Oppo BDP-103/105/103D/105D Networked Universal Blu-ray Players

[aimforsilence]

So what's the big differences from the 93?

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by aimforsilence

So what's the big differences from the 93?

• 4k Up-Scaling
• 2D to 3D Conversion
• Dual HDMI Inputs, Front is MHL Input Capable (can add Roku Stick)
• New dual-core System-on-Chip processor delivers quick startup and fast disc loading speed
• 1080p/5.1 audio Netflix
• Gracenote MusicID® and VideoID™
• SMB/CIFS Access (at this time deemed experimental)

A few early online articles
OPPO Formally Announces BDP-103 and BDP-105 Blu-ray Disc Players (About.com)

OPPO Unveils New Improved Universal Blu-ray Players: BDP-103 and BDP-105 (BigPictureSound.com)

Oppo BDP-103 and BDP-105 Universal Blu-ray Players Preview (Audioholics)

OPPO Announces Two New Blu-ray Player Models (Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity)

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by aimforsilence

So what's the big differences from the 93?

Originally Posted by JohnAV

• 4k Up-Scaling
• 2D to 3D Conversion
• Dual HDMI Inputs, Front is MHL Input Capable (can add Roku Stick)
• New dual-core System-on-Chip processor delivers quick startup and fast disc loading speed
• 1080p/5.1 audio Netflix
• Gracenote MusicID® and VideoID™
• SMB/CIFS Access (at this time deemed experimental)

And, call me "paranoid," but until I read word of a fair amount of smooth owner experience playing back the latest, "greatest" BDs, Cinavia should be listed as one of the differences between the last gen and the 103/105.

[Magicmonger]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

And, call me "paranoid," but until I read word of a fair amount of smooth owner experience playing back the latest, "greatest" BDs, Cinavia should be listed as one of the differences between the last gen and the 103/105.

Just another reason to make the 93/95s a collector's item...

[kesando]

Originally Posted by JohnAV

• 4k Up-Scaling
• 2D to 3D Conversion
• Dual HDMI Inputs, Front is MHL Input Capable (can add Roku Stick)
• New dual-core System-on-Chip processor delivers quick startup and fast disc loading speed
• 1080p/5.1 audio Netflix
• Gracenote MusicID® and VideoID™
• SMB/CIFS Access (at this time deemed experimental)

A few early online articles
OPPO Formally Announces BDP-103 and BDP-105 Blu-ray Disc Players (About.com)

OPPO Unveils New Improved Universal Blu-ray Players: BDP-103 and BDP-105 (BigPictureSound.com)

Oppo BDP-103 and BDP-105 Universal Blu-ray Players Preview (Audioholics)

OPPO Announces Two New Blu-ray Player Models (Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity)

Hmm. doesn't seem to warrant an upgrade from my 3 month old BDP-93 which makes me very happy.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by kesando

Hmm. doesn't seem to warrant an upgrade from my 3 month old BDP-93 which makes me very happy.

The biggest change is the operational speed, when accessing YouTube App for example, it is fluid when doing a search and keying in characters. There is also a new loader which allows the player to boot in a few seconds after power up, by the time you hit tray open button, and insert a disc, close tray it is at the home menu. You'll be amazed at how the processing speed effects operation. As expected this player isn't for everyone, as you will will have to determine whats adequate.

[JohnAV]

A another tidbit is even if the BDP-103 lacks the Optical, Coax Digital Audio Input and asynchronous USB Digital Audio Input, that are present with the BDP-105 you can still use it as a DAC/Sound Processor with the digital audio coming in on the Front HDMI Input or Rear HDMI inputs or the Audio Return Channel on either HDMI 1 Output, or HDMI 2 Output.

Also the BDP-103 can also "render" Digital Audio pushed into it over the network using DLNA server.

[phansson]

I see all of this talk about Cinavia and I do know what it is to a point.

What is the big deal if this player has it? Are there instances that makes Cinavia not play BluRays properly?

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by phansson

I see all of this talk about Cinavia and I do know what it is to a point.

What is the big deal if this player has it? Are there instances that makes Cinavia not play BluRays properly?

No, not at all unless it's an illegal copy.

[phansson]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

No, not at all unless it's an illegal copy.

That's what I thought.... thanks! I have all ready sold my 93, waiting for the 103 to come out. I sold it for the same price I originally paid 18 months ago.

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by phansson

That's what I thought.... thanks! I have all ready sold my 93, waiting for the 103 to come out. I sold it for the same price I originally paid 18 months ago.

Now that makes for a real cheap upgrade

[JohnAV]

Some information against the optional Roku stick that can be used by the Oppo BDP-103/105. MSRP is $99

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by phansson

I see all of this talk about Cinavia and I do know what it is to a point.

What is the big deal if this player has it? Are there instances that makes Cinavia not play BluRays properly?

Originally Posted by pentatonic

No, not at all unless it's an illegal copy.

We'll of course have to wait and see. But one step above pure speculation IMO is informed conjecture based upon reasonable conclusions/working premises drawn from past experience. And I'm thinking of two areas of past experience: the general quirkiness of BD in general and vis-a-vis copyright protection/BD+/watermarking in particular; and dodgy SA-CD and DVD-A playback on the BDP-83.

It seems to me it's difficult to say definitively one way or another if Cinavia will prove problematic because, although I'm still educating myself, my understanding is that the encryption is variable, not unlike BD+. Therefore, any given studio's release may be be fine at any given time, but prove problematic in terms of its authoring should the authoring house/studio that released it decide to change their watermarking schema at any point, thereby necessitating possible firmware upgrades to play certain discs.

I'm thinking of the precedents set in this regard by one of the more piracy-paranoid studios, Fox: their discs, specifically their BD+ key changes, alternately caused problems or proved smooth sailing for different players depending upon vague interoperability issues.

Even after six years, this area has repeatedly proven one of the dicier and more frustrating for BD. I think many of us have experienced playback problems, whether because of the need to turn BD-Live off or BD+ yaya or whatever. Cinavia is IMO more sauce for the goose until proven otherwise.

And although it may not be directly precedential/comparable, I for one am once-bitten-twice-shy about the issues I had with SA-CD and DVD-A playback with the 83. OPPO's frequent refrain was that certain problems were not immediately resolvable--if resolvable at all--because their chipset vendor/manufacturer, Mediatek, was either slow to respond to them or completely non-responsive since they are a boutique company compared to, say, Panasonic or Sony. I had numerous phone conversations with various company reps about these matters over many months.

Is this dispositive as to what kind of unintended consequence may result from Cinavia implementation even when it comes to "authorized"/non-pirated discs? Again, we'll see but stranger things have definitely happened either anecdotally or to me personally in six years of Blu-ray experience.

[pentatonic]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

We'll of course have to wait and see. But one step above pure speculation IMO is informed conjecture based upon reasonable conclusions/working premises drawn from past experience. And I'm thinking of two areas of past experience: the general quirkiness of BD in general and vis-a-vis copyright protection/BD+/watermarking in particular; and dodgy SA-CD and DVD-A playback on the BDP-83.

It seems to me it's difficult to say definitively one way or another if Cinavia will prove problematic because, although I'm still educating myself, my understanding is that the encryption is variable, not unlike BD+. Therefore, any given studio's release may be be fine at any given time, but prove problematic in terms of its authoring should the authoring house/studio that released it decide to change their watermarking schema at any point, thereby necessitating possible firmware upgrades to play certain discs.

I'm thinking of the precedents set in this regard by one of the more piracy-paranoid studios, Fox: their discs, specifically their BD+ key changes, alternately caused problems or proved smooth sailing for different players depending upon vague interoperability issues.

Even after six years, this area has repeatedly proven one of the dicier and more frustrating for BD. I think many of us have experienced playback problems, whether because of the need to turn BD-Live off or BD+ yaya or whatever. Cinavia is IMO more sauce for the goose until proven otherwise.

And although it may not be directly precedential/comparable, I for one am once-bitten-twice-shy about the issues I had with SA-CD and DVD-A playback with the 83. OPPO's frequent refrain was that certain problems were not immediately resolvable--if resolvable at all--because their chipset vendor/manufacturer, Mediatek, was either slow to respond to them or completely non-responsive since they are a boutique company compared to, say, Panasonic or Sony. I had numerous phone conversations with various company reps about these matters over many months.

Is this dispositive as to what kind of unintended consequence may result from Cinavia implementation even when it comes to "authorized"/non-pirated discs? Again, we'll see but stranger things have definitely happened either anecdotally or to me personally in six years of Blu-ray experience.

I understand that problems may arise and believe this to be true with any manufacturer's product, but as a general answer pertaining to the new Oppos, outside of some possible issues (which may affect any player for that matter) the answer would still be the same, if the blu-ray is a legal copy, technically it should not be a problem.

[HDTV1080P]

It’s my understanding that any old Blu-ray player can receive the Cinavia feature with a firmware update. I was reading online that the Sony PS3 including the original 2006 models received a firmware update that added Cinavia. It might be possible that the AACS licensing agreement could be modified to require all future firmware updates for existing Blu-ray players to have Cinavia.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

I understand that problems may arise and believe this to be true with any manufacturer's product, but as a general answer pertaining to the new Oppos, outside of some possible issues (which may affect any player for that matter) the answer would still be the same, if the blu-ray is a legal copy, technically it should not be a problem.

Of course, IMO the operative word in your comments is "technically," which can arguably also be read as "theoretically." And in my (and many others') experience, there are many issues with copy protection and BD playback which theoretically shouldn't have been problematic but were.

It also bears mention regarding your parenthetical that, as evinced by OPPO owner threads, OPPO's players have proven to be uniquely quirky. IMO the quirkiness is more than offset by the assets the players bring to the table. But it is a fact that the 83 had more odd, unprecedented issues than any other BD player I've ever owned.

FWIW the "general answer" would be more comforting if there wasn't precedent for copy protection issues having proved dicey in the past. But there is plenty of that: the discussion boards are rife with folks experiencing issues playing back "legal" copies of BDs. So in the final (for now) analysis, I'm more comfortable advising someone to have an "eyes wide open," cautious approach informed by that precedent than I am with the (IMO somewhat myopic) notion that a new BD wrinkle on something perennially dodgy "should not be a problem."

It's perhaps the difference between relying upon applying theory to the future versus being reasonably aware of the praxis of the past.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by pentatonic

I understand that problems may arise and believe this to be true with any manufacturer's product, but as a general answer pertaining to the new Oppos, outside of some possible issues (which may affect any player for that matter) the answer would still be the same, if the blu-ray is a legal copy, technically it should not be a problem.

It should be noted that the new 103/105 loaders can tackle damaged discs that are in worse shape then the 93/95 could read.
Your always going to come across problematic copy protection as it is tweaked by the studios as time goes by, but its no more a issue for the user, then it is now with a FW update to address that. As you said legit copies should not have any problems with Cinavia.

[Paul.R.S]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

It’s my understanding that any old Blu-ray player can receive the Cinavia feature with a firmware update. I was reading online that the Sony PS3 including the original 2006 models received a firmware update that added Cinavia. It might be possible that the AACS licensing agreement could be modified to require all future firmware updates for existing Blu-ray players to have Cinavia.

Again, still reading but it's my understanding that the PS3 got Cinavia in November 2009. I have yet to read anywhere that the BDA intends to make Cinavia retroactive. The license contemplates all new players manufactured in 2012 or later.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by Paul.R.S

It also bears mention regarding your parenthetical that, as evinced by OPPO owner threads, OPPO's players have proven to be uniquely quirky. IMO the quirkiness is more than offset by the assets the players bring to the table. But it is a fact that the 83 had more odd, unprecedented issues than any other BD player I've ever owned.

Ahh don't forget this the BDP-103/105 thread, not Q&A about BDP-83.

[JohnAV]

Originally Posted by HDTV1080P

It’s my understanding that any old Blu-ray player can receive the Cinavia feature with a firmware update. I was reading online that the Sony PS3 including the original 2006 models received a firmware update that added Cinavia. It might be possible that the AACS licensing agreement could be modified to require all future firmware updates for existing Blu-ray players to have Cinavia.

Currently there is zero likelihood any Oppo players that predate the 103/105 being updated by FW to encompass Cinavia.