Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
by OPPO Digital
|
List Price: Our Price: $179.00 You Save: $120.00 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
Customer Review: Making up for other's mistakes
Summary: 5 Stars
In theory, you don't need this device.
You've bought an HDTV screen, it's got input for your existing DVD player, and you'd think your swank screen's electronics would do a good job with the DVD's signal to give you a pretty good picture, but they don't. In fact it looks worse than your old TV.
OK, well, you've also got a stylish new blu-ray or HD-DVD player. Maybe the problem is the interconnect from your old DVD player. Your new stylish hi-def DVD uses HDMI -- surely either the screen itself or the swank new DVD player will make sure your DVD looks good on your new screen -- but it doesn't, in fact it still looks worse than your old TV.
In practice you really may not need this device. One of the scenarios painted above may be true for you. Your display or your hi-def player will do a good job of taking the DVD content and upsampling it for the hi-def screen. Perhaps there are screens or hi-def players on the market today that do this, but I don't own one of them. I can state with certainty that the base playstation 3 and the Sony KDL46XBR2 are not such products. Play a DVD straight to the XBR2, or through a playstation 3 to the XBR2 and you will want your old TV back. (Well, I did. Maybe anything looks better than your old TV.)
If, like me, you find your existing video library intolerable on your new hi-def rig, then you should consider this player. Like the other reviewers, I am very pleased with it. It makes the content watchable.
There are two provisos.
First, you have to read the instructions. The DV-981HD does not automatically detect and output in your screen's favorite format. Read the instructions, hit the right buttons, or you will not get any improvement because the DV-981HD will output in 480p and your screen will do it's usual lousy job of upconverting.
Second, no amount of processing is going to take an old 480p signal and make it look as good as a 1080p signal. You own Casino Royale on DVD, you see it on Blu-Ray at the store or a buddy's house, the DV-981HD is not going to make up the difference. Have reasonable expectations. This product will do a good job of making your existing DVDs look pretty good on your HD screen, but they are still going to look bad by comparison right after you've finished watching some 1080p flick. That's why you bought your swank new hi-def player in the first place.
Here's the net. If you have an existing DVD library you want to view, do not find that your current gear produces a good picture for your DVDs, and you have reasonable expectations for what your DVDs should look like -- then this player is for you.
Changes as of 5/24/07.....
Above I wrote: "In practice you really may not need this device. One of the scenarios painted above may be true for you. Your display or your hi-def player will do a good job of taking the DVD content and upsampling it for the hi-def screen. Perhaps there are screens or hi-def players on the market today that do this, but I don't own one of them. I can state with certainty that the base playstation 3 and the Sony KDL46XBR2 are not such products."
This is no longer true. The 1.8 SW release of the PS 3 does upscaling. It's good enough that I'm unhooking the Oppo to save space and clutter in the living room.
Customer Review: Great alternative until either HD-DVD or Blu-Ray wins!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an outstanding up-converting player for SD DVDs; I'm thrilled with what I've seen so far, and I'm very picky.
I previously owned the Sony DVP-NS75H up-converting player, which I ran via HDMI to my Panasonic PT-AE900U projector (which is native 720p), and the results were "fair". After doing a lot of research, I was going to dive into the new Toshiba HD-A2 HD-DVD player, since I heard that the first-generation player (the A1) was one of the best standard-def up-converters on the market. I thought it would be fun to embrace the new technology while simultaneously stepping up to a better standard-def player. Well, too many question marks arose during my research, and too many GOOD reviews of OPPO DIGITAL made me turn my head to this player.
I couldn't have chosen better! The step-up in quality from my old Sony to this player is almost equal to the step-up in quality I experienced when I first moved from a regular 480i DVD player to the Sony. Fine details (such as the gravel under Luke Skywalker after he's been knocked out by the Sandpeople in "Star Wars", or the green grass and forest leaves of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" as Indy is chased back to his plane) are now beautifully resolved, and the color palette (particularly in the skin tones) is MUCH more rich and true-to-life. I always had trouble dialing in the proper skin color with the Sony; it tended to be too green or too magenta, with very little room in between.
Also, from what I can tell, the contrast range is far better than the Sony. During the classroom scene in "Raiders", for example, I can now see buildings outside the windows, where it used to be a white-out of non-detail. (And this ISN'T at the expense of a rich, high-contrast image--I didn't "cheat" by lowering the contrast; there's just more detail present with the Oppo)
And the main reason I got the new machine? Well, the ol' Sony used to de-interlace in a manner which would occasionally manifest some nasty horizontal line artifacts. My disc of classic silent flicks from the turn of the century ("Landmarks of Early Film") was almost unwatchable. I guess the Sony couldn't deal with the way the disc was mastered; I'd give the old Sony viewing experience a 3 out of 10. Now, on the Oppo, the de-interlacing is almost flawless, and I'd give the new viewing experience a 7 out of 10! It's an older disc, and would never rate higher than that, but the point is: it looks like FILM again, instead of a distractingly bad video transfer!
The only two things I'd complain about with the OPPO so far (I've only had it for five days!) are nit-picky items, but they DO bug me:
1. When you've PAUSED an image, the PAUSE icon stays on the screen and does not go away after a few seconds. Thus, you never have a "clean" paused image with this player.
2. There's no way to get rid of the default "OPPO" logo screen when a DVD is not playing. The Sony players give you the option of selecting a black screen, which I greatly prefer.
Oh well... nothing's perfect. I'll take the benefits this player gives anyday!!
I'm very happy with the purchase, while I bide my time and watch who will win the HD format war!!
Customer Review: Watch out for burn-in on plasma monitors!!
Summary: 4 Stars
The `upconverting' capabilities of this unit are truly astounding - I have no complaints about that but, I have suffered an, apparently, permanent burn-in somehow on my December 2006 Maxent 50" plasma monitor.
I do NOT have cable, satellite nor broadcast television.
I ONLY watch DVD's. I shut off the monitor when I leave the room for even 1-2 minutes.
I am EXTREMELY diligent to make sure I do not suffer burn-in but, it appears, the initial `OPPO DIGITAL DVD' logo (the one you see on the blue-screen at bootup - NOT the screen-saver) has been permanently burned into my display.
I know it was the Oppo Digital (outputting HDMI at 720p) that was the culprit because I did extensive testing using my old Pioneer 434 (which must be run out to Component Video).
Even when I unplug the Oppo 981 and disconnect the HDMI cable and I play a film/DVD on the Pioneer 434 that has clouds, mist, fog etc. the whole logo "Oppo Digital DVD" shows faintly in the background.
As I stated above, when I'm going to be away for even a minute I shut the Maxent monitor off - possibly, the Maxent MX-50X3 is highly susceptible to plasma burn-in... who knows? Neither Maxent (or Sony, Toshiba etc.) nor Oppo would ever admit to causing burn-in - the `consumer' is always blamed (and probably 99% of the time it IS the consumers fault for not being aware and taking proper precautions to prevent burn-in on plasmas but...).
I've used the `White Screen' function on the Maxent - to no avail.
Just a note to the folks who get mad at Oppo when they find the 981 will not play HD DVD's - go to the Oppo Digital website - in their Specifications they state that this player will NOT play HD DVDs.
One reason, among many, that I purchased this 981 was because I want to purchase DVDs from anywhere in the world and this player is REGION FREE AND it will correctly convert PAL (European standard and elsewhere) formatted DVDs to NTSC (U.S. and Canada standard) - this unit performs this function flawlessly. HD DVD players will NOT convert PAL to NTSC and, while HD DVD's ARE Region-Free, Blu-Ray players STILL divide the world into 3 Regions (thanks, Sony).
You also have to remember that with ANY standard DVD being upconverted, the image will only be as good as the best transfer of the film. Many DVDs have been released and Telecine'd at inferior bit-rates. If you watch such a film on a CRT/Tube TV it may look acceptable but, when you run it through a capable `upconverting' player (such as the Oppo 981) all of the digital artifacting will be multiplied greatly, resulting, in many cases, in a film that is unwatchable using an HD system. Every single little glitch will be shown up and intensified. Garbage In Garbage Out. Even on the best transfers they can not correct everything and (as with `Valley of the Dolls' in Susan Hayward's dressing room watch the wall-bricks under her dressing table) you will see the results of unsteady tracking (color shifting) as the player tries to track the image.
Anyway, this is a great player, probably the best `upconverting' player out there - just beware if you have a Plasma!!!
Hope this helps.
Customer Review: Great upconversion for my dvd collection...
Summary: 5 Stars
I just received my Oppo 981 today, so this is an early, first impression review. Right off the bat I can verify, just like all the reviews say, this is a great dvd player, and the upconversion looks fantastic.
The packaging was nice and secure. The unit is thin, clean, and attractive. The remote seems comfortable after getting used to it for a bit, and the HDMI cable included was great. From what I can tell though, the cable is only an HDMI 1.1 standard cable. I was hoping for 1.3 so I was a little bummed about that, but no big deal.
After taking a few minutes to scan the manual to be sure I had all the settings right, connected to my Panasonic 42" PZ700U 1080P, and made sure the player was outputting 1080P conversions... The upconversion looks amazing!
My first dvd was Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (original, rented disc), and it looked great! I was mostly impressed by the clarity and detail in the skin tones and faces of the actors. It looked clearly better than normal hi-def broadcast signals. Several times throughout the movie I commented outloud, "Man, that looks good!"
I also have a large collection of movies backed up on DVD-R discs. The Oppo does play DVD-R/+R discs. All my movies are backed up on single 4.7 GB discs, so some movies are uncompressed, and some are compressed. The couple I tested looked great! I don't recall whether they were compressed or not, but I will experiment with my compressed ones and post again if I find any problems. But as of now, everything has looked fantastic!
I'm glad I made the decision to buy this player while I decide what I will do for a high-def player. And even though a high-def player will upconvert, I wanted a player specifically designed for upconversion. I have seen regular dvd's in high-def players, and I think this Oppo does a better job.
I also burned some video files onto a dvd to test other formats. It played my .avi files just fine, and although they don't look as good as regular movie dvd's, I know that is because of the source. However, even with the lower quality of the files, they still looked better than a vhs tape, and as good as a regular dvd on a standard def tv. It will also play .wmv files, but I couldn't get it to play my .mpg files. I will convert them to something else and try again though. Obviously it will play most all audio media files with no problems.
The only negatives comments I have so far are two... One is that the disc drawer slides in and out, as opposed to just using a slot. The drawer is extremely thin, and delicate. It seems like it could be fragile, but then again just be careful not forcing pressure down on it and it will be just fine. But I think they could improve that. Second is that the menu's look funky, and ugly. They could have done a WAY better job on this one. But again... they're functional, and it's no big deal.
Overall, I bought the player to upconvert my regular dvd's, and they look great. Really great! Enough said. Money well spent, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Customer Review: Breathtaking
Summary: 5 Stars
I've owned a Samsung 40 inch LCD TV for a little over a week now. When I viewed my first DVD through a standard Sony DVD player, I was immediately disappointed with the picture. The image would sometimes pixilated around the edges, especially during fast movement. Well, my friend told me about "upconvering" DVD players which would upgrade them image from standard definition to near HDTV quality. Until about a week ago I did not even know that "upconvering" DVD players even existed, and I was immediately skeptical. Conventional wisdom tells us that the image can never be better than the original source material. Well, I'm happy to say that I was wrong.
After a little research I decided to forego the retail stores and order an Oppo DV-981HD online, because the buzz surrounding these machines is so overwhelmingly positive. The buzz is well deserved. The picture quality is simply breathtaking. First, I put in my highest quality DVD, Revenge of the Sith, and I was totally blown away. The explosions are more vibrant. I can see particles that were not visible before. Every little mole and bead of sweat is clearly visible on Ewan MacGregor's face. There is absolutely no pixilation on fast action scenes. Now, my HDTV service is not hooked up yet, so its impossible for me to make a fair comparison between this and real HDTV, but I can't imagine the picture quality being much better.
I also tested my lowest quality DVD, which is a film of an airshow which I shot with a digital camera at 640 x 480 and only 15 FPS. Even this low resolution picture looked great on the Oppo, while on a traditional DVD player the image is so pixilated that its virtually unwatchable.
If you have an HDTV, you're going to want one of these. I've invested literally thousands on my DVD collection over the last 10 years. Who wants to start all over and start replacing your favorite discs with HD versions of the same films? Not I. The Oppo DV-981HD solves this problem. Now I can watch all my favorite movies in the best picture quality possible without another sizeable investment.
If you go on the company's website, they'll show you how to make it region free. It even will convert PAL to NTSC, and vise versa. If the picture quality weren't already enough of a selling point, it will also play any disc made anywhere in the world.
Update: I had to try a DVD from another region to make sure it worked as Oppo states it would, so I bought a Rory Gallagher DVD on Amazon.uk that's not available in the U.S. (PAL, region 2). It played without a hitch. This is great. Now I can buy and watch DVDs that would not normally be available in the U.S. market. I've already ordered "Azumi 2" and "Conan the Destroyer Special Edition". And "Pans Labyrinth", which is only now hitting U.S. theatres, will be available on UK DVD next month. This alone makes this DVD player worth the price, in my opinion.