Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems HelpPlease - Looking to buy a new Blu-Ray player

Many thanks for first class and speedy answer. I did not know that all HDMI signals had to have a video stream. You have been very helpful.

A pleasure...anytime...

Joel,

Big thank you for helping us out. The info you have provided is just what i was looking for. Also a big thank you to both Ronnie and ASA Post for asking the right questions.

What do you set the Oppo 93 on in terms of audio output in the menu? You obviously need it to convert DTS MA and DOLBY THD internally before sending out to the HD621. Do either of the DTS or Dolby lights on the 861 come on when playing MA or True HD?

Thanks!

@ALL: I had a long conversion with BOTH Oppo and Netflix today and was advised that ultimately, via a firmware upgrade, Netflix, BlockBuster and otehr streaming will be extended to otehr regions with Canada -- where I live -- being 1 such region...

@LEPIN: You are most welcome..as far as your questions are concerned one would set the High Definition Audio to LPCM rather than bitsream..and, I can not answer the questions about the display on the 861 as I have left the fold and am now using an ADA Cinema Rhapsody MACH IV B which is why I was able to test the audio via both bitstream and LPCM...

HTH...

Yes, the Oppo is sending out PCM, so the 861 cannot know anything other than that.

Kal

Ronnie

Sorry to go OT but I would appreciate your advice. Would you set your BD player to output at 1080i, or native 1080p as suggested above? I am assuming the signal would be sent to a display with better processing than the player. Thanks.

Hi Asa
Personally, I would set ANY current Bluray Player (Sony PS3, Sony BDP, Pioneer, Oppo, Denon etc.) to output the NATIVE Content of the vast majority of Bluray Discs, i.e. 1080p/24

My rationale being that the Native Content of Bluray at 1080p/24fps is a long way forward of DVD's 576i / 480i Content and thus any Video Processing will only lead to visible issues. Better to let the Native (good quality) content get all the way to the Display (or possible a Video Processor)

As most Displays can now handle 24fps, I see no advantage to outputting at 50 or 60Hz, as the Player then needs to perform Processing, which may lead to undesirable artifacts. I would say that the only reason to output 50 or 60Hz is if your display does not support 24fps.

Likewise, I would turn off all Video Processing features (including those on the Pioneer and Denon)

I would do the above whether sending the 24fps Signal straight to a 1080 Display or to a Video Processor

Maybe others can comment on what the newer Lumagens can do for 1080p/24 material, but I suspect not a great deal

Hope that helps

@ Ronnie: I have the latest and greatest Lumagen offering and when playing blu-rays do not use any of its video processing capabilities *OTHER THAN* the CMS...

Hi Ronnie

Thanks for a characteristically illuminating answer.

Asa

The Radiance has a pretty sophisticated array of picture controls, however, I'd largely agree with Joel that for 1080p/24 Bluray most of them are not used. For those of us with an anamorphic lens setup, the Radiance is essential.

Also, it has been a while since I was shopping for a Bluray player, but it did seem as if a 'source direct' capability was becomming quite rare making 'native' display difficult. The oppos do it, but many of the other players I looked at did not.

I'd like to chip in with some experience of using a dozen Blu-ray players with as many amps and processors over the last couple of years. I have an Oppo BDP83, owned a NuForce Oppo, and placed an early order for the BDP93. I also have a Denon A1UDCI, which is the best-sounding stock BD player, and an LG BH200, which is the worst-sounding. These presently feed LPCM to an 861V4 + HD621.

The big surprise has been that BD players differ almost as much as CD transports, even when playing over HDMI. The HD621 needs LPCM, and the Ayre and big Denon are intended to provide just that - as well as they can. I haven't heard the Ayre, but my money says that will be the best yet.

Reading the Stereophile teaser for the Ayre ("state of the art measurements") I think that review will be worth waiting for. Oppo seem to be the player of choice for HH'ers, but I think it still limits what you can achieve via an HD621. Something compromised like the Audiolab 8000AP processor seems to let jitter through like a seive, and shows up huge differences between say the Oppo and the Denon. The HD621 narrows that gap effectively, but it still doesn't eliminate the differences between players, and you CAN do better than the stock Oppo.

IMHO, as long as the HD621 needs LPCM audio, its going to be somewhat susceptible to jitter from the source (and maybe other unknown nasties that separate audio + video HDMI outputs may help to avoid). So I'm convinced that there's a place for a better BD player, even where only the HDMI output is used. The best one I've heard is the Upgrade Company modified Oppo, but I expect the Modwright and Ayre variants are very good as well.

Nick

The problem with the Denon players, if you have SACD, is that they chop off resolution over HDMI. A non-starter for me therefore.