Streaming -vs- Media (Oppo)

Posted by: Mr Underhill on 04 June 2012

So how does the Oppo stack up against itself, and the Naim DVD5, when streaming films?

Pretty well, BUT ...., of which more anon.

In terms of picture quality I would say that it is BETTER. I rip my DVDs to MKV via MakeMKV specifically because it does NOT process the streams, but passes them through - and so I should see no degradation in quality ...so what have I seen that makes me think there is an improvement?

In 'The Fellowship Of The Ring' I have got used to the scenes in Moria taking on a green hue, and I do not mean the deliberate green in the Dwarrowdelf, but a green at the edges - where there should be black. This is entirely absent when streaming.

Sound - can't say I have noticed any difference.

Music? Two days ago I would have said it doesn't match with the DVD5 via the nDAC - now I am not so sure.

One of the DVDs I ripped was Billy Joel's The Ultimate Collection, which comes with a 24bit soundtrack. I ripped this into MKV, and then extracted the 24bit soundtrack as a wav file which I placed on the NS01 - VERY nice.

Having enjoyed the tracks in the HiRes glory i thought I'd play this back via the Oppo - BUGGER, the Oppo DLNA client won't stream the 24bit PCM soundtrack into the nDAC.

Having consoled myself I thought I'd play some 16 bit videos, and was disappointed at the SQ; and would then have pilloried the Oppo wrt the DVD5, BUT ...

Last night I watched Phil Collins - Live & Loose In Paris. Now this is an LPCM DVD that I have listened to a LOT, as when I was doing cable comparisons for the DVD5 this was the testbed ....and, actually the streaming Oppo held up well. The detail that I could, and couldn't, hear was consistent with the DVD5.

This experience seems to me to show that there is SO much more potential, shame the NS01 doesn't stream video as well!

Time to rip the DVDs as WAV files.

Posted on: 05 June 2012 by Geoff P

Pardon my ignorance but exactly how do go about 'Streaming' from a Disc Player such as an Oppo or DVD5 as opposed to 'Playing' the disc as normal into your Audio / Video system.?

Regards

geoff

Posted on: 05 June 2012 by Mr Underhill

Hi Geoff,

The Oppo has a built in DLNA client.

I was comparing the SQ of the Oppo, via streaming, to the media via the DVD5 - and both to the NS01 - all via the nDAC + PSU.

Posted on: 05 June 2012 by Geoff P

Ahh...I see.

So you are saying that processing a disc through software that passes the streams untouched IMPROVES the video.....as Manuel would say QUE??

Posted on: 06 June 2012 by Mr Underhill

Hi Geoff,

I can see a difference. But then I wouldn't have thought streaming a CD would make the difference it does to my ears - but it does.

Is this the same thing? Don't know - and it is certainly NOT a game changer, Bluray is still best. What I am seeing is nice, but marginal.

I ripped Aliens last week and saw the same effect, with greening of the blacks, in parts when moving through the Sulako - I'll check if that has improved later.

Posted on: 18 June 2012 by Phil Harris

One thing to check - there are settings on most TVs now (and media players) for whether they are to use the normal video range (16-238 IIRC) for black to white or the computer range (0-255 ... often called "extended colour") ... your greening of blacks could actually be down to an incorrect combination of those settings?

Phil

Posted on: 18 June 2012 by Mr Underhill

Hi Phil,

I haven't posted back on this as I am going to get the DVD down from the loft, next time I go up.

On the streaming side:

Aliens is good on BOTH my 56" Phillips & my 37" SD Panny, both streamed via BluRay players.

In the case of the Phillips the TV does the scaling, for the Panny the SONY BR does any scaling.

I know I saw the greening of the blacks with my Arcam DV88, and then with my Naim DVD5. Not sure about the Oppo & Sony - hence my getting the DVD down.

I think in quality terms this is an interesting DVD. The picture lacks definition at quiet a few moments, and those are the moments where I saw the issue.