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!

Hope this is my last report on this Oppo with these problems.

Gary, sent a PM with a little more info for you only.

Starting with Monday night, asked my wife and daughter if they`d like to watch a Bluray Laura Croft tomb Raider movie. Gary left this disk in the Oppo drawer when he sent it back to me. They were willing, but didn`t give the movie high marks. But it played beginning to end without static. When over, keeping the power on, I played the Leonard Cohen CD and the Berlin Concert Bluray disks and both erupted as they have before with static.

Then Tuesday, I did the tests as requested by Gary and Shawn after confirming the settings as spec`d by Gary with downmix to 7.1 as Gary recently stated.

Moved the Oppo to our front room Pioneer CD/JVC receiver/NHT stereo setup. I tested the Pioneer with the Leonard Cohen disk that the Oppo can`t play. It worked fine on the Pioneer/JVC.

Time for the Oppo. Plugged it in, powered it on and started with the Cohen disk listening on Oppo 1 output. Instant static! No sound from Oppo 2 or 3 as expected on a CD.

Switched to a random CD titled Playing for Change. 1st 10 seconds are a speaking voice and guitar strumming, no problem. At about 10 seconds in, loud static as singing starts.

Switched to the Bluray Berlin concert disk, still within this power up cycle. It remembered where I stopped last night and started up at around the 40 minute mark. There is a loud crescendo coming up at around 40:30. At that point, loud static on Oppo 1 and Oppo 2. Oppo 3 (surrounds) is clear.

I powered down and unplugged the Oppo, waited a couple of minutes, powered back up and got the same result on the Bluray disk; corrupted output on 1 and 2, surrounds are clear.

Then unplugged again, went to back room TV and switched down mix to 5.1. All settings again verified as correct.

After 5 minute wait, back up front, plugged in, power on and same results. Static on 1 and 2, surround out is clear.

I`m done, taken up too much space in this thread. I think these tests conclusively show that this Oppo is badly compromised and unreliable and should be replaced.
There is no reason to suspect Meridian settings are causing these problems.

Gary, I`ve sent a pm indicating what I hope you`ll decide to do about this…what do you say as to next steps?

Just out of curiosity: would this noise/distortion be volume-dependent, or constant at all volumes?

Jim, I thought we have been over this already? I have sent you a working player twice now and if it is sent back again it will be the same

there is something wrong on your end, if you want to send it back again I will make a video proving that it is working 100% as normal, I had to do this one other time where a customer was claiming a SDI output wasn't working when it was and I made a video showing it was and returned it with the player and that was the end of that, if this would make you rest easier that I am not sending you a non working player then I would be glad to do it

so you did test it out on a regular pre-amp receiver like I asked? and the Tomb Raider BD worked perfectly? the problem is with the media you are using if the Tomb Raider BD is working fine, the mod doesn't work that way, working fine on one thing and static on something else, this is not a mod problem at all

thanks Jim, sorry you are having this problem

Gary,

I'm trying to stay objective here.

But JimK has gone above the call of duty trying to debug this.

If you have no idea what the problem is then I would try sending him an alternate unit and perhaps with the tweak shawn mentioned.

It certainly sounds like it could be the problem Shawn mentioned and it may depend on the power source on how it boots up.

There is nothing wrong on Jim's end, he has my 861

If there is a compatibility issue with Meridian equipment then you should be thanking Jim for the help in sorting it out. I'm sure others waiting inline are very concerned about the outcome and it's best for everyone concerned to resolve it quickly.

You certainly don't have that many shipped and there may be an issue.

Yes, we don't really want our modded players sent overseas discovering we got the same problem. Even though it may be no problem neither with this Oppo nor the mod, knowing JimK has a working setup would be nice...

Jim and I have been e-mailing back and forth on this and I agree with George. Jim has done everything possible to identify the problem. It's truly mistifying. But FWIW I have Gary's 4xSPDIF mod on my BD 83 and it works beautifully. Gary, just a thought: when Jim returns the Oppo if you don't have a replacement available install one of Shawn's updated boards. At least that will eliminate one variable.

Ken

There is not a simple answer to this.

There are four different data formats the chips support. Those are set by two pins being either high or low. Just about everything uses either one of two of those formats.

If the actual data of the player is in one specific format and the chips misconfigure themselves for one specific format (out of the four) you could have the situation where the audio below about 6dB from peak would sound OK but would be swapped left to right and right to left. Audio within about 6dB from 0dBFS will digitally clip/distort. As I recall this is the audio data being in 24 bit left justified format but the chip is configured for 24 bit I2S is when this happens.

If the chip configures itself for either of the other two formats (both 16 bit settings) you will just get bad noise/distortion and of course the last of the four settings would be the correct one.

When I determine the format of the data I always test with a source that I know hits 0dbFS to determine if L/R needs to be inverted or if the data format is simply wrong. The 'My Disc' CD has a 1kHz test tone at 0dBFS which makes it really easy to hear if it is clipping or not.

Shawn

I own a Pioneer Bluray player. I have seen many people complain of issues with certain discs, which were corrected by Pioneer supplying updated software. Could this possibly be a problem with all Oppo players for the particular problem discs in question?

The same was true of M's DVD-A players (back in the days of...). Certain DVD-A were not authored to spec so the firmware handling the disc had problems. M were keen to know which discs caused errors so they could adjust the f/w.

You can't rule it out.

Yes, of course JimK can try other CD's... But it's very troublesome when we know that each part works by itself... Both the Oppo, the mod, the modded Oppo, the Meridian setup...

Compatibility issues are the hardest to debug, I know that from 30 years worth of computer development.

Gary left a test disc in the player when he last shipped it to JimK. I think that rules out discs.

JimK, what mods did you get?

George, I got the full Meridian treatment. His test disk seems to have worked, mine don't.

Here are some new observations and comments for Gary while awaiting an opinion from Shawn.

Gary, I`m frustrated by all of this and probably any readers, too. I agree with some things you wrote, but not with your test philosophy and not with your service policy.

You believe your testing is definitive because you heard no flaws. And you claim this absence of evidence is proof that you have twice shipped a perfect product. I`ve reported consistent problems with all cds and all but the one multi channel Bluray which was yours, left in the Oppo when it shipped the second time. You claim that the one Bluray (that seemed to play without distortion) proves your case. You`ve explained my static as Oppo settings, something in the Meridian, and now there`s something wrong with all of my media.

But we need an explanation for why I'm hearing static and you do not. So much for philosophy.

My question about your customer service policy goes like this. You have said several times that you will support HHers who buy your product for 6 months or maybe more, up to a year. Yet you deny my listening experience. You believe you sent a working player and that's it, end of story. So no support, it`s my problem, not yours. That`s a very different cut on customer service from we get with Oppo, Meridian, others.

I`m hoping we could find a test disk that would be acceptable to you - how about the Spears and Munsil Bluray that came with the Oppo? It has several audio codec tracks (PCM, DTS HD, and Dolby True HD). Would you accept that this media is valid? If so, playing through Oppo/861 into my 5.0 system, here`s what I heard yesterday:

1. Montage in each of three formats is clean.
2. S&M intro in each of the three formats is questionable. It`s either a great special effect relating to the burning emblem/logo or it`s static. I can't tell.
3. With DTS HD MR 5.1, I have very loud static right at the start, and the initial sound is from the front right speaker but the picture flows left to right (inverted?)
4. With DTS HD MR 7.1. Same loud static. And the inversion is there…picture moves left to right but the sound starts in the right surround.
5. With Dolby True HD Same observations. Loud static and sound begins in right surround but picture comes left to right.

So with these sample codecs, there is sound distortion and inversion. This is a brand new Bluray test disk, came with the Oppo.

I also found an older CD test disk that you might also accept as valid. It`s The Ultimate Test CD published by ESX with Michael Fremer announcing 45 different tracks of tests. Here`s what I heard just listening for a few minutes.

On track 3, Fremer says this sound is coming from the left speaker. He then counts 1 to 10. On the Oppo, sound comes from the Right Front slave. On the Meridian 800, it comes from the left as it should.

On track 4, just the reverse. Fremer says Right, Oppo sound is from the left. 800 correctly from the right.

Then track 36, Night on Bald Mountain. 800 plays fine; Oppo has static, not as loud as on some media, but enough to make it unlistenable and risk damage to speakers.

I`ve sent all of this latest info over to Shawn. It seems this is what he`s been describing as a potential problem with his component. Specifically, inversion and sound distortion at 6db over some threshold, but I`m no expert and don't claim any technical understanding. I hope he`ll have time later to give us his opinion on what might be going on.

I also hope to get agreement on the next steps with you later today. Otherwise, I`ll be away until the end of the month and we won`t get the resolution that some HHers above (and over there) are waiting for. JimK