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


Butcher

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4 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

 

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

 

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

 

That "technology" is just as good today. I have an ancient issue of Starlog magazine from the 70s that shows how to get the 3D effect from a pair of adjacent photos by crossing one's eyes. The Viewmaster took care of that for the user, and the result was as good as the source material. Since those pictures were taken from 35MM masters, the results were usually very good. I still have mine, and they've got lush, deep color and they're very sharp. I could imagine that the same player with high def pictures would be amazing. 

 

Just for the sake of the discussion, I was a dealer for 3dX back in the early 90s, which used a sort of fresnel lens in a modified rear projection cabinet to split an image into two imperfectly aligning images which was then resolved with glasses similar to the Epcot 3D movies of the early days. My demonstrator system was installed on a Pioneer Elite RPTV of a substantial size. The effect was quite striking. Not 3D as you're used to, with the images reaching out of the telly in an exaggerated fashion, but rather what 3dX called "depth enhancement", where the scene suddenly had a realistic viewing depth. Particularly striking when one would watch an action movie. 

 

 

4 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

 

Of for some of us...

StereoScope1A.jpg?format=1500w

 

Where... would that spike go? 

 

That appears to be an old patent medicine treatment for people who couldn't stop looking at pictures of landmarks. 

 

4 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

 

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

stereoscope.jpg

 

Ah, the old stereo photos. Long before the Dolby ProLogic photos took over the market. Those were the days. Still not as muddled as the new generation Atmos photos, where you have photo information overhead. It makes complete muck of the viewing experience, I'm afraid. 

 

 

4 hours ago, AndrewJohn said:

 

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.

 

 

Eagle Eye, indeed. 

 

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15 hours ago, RodH said:

Warning!!!

This thread may contain Fan-boys.

 

Lots of them, and the way the prices keep climbing, speculators too. :D

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18 minutes ago, Butcher said:

Where... would that spike go? 

 

That spike is a fold-down handle, or I guess you could tickle your tonsils with it. :D

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  • 2 weeks later...

Gents, I forgot to mention that I had purchased said Oppo 103D.

 

Although I miss my Marantz - which has now taken an exalted spot with my office stereo equipment, as I'd mentioned before  - the Oppo styling has grown on me quite a bit. It is square and purposeful, somewhat of a throwback to mid-80s hifi sensibilities. Performance-wise, it has done at least as good a job as the Marantz, and whilst I wasn't expecting it I did notice a bit of extra detail and depth to my favorite test movie. I mucked about with the Darbee for a bit, and I found myself enabling it but leaving it set to "zero", and it did make a difference. I thought for certain that I had read about that technique here, but I couldn't find the post. In any case I had no bias in favor of Darbee so I approached it with an open mind. 

 

I find this player to be a decent player at the price I paid - $300 - and though it lacks 4K and Dolbyvision I believe it will serve me well. Many thanks to my friends here who urged me to pursue it. 

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@Butcher   that's a good price you paid for a 103 D model,  our local classifieds have the same model and the asking price is $845   I paid $250 for my 103 non Darbee edition which I though was  great price as well.   I hope you continue to enjoy the OPPO and explore it's many options. 

 

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This player continues to thrill me. 

 

I've been meaning for quite some time to get away from my multi-channel Atmos thingy receiver. The only thing that has kept it in place has been the use of the remote for input switching, control of my Marantz Blu-ray player, system volume control, and lastly the ability to break the sound out of the HDMI and send it to my stereo amp. With the retirement of the Marantz player the list of reasons to hold on to the AV receiver just became shorter. I'd just lacked the spare moments to attempt any experimentation. 

 

I finally tripped over an adequate block of time that was just sitting there, derelict, which provided the opportunity for me to play some bypass shenanigans with the receiver. I took the HDMI output from the Oppo and sent that directly to my panel display, and the analog outputs went to my highly-regarded Nakamichi CA-7 preamplifier. With everything connected thusly, I found that I had stellar sound coming through my speakers, but somehow the tv was still getting sound and passing it through my Sonos "home theater". I silenced that noise, then found that the soundtrack was playing perfectly through the analog stereo but the vocals were far, far back, as if the speaking roles were phoning in their post-production dubs and Foley from the comfort of the loo. More research and experimentation were warranted. 

 

A few layers into the Oppo audio menus I discovered a positively wonderful setting that allowed me to choose what audio output format I wanted. It was but a moment to select 2.0, no LFE, and my show was ready for the big room. I found that Oppo thoughtfully provided a volume control on the remote. With the telly managing the inputs, the analog sound playing perfectly through the stereo, and the Oppo controlling the volume for my ancient, non-remote but very rare and stellar preamp, the Marantz  receiver has been retired. Its a brilliant unit but not my particular malt anymore.  I do believe my adventures with multichannel are over.

 

 

Edited by Butcher
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  • 2 months later...

A further update:

 

I had occasion to play a DVD over the weekend. I've been building out my collection with Blu-ray movies, and HD downloads, so I rarely open a DVD anymore. I had a sudden desire to watch Iron Man (my inner child demanded it), so I popped that in the Oppo and pushed the go button. 

 

I have never seen upscaling that worked this well. Most players cause blurs, pixel flips, and other artifacts. In some cases the artifacts are so bad I'd not be surprised if Indiana Jones ran across the viewing room chased by a very large stone ball that was badly blurred followed by natives with pixellated faces. The Oppo did not cause problems on the journey from 480 to 1080, quite the opposite - some of the scenes appeared to be 4k. Others, those who had lower contrast, and those with washed out palettes, appeared to have a slight error to them. Overall the effect was very well done. 

 

And as I may have explained before, I was told by the previous owner to have the Darbee circuit join the party whilst leaving the settings at '0' assistance. Perhaps that does the trick. However it works, I'm happy this player has saved me from buying a Blu-ray replacement for my DVD. 

Edited by Butcher
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  • 3 months later...

Another question for you lot, regarding the capabilities of the Oppo 103D. 

 

I've recently wanted to watch a few Blu-ray movies and I've always been thwarted by the Sonos bar, which can't handle anything but Dolby Digital. I'm of the understanding that there are a couple of Samsung Blu-ray players that will convert DTS to DD on the fly, as they say in the vernacular. My stellar Oppo player seems to do everything from upscaling to pure audio output to mixing a passable Harvey Wallbanger.

 

Can the Oppo 103D transcode audio ? (For the record, I did RTFM, saw lots of arcane settings, but nothing about transcoding)

Edited by Butcher
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