[SurroundSound] Re: OPPO 103 or new HTPC / Upgrades?

I will always choose the HTPC route.  I haven't found anything I can't play.  You just have to deal with installing the right players and codecs.  I use Foobar to playback all my dvd-audio and sacd which I've converted to flac for convenience and tagging.  

On Saturday, April 27, 2013 7:24:16 AM UTC-7, Tab Cursor wrote:

Anyone interested in the OPPO 103? If so, do you plan to play your archives on it? Comparing to the 93, the 103 (with latest firmware) removes the following:

These features are subtracted:

• No component video (recent AACS licensing kills component video for Blu-ray)
• No eSATA
• No aspect ratio setups for 4:3 TVs
• No rubber tab over the front USB port
• Composite video is limited to debugging purposes (shows Setup & Resolution menus)
• BDMV folders are no longer supported on DVD media. (This was a directive from the Blu-Ray Disc Association; I don't know why they care).
• The "AVCHD trick" where Blu-ray backups could be played if the BDMV folder were copied into and AVCHD folder no longer works. This was removed in firmware firmware 50-0323B, by command of the licensing authorities.
• SACD-R support was removed in firmware 50-0323B. (This is the writeable format for home-made discs and copies. Regular SACD is still supported).

It's the last three items that concern me. Except for ISO playback, it looks like our past archive techniques still play on an OPPO 103 (without the latest beta firmware update). Is there a "future proof" backup format that will work on future OPPOs? If so, what is that format? Or is the OPPO 103 strictly for playing from your "original" discs only? I'm confused; I thought disc media was supposedly going away. Is there a realistic downside to buying an OPPO 103 and never updating the firmware?

On the other hand, an HTPC will play anything. An exception: some bluray software is now supporting Cinavia. But for every program that caves to the man, there's probably ten new ones that don't. And other programs disable Cinavia in software that is caving to the man.

OPPO 103 or new HTPC / Upgrades? Does one choice kiss "the man's" ass and another stick it to him?

Or is it time to just stop buying bluray? I had my first original bluray disc become unreadable. "Lion's Gate" -- the company who produced the disc -- offered no replacement support because I opened the package. That's right, I watched the movie and put it back in its box. It sat on a shelf for months. When I wanted to watch it again it was no longer readable. I didn't think to back it up. Had I done so, I could still watch "the archive" on an HTPC. But on an OPPO 103? Perhaps not. Future-proofing with blurays is tricky indeed.

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