oppo dv-981hd dvd player: can the best get better?
December 3rd, 2006 comments (45) stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
OPPO Digital, makers of arguably the best upscaling DVD player ever made, has just released a new version of the player, complete with a variety of new features.
The $229 OPPO DV-981HD is an updated version of the award-winning DV971H player. For starters, the 981 includes an HDMI digital output, rather than the DVI output featured on the original model. In addition, the player features true 1080p output and adds multi-channel SACD audio support. Both the 971 and 981 feature some of the best video scaling and deinterlacing capabilities out there, using a Genesis/Faroudja chipset which produce excellent image quality.
For those of you keeping score, the original DV971H scored a record-breaking 98 in the Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity DVD Benchmark, a widely respected benchmark in the home theater enthusiast community. What’s even more amazing is that OPPO’s players are very reasonably priced when compared to other high quality DVD players. Assuming that the DV-981HD is built on the same core technology, and simply adds new features and higher resolution output, OPPO could be going for a perfect 100 score this time. If you have a large DVD collection, and don’t think that HD DVD or Blu-Ray are ready for prime time yet, you owe it to yourself to check out one of these players.
(BTW, if you don’t have an HDMI connection on your television, you’ll need to go with the $199 DV971H model, which still includes component analog outputs.)
filed under: home entertainment video
December 3rd, 2006 comments (45): stumble it! digg it! by: technabob
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If this dvd player can output “true” 1080p, can it play HD
dvd’s? If so, what’s the point of buying a HD DVD player?
If not, what the heck is meant by true 1080p anyway, since
that’s my understanding of what the highest definition
is?
Ruben: This is still an UPSCALING 1080p DVD player. That means that the original 480p disc content is being upscaled to 1080p. While this player has an excellent scaler, the original resolution that comes on Blu-Ray and HD DVD discs is much higher to begin with, so there’s still reason to buy one of those formats if you want a true high definition movie.
The last DVD player I tried to use went to snow on the HDMI out. I am using a 19″ Westing House with DVI so I got the HDMI\DVI cable. I have read this means the TV does not have HDCP. Is there a way to get a digital connection from a dvd that does not reguire the DVI TV to have HDCP? On a second note I did find a way of getting the picture on HDMI after it went to snow I unplugged the HDMI and plugged it back in, but although I had picture no sound and I was usin L and R audio out and in.
The issue you’re describing with your TV sounds more like a handshaking issue, rather than an HDCP issue. I doubt you’d ever get a picture at all if it was an HDCP issue.
You might want to check into one of these:
http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=1378
The Gefen DVI detective can often help with providing DVI display handshaking information that sometimes gets sent to the device too late (I ran into this with an old TV). What it does is store your TV’s EDID information so it’s always there for your connected device when you turn it on. It might be worth a shot given the symptoms you’re describing.
So that if current dvd’s are recorded in 480p, upscaling to any higher resolution degrades the picture quality somewhat. That makes sense.
Will the upcoming HD DVD’s
be recorded in 1080p and how does that make it incompatible with the Oppo DVD player? Can the Oppo not process a straight 1080p signal? Thank you for your response.
Actually, a good upscaling regular DVD player such as the OPPO can actually improve the image quality of 480p images by interpolating the pixels in between and removing some artifacts of low resolution content. The OPPO can take a 480p source DVD and upscale the image using its sophisticated processing to 720p, 1080i or 1080p.
That said, a 720p or 1080p native signal such as the ones that can be recorded on HD DVD and Blu-Ray are typically far superior to the naked eye. (Although poor transfers have been known to happen, lessening the difference in quality)
That said, the OPPO is NOT an HD DVD player. You’ll need to spend about $425+ to get a true HD DVD player such as the Toshiba HD-A2, or if you happen to have an Xbox 360, you can add on an HD DVD drive for $199. Blu-Ray players are even more expensive, and the best bang for the buck is actually the Sony Playstation 3 if you can get your hands on one.
Maybe Oppo will see fit to come out with it’s own version
of an HD DVD player.
Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. Have a Merry Christmas and great New Year!
I read on another website that 970HD works best on fixed pixel displays, like LCD and Plasma. Is that also true for SXRD, Sony’s version of LCOS?
Yeah. I have the Sony 60″ SXRD (KDS-R60XBR1), and the OPPO DV971H, and the picture looks excellent when I have the set at 1080i, and the OPPO set to do all the upscaling.
In comparison, if I run the 480i or 480p DVD signal directly to the display and let it do the deinterlacing and/or scaling, the picture is very soft and has many more artifacts in detail areas.
The only sources that I currently have that produces a better picture are over the air HDTV at 720p+ and the Blu-Ray player built into my PS3.
I have a 981. When it works it is greatbut within five days of purchasing it. It is displaying a picture with an overabundance of red through out. I have to turn it off for at least an hour to “cure” the problem. It also tends to overly enlarge the picture. I have a Sony 60″ sxrd. I do not know if it is a setting porblem, an individual set problem, or a systematic 981 problem. I am still waiting for OPPO to return my Email.
I have a 47″ 1080p westinghouse lcd panel monitor, you mention to set the the oppo to let it do all the upscaling, how does that work? won’t the picture from the oppo thru the hdmi port of the tv will automatically be deinterlaced and/or scaled by the oppo circuitry? or do you have to do some settings in some menu?
If you’re asking me, I actually DO let the OPPO do the upscaling, not the TV. The OPPO has much better scaling and deinterlacing circuitry than most televisions. I know for a fact that Westinghouse sets have fairly rudimentary scalers, so you’d want to let the OPPO do the heavy lifting for the best picture.
Unless your set either has a Faroudja (DCDi) or Teranex (HQV) chipset, the OPPO will almost always produce a better picture if you let it do the work. If your set has a really good upscaler and deinterlacer, you don’t even necessarily need a player like the OPPO. I also have a Vizio 50″ Plasma that has the Faroudja DCDi circuitry on board, and I just use a cheap Toshiba 480i player with that set.
Technabob: Can you post your SRDX setting when matching it up with the Oppo?
I have a 971 and I’m still getting a little artifacting when it comes to very dark shadowy scenes.
I have all the upscaling done through the OPPO and think I have turned off most of the items on my 50″ SRDX but would love to see how your 60″ is set up
Cheers
-Sam
I have a 55″ SXRD and hooked up my OPPO 981 last night. Out of the box the 1080p ghosting looked so bad I thought it was a Predator movie. I called OPPO and they had me try a few other DVDs with no luck. So they are sending me a new one and I’m mailing back the old one. Bummer- b.c i was pumped to try this new one out. I will say that the audio sounded amazingly better than my old samsumg non-progscan DVD player. -Brian
EvoSam:
I still need to go and check my SXRD settings with the 971HD. I’ll try to go in and post them this weekend.
Brian:
I’m surprised that your 981 had that problem with 1080p. But since I have the older SXRD and the 971, I can only do 1080i anyhow, and it looks great. That said, I’m spoiled by my PS3’s Blu-ray player now, though, so my OPPO is starting to gather a bit of dust.
Technobob:
Any luck with those settings?
I just watched the Illusionist this weekend which has a lot of shadows and I’m still seeing a little artifacting so I’m keen to see what I can tweak get the best combo out of the TV and Oppo.
Cheers
-Sam
Sorry guys. I haven’t had a chance to play with my 971 and SXRD in a while. I’ll try to check out my settings and post back soon. I do recall that I did little tweaking with the OPPO and it worked nearly flawlessly out of the box. The SXRD needed some adjustment, but not much at all.
I finally got a chance to check out my settings for the Sony 60? SXRD (KDS-R60XBR1), and the OPPO DV971H:
SXRD settings:
Picture Mode: Pro
Iris: 2
Picture: 58
Brightness: 29
Color: 31
Hue 0
Sharpness: 24
Color Temp: Warm
Noise Reduction: Off
Direct Mode: Off
DRC: Cinemotion (reality 39, clarity 85)
Advanced Iris: Low
DTE: Off
Color Corrector: Off
Clear White: Off
Detail Enhancer: Off
Black Corr: Off
White Enhance: Off
G Bias: -2
OPPO Settings:
All processing disabled (outputting at 1080i)
Sharpness: Off
Brightness: 00
Contrast: 00
Saturation: 00
True Life: Off
CCS: Off
Noise Reduction: Off
Hope that helps some.
I just got done watching Pirates of The Carribean 2 on it and it still looks great to me. (I could barely tell the difference between the OPPO and my PS3 Blu-Ray player).
Thanks so much Technobob!
I’ll try the setting tonight when I get back and see if I can get rid of the dark artifacts on The Illusionist.
Cheers
-Sam
Technobob:
I read on the OPPO website that if you have a DLP HDTV that you will have to have “careful calibration” with these DVD players. Have you heard any of that? I have a Toshiba 62MX196 Cinema Series DLP television. Any thoughts?
I’ve never heard of that issue.
That seems like kind of an odd statement. You might want to check on AVS Forum to see if there’s any discussion there.
The Oppo 981 and 971 have the Faroudja chip which is prone to macroblocking with DLP TVs. I have the 981 and the picture quality is exceptional (very good black level) on the 58″ panasonic plasma. A friend borrowed the Oppo and had unacceptable macroblocking on his Samsung DLP, but works find on his Sony Bravia XBR (both are properly calibrated). If you don’t want to take any chances with macroblocking on your DLP TV, go with the Oppo 970 which doesn’t use the Faroudja chip.
Thanks for the info. I have emailed Toshiba to find out. Who knows if they will respond or not. Can anyone give some information on the difference between the 981 and the 970? I keep hearing “the chip makes the difference”.
thanks.
Here is some information I just recieved from OPPO:
“DLP technology is particularly susceptible to macroblocking, due to the
low bit-depth and contrast and brightness ratios. DLP displays
primarily use 8-bit processing and an 8-bit PWM scheme on the DMD
mirrors, and out of box, most DLPs do not fully utilize their entire
range of digital bits (steps between black and white). For this reason,
without proper calibration using professional grade calibration discs
such as AVIA or DVE, DLP displays will enhance macroblocking and
false-contouring errors.
Because DLP displays are macroblock enhancing, we would not recommend
the use of the OPDV971H or DV-981HD on DLP displays, as the OPDV971H
and DV-981HD will macroblock enhance as well. We would recommend the
DV-970HD for DLP displays as it will produce a very good picture and
will not produce macroblocking errors.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119
This was emailed to me on February 6, 2006.
Wow. That’s to the point, so in short:
DLP –> 970
LCD, LCOS, Plasma –> 971/981
Thanks for posting that info from OPPO.
I have the new 65 inch Panasonic Plasma and tried the Oppo 981, the Macroblocking was unbearable.
Well then, strike that. I’ve been pleased on my SXRD with the old 971. Maybe the 981 isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?
Well I’d be happy to to comment on macroblocking if I could get my new 981 to display a picture at all on HDMI. I’ve got a Toshiba 56HMX96 DLP. So far no joy getting it to display an up-scaled picture via HDMI. Composite video looks good on it, though, so this set does a fair job of up-converting itself. I was hoping to see an improvement, however. Waiting for Oppo tech support to return my email.
I have a Panasonic 50″ Plasma with the OPPO 981. Before Calibrating (with Digital Video Essentials – DVE) the picture had terrible blocking. After no problems. Overall the best picture I have ever seen, short of true HD. I had tried the Samsung HD960 and Toshiba SD-5000 and returned them both.
How does Oppo 971 or 981 pair up with Sony Kds60xbr1 compared to Sony NS75H player with Kds60xbr1? Thanks very much
Has anyone tried the 981 with a HD CRT?
I have a KD-34XBR960.
Just thought I would pass this along. I am putting in a home theater room and most projectors are DLP so I asked if the 970/981 applies to DLP projectors as well. Here is Opp’s response.
We do not recommend the DV-981HD for Rear Projection DLP displays. For Front Projection displays we highly recommend the DV-981HD as this will produce the cleanest, most film like picture on your projection screen.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119
Just purchased the oppo dv-981hd to connect with my panasonic plasma TH50PX60U. I am using the HDMI cord connected directly to the TV for DVDs only – no other inputs at this time. I am at a loss to know how to “tweak” these two units together for best calibration. Can you give me or direct me to a place where I can find the best SXRD settings for both of these units. Thanks!
Oppo DV-981HD
Does anyone know if this player will play through the s-Video connector AND
HDMI at the same time. Might seem like a silly question, but I had 2 TV’s
hooked up in different rooms that way with my Sony DVP-NS975V before it
finally died. This looks like an excellent player if it will handle my
situation.
Thanks in advance,
Glenn
The Oppo dv-981 will play thru the S Video output at the same time it does on the HDMI cable. It also has a composite video out. If you use the mix down rca outputs for the audio you will need to set it in the speaker settings to Stereo or Mono so it will send the correct audio to the other room. It will affect the sound if you use the multi direct output for speakers such as the left,right, rear,front,sub rca cables but will not change the digital output to a a/v unit.
Another thing I did was put white stick on labels cut thin to the thickness of the tray and stuck them on the front of the tray so in the dark I wouldn’t keep hitting the tray which is hard to see when it is open.
Had my unit since February and love the way it operates. I have a Samung DLP 56 in tv and used the DVE dvd to set the tv. Hope this helps as I had to read and try things to figure this out myself.
I am awaiting my new oppo 981 and am contemplating buying a new plasma hdtv. Since burn-in is always a concern with plasma tvs, I was wondering if the oppo is going to automatically adjust the picture to eliminate the borders on top and bottom that you get when watching “wide screen” dvds?
Thanks!
I’m pretty sure you can set the 981 to zoom in to fill the screen, but I’ve heard that it results in some loss in picture quality (not to mention the distortion you’ll get whenever you mess with the proportions of the images).
Thanks. I am going to rule out plasma tvs. Too much to worry about.
I would like to ask your opinion(s) on the next decision I will be making.
I have been offered a Sony kdl 40s3000 (40″/720P) tv and a Toshiba HL 167(42″/1080P) tv for the same price, $1399. A decent price for either, in my opinion.
Reviews for both are good but I am thinking that the Sony is a higher quality tv than the Toshiba. With my 981 scheduled to arrive this week, I am wondering if the 1080P upconversion to the Toshiba is going to be as good as or not as good as the Sony’s 720P picture.
With the Sony, I obviously wont be utilizing the 981’s main objective, upconverting to 1080P but I am wary of the Toshiba’s PQ.
Any comments from anyone are welcome and appreciated.
Thanks.
KM
Kevin:
I think that you’ll be happier with a true 1080p resolution set. I recently went from a Vizio 50″ 720p plasma to a Sony 46″ 1080p LCD, and the picture looks SO much sharper on my Sony. If you can spare a few extra bucks, a Sony 1080p (like the KDL-40V2500, which is the 40-inch version of my set) that would be your best bet.
Otherwise, if you need to be cheap, you might want to even check out this deal over at Costco for a 42-inch 1080p Magnavox (42MF437B) for just $999 through July 15th.
Thank you kindly.
I will see if I can get a good deal on the KDL 40V2500. I will sleep better knowing I am utilizing the 981’s prime feature. Also, the sony reviews are stellar.
I’ve got the 46-inch version and it really looks great. You won’t be disappointed, and you won’t ever have to worry about burn-in.
My old Vizio had huge burn-in scars from the 4:3 ratio bars. I can’t deal with stretching my images out of proportion.
More questions please.
I did read some reviews that mentioned “clouding” or “cloudy” issues with the V2500. Ever hear about them?
Certainly, the majority of opinions are that it is an excellent tv.
Do you know how long the v2500 versions have been out?
I have heard there is a v3500 coming out. How soon I don’t know.
Do you think the calibration settings for on your 46″ will be close to the 40?”
Thanks again.
Well, I have the 46V2500 (actually the costco version, the 46V25L1), and haven’t had any “clouds”.
I will say that with all LCDs there’s a tiny bit of inconsistency in corner brightness on perfectly black screens.
That said, there is no such thing as a perfect TV. I have a large SXRD in my basement, and it’s had the dreaded “pink blobs” on white screens, but it’s still got the best picture of any TV I’ve owned overall, so I learned to live.
I’m not sure if the calibration settings will be similar on the 40V, but if you email me (at the “Got a Tip” email link at the top right), I’ll look mine up and send em back to you in a day or so.
I purchased an Oppo DV981HD last March and have found it be a fantastic player. The problem I have – 2weeks ago the sound stopped coming through the TV. The connection is HDMI . I made no changes whatsoever to any of the settings,the sound just stopped. The qualiy of the movies are as good as they were when I received the player. I have run the sound through audio leads from the oppo to my hi and the sound is fine but I much prefer it through the TV . I have contacted the oppo tech support team and they keep asking me to ckheck out different setting, and I keep telling them that I have changed none of the settings “the sound just stopped”. I have read a number og blogs relating to problems with HDMI cables where people can get a good picture but no sound, there blogs relate to other players, but is there a problem with HDMI cables and audio. Any advice would be welcome. I purchased the Oppo from the USA but I am in Dublin Ireland and not that easy to return the player to have it checked out.
Thank You
John
What is the best media player?