Oppo BD-83 bass management flaw

[sbjork]

I have had an issue with my BD-83 since I bought it, and after spending some time with Oppo via telephone, it appears that there is a flaw with either their firmware or hardware. While it will affect a relatively minor number of users, it will be a major problem for those users, so I thought that I would give you all a heads-up about it.

The problem will affect those who are using the analogue outputs and who do not have a standalone subwoofer. If you turn the subwoofer "off" in the setup menu, the LFE channel should be mixed into the main channels. The player is not doing this -- you will simply lose the LFE channel altogether. They were able to replicate this issue today at the Oppo facility, so the problem is not with my unit but rather with the player itself.

Worse, they tried rolling back to the past couple of firmware updates to see if it was something that was somehow messed up with the current firmware, and they all have the same problem. Oppo told me that they are going to have their engineers work with the decoder manufacturers to see if it is something that can be fixed in the firmware, or if it is a limitation with the hardware.

An obvious workaround for people who have powered towers is to use the line-level LFE output of the Oppo and hook it into the line-level inputs on the subwoofer section of your speakers. However, in my case, therein lies the rub.

I have an older Krell processor (Showcase) that lacks HDMI inputs, so having a player with internal HD audio decoding and analogue outputs is critical for me. I also have Vandersteen Quatro speakers, which have built-in powered subwoofers that must be hooked up speaker-level (there are no line-level inputs.) So right now there is nothing that I can do to get the LFE working for TrueHD and DTS-MA. I am using the digital outs for regular Dolby Digital and DTS lossy, and my Krell downmixes the LFE just fine. But right now, I hae to choose between HD audio or LFE. Not a good choice. (And no, I just bought the Quatros, so I am not upgrading the Krell right now!)

I will keep you posted as Oppo gives me more information. Like I said, this problem will affect a relatively small number of users, but it is a huge problem for us! For those of you who are using the analogue outputs and do not have a standalone subwoofer, you should check this out immediately.

I will say this for Oppo: their customer service and dedication to improving their product is excellent. I just hope that they can fix this!