My Oppos Won't Play SACD-Rs or BD-Rs

[Wagonmaster_91]

I bought an Oppo BDP-203 from Oppo a few weeks ago (soon as I heard they were stopping the manufacturing) and a BDP-103 on Ebay this week. I just got them both out to test them today before installing in my system. Retail SACDs and Blu-rays play fine, but neither will play SACD-R or - and this is the real rub - my homemade DTS-MA blu-ray discs. Both machines give the "Unknown Disc" error.
I know Oppo was forced to disable SACD-R playability a few models ago, but why won't they play the blu-ray discs? My $30 LG Blu-player plays them with no problem. The discs are made using Plogue SPEC, DTS-Master Audio encoder and AudioMuxer. What gives?

 

[dr. simple]

That is very odd. I'd contact Oppo support. Is it safe to assume you tried multiple blu-rays and not just, say, Dark Side Of The Moon?

 

[atrocity]

I know Oppo was forced to disable SACD-R playability a few models ago, but why won't they play the blu-ray discs? My $30 LG Blu-player plays them with no problem. The discs are made using Plogue SPEC, DTS-Master Audio encoder and AudioMuxer. What gives?

Are these just data discs? Is it possible that you're burning them in some non-standard format? I haven't tried with my 203 yet, but I've created a few data discs with DSD and PCM material that played fine when written via ImgBurn.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Retail/commercial blu-rays play fine (at least the few I have tried do). The ones that won't play are the multi-channel blu-rays I create. These are not data discs. They have 5.1 DTS-MA audio with still picture slides for video.

 

[atrocity]

Retail/commercial blu-rays play fine (at least the few I have tried do). The ones that won't play are the multi-channel blu-rays I create. These are not data discs. They have 5.1 DTS-MA audio with still picture slides for video.

So in theory they're exactly the same format as a commercial disc?

There's probably some piece of software out there that can identify any potential differences between your discs, but I don't know what it might be.

One thing I like about ImgBurn is that it looks at the file structure you're trying to burn and will, if necessary, give you a popup saying something along the lines of "It looks like you're trying to create a [whatever] disc, would you like me to set all the options properly?"

Of course, it's certainly possible that you're doing everything perfectly and there's an issue with the player's laser or something.

Have you loaded the most current firmware?

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Yes and I burn the discs using ImgBurn. I haven't done any firmware updates on either the used or brand new player. I just took them out of their boxes, plugged them into an extra HDMI input on my A/V receiver and started testing disc formats. SACD, DVD-A, DVD & commercial Blu-ray all good. SACD-R and non-commercial blu-ray - unknown disc. (And in case anyone is wondering these are blu-rays, not AVCHDs.).

 

[leevitalone1]

Contact Oppo! They happen to have the absolute best CS ever! Just call, or email them. watch the magic!

 

[atrocity]

Yes and I burn the discs using ImgBurn. I haven't done any firmware updates on either the used or brand new player. I just took them out of their boxes, plugged them into an extra HDMI input on my A/V receiver and started testing disc formats. SACD, DVD-A, DVD & commercial Blu-ray all good. SACD-R and non-commercial blu-ray - unknown disc. (And in case anyone is wondering these are blu-rays, not AVCHDs.).

Have you plugged either player into your network to see if it alerts you to new firmware? I'm not convinced that's the problem, it's just a reasonable first step. If it's not that, I'm clueless!

Obviously there won't be a fix for SACD-R, but if you can extract the bits from the discs somehow you can burn them to Blu-ray (even fitting several SACDs onto a single Blu-ray) and still listen to the music. Not sure what tool would rip an unencrypted SACD, though. Sonore works from ISOs, maybe it's possible to create temporary ISOs of the SACD-Rs.

 

[Snood]

Yes and I burn the discs using ImgBurn. I haven't done any firmware updates on either the used or brand new player. I just took them out of their boxes, plugged them into an extra HDMI input on my A/V receiver and started testing disc formats. SACD, DVD-A, DVD & commercial Blu-ray all good. SACD-R and non-commercial blu-ray - unknown disc. (And in case anyone is wondering these are blu-rays, not AVCHDs.).

Yeah Definitely contact them - they may have to do a new firmware upgrade just for this particular bug, especially with the 203/205 being relatively new products

 

[Franklin]

Make sure you're on the most uptodate firmware first, as you'll likely be asked if you are anyway.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Firmware is up to date. Contacted Oppo today and they are puzzled. I am sending them discs to test to see if they can figure it out. (btw - AVCHD discs do play in the Oppos.) I'll let y'all know what happens.

 

[leevitalone1]

I bet they have it addressed by next weeks end. I saw these guys come out on a holiday to defend the product. My son has my 1st Oppo the cheapest one they made a 970. after we had it and used it for years, (I'm on my 103 by now) It went down, he sent it- and the charges? $0.00 They were happy to see it still being used. That little guy had the best PQ I ever saw on a DVD machine. BTW ya still going.

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Oppo's customer service dept. received my test discs and got back to me yesterday, but unfortunately the news is not good. However, it is not Oppo's fault - it is the "greedy music companies" that forced them to prevent my discs from playing. Here's Oppo's response:

"We received your discs this afternoon. After analyzing them, the reason that they do not play in our 103 and 203 is because our licensing agreements prevent us from being able to play DVD-R/RW discs with BDMV content on them. This was something that we were forced to remove from our players back in the BDP-93 days. It’s possible that your LG and Sony players were made prior to this requirement, or they may have just slipped through the cracks and weren’t forced to have a firmware upgrade released to remove this type of disc compatibility.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc. "

So, I guess the mighty Oppos don't get to push my cheapo LG off the equipment racks after all.

 

[Clint Eastwood]

I had a question last week about my Oppo...so I sent them an email....I got an answer a couple of hours later.....even under the current circumstances they still offer great customer service

 

[Snood]

Oppo's customer service dept. received my test discs and got back to me yesterday, but unfortunately the news is not good. However, it is not Oppo's fault - it is the "greedy music companies" that forced them to prevent my discs from playing. Here's Oppo's response:

"We received your discs this afternoon. After analyzing them, the reason that they do not play in our 103 and 203 is because our licensing agreements prevent us from being able to play DVD-R/RW discs with BDMV content on them. This was something that we were forced to remove from our players back in the BDP-93 days. It’s possible that your LG and Sony players were made prior to this requirement, or they may have just slipped through the cracks and weren’t forced to have a firmware upgrade released to remove this type of disc compatibility.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc. "

So, I guess the mighty Oppos don't get to push my cheapo LG off the equipment racks after all.

So these discs are actually what? DVD-R WITH flac 5.1 taken from bluray on them? Snood confused ....exactly what content from the bluray is on the DVD-R? Or is it bluray burned to bluray?

 

[Wagonmaster_91]

Snood, they are 5.1 (and a few 7.1) DTSMA files muxed with still pictures to a blu-ray ISO and burned to DVD+R blanks. Similar but not exactly like an AVCHD disc (which an Oppo can still play). I can make future discs AVCHD but will have to keep my LG player to play the many I have already made and a Samsung player to play SACD-Rs. I was hoping these new Oppo players would replace both of those.

I buy very few commercial blu-ray movies (I might have 10) and a few BR music video/concerts.

Maybe someone has a hack that will release the block. I know there are ones to make Oppos all region players so maybe there is still hope for me.
Also going to try to find a BDP-93 that hasn't had the blocking firmware applied. (I know, it is a long shot.)

 

[Snood]

Yeah my concern is Snood burns alot of flac 5.1 files derived from audiomuxer then burned using HD Cirlinca from bluray to PC to DVD-R. With no pics except album cover......so pretty sure these would still play. No ISO involved

Snood has a lot of these and before investing in 203 would Def wanna make sure all is koo

Thanks For The info

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Snood, they are 5.1 (and a few 7.1) DTSMA files muxed with still pictures to a blu-ray ISO and burned to DVD+R blanks. Similar but not exactly like an AVCHD disc (which an Oppo can still play). I can make future discs AVCHD but will have to keep my LG player to play the many I have already made and a Samsung player to play SACD-Rs. I was hoping these new Oppo players would replace both of those.

I buy very few commercial blu-ray movies (I might have 10) and a few BR music video/concerts.

Maybe someone has a hack that will release the block. I know there are ones to make Oppos all region players so maybe there is still hope for me.
Also going to try to find a BDP-93 that hasn't had the blocking firmware applied. (I know, it is a long shot.)

I'm not real familiar with the AVCHD format, but isn't it primarily a video format intended for use with camcorders? And isn't the sound limited to Dolby digital? Why would you choose that format to store music on in the first place?

 

[JonUrban]

It boggles the mind in this era of fading disc sales and disappearing players that the software manufacturers force these limitations on a company like Oppo who was one of the highest regarded players in the commercial scene. I mean, what percentage of the public is ever going to even try to play one of these home made discs? .00000000000000000001%? Is it worth the cost of a lawyer to send an email forcing changing the firmware? So stupid.

Hey, I am all for companies protecting their product and detest people who leech off others or steal music as a way of life. But really, we're not talking mainstream here.

 

[atrocity]

Snood, they are 5.1 (and a few 7.1) DTSMA files muxed with still pictures to a blu-ray ISO and burned to DVD+R blanks.

You might try converting one to MKV and either burning to a new disc or playing from an attached drive just to see what happens.