Crackling with Toy Story 3 (Blu-ray)

TF1216 · « **on:** 29 Mar 2011, 06:19 pm »

I couldn't get through the first 5 minutes of the movie last night because of this issue. I am using an Oppo BDP-83 into a Yamaha V-661 then to my Pioneer KRP-600. I have never heard crackling in my speakers before. My speakers are home build 3-ways with a 10" ScanSpeak driver and a center channel with dual 7" drivers. All of this is powered by a Pass Labs amplifier.

I turned off the rear speakers (they aren't setup) on both the Oppo and receiver and I am still getting crackling from all 3 speakers when the scene requires deep bass. The two spots to point out is when Woody tries to stop the train and when the dinosaur comes out of the ground. I even turned the volume waaaaay down and I still here crackling. The crackling sounds like noise or even drives bottoming out but that's impossible at the levels I was playing at.

There is an audio setup screen on the Toy Story 3 disk. Could this be part of what is causing this? I played with it and it's taking the rear sounds and putting them in the front speakers. I'm not sure if the disc is changing how the receiver typically handles this. I turned the subwoofer off and have bass going through the front speakers with a 40 Hz HP filter through the receiver. The crackling gets better if I raise the crossover point.

What's going on? Please enlighten me.

JP78 · « **Reply #1 on:** 30 Mar 2011, 04:27 pm »

Just to clarify, is the Yamaha only working as a processor and providing no amplification?

Do you have any kind of room EQ enabled in the Yamaha? Also, at what xover does the crackling disappear completely?

That first scene in TS3 does have some prodigal bass, down to (I believe) something like 8Hz.

I'd also recommend you grab a cheap multimeter and see if you can
measure any DC offset coming into your equipment from your power.

Best,

TF1216 · « **Reply #2 on:** 30 Mar 2011, 04:49 pm »

8 Hz, that explains it. I will check what frequency the noise goes away at. None of my three speakers have HP filters on the bass drivers. And yes sir, the receiver is only used as a processor. I have no EQ enabled in the receiver.

Thank you so much for the reply. I'm going to try this tonight.

JP78 · « **Reply #3 on:** 30 Mar 2011, 09:24 pm »

Ok, well good luck! If you have some other low-freq heavy tracks around it may be good to check for comparison...it sounds like you're hitting some break-up modes without a high pass on the bass drivers?

Keep us posted.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #4 on:** 30 Mar 2011, 09:47 pm »

Ohhh nice!!
I'll have to see if my kids have this movie.

JP78 · « **Reply #5 on:** 30 Mar 2011, 10:43 pm »

This list isn't current, but here you go:

http://www.svsound.com/questions-faqs.cfm#moviedemos

Best,

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #6 on:** 31 Mar 2011, 01:04 am »

Great find, thank you!

The best LFE list I ever saw, was on a site called "RemoteCentral", but it's been years. Not sure if it's still on there and being updated.

Bob

Regalma · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 Mar 2011, 08:01 pm »

This may have nothing to do with your problem. It is one that I am having with my Arcam receiver. On some inputs if I am getting sound and video through the HDMI I get a great deal of crackling and a deterioration in the sound. If I switch to a different input and then back again it goes away. HDMI use to be notorious for compatibility issues. The Arcam has very buggy firmware, inexcuseable for a $5000 unit. I have gotten around this problem by using the digital audio outputs for audio and using the HDMI only for video with my Oppo and my Roku. My Dish Network receiver works just fine, so does my Playstation.

TF1216 · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Apr 2011, 04:44 am »

This problem now baffles me even more. Please tell me if any of you have another thing to try.

I determined that the crackling comes from all three speakers, L/R/C.
It only comes from the midrange and tweeter. I have multiple speaker inputs on all of the speakers. No crackling out of the bass drivers. I plugged the speaker wires only into the tweeter and/or midrange.

I took the receiver out of the equation by plugging the RCA outs from my Oppo BD player directly into my amp and the crackling still occurs.

I determined it's not the amp because my Pass Labs amp and my DIY both produce crackling sound through the speakers when they are hooked up.

I determined that it doesn't have to do with the audio processing because I played the sounds through one speaker using stereo, 5.1, and 7.1 feature within the Oppo.

I tried multiple RCA and speaker cables.

And this problem does not occur on my friend's speakers in his Panasonic TV.

What is going on? My next attempt at figuring this out is to try a different BD player. I don't feel the culprit is the player because the crackling occurs on HDMI out into the receiver and RCA out from the Oppo into the amp. However, I also eliminated cables, the amplifier, and the speakers from the equation by the tests I have run. Ugh...

Any help out there?

P.S. This is still happening at low volumes; volumes lower than would be played if family was sleeping in the room next door.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Apr 2011, 05:09 pm »

I wish I had some ideas. Truly baffling. I'd love to hear the solution too.

praedet · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Apr 2011, 06:49 pm »

Are you running the latest Oppo firmware? Are you decoding the audio with the Oppo? I had the same issue right when the BR came out and I thought it was my speakers. I played around switching things and determined it was the DTS-MA 7.1 track as the 5.1 does not do it. E-mailed Oppo and they said they new of the problem and were working it. I have had 2 firmware updates since then. I keep forgetting to try and duplicate the problem now, but I know the DTS-MA 7.1 track on the new Tron was not a problem...

TF1216 · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Apr 2011, 11:05 pm »

This is weird. The firmware Upgrade option is disabled right now. What is the latest firmware version?

Main Versioin: BDP83-50-0424
Loader Version: BE2710 85752710
Sub Version: MCU83-27-0326
Chip Version: 0B.00.01.00

praedet · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Apr 2011, 12:04 am »

Release date: March 17, 2011.
Category: Latest Official Release

Main Version: BDP83-55-0226
Loader Version: BE2800 or BT0500
Sub Version: MCU83-27-0326

It is on the website here...

Try it out

TF1216 · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Apr 2011, 05:05 pm »

Thanks praedet, I tried the latest firmware with no luck.

I'm going to borrow another player to see what happens.

TF1216 · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Apr 2011, 01:47 am »

My friend's PS3 does not exhibit the crackling sound on my system. I'll call Oppo tomorrow. What the heck.

TF1216 · « **Reply #15 on:** 22 Apr 2011, 01:13 am »

I sent the Oppo out for repair. A support guy from Oppo asked me to see if the problem still occurred when bit-stream was set for audio output. The problem did not occur. It only occurred when the audio was set to LPCM.

If I understood the support guy correctly when in LPCM mode the player does the audio processing. When in bit-stream mode the player does not do the audio processing.

I'll report back once I get the player back.

TF1216 · « **Reply #16 on:** 3 May 2011, 02:28 pm »

Oppo tells me this is a known problem. There are working on a firmware update to fix it. Now they tell me

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 May 2011, 02:58 pm »

Well that's good. At least the end is in sight.

Bob

JP78 · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 May 2011, 10:06 pm »

Any updates on this? Always curious to hope for a good ending.

TF1216 · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 May 2011, 10:35 pm »

I haven't tried to update the firmware since I received the unit back. I will try tonight.