New Blu-ray player advice

[Rope]

The user determines where scaling takes place, although if that's not the case, someone should inform DVDO, Oppo Digital, and all other source gear who utilize Anchor Bay Chip video processing, they're wasting money and charging their customers in excess. The final say in scaling is that of the display, however, if the display settings eliminate edge enhancement and the various other artifact adding gizmos, the display will see the incoming signal as it's native resolution and leave it as is.

In my case, I have the Oppo setup to scale the signal from (Blu-ray) 1080p to 720p, replay that signal (pass through) to the Onkyo SC885, then to KURO. The KURO enhancement settings are all set to off, as I believe they add artifacts to video and degrade the final product.

Also, if you own a 1080p display, you have the option of bypassing the Oppo video processing and send the raw (disc direct) signal direct to your display.

Rope

Rope,
So what is the advantage in the Oppo compared to the Sony if the signal is being sent to the Kuro?.... That is what I'll be doing and for now. I will have the blu-ray player output a 720p signal, pass-through my Onkyo SC886, then to my KURO (all done HDMI). I'm wondering if the scaling done by the blu-ray player from 1080p to 720p is of that much importance. HOW MUCH BETTER?

Also,
I agree with you about the enhancement settings.. I have all of mine set to off.

I'm not certain which chip set the Sony uses to scale/process video in that particular BD player. In the event it's the same Anchor Bay chip set used in the Oppo 83, the answer would be nothing.

If the KURO has no enhanced gadgets selected, the scaling will take place at the BD player (setup accordingly) level, when the signal reaches (bypassing the Onkyo REON chip set) the KURO, it will recognize the signal as 720p and display it as is. In my opinion the Anchor Bay processing is superior to the KURO's.

Rope

 

[Razz]

so you are "outputting" the blu ray player at 720p.... Bitstream I'm assuming. The video gets "put through" by the Onkyo but the audio is then converted by the Onkyo to HD-DTS or DolbyTrue HD... or...

are you having the blu ray player do ALL the converting?

 

[gonk]

With my TV, I've got it set up such that a 1080p signal is fed directly to the panel and all of the 120Hz "motion smoothing" functions are disabled

What happens if you enable the 120Hz "motion smoothing" function in this particular setup?

Motion smoothing is a video processing function. The TV may not have to scale or deinterlace (a 1080p panel and a 1080p source would eliminate any need for either processes), but the smoothing function is a processing mode in which the display generates unique frames to "smooth" the image.

 

[Rope]

so you are "outputting" the blu ray player at 720p.... Bitstream I'm assuming. The video gets "put through" by the Onkyo but the audio is then converted by the Onkyo to HD-DTS or DolbyTrue HD... or...

are you having the blu ray player do ALL the converting?

Bitstream, and yes the Onkyo processes the audio formats.

Here are some quick photos of the Oppo GUI:


Rope

 

[Razz]

Cool thanks Rope.
Why under "DVD 24p Conversion" do you have it set to "off"?

 

[yromj]

Yes, scaling can be a cool feature, IF your source resolution and display resolution aren't the same. For example, if you're watching a 1080p disc on a 720p set, then scaling comes into play. However, keep in mind that down-resing is a very basic procedure and can be done quite well by even basic scalers. If you're watching a DVD on a 1080p set, then a scaler can make a BIG difference. Personally, I don't worry about this though, because no matter how well it's scaled, it's still not ever ever going to be close to true 1080p quality.

If you're watching a blu-ray on a 1080p set, then the player (and everything in the chain) needs to do nothing except transport the 1s and 0s from the disc to the display.

John

 

[Maximo]

Cool thanks Rope.
Why under "DVD 24p Conversion" do you have it set to "off"?

I have mine off because it gave the movie too much of a soap opera effect.

 

[gonk]

Cool thanks Rope.
Why under "DVD 24p Conversion" do you have it set to "off"?

Quite a few of us (myself included) disable DVD 24p conversion. The DVD format never really had a formal way to support 24p output, since the format was established almost a decade before consumers had any way to display 24p video, and as a result trying to implement 24p output can be hit-or-miss.

 

[Rope]

I'm of the opinion, the less the signal is scaled, or tinkered with, the better, or in other words, less is more. The problems as I see it, is all the whiz-bang features the display manufacturers add to their products to combat edge noise, mosquito noise, etc. If your source gear has an excellent processor, or display, turn all that crap off and let those pieces of gear do their jobs.

Rope

 

[Barney]

Have you checked on the Oppo BDP80 ? Love mine..........

 

[Rope]

Have you checked on the Oppo BDP80 ? Love mine..........

Barn, the 80 and 83 have been discontinued. The next generation, 93, according to Oppo, will be available some time before Christmas.

Rope

 

[Barney]

WOW, missed that...Due to a shortage of major components, we (Oppo) have ceased production of this model.
Wonder what really happened...

 

[DIYer]

It's probably a marketability decision more than anything.
Here's BDP-80 manual. Page 29 - 30 explains the video output settings.

 

[yromj]

I'm of the opinion, the less the signal is scaled, or tinkered with, the better, or in other words, less is more. The problems as I see it, is all the whiz-bang features the display manufacturers add to their products to combat edge noise, mosquito noise, etc. If your source gear has an excellent processor, or display, turn all that crap off and let those pieces of gear do their jobs.

Rope

:text-+1:

EXACTLY!! All this stuff that manufacturers (especially TV manufacturers) are adding is just fluff that looks great on info tags at Best Buy. In reality, it just gets in the way of a great picture.

John

 

[gonk]

WOW, missed that...Due to a shortage of major components, we (Oppo) have ceased production of this model.
Wonder what really happened...

It's probably a marketability decision more than anything.
Here's BDP-80 manual. Page 29 - 30 explains the video output settings.

It was exactly what they said - supplier for a critical component discontinued that component, and OPPO was left with two choices: revise the design to use a different part (requiring time, R&D costs, and re-tooling costs) or discontinue the player. Since the timing was such that the BDP-93 was getting close to release, it made more sense to focus on finishing it and discontinue the existing players.

Had this part not been discontinued, I suspect that they would have built at least one additional production run of both the BDP-80 and the BDP-83. That would have given them enough inventory to keep shipping both players until the BDP-93 was actually in the warehouse and ready to sell. Unfortunately, keeping them in production would have delayed the BDP-93 by drawing resources away from it.

 

[Batman]

If I missed it forgive me, but when is the expected release date of the new 93?

 

[gonk]

They have said that they hope to have it out before the end of the year, and possibly as soon as November.

 

[Towen7]

FWIW I picked-up a Samsung 6900 on sale for $250 (normally $350). I got it primarily as an internet appliance to watch streaming TV shows, but it turns out to be a pretty fantastic BD player. Fast load times, great picture quality, 24 fps output if you're into that sort of thing.

 

[yromj]

FWIW I picked-up a Samsung 6900 on sale for $250 (normally $350). I got it primarily as an internet appliance to watch streaming TV shows, but it turns out to be a pretty fantastic BD player. Fast load times, great picture quality, 24 fps output if you're into that sort of thing.

I've been around a bunch of Samsung players and like them fairly well overall. The 6900 is my favorite and is definitely worth considering.

My biggest gripe is as a custom remote programmer: Samsung doesn't provide discrete on/off commands (WTF?) so I have to either use a macro to turn them off (which means that the customer sees the unit come on, then go off if it hasn't been used) or use variables to track its state (which will ultimately "get out of sync").

As far as general use, they're fine.

John

 

[Razz]

Guys,
I think I'm going with the LG BD570. It's got everything I want and money isn't spent where I don't want it (hard drive, 7.1 analog out, 3D playback)

After a few hours of research today it looks to be a top contender, especially for the price.

Anyone have one? Seen one? Have any thoughts?