Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Dolby Atmos and audio drop outs

I have an Oppo BDP-93 and I use a Dennon 4311 for a pre-amp. 9.2 PLZ set up.

So far, every BR disk we have watched had some sort of audio issue. Either complete momentary drop outs, clicks, or other oddities.

I just don't have the patience to surf AVS for the cause. Any quick suggestions that do not include buying a new BR player and AVR/Pre amp? I'm waiting for true 4K before I upgrade anything, and that will be a complete room overhaul.

I have an OPPO BDP-103D and have the occasional audio dropout where I have to hit the chapter back button to fix it. Or, if I pause it for a several minutes, it takes it a while to get started again in jerky motions. You would think as much as these blu-ray players cost (mine was $600), that it would have fewer and not more problems.

I think it's just an OPPO issue. Good quality audio and video, when it works.

Over the years, I have had a series of Oppo players up to and including my current BDP105 and never experienced such issues with any of them. I would suggest, however, from my own experience, rather than surfing the net for possible solutions to any problems, contact Oppo directly for advice. They are often pretty quick to respond.

Try setting Secondary Audio to OFF in the OPPO if it is ON.

My 3 year old inexpensive Sony BDR has performed flawlessly over its life so far. It is 1/6 the cost of the OPPO & it is doubtful that anyone could hear or see much, if any, difference in the sound or picture. Plays SACDs beautifully as well.

When it dies, it will go to the electronics recycler & I'll get another one for probably even a lower price...

TAM

I would check for a firmware update.

The Oppo firmware is up to date. The AVR, not so much. I reckon that would be the first place to start.

I use the Oppo players because they play well my Lumagen XS. I sent the XS the raw video output.

I did a quick search at AVS, despite my earlier declaration that I wouldn't. It's hard to interpret comments, but it would appear that there is a hardware issue with the older units and Atmos, bitstream. If the comments I skimmed through are correct, I either need to upgrade to a unit with the "5" designation, or send my AVR PCM.

I'll just give Oppo a call.

I am confused. What does Atmos have to do with this? The 4311 can not do Atmos. Why would you even choose playing the Atmos soundtrack?

Cause Atmos is the coded sound track on some of the newer BR disks. There is no other choice, unless you speak a different language than English. Something to do with new anti-copy write crap the studios are using now.

So far, two disks that come to mind with these drop outs are Expendables 3 and John Wick.




Response from Oppo on this......

"This is a limitation of the player's hardware due to changes in the encoding standard for Dolby Digital TrueHD soundtracks that use Seamless Branching. This is not something that we will be able to fix through a future firmware release."

I doubt they will ever stop pirating. But it is good for the hardware makers. Soon we will have new 4k bluray drives for ripping , Oppo et el will make another BDP-XXX and we will be drug into another upgrade cycle against our will. My BDP-93 is like new and cost 500 and now they want me to do it all over again. I pay the penalty for a bunch of neerdowells stealing a lousy friggin movie. T

Technology is great, it just lasted too long.

Yeah, don't bitstream = no Atmos

Secondary audio already off.

Has latest version of firmware.

Man I hate to have to send it back. My only player. Bought through Amazon.

The guys at AVS say the 100 series Oppo players do not have this problem. For whatever that's worth......

That sucks. FWIW I have a PS4, bitstream Atmos soundtracks without issues.

Mine is a 103D. Isn't that the 100 series?

Yep. So whatever problems you are having, should not be what I’m dealing with.

And to be clear, this audio drop out thing I'm talking about is not "just" Atmos. It's this new “seamless branching” thing. I have had audio drop outs during intense (re: action) sound tracks on every single Atmos blueray disk so far. If I change the audio output on my bdp-93 to LPCM, from Bitstream (or auto), the drop outs do not occur. I called Oppo and they confirmed this, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to call Oppo yourself and make sure your issues are not what I’m dealing with. Actually, it would be very helpful to know your drop outs are being caused by “seamless branching”, and not something else, so I don’t waste another $500 on a player that has the same limitations as the player I have now.

I experienced another audio dropout yesterday, watching the 2nd half of Lawrence of Arabia. It was during a rather quiet scene. I hit the chapter back button, and audio was back.

Which film company put that movie out brian. From what I have read its Lions Gate that's getting the finger wag. I watched MockingJay yesterday and it had multiple audio glitches though the onscreen menu did not pop up like it does when audio is changed or interrupted.

We watched that one the other night. About five minutes into it, I got audio drop outs. I went into the Oppo menu, changed the audio output from Auto to LPCM and had no further drop outs.

I suppose it’s not that big of a deal really. Just an inconvenience. I think I may just hold off on buying a new player for a while. My luck, I’d buy one tomorrow, then Oppo will announce a new player two weeks from now…..

Lawrence of Arabia is Columbia Pictures.

I'll try the LPCM setting and see what happens.

This is asking a lot Cat but try Hunger Games mockingjay and see how it works on the 103. PS - Not the greatest movie.

With current settings, I had 1 dropout at the beginning of a chapter with movie "John Carter on Mars".

Yeah, I didn't care much for the 2nd movie, so doubtful if I ever get the 3rd unless/until I can pick it up for $5.

Your not missing much LOL , not sure I would spend 5 bux to buy it or not . Have you watched John Wick, apparently its another movie that is problematic.

Never heard of John Wick.

I watched the first half of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, last night in 3D. Not a single problem. Great movie, btw.

The 3D versions of The Hobbit movies come on 2 blu-ray disks, each containing half of the movie.

I have a new reason to buy a new player now. My BD83 is misbehaving. It's been a good player, but i think it's just too long in the tooth. I've already sent it back to Oppo for repair.

So, my question is.....

Are there other BD players I should be looking at, or is the Oppo still the darling BR player on the market?

If I buy another Oppo, it'll be the Darbee model (103D). At $600, Oppo is no longer a low cost bargain.