The OPPO BDP-103 Product Page.

The OPPO wiki.

The BDP-103 Settings Checklist.

The AVSForum Official OPPO BDP-103 Owner's Thread.

Many of the features of the BDP-93 are carried forward into this player. See the Unofficial OPPO BDP-93 Frequently Asked Questions page for more.

These features are the same as for the BDP-93:

• Dual HDMI Output
• Marvell Qdeo on HDMI1 (now chip version KG2H)
• No fan
• Same ethernet
• USB 2.0
• 24p for DVD
• RS232
• IR in
• 7.1 analog audio
• Optical and coax audio
• HDCD, SACD and DVD-A
• Supports PAL DVD and 1080i50 Blu-ray (subject to region coding restrictions)
• The DAC is the same as the BDP-93, the Cirrus Logic CS4382A (8-ch, 24-bit, 192khz).
• Subtitle and On Screen Display shift, vertical stretch zoom for Constant Image Height projectors
• The free third-party SuperDisc software mod to make the player region-free for DVD still works.
• Online services:
  • Netflix (upgraded in the BDP-103 and -105 to support 1080p, 5.1 audio, subtitles)
  • VUDU (upgraded in the BDP-103 and -105 to support 3D)
  • Pandora
  • Picasa Web Album
  • Berliner Philharmoniker
  • YouTube Leanback
  • CinemaNow
  • Rhapsody Online Music

These features are different:

• More powerful custom dual-core CPU
• The latest decoder chip from MediaTek
• 1GB SLC internal memory
• The Home Menu and Media Center user interfaces are redesigned
• New wireless dongle
• SACD DSD can be played only on HDMI2; if converted to PCM it can play over both HDMI1 & 2 (103/105 only; the 103D/105D players do not have this restriction)
• New remote (slight changes, same 3 code set)
• Improved IR reception on the front panel
• Cinavia (mandatory starting in 2012)
• grounded AC
• Zoom is a popup control like other selections

These features are added:

• 1 HDMI input on the back
• 1 HDMI/MHL compatible input on the front
• 2 USB ports in the back, 1 in the front
• 4K-by-2K upscaling
• 2D->3D conversion
• simultaneous HD audio from both HDMI outputs
• Gracenote for extra media info: cover art, catalog info
• Support for hard drives > 2TB with GPT
• DTS Neo:6 decoder
• SMB/CIFS (experimental)
• DLNA DMP and DMR
• DMR Seek capability (since firmware 50-0323B)
• price includes 2-year warranty (up from 1 year)
• New media file types:
  • FLV (Flash Video)
  • MPO (Multi Picture Object)
  • 3GP
  • DSD (Direct Stream Digital) file playback, both DFF and the DSF formats (since firmware 50-0323B)
  • AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format) (since firmware 50-0323B)
  • ALAC (Apple Lossless) (since firmware 58-0719B)
• New container combinations:
  • FLAC in MKV
  • DTS-HD Master in MKV
  • Dolby Digital TrueHD in MKV
• New online services:
  • Rhapsody
  • CinemaNow
• CUE file playback (since firmware 50-0323B)
• persistent playlists for music files on local USB storage (since firmware 50-0323B)
• exFAT file system on local storage (since firmware 50-0323B)
• selectable Deinterlacing Mode (since firmware 50-0323B)
• A/V Sync setting (since firmware 50-0323B)
• Illuminated front panel eject button
• Optional Quick Start Mode
• HDMI Audio Return Channel
• USB keyboard support (experimental)
• Roku Streaming Stick support
• for the BDP-105 only:
  • asynchronous USB input
  • optical and coaxial input
  • headphone jack
  • no fan, unlike the BDP-95
  • in-house power supply. The unit is taller, the linear power supply is more isolated from the rest of the player, the audio board is two separate boards (allows for more natural airflow) and there are vents on the top and rear panel of the player.
  • OPPO says: "The BDP-105 retains the BDP-95's very detailed and accurate sound, and the performance measurements are almost identical to the BDP-95. In order to maintain the extremely high performance of the BDP-95 while adding new audio features including the headphone amplifier and the USB DAC input, we utilize two separate boards for the multi-channel and stereo sections. This results in increased cost and manufacturing complexity, but enables us to better route the signals, power and ground so we can ensure a high level of performance."

These features are subtracted:

• No component video (recent AACS licensing kills component video for Blu-ray)
• No eSATA
• No aspect ratio setups for 4:3 TVs
• No rubber tab over the front USB port
• Composite video is limited to debugging purposes (shows Setup & Resolution menus)
• BDMV folders are no longer supported on DVD media. (This was a directive from the Blu-Ray Disc Association; I don't know why they care).
• The "AVCHD trick" where Blu-ray backups could be played if the BDMV folder were copied into and AVCHD folder no longer works. This was removed in firmware firmware 50-0323B, by command of the licensing authorities.
• SACD-R support was removed in firmware 50-0323B. (This is the writeable format for home-made discs and copies. Regular SACD is still supported).

In Setup -> Video Setup -> Dual HDMI Output you have two choices:

• Split A/V
• Dual Display

This matters only if you are using both HDMI outputs simultaneously. If you are using only one then the setting doesn't matter.

There are three cases:

• When only one HDMI port is in use, the Split A/V and Dual Display modes do not apply. The player will output the best audio and video format based on the user's setup menu choices and the device's ability obtained via the handshake.

• For concurrent audio and video output on both HDMI outputs, the Dual Display mode should be selected. HDMI1 and HDMI2 take a "best effort" strategy and output an audio/video signal that is compatible with the downstream devices connected to both ports. The audio and video output format will be based on the two HDMI device's common abilities. You can get 3D on both screens if both support 3D.

• If HDMI1 is connected to a display and HDMI2 is connected to an AVR, the Split A/V mode should be selected.

  HDMI1 is the primary video port and HDMI2 is the primary audio port.

  HDMI1 outputs video at the highest possible resolution and mutes audio. (Or: HDMI1 will always have the best video but may not have audio in certain cases, such as when HDMI2 is doing HD audio bitstreaming).

  HDMI2 outputs video at a resolution that can sufficiently carry the best audio. It will always have audio but video is delivered on a "best effort" basis -- in some cases (such as when 3D is sent over HDMI1 but the HDMI2 device does not support 3D), a black screen will be sent to HDMI2.

Yes. This is mandatory for all Blu-ray players starting in 2012. You cannot produce a Blu-ray player under license without it.

For background see the Cinavia wikipedia article.

According to OPPO: no.

For background, see:

• The wikipedia article: xvYCC
• xvYCC and Deep Color
• HDMI Enhanced Black Levels, xvYCC and RGB
• Sony's article: xvYCC: Extended-gamut Color Space for Video Applications

It seems likely that xvYCC is a temporary solution being promoted by Sony. The more capable future color space is the one referenced in Rec. 2020.

• Pressing Eject on the remote will power on the player and eject the tray.
• If you press and hold the Setup button on the remote you will get the Picture Adjustment menu directly.
• For DVD the Top Menu remote button is the same as TITLE, and the Popup Menu remote button is the same as the MENU function on DVD remotes. (Not all discs use both functions).
• When playing DVD (not Blu-ray), pressing the YELLOW button on the remote will take you to chapter 1 of the longest title on the disc. You can use this during startup to skip the introductory material.
• When playing DVD, the BLUE button performs the random/shuffle cycle for titles and chapters, just as with media files and audio tracks.
• JACKET_P images on DVD are supported. JACKET_P is optional cover art that displays when a disc is stopped.
• The browser will display ID3v2 tags, including "PIC" cover art images, for several media file types. Vorbis-style tags are also supported for FLAC files.
• CD-Text is shown on the On Screen Display: album name, artist and track title.
• BDMV directories are (unofficially) supported.
• In the Media Browser, the Goto button allows you to skip ahead to specific index numbers in long lists.
• Subtitles are visible at Fast Forward levels 1 (=2x) and 2 (=4x). They are not shown in Reverse modes.
• DVD-Audio discs have a "Direct Play" feature. After loading the disc, pressing Stop followed by Play on the remote will directly access the first Group/Title, bypassing any menu.
• When playing media files, pressing the UP and DOWN arrow buttons will skip to the previous and next files, respectively.
• When shutting off, if the player does not respond to the Power button (on either the front panel or the remote) in about 10 seconds, a special timer will shut it down anyway. This is in the case the player has become unresponsive to normal controls.
• Thumbnail View: in the HOME menu and the Media Center (Photo, Music, or Movie) press the RED button to quickly switch between File List mode and Thumbnail View mode for the Movie and Music categories.
• CD Program Play: for CD/SACD playback. During the disc playback, press the YELLOW button to bring up the "Program Play" interface. Here you can use the LEFT/RIGHT ARROW buttons to set a playlist.
• Side-by-Side and Top-Bottom formatted MKV converted to 3D. During the playback of a compatible MKV, press the 3D button on the remote once to turn on the "2D->3D" conversion then press the 3D button again to display the "3D Setting" menu. Select "Side-by-Side" or "Top-Bottom" to match the source to convert the image to 3D.
• When browsing SMB or DLNA network resources, the BLUE button will return to the top level showing all servers available.

The BDP-103D subtracts:

• the Marvell Qdeo video processor

...and adds:

• the Darbee Visual Presence video processor
• the Silicon Image VRS ClearView video processor

...and replaces:

• the remote with a new version with a Darbee button

All other aspects and functions of the two models are identical.

The older players used Anchor Bay Technology chips with VRS. Since that time VRS was aquired by Silicon Image, which provides the solution used in the BDP-103D.

On the older players ABT peformed deinterlacing and scaling, but in the BDP-103D this is done by the Mediatek decoder.

The current Silicon Image VRS solution provides optional Detail & Edge Enhancement and Video Smoothing, and 4k upscaling.

For more, see:

• VRS® ClearView™ Technology
• VRS® ClearView™: A Vision of Clarity

• Darbee Visual Presence Darblet Video Enhancer by Kris Deering
• Darbee Darblet review by David Bierton
• Darbee DVP 5000 Darblet review by Martin Pipe
• CES 2012: The Darblet's Amazing Impact On HDMI-Based Video (youtube)
• Home Theater Geeks 135: Darbee's Vision (youtube)

Darbee has four modes. The player remembers a separate Darbee Level for each:

• Off (always makes Darbee Level = 0)
• HiDef
• Gaming
• FullPop

In addition, the player has three user Modes available on the Picture Adjustment setup screen. These are user-defined presets and each remembers a Darbee Mode and Darbee Level for each mode, so the player will remember 3 x 3 = 9 possible levels (Off always being 0).

Both the BDP-103 and BDP-105 are fanless.

This is a change in the BDP-105 as compared to the earlier BDP-95. OPPO says:

When we designed the BDP-105, we made it our goal to use passive cooling only. This was accomplished in two ways:

• reducing heat generation
• improving heat dissipation

The new dual-core SoC produces less heat than the previous decoder chip thanks to its advanced semiconductor fabrication process.

We added a separated winding to the new Toroidal transformer so we can get +5V and +3.3V power for the analog section from low voltage drop regulators instead of from the +15V rail.

The BDP-105 chassis is taller so it has more volume for air space and is slower to heat up. The ventilation grilles on the top, bottom and back of the player complete the passive cooling design by allowing cool air to come in and warm air to escape.

OPPO says:

Compared to our older models such as the BDP-83 and our DVD players, the disc loader used by the BDP-93/95 and BDP-103/105 has been significantly improved. We performed a joint development for the disc loader with a well-known supplier who specializes in high-end and high reliability CD/DVD loaders. The design fully considers all factors that may affect playback -- disc spinning speed, vibration isolation, dust prevention, internal air flow, weigh and balance etc.

The Audioholics Q&A has an exploded view of "a disc loader that you will not find in any other mass market disc player."

The new remote is nicely back-lit, however the back light only turns on for some seconds after you press the Light button on the lower right. This extends battery life and is good for people who don't want to be distracted by the remote lighting up while using it during viewing. The remote is pretty easy to learn by feel, so operating it without back light assistance gets picked up pretty quickly.

Nevertheless, if you would rather the new remote worked like the prior remote -- where it lights up after any button press -- just press and hold the Light button for about 5 seconds to toggle between the two styles of operation. (The back lighting will flash a few times to tell you when you've held that button long enough).

The DAC is the same as the BDP-93, the Cirrus Logic CS4382A (8-ch, 24-bit, 192khz).

OPPO says:

There have however been some incremental improvements in circuit design that should improve on the audio some: a novel configuration of the DAC chip and a new analog buffer and filter stage following the DAC output.

Yes, when SACD Output is set to DSD.

DSD output is only available over the HDMI2 port. This is a hardware restriction: the HDMI transmitter in the Qdeo video processor that drives the HDMI1 port does not support DSD audio. (NOTE: 103/105 only; the 103D/105D players do not have this restriction).

If SACD Output is set to PCM you will get audio on both HDMI1 & HDMI2.

Conversion of the DSD content played off an SACD disc to PCM -- i.e., to go to the Analog DACs as PCM, or as digital HDMI LPCM output in the 103/105 -- results in LPCM 88.2KHz 24-bit.

See the list and discussion at List of AV Receivers & Pre/Pros with Pure DSD to Analog Processing.

Other resources? Send me your Comments.

• HDMI
  • The inputs support stereo and 5.1 LPCM up to 192KHz, 7.1 LPCM up to 96KHz.
  • Lossy Dolby Digital and DTS up to 7.1.
  • Dolby Digital Plus up to 7.1.
  • They do not support input of DSD, Dolby TrueHD or DTS-HD MA.
  • If fed Stereo LPCM originating from an HDCD disc, then the HDCD decoder in the OPPO can be used.
  • Note that as with all HDMI, audio can only be carried embedded in a video signal (which can be a black image). To use high bit rate LPCM, that signal must be 720p or higher.
• HDMI Audio Return Channels
  • Not sure: must be up to at least DD 5.1 since that's the primary function of them.
• Optical and Coaxial (BDP-105 only)
  • Inputs are S/PDIF, meaning they support stereo LPCM and lossy Dolby Digital and DTS.
• USB Input (BDP-105 only)
  • Accepts stereo LPCM up to 192KHz 24-bit.

This is a feature of the BDP-105 only. The BDP-103 does not have it.

OPPO says:

The USB DAC fully supports the USB Audio 2.0 standard and can operate in asynchronous clock mode. It can take 16 and 24-bit stereo audio with sample rates of 44.1kHz, 48kHz, 88.2kHz, 96kHz, 176.4kHz and 192kHz.

When connected to a computer, the BDP-105 becomes a "sound card" or audio output device for the computer. Users can use their familiar audio library and playback software to stream music to their home theater or sound system.

The asynchronous clock mode ensures that the highly accurate and stable clock inside the BDP-105 drives audio data to the digital-to-analog converter so the time domain accuracy is not affected by the jitter performance of the computer's master clock or bus clock. The ESS Sabre32 Reference DAC and the excellent analog audio section are utilized to convert the digital audio data to analog audio signal with the highest accuracy and lowest distortion.

Essentially, the BDP-105 becomes a high end DAC for the PC.

Several forms of audio processing are normally available on the multi-channel analog outputs:

• volume adjustment
• bass steering (crossover processing)
• time alignment (speaker distance adjustment)
• surround sound processing (DTS Neo:6)
• down-mix processing

In two cases you still have volume adjustment but not the other features:

• You are playing an SACD with SACD Output set to DSD and DSD-Direct-to-Analog Conversion is in effect.
• On the BDP-105, you are playing audio coming in on the Asynchronous USB DAC Audio Input.

What to do?

• For SACD playback, you can use SACD Output set to PCM if you would prefer the player to do this sort of processing.
• For the BDP-105 Asynchronous USB DAC Audio Input, such processing must be done external to the player.

Example 1:

In your multi-channel Analog Speaker Configuration in the OPPO, you have Left Front / Right Front set to Small and the Subwoofer set On, and you play Stereo audio content either as SACD DSD-Direct-to-Analog Conversion of the Stereo music layer from an SACD disc, or coming in via the Asynchronous USB Audio Input.

Result: The Subwoofer output will remain silent -- no Crossover processing is happening, even though the Front speakers are set to Small. The full frequency range of Bass is being output to your Left Front / Right Front speakers just as if they were set to Large.

Example 2:

You play the 5.1 layer of an SACD disc as SACD DSD-Direct-to-Analog Conversion, and your multi-channel Analog Speaker Configuration only has 4.1 speakers enabled (no Center speaker).

Result: The Center channel content is discarded. It is not down-mixed into Left Front / Right Front. Use SACD Output set to PCM instead to enable such down-mixing.

• 3GP
• AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
• AIFF (Audio Interchange File Format)
• ALAC (Apple Lossless)
• APE (Monkey's Audio)
• ASF (Advanced Systems Format)
• AVCHD
• AVI (Audio Video Interleave)
• DFF and DSF (DSD: Direct Stream Digital files)
• DIVX Media Format
• FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec)
• FLV (Flash Video)
• GIF
• JPG
• M2TS (BDAV MPEG-2 Transport Stream)
• M4A (same as MP4)
• M4V (same as MP4)
• MKV (Matroska, both .mkv and .mka)
• MP3 (MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3)
• MP4
• MPG (MPEG-1)
• MOV (Quicktime)
• MPO (Multi Picture Object)
• OGG
• OGM
• PNG
• TS (Transport Stream)
• VOB (Video Object)
• WAV (up to 24 bit)
• WMA (Windows Media Audio) (not WMA Pro, Lossless or Voice)
• WMV (Windows Media Video)

See:

• Container formats
• Comparison of container formats

These are not supported in media files at this time:

• Apple's ADPCM IMA4
• MJPG (Motion JPEG)
• MS WMA Pro, Lossless and Voice
• MS WMA v3
• MS WMV v8 (v7 & 9 are ok)
• QDesign (QDM2)
• Sorenson Video 3 (SVQ3)
• SOWT (Apple QuickTime SOWT Little Endian PCM)

In addition, these combinations are currently not working:

• VORBIS is not working in MKV containers (but works in OGM containers)
• OGG 5.1 audio
• Dolby Digital Plus produces no audio in 1080i MPG files recorded from the French DVB-T

Yes, ALAC has been supported since firmware 58-0719 in July 2013.

The BDP-103/5 supports ALAC with a sample rate of 8k-192kHz, bit depth of 16 or 24bit, and 1 or 2 channels.

SMB network file access allows a trick with Blu-ray ISO files: if they are mounted to a directory on the server, the OPPO can see the AVCHD/BDMV folder and play it just as it does with actual BDMV folders on local storage or AVCHD/BDMV folders on the server.

Notes:

• This will not work for DVD ISO files because the player does not support the VIDEO_TS folders inside of them. Same for the AUDIO_TS folders in DVD-A ISO files.
• This does not circumvent Cinavia.
• As of firmware 33-1018 (October 2012) the BDMV folder must be contained within an AVCHD folder. This for both real folders and mounted ISO files, but not for local storage.

Windows

• Using standard Windows tools:

  • Mount your ISO (with something like Virtual Clone Drive or Daemon Tools) and note the drive letter assigned by Windows.
  • Select the virtual drive you have installed, right click, select Properties and go to the Sharing pane. Select Advanced Sharing and set the share name as "AVCHD". You only need to do this once and that name will always appear on the OPPO in the list of shares for that PC.

• Using a directory junction link:

  From a command line interface:

  mklink /j vdrive/AVCHD g:

Windows, Mac and Linux

• Pismo File Mount Audit Package

  A report (updated for the AVCHD folder requirement):

  Now that the rules have changed in how BDMV folders can be used over SMB shares, the trick with Pismo Mount needs some tweaking to make it work.

  Previously, simply accessing the BDMV folder worked just fine, but now the BDMV folder needs to be located inside an AVCHD folder. To make this work with Pismo for a collection of ISO's, do the following:

  • Create and share a top level folder for your movies, ie: Blu-rays

  • Create a folder for each movie, ie: MyVacation, Piranha 4k, The Revengers, etc.

  • Put the ISO files into each movie folder and name them "AVCHD" (with no extension) NOTE: the ISO file itself will now be named AVCHD so when it's mounted, the mounted folder name will be AVCHD.

  • Mount the ISO files with Pismo. The Pismo command line (must be run as administrator) is

    pfm mount -a -s AVCHD

    ...in each folder that contains an ISO file that's named "AVCHD".

  So you'll end up with a folder structure that looks like:

  Blu-rays/MyVacation/AVCHD/BDMV/...

  Blu-rays/Piranha 4k/AVCHD/BDMV/...

  Blu-rays/The Revengers/AVCHD/BDMV/...

  The movies will now play fine via SMB shares again. Setting up a script to automate mounting all the ISO files will be a little more complicated as it will now need to recurse folders, but it shouldn't be too bad to create.

  Again, the advantage of this over using other mount tools is it should be possible to setup mounts for a large collection of movies and allow you to browse your entire collection while the other solutions for mounting ISO files are limited to the number of drive letters that are available on the PC.

  The original report:

  I installed the program on one of my Windows 7 x64 Ultimate PC's, copied a Blu-ray ISO file into a "Bluray" folder and then used Pismo to mount it using the following options:

  Mount visibility: Entire system

  Map Drive: None

  Everyone access: Read

  Formatter: auto

  Force read-only mount, unchecked

  Use verbose mount status dialog, unchecked

  Open after mount, obviously doesn't matter

  The Blu-ray folder it is in is shared just like all my other shares. When I setup the folder security with a mounted ISO, I did get a message indicating it couldn't set the security for the ISO folder and just hit OK.

  I then navigated to the Bluray share on the OPPO and selected the ISO name (there's a folder that simply inherits the name of the ISO file) and the movie started right up as though I had put a Blu-ray disc into the drive on the player.

  Now I have only played around with this VERY briefly and I don't know what the limits are in regards to how many ISO files can be mounted at once with Pismo, but it appears possible to put a bunch of ISO files into a folder, mount all of them, share the folder, and then have access to a whole bunch of Blu-ray movies in the same manner.

  I just discovered that the Pismo mounts don't survive reboots and I don't see an option to make the mounts permanent, so that's definitely a negative. But they do have a command line tool that could be used in a script to mount ISOs after the PC boots up.

Linux

• Using the standard mount command:

  Given a Blu-ray ISO file sample.iso and a directory mymovie/AVCHD:

  mount sample.iso -r -t udf -o loop mymovie/AVCHD

  The BDMV folder will appear within mymovie/AVCHD.

  When done:

  umount mymovie

  You have to be root for both commands.

NAS

• Linux-based Network Attached Storage products may have management utilties for mounting ISO files. For example:
  • Synology's DSM Desktop

Other methods? Please send me your comments.

If you look at the "Mounts" column in the Comparison of disc image software table you will find other candidate utilities, but they still have to be tested.

What doesn't work?

On Windows you can't use Virtual Clone Drive or Daemon Tools without also going through the "Using standard Windows tools" procedure shown above.

Those utilities mount the ISO file as a virtual drive emulating an optical disc and this seems to confuse SMB. It's not just an OPPO issue: other SMB clients like Dune also have trouble playing a BDMV folder on those virtual drives.

The player support both the older MBR (Master boot record) and the newer GPT (GUID Partition Table) partitioning schemes.

GPT is required for drives larger than 2TB.

Yes. This allows you to have aliases of a file in many other folders. See NTFS symbolic link for more.

Tools:

• mklink (Windows command line)
• fsutil hardlink (Windows command line)
• Link Shell Extension (Windows)
• Far Manager (Windows)
• Total Commander (Windows)
• ln (Linux command line)
• (others? Send me your comments).

• Why are MKV files showing the wrong playing time and not navigating correctly?

  OPPO says:

  This is due to the new mkvmerge standards for Chapters which are not supported by the player.

  You will need to remux the file using an older version of mkvmerge which is 5.7.0 or older. 5.8.0 and 5.9.0 will not work with the BDP-8x, 9x and 10x series of players. Our engineers are aware of the issue and have sample files which exhibit these errors, but we do not know when we may be able to resolve these errors through a future firmware release.

  Note that this issue also exists in the new 6.0.x so far too.

  A user also reports:

  I confirmed that this is accurate using the latest revision of mkvmerge, (5.9.0). No playtime, no chapters and FF/RW more than 4x results in crashed playback.

  And a work-around from another source:

  mkvmerge 5.9.0 added "Cure Duration" and "Cue Relative Position" which add additional time information but makes the files not compatible with the MediaTek platforms. If you are using the newer versions of MKVToolnix then you will need to use the command option

  --engage no_cue_duration,no_cue_relative_position

  ...as described in Not using certain new elements in the cues with --engage no_cue_duration and --engage no_cue_relative_position.

Other issues? Send me your comments.

Yes.

Like earlier OPPO Blu-ray players, the BDP-103 is a Digital Media Player (DMP), where it "pulls" content from a DLNA server.

What is new is that it is also a Digital Media Renderer (DMR), meaning that a controlling device can "push" content to the player.

As a DMP, you use the player's user interface to find and select content on a DLNA server.

As a DMR, you use some other application -- a Digital Media Controller (DMC) -- to find the content and send it to the player.

Example DMC applications:

• various Android apps like:
  • Bubble UPnP
  • MediaHouse
• JRiver Media Center
• Kinsky on Ipad
• MS Windows Media Player Play To
• Twonky Media Server

Others? Send me your comments.

See a list at How to choose a DLNA Media Server for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux.

Here are some servers people are using with the BDP-93. If you have any usage notes on these please send me your comments:

• Asset UPnP

  Supports high quality on-demand audio transcoding for a vast number of formats. By-folder navigation is available in the paid version.

• Bubble UPnP on Android

• Elgato EyeConnect

• foobar2000

• J. River Media Center

• KooRaRoo Media

• LaCie Network Space 2

• LinkSys NMH300

• MediaMonkey

• MediaTomb

• Mezzmo

• MiniDLNA

• Netgear ReadyNAS Pro

• Nero MediaHome 4

• oShare

• Plex

• PS3 Media Server

• QNAP TurboNAS TS-412

• Serviio

• Synology: probably all products running Synology's Media Server package will work. We have specific reports confirming:

  • Synology Discstation DS108j (works fine with firmware 2.3.xx)
  • Synology DiskStation DS209
  • DS209+II and DS213+
  • Synology DiskStation DS409
  • Synology DiskStation DS411

• TVersity

  Supports FLAC and WAV, (stereo only, no 5.1) but transcodes everything to 16/44 or 16/48. Offers folder, artist and album navigation.

• TVMOBiLi

• Twonky Media Server

  For Windows, Mac and Linux. I use Linux.

  Available for free trial download, then pay the license fee ($29.95). I had trouble with the configuration until I paid. There seems to be little support for the product even when you do pay. The online forum is helpful but often has more questions than answers.

  Despite that it works well and is the only good Linux solution I could find when searching.

  I use it only for media files on the server. It supports some media feeds (PhotoBucket, Handpicked Radio [?], Flickr, Picasa Web, SHOUTcast Radio, YouTube) but I have not experimented with that. The data would have to be presented to the OPPO as a supported file type, which is probably an obstacle. Reencoding data on the fly is possible but probably a big burden on the server.

• Universal Media Server

• VortexBox

• Whitebear Media Server (for Logitech Squeezebox Server)

• Wild Media Server

• Windows Media Player

• Yazsoft Playback

• Others? Send me your comments.

No, the RSS is designed to use its own wireless connection to your router. There is no way for the player to cicumvent that and use its own networking.

This is in some ways inconvenient. If you prefer wired ethernet you could get one of the other Roku products and connect it's HDMI output to one of the OPPO's HDMI inputs.

OPPO says "no". Because of the power requirements an extension cable will not work.

However, the following right-angle adapter from Monoprice is known to work well: HDMI Port Saver.

Yes: BDP-103 Settings Checklist.

The purpose of this document is:

• To show the default settings when you use Setup -> Device Setup -> Reset Factory Defaults.
• To provide a convenient place to note your own Setup customizations.

Unlike many others, the OPPO manual is quite readable and contains much valuable information.

Print out BDP-103 Settings Checklist file. This gives you an overview of the entire Setup menu and a place to annotate any customizations you make.

The following are just my personal choices for settings, but experience shows that people often have trouble with these features and I have given the settings that seem to cause the least problems.

Obviously if you know what you are doing and have different preferences, you can do it your own way.

I list them in order of most important first:

Turn off BD-Live

Set Network Setup -> BD-Live Network Access to Off (this is now the default).

Why?

BD-Live is an erratic network feature that has caused vast problems for many titles and players. No one ever asked for it and it has turned out to be a mostly marketing-oriented feature that vanishes from the studio servers after a while anyway.

The upside of turning it off: Disc startup will be faster and playback more reliable.

The downside: You will not be able to access BD-Live features. You can always turn it on if you want to try something. Please turn it off afterwards.

Erase Persistent Storage from time to time

Do Device Setup -> Persistent Storage -> Erase Persistent Storage.

Why?

Memory fills up and BD-Live does not work as well. Sometimes even tiny amounts of evil data residing there prevents Blu-ray discs from playing at all.

Blu-rays discs that use java save things in this storage, so do this only if you don't mind losing that data.

Turn off HDMI CEC

Set Device Setup -> HDMI CEC to Off. (This is the default).

Why?

The problem is not that HDMI CEC doesn't work, it's that it does work and people don't like it. See Why does the player turn off when I turn off the display?

The upside: No HDMI CEC!

The downside: No HDMI CEC!

Use a specific Color Space

Set Video Setup -> HDMI Options -> Color Space to YCbCr 4:4:4.

Why?

By default the player uses an Auto setting which negotiates a color space with the receiver or display. I would rather know for certain what color space is being used, and out of general paranoia I do not trust computers or consumer electronics to do the right thing consistently.

In any case, YCbCr 4:4:4 is what the Auto setting selects for color space. (For HDMI; if you are using DVI try RGB Video).

If you have reason to believe that a different setting is better for your display, then by all means use it.

Note

In theory none of the color space choices produces a better image than the others. We have the choices to accommodate other gear which may be behaving badly.

If you want to tweak further, see the Calibration section.

Use a specific Output Resolution

See the manual (Installation / Quick Start Guide / Select the Best Output Resolution).

In general:

• For most people these days 1080p is the correct setting.
• If you know that your display prefers a different setting, use that.
• Source Direct is for those who want all video processing to occur outside of the player. Use it only if you are very familiar with the capabilities of your video processor, receiver, and display.

Why?

By default the player selects an Auto setting which negotiates the resolution with the receiver or display. Again, I just don't trust such functionality. And it's not like the best resolution for your display changes from day to day, so why not pin it down?

Leave the Picture Adjustment settings alone

Unless you have considerable experience in calibration, do not try to improve the picture by adjusting the values in Video Setup -> Picture Adjustment. Leave all of the values at "0".

Why?

It is possible to degrade the picture by adjusting the controls improperly. If you want to adjust the image, use the controls on your display. See the Calibration section for much more.

Use the Wide/Auto aspect ratio

Set this with Video Setup -> TV Aspect Ratio.

Why?

This will add pillarbox borders on the sides of the image. It matters only for 4:3 DVDs and certain standard definition extras on Blu-ray discs. It has no effect on 16:9 DVDs or Blu-ray main features.

Reset Factory Defaults from time to time

Do Device Setup -> Reset Factory Default. This will reset many values. You have your choice whether to just Erase Settings (the most sensible common operation), or to do a full Erase Accounts and Settings which deletes your account ids, passwords, etc. (Do that if you sell the machine).

Why?

I think it's good luck, particularly after installing new firmware. OPPO's release notes usually say this is an optional step, although once (when shiftable subtitles were added) it was required.

Who knows how many invisible settings the player has internally? Resetting defaults restores everything to a known good state. It's not required but I install a lot of beta firmware and always do a reset. See how happy I am?

Prefer specific settings values to Auto

"Auto" settings are for the convenience of consumers who don't want to change one single thing in their appliances. Enthusiasts go a bit further.

Several player Auto settings were discussed above. Here is the complete list with notes:

• Video Setup / 3D Mode:

  There is probably no harm in leaving this at Auto but I don't have a 3D display and set it to Off because I'm paranoid.

• Video Setup / Output Resolution:

  Discussed above.

• Video Setup / 1080p24 Output:

  If your display accepts 24hz and you like it, why not set it to On?

• Video Setup / HDMI Options / Color Space(HDMI1):

  Discussed above.

• Video Setup / HDMI Options / Color Space(HDMI2):

  Same.

• Audio Format Setup / HDMI Audio:

  The specific choices are LPCM and Bitstream. With LPCM the player does all audio decoding, with Bitstream the receiver does it. If the receiver can handle the bistreamed data, then results should be the same either way. I connect directly to the display and from that to a soundbar. Since TVs all require LPCM input, that's what I use. (HDMI would figure that out anyway, but why strain it's tiny little brain?)

• Audio Processing / Dynamic Range Control:

  DRC controls the range of volume of media playback by reducing the louder portions of audio to play closer in volume to the softer portions. Audiophiles will want this Off as this effectively processes the audio and reduces volume changes. It may have some use during late night playback or in less than ideal listening conditions.

  For technical background, see Dynamic Range Control in a Multichannel Environment.

• Network Setup / IP Setting:

  Contrary to the rest of this section, "Auto(DHCP)" is a good thing. Use "Manual" only if DHCP is not working for you.

Firmware

Try to keep up to date on firmware. It's important because:

• New features are sometimes added.
• Bugs are fixed.
• Sometimes new Blu-ray discs won't play without a firmware update. (Why? See Why does the player need firmware updates before it will play certain Blu-ray discs?)

See the manual and the Firmware section on update procedures.

How to know when new firmware is available?

• If the player is connected to the internet and Device Setup -> Firmware Notification is On, the player will automatically inform you when new firmware is available.
• Or: keep an eye on OPPO's Help & Support page.
• Or: read the internet discussion forums, such as the (very busy) Official OPPO BDP-103 Owner's Thread at AVSForum.

OPPO sometimes releases public beta firmware. Although still experimental, it is meant for public testing and is generally safe to use. It has already been tested by a beta team and any bad bugs should have been found and corrected.

Always read the Release Notes on the firmware page at OPPO's web site (linked from Help & Support page). This document will have installation instructions and important usage notes.

Important

You cannot revert to older firmware after you have installed a newer release, so read the release notes carefully first.

Calibration

Calibration is a big topic; see the Calibration section for more.

Even if you don't intend to adjust your display, or if you have someone else do it, you should know how to run a calibration disc and evaluate the basic patterns. This is what separates the men & women from the boys & girls in home theater.

Problems

Things to try:

• The manual has a Troubleshooting section in the back. Try the steps shown there.
• Look at the Problems section here in the FAQ.
• In particular, if you are having problems with a Blu-ray disc, this procedure seems to solve a lot of errors: What do I do if a Blu-ray disc will not load or play, or if it freezes the player?
• If that does not fix your Blu-ray issue, update to current production firmware if you haven't already.
• If still no good, try the latest public beta firmware, if such exists.
• Try searching one of the online forums such as the (very busy) Official OPPO BDP-103 Owner's Thread at AVSForum. Post your problem there if you can't find an answer.
• Contact OPPO customer support. I would use email. Email address and phone number are shown on their web pages. OPPO has outstanding customer support; I'm just trying to take some of the load off by listing them last.