OPPO BDP-103 and BDP-105 Networking Universal 3D Blu-ray Players (part4)

Thanks, I may try that. A friend told me, he had to manually configure the set up after hooking up with an Ethernet cable, and it worked. He said for some reason he could not get the download to work, when he simply used the scan option to connect the player to his network. He suggested I start at the beginning, and choose, new connection, and manually input all my config info like DNS, IP address, etc....that worked for him.

 

Did you install the latest firmware version? That app is supposed to be amazing after the firmware update. For instance, I can use the app to play a CD and switch songs, but it won't work if I put in an audio bluray (steven Wilson mastered Gentle Giant) if I want to browse the menu and select a specific option.

 

The 103 is a far better player than the 80. I still have my 80, use it for BD movies only as a transport.
BTW, did you know that Oppo released a new firmware for the 80 recently?

 

Yes I did. As soon as I got it connected on my wireless internet it detected the latest firmware and I just clicked yes to start downloading it. I am able to play SACDs and bluray audio (I only have Beck´s Sea Change on BR audio) and switch songs on my ipad. The only thing is that the cover art of the disc does not appear on my ipad if I am playing SACDs or BR, only when I am playing Cds.

 

Yes I did. The 80 is a great player and I made great use of it over the last 4 years, but most recently stopped reading DVDA and SACD. I contacted Oppo and they suggested I change the loader, but I prefer to upgrade to the 103 instead.

 

Upgrading firmware via the Internet was a hit or miss proposition for me. The USB stick solution was simple and reliable.

 

Thanks, I'm going to buy one tomorrow and go in that direction. I was on the phone with my internet provider and we determined that the network is fine, and in fact the Oppo is connected to my network but the issue seems to be with Oppo servers. For whatever reason the connection at that end cannot be made. Their customer service is back open on Monday, so I plan to give them a call.

 

I note that the Internet upgrade instructions say:

"Repeat from Step 2 above [i.e. repeat the process] until the player reports that it already has the latest version. This will ensure that the player downloads and installs all parts of the firmware update."

This suggests that the difficulty is not limited to you and me. And I have been successful over the Internet. But in the end the USB process was just easier.

 

Interesting. I just read on another forum that someone else was getting the exact error message I was getting today. He could not get the install done, and finally he wrote to Oppo and they told him to try resetting back to factory settings first, and then the update should happen automatically if it needed to. It did and he said it fixed the issue. I may try that, but I'm having too much fun listening to music with this new player, so I'll try it later. If I can't get it to work, I'll simply go the thumb drive route.

 

The jury is in.
Lossless playback to the Oppo 105 via WiFi sucks compared to discs and USB drives.

Your opinions are welcome, but wont sway mine.
I've been testing this for over a month now.
It's night and day.

The WiFi streamed files are muddy and dull in comparison.

I'm listening to Roxy Music's Always Unknowing streamed from the Mac, FLAC, vs a cd burned from the same FLAC. No comparison.

 

That makes since to me. Something irregular must have happened when you first set it up and now it may not be prompting itself to look and install the firmware. Just write down your setting first.
.

 

Hi Fi World magazine remarked on the quirks of the 105d. Not a dealbreaker for many obviously, but quirky nonetheless (especially if that's a problem for you!).

 

Curious as to whether you tested a network cable connection.

 

I've been so busy I have not tried it yet. Just loving this player out of the box. Also, in researching the issue it would appear I have the next latest version of the firmware. The newest issues fixes things that really doesn't affect me, as I'm not using the machine to watch movies. Also, I've decided to leave the unit hooked up to a smaller plasma monitor for menu navigation, as the IPad app is a joke, and really didn't meet my needs.

The Oppo is sounding great through a Marantz amp, like the two were really meant to pair together. It's a great little unit.

 

Why do you feel it's a joke? What features are you missing? I don't think there is anything of relevance that can't be done via the MediaControl app.

From the OPPO site:
"The OPPO MediaControl app turns your mobile device into a remote that provides complete control over your OPPO Blu-ray player. The app is able to browse media libraries, control playback of media files, and even turn the player on and off."

 

It crashes, very unstable. Also, it would appear the app is meant for people that are streaming music from their server. The app would allow the ease of navigating music folders you may have on your server. I don't stream music, only listen to physical media, so the app would not allow me to navigate the menu on say a bluray audio disc. You'd need a monitor for that.

At first I didn't want to connect the Oppo to a TV, as I'm not using it for movies, so I thought the app would work in my situation, but the app does not replace a monitor.

 

I've never tried to stream lossless music via WiFi with my 103 and doubt I ever will. I know very little if anything about playing music via WiFi. But I would think that if one is looking to have the best playback for their Hi-Res music doing it via WiFi wouldn't be the way to do it IMO.

Bill

 

My Squeezebox Touches deal with WiFi well (except that initial buffering can take a while). I haven't done an A/B.

 

John,

My lack of knowledge and experience with streaming music via WiFi goes without saying. But I would think the process of transmitting music wirelessly would not be as accurate as playing music through a wired connection or an actual disc. What are your thoughts on that?

Bill

 

The last time I checked it was not able to navigate Bluray or DVD menus on the iPad?

 

I don't know for sure either. That's why I asked whether HiFiGuy had tried a wired connection. In my experience, I will see the occasional buffering issue with WiFi (most commonly at the start-up of a hi-rez recording as noted). That can cause the music to stop. But beyond that I always thought it's a stream of data fed to a buffer. I don't think error correction is involved. (Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.)

One quirk I definitely noticed - when I sync Squeezeboxes so that they will all play the same music, I will often note a moment of hesitation (which makes it sound like the musicians lost the beat for an instant) near the beginning of a track. It was very annoying, so I rarely use that feature.

(Getting off-topic here with this discussion of Squeezeboxes)

 

That would be a bit much to expect, don't you think? It would basically require to play the disc via the OPPO on the iPad. I don't know how he menus could be shown on the iPad otherwise.

 

John,

Thanks for your thoughts . Any education I can get on this topic is appreciated. Yes a bit off topic but still on topic regarding the Oppo players playing music via WiFi.

Bill

 

I didn't mean to say I expected it, but it would be nice and it is something the app won't do that is part of the day-to-day operations of the Oppo (for many users).

 

IMO, it won't do it, because it can't do it. So, I never considered this to be a realistic feature that the app could have.