Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Restaurant at the End of Universe Hitchhikers - Meridian Equipment Oppo BDP-83 Universal Player with 4x SPDIF Powerbuy!

Gary,

Can you document all of the proper settings for the player

Secondary audio OFF
HDMI LPCM
SACD PCM
COAX out LPCM
LPCM rate 192k max or is it 96k?

What else?

Also, how are the jacks identified and labeled from left to right, is it still L/R, C/Sub, SL/R, BSL/R?


Steve

Steve, yes I do label all jacks but your layout is correct from left to right

I would put secondary audio left on, so you get those features, secondary audio only effect bistream output which we do not want in this case

your other settings are correct, put LPCM rate on 96K

why the speaker settings are resetting is beyond me, no other customers are reporting this at all, very weird for sure

thanks KJ, I will have your unit back to you very soon sir, thanks for your patience with it

I understand where you are coming from and you may order where you wish, however you will only get 4x SPDIF and my host of other mods from yours truly, I only offered region free to make customers happy, my specialty is other mods for sure

thanks anyway though

Gary,

"again everything was working perfect, all 4 PCM outputs are perfect"

So everyone knows... I recently found a condition where one or more outputs can on occasion mis-configure itself and you will get noise/distortion on an output, but never on all of them. Power cycle the card and the next time they all may work fine.

(Begin boring hardware explanation of the problem)

The problem is the chips I am using use the same set of pins as inputs (high or low) for configuring them and then after so many milliseconds of time after startup those pins immediately become outputs. I believe the problem pops up when the card is fed from a current limited 5v power source. What happens is in this case one or more chips lag behind the others on startup, they start running later then the others. So one or more of the chips configure themselves properly, then switch those pins to outputs and change the signal the lagging chips see which are still using those pins as inputs for configuration. As such those lagging chips configure themselves improperly and then don't properly read the serial data inputs which results in noise or distortion on their outputs. That is why when this occurs it will never occur on all four outputs, at least one will be working properly and it may or may not be the same one on multiple power cycles.

(End boring hardware explanation)

I have only seen this occur once on the 4x cards but I have altered their circuit slightly to correct for this. Gary you may have noticed in the last batch of cards you bought they had an additional capacitor on them. What that does is hold all the chips in a reset state longer while the card is first powered so that all chips start running at the same time and this corrects for this potential problem.

If all of Jim's outputs have noise in them then this isn't the issue at all. But if one or more do and if that potentially varies on power cycles then this could be the problem. Which is why I asked Jim to test each output.

Shawn

yes Shawn, I was wondering about that, glad to hear you took care of that

Jim, Shawn is dead right, you should connect the PCM outputs to a standard receiver on a digital coaxial input and check them out with a 7.1 channel blu-ray, each output will be a 2 channel 48khz signal in that usage

also make sure dynamic range control is turned to OFF in the Oppo menu, destroys the signal

Test results with 861 set for controller, 5500HC as master speaker.
Four formats tested: Bluray, SACD, DVD Audio and DVD
I listened with the three Oppo Multi channels connected to the 861 multi channel inputs MD1/D2/D3. STATIC was heard in all formats. It`s not present all the time but seems to emerge with louder, more energetic passages and at higher frequencies.

To simplify, I`ll refer to Oppo`s outputs as 1, 2 and 3, and the 861 inputs as D1 (for L/R), D2 (for C/LFE), and D3 for (Surr).

After hearing static with 3 channels connected, I cycled thru, listening to one output at a time. First, Oppo 1 into 861 D1. Then Oppo 1 into 861 D2 . Then Oppo 1 into 861 D3.

Then did the same with the Oppo 2 and Oppo 3 outputs. There were 9 tests for each of the media types (3 Oppo outputs times 3 861 inputs). Sorry if it`s not clear. Here`s where I heard the static:

Summary:
Bluray Static on Oppo 1 and 2 playing on 861 D1; Oppo 3 is OK on D1
SACD Static on Oppo 1, no sound on outputs 2 and 3
DVD Audio Static on Oppo 1 and 3, Oppo 2 seems ok.
DVD Video Static on Oppo 1, Oppo 2 and 3 seem OK

In all tests, no sound was heard when playing any of the Oppo outputs into 861 D2 and D3. Master speaker display says Data and either 88k or 96k for DVD. Not sure what accounts for this, the display message may hold a clue.

I`m pretty sure the Oppo 2 output is for the center channel as it plays only on the left speaker; not sure but this may be a mono signal.

One final point about the 861 config. It`s set as type 0 which is all analogue with LFE sub. I think I`ve read that this setting doesn`t matter, and that resetting it essentially means a full reconfigure. So I`m reluctant to change it to Type 3 - all digital because I don`t want to add a new variable but welcome opinions on this too.

I`ll post test details in a separate message, thinking that many won`t want to plow through more of this.

Hope this points to where the problem lies…Oppo or 861?

Details of test. I`m posting this in a second message because I`d guess not many want to plow through all of this. But these details may help zero in on what`s going on.

Bluray Berlin Concert.
Oppo reads BD MCH DTS-HD High Res 5.1
861 reads THX (preset for multi channel music)

Oppo 1 into 861 D1. STATIC. Center master speaker reads MHR 96k
No sound from Oppo 1 into 861 D2 or D3. Data 88k displayed on center master

Oppo 2 into 861 D1 STATIC.
No sound from Oppo 2 into 861 D2 or D3. Data 88k displayed on center master.

Oppo 3 into 861 D1 Seems ok…did not detect static even with volume turned up.
No sound when this output connected to 861 D2 or D3 and center displays Data 88k both times.

Switching to SACDBerlioz Symphony Fantastique
Oppo reads SACD
861 displays Digital PLII Movie
Center master reads MHR 96k

Oppo 1 into 861 D1 STATIC. No sound into 861 D2 or D3, display data 88k
Oppo 2 into D1. No sound but center display MHR 88k. No sound and display Data 88k with Oppo 2 into 861 D2 or D3.
Oppo3 into D1. No sound but center display MHR 88k. No sound and display Data 88k with Oppo 2 into 861 D2 or D3.

Then tried DVD Audio of Symphony Fantastique.
Oppo reads DVD A Multichannel
861 reads THX
Center master reads MHR 88k
Heard static from front speakers with 3 channel listening. Then individual tests:
Oppo 1 into 861 D1 STATIC
Oppo 2 into 861 D1. Did not hear static. It plays left speaker only (so Oppo 2 must be the center channel)
Oppo 3 into 861 D1. STATIC.

The other 6 tests (Oppo 1, 2 and 3 into 861 D2 and D3) produced no sound and the display was Data 88k.

DVD Norah Jones in New Orleans
Oppo reads DVD
861 reads THX (Multichannel preset)
Center master reads MHR96k

Oppo 1 into 861 D1. STATIC.
Oppo 2 and 3 into D1 seem ok
The other 6 tests (Oppo 1, 2 and 3 into 861 D2 and D3) produced no sound and the display was Data 96k.

I can repeat tests using a JVC receiver into a pair of old NHT speakers...but I did this back in June before sending the Oppo back to Gary.

Sorry to be a pain so the settings should be:

Secondary audio OFF
HDMI LPCM
SACD PCM
COAX out LPCM
LPCM rate 96k
Dynamic range control to OFF

What else?

Do the speaker settings apply or not?


S

Just a thought. Try the 861 inputs 4/5/6.

Jim,

Thanks, you didn't really need to try multiple formats. Just any one multi-channel format is fine.

"No sound from Oppo 1 into 861 D2 or D3. Data 88k displayed on center master"

Was the Meridian configured for a 6 channel MHR input here? If so it probably needs a carrier on D1 for it to lock onto data on D2 or D3. For this test I meant to use feed the Meridian as if it were a standard 2 channel SPDIF input, not the 3x SPDIF in.

"Bluray Static on Oppo 1 and 2 playing on 861 D1; Oppo 3 is OK on D1
SACD Static on Oppo 1, no sound on outputs 2 and 3
DVD Audio Static on Oppo 1 and 3, Oppo 2 seems ok.
DVD Video Static on Oppo 1, Oppo 2 and 3 seem OK"

If it were the problem I mentioned this doesn't make sense unless your power cycled the Oppo between formats? If it were the problem I mentioned the same outputs would work fine and the same outputs would be broken no matter what you played as those chips would be either configured correctly or not and that doesn't change based on format you play. They are only configured at power up and that doesn't change.

Shawn

Right, tried it but still have static throughout. Thanks