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: Who's Oppo? Who cares? They're AWESOME ! ! !
Summary: 5 Stars
"Oddo? No, Oppo? Who's that?" was my first reaction to my mother-in-law when she bought this unit. It was not long before I saw what she did, high quality, easy to set-up, and best price before we bought one for ourselves.
Pro:
-Light (a meager 7-8 pounds) and slender (only about 2" tall!), footprint is small, almost too small at ~17" wide, ~10" deep
-Easy set-up
-"Upconverts" DVDs so that you get a better picture... a must have for large HD TVs to avoid expensive Blu-Ray and to keep your DVD collection from becoming obsolete!
-Seems to support all major/traditional disc formats (except Blu-Ray I think) and up to 1080p resolution (awesome)
-HDMI ready, with a 6 foot long HDMI cable included (yes, 6 feet!)
-A decent remote, we think it's good looking and easy to use
-Box contains: the unit itself of course, a 4' black power cord, a paper manual, HDMI cable, Red, white, and yellow audio cables, a soft black cover for the player, remote, 2 AAA batteries
-Packaging looks really durable, unit appears to be protected quite well
-Recycling information... contains: a few wire ties, several #04 plastic bags (for manual, cords), some cardboard, several small pieces of ''plastic" foam (I doubt that this foam can be recycled). Also, the plastic on the batteries and foam protecting the HDMI cable ends doesn't look recyclable. Recycling is a pro due to the small amout of materials in play, most of which (by weight) can be recycled.
Con:
-We find that the display is somewhat hard to read/see... the digits just seem to run together at a distance of even only 3-4 feet. A combination of the blue light and/or small size doesn't seem to work for us well. It's perhaps too bright.
-Power cord should be longer
-Disc eject is painfully slow... will it ever open?
-Feet on the unit could be taller... if stacking this on top of something else you'll probably want to insert some sort of shim to raise the unit up some to create more ventilation space
-Our cable box did not list this manufacturer so that the remote could be programmed (although most of the functions worked without any programming at all, a lucky thing)
Bottom line: Well worth it if you're in the market. High quality. Recommended.
Customer Review: Initial impression....----->*updated 3-25-08--->*update 6-20-08
Summary: 3 Stars
***UPDATED 6-20-08*** 4 STARS!
I have only watched a couple of movies on this so far, I will update this post soon. I have a Sony 40" 1080P Bravia. Tried my older Sony 5-disc plain prog-scan player (I loved this player) which i was using from the CRT tv before the new sony. Picture was terrible. Tried the Samsung DVD-1080P upconverting dvd player, which was terrible also. Finally settled on my XBOX 360 as the best upconverting dvd player. Finally bit the bullet and purchased this "Highly regarded" upconverter. Upon initial impression, I must say I wasn't that impressed. It looked the same as the Xbox. From all the famed reviews, I was expecting something great. Maybe my standards are too high. Im going to tweak some options, watch a couple more movies and Ill get back to this post.
*Ok, so I popped in "Gone baby gone", picture was great as usual. Found some key memorable scenes and swapped the disc back and forth with my xbox 360. I could tell the 360 was a bit more grainy in some darker scenes, the oppo cleaned this up. Overall, the difference between the two is minimal, and having known this before I woudn't have made the purchase. The hype seems a bit overexaggerated and overated. I did want a separate player for fear of overusing the 360, and this will do. It seems as though it is all just a basis for comparison, so, I guess if your not already using an abox 360 to play dvds, you should be impressed.
*6-20-08 Found some website that explained all the menu options and did my homework dialing this thing in a little more. I raised the "Sharpness" slider, and man! The picture is crisp! I also dialed my tv with the THX optimizer, found on Lucas Movies (Starwars), and after some tuning you can really get this thing to shine. "Slipstream" and "HE was a quiet man" really looked intense.
***ALSO! When hooking an external hard drive, it must be formatted in FAT or 32, and can only access the first 700 files on a device or disc. This means that if you have more than 700 music files in your library, you won't be able to see everything. As a result, the USB interface is not intended to allow the 980H to serve as a large-scale media player. Might want to get a big thumb drive for it.
(4 STARS)
Customer Review: Shortcomings are minor
Summary: 4 Stars
Strictly as a DVD player -- its main function -- the Oppo DV-980H is superb. It also has a much better audio subsystem than almost all other DVD players on the market. and can play just about any kind of CD (including Super Audio, or SACD) or DVD disk you put into it -- except Blu-Ray, for which you will need a separate player. Its shortcomings are few and minor.
The DV-980H is an upconverting DVD player; that is, it uses computer algorithms to convert the 480p output native to standard DVD video disks to the highest resolution your television set/display can show, up to 1080p. While upconverting is becoming a common feature on many lesser players these days, the algorithms differ from brand to brand, and Oppo's upconversion is excellent. Even older recordings such as "West Side Story" are rendered in a good pseudo 1080p. Of course, the Oppo cannot supply data that is not there on the disk, but it fakes it really well.
Not uniquely, but uncommonly, the Oppo DV-980 has a front panel USB input, which allows you to use your high-definition, large-screen, flat-panel television set to view the pictures you have taken with your digital camera. The quality of the display is excellent, and quite likely larger than you are able to show on your computer monitor, although the display through the DVD player is limited to 1080 lines of vertical resolution. However -- and this is one of the Oppo's minor imperfections -- navigation of your library of digital photos is unergonomic and sluggish. The Oppo is a supplement to, and not a substitute for, your favorite computer-based image-sorting application.
In some operations -- again, especially when viewing material from the USB input rather than from disk -- the response to the remote control is sluggish. The front panel's navigation keys are more responsive, and are an adequate substitute in such situations, if you do not mind having to be within arm's length from the DVD player.
All things considered, this is an excellent DVD player and Super Audio CD player for the primary functions for which you probably want to use it. Its imperfections are in its minor and secondary functions.
Customer Review: PS3 Vs Oppo? Here's Your Answer.
Summary: 5 Stars
The Oppo's quality and attention to detail have been exhaustively written about in these reviews, so I won't go into that here. This review is for anyone that is wondering about the Oppo's upscaling capabilities vs. the PS3.
First off, let me say that I absolutely LOVE my PS3; the Blu Ray performance is outstanding, the games are great, and it's a wonderfully designed and reliable piece of gear. But as much as I love it, I've always felt that the DVD playback has left a lot to be desired; the picture looks noisy, often washed out, and not well defined--and, yes, I have the latest firmware updates installed. To be frank, DVDs have looked awful on my PS3 (and this has been the case on two separate HDTVs.)
Well, I finally had enough of my DVDs looking worse than they did on my old CRT (with some of them looking no better than VHS) and decided to take a chance on the Oppo--a risk, being that I already owned a DVD upscaler in the PS3. Wow, what a difference! Seriously, I was worried that I'd laid out cash for something that I already owned--was I ever wrong. The Oppo's superiority was immediately clear the first moment of the first DVD I played. The overall detail was far sharper, the colours more defined, and the overall picture was far tighter, solid, and substantial. Honestly, I was hoping that, at the very least, the Oppo would give me the sort of DVD playback that I was used to on my old CRT, but, instead, I now have a picture that far surpasses that and, in some cases (with DVDs mastered at high bit rates), nearly fools me into thinking that I am watching HD. The picture is that good.
Will you have the same sort of experience with an Oppo as I have? I've had the same poor performance of DVD playback on the PS3 on two separate Tvs (a Sony Bravia and a Samsung), so my assumption is that the quality is plainly the PS3's output and not the effect of either of the TVs. I'm confident that the Oppo will provide stunning performance vs. the PS3 with your TV as well. (Oh, and I won't even mention the several audio and video formats that the Oppo will play with ease, or it's ability to play either NTSC or PAL formats!)
Short answer? Get one!
Customer Review: Another Convert to OPPO
Summary: 5 Stars
After weeks of reading customer reviews and checking the OPPO site, I finally decided to get the OPPO DV-980H DVD player and I couldn't be happier with my choice. I also recently got a new HD TV (SHARP LC-32D62U)and am in the process of replacing our Sony Compact AV System (about 6 years old) with a new Onkyo receiver that can manage both my old and new equipment. This OPPO is replacing the 5 disc CD/DVD player in the Sony TIB. I also hope, eventually, to get either an HD or Blu-ray player, but the OPPO seemed an excellent intermediate step (and maybe, if I wait, OPPO will build a "true HD" player!).
I am still learning what this machine can do, but for now I'll just mention a few things that I thought made this player a standout:
a) first thing you notice is the exceptional packaging, including a cloth case for the player...first class and really sets the stage for what's to come;
b) sylish black case with a clean, high-quality "look";
c) inclusion of an HDMI cord...how refreshing to have something "extra" included;
d) easy set up right out of the box;
e) great picture on our SHARP 1080p HD TV connected to the OPPO via HDMI;
f) all of the possible connections you could want or need on the back;
g) excellent response time and support via email from OPPO customer service when I had a question about sound settings;
h) FUN THING...you can "capture" a picture that is input from the OPPO to the TV to replace the OPPO background screen...and it's really easy to do!
i) picture resolution settings are visible on the outside of the player and can be easily controlled via an HDMI button on the remote...no having to go into menus.
I could go on and on, but would only be repeating much of what others have already said. Let me just add that I'm sure this player will allow me to get the best possible picture from our current and rented DVD's until the time when HD players (including both HD & Blu-ray) are more affordable and HD rental DVD's are available in our area. I'm definitely an OPPO convert! I can't believe more people haven't heard of this product!