Oppo BDP83SE and Pitch Black issues

[naturephoto1]

Hi Everyone,

I have not played that many Blu-ray discs at this point, but I have noticed an issue with my upgraded OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition and my new copy of Pitch Black. In the first 56 or so minutes of the film I have noticed a very short pause in the playback approximately 10 times, 9 of which had a moment where the menu appeared/popped up on the screen for a very short time.

I am wondering if this is an issue with the machine itself, a firmware issue (that can/will be resolved with an update), an issue with the disc or what. I have not noticed this with the approximately 8 other movies that I have played on the machine.

Let me know your experiences. Do you think that I need to return the disc? Is this a glitch that I have to live with with the machine or this disc or what?

Thanks.

PS, I am using a 7m HDMI cable between the upgraded Onkyo 885 Pre/Pro and the Pioneer Kuro 50" TV and a 2m HDMI cable between the Oppo and the Onkyo Pre/Pro.

Rich

[gonk]

I don't recall hearing about issues with Pitch Black. I'd make sure your firmware is current (there's a public beta out with some compatibility fixes included) and I'd do a reset to defaults after updating - and if you're already current, I'd start with a reset to defaults. Also, if BD-Live is enabled you could try disabling it to see if the problem goes away.

[naturephoto1]

Originally Posted by gonk

I don't recall hearing about issues with Pitch Black. I'd make sure your firmware is current (there's a public beta out with some compatibility fixes included) and I'd do a reset to defaults after updating - and if you're already current, I'd start with a reset to defaults. Also, if BD-Live is enabled you could try disabling it to see if the problem goes away.

Gonk,

Thanks. I checked the firmware update on the machine and it is the current official update from January. I have not downloaded or installed the March Beta Test update.

I confirmed the issue with my copy of Pitch Black that I purchased from Best Buy yesterday on both the Unrated Director's cut as well as the Theatrical cut with the same issues noted. What is happening is that at certain consistent places in the film the Control panel for the disk appears below the film for a moment that includes the option for the U-Control for the disk. I am wondering if this is a problem with this particular disc of perhaps it has to do with the BD Live.

To test this further, I played the copy of Chronicles of Riddick that I also purchased yesterday at Best Buy for about 40 minutes of the Unrated Director's cut of the film. I noted no issues with the film at all even though like Pitch Black it too is a Universal release with both the U-Control and BD live.

I did find that BD live was active on the Oppo. I just shut that off on the machine. That did not solve the problem. The disc still has the same occasional pauses where the control panel appears below the film.

I may try to exchange the disc to see if this remedies the issue.

Rich

[naturephoto1]

I replaced the copy of Pitch Black. The replacement does the same thing at the same places in the film. So at this point, I am not sure of what might be the issue and I am not sure of a fix. I will live with it for now and I know that this is an issue between this disc and my machine (OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition).

Rich

[lDlisturb3d]

I own pitch black but haven't watched it yet. Ill let you know buddy!

[Kighter]

I purchased the PB/Riddick combo set from Amazon last year. Had a similar problem, but with Riddick not PB. I didn't sleuth it out as detailed as this, but I returned the set for a replacement. The new disc did not have the issue.

At the time this was on a PS3 fat.

I have not tried either disc on my new Oppo yet.

[naturephoto1]

I am extremely disappointed that I have now noticed the same or similar problem with my new copy of the Director's cut of Watchmen. Unless I am mistaken, I noticed 19 or 20 times that my upgraded OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition suffered pauses where the control panel appears during playback of this disc. Now I am wondering how many other discs will suffer from this same problem. With the upgrades the player sounds so good, that I will probably live with it, but this is very disappointing and I hope that the problem will be resolved by the next firmware update.

Rich

[Johnny Vinyl]

Hi Rich,

So sorry to hear that you are experiencing issues. Hopefully it is indeed only a matter of waiting for the next firmware upgrade and not the player itself.

John

[Opips2]

I own pitch black Blu-ray Disc. PS3 is flawless and Sony BDP-S500 is great.

My OPPO-BDP83 is fine working!

[Aareen]

During 2009, ESS Technology introduced a 32 bit Sabre DAC chip. I am also aware of a Wolfson 32 bit DAC chip, too. During 2009, I reviewed a DAC furnished by ESS Technology. The Oppo is the first one-box player utilizing the ESS Sabre chip. The following are the salient differences between the Oppo and ESS products: 1) Chip Set: ES 9016, 4 dacs/channel in stereo mode (Oppo), ES 9018 4dacs/channel (ESS). 2) Op Amps: Analog Devices AD 790713 per channel (ESS), TI NI 5332A (Oppo). 3) Power Supply: Digikey rectangular power supply (ESS), model 83 improved switching power supply (Oppo). The OPPO BDP-83 SE will be reviewed as an audio component, only.

[naturephoto1]

I spoke to tech support at Oppo. They had me check a few settings in the machine. They knew about issues with Watchmen when the machine was set to Auto for HDMI. In Auto the machine is looking for a signal from the Pre/Pro. I set the machine to Bitstream and played back part of Pitch Black where I knew there was a problem. It looks like the setting change has made the correction in a few known spots on this disc. I will have to confirm that it has also solved the issue observed with Watchmen.

As to the question for John about upgrading a standard BDP83 they still offer the upgrade in the future to an SE version. I will also make comment about this in your thread.

Rich

[naturephoto1]

As a follow-up, I watched about 50 minutes of Watchmen after making changes to the Bitsteam for the OPPO BDP-83SE NuForce Edition and I observed no issues, so it looks like the problem has been solved.

Rich