An audiophile and petrolhead's musings: in the hi-fidelity, first class, traveling set - Page 105

Originally Posted by Magick Man 

Many things... One being a package that arrived yesterday, by US Post even though I specified FedEx 2 day . At any rate, it's my new BD player, an Oppo BDP-105 (region free, no nanny-business). This is a monster, like the Godzilla of video sources. It starts most BDs as fast as DVDs. Plus it streams every media source known to man and is an awesome SACD/Red book transport. Blimey. Oppo is the benchmark whereby all others are measured, no question.



For those who don't want/need the massive PS, USB-in, or triple-precision 32-bit DACs, the BDP-103 is a better choice. Yes, that s more than retail, but they do all the work for you, offer lifetime updates, and are great dudes to deal with for warranty service. If you're like me and have tons of discs from all over the globe, it's worth it, trust me.

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I'm trying to remember, but there was one Sci-Fi original that was very good, shockingly good. It was a kind of remake of I Am Legend, but from a monster's perspective. Low production values for effects, but a good script and decent acting.

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In cars, I'd been working a deal for a Saleen S7 for weeks, but the seller was dodgy and it fell through. I'd been looking for a cool car to sort of take the top spot as a collectible. Well, a seller I was chatting with stepped forward with an answer. A Heffner bi-turbo Ford GT, one of the handful that were taken by them as new and completely rebuilt. It's the sister to the GT that set the 1 mile speed record (>266mph). Not as extreme, since it still has creature comforts and isn't stripped to the bone (still lighter than stock by 400lbs), it does have the same Billet turbos, intercoolers, and fuel system, tuned to a more sedate 30psi of boost (rather than 40, which requires 110 octane fuel), and is completely variable for pump gas and E85. 1000whp @30psi (100oct and E85), 820whp @20psi (92oct), 320whp in "valet" mode (no boost). Yeah, it supposedly has the bhp/torque numbers of a Koenigsegg Agera R, with the same weight. Neat looking.

Originally Posted by Magick Man 

I'll put it in the queue and catch it streamed tomorrow evening, Monday is our "oddball" movie night. I usually get subjected to obscure French or German comedies.

No, nothing really special about the BDP-105 over the BDP-95, but I needed a player for the other system, so I moved the BDP-93 over there and got the 105 for the main rig.

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv 

One of these days I would like to get an Oppo BD player. It is most definitely on my list. Assuming you have a 4K display, how do you get the 4K signal from the player to the device? Does HDMI handle 4K, or does it need something new?

Originally Posted by obobskivich 

Newer HDMI (1.4) supports 4k at 24-30hz - HDMI 2.0 is coming to provide 4k60p. Yet another "buy new TVs because we said so" round of BS.

Originally Posted by proton007 


HDMI sucks in terms of the marketing. The manufacturers never mention what resolution the display hardware supports, and there are multiple versions floating around in the market.
Happened with one of my monitors, I got the cable for 30 bucks, only to realize the monitor's HDMI support is only 1080p, while the monitor itself is 1440p.   
The graphics card happily supports 4096x2160 though.

Originally Posted by obobskivich 


Most PC monitors only do upto 1080p via HDMI, "1440p" is not a standard for video - HDMI video modes is a shortlist compared to everything DVI and VGA are required/able to support; the monitor isn't actually doing anything non-standard. As far as multiple versions - yes, they've revised it over time, but I've never seen a device vaguely labeled (in other words I've never had a problem finding out of a device is HDMI 1.2 or 1.4 or whatever - it's usually stated in the manual).

As of the HDMI 1.4 specification, these are the following cable types defined for HDMI in general:

• Standard HDMI Cable – up to 1080i and 720p
• Standard HDMI Cable with Ethernet
• Automotive HDMI Cable
• High Speed HDMI Cable – 1080p, 4K, 3D and deep color
• High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv 

There is an annoying number of terms involved. For example, "high speed" hdmi cables. Really? "high speed"?? Didn't they learn *anything* from USB?

From Wikipedia:
I suppose the standards committees do the best they can - but in the end, they are still "committees" - and the results are always full of compromises and special interests.

Originally Posted by proton007 


For a 1080p tv/monitor it makes sense.
For a 1440p monitor, it doesn't really make sense to support 1080p, either do it fully or don't.

I ended up using the hdmi for another monitor, but had to buy an adaptor from hdmi -> dvi. Turns out hdmi is just a subset of dvi, along with audio.

Originally Posted by proton007 


Not to mention, the different standards support different frame rates, based on the spec.

Originally Posted by obobskivich 


No it makes perfect sense - 1440p is not part of the HDMI standard, TVs and Blu-ray players and so on don't support it, don't have to support it, etc. The HDMI connection on the monitor is assumed to support a Blu-ray player or similar, not to replace DVI (and HDMI is not a "subset of DVI").
 

Originally Posted by proton007 


Yeah, right. Blu-ray player, with a computer monitor, that doesn't have any sound.

Anyways, I put the cable to use, so the cable served a purpose atleast.