OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio
by OPPO Digital
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List Price: Our Price: $150.00 You Save: $19.99 (12%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of OPPO DV-980H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with HDMI and 7.1CH Audio
Customer Review: Biggest Bang For The Buck!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm surprised that this player would receive any negative reviews at all.
I purchased this player mainly as an audio player to handle the various audio formats that my CD player cannot support. Having previously tried a highly rated Pioneer budget universal player and an entry-level Sony SACD changer two years ago, my experiences with these players' CD playing performance was very mediocre. So I wasn't expecting a whole lot when I ordered the OPPO 980H.
I was completely stunned by the quality. Not only is the price dirt cheap but the sound quality is extremely good. While the aforementioned players sounded similarly tinny, compressed, and bass-anemic, The OPPO 980H sounds very well balanced and dynamic. In fact, compared to my old Marantz CD63 MKII CD player (a 13 year-old model), it outperformed it in just about every respect. This is no small feat, considering that the Marantz was a top rated "budget" audiophile player that I bought for nearly twice the 980H's price on sale. What really stands out about its CD playing performance is that it is airier, which gives it a much better ability to reveal musical timbre and texture. This makes it easier to hear the breadth of a saxophone or a vocalist and the delicate detail from string instruments, including guitar string plucks. In this respect it seemed to bridge the gap between CD sound and good vinyl sound. It had the tight bass of a decent CD player (with adequately extended bass) with much of the treble sheen you'd normally hear from a well-made LP. In a nutshell, the CD playing quality is the best I've heard so far.
Another big plus is the ability to properly decode HDCDs, DVD-Audio, and SACDs. While these formats are really products for small niche markets, it's nice to know the player can handle pretty much anything under the sun. The sound quality from the few HDCDs and SACDs in my collection were also extremely good. Definition was about as good as I had hoped for.
The only thing the player couldn't do was play the two enhanced CDs (audio tracks with Quicktime video) in my collection. Since I didn't have a video monitor connected to the player I don't know if menu navigation is required before play starts.
Another pleasant surprise was the ability to play MP3s. The user manual and product description don't mention (only WMA is mentioned as a compressed format) this but it was a nice surprise. The OPPO 980H played 128kb/s MP3s with better punch and transparency than I even expected.
The packaging is also first rate. There is a minimum of mess, no styrofoam, and the player even comes in a re-closable bag using velcro. Even the manual comes in a re-sealable zip-lock bag. The remote also contains glow-in-the-dark buttons.
I'm definitely keeping this one!
Customer Review: LOST OPPO - TUNITY
Summary: 3 Stars
Bought the DV-981H direct from OPPO after reading about it on the net, i needed a multi region player and thought i'd give the oppo a chance it arrived well packaged the cloth bag hinted at quality but alas it was not to be, it played well for just 3 days before crashing. It is i suspect a software problem the reaction time between button pressing and actual remote response is a problem another example, if you want to avoid the trailers on the disc and go straight to the main event it seems to throw the DV-981 into a tizz, it freezes and displays a no disc sign and i could not, no matter what oppo staff suggested restart it, the machine recognised neither CDs, nor DVDs, For a machine which costs (220 Pounds including shipping) its not good enough bearing in mind this is the Faroudja chip version which one would expect means QUALITY. I contacted oppo and they arranged collection of the player i am now awaiting a replacement. All i have to do with my old SONY player is to eject the DVD if it displays no disc and reinsert the DVD it simply resets itself and plays, OK its only a region 2 player but its still working after five years and it cost less. I didn't use the included HDMI lead which i must admit OPPO did well to include but the few days i could use the player with the Scart output into my Lowe AVENTOS TV it looked great. Watched the TRANSFORMERS REGION 2& HIGH NOON REGION 1 so saw both colour, and B&W, as well as multi region mode operation and i played some CD tracks. Viewing & Sound was nice and rich but with a Lowe via JAMO 2.1 it always is,i suspect that if the OPPO'S build quality was better, the two would compliment each other nicely. Audio was very good too JAH CURE'S TRUE REFLECTIONS was bright the bass was round and heavy and his voice sat up in the mix MARIA CAREY'S NEW CD/ RYAN LESLIE/GEORGE MICHAEL/CHOPIN/LITZ/LEONA LEWIS also fared well the OPPO gave a Balanced, and highly listenable sound the DV-981H is not an audiophile player but its fine for general audio purposes.For music i use a CAMBRIDGE AUDIO 640cv2 CD Player. The DV-981H performed well thru my JAMO i300B 2.1 system Just a damn shame about its build quality it needs better software, a machine of its sort should be more durable for real world needs i know that this is a common problem with these machines i hope that OPPO will iron out all these lergies. I was contemplating upgrading my TV to try their new BLU RAY machine which they say plays everything albeit via HDMI only, but i will wait until they replace my DVH-981 if its any more reliable then and only then will i give it a try, hopefully a player costing that much will be reasonably bug free but then that's what i thought about the DV-981H which has both Scart and HDMI the best of both worlds i thought so far.. er....no. Will update this article when i receive a replacement.Customer Review: Near-AUDIOPHILE sound quality, excellent video too...
Summary: 5 Stars
...this product truly lives up to its reputation!
I bought this mainly for listening to redbook CDs, since I was already pretty happy with the component video output of my DVD player. The 980 produces a wonderfully clean, detailed sound with punchy bass and solid imaging, quick transients, lots of air around the instruments. Easily bettered my old Marantz 4300 dedicated CD player, and livelier than the NAD c542 to my ears. Its only weakness was during sustained high notes, especially female vocals, during which a sort of wavering thinness came out---something that you have to listen carefully to hear, rather than something that jumps out at you. No, it will not have the poetry and musicality of a $1000 Rega Apollo, but at $170 who can seriously complain?
The video quality also surprised me. Initially I was very disappointed with how standard-def DVDs looked at 720p upconversion through the HDMI output, on my Pioneer plasma: grainy, jagged, overly dominant blacks. After about a week, it finally occurred to me to turn OFF all of the Pioneer's internal video processing...and TA-DAAAA! I now have a gorgeous, yes very much near-HD/BlueRay quality image: deep blacks but with many subtle shades and details within them as well, vibrant stunning colors and sharpness without the grain and jagged artifacts created by the TV's internal video processing that totally screwed up the Oppo's output, just pure buttery smooth visual bliss! Easily matches, if not exceeds, my brother's $900 Denon DVD player. And no way do I want to pay out the nose for a BlueRay player and for BR-DVDs when I can get my huge library of SD-DVDs to look this good for so little money.
Other reasons I love this player: sleek, classy looks; multi-region capable so those cheap DVDs from China that you buy on eBay will work just fine; top-notch customer service; regular firmware updates; bass management; compatible with a vast array of different video and audio formats. I also noticed that a lot of my older DVDs, and well-worn rental DVDs, which would freeze up or skip or have artifacts on my other DVD player, play just fine on the Oppo...an extremely practical and essential quality.
Oppo joins the ranks of many other stellar Internet-direct manufacturers of electronics and audio gear: SVS and Hsu Research (speakers and subs), Ascend Acoustics (speakers), Outlaw Audio (speakers, subs and electronics), etc. Simply blows away the mass-market brandnames you find in most local and especially big-box stores...superior quality at much lower prices, and top-notch service/support to boot!
Customer Review: 154 5 star ratings can't be wrong!
Summary: 5 Stars
Well I guess I must join the rest of the reviewers as being impressed with "Oppo". Who is Oppo? I hadn't heard of them until I came across them in Amazon. I had 4 dvd's that would not play in my old Denon 1500. One of them played for the first viewing and then later would not play. I decided to look at what was on Amazon and read the reviews. I was sort of thinking of a Sony and for some reason I saw the Oppo. Normally I wouldn't even bother with a brand I never heard of but I saw how many reviews there were and so many 5 stars I thought I better read about this one. Well after reading what others had said and the price was very reasonable I figured I couldn't go wrong. I received my Oppo this evening. I set it up following the easy step by step instructions and was blown away. I couldn't believe my dvd's could look better without buying an hdtv. I have a JVC AV-27D302. It's not an HD but it's a good TV. It's like I bought a step up in TV"s with the Oppo. I wonder how good an HDTV will look now. I'm waiting a while for the price to come down. This Oppo will keep me happy until then. Oh and the dvd's that didn't play on the old player all play on this one. I even had my neighbor try them in his dvd player and they would not work. I happen to be an Anime fan and I put "5 Centimeters per Second" on and was not able to stop watching. It was absolutely beautiful.
The unit is light and thin.Plenty of input and output connections. It comes with the cables you will need. You don't need to buy an HDMI cable if you have an HDTV. It has one with the unit. The instruction book is easily read and to understand. You can use the setup menu while a dvd is playing. You can see the results of your setup change right away. Not happy with your setup change you can go back and change it back or to another selection. Very easy. There is a red light that is on when the unit is off. Turn the power on and it goes to blue. I didn't realize it was not on and couldn't figure out why the remote wouldn't work. You have to push the power on button. Duh! Then the blue light comes on.
Believe me you can't go wrong with this Oppo. I would buy their HDTV if they made one. Highly recommended!
If you decide to buy one buy it from Amazon for $169. Why would they advertize one from Toyzz for $299? I don't get that.
One other feature I found was the fact that the player will remember where you left off if you stop a DVD, take it out and play another, then put it back in it will start from where you stopped. Unusual to me. Maybe other players do the same, I don't know.
Customer Review: Not impressed at all.
Summary: 3 Stars
There's a lot of positive reviews about this product. So I decided to give it a try. After more than a year of usage. I've decided to write a review of my own.
First the unboxing, the DVD player comes with thick styrofoam and a black cloth bag. I guess that made some people excited, but I could careless about the packaging as long as the DVD works when it arrives. I don't want to pay for something that I don't use.
After unpacking, to my surprise, the DVD player is quite light. Just like those dvd players that sold for 80 bucks. The construction was average at best. The metal enclosure feels very thin. I didn't want to estimate how much money they spend on the casing. It looks decent, but nowhere close to professional quality. The front looks neat, but when you at the overall buid, you realized beauty is truely skin deep.
After I hooked everything up, using HDMI and all, the picture quality seemed decent. But I was not blown away. I was expecting super life like pictures and vivid colors. Not too much of that. But I'm ok with it.
Now the complains: This DVD takes a long time to start up. Like 10 seconds or longer to start loading the DVD. I have an onkyo receiver hooked up to it. If I turn on both at the same time, the Onkyo reciver can't detect the DVD player. So what I do is that I have to either restart the DVD player or the Onkyo receiver. Or I have to start up one before the other, wait until it fully starts, then I start the other one, then they both work fine together. It's a hassle that I've lived with for more than a year. The DVD sound quality was average. I can't really tell the difference compared to my regular panasonic dvd player.
The remote control is horrible. I sometimes have to aim directly at the DVD player precisely for it to work, and I have new battery in there, and the DVD player is no more than 10 ft from the sofa. The remote control seems to be poorly contructed also. It doesn't even compare to the 80 buck dvd player remotes in terms of sensitivity, quality, and the repond time. The menu on the DVD player is poorly designed. The words are boxy. Graphic is poor. Also, the subtitle looks blocky and 1% to 0.5% of the time the DVD player misses the whole sentense. I would be more forgiving if the DVD player is priced at under a bill, but with blue ray players priced around 2 bills, it makes me doubt if I'm getting what I paid for. Not recomended. Everyone deserves something better.