience improvement in media navigation (item 5 above), the player will create an "OPPO_Media_Info" folder on the connected USB storage device and store media information there. You may find this folder on USB flash drives or external hard drives after using those on the OPPO player. Please do not delete the folder and its files.
• SD DVD de-interlacing performance is not as good as that of the official firmware release BDP10X-33-1018. If you watch DVD often, we recommend that you skip this beta test version and wait for the next official release, which will fix this problem.
• You can revert back to the previous Official release via a USB thumb drive.

http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/BDP103-firmware-37-1114B.aspx