Oppo OPDV970HD and dualdiscs

[icky2000]

I purchased an Oppo OPDV970HD a couple weeks ago. One of the big reasons I upgraded from my existing DVD player was I wanted to be able to listen to the DVD-Audio sides of the Talking Heads "Brick" (rerelease of all of the Talking Heads studio albums in both stereo and DVD-Audio 5.1 on one dualdisc). Unfortunately, the 970 can't play the DVD-Audio side. Oppo support says there is an issue with dualdiscs and they hope to fix it in the future with a firmware upgrade. I'm debating returning it and finding a new player. Any suggestions for a unit less than US $300 that you know for sure can handle dualdisc?

[jcPanny]

Bummer about the Oppo player and dualdisk. However, based on their level of customer support, I would bet that they will have a firmware update soon to address the problem.
You might consider spending $20 on an SACD or DTS version of the talking heads album rather than an extra $150 for a player with comparable features to the Oppo.

[captain_tinker]

icky2000,
I have heard of a lot of issues with DualDiscs. I have not tried using one yet, and I refuse to buy them. Looking through the manual of my Pioneer 588a DVD player (about $150 if you are interested in getting rid of your Oppo like you were thinking) and it says specifically that there are issues with playing DualDiscs, mainly the CD side of it, because it does not conform to the CD specifications or something like that. However I believe I read in the CNET reviews that they tried it, and it worked fine on some of the discs they used. I have read other reviews where they say that the dualdisc is thick, and can get stuck, or scratched as it gets ejected. I would venture to guess that this would be a common occurrence no matter what dvd player you bought, that is if it has a tray. One with a pop top, like on some boomboxes, or travel dvd players may not have such an issue with it, but it may also not play the DVD-A part either. Does that album come in any other format other than dualdisc? If so, maybe look into that instead...

-capT

[icky2000]

Thanks to both of you for your posts. Unfortunately, the particular rerelease that inspired the Oppo purchase is dualdisc only (and was actually more expensive than the Oppo itself!). I've found a long list of manufacturers who say dualdiscs are iffy at best in their gear and I've yet to find one manufacturer that explicitly says they support and work with dualdisc. While I understand the allure of getting all that stuff on one piece of optical media, I find it hard to believe anyone is bothering to choose this garbage for releasing their material. I do know that these dualdiscs are working for a whole lot of people so clearly there are a lot of machines that can play them reliably - it's just a matter of trial and error. I've decided to enjoy the stereo side of the dualdiscs for now and will hope that our friends at Oppo are able to come up with a firmware fix down the road. Thanks again.

[Thunder18]

I can play dualdiscs on my Samsung DVD player, my Panasonic HTIB and a Govideo dvd/vcr as well as my computer and oem cd player in my car.

[caupina]

I can play dual disc on my Onkyo DVD player, which also plays SACD, but not on my Onkyo CD player. I just bought one of this dual discs but then I read that they're not compatible with some players so I just gave it up and concentrated more on SACD, DVD-A or just regulars CDs.

[krabapple]

Dualdiscs play fine on my Yamaha SD2500, but *only* after the firmware was upgraded.

A shame about the Oppo. I got one to try out its HDMI audio capabilities, I had assumed it could play DualDiscs with no problem. It's still in the box, having arrived on Monday. Wonder if I should even bother now.

[icky2000]

Just to be clear about this...

The Talking Heads dualdiscs I've referred to have some interesting content on the DVD side. There is some DVD-Video stuff (concert and song videos) but if you play the DVD-Audio part, it will play the 5.1 remix and at the same time it plays a series of still images on your tv. The latter is what is causing me problems - the 5.1 audio does not play and the first still image freezes and the player stops responding to anything. I have to unplug it and plug it back in to get it functioning again. I haven't carefully tested the CD side and the DVD-Video stuff yet to give you an accurate picture of what works and what doesn't. As I've mentioned, the part I care about the most doesn't work. Maybe if your dualdisc DVD side only has 5.1 but no images it would work? I don't know. I don't have other non-Talking Heads dualdiscs to test but if there is interest, I'll do more exhaustive testing and report back on exactly what does and doesn't work.

A few of you have mentioned that your players work fine with dualdiscs. Thanks for that info. I've tried them on my computer (Plextor drive), the Oppo and a friend's no-name universal DVD player and all 3 failed to handle them. Clearly some players work fine and others do not.

[silversurfer]

When you buy a DualDisc, the packaging actually says that it is not compatible with all players.

[silversurfer]

When you buy a DualDisc, the packaging actually says that it is not compatible with all players.

Answers.com lists these common consumer complaints abotu DualDisc:

Consumer complaints:

In addition to the possible inability for some CD players to read a DualDisc properly, other consumer criticisms of DualDisc include:

The 1.5 mm-thick disc can get jammed in a very small number of computer DVD drives, DVD players, slot-loading CD players (such as car CD players) and mega-changers. This may even damage the disc.

For any CD player, the thinner CD layer makes reading the CD side of a DualDisc harder than reading a conventional CD. Thus, anomalies such as small scratches, fingerprints or disc tilt may cause tracking errors more easily than those same anomalies would on a conventional CD. Since disc damage is inevitable over time, this can mean a reduction in a DualDisc's effective lifetime as compared to a CD.

The recommended 60-minute limit of the CD side prohibits it from including the entire content of some conventional CDs.

Since both sides of the disc are used for data, a label cannot appear on either side of the disc. The only way that a consumer knows which side is CD and which is DVD is by looking at the center ring of the disc where it is marked.

IMO, it is more of an issue with DualDisc than with Oppo or any other disc player manufacturer.