Technical Issues and Questions

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#1301 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat Sep 20, 2014 1:02 am

That's a different question indeed! Mkv seems to be the popular format of choice (via HandBrake for Macs)

shaky · #1302 Post by **shaky** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:13 pm

I'm trying to change the color space on my Sony BDP-S5100 fegion free blu-ray player in order to watch Arrow's BD of BLIND WOMAN'S CURSE correctly. I cannot seem to find anything on my video setup that correlates with what EddieLarkin describes in the Blind Woman's Curse thread. Might anyone here be able to help out?

EddieLarkin · #1303 Post by **EddieLarkin** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 9:33 pm

I've gone through the manual and unfortunately your player doesn't seem to have the option. It would be under Screen Settings>YCbCr/RGB (HDMI) but there is no option for RGB PC Level, only Video Level. I've gone through the manuals of some higher end Sony models and it does not seem to be a feature Sony feel is necessary. It's on the PS3 though, described here. They even add a note on when one would use it ("pale blacks"); why they would feel it's a useful feature on their games console and not their Blu-ray players, I haven't the foggiest.

jindianajonz · #1304 Post by **jindianajonz** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 10:42 pm

Anyone have advice on blu-ray playback software for the PC? I built my own PC a few years back, and although I recently installed a blu-ray drive on it, I stupidly threw out the disc that came with it. I only recently found out that due to the proprietary nature of the blu-ray format, free and legitimate blu-ray players are almost impossible to come by. The version I saw quoted the most (whose name I forget at the moment) cost $75 per copy, which seems quite steep. Is there anything else out there that is both functional and cheap?

EddieLarkin · #1305 Post by **EddieLarkin** » Wed Oct 01, 2014 11:12 pm

The legitimate Blu-ray playback software that I've sampled have all been too cumbersome for my taste, and since they're the ones I'm expected to pay for, well it means that I personally have only ever used less than legitimate measures. A free trial of AnyDVD HD will unlock your discs so you can use them with freeware players like MPC or VLC. As long as you don't update AnyDVD HD after the trial period, you can continue to use it (or you can just buy it, though it's pretty pricey).

Drucker · #1306 Post by **Drucker** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 3:17 pm

Change.org petition calling for manufacturers to stop making "smooth motion" the default setting on all HDTVs.

David M. · #1307 Post by **David M.** » Thu Oct 30, 2014 8:14 pm

See my comment on that petition:

As an ISF Calibrator, industry consultant and compressionist, I agree totally with this message. However, there are many more things wrong with TV's default picture settings beyond motion interpolation. See copious amounts of noise reduction, edge enhancement, a blue-tinted white point, incorrect color gamut mapping - the list goes on.

I applaud your efforts, but don't miss the forest for the trees - and don't think that just by turning off motion interpolation that you have an accurate picture. It's just one step.

Zot! · #1308 Post by **Zot!** » Wed Nov 05, 2014 1:37 am

Looking for a <$3000 projector. What should I look at? No use to consider other than watching movies.

subliminac · #1309 Post by **subliminac** » Wed Nov 05, 2014 3:11 am

For the money I don't think you can beat the Sony VPL-HW40ES. There are several in depth reviews of it online, including one at David Mackenzie's site hdtvtest.co.uk. For $2000-$2500 (it has gone on sale a couple times) you get best in class color accuracy, and very good contrast, uniformity and motion handling. It's an LCoS display which is widely recognized as the best technology for digital image projection. I purchased one recently and couldn't be much happier with the results.

Zot! · #1310 Post by **Zot!** » Thu Nov 06, 2014 5:19 am

subliminac wrote:For the money I don't think you can beat the Sony VPL-HW40ES. There are several in depth reviews of it online, including one at David Mackenzie's site hdtvtest.co.uk. For $2000-$2500 (it has gone on sale a couple times) you get best in class color accuracy, and very good contrast, uniformity and motion handling. It's an LCoS display which is widely recognized as the best technology for digital image projection. I purchased one recently and couldn't be much happier with the results.

Thanks! Am I crazy or have projectors dropped precipitously in the past 3 years? I don't remember such feature laden and high performance ones being so affordable.

Also for anyone considering a projector, it appears that this Sony, and possibly others would support Native PAL output. This is a major selling point for anyone who watches imports and doesn't want additional processing added to the image. http://m.imgur.com/a/rxrsb. It's also exceedingly difficult to find as a feature on panel displays.

Arrow · #1311 Post by **Arrow** » Wed Nov 12, 2014 7:00 am

DeprongMori wrote:I can also recommend Bombay Electronics for region-free modded units. Good selection, good prices, and good support. I screwed up a firmware upgrade, and their tech support was excellent.

I bought one of these region free blu Ray players over a year ago and have been very happy with it, but recently it has started to squeak or squeal every 10 seconds or so when playing a disc. Is this something that can be repaired or is it shot?

NABOB OF NOWHERE · Fri Nov 14, 2014 7:27 pm

I have a Limit (Crap Momitsu clone) that, apart from sounding occasionally like a concrete mixer, plays all Region A discs Criterion /Kino/ Cohen etc OK except for Olive . Tried all trickery to fool it but it steadfastly refuses to play them. Anyone any ideas as what is peculiar to Olive discs?

David M. · #1313 Post by **David M.** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:05 pm

All of those cheap no-brand multiregion players I've seen have had forced edge enhancement. Breaks my heart to think people in the US are watching UK discs that way. I definitely advise getting a Sony or Panasonic or Pioneer player if you can.

NABOB OF NOWHERE · Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:10 pm

David M. wrote:All of those cheap no-brand multiregion players I've seen have had forced edge enhancement. Breaks my heart to think people in the US are watching UK discs that way. I definitely advise getting a Sony or Panasonic or Pioneer player if you can.

Thanks David and I will certainly get one of those as I can't stand the noise enhancement either. I was just intrigued as to the anomaly that seems to be Olive.

David M. · #1315 Post by **David M.** » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:17 pm

Yeah, especially for the new scans that James White and his team at Deluxe are doing which are pin-sharp, those players with edge enhancement stuck on are just gonna make them look harsh and gritty. A shame.

Re specific discs not playing, maybe they're using particular BD-J programming that trips up the player.

Drucker · #1316 Post by **Drucker** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:13 am

So has anyone else had problems playing the Sopranos blu-ray set? I'm having the same problem described on Entry 679 of this thread:

This wouldn't play on my Oppo 93. The menus would load fine and everything, but as soon as I tried to play an episode the screen went black and stayed that way.

I've never upgraded the firmware of my Oppo93. I am afraid to because I'm afraid I'll lose the ability to play region-free.

Anyone have any thoughts? Anyone having the same issues?

Drucker · #1317 Post by **Drucker** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:27 am

According to this post on high-def digest, it looks like I may be able to upgrade firmware without ruining the region-free ability since I use a mod kit that I plug into my USB player. Anyway, help!

EddieLarkin · #1318 Post by **EddieLarkin** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 12:41 am

I imagine it depends on the mod. The mod that came installed on my Oppo 103 is the same as described in that article, other than the fact it's built in rather than via USB (I assume it's the same anyway, since it requires the Dimmerx3-Mute-1/2/3 method to change regions), and I have upgraded my firmware several times since without it having any effect on the players region free capability. So if your mod uses the Dimmer/Mute method to change regions, you're probably safe. Though, proceed at your own risk!

Drucker · #1319 Post by **Drucker** » Sun Dec 21, 2014 4:15 am

Well I contacted the sellers, AVSforums, and they said it should be fine as long as I use a beta version.

Luckily, when I upgraded to an Oppo, I gave my parents my Samsung blu-ray player. They never use it, so I just asked to borrow it while I went through the Sopranos. First time I've ever had this issue, so hopefully this is a one time thing.

Isambard · #1320 Post by **Isambard** » Thu Jan 15, 2015 10:46 pm

Question about a plasma television:

Last month I purchased a Samsung plasma television and enjoyed the picture quality immensely, until I ran into trouble with image retention. I don't know if it was the style of subtitling used by this specific distributor on the blu-rays, but, when I'd watch something with subtitles the text would begin to leave marks on the screen, two dark bars at the bottom, as I watched in less than 30 minutes. Does this sound like normal behavior for a plasma television? Could my settings somehow be to blame? If I were to exchange for another, would I run into the same problems?

Professor Wagstaff · Fri Jan 30, 2015 3:27 am

Apologies if this has been discussed previously, but I've been researching my issue for a while with no success and hope I can find an answer here. I have an issue with a Sony blu-ray player that, when playing discs, keeps flickering green. The flickering lasts for no more than a second every 1-3 minutes. The issue doesn't occur on all discs. Actually, formats and brands seem to make a difference. I never have the problems with Criterion or DVDs but other companies like Shout! and Kino produce lots of problems when I play their discs. Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Jonathan S · #1322 Post by **Jonathan S** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 10:51 am

Does anyone know of a list (anywhere) of Warner R1 DVD catalogue titles potentially threatened by disc rot, or any way of identifying them by factory codes? (I mean pressed discs, not burned Archive releases or HD-DVD - there are plenty reports of the latter rotting.)

Over the years, I've read brief references to this problem but as it always seemed to be recent titles (probably because they're more popular) I didn't think I'd be affected. But now I find disc one of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) - which used to play perfectly - won't even load on any machine. Visually, it looks fine and disc two plays normally.

That one doesn't matter too much (I'd just upgraded it to blu-ray) but I must have a couple of hundred Warner DVDs in my collection...

PfR73 · #1323 Post by **PfR73** » Wed Feb 11, 2015 7:00 pm

I had it happen to the Stagecoach: Special Edition

Drucker · #1324 Post by **Drucker** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 8:19 pm

Are any LG blu-ray players worthwhile? Trying to find good blu-ray player for an in-law so she can watch Netflix on TV (this will probably be the easiest way for her), but even this simple thing seems like it may be too much to ask any of the models based on Amazon reviews.

1) If all she wants is Netflix, will she ever have to update firmware?
2) Is there any actual advantage to having TV and blu-ray be the same brand, or is it 100% meaningless (I did find I liked the way my Samsung TV/BD interacted...)

captveg · #1325 Post by **captveg** » Mon Mar 09, 2015 9:26 pm

Drucker wrote:1) If all she wants is Netflix, will she ever have to update firmware?
2) Is there any actual advantage to having TV and blu-ray be the same brand, or is it 100% meaningless (I did find I liked the way my Samsung TV/BD interacted...)

1) Probably not. But most newer players have a setting to auto-search for firmware updates if they are connected to the internet, so then all she'd have to do is confirm the update when it pops up and the player will do it's thing. I'm personally not a fan of LG players. My experience is that Sony, Panasonic and Samsung are the best options (in that order) for mainstream consumer players. I got my parents the Sony BDPS3200, which has built-in Wi-Fi and multiple streaming options, including Netflix, and costs around $75-80. They are not tech savvy to say the least and they do just fine getting everything they need. Plus, took me 10-15 minutes to set up and calibrate for them. The Netflix button on the remote is a nice shortcut bonus.

2) Mostly meaningless

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