Has the Oppo carried the AV industry?


I looked through my last Widescreen Review magazine the other day (March issue), and I came accross the latest Oppo Bluray player review -didn't read it. In fact, I refuse to read yet another all-universe, all-everything, "the end-all-be-all", "greatest thing since sliced bread", "MUST HAVE", "there is none better", "will revolutionize your home theaters picture and sound quality, to world class levels" article, about the mythical Oppo player!!!..can't do it..WON'T DO IT! NO!!!
Over the last 13 years, I probably honestly read two (maybe three) entire Oppo Universal disc player reviews -start to finish -and other articles discussing Oppo mods and upgrades, articles/discussion that REFER to an Oppo player, as part of some reference system, and inevitably, I find that the Oppo reviews will JUST WON'T GO AWAY, APPARENTLY! They're like bunnies! They keep producing more of their kind, whether you want them to or not!
Lol -I'm just simply amazed by how much attention and press that a lowely disc player has obviously gotten over the years! Surely, owning an Oppo player must bee a system transforming experience! ..a "must have" item, no less. I must have missed out..cause I never owned one. In fact, never really cared to own one! I've been dazled by how good the quality of video processing has been in all the plain-Jane disc players, flat pannel display's, and even high end video projectors I've owned continue to supply me wiht! But, apparently, every one else bought the Oppo. Cause I surely, honesly, can't remember a year that's gone by in the past decade, where I don't rememer NOT reading somwhere about an Oppo player!
It's really felt, to me, like home entertainment AV products, and home theater in general, have been on a "demand" slide over the past decade! 7.1 and 1080p, Bluray, etc, have all been around long anough now, that it's kind of a "been there, had that" kind of feeling I get when I think about this hobby anymore. I guess life and priorities has weened me away from being a die-hard enthusiest now-a-days. And yet, I can't get the Oppo topic out of my thoughts, whenever I look at my gear!..and I don't think the hobby is going to let me forget much about it neither. lol!
Anyone else get the oppinion that this product surely has been single most important product in the AV industry, these past 10+ years?! Because it's certainly been the most talked about brand/topic I can remember reading about, if nothing else.
I really do think they'll be making Oppo's for the next 100 years, period! -even if they'll do 4k upscaling, 4k/8k future exact pixel mapping, wifi-HD streaming, toast your bread and make you breakfast, whatever! I'm thinking that these Oppo's just must have been so good, that no serious enthusiest, whatever-phile, or system owner should have ever considered "going without!"...otherwise, they missed out!?
Well anyway, anyone here who's used the Oppo think that the product has been a make-or-break, indespensible, product that really made all the differnence to the picture quality they achieved, or the sonic experience they got using these things? (I'm tickled pink by the digital AV processing advances I've gotten just upgrading processor and displays, year after year) I just want to somehow hear that I really missed out all these years, and the only important consideration I should have made was BUYING the Oppo! Cause at the very least, I'm not totaly convinced that Apple and Oppo aren't the same company, ..secretly.
100 more years of Oppo players?..servers?? -probably
avgoround
Avgoround,

You stated: "here's all im interested in, if it means needing to get ANY Oppo: One, I need to know if its possible to burn my bluray discs onto some hard drive, bit for bit (no loss of audio/video rez), and stream them through the Oppo? Ultimately, I want to get rid of all my Discs (going away anyway...let's be honest) and store them as exact copies, just like I heard some of the Kaleidascapes can do.
If the oppo simply is used as a player for my discs, Im less enthused. I'm sure it plays marginally better than standard $150 Bluray players for sound and vid, but im guessing that has much MUCH more to do with how well my projector and setup is calibrated and engineered, as well as the integrity of my audio system."

I am not currently using my NAS to store and playback video files wirelessly in combination with the Oppo. As I stated before, I am doing this with my entire CD collection and several 24bit/96khz hi-res downloaded music files.

However, it's my understanding that doing the same with video files is also possible with my current setup and I'll probably do this in the near future. My only reluctance is the increased storage usage of video files compared to audio files.

If you come to your senses and buy an Oppo, I think you can be doing the same if you want. I was unsure how to accomplish this at first, so I did a lot of online reading and research on computer audio (www.sounstream.com and www.computeraudiophile.com are 2 good sources of info). I also started a few threads here on Audiogon in the 'Digital' section of the Forums when I wanted questions answered and several fellow members were very helpful.

I now am very glad I did and have enough knowledge and experience to beconfident giving advice, especially with utilizing the Oppo in their setup.

If you're interested in setting up your own computer audio/video system, I'd be glad to assist you if you'd like. Just let me know.

To help you decide, I'll list some requirements you'll need to get started along with prices I paid for them:

1. Home wi-fi system with router that has an R-45 ethernet port(about $30 plus per month in most areas). The higher your internet speed the better but more speed= more $$.

2. Digital Media Renderer and Digital Media Player(DMR, DMP). The Oppo 103($499) and 105($1,199) serve as both providing the same high video quality but the 105 providing better audio quality. Each has a wireless USB dongle included for wireless streaming. Some will say you need to hardwire for best audio/video quality but I found this not to be true for me, at least for audio. I have no signal 'dropouts' and wireless and wired sounded identical on my system.

3. Digital Media Controller(DMC). I used my existing laptop but you could use a desktop or even a tablet. Im not sure of current costs on these.

4. Media center software. There are several options and I found J River Media Center($49) works very well for audio and handles video also but I have not used this capacity yet.

5. Network Attached Storage (NAS) which is the main storage device for all your video and audio files. The NAS is connected to your home wi-fi system via the router using an Ethernet cable with R45 connectors. There are several options with single or multiple bays for various sized hard drives bought separately. I bought a Synology R112j single-bay NAS for $150 and a 2 Terabyte(2 TB) hard drive for $89. Many recommend the use of a multiple bay NAS with multiple hard drives that basically mirror each other and, in case of hd failure, a remaining good drive takes over automatically so there's no down time. This is called a RAID system and the NAS itself is more expensive plus there's the extra cost of multiple hard drives.

I love my music but, in case of hard drive failure, I can get by without it for a short time while I replace the bad hard drive and reload my music files from my backup drive. I think RAID systems are unnecessarily complex and expensive but the choice is yours. I would definitely use a RAID if I was using it for a business but not my A/V files.

6. Backup hard drive. Hard drives do fail and you will need a system to guard against losing your files permanently. You'll therefore require an additional hd to consistently and frequently backup files to that is the same size or larger than your NAS drive. I use a Seagate Backup Plus 2 TB that I bought for $94. The unit is attached to the NAS via a USB cable and is programmed to backup all my files automatically every night while I'm sleeping.

7. Hard drive for NAS. HDs come in various sizes up to about 8 TB and the size you buy depends on how many a/v files you want to store, with prices increasing as size increases. I bought a Seagate Barracuda 2 TB hd for $89 but there are many options. Mine is a regular mechanical, spinning disc hd but there are also newer solid-state hds that are faster, quieter and also more expensive.

Once I had the Oppo, and since I already had a laptop and Wi-Fi with router, I was able to add computer audio to my system for a total cost of just $400. I cannot overstate how versatile and important the Oppo 105 was in attaining my excellent results. All the bluray and other discs it will play, and it taking over as my preamp and 5.1 surround processor and DAC, are just additional advantages.

Ultimately, of course, it's your choice. But, if you do buy one, I'm willing to assist you as much as I can with setup.

I'm no expert yet, but may be soon.

Tim


Nobel00(tim?),
Thank you for your input and response! I may indeed require your assistance, and perhaps we can work something out in the near future???
Again, just to sum, my main goal is to ultimately end up with something like the Kaleidascape servers, where I can store all my bluray titles (without having to keep the original hard discs, ultimately - which I heard some of those units can do, regardless of copyright issues), all my cd's/SACD's, and play through the one server. And, if I can do this through my PC instead, probably even better (playing out to my AV pre-amp processor ultimately).
Also, Wifi and streaming is desired, to do Netflix, and online content, hi-rez audio, and so on.
Now if the Oppo helps make all of that attainable, then I'm definitely interested.
I think, at this moment, above all else (keeping as much integrity of high end video and sound reproduction as possible), I would like to get away from the discs! -conveniently storing/buring everything onto hard-disc, and using digital server, yes. I think we're at that age where this should be where it's at for everyone. I know the Discss are going away, and would ultimately like to ditch my collection, and just do backups.
Any help, as always, appreciated...with or without the Oppo.
Hi Avgoround,

If you already have a hi-speed home internet wi-fi network, then just let me know via pm when you get your Oppo, laptop or tablet, J River Media Center software, NAS and backup drives and I'll walk you through it.
Once you 'rip' your audio and video disks to the NAS, you'll be diskless and you can store them away.

Tim
Avgoround - just pull the trigger. :)

Seems like you'll get all the help you need.
I am in the middle of a rebuild of my system and the only thing I have bought so far is a DVD player and yes I went with the Oppo. I like it so far for playing movies. Will let you know when I have my system set up how it does playing DVD audio and super audio Cd's