Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray disc player: beta firmware

If you are having problems with the sound from the Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Disc Player’s HDMI outputs, the beta firmware might solve the problem.

The Oppo BDP-93 Blu-ray Disc Player is a high-end disc player from Oppo Digital. The player was released in 2010 (along with the BDP-95 audiophile version) and was replaced by the Oppo BDP-103 in late 2012. Oppo Digital was based in California and developed high-end audio visual equipment, but exited the market in 2018. They are not to be confused with Oppo Electronics, a different company that manufactures mobile phones. Both companies are owned by the same Chinese company, BBK Electronics.

Official firmware

The final release of the official firmware is BDP9x-82-1009 dated 2014-10-27. This official firmware can be downloaded from the Oppo support Website.

There is a problem with the final release of the official firmware, where the player appears to not properly detect the capabilities of devices connected to HDMI.

The exact behaviour depends on the specific HDMI device: it can be different for different televisions, AV receiver and amplifiers. It can result in no sound or intermittent sound from HDMI. The audio from the S/PDIF optical and coaxial digital outputs, and the analogue outputs, all work fine: it is just a problem with the audio from the HDMI outputs. Also, the video output from the Oppo’s second HDMI port can have a pink or red cast (which seems to be due to it trying to detect the colour space with the “auto” setting, but can be fixed by explicitly setting the colour space to “RGB”).

Unofficial beta firmware

Here is a copy of the BDP9x-85-0106B beta firmware dated 2017-01-06.

Download: BDP9X_85-0106B.zip

As with all beta software, use at your own risk.

Note: this beta firmware is for the USA model of the Oppo BDP-93. A different beta firmware is required for the European and other region models—contact Oppo Digital support, which is still operating even though the company is not making new products.

This firmware may or may not work with the Oppo BDP-95.

With beta firmware, the player can always be downgraded to an older official version of the firmware. With non-beta firmware, it cannot be downgraded to an older version.

Installing from USB

Format a USB memory stick with the FAT format.
Unzip the files into the top level of the USB memory stick. This should create a single directory called “UPG”, and it contains two files.
Turn the player on.
Remove any disc from the player and also remove all devices from its USB ports.
Insert the USB memory stick into its USB port (either front or back port will work).
Wait for the player to detect the firmware files and follow the on-screen instructions. If it fails to detect the firmware, go into the setup menu and upgrade the firmware from the “Device settings” section.
Use the remote control, because the front panel buttons do not work during the upgrade process.
Do not remove the power while the firmware is being installed.
The player will automatically go into standby after installing the firmware.
Remove the USB memory stick.
Turn on the player (by either pressing the power button at the front of the player or the power button on the remote control).
Factory reset the player: Setup > Device settings > Factory reset. (The factory reset is not initially visible, scroll through all the Device Settings menu items to get to it.)
Follow the setup wizard to set up the player, or cancel it.

After the factory reset, it may be necessary to use an AV cable (yellow phono) to setup the player if the video from the HDMI output cannot be displayed.

Unlike the official firmware, there is no ISO image. So it is not possible to install it from a CD-ROM. Simply burning the files to a CD-ROM does not work.

Bluraychip.dk Multiregion Pro Kit

With the Bluraychip.dk Multiregion Pro kit, the Blu-ray zone cannot be changed under the beta firmware. But it will retain the zone it was set to, before the firmware was installed.

Therefore, to change the Blu-ray zone:

Install the older official release firmware;
Changing the Blu-ray zone; and then
Reinstall the beta firmware so HDMI audio works.

Changing the zone

To change the Blu-ray zone (in step 2), remove any disc and put the player to sleep. Then wake up the player by pressing 1, 2 or 3 on the remote control (for zones A, B or C, respectively). That also sets it to DVD region 0.

For this to work with Oppo firmware BDP-9x-52-0707 or newer, there must not be anything plugged into the rear USB port.

This might need several tries before it works: try holding down the button until “no disc” is displayed. Also try disconnecting the power and reconnecting it before trying (especially if the player locks up).

Other information

Bluraychip.dk is longer around, so the following might be useful:

Changing zones normally also wakes the player from sleep. To disable that behaviour, press the blue button. To reenable it, press the yellow button.
If you have multiple Oppo remote controls, and want to change the code of the Oppo BDP-93 remote control: change the code the multi-region kit recognises by pressing top menu, setup, red and then 1, 2 or 3 for the desired code; change the code the player recognises in its setup menu; and change the physical switch on the back of the remote control.
Bluraychip.dk multi-region pro installation guide (PDF).

Factory test mode

The Factory Test Mode shows the current Blu-ray zone and DVD region settings. It is entered by pressing SETUP 0 7 7 0 on the remote control. Exit the Factory Test Mode by pressing the SETUP button on the remote control. Be very careful not press the ENTER button on the remote control, since that presses the on-screen “OK” button.

Pressing the on-screen “OK” button resets the player’s Blu-ray zone and DVD region to the hardware defaults. This is a quick way to switch the player to Blu-ray zone “A”, but it also sets the DVD region “1” so it is no longer region free.