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My Blu-ray player quit - time to go shopping?


Butcher

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Hello lads, component disaster has struck yet again here at Schloss Butcher. I've been quite happily using a universal player that gave me Blu-ray (no 4K), SACD, and excellent analog audio  - until recently. The bloody thing suddenly decided that no matter which format of video disc I placed in its treacherous maw, it would not provide any signal over the HDMI - only sound over the analog ports. I've switched cables, inputs, media, and even brands of hopped beverage - to no avail. Of course it is long past its in warranty date. 

 

It still performs admirably as an audio player - for now - and it will henceforth be relegated to an honored position in another room, delivering quality audio to one of my favored stacks of vintage hifi. (It was either that or the Fist of Doom, and I'm still rightly embarrassed about that whole thing with the M1.0t.) 

 

What I need is a Blu-ray player that can handle SACD - and DVD-Audio and 4kHD if possible - whilst giving me a nice pair of shiny RCA jacks to hook into an amp for when I decide to show people that stereo never went away. If the player can handle DolbyVision and HDR10 and all the rest of the alphabet buzzies, so much the better. 

 

I know everyone seems to be getting out of the physical media market, but there has to be something available at a reasonable cost. I would think under $500 would suffice. Sony makes the UBPX1100ES (why can't they just give it a proper name, like "Hank" or "Nigel"?) but I have no reason to trust Sony, based on my previous experience with their media players. (Dreadful things, they are. Enough to make a parson swear.)

 

As my player was 7 years old, I'd gladly accept something 2-3 years old, if it were new-old-stock, and from an authorized retailer. Would anyone have a potential direction they'd be willing to point me towards?

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Even though they have left the business, I  can't sing the praises of oppo players enough. I have four of them.

 

The top tier players 203, 205 have quadruped in price since oppo left the business. The 103, 105 are still affordable.  You can get a 103 for about $400, and the 105 is moving up pretty fast. The 105s are getting to the $900-1K range. The 103 shares the analog RCA outputs for multi channel and stereo. The 105 has dedicated stereo outputs in both RCA and XLR.

 

The oppo will play CD, sacd, DVD-a, DVD, blueray, mp3, flac, ogg, and many other digital formats.  It has both cable and wireless network capabilities,  some built in streaming apps, Netflix,  Tidal, YouTube,  and a few others.

 

oppo still supports the players, and you can find out a lot more here:

 

http://www.oppodigital.com

 

Good luck with your search. :D

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16 minutes ago, RodH said:

Have a look at the Yamaha BD-A1060.

I have an earlier model and it does everything well.

 

That looks like a very nice player, based on what I've just read at HTHIFI. Thank you for the recommendation. 

 

14 minutes ago, Rob said:

Playstation 5. Plays everything.

 

Yes I'm sure it does, just as long as I don't mind it playing everything no earlier than November. 🤨

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7 minutes ago, Sk1Bum said:

Even though they have left the business, I  can't sing the praises of oppo players enough. I have four of them.

 

The top tier players 203, 205 have quadruped in price since oppo left the business. The 103, 105 are still affordable.  You can get a 103 for about $400, and the 105 is moving up pretty fast. The 105s are getting to the $900-1K range. The 103 shares the analog RCA outputs for multi channel and stereo. The 105 has dedicated stereo outputs in both RCA and XLR.

 

The oppo will play CD, sacd, DVD-a, DVD, blueray, mp3, flac, ogg, and many other digital formats.  It has both cable and wireless network capabilities,  some built in streaming apps, Netflix,  Tidal, YouTube,  and a few others.

 

oppo still supports the players, and you can find out a lot more here:

 

http://www.oppodigital.com

 

Good luck with your search. :D

 

Interesting you mention that. Someone just tried to sell me an Oppo 103 with "DarbeeVision" for $300, whatever the blazes that is. I did not know much about the brand so I declined. You'll have to forgive me, I've neglected my video education these past 20 years. 

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I have the Yamaha BD-S1065 BluRay player for my Home Theater setup and I like it. I have had it for several years, still works great. 
I like your stories Butcher, the entertainment value is priceless.......😀

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4 minutes ago, Dadvw said:

I have the Yamaha BD-S1065 BluRay player for my Home Theater setup and I like it. I have had it for several years, still works great. 
I like your stories Butcher, the entertainment value is priceless.......😀

 

One must add value wherever one goes. Leave the earth a better place once you've done with your particular bit of it, and so forth. Thank you for the review!

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24 minutes ago, Butcher said:

 

Interesting you mention that. Someone just tried to sell me an Oppo 103 with "DarbeeVision" for $300, whatever the blazes that is. I did not know much about the brand so I declined. You'll have to forgive me, I've neglected my video education these past 20 years. 

 

If it's still available,  and in good shape,  that's a great price.

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Not sure whether to laugh or cry at your original description, @Butcher.  Perhaps it doesn't like the hopps based beverages, maybe something closer to pure alcohol would work better?

 

When shopping around, do beware that many of the newer SACD and Blue-Ray systems will only provide digitial outputs - no analog.  Not a problem if you have a decent DAC to do the conversion, but highly annoying if you go to hook it up and there's no hole to fit the RCA cables to your stereo.   IIRC one of the OPPOs suggested falls into that category, but I can't tell you which, for sure.

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45 minutes ago, Brian_at_HHH said:

Not sure whether to laugh or cry at your original description, @Butcher.  Perhaps it doesn't like the hopps based beverages, maybe something closer to pure alcohol would work better?

 

When shopping around, do beware that many of the newer SACD and Blue-Ray systems will only provide digitial outputs - no analog.  Not a problem if you have a decent DAC to do the conversion, but highly annoying if you go to hook it up and there's no hole to fit the RCA cables to your stereo.   IIRC one of the OPPOs suggested falls into that category, but I can't tell you which, for sure.

 

All of the oppos I mentioned have analog outs.

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OOPo'S - Sorry @Sk1Bum - my bad.  I just thought I remembered someone lamenting that the 105 didn't have any when they got one.   (*,)

 

I should know not to trust my memory, by now.  When you can't remember your own name half the time, leaping before you look is unwise to say the least!  Doh!!!!!

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It appears I'll be purchasing that 103D then.  At the risk* of sounding pretentious, would anyone here know what DAC package this unit has? Bum? You have one of everything they make, apparently. 

 

I've downloaded the user manual and read it through a few times but I still have no idea what the Darbee nonsense is; it seems to be some kind of image enhancement, perhaps the visual version of Sonic Holography. Visual Holography? That would be a bit redundant, I think. The 103 doesn't have 4K and DolbyVision so I'll need yet another player later on when I get a new display, but this Oppo should be fine for my business at the moment. 

 

 

*Always make sure you get Australia first, you'll be a shoo-in for victory. Yes Asia gets you 7 armies and its fun saying "Kamchatka" every few moments, but its such a pain to hold on to. 

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6 hours ago, BarryG said:

+1

 

5 hours ago, oldtexasdog said:

+2

 

As a side mention - would the proper answer to this be "= 3"? Asking for a mate. 

 

1 hour ago, Brian_at_HHH said:

Not sure whether to laugh or cry at your original description, @Butcher.  Perhaps it doesn't like the hopps based beverages, maybe something closer to pure alcohol would work better?

 

When shopping around, do beware that many of the newer SACD and Blue-Ray systems will only provide digitial outputs - no analog.  Not a problem if you have a decent DAC to do the conversion, but highly annoying if you go to hook it up and there's no hole to fit the RCA cables to your stereo.   IIRC one of the OPPOs suggested falls into that category, but I can't tell you which, for sure.

 

Yes I believe this player will be getting a healthy dose of grain spirits when I open it up and begin working on it. Techspray makes a fine 198 proof beverage that will really make it shine. 

 

I've spent some time researching the current generation of players and I've seen there's maybe 5 now that have analog audio. The next best thing would be to have an external DAC, as you say, but that means the player must have a 1.4 HDMI output in addition to a primary HDMI 2.0 output. 

 

Things have changed so much from when I started. The very first time I walked into my hifi store, I encountered an NEC S-VHS machine. Playing through a Proton monitor, I was astounded at the quality. Compared to today's pictures, it looks like viewing the world through a teething tot's toy binoculars. 

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7 minutes ago, Butcher said:

would anyone here know what DAC package this unit has?

 

From an unofficial oppo FAQ at:

 

http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-103-faq.html#what-audio-dac-does-the-bdp-103-use

 

The DAC is the same as the BDP-93, the Cirrus Logic CS4382A (8-ch, 24-bit, 192khz).

OPPO says: There have however been some incremental improvements in circuit design that should improve on the audio some: a novel configuration of the DAC chip and a new analog buffer and filter stage following the DAC output.

 

This does not jive with what I've read here. It's been stated here that the DAC is the ESS Sabre, and there is one dedicated for 2 channel, and one dedicated for 7.1/5.1.

 

I know the 105, 203, & 205 have the ESS Sabre DAC(s).

 

For the record, I have 2 103s, 1 103 Darbee, and a 105. I got drawn in the lottery for a 205 in the last run, but I didn't have $1300 at the time, and I gave my spot to another member here. Now, a still in the box 205 is bringing $3K regularly, and some are asking $5K.

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7 minutes ago, Sk1Bum said:

 

From an unofficial oppo FAQ at:

 

http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-103-faq.html#what-audio-dac-does-the-bdp-103-use

 

The DAC is the same as the BDP-93, the Cirrus Logic CS4382A (8-ch, 24-bit, 192khz).

OPPO says: There have however been some incremental improvements in circuit design that should improve on the audio some: a novel configuration of the DAC chip and a new analog buffer and filter stage following the DAC output.

 

This does not jive with what I've read here. It's been stated here that the DAC is the ESS Sabre, and there is one dedicated for 2 channel, and one dedicated for 7.1/5.1.

 

I know the 105, 203, & 205 have the ESS Sabre DAC(s).

 

For the record, I have 2 103s, 1 103 Darbee, and a 105. I got drawn in the lottery for a 205 in the last run, but I didn't have $1300 at the time, and I gave my spot to another member here. Now, a still in the box 205 is bringing $3K regularly, and some are asking $5K.

 

That is an excellent resource. Bum to the rescue!

 

I believe the best way for me to settle that would be to pull the top cover and have a look at the main board. I will of course report my results here. 

 

If you have the Darbee, could you please explain what it does, and under what circumstances it would be useful?

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1 hour ago, Butcher said:

If you have the Darbee, could you please explain what it does, and under what circumstances it would be useful?

 

It's on the rig in my HT, and the best analogy I can think of is, it's a video graphic equalizer. When I played around with it, all I could do was make the picture worse. Fortunately, I took a picture before I changed anything, so I could set it back to "flat." There may be an option to turn it off... I don't recall. 

 

When I fire up the TV, I'll bring up the Darbee settings page, take another pic, and post it here. It will probably be either very late tonight or tomorrow.

 

Here's a link to the user manual. It has several mentions of Darbee, and on page 59 it starts going into more detail.

 

http://download.oppodigital.com/BDP103/BDP-103D_USER_MANUAL_English_v1.2.2.pdf

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15 hours ago, Butcher said:

[...]

Things have changed so much from when I started. The very first time I walked into my hifi store, I encountered an NEC S-VHS machine. Playing through a Proton monitor, I was astounded at the quality. Compared to today's pictures, it looks like viewing the world through a teething tot's toy binoculars. 

 

Here's another comparison analogy..., Digital photos, today, compared to the ViewMaster of our child hood.

 

73467.main.png&height=700&width=450&outp

 

Of for some of us...

StereoScope1A.jpg?format=1500w

 

I used to use one of these, to analyze stereo air photos, as a geologist when I got out of the university..., 

stereoscope.jpg

 

Up until the 80's, that's how the military looked at photogrammetry..., 

 

Now, with digital image processing, the missile silos, troop movement, geomorphology or ore deposits, are all identified by algorithms in the cloud. 

 

DARPA NET changed everything..., even the backbone for DARBEE with ethernet/WiFi feeds.

 

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