HTPC no more - DVDfile.com forum for DVD, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD

plissken99 · 02-22-2006, 11:30 PM

Well, for the past 3 years I have used an HTPC with Theater Tek software, until yesterday. I bought the Oppo upscaling DVD player and a device that converts DVI(and component) to VGA, bypassing HDCP. The Oppo actually doesn't use HDCP, but it'll be nice to have for Blu Ray. So I'm using a 23ft DVI cable(from Blue Jean cables), and a 2ft VGA cable from the device to the projector.

After about a half hour of calibration with the Oppo at 1080i, I am much happier with the image than I thought I would be. First off, I calibrated the color with Video Essensials, using the blue filter. All I had to do was increase saturation +1 in the players settings and it was dead on, I mean dead perfect! The colors are more accurate than I ever got with calibrating the HTPC, and man does it show. The next thing that struck me, even more so was how bright the image is, it reveals a lot more shadow detail than the HTPC did. It's hard to explain as the brightness and contrast levels were properly calibrated with the HTPC, but when calibrated the same way on the Oppo, it's just a much punchier and brighter image. This may in part be to the fact that I was using a 30ft 5 BNC cable from the HTPC, and with the Oppo, the signal only turns analog until 2ft before it hits the projector.

The image is noticably sharper, I'm seeing even more flaws inherent to older DVDs, where the HTPC was much kinder

. I'm really liking the True Life feature, really makes the image 'pop'

. I don't care for the noise reduction though, it introduces motion artifacts, especially with anything higher than the low setting. Perhaps if I'm watching an old DVD with lots of noise in the picture I'll turn it on low. It does signifigantly lower the mosquito noise you get in older DVDs, but the cost is kinda steep, it's not bad on low though.

And the Oppo is region free(easy remote hack), displays PAL and NTSC, and even converts PAL to NTSC if necissary. It plays DVD+Rs recorded from my STB recorder, and DL DVD+Rs easily, the HTPC would never play either of those. It can scale non anamorphic letterbox material to properly fill a 16:9 screen, but it hurts the PQ as when you zoom, it uses the MDK chip, not the Farjouda. Haven't found anything noteworthy to complain about yet, I just know I won't miss HTPC DVD playback one bit!

Pirate · 02-22-2006, 11:35 PM

Got a link to the player?

I know you have that kick ass CRT PJ, would this make a difference to us LCD PJ folks?

-PH

plissken99 · 02-22-2006, 11:39 PM

Here ya go http://www.oppodigital.com/ .

Oh it'll definitly make a difference with digital projectors, especially since you have a digital input, no need to convert to analog like I had to. If your pj is natively 720p as so many are, you can do 1:1 pixel mapping on your projector. The Oppo outputs DVI, but they actually include a DVI to HDMI cable if thats the only digital input you have. This thing tops the DVD Secrets chart, the only thing better(IMHO) is a $3,200 Denon 5900.

Pirate · 02-22-2006, 11:42 PM

Is the player all region? That's a nice price for the ammount this thing can do!

EDIT: nevermind, I see your note on the "remote hack"

-PH

Pirate · 02-22-2006, 11:46 PM

This would mean I'd have to leave my beloved Pioneer ELITE brand.

-PH

tomdkat · 02-22-2006, 11:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plissken99

The Oppo actually doesn't use HDCP, but it'll be nice to have for Blu Ray.

What makes you say this? I found THIS in the Oppo FAQ.

Peace...

dugpa · 02-23-2006, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdkat

What makes you say this? I found THIS in the Oppo FAQ.

I think what they mean is that it will work with an HDCP set with no problem. The DVD player itself isn't HDCP compliant in that it doesn't pass an HDCP signal, which would be kind of pointless anyway since there are no DVDs that us HDCP. What they're saying is that a device with an HDCP DVI input will play it with no problem, the absence of it isn't required to play back. The only place where no HDCP would come into play was if you had a HD device or set that wasn't HDCP compliant and were trying to play back content that included HDCP protection. DVDs don't, so again there's really no reason for the Oppo to included it. A non-HDCP compliant source should work fine into an HDCP compliant display, but an HDCP encoded sourced into a non-HDCP-compliant display wouldn't.

plissken99 · 02-23-2006, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugpa

I think what they mean is that it will work with an HDCP set with no problem. The DVD player itself isn't HDCP compliant in that it doesn't pass an HDCP signal,

Exactamundo.

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 12:34 AM

Duh!

Thanks...

Peace...

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 06:13 PM

plissken,

Can I ask you why you decided to go with this player with HD around the corner? Since this payer is in the $200 range, why not spend the extra cash and get the Toshiba HD Player ?

-PH

plissken99 · 02-23-2006, 07:25 PM

It was an executive decision. The HTPC was giving me all kinds of crap with DVD playback(wouldn't read about 1 in 5 discs anymore). I had determined it wasn't the physical DVD-roms drives fault. I had reformatted to see if it was a software problem, no change. So the only likely option was to get a new motherboard and CPU, which I didn't want to do as this thing has always given me some problem or another since day 1, so I decided to go with the Oppo. The $200 for the DVI device hurt, but I'd need something like that anyway when I get an HD Tivo, as my projector has no component input either.

Why I didn't wait for that HD-DVD player? I don't pretend to know how this war will turn out, but my money is not on HD-DVD, even IF I liked the format better than Blu Ray, I'd still think Blu Ray would win. I plan to wait and see how the war goes(for a time), and the Oppo is a good reliable player that will help me wait it out. Course I'll have a PS3, so I'll start buying some Blu Ray titles then.

Finally, the Oppo is a player that came out years after DVDs launch, and does everything perfectly. Who's to say a dedicated HD-DVD/Blu Ray player will upscale old DVDs as well? Upscaling DVDs will afterall be a secondary function.

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 07:58 PM

Well that’s a good answer. I agree that Blu Ray seems to be the Beta of the two, but I really am torn on what player to buy. I want the best quality I can get with the PJ I have. It's hard because I spent $700 on my Pioneer player and now I see these obviously superior players for half that.

-PH

plissken99 · 02-23-2006, 08:27 PM

Yep, I spent $1,100 on the HTPC. Back then there was no wonder player like the Oppo, or even upscaling players. I've heard Pioneer players are reliable, but they never rank very high on the shootout. The Oppo doesn't cost much, and you can always Ebay the Pioneer.

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 08:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piratehunter

It's hard because I spent $700 on my Pioneer player and now I see these obviously superior players for half that.

Which Pioneer unit did you get?

Peace...

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 08:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Which Pioneer unit did you get?

Peace...

DV-45A

-PH

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plissken99

Yep, I spent $1,100 on the HTPC. Back then there was no wonder player like the Oppo, or even upscaling players. I've heard Pioneer players are reliable, but they never rank very high on the shootout. The Oppo doesn't cost much, and you can always Ebay the Pioneer.

But I want it in black!

-PH

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piratehunter

DV-45A

Ouch.

Peace...

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Ouch.

Peace...

I like the player, but it became outdated so quickly.

Now I have to decide if I want to spend $200 on the Oppo or $400 on the Toshiba. I guess I should wait for reviews to surface on the Toshiba.

-PH

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 10:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piratehunter

Now I have to decide if I want to spend $200 on the Oppo or $400 on the Toshiba.

Another option is to give ME $600. I play HD DVDs very well and I upconvert too!

Peace...

Pirate · 02-23-2006, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Another option is to give ME $600. I play HD DVDs very well and I upconvert too!

Peace...

Hey, If you can fit on top of my receiver...

-PH

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by piratehunter

Hey, If you can fit on top of my receiver...

That will be extra. Send me a PM for details.

Peace...

dugpa · 02-23-2006, 11:16 PM

But are you bug free?

tomdkat · 02-23-2006, 11:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugpa

But are you bug free?

Of course! Those shots I got last week made the itch go away immediately!

Peace...

plissken99 · 02-25-2006, 12:29 AM

I do wish the Oppo was black, however my new solution of hiding the A/V rack makes that a non issue. Now that I've watched a few things, I feel even better about it. Something I forgot about... SMOOTH PANNING SHOTS! Because you can never really get an HTPC to properly match a DVDs refresh rate, you get jumpy panning shots, with a STB player their smooth!

Also, I wasn't expecting this, so I assume it's real. But the sound quality is better! With the HTPC I was using a USB Soundblaster with optical out. Using the optical out of the Oppo, I'm getting better sound out of it! it sounds less flat, more dynamic somehow. My only guess at this, is that the sound was going through some kind of conversion in the soundcard before it hit the reciever, that it's not going through now. I know people can make themselves perceieve a quality increase if they aren't careful, but since I wasn't expecting one, I have to assume that it's genuine, I always thought optical was optical.

tomdkat · 02-25-2006, 12:37 AM

Did you have DD and dts playback capability with your HTPC as well?

Peace...

plissken99 · 02-25-2006, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomdkat

Did you have DD and dts playback capability with your HTPC as well?

Peace...

Oh sure, if not I would have ditched it long ago.

***1138*** · 02-25-2006, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by plissken99

My only guess at this, is that the sound was going through some kind of conversion in the soundcard before it hit the reciever, that it's not going through now.

Couldn't be that because those cards can't output a DD 5.1 or DTS 5.1 signal. They can only pass them through.

tomdkat · 02-25-2006, 01:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1138

Couldn't be that because those cards can't output a DD 5.1 or D

02-22-2006, 11:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
plissken99 Actor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dallas, Ft Worth	HTPC no more Well, for the past 3 years I have used an HTPC with Theater Tek software, until yesterday. I bought the Oppo upscaling DVD player and a device that converts DVI(and component) to VGA, bypassing HDCP. The Oppo actually doesn't use HDCP, but it'll be nice to have for Blu Ray. So I'm using a 23ft DVI cable(from Blue Jean cables), and a 2ft VGA cable from the device to the projector. After about a half hour of calibration with the Oppo at 1080i, I am much happier with the image than I thought I would be. First off, I calibrated the color with Video Essensials, using the blue filter. All I had to do was increase saturation +1 in the players settings and it was dead on, I mean dead perfect! The colors are more accurate than I ever got with calibrating the HTPC, and man does it show. The next thing that struck me, even more so was how bright the image is, it reveals a lot more shadow detail than the HTPC did. It's hard to explain as the brightness and contrast levels were properly calibrated with the HTPC, but when calibrated the same way on the Oppo, it's just a much punchier and brighter image. This may in part be to the fact that I was using a 30ft 5 BNC cable from the HTPC, and with the Oppo, the signal only turns analog until 2ft before it hits the projector. The image is noticably sharper, I'm seeing even more flaws inherent to older DVDs, where the HTPC was much kinder . I'm really liking the True Life feature, really makes the image 'pop' . I don't care for the noise reduction though, it introduces motion artifacts, especially with anything higher than the low setting. Perhaps if I'm watching an old DVD with lots of noise in the picture I'll turn it on low. It does signifigantly lower the mosquito noise you get in older DVDs, but the cost is kinda steep, it's not bad on low though. And the Oppo is region free(easy remote hack), displays PAL and NTSC, and even converts PAL to NTSC if necissary. It plays DVD+Rs recorded from my STB recorder, and DL DVD+Rs easily, the HTPC would never play either of those. It can scale non anamorphic letterbox material to properly fill a 16:9 screen, but it hurts the PQ as when you zoom, it uses the MDK chip, not the Farjouda. Haven't found anything noteworthy to complain about yet, I just know I won't miss HTPC DVD playback one bit! __________________ “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Snake Plissken Plissken's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray collection And Plissken's home theater

02-22-2006, 11:35 PM	#2 (permalink)
Pirate Moderator Emeritus Loves Yellow Subtitles Join Date: Jun 2003	Got a link to the player? I know you have that kick ass CRT PJ, would this make a difference to us LCD PJ folks? -PH __________________ Early Adopting So You Don’t Have To.

02-22-2006, 11:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
plissken99 Actor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dallas, Ft Worth	Here ya go http://www.oppodigital.com/ . Oh it'll definitly make a difference with digital projectors, especially since you have a digital input, no need to convert to analog like I had to. If your pj is natively 720p as so many are, you can do 1:1 pixel mapping on your projector. The Oppo outputs DVI, but they actually include a DVI to HDMI cable if thats the only digital input you have. This thing tops the DVD Secrets chart, the only thing better(IMHO) is a $3,200 Denon 5900. __________________ “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Snake Plissken Plissken's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray collection And Plissken's home theater

02-22-2006, 11:42 PM	#4 (permalink)
Pirate Moderator Emeritus Loves Yellow Subtitles Join Date: Jun 2003	Is the player all region? That's a nice price for the ammount this thing can do! EDIT: nevermind, I see your note on the "remote hack" -PH __________________ Early Adopting So You Don’t Have To.

02-22-2006, 11:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
Pirate Moderator Emeritus Loves Yellow Subtitles Join Date: Jun 2003	This would mean I'd have to leave my beloved Pioneer ELITE brand. -PH __________________ Early Adopting So You Don’t Have To.

02-23-2006, 12:34 AM	#9 (permalink)
tomdkat Official Forum Warmonger "Dial Tone" Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Hayward, CA, USA	Duh! Thanks... Peace... __________________ My DVD Aficionado List "At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we shall have revenge!"

02-23-2006, 06:13 PM	#10 (permalink)
Pirate Moderator Emeritus Loves Yellow Subtitles Join Date: Jun 2003	plissken, Can I ask you why you decided to go with this player with HD around the corner? Since this payer is in the $200 range, why not spend the extra cash and get the Toshiba HD Player ? -PH __________________ Early Adopting So You Don’t Have To.

02-23-2006, 07:25 PM	#11 (permalink)
plissken99 Actor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dallas, Ft Worth	It was an executive decision. The HTPC was giving me all kinds of crap with DVD playback(wouldn't read about 1 in 5 discs anymore). I had determined it wasn't the physical DVD-roms drives fault. I had reformatted to see if it was a software problem, no change. So the only likely option was to get a new motherboard and CPU, which I didn't want to do as this thing has always given me some problem or another since day 1, so I decided to go with the Oppo. The $200 for the DVI device hurt, but I'd need something like that anyway when I get an HD Tivo, as my projector has no component input either. Why I didn't wait for that HD-DVD player? I don't pretend to know how this war will turn out, but my money is not on HD-DVD, even IF I liked the format better than Blu Ray, I'd still think Blu Ray would win. I plan to wait and see how the war goes(for a time), and the Oppo is a good reliable player that will help me wait it out. Course I'll have a PS3, so I'll start buying some Blu Ray titles then. Finally, the Oppo is a player that came out years after DVDs launch, and does everything perfectly. Who's to say a dedicated HD-DVD/Blu Ray player will upscale old DVDs as well? Upscaling DVDs will afterall be a secondary function. __________________ “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Snake Plissken Plissken's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray collection And Plissken's home theater Last edited by plissken99 : 02-23-2006 at 07:31 PM.

02-23-2006, 07:58 PM	#12 (permalink)
Pirate Moderator Emeritus Loves Yellow Subtitles Join Date: Jun 2003	Well that’s a good answer. I agree that Blu Ray seems to be the Beta of the two, but I really am torn on what player to buy. I want the best quality I can get with the PJ I have. It's hard because I spent $700 on my Pioneer player and now I see these obviously superior players for half that. -PH __________________ Early Adopting So You Don’t Have To.

02-23-2006, 08:27 PM	#13 (permalink)
plissken99 Actor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dallas, Ft Worth	Yep, I spent $1,100 on the HTPC. Back then there was no wonder player like the Oppo, or even upscaling players. I've heard Pioneer players are reliable, but they never rank very high on the shootout. The Oppo doesn't cost much, and you can always Ebay the Pioneer. __________________ “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Snake Plissken Plissken's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray collection And Plissken's home theater

02-23-2006, 11:16 PM	#22 (permalink)
dugpa Nothing But the Best Join Date: Sep 2004	But are you bug free? __________________ DVD collection LD collection Will rent this sig space for blu-ray discs.

02-25-2006, 12:29 AM	#24 (permalink)
plissken99 Actor Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Dallas, Ft Worth	I do wish the Oppo was black, however my new solution of hiding the A/V rack makes that a non issue. Now that I've watched a few things, I feel even better about it. Something I forgot about... SMOOTH PANNING SHOTS! Because you can never really get an HTPC to properly match a DVDs refresh rate, you get jumpy panning shots, with a STB player their smooth! Also, I wasn't expecting this, so I assume it's real. But the sound quality is better! With the HTPC I was using a USB Soundblaster with optical out. Using the optical out of the Oppo, I'm getting better sound out of it! it sounds less flat, more dynamic somehow. My only guess at this, is that the sound was going through some kind of conversion in the soundcard before it hit the reciever, that it's not going through now. I know people can make themselves perceieve a quality increase if they aren't careful, but since I wasn't expecting one, I have to assume that it's genuine, I always thought optical was optical. __________________ “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” Snake Plissken Plissken's DVD, HD-DVD and Blu Ray collection And Plissken's home theater

02-25-2006, 12:37 AM	#25 (permalink)
tomdkat Official Forum Warmonger "Dial Tone" Join Date: Sep 2000 Location: Hayward, CA, USA	Did you have DD and dts playback capability with your HTPC as well? Peace... __________________ My DVD Aficionado List "At last we shall reveal ourselves to the Jedi, at last we shall have revenge!"