Since so many of us around the saloon also own at least one OPPO Digital product, I figured it would be good to take a minute to post a couple links to news about their next generation of players. OPPO has representatives at CEDIA this week with at least one prototype of two new players, the BDP-103 (replacement for the BDP-93) and the BDP-105 (replacement for the BDP-95).

So far I've only seen one real blog post about the players (Secrets blog post by Robert Kozel - go about half-way down to see the start of the OPPO discussion), but there have been a few other posts in forums from others who got a chance to see the players.

Hopefully the price point isn't too far from the current condition.

I wouldn't expect much difference. The BDP-103 will likely land at the same point that the BDP-83 and BDP-93 have occupied ($499). The BDP-95 went up some over its predecessor ($999 compared to $899 for the BDP-83SE) so I guess we could see a little movement again there, but I haven't heard any discussion of price anywhere yet - they may stay put at the current prices for both.

Maybe OPPO should consider making the 105 an ultimate player - include most of what the modders do (at a super high cost that excludes most of us). Oppo's purchasing power should make such a player much less expensive than the modders' products.

its DAC capabilities and headphone amp.

What types of mods are being done to the BDP-95/93 which can be actually justified vice just bragged about. Every review I have read on the 95 states that it is SOTA at any price and is generally used as the reference machine during reviews of other equipment. I don't believe OPPO will get into the esoteric snake oil changes that a lot of "audiophiles" seem to want to spend big $$$ on unless there is a real improvement.

I think the BDP-105 is already a reasonable "ultimate player" based on specs. The mods I've seen for the BDP-95 have struck me more as mods for the sake of modding than something that I would see as a meaningful improvement. Frankly, even if I could afford it, I wouldn't want to mod my BDP-95. Add in the feature improvements incorporated into the BDP-105 (HDMI, coaxial, optical, and USB inputs; elimination of cooling fan; etc.) and a generation of "lessons learned", and I would expect an even stronger aversion to modding the BDP-105.

Not to say that there won't be mods, because there will be. I just don't think that many (if any) of the mods will represent meaningful change that could benefit the stock design.

Add an amp and some room correction and its out the door HTIB.

Good one, XenonMan!

A friend that works for an A/V custom installation company told me that they just tried to order a BDP-93 for an install, only to be told that Oppo was out of those players and that the model had been discontinued. Not that the BDP-103 is ready, but this news indicates that it should be released sooner than later.

I wish my BDP-95 includes SMB support. If the new BDP-105 adds that, my hands will be all over it. I may call up the Oppo folks next week to find out more.

My prayer has been answered.

BDP-103 specs released http://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-bdp-103/

Among other features..

SMB/CIFS Access - The BDP-103 comes with an experimental feature that can access video, audio and picture files shared by computers on the local network via the Server Message Block (SMB) or Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol.

Sweet. And it has 7.1 analog out to interface with the 970. Looks like I know what I'm buying next.

Not sure that I'm going to fork out $30,000 for this though. Actually I'm sure I'm not going to.

I will never spend $30K for a TV set unless it converts energy into matters to project holograms around me like the holodeck on Enterprise
But some people like to be early adapters regardless of the price. Recall one of my friends paid $800 for the original iPhone off ebay when it first came out. At that time you would get a decent 32inch plasma TV with that kind of money. Another friend of mine told me she was broke but managed to spend $600 on the first iPAD..guess there is an allure of having the latest and greatest.

hifihunter, if you were signed up with OPPO, you would have received this email from them today:
"Thank you for your interest in the new OPPO BDP-103. We are accepting early-access pre-orders for the OPPO BDP-103 with shipping estimated to begin on September 28, 2012. We will release a limited number of players for this batch of early-access pre-orders. Pre-orders are limited to one player per customer and within the U.S. only. The OPPO BDP-103 will come pre-loaded with our latest firmware. As the BDP-103 represents new challenges and exciting new features, we expect firmware updates to be issued in higher frequency during this early-access pre-order period."

Thanks Hank. I did get the same email about the early-access availability of BDP-103. I am deciding on getting the BDP-103 now or the BDP-105 later. From talking with the Oppo last week, BDP-105 can also act as a DAC via USB. I have not seen BDP-105's official specs yet so I am just quoting what I heard.

In my office I have a laptop running WinAmp feeding a Benchmark DAC-1 USB DAC. I think the BDP-105 could replace my Benchmark DAC. All my CDs have now been converted to FLAC and tucked away in the basement. However, I do have a small but growing collection of SACDs which I now can only listen to in my other room with the BDP-95. So going with DBP-105 would provide an ideal solution. But of course, the BDP-105 will at least be twice the money.

Q&A about the new players:

http://www.audioholics.com/reviews/trans...ppo-blu-ray-q-a

Thanks for the info Sanjay. With its DAC feature confirmed it is clear to me the BDP-105 will fit my usage perfectly. Got to start saving up

Apparently the video processing ain't too shabby either. Oppo was so impressed with Marvell's latest generation Qdeo processing that they added a couple of HDMI inputs (inputs on a player?) so users can run their other video sources through it.

Both the BDP-103 and BDP-105 offer the HDMI inputs, including a front input that supports MHL (for things like Roku's new stick).

Just to confirm does the OPPO's new HDMI inputs: 1) Send the video signal to the HDMI Outputs of the Oppo 2) Provide Video processing of the input HDMI signal.

If both of these are true, it would seem to make these units equivalent to a minimal input digital pre-pro (albeit one that does not include room correction).

HDMI 1 video is processed by the Qdeo chip. If you send a separate video source via HDMI 2, it's processed by the SOC. Optimum is video into HDMI 1 and audio into HDMI 2. There are a boatload of posts and detailed info on AVS Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1428214/official-oppo-bdp-103-bdp-105-anticipation-thread

1) Yes, video signals are passed to the HDMI outputs.

2) Yes, although (as Hank points out) the Marvell QDEO chip's processing is only applied to the HDMI1 output. HDMI2's output is processed by the Mediatek SOC.

The main purpose for the two HDMI outputs is for use in systems with a 3D display and a surround receiver or processor that can't pass 3D signals. The idea is for HDMI1 to be connected to the TV for video and HDMI2 to be connected to the receiver for audio. In the 103 and 105, however, they are also making it easier to use the player with two displays - in which case, the better display should be fed from HDMI1.

So if I understand this properly, with a BDP-105, one could bring in two video devices (e.g. a cable box and roku) on HDMI as well as 2 other audio sources using the digital coax and toslink inputs. It would consolidate its own video signals with the other two video sources, process them using the QDEO processing and output the signal on the HDMI-1 Output. The digital audio signals would all be converted to analog and available on the 7.1 outputs. This sounds like the ultimate upgrade.

If so in my case, I would only need my 990 for hooking up my SMS-1 (I don't really listen to AM/FM in that room). Am I missing something?

There is now a BDP103 owner's thread on AVS Forum: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1432162/official-oppo-bdp-103-owners-thread

And the Anticipation thread topic moves to the upcoming BDP105: http://www.avsforum.com/t/1428214/official-oppo-bdp-103-bdp-105-anticipation-thread

There's a wealth of information there.

Radical idea: OPPO teams with Outlaw to get Outlaw's magic and Audessey into next gen player and then you'd have a helluva console. Don't shoot holes in this - internet naysayers are a dime a dozen - just let me bask in my brilliance

Pretty radical idea but why would OPPO need Outlaws "magic"? Seems like OPPO is killing their field of competitors with innovation and great products.

Audyssey in a player would be problematic - the chips that you need to use to run a player aren't built to run room correction, so you need to build in a separate chip (borrowed from surround receivers/processors) just to run that function.

Assuming the Oppo BDP-105 has a volume control like their previous players, if you have a simple system of only a few digital sources one could run analog output directly to a high end power amp and not use a preamp at all. No?

I know, no room correction.

A year or two ago, you poo-hoo'ed my suggestion that Oppo include HDMI and digital inputs on the BDP-95 so that other forms of input could benefit from the video processor and high quality dac's built into the BDP-95. I think Hank was correct and that in some future release, including room correction would make a lot of sense. Personally, I could see Oppo adding additional digtal inputs as the next iteration, however.

If OPPO went to the extent to install room correction, why not go a few steps further and just create their own processor? They already have the audio and video down as SOTA. Implementing HDMI is solved and they have a volume control. A few new chips and a bigger power supply and voila!! Mageek!!

The subject of an Oppo AV Processor was previously discussed at least once on these forums, on this page for instance, look for my post preceding the last one. Many Oppo owners have made requests to Oppo to develop an AV processor, including this forum's Kevin C Brown when he was beta testing their players.

They seem to be ever so slowly moving in that direction, who knows, maybe one day. Coming from them, I would buy one almost with my eyes closed.

Audioholics interview with OPPO about the 103/105 for anyone interested:

BDP-103/BDP-105 Q&A

Some of you get my drift. I think an OPPO and Outlaw collaboration would get SOTA video and audio within affordable reach of most people. I'll shut up now.

If you pair an OPPO player up with the new Outlaw 975, are the internal DACs and decoding in the OPPO player basically unused if using HDMI out? I imagine you can use the analog out for 2 channel stereo. Do I have that correct? Thanks Bob

After a couple months of procrastination, I finally finished up my BDP-105 review this weekend - which mostly meant getting what I'd written weeks ago ported into HTML and adding some pictures. You can read the review here.



The capabilities of the System-on-Chip hardware available to OPPO has improved significantly over the last couple of generations, aided by pressure to make MHL work for the HDTV market. Before that happened, it was impractical to include HDMI inputs. It's still rather difficult, which is why you don't see many other people doing it - and you only see the coaxial, optical, and USB inputs on the flagship player. If the System-on-Chip makers that build for disc players get together with Audyssey or some other room correction software company, we might see this happen. Unfortunately, it only makes sense if the player is also doubling as pre-amp/processor, and that may be too niche a role for the players involved to have interest in pursuing this. After all, room correction upstream of a surround receiver or processor is conceptually different from video processing upstream of a display. Video processing upstream of a display's been happening for a long, long time now, in a variety of ways (in players, in set top boxes, in receivers and surround processors, and in standalone video processors). Room correction outside of a surround receiver or processor has been rarely done, and then only in expensive dedicated room correction systems. I could certainly be wrong, but I still doubt you'll see room correction in a Blu-ray player unless it happens to be purpose-built as a surround processor with a disc player added in as a bonus. At that point, room correction is going to be an appropriate inclusion, but I'd have a hard time calling such a device a disc player.



You are half correct. The internal DACs are unused when you rely on the HDMI output for audio. The decoding (converting bitstreams to LPCM) is still available, however.

Thanks (as always) Gonk, for the thorough review. Just got my BDP-105 up and running using my 990 and am still discovering its capabilities and quality.

Question -- I have the BDP's 7.1 analog outs connected to the 990, with the BDP's outputs all set to "large" and "0" ft. distance (per your 990/BDP-83 set-up guide). The question is for CD playback -- is there a benefit to running stereo out cables from the BDP-105 to the CD inputs on the 990, or, since the 7.1s and the stereo outs each use a (separate) ES9018 DAC, do I get the same output quality from either sets of BDP analog outs?

I use the 7.1 outs on the BDP for SACD/DVD-A playback.

Thanks!

Bob

Gonk -- Think I found my answer in one of your responses in the discontinued products (990) forum on a question for hooking up the BDP-95, where you indicate you could use the BDP's 7.1 analog outs for both multichannel and stereo.

Bob

You can certainly use the 7.1 outs for everything, but with my BDP83SE I've always prefered using the 2 channel outs as these are supported by stacked DACs. I also use a Grant Fidelity tube buffer between the 2 channel outs and the 990 CD in. This certainly isn't necessary but I like the effect.

Thanks, I'll give it a listen!