Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
by OPPO Digital
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
Customer Review: High Quality product but 1080p is not noticiable on a 46" LCD
Summary: 4 Stars
RESULTS:
Comparison to Sony DVP-NS71HP (same as 75HP)
Both players look amazing and do a fine job of upconverting/scaling your legacy DVD collection for display on the Sony LCD (Full Pixel mode).
During the THX Contrast setup the OPPO showed a slight green tinge on the 2nd block in from the upper left where the Sony did not. Hue and Color changes on the set did not affect it, nor did the Saturation or RGB Range choices offered on the OPPO.
The THX Brightness setup showed with the OPPO having a slightly brighter picture than the Sony that equate to about 1 notch on the Brightness scale (51 on the Sony = 50 on the OPPO). Some of the gray blocks had a slightly green tinge again on the OPPO that was not evident on the Sony.
The THX 16:9 Aspect Ratio set showed better on the Sony with the OPPO having distinct jaggies around the circle where the Sony was smooth.
The sample playback scene on the THX setup showed very well on both players (jaw dropping in fact) with a slight edge to the OPPO for shadows and a decidedly better treatment of edges when the scene stops going to the Sony for not having jaggies (stair steps) like the OPPO.
For Kill Bill I used the duel scene near the end of the movie (Scene 16 on the menu) to audition both players. The OPPO again with the green tinge evident in the snow where the Sony shows a bluer cast (which would be more accurate for snow). The details imprinted on Lucy's robe (Kimono?) was quite evident on both players as was the shine of the blade in the close-ups. The snow falling was exquisite in detail on both players. Both players displayed a slight bit of jumpieness during the scrolling of the credits at the end.
For Battlestar Gallactica the opening credits were a good source of comparison as I had the same images on two different DVDs that I could quickly flip source between. The Sony showed a slight edge in detail as you pan over the water toward the city. There is a fade scene of some text and a cylon robot's head the OPPO handled better with fewer jaggies and the text faded smoothly with no interlacing type gaps in the image. The OPPO also showed the text of "49,284 Lives" in a more uniform way without looking like it was a shadow font. However this was all during frame advance, and completely undetectable during normal playback speed.
The remotes are vastly different. The Sony offers some controls the OPPO lacks such as skip fwd/back with will move about 15s for easy skipping of credits or to repeat a scene. And the OPPO offers some features that the Sony does not, like bookmarks (separate from the A>B loop thing) and On Screen Display of the motion controls that can be operated via the cursor controls (neat but not that useful).
The layout of the buttons on the Sony are easier to maneuver in the dark (neither remote is backlit) and fit better in the hand. Both offer a Slow Play feature but the Sony has sound with it while the OPPO does not. The OPPO also combines both fwd/back on one button which makes it harder to change direction.
The OPPO offers more intermediate levels of Zoom and even offers a couple of Zoom Out positions where you can shrink the image on the screen.
Many of the buttons on the OPPO cycle thru their functions (and return to the starting point after several presses) where the Sony has more buttons dedicated to specific functions or directions and only have 2 or 3 levels to cycle thru. One quirk about the Sony that is annoying is how sensitive the cursor buttons are, often causing one to overshoot the target with anything but the lightest of touch.
CONCLUSION:
Both players offer superb image quality and will extend the life of your DVD collection on your HDTV. I honestly could not tell the difference between 720p and 1080p on the screen. I'm sure there are scenes on some DVDs that will be better under 1080p but I did not find them in my auditions. For the extra $100 the state of the art video processing from the OPPO was wasted on me. In fact, I liked the more natural looking images from the Sony. Plus the remote was the kicker... better control, better ergonomics. I'll be requesting an RMA from OPPO and sticking with my original purchase of the Sony. For what it's worth the OPPO does come with a higher quality HDMI cable than the Sony.
Customer Review: Fantastic video, fantastic packaging, only minor flaws
Summary: 5 Stars
We do movie reviews very frequently, so having a high quality DVD player is very important to us. As you probably know if you're into DVDs, the resolution on a DVD is higher than regular TV can show, but less sharp as a high definition TV. That's why Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs are coming on the market, to provide true high definition quality.
However, many of us with high definition TVs have a substantial library of regular DVDs that we still wish to watch and enjoy on our higher quality systems. In many cases these are DVDs that may never be released in a high def format, or personal videos that are simply not in high def format. That's where upconverting DVD players come into play. They help to convert the lower quality signal on a DVD into a high def level of quality, as best they can, by interpolating the existing signal and filling in the details.
We've tested several upconverting units as they get released, and to be honest in most cases the TV did a better job of this task working with a regular DVD player, vs having a DVD player that tried to do that task for the TV. So we approached the test of the Oppo DV-981HD with some trepidation. Would it really work well?
First off, the packaging. We were VERY impressed with how this came shipped! I've got to say it's one of the best packed electronic items we've ever seen, and being game reviewers and electronic gadget fans, we get quite a lot. Kudos to the shipping team for this. "Brilliant", says my boyfriend.
The unit itself is extremely nicely designed. We have several other slim items in our shelves and this really takes the cake. The lights and displays are still easy to read, but the height is extremely short. Perfect for people short on space. It stays nice and cool, too.
The remote has great, glowing buttons that make it very easy to use in the dark. The fast forward / reverse buttons have a great range of speeds. We've got probably 8 remotes on our table and this really stands out as being one of the easiest to use.
All of this wouldn't matter if the picture was awful. But we were really impressed with how *lovely* this made regular DVDs look on our high def TV. Blacks were lush and deep. Colors were vibrant. On a title screen with metallic letters, the regular DVD player had them looking lifeless and flat - but with the Oppo they really did look three dimensional and metallic. Facial textures in particular were extremely nice. Yes, it's still not *true* HD - but that's not the point here. You get a HD player to play HD discs. This is for handling the library you already have of DVDs.
You really do get spoiled - if you're going to watch your existing DVDs, why not watch them with the highest quality image that you can? This will make it harder to test out other upconverters in the future.
Now, this unit isn't 100% perfect in every day. Case in point - the menus. These have got to be some of the worst looking menus I've ever seen on a unit. The letters are kludgy and fuzzy looking. Some menus have options off the bottom of the screen - but there's no scroll bar or other indication that there are more items down there. You just have to page down and see if anything happens.
Also, while I'm reviewing DVDs I often want to get a screenshot of an image to use. When you hit "pause" on this unit, the pause icon stays on the screen. With pretty much every other DVD player I've seen, the pause icon vanishes after a few moments. Not here! I'm also not overly fond of the logo floating around on the screen - but heck, you just turn that off. The tray itself is super thin and fragile, to go with the thin design. However, our PS3 and Wii all have a simple insert slot which works perfectly. Why didn't they use that here?
Really, I can airbrush out the pause lines from my screenshots, so really the only thing I'd want them to switch for a new version is to make it trayless. For an enhancement, we really would love to see a unit with a hard drive recorder as well, so that we can both play DVDs as well as record shows. This combo would make this our primary entertainment unit. Still, until then, this is a fantastic buy for anyone who has DVDs they'd like to watch. Highly recommended.
Customer Review: Best Value to Bridge the DVD Platform War! + Great Audio too!
Summary: 5 Stars
Are you gun shy from having lost platform wars of the past?
Perhaps you bought into Betamax, MiniDisc, or maybe even a Rio right before the iPod launched? I'm certainly ready to let BluRay and HD-DVD battle it out until one's left standing! But this could take awhile... In the meantime, get yourself an Oppo Digital upconverting DVD player ASAP! These are The Best Value on the market today. But you already know that which is why you are reading this, isn't it? And you know there are other upconverting players out there...
But Oppo is the clear victor in today's marketplace. I recently acquired a Sony 46" XBR2 LCD and love the image I get with HD broadcast across my Verizon FiOS service. Just stunning. I sought similar results with DVDs and after much research I had about settled on the Oppo OPDV971H, which is their highly rated upconverting player (up to 1080i) - be sure to check with Audioholics and HomeTheaterHiFi sites for reviews and ratings buzz. Fortunately I was smart enough to visit the Oppo Digital site to find this newly released player that stretches the previous technology all the way up to 1080p!
We've had ours a couple weeks at this writing, and is it ever worth it! First of all, unboxing this feels high-end as it is both wrapped and protected quite well in the shipping box. Set up was a breeze, as this comes with HDMI connectivity, including a gold-plated cable. Even switching over to 1080p upconversion was simple. The remote is nice, much nicer than the older versions that have been panned so badly. Build quality, while not Fort Knox, is still decent for the price point, and the black finish is a nice change over past players. I like the blue lights, but for those that don't, they can be dimmed or turned off.
On to the important stuff. The image is quite simply stunning. Oppo has made great use of the available DCDi technology from Faroudja. As my wife and I tested various DVDs from our collection, we got so caught up in the viewing experience that we found ourselves watching whole movies when we intended to just view snippets. From our latest DVD additions, to Pixar animation, to the Three Stooges B/W, to collections of old B/W silents of Buster Keaton, the output is very impressive.
Other nice features include all of the various disc formats that are handled. Specifically, it will convert between NTSC/PAL, and also play most audio, video, and picture formats.
Finally, Oppo has a reputation for being a customer responsive company, and has made their players software upgradeable, and with this, have addressed previous concerns raised with their past players. Another example with this unit, is the new remote which is a direct response to customer feedback.
The Good/Great:
1. Image Output Quality is stunning
2. 480p/720p/1080i/1080p upconversion
3. HDMI cable is included
4. Price
5. Customer Service
6. Upgradeable
7. Excellent Audio capability (added 2/1/2007)
The "Okay":
1. Oppo logo sceensaver (it can be turned off)
2. No component video output (but it truly was not intended for this purpose. Oppo intends it for use with HDMI or DVI interface)
The "Bad"
1. None at this time
Stop searching and buy now, you've found the Holy Grail of today's DVD players!
***Updated 2/1/2007***
For starters, with another months' experience with this player, I want to emphasize that we are VERY, VERY pleased with this unit. The video continues to impress -- I don't want to mislead, it won't make a miracle of a rough transfer, but for sound standard def DVDs the upconversion is INCREDIBLE. What we've had further experience with that has been equally stunning is the audio performance. This unit handles it all (CD, SACD, DVD Audio, etc) very impressively, and as a result I must re-emphasize the value quotient. Short of Bluray and HD-DVD, this unit will handle virtually any disc in your collection. Thanks Oppo!
(Also available direct from Oppo)
Customer Review: Farudgja Upconversion is apparent on larger screens 36+
Summary: 5 Stars
This review is three years after purchase. I purchased this player to extend the life of our existing DVD collection when we upgraded to our first flat panel. At the time the choices were DVD, HDDVD and BLURAY. I was not ready to buy into a new format. The quality of DVD was sufficient for our 27" screen at the time. With my budget and existing collection- this was the player to have, the plan was to enjoy our collection on the next larger display purchased without replacing the collection. The results are mixed however the player is superior in subtle but important ways. Ignore the inexpensive feel of the tray. Enjoy the viewing experience of your favorite DVD's. This player has been worth the price and has held up quite well.
Having been raised with video entertainment on Beta, SVHS and LaserDisk, matters of CLV, CAV, S-Video and varying levels of video quality I had been quite aware of the distortions and enhancements introduced by various recording medium and digital compression.
Compression introduced distortions are far more unnerving and distracting than analog signal fuzziness and periodic interference. Broadcast digital video is the worst offender, cable or satellite, non-hd streams are often compressed to a level of loss that would not have been acceptable even on analog formats.
Often the sync of motion to audio is comical to the point where I feel as if I'm watching SAP broadcast with voice-over in English. This isn't really cool when it's live broadcast. Delay in output is not always the fault of the broadcaster. Some LCD monitors appear to have latency in processing which seems to enhance the already sloppy compression of the original stream.
In my opinion one of the most unnerving aspects to compressed video is the sloppy rendering of moving high contrast objects and the details. Edges of high contrast objects in motion are approximated and often jagged. Faces, eyes, nose, mouth do not appear to be physically attached, but floating in space. The proportions drift as the actors speak and move. Eyes float in space. It's like there's an animated mannequin head with added layers of face objects rendered separate and slightly drifting...freckles nostrils, creases, eyes, mouth, ears- all drifting and slightly out of sync.
Add the sound-image sync issue to the proportional drift and approximation of faces and other moving objects and the viewing experience degrades quickly. Like a schwab commercial, but it's your DVD or broadcast. Even HD video has some of these problems.
This player's upconversion was far better than any other sub-$200 DVD with upconversion. All upconverting players did a fine job of converting images that were originally produced for interlaced frames however the Farudgja techniques and processing of edges in motion are apparent on fast 720p and 1020p displays.
Good upconversion itself cannot make a highly compressed video look better. The enhanced mode on the OPPO works nicely with DVDs that are not highly compressed, dual layer or multi-side movies look excellent with little distraction from compression added distortions. The results are good on larger screens and the purchase has filled it's purpose.
Since the advent of Blu-Ray the DVD releases have been produced with higher compression. The enhancement from upconversion becomes a liability when the compression has rendered the enhancement worthy detail out. Turning on the extra enhancement feature on the Oppo makes watching highly compressed video irritating at best even for those who don't mind the lossy quality of average compressed video.
That said, I'm going to keep this around for my existing DVD's. It's time to get the Blu-Ray on. Network video delivery is the future. HD quality is only as good as the distributors and broadcasters choose.
Customer Review: the Holy Grail for the video masses
Summary: 5 Stars
I got to know this player thanks to my geat frustration with our Samsung TX-R3079WH SlimFit TV, which is a real piece of work....don't get me started.
Up until today, the HD TV channels looked better than any of our 2 DVD players,a Samsung 850 and a Harman Kardon DV47, both pretty new on the market. Both players have been equaly mediocre and I kept wondering if there was a way to help this problem before I throw out the crappy Samsung TX-R3079W out the window (to be fair, the TV is not that horrible, it just has bizarre geometry problems and looks a little dark on factory settings). That's when I startet thinking Blu Ray, HD-DVD etc; but a little more research brought some great news: you dont have to break your bank account to have really amazing video quality. If you have not seen it yet, google " DVD Benchmarks" amd you will find a website that compares a zillion players and the Oppo 970 (the 981 predecessor) beat all of them, the second one on the list being a $3000 Denon!. now, I have never owned a DVD player worth more than $400 (actually the HK was $350 and it took forever to get it as I preordered it) so, it's possible a very expensive machine will beat the oppo in many other respects, but I am very happy right now with the 981. One thing is that, I have no idea how the oppo sounds, as I have the audio output connected via coax digital to a Meridian D/A converter. I am curious as to how it performs as a DSD/Super Audio player through its analogue outputs, since the HK pretty much sucks at that too. But I did not buy the oppo for it's audio.
The Oppo 981 has raised the bar. Just received this afternoon and hooked it up. Played some videos of the Lucerne Festival with abbado, Star Wars 3, Rush in Rio, and others. The difference is quite noticeable. The video image is Outstanding! it looks great om 720p, maybe even better than 1080i? Buying directly from Oppo was also a delight. Ordered it on December 29, got it Jan 2nd, via Fedex, with emails and tracking notifications directly from Oppo. I am very impressed with this company and will continue to watch their products. Who knows, maybe soon they will come out with a cheap Blu Ray or HD-DVD... hhmmm... well , the point is, if you have lots of DVD's , you don't need any of that new crap format. The Oppo shames pretty much everything under the sun. get it now!
UPDATE: it's been almost a year and I have enjoyed using the Oppo 981. On the plus side, I discovered that this player is no slouch playing red book CD's and it excels on SACD. I was not expecting this, being such an inexpensive unit. I never took the cover off for fear of dissapontment at first sight: something akin to removing the back cover of a quartz watch and seeing a battery incrusted in a bed of plastic (yuk)... I was afraid that, upon removing the cover, I would just see a cheap transport, a few op amps and a LSIC. I don't care, it does sound pretty good,regardless of what is in there!
On the disapointing side, the machine loads slow, lacks many menu related features but above all, the most annoying nagging thing is the display. You can't see it if you stand further than 10 inches away from it. And it provides no info on which format disk is playing at the time. I would pay more if Opppo introduced a sister model with a decent display that can be read from your chair and it at least told you if it's playing SACD or DVD-A, or just PCM. In the end, even with it's little idiosyncracies, the Oppo 981 makes movies look beautiful on-screen for much less that the competition and that's what counts.