Is the manual available online?

Yes: UDP-203 Online Manual (pdf).

What are other useful resources?

The OPPO UDP-203 Product Page.

The OPPO wiki.

The UDP-203 Settings Checklist.

The AVSForum Official OPPO UDP-203 Owner's Thread.

How is the UDP-203 different from the BDP-103?

Many of the features of the BDP-103 are carried forward into this player. See the Unofficial OPPO BDP-103 Frequently Asked Questions page for more.

These features are the same as for the BDP-103:

• 4K-by-2K upscaling
• 2D->3D conversion
• A/V Sync setting
• HDMI input (but only one)
• Two HDMI outputs (one is for "audio only")
• HDMI Audio Return Channel
• wired ethernet (now Gigabit speed)
• No fan
• 3 USB ports (upgraded to USB 3.0)
• 24p for DVD
• RS232
• 7.1 analog audio
• Optical and coax audio
• SACD and DVD-A
• Supports PAL DVD and 1080i50 Blu-ray (subject to region coding restrictions)
• Subtitle and On Screen Display shift, vertical stretch zoom for Constant Image Height projectors
• DLNA, SMB and NFS networking
• The free third-party SuperDisc software mod to make the player region-free for DVD still works.
• price includes 2-year warranty

These features are different:

• Customized quad-core video decoder/processor
• The Home Menu and Media Center user interfaces are redesigned
• Built-in wireless ethernet, no more dongle
• New remote with motion-activated backlight (slight changes to layout, same 3 code set)
• The 7.1 DAC is now the AKM 4458 8 ch 32 bit
• Cinavia is more strictly enforced, applying to USB hard drives and DLNA, SMB and NFS networking, as well as optical discs as before (it is not detected over the HDMI input last time I checked, nor over HDMI ARC, but that could change)
• Faster startup: about 10 seconds in Energy Efficient mode, slightly fast in Network Standby (= Quick Start)

These features are added:

• UHD disc support
• Dolby Vision (added in firmware 45-0605, June 6 2017)
• 12VDC trigger in/out
• Extended Information display: press and hold Info on the remote during video playback
• Text-to-Speech setup menus
• Closed captions (as found on older DVDs)

These features are subtracted:

• No online services (at product introduction; maybe added later)
• No MHL port
• No illuminated front panel eject button
• No HDCD decoding (HDCD digital metadata is still passed through on HDMI)

Are there any hidden features?

• Press and hold the Info button on the remote during video playback for an extended information display.
• Press and hold the Resolution button and Output Resolution, HDR, Color Space, Color Depth will be reset to factory defaults.
• Press and hold Audio on the remote and the "A/V Sync" control will appear.
• Press and hold Subtitle on the remote and the subtitle position control will appear.
• Press and hold Setup and the Picture Control will appear. (The remote has Pic button that does the same thing).
• If the player locks up or seems to have crashed, there is an emergency power-off procedure: press Power on the remote and wait 10 to 20 seconds.
• You can use external SRT subtitles for disc playback. See Can external subtitles be added to disc playback?
• Provide cover art for audio files without their own embedded cover art: put a file 'folder.jpg' in the same folder.
• Provide cover art for a single audio file: put a .jpg file with the same name as the audio file in the same folder.

What does the extended information display mean?

If you press and hold Info on the remote during video playback, the extended information screen will be displayed.

Its contents vary somewhat according to the source material.

Playback Information

Filename: for media files

Time: elapsed / total

Title: current / total

Chapter: current / total

Media Information

The info in this section is determined by the source material. Player settings will not alter the values.

Resolution: width x height

• DVD (NTSC): 720x480
• DVD (PAL): 720x576
• Blu-ray: 1920x1080
• UHD: 3840x2160
• media files may have other values

Frame rate:

• 29.97 for NTSC DVD
• 25 for PAL DVD
• 23.976 is common for Blu-ray and UHD
• other values are also possible

HDR Format:

• SDR: traditional dynamic range
• HDR: high dynamic range on UHD
• Dolby Vision

Color Space: standard color-space bit-depth

• standard:
  • BT601 for DVD
  • BT709 for Blu-ray
  • BT2020 for UHD
• color-space:
  • YCbCr 4:2:0 for DVD, Blu-ray and UHD
  • may be different for media files
  • Dolby Vision
• bit-depth:
  • 8 bit for DVD and Blu-ray
  • 10 bit for UHD

Video Codec:

• MPEG2 for DVD
• MPEG2, AVC or VC1 for Blu-ray
• HEVC for UHD

Current Bit Rate: in Mbps, changes moment by moment

Maximum Luminance: in nits, refers to the max output of the mastering display; for HDR only

Minimum Luminance: in nits, refers to the min output of the mastering display; for HDR only

Size: for media files

Subtitle Language: the current selection, if any

Audio Language: the current selection

Audio Format: variations on...

• PCM
• Dolby
• DTS

...with number of channels and sample rate

Channel Position: details on the audio channels

Audio Bit Rate: in kbps, changes moment by moment

HDMI (Main) Output Information

Resolution: This is determined by your Output Resolution setting and will always be the same, typically:

• 3840x2160 for a UHD resolution
• 1920x1080 for a 1080 resolution
• ...unless you are using Source Direct, in which case it is determined by the source material

Frame Rate: determined partly by the source material and partly by your Output Resolution:

• 24p output is possible only if the Output Resolution allows it: UHD 24Hz or 1080p 24Hz (and UHD Auto or 1080p Auto, if the display cooperates)
• 23.976Hz can be converted to 50 and 60Hz for those Output Resolutions.
• 29.97 and 25Hz sources cannot be converted to 24p.
• ...except for NTSC DVDs, which with DVD 24p Conversion conversion turned on, will produce 24p. (Note: not all DVDs are suitable for this and the results may be bad).

HDR Format:

• HDR only if the player is transmitting HDR, which is possible only with UHD that have HDR
• Dolby Vision
• otherwise: SDR

Color Space: standard color-space bit-depth

• standard:
  • BT601 when output is a standard definition resolution like 480i/p or 576i/p
  • BT709 when output is a high definition resolution
  • BT2020 when source is UHD and output is UHD resolution
  • Dolby Vision
• color space: determined by your Color Space setting, sometimes different if the HDMI standard does not allow a certain combination of color space, resolution and bit depth
• bit-depth: determined by your Color Depth setting: 8, 10, 12. If Auto, the display indicates what value it wants.

Aspect Ratio: almost always 16:9

Audio Format: variations on...

• PCM
• Dolby
• DTS

...with number of channels and sample rate

HDMI (Audio Only) Output Information

Audio Format: variations on...

• PCM
• Dolby
• DTS

...with number of channels and sample rate

Will I need new HDMI cables?

The UDP-203 comes with a 6ft HDMI Premium Certified Cable. If that is all you need, say for a direct connection to a display close to the player, you are good.

Otherwise: unless your cables are rather new and specially selected, you will almost certainly need new cables.

In fact, save yourself time and anguish and buy them anyway without trying the old ones. There are economical choices and it is a small investment in your sanity. HDMI is great when it works but an incredible time waster otherwise.

If you are going to play UHD discs, every cable between the player and the display must be an HDMI Premium Certified Cable bearing this label:

(Note: yes, it is true that older uncertified cables may work. We spend so much time debugging HDMI cable problems that from now on we are going to pretend that they don't).

Here are cable test reports:

• UHD Blu-ray vs. HDMI – Pt. 2: Which Cables Can Actually Pass HDMI 2.0?

Where do I get new HDMI cables?

These suppliers are often recommended:

• Blue Jeans Cable
• Monoprice
• Vanco

Does the player have a fan?

No, it is designed to use passive cooling.

What are the options for rack mounting?

• OPPO has a Rack Mount Kit for UDP-203.

  OPPO says the rack mount kit for the BDP-103 will also work, but will interfere with the internal wifi antenna on the UDP-203.

• Middle Atlantic rack custom shelf (link?)

HDR

Here is what the player is producing and the display says it is receiving for the different HDR settings.

My LG OLED has a very limited On Screen Display describing the video input. It shows "HDR" or "Dolby Vision" if present, but not "SDR" otherwise, and "BT2020" is the only color space it will show.

• For non-HDR content

  As with Blu-ray or DVD; the HDR setting is ignored.

• For HDR10 content on an HDR display

  player HDR setting	player HDMI Output Info	display OSD
  Auto or Forced	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020
  Off	SDR BT709
  Strip Metadata	SDR BT2020	BT2020

• For Dolby Vision content on a non-Dolby Vision HDR display

  player HDR setting	player HDMI Output Info	display OSD
  Auto	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020
  Forced	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020
  Off	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020
  Strip Metadata	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020

  (I have not tested this personally, and it may change in the future).

• For Dolby Vision content on a Dolby Vision display

  player HDR setting	player HDMI Output Info	display OSD
  Auto	Dolby Vision	Dolby Vision
  Forced	HDR BT2020	HDR BT2020
  Off	Dolby Vision	Dolby Vision
  Strip Metadata	Dolby Vision	Dolby Vision

A useful background article: High Dynamic Range (HDR): An Explanation of Dynamic Range, Resolution, Color, and Calibration.

How do I force HDR10 from a Dolby Vision disc?

This happens automatically if your display chain supports HDR but not Dolby Vision. Similarly, if you do not have HDR at all, the Dolby Vision is converted to the older SDR standard.

But what if you have Dolby Vision and want to compare it with the HDR10 base?

Normally Dolby Vision discs do not have this option. If you have a Dolby Vision display chain then the disc will insist on producing Dolby Vision and not HDR10.

There is a workaround that involves restarting the player:

• Stop any content that might be playing.
• Set Setup -> Video Setup -> HDR Setting -> HDR to "Forced".
• Set Setup -> Device Setup -> Standby Mode to "Energy Efficient".
• Turn the player off and on again.

To return to normal Dolby Vision output:

• Stop any content that might be playing.
• Set Setup -> Video Setup -> HDR Setting -> HDR to "Auto" (or whatever you normally use).
• Set Setup -> Device Setup -> Standby Mode to "Energy Efficient".
• Turn the player off and on again.

How does forcing Dolby Vision output work?

When Setup -> Video Setup -> HDR Setting -> HDR is set to "Dolby Vision", the OPPO will convert non-Dolby Vision video to Dolby Vision, when possible.

This works for standard Blu-ray and UHD discs with and without HDR.

It does not work for interlaced sources like DVD or for media files like MKV. In my testing it did not work for 3D Blu-ray.

As to how the conversion works, according to OPPO:

As for the Dolby Vision setting for HDR, that is correct that all content will be converted to Dolby Vision and output as Dolby Vision. We do not have specific details on how it works because the SDK was provided to us by Dolby. Customers are reporting that Blu-ray content with a Dolby Vision conversion does look slightly better, while HDR content did not see much improvement.

Does the player convert Side-by-Side and Top-Bottom in MKV into 3D?

Yes. During the playback of a compatible MKV, press the Option button on the remote and select 3D to turn on the "2D->3D" conversion. Press Option again and select 3D to display the "3D Setting" menu. Select "Side-by-Side" or "Top-Bottom" to match the source to convert the image to 3D.

Is 3D MVC format supported in MKV?

No. It will play that file in 2D.

Later: This method developed for Plex is said to work on the OPPO as well: Getting 3D (Blu-ray 3D-MVC) To Work On Plex. It uses M2TS rather than MKV files.

What audio DAC does the UDP-203 use?

AKM 4458 8 ch 32 bit DAC.

Are all outputs on simultaneously?

Yes. This has been true of all OPPO players.

Should I use DSD or PCM for SACD?

Select PCM unless you know your processing downstream correctly handles DSD.

How does the Oppo handle the -10dB .1 channel on SACD?

The OPPO does the correct adjustment for SACD .1 channels when using HDMI LPCM output or when using the multi-channel Analog outs. When using HDMI DSD output, however, that job has to be handled by the AVR.

Why is there no album art on SACD?

SACD are not included in any of the available databases.

Any hidden features for SACD?

During SACD Playback, the Yellow button allows access to a Track re-order feature.

How does gapless play work?

You have to start gapless mode before playback begins. Navigate to the folder, land on the first file. Press the Options button on the remote and select Gapless play.

Playback will begin. When the "now playing" screen appears it should say "Gapless play" instead of just "Play".

According to OPPO's manual:

This feature supports APE, WAV and FLAC files stored on an external USB drive.

Note: gapless can only work if the next file is the same specs as the file currently playing: same file format, same number of channels, same sample rate, and same bits per sample.

Does the OPPO support pre-emphasis on audio CD?

OPPO says:

The player does support Pre-Emphasis, but the player requires that the Pre-Emphasis flag be in the CD's Table of Contents as originally designed in the Redbook CD standards. If it is on the ToC, it should be applied to all digital and analog outputs.

Q: Does the player then strip the pre-emphasis flag from its digital outputs so that a connected receiver/processor's DACs don't see it and inadvertently perform a "double de-emphasis"?

A:

That is our assumption. Unfortunately we no longer have the resources to confirm the information.

What do these YCbCr color spaces mean?

The wikipedia has some diagrams: Chroma subsampling.

Here is a little video tutorial: Ask Alex - The 411 on 4:4:4.

Comments by Bob P:

With 4:2:2 you can select which Color Depth you want to use -- UP TO 12b. You aren't stuck at 12b. 12b is just the upper limit.

You can do the same with 4:4:4 for /24 content (such as UHD disc movies). But for /60 content (live concerts on regular Blu-ray or SD-DVD's upscaled without DVD 24p Conversion) the HDMI spec won't allow 4K/60 4:4:4 higher than 8b. 10b and 12b require too high bandwidth for the HDMI spec.

You can also use 4:2:0 -- up to 12b -- but the HDMI timing specs only allow 4:2:0 for 4K/50 and 4k/60. It isn't legal for any other Resolution/Frame-rate combo. If you try to force 4:2:0 (at any bit depth) for 4K/24 output, or 1080p/60 output, or anything other than 4K/50 or 4K/60, the player will use 4:2:2 instead, since it can't put out a legal HDMI signal with 4:2:0.

*

Some basics here:

4:4:4 is jargon that means every pixel has its own, individual color data as well as its brightness data (gray scale).

4:2:2 means color information is present only half as often horizontally as brightness information. With 3 components to the data: Y for luminance (brightness) and Cb and Cr for how to color that brightness. This means the data along a given line goes Y, Cb, Y, Cr, Y, Cb, Y, Cr, etc.

4:2:0 means color information is present only half as often as brightness information BOTH horizontally and vertically. This is the format the data is stored on the disc, because it takes less space to store each image. This WORKS because the human eye is far less sensitive to resolution in colors than in gray scale.

4:2:0 is used for SD-DVD, Blu-ray, and now UHD.

But if you think about it, every pixel on the display needs its own color before it can light up! That means before the pixels light up the 4:2:0 coming off the disc has to be raised to 4:4:4. This process -- called Color Upsampling -- happens vertically to go from 4:2:0 to 4:2:2 and horizontally to go from 4:2:2 to 4:4:4. Think of it as a special type of upscaling -- except just for colors! The colors for a given pixel are established by using math on the color values found in the data near that pixel.

So do you want the player to do those two stages of Color Upsampling, or do you want the TV to do it? It's your choice. But it's going to happen one way or another, because every pixel has to have its own color before it can light up: 4:4:4.

(RGB, by the way, is always 4:4:4, in the sense that every pixel gets its own R, G, and B, values which define both its brightness and its color.)

*

Three components per pixel -- either Y, Cb, and Cr, or R, G, and B. The Color Depth is the number of bits used for each component. So Color Depth 12-bits means 36 bits total per pixel.

But if you send YCbCr 4:2:2 or 4:2:0 over the HDMI cable, the color components aren't being transmitted as often as the luminance (Y) components. So 4K/24 4:2:2 12b is lower bandwidth on the HDMI cable than 4K/24 4:4:4 12b. And 4K/24 4:2:0 12b is lower still!

If you don't mind the display doing the Color Upsampling, sending 4:2:0 or 4:2:2 would be the natural choice because that means less bandwidth on the HDM cable and thus less chance of HDMI signal problems.

But it is possible to SCREW UP Color Upsampling. If the player does it right and the TV does it wrong (in some cases) you'd want the player to do it.

Since we are talking about bugs here, there's little logic to it -- little ability to predict what will happen. You can just try it and SEE if things look better with the player down the Color Upsampling.

If not, send the lower bandwidth format (fewer HDMI problems) and let the TV do the Color Upsampling.

As an added complication, not all TVs will accept all formats. The Player will sort this out during the HDMI handshake -- sending a legal signal that the TV says it can accept -- trying to stay as close as possible to what you TOLD the player to send out. And you can use the on-screen Info displays from the Player to see what's actually happening -- what's actually being sent to the TV.

*

Then there's Color Depth. SD-DVD and Blu-ray are on disc as 8b. Current UHD discs -- which use HDR-10 for their HDR -- use 10b.

So why use 12b? Where would the extra bits COME FROM? Well where they come from is ROUNDING in the video processing. As such the real difference in 12b vs 10b SHOULD be subtle. But now we are back to bugs. Some displays will handle 12b better than 10b -- just a characteristic of how they process video. Other displays will receive 12b and immediately strip off the low order bits turning it into 10b. For those displays, sending 12b is a waste of bandwidth.

Confused yet? Then I suggest you start with the AUTO settings for Resolution, Color Space and Color Depth then, until you have time to experiment and see if you find reason to prefer something different.

What about the RGB color spaces?

See the wikipedia: RGB color space.

Comments by Bob P:

RGB is always the equivalent of 4:4:4. This whole 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 hack only works if you can separate out the luminance data (which has to stay full resolution) from the color data (which you can skimp on resolution because they eye won't know). But you can't do that with RGB data.

*

For historical reasons, RGB comes in two flavors. OPPO calls them RGB Video Level and RGB PC Level. RGB Video Level is the one you want for home theater content. Digital transfers of home theater content are authored to reserve a set of pixel values "below black" and "above white".

Without getting into too many details, suffice it to say that video processing just works better if there isn't a hard cutoff in the data at Black and White. So RGB Video Level (others call it Studio RGB) has a range of values from Black to Reference White. In the 8 bit color depth world that means values between 0 and 255 (what you can represent in 8 bits).

But for RGB Video Level Black is not 0 and Reference White is not 255. Instead Black is defined to be 16 and Reference White is defined to be 235.

The values from 1 to 15 are the "Blacker than Black" pixel values. The values from 236 to 254 are the "Peak White" pixel values. (0 and 255 are reserved values).

Blacker than Black pixel values are never intended to be seen. The cinematographer and the engineer creating the digital transfer know there's real data in there, but their INTENT is that you don't see it. Video processing sees it, but you don't.

Peak White values ARE available to be seen, as glints and sparks and such, but the authoring is such that all of the important information for representing the scene is handled at or below Reference White. Again, we are dealing with artistic intent here.

This headroom and footroom in the image carries through at every stage of the video chain from camera to display. There are many points in that chain where processing happens, and the headroom and footroom make that work better, step by step.

By the way, YCbCr data is always encoded the same way as RGB Video Level. Black is a Y value of 16. Reference White is a Y value of 235. (In 8 bit). And there are data ranges for both Blacker than Black and Peak White values.

*

RGB PC Level works differently. It encodes Black as 0 and Reference White as 254. As such there are no data values available to record either Blacker than Black or Peak White pixels. If you had a Blacker than Black or Peak White pixel and converted the data to RGB PC Level they would have to be "clipped" to Black and Reference White.

This is used primarily by computers and game consoles which expect to be connected directly to a display. The imagery is being created on the fly in the computer or game console, and there's no video processing in between, so the lack of headroom and footroom doesn't come into play.

What's more, there are now more STEPS between Black and Reference White, so you can author the image more precisely. This added number of steps is why this is also referred to as Extended RGB.

But the LAST thing you want to do is convert home theater content -- whether in YCbCr or RGB Video Level -- into RGB PC Level. Why? Because (1) you've just thrown away the headroom and footroom values, and (2) you've inserted more steps between Black and Reference White.

Which means you get rounding errors. Which means you get gasp BANDING.

*

TVs support RGB PC Level (Extended RGB) because they might be connected to sources that are only capable of sending that out -- perhaps some older PC graphics cards.

The OPPO supports RGB PC Level output because it might be connected to a computer monitor that can't handle anything else.

But either way, this is the wrong way to render home theater content.

*

One last thing. The HDMI handshake can make sure that both ends of the cable agree whether YCbCr or RGB is in use.

But if RGB is in use, the HDMI handshake can NOT tell whether RGB Video Level or RGB PC Level is in use. That has to be set manually in the devices at each end of the cable (if they offer the choice of both). And if you screw that up and send a different flavor of RGB than what the receiving device is expecting, then your black levels are way off.

(Colors and whites get screwed up too, but that's more subtle. EVERYONE notices the Blacks are wrong.)

So if the sender is sending 16 for Black, but the receiver thinks Black is gong to be 0, all the black pixels get rendered 16 steps above Black -- i.e., gray. And if sender is sending 0 for Black, but the receiver thinks Black is going to be 16, all the "near black" pixels -- the first 16 steps of what's supposed to be ABOVE black, get clipped to Black.

*

Now I said above that RGB is the same thing as 4:4:4 -- every pixel gets transmitted with both brightness and its complete color.

And I said in the earlier post that some displays like to do their processing in 4:2:2 so that they can use less powerful video engines and still handle the massive amounts of data in 4K video.

But for RGB users, the display may offer the ability to force processing at 4:4:4 (or even in RGB). Since that means more data is getting processed, some of the features of the TV may have to be disabled since there's only so much processing power available.

But really, this SHOULD NOT be necessary. 4:4:4 input data, down-sampled to 4:2:2, processed, and up-sampled to 4:4:4 to light up the pixels, should work every bit as well as 4:4:4 (or RGB) processed natively. It just means you need extra bits of precision in the conversion math stages.

So if a display is not handling HOME THEATER CONTENT 4:4:4 (or RGB) input as well as 4:2:2, unless you switch it into some "PC Mode", that simply indicates they've cut some corners in the design of the video engine. Remember, that Home Theater content came off the disc as 4:2:0. There was never true 4:4:4 information coming into the display in the first place. It was Color Upsampled from 4:2:0.

*

Do NOT assume that a special setting in the display is "better" just because of logic like, "it must be better to keep it at 4:4:4 from end to end". Instead, be skeptical until you see the evidence that THIS PARTICULAR panel truly acts that way. You may be giving up video processing features unnecessarily.

What file systems are supported on external media?

FAT, FAT32, exFAT, and NTFS.

Note: any file system will work over a network server like SMB, NFS, or DLNA. The server handles that access level and the player doesn't know anything about the actual file system.

What are the supported media file extensions?

Images:

• .gif
• .jpg
• .mpo (JPEG Multi-Picture Format: will switch to 3D mode)
• .png

Audio:

• .aac
• .ape
• .dsf
• .flac
• .m4a
• .mka
• .mp2
• .mp3
• .ogg
• .wav
• .wma

Video:

• .3gp
• .asf
• .flv
• .m2ts
• .m4v
• .mkv
• .mp4
• .mpg
• .vob
• .wmv

Important: even though a container file extension is supported, that doesn't mean the audio or video codec inside the container is supported.

What are the supported media file codecs?

Audio:

Video:

Subtitles:

What audio/video codecs are NOT supported?

Listing the codec information reported by the mediainfo utility:

• Codec ID: 162 / Windows Media Audio 9.1 Professional
• DIV3 / DivX 3 Low
• DX50 / DivX 5
• Sorenson 3 /SVQ3 / Sorenson Media Video 3
• V_MS/VFW/FOURCC / DX50 / DivX 5
• WMV2 / Windows Media Video 8

Are .iso files or Blu-ray or DVD directory structures supported on external media?

Generally, Blu-ray player licensing does not allow these formats.

For Blu-ray and UHD directories, see How do I play full-disc Blu-ray and UHD backups?

Can external subtitles be added to disc playback?

Yes:

• Create a folder on a USB stick called 'sub'.
• Name your SRT formatted subtitle file 'sub.srt' and copy it into the 'sub' folder.
• Play the disc and press the Subtitle button while the movie is playing. The last entry in the subtitle popup list will be your custom subtitle from the USB stick.

Another advantage doing this is that when you playback HDR movies to HDR displays the subtitles are already too bright in HDR mode and they will become even brighter when future displays have higher peak output levels. With the external subtitle technique you can change the color of the subtitles to a dimmed version from a list of colors, and also change their size, move them up/down etc.

How do I add image thumbnails to the media file browser?

(Thanks SeeMoreDigital)

Create 600x600 pixel JPEG images and give them the same name as the movie. For example:

mymovie.mkv
mymovie.jpg

The files must be in the same directory.

PNG and GIF formats also work.

How do I play full-disc Blu-ray and UHD backups?

IMPORTANT:

• This is not an officially supported feature of the player...
• ... meaning there is no guarantee that it will work in all circumstances...
• ... and it could go away at any time.
• Please consult a lawyer to ensure that you are following all applicable laws in making backups of your discs.
• How to make backups is beyond the scope of this FAQ.

Notes:

• Currently the OPPO can play BDMV backups from regular Blu-ray and UHD discs.
• HDR10 and Dolby Vision are retained from UHD backups where they exist.
• 3D regular Blu-ray BDMV backups do not work (I get a player crash when I try). (However: see Is 3D MVC format supported in MKV? for a way to get 3D working in M2TS files).
• The player does not support any ISO format or VIDEO_TS folders from DVD.
• Playback works for both locally attached USB devices and SMB and NFS network shares, but the rules are slightly different:
  1. sometimes the backup directory needs to placed inside an empty folder named "AVCHD", and
  2. sometimes the backup directory needs to be "blessed" with a tiny Windows utility called "bdmv_modify".

bdmv_modify

• Various copies of "bdmv_modify" exist on the net; here is one at Dropbox: bdmv_modify_v1.4.
• There is also a BDMV Modifier 2.0. I do not know how it differs from the earlier version.
• WARNING: I do not know where these utilities come from or what they might do to your system. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.
• Usage is self-explanatory. Navigate to the backup folder and press the "Modify" button. Some flags are set in the backup catalog data.

AVCHD

• This is a supported format for use in high definition video cameras. See: AVCHD. The file formats and directory layout are very similar to Blu-ray video.

• If necessary, simply create an empty folder named AVCHD (exact spelling and uppercase) and move the BDMV folder etc into it.

• For example:

  Before:

  My Movie / BDMV (and other folders...)
  

  After:

  My Movie / AVCHD / BDMV (and other folders...)
  

The rules

• Blu-ray requires the bdmv_modify utility, UHD does not.
• On USB storage, the AVCHD folder is not required for either Blu-ray or UHD.
• On SMB and NFS shares, the AVCHD folder is required for both Blu-ray and UHD.

Recommendation

To make it easy:

• Always use an AVCHD folder whether you need it or not.
• Run bdmv_modify on the Blu-ray backups.

How do I access SMB shares on Windows 10?

Introduction

Home networking is often difficult and for some reason MS Windows networking is even more difficult.

I do not use Windows myself so to help all I can do is reproduce what others have said has worked for them.

It is frustrating, but people report all sorts of different things have worked. I have not seen an authoritative recipe that works for everyone.

If you have corrections or other approaches, please send me your comments and I will gratefully add them.

General tips

• When testing network changes, to be absolutely sure the change is in effect, reboot every component: player, computer, and even the router for good luck.
• Use OPPO's "Energy Efficient" mode to do a more complete network refresh:
  • Stop any content that might be playing.
  • Set Setup -> Device Setup -> Standby Mode to "Energy Efficient".
  • Turn the player off and on again.

Turn on SMB1 (thanks Jed1)

With Windows:

• Open Control Panel
• Select Programs
• Select Turn Windows Features On and Off
• Scroll down to SMB 1.0 file sharing support
• Click on the + symbol
• Make sure all 3 boxes are checked
• Click OK.

It should work now

In Windows 10 Home (version 1809), turning on SMB 1.0 is messier than it used to be (thanks Carl):

• type "Control Panel" in the taskbar's search field
• click "control-panel desktop app"
• click "programs and features"
• in the upper left corner, click "turn windows features on or off"
• scroll down to "SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support"
• click on the "+" symbol
• Make sure all 3 boxes are checked
• click "ok"
• click "restart now"

File sharing (thanks pbarach)

This is probably an issue with some of the Windows 10 file-sharing settings. If you get it working, remember what you did because sometimes Windows updates will change these settings. There are probably similar steps to follow if you've got Win 7 or 8.

First, have you turned on sharing for your Music library?

Once you've done that, try these steps:

• Go to Settings, then choose Network and Internet.
• Click "sharing options"
• Under "Private (current profile), click "Turn on file and printer sharing."
• Under "Guest or Public," also turn on file and printer sharing.
• Scroll down to All Networks and click the down arrow to open some more items below. Scroll all the way down and select "turn off password-protected sharing."
• Turn off the player, reboot your computer.
• When the computer is up, turn on the player and you should be able to access your music files without a password.
• If you don't feel like having the TV on, you can use the OPPO Media Control app on an iOS device, Android phone or tablet, or Amazon Fire HD tablet to see the file titles on your PC and play them. The portable device must be on the same WiFi network as the player.

Use other device as master browser

If you search the web for "windows 10 master browser smb" you find a large amount of discussion about this. If I am reading it correctly, a Windows 10 update between versions 1607 and 1703 altered system behavior such that when a computer with the updated version becomes the Master Browser then SMB shares are no longer accessible.

The solution is to have some other computer with an earlier operating system be the first to start up, letting it become the Master Browser. Even some routers can serve this function.

Re-enable guest access

This article from TechJourney has the details: Cannot Connect to CIFS / SMB / Samba Network Shares & Shared Folders in Windows 10.

Give up

Stop using Windows for file storage and switch to Linux or an NAS device.

Or: switch to DLNA. It does not support directory-oriented structures like full-disc backups, but single-file formats will work.

Or: try NFS file sharing, which like SMB does support directory-oriented structures like full-disc backups. See: How do I access NFS shares on Windows 10?

How do I access NFS shares on Windows 10?

NFS is an alternative to SMB. It is more commonly used on unix systems but can work on Windows.

Thanks to Flavio S for contributing this procedure.

• download and install WinNFSd from https://github.com/winnfsd/winnfsd/releases.

• it is a simple .exe and don't even need to be "installed", just create a folder (like C:\WinNFSd\) and move it there.

• they have some docs explaining on how to mount a single folder, but since I wanted/needed to mount a few here's what I did:

  1. you need to create a file called "exports.txt" and add the full path for the folder you want to mount per line (there's a tutorial saying you should skip line 1 for some problems, I didn't test this and just started typing on line 2), you need to specify the full path for each folder in each line (for example: C:\Media\Movies)

  2. save this file in the WinNFSd folder you created before

  3. create another file called "nfsservice.bat" and place this file on the same folder

  4. edit the .bat file and paste this line:

     winnfsd.exe -id 0 0 -log off -pathFile "C:\WinNFSd\exports.txt"

  5. now we need to add the .bat file to the Startup folder:

  1. open the file location in Windows Explorer
  2. press Windows logo key + R and type: shell:startup
  3. then select OK. This opens the Startup folder
  4. on startup window:
     1. right click -> new shortcut
     2. point the new shortcut to the .BAT file you created on step "c"
     3. either restart the computer or just double click the .BAT file to execute it (which I find it's faster to test if things went right)
     4. open Task Manager (CTRL + SHIFT + ESC) and check for a Background Process called "NFS Server for windows". If it's there you're good to go!

• now we're good to go to, the last step is check if you have a firewall on your Windows and make sure you open all communications between the player and Windows. I will add an example for Norton:

  1. first we need to fix the IP address for the player. Open your router admin pages and create a "rule" to always assign the same IP address for your player (you can find the IP address in the player's settings to make things easier)
  2. as I'm using Norton Security I needed to add a rule granting all kinds of communication in and out in between the player and the Desktop
  3. very important: make sure that this new rule will supersede any other rules blocking access to your Windows PC (in my case I had to move this new Rule I created to the very top of the list, making it like "the most important" rule there)

• If everything worked you can now try and access the NFS server from the player and you're good to go!

Is there a listing of the Setup options and their defaults?

Yes: UDP-203 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.

What do I do if a disc will not play?

First: wash it.

Yes, even if the disc looks new, flawless, pristine. I was skeptical at first, but years of experience with Blu-ray convinced me. I have rescued a great many discs that would not work in the player or mount on a computer this way.

Immaculate discs may have invisible films from manufacturing that will interfere with playback. UHD discs are even more sensitve to films, dust, and fingerprints than Blu-ray.

This is what I do:

• Put the disc in a sink, label side down, data side up.
• Run hot tap water over it for a minute or more.
• Lightly sponge the data side with dish soap. Work radially, from the center to the edge. Never rub an optical disc in a circular motion around the hub.
• Give it a good long rinse with hot water.
• Dry with a soft cloth. I actually use paper towels. The coating on Blu-ray and UHD is pretty tough, but treat it gently.

My totally unsubstantiated theory is that the plastic of these discs sometimes has internal stresses from manufacturing that causes them to spin funny. (Like a potato chip?) The heat and pressure of scrubbing them releases the stress, making them more playable.

Note that CDs and DVDs have softer coatings which are more scratchable, but which can be polished out with liquid abrasives. I would not try that on Blu-ray or UHD. Useless. Unwise.

How do I recover from loss of video signal?

Start by doing a complete reboot of the player:

1. Power down
2. Pull the wall plug
3. While still unplugged, press and hold Front Panel Power button for a few seconds -- this is to discharge any residual power
4. Plug back in
5. If there is disc already in the player, power up with the Eject button

If that doesn't cure it, press Resolution button, lower left on the remote. One of three things will appear in the front panel: Auto, Custom, or Source Direct. Use Up/Down Arrow to change to to Source Direct and then press Enter. This selects Source Direct output.

If that doesn't cure it, put an SD-DVD in the tray and play it. That will put 480i video out on the HDMI cable (since you set Source Direct output above).

If still no luck, try again with your tests of a different HDMI cable and a different input into the TV, but now with this 480i signal.