I found several problematic scenes in The Incredibles (to my big surprise!) when upconverting
the 480p DVD with my PS3 into BenQ W5000 projector. I also found a bad pan in Monsters Inc.
and reallized how noisy Space Shuttle video was in Digital Video Essentials.

I tested the same scenes with my brand new 983H last Saturday:

The Incredibles - Noise in the dark skies was very subduded.
Badly blown highlights in a few scenes (see the rocket) could not
be recovered. but I did not expect that.
Overall, it looked excellent again after a shock I experienced
when I played it on Sony PS3 for the first time.

Monsters, Inc. - A vertical "camera" pan in the first scene still flickers,
but it's not so obvious if not known before hand.

DVE - The SS-launch noise is all there, but it's not as horrible as with my PS3.

The only really big problem I found with the 983H that it would not
play my Blu-ray discs! Should I have bought the 983BR model instead?
Don't shoot! I am just kidding...

Mike

I have not noticed such a trend with the latest DVDs. Can you be more descriptive of the issue? How pronounced is it? Is it brief occurrences of stair-stepping, or is it consistent? If the problem is truly in the source material, I doubt that a player could fix it, unless it's something like a bad edit, in which case the ABT chip in the 983 recovers much faster than the Faroudja chip in the 971. But if you're also seeing it with the Reon chip in the XA2, I'm not sure what it could be.

Gary

Check out the original standard DVD release of Flags of Our Fathers. This disc is almost unwatchable. One of the best scenes demonstrating this is near the beginning when the game plan is being discussed on the deck of the ship. Check out the edges of the chalk board and the railing on the ship. The other discs I've discussed above like Into the Wild aren't quite as bad, but I'm just not used to seeing this on DVD. I'm just wondering if some of the new authoring for HD is creating issues when they downconvert it for standard DVD?

Man, this smells of conspiracy theory - purposely creating bad DVD transfers, perhaps even thwarting the magic of upconverting players - to force us to buy BluRay.

Gary

Check out the original standard DVD release of Flags of Our Fathers. This disc is almost unwatchable. One of the best scenes demonstrating this is near the beginning when the game plan is being discussed on the deck of the ship. Check out the edges of the chalk board and the railing on the ship. The other discs I've discussed above like Into the Wild aren't quite as bad, but I'm just not used to seeing this on DVD. I'm just wondering if some of the new authoring for HD is creating issues when they downconvert it for standard DVD?

Just when I was thinking/hoping (a pipe dream really), that the studios producing these dvds would step it up a notch. Kind-of bending to the "Superbit" angle of producing dvds. Make them the best they possibly can look, allocating all the space on a single disc to make the pic and sound the best it can possibly be... pffftt, ya right! It's going in the opposite direction now. This is one of the reasons I have not bought too many dvds over the last year. That and the fact that I still have probably at least 30 dvds that I've never even watched yet :rolleyes:. Now I'm caught up in this hi-def crap shoot and I really wish I had waited.
Anyway, I too am subscribing to the theory of the sudios are producing "mediocre" sd-dvds just to make HD look that much better. I can understand problems in the transfers of movies from the 60s through the 90s even, but for a movie that was just made 2-3 years ago to look like crap on dvd is just inexcusable.
I'll stop now... :)

As for my 983, it's purring like a beautiful jet black siamese kitten :D. I have two small kids that love their animated movies from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, ect... and all those movies look fantastic on the 983.
I put in (for the first time on the 983), The Empire Stikes Back SE a couple days ago. My god I can't believe how good it looked. I was really surprised.
This player isn't quite perfect (which BTW there's no such thing :)), but as much as a lot of people here are hung up on the few flaws, I want to point out how amazing this player is. The picture quality it can produce, from a dvd that is mastered to the best of it's ability (like 5thE), is uncanny.
I'm even only running it at 720p, so I can imagine a somewhat better pic on a high end 1080p display (maybe some day).
I now have it setup for a 9ft wide 2.35 screen and watching from 13 ft back in the front row, 17 ft back in the second row.

I have two small kids that love their animated movies from Disney, Pixar, Dreamworks, ect... and all those movies look fantastic on the 983.
I put in (for the first time on the 983), The Empire Stikes Back SE a couple days ago. My god I can't believe how good it looked. I was really surprised. Same here. My movies have never looked better. My wife hates watching a movie twice, so I'm glad to have my 4yr-old son around... I get giddy with excitement when he decides to watch one of his favorite Pixar/Dreamworks movies AGAIN!!

Gary

Same here. My movies have never looked better. My wife hates watching a movie twice, so I'm glad to have my 4yr-old son around... I get giddy with excitement when he decides to watch one of his favorite Pixar/Dreamworks movies AGAIN!!

Gary

Indeed, there's something about those Pixar movies. They're like done so perfectly. Like the new Bee Movie, I've seen it twice now and have had enough, but those Pixars I've seen 20 times and still love 'em to death. although I have to admit that I do love animation in general. I'm kind-of a big kid that way. Of course aren't we ALL big kids here with all of our electronics. Boys and their toys... :cool::D;).

Well I ran the first New Zealand DV-983H player here last night and I must say I'm very excited with the results. I thought my PS3 upscaled standard DVD's really great but the Oppo DV-983H does a far better job. Im truly amazed how this player can clean up the image. Great to see that edge ringing gone on most dvd's finally and the image is sharp too, thats what I like to see!

Standing less than 2M away from a 50" Panny the results are remarkable. Im trying to find fault with the image but its almost impossible.

Tested on a 120" screen with the Mitsubishi HC6000 and the results are clean, dynamic and punchy!

Zoomed the image up to our 2.35 screen, 3.5M wide (thats 138" for you guys in the USA) and at 1080p the image is still clean as!

Im really impressed with what Oppo has done here and I'm looking forward to revisiting many of my classic DVD library again.

This player really is a thumbs up for Oppo and Im sure anyone with a larger display will be well rewarded for years to come.

I still buy standard dvd's due to the limitations of titles on Bluray and HD DVD even though I have all three players. Oppo has saved the day with this player and allowed many of us to continue with a format that is far from dead!

Just want to comment on the discussion about the fall off in SD quality - I have a theory based on personal experience. I'm a film-maker, and recently re-mastered an older film of mine. We re-masted to HD off a new print, even though there's no plan to put the film out in HD (it's a small, art-house film), and they down-converted to SD from that.

When we were re-mastering, I couldn't believe how great the HD transfer looked, but when I saw the SD down-conversion I was really disappointed. Contrast, color, everything was off. Luckily the studio let me go in and re-tweak the SD version and I ended up quite happy. But it's possible a lot of film-makers (and studios) are getting fooled by just focusing on the HD master, and not realizing things might need to be re-tweaked for SD.

But I never felt they didn't want the SD to look good. When I pointed out what was wrong, they gladly shelled out the extra $ to get it right, and this was on a title that was never going to sell that many copies.

Hi Murray

Hopefully mine arrives tomorrow and I too will experiance what you have. Big disappointment tonight when I took a box home from work that arrived adressed to me. Opened it up at home expecting to see my new 983 but was very disappointed when it turned out to be a customers laptop I had forgotten was coming.

till tomorrow

Just want to comment on the discussion about the fall off in SD quality - I have a theory based on personal experience. I'm a film-maker, and recently re-mastered an older film of mine. We re-masted to HD off a new print, even though there's no plan to put the film out in HD (it's a small, art-house film), and they down-converted to SD from that.

When we were re-mastering, I couldn't believe how great the HD transfer looked, but when I saw the SD down-conversion I was really disappointed. Contrast, color, everything was off. Luckily the studio let me go in and re-tweak the SD version and I ended up quite happy. But it's possible a lot of film-makers (and studios) are getting fooled by just focusing on the HD master, and not realizing things might need to be re-tweaked for SD.

But I never felt they didn't want the SD to look good. When I pointed out what was wrong, they gladly shelled out the extra $ to get it right, and this was on a title that was never going to sell that many copies.


That's an interesting theory and backs up what someone else said on another thread............ just because it's a HD master, it's no guarantee the downconvert, whether to 1080P or 480i, is going to be excellent. I agree with you, probably too much of an attitude of "it's an HD master, it's good enough".

John

Please lets confine discussion to the 983, it's still a hot topic. Take the conspiracy theories somewhere else. There are great look SD-DVDs coming out today and bad ones. Just like the last 10 years. It is a lot harder to make a SD-DVD look good given the compression that has to happen. If you want to discuss SD-DVD PQ, please take it to the movie/DVD forum. Thanks.

larry

Does the 983 do a better job playing music CDs?

Does the 983 do a better job playing music CDs?
We hope to get one reviewer's take on this when Kal's review is published.

Same here. My movies have never looked better. My wife hates watching a movie twice, so I'm glad to have my 4yr-old son around... I get giddy with excitement when he decides to watch one of his favorite Pixar/Dreamworks movies AGAIN!!

Gary


Yeah! Thats fun isn't it? My 3yr. old grand daughter watches them with me. Actually, she watches them & i get to sit in & have an excuse to see them again! :D

Does the 983 do a better job playing music CDs?

The answer is ......YES! They sound much cleaner than my older Denon 3910 does. The denon sounds way too warm (only way I can describe it) and the OPPO sounds open. You have to do an A-B to understand what i hear. Did I make any sence? :confused:

Lots of Sence ;).

Denon has always had a warm signature IMO.

We hope to get one reviewer's take on this when Kal's review is published.

I believe Kal's review will focus on multi-channel audio via hdmi. I will be using the analog stereo out so I don't know if his review will be of any help for people like me.

Solutionsav will personally drop off the 983 and the Oppo HDMI switch tomorrow evening between 7pm and 8pm.

Yeehaw. :D

Dont even have to call in sick. ;)

Does anyone know when Oppo will get more of these? I am on the email list, I also sent an email asking for a time frame. No reply yet.

Mid-May is what I hear whispering through the grapevine.

(whispering...) If you order it, it will come.

(whispering...) If you order it, it will come.

But the site will not let me order it...

Does the 983 do a better job playing music CDs?

Better than what?

But the site will not let me order it...

You have to get on the "list" for them to notify you when they get more in stock.

Better than what?

I guess in my case it is an old JVC DVD player.

My name came up on Oppo's waiting list for a 983, and I am still undecided if I want to plunk down $400. Besides playing DVDs, I also want to play music CDs. Actually, I really want a Bluray player that has phenominal SD DVD playback, but it looks like it won't be until 2009 that a Bluray player that does everything well comes out. In the meantime, I am contemplating the Oppo and then maybe the Sony S550 or Pany BD50 for Bluray. So, I think at least for a year or so, I am stuck with two boxes instead of one.

I guess in my case it is an old JVC DVD player.

My name came up on Oppo's waiting list for a 983, and I am still undecided if I want to plunk down $400. Besides playing DVDs, I also want to play music CDs. Actually, I really want a Bluray player that has phenominal SD DVD playback, but it looks like it won't be until 2009 that a Bluray player that does everything well comes out. In the meantime, I am contemplating the Oppo and then maybe the Sony S550 or Pany BD50 for Bluray. So, I think at least for a year or so, I am stuck with two boxes instead of one.Considering most Blu-Ray players don't offer exceptional SD DVD playback, yeah that the only way to go right now is with a Oppo 983H. Then buy the appropriate Blu-Ray player later. BTW you can always return the Oppo 983H if your not satisfied, but you'll probably not. ;)

Also when SD-DVD players first came out they were $500 and up, sound familar.

I guess in my case it is an old JVC DVD player.

My name came up on Oppo's waiting list for a 983, and I am still undecided if I want to plunk down $400. Besides playing DVDs, I also want to play music CDs. Actually, I really want a Bluray player that has phenominal SD DVD playback, but it looks like it won't be until 2009 that a Bluray player that does everything well comes out. In the meantime, I am contemplating the Oppo and then maybe the Sony S550 or Pany BD50 for Bluray. So, I think at least for a year or so, I am stuck with two boxes instead of one.

Is there a reason you don't want two units? I now own the 983 and Panasonic BD30. I actually like having one unit for DVD and one for BD. The reason being is I will eventually upgrade my BD30 and will not have to be concerned about the next BD player's DVD performance, nor pay extra for it. I mean the high end Denon BD player might do what you want, but at $2,000.

Latest Stereophile review says the 983 is only marginally better sounding than the 980 from the analog outs...

Latest Stereophile review says the 983 is only marginally better sounding than the 980 from the analog outs...

Who reads Stereophile?

Who reads Stereophile?
Apparently you guys do. You've been waiting with baited breath for Kal's review, as stated in previous posts, above. Well, it's out. In his opinion, the $400 price of the 983 is not justified in terms of "the small improvement in sound quality" (over the much cheaper 980).

You are buying the DV-983H for the combined video and audio performance of the DV-981HD and the DV-980H.

As an audio transport, the DV-980H is a much better solution for its price. But if you care anything at all about video performance, the DV-983H is a nice no brainer solution.

Apparently you guys do. You've been waiting with baited breath for Kal's review, as stated in previous posts, above. Well, it's out. In his opinion, the $400 price of the 983 is not justified in terms of "the small improvement in sound quality" (over the much cheaper 980).


and even that 'small improvement' is questionable, unless Kal did the comparison blind...something that's rather unlikely in Stereophile.

Anyway, the real 'point' of the 983 is its *VIDEO* performance, from everything Oppo has written.

Anyway, the real 'point' of the 983 is its *VIDEO* performance, from everything Oppo has written.No doubt.

FYI, I sent the following email message to the European OPPO shop;

> I was just wondering what, if any, chance there is of seeing the new Oppo
> model, the DV-983H become available in Europe, and if there is, then what
> the timescale looks like.
>
> Would I be as well ordering direct from USA or are there any benefits in
> waiting to see a European model, if such a thing is planned?

and got the following reply;

>OPPO DV-983H:
>No set dates for the European release.(hopefully in May)
>
>As soon as I receive further information I will send to you.

Hopefully, indeed.

Does anyone know the answer to my second question regarding any differences on the European model?

The only thing I can think of is if they add a SCART interface.

The only thing I can think of is if they add a SCART interface.

Thanks, Neuromancer.

I knew OPPO did this before with some models and wondered if the same applied in this case. The power supply is universal, I believe, so that won't be an issue but SCART is a useful addition in Europe as this is how RGB is often handled over here.

Would the addition of SCART mean some other output is dropped, however? Perhaps the three RCAs that handle RGB? Is this how it worked before?

Do you know where the European models are manufactured? Are they simply imported having been modified?

Upgraded from a Sony up convert 1080i DVD player and my 1st reaction to the OPPO is WOW! What a quality product from packaging to player. The picture is Fantastic. I am 100% satisfied. I will be looking at their Bluray player once I decide to replace my Panny BD30.

BTW: I am running it through a Pioneer VSX-94TXH at 1080p and so far no audio dropouts.

One last thing: This being my first OPPO purchase to those that have not tried the OPPO brand, do yourself a favor and get on the waiting list as you will not be disappointed.

Mike Thomasson

just received my 983 last week and have been enjoying it very much with movies and music but ran into a problem. I have searched all the oppo threads and I am still a little confused.
In order for me to listen to cd's, sometimes I have to turn the TV on. I can then turn it off and the music continues to play but in the other threads it was mentioned that the display did not need to be on to listen to cd's. I have it connected by HDMI cable to my 9.8. I have recently run the upgraded firmware and that helped with my audio dropouts but there are times when I still have to turn the display on to listen to music.
Any suggestions, Thanks in advance.

You are buying the DV-983H for the combined video and audio performance of the DV-981HD and the DV-980H.




How are we supposed to buy a 983 when they are still sold out?
Get a 980 and use the $240USD you save on CD's and DVD's.

How are we supposed to buy a 983 when they are still sold out?
Get a 980 and use the $240USD you save on CD's and DVD's.

Ummm, it's called using a little patience. I too had to wait several weeks, but if you're interested in getting the best DVD video quality possible, it's worth the wait.

Latest Stereophile review says the 983 is only marginally better sounding than the 980 from the analog outs...


That's like saying " your new hot rod is only 1.20 seconds faster than my older one! Who's the faster guy on the track ???? Just a little better sounding is way better than just a little worst sounding i would say. ;)

Anyway, the real 'point' of the 983 is its *VIDEO* performance, from everything Oppo has written.
I agree. Both my Oppo 983 and Denon 3910 are connected via 2ch analog, and having compared their audio performance with both regular CDs and HDCDs, I clearly prefer the Denon--though admittedly, I am using better interconnects with the Denon, and it's possible that the Oppo isn't fully broken in yet. However, when it comes to HDMI video, whether viewed on my 1080i CRT or my XGA DLP projector, the Oppo blows the Denon out of the water on both film and video content. It's not even close.

I must say, it would be nice if the 983 offered a "digital off" mode, and it is a bit of a nuisance that the "video off" mode takes five seconds to kick in, and resets with each power cycle.

after watching my favor DVD that " Diana Krall - Live in Paris "
i experienced two issues :

1. a lot of the noise in the dark scene

2. 983h the Picture is a little bit hard.....

does anyone have any idea how can i fix that .... THANKS THANKS

it is good ideal that getting a better hdmi cable to improve the PQ ??

after watching my favor DVD that " Diana Krall - Live in Paris "
i experienced two issues :

1. a lot of the noise in the dark scene First, calibrate your TV using a calibration DVD like DVE (Digital Video Essentials)... at the very least, set Brightness and Contrast properly, and turn off all the torch-mode image "enhancement" settings that introduce nasty artifacts. Secondly, many DVDs are very badly recorded, compressed, and/or encoded, so try another well-encoded DVD.
2. 983h the Picture is a little bit hard.....

does anyone have any idea how can i fix that .... THANKS THANKS

it is good ideal that getting a better hdmi cable to improve the PQ ?? No. Another cable won't make any difference. You need to be more specific about what you mean by, "Picture is a little bit hard". Try all of the suggestions above first. Then try setting the player's "Sharpness" setting to "-1" or "-2". Also, try enabling NR (Noise Reduction) in the player and/or in the TV.

Gary

I have it connected by HDMI cable to my 9.8..

Connect with optical/coaxial instead of HDMI when playing back CD audio. I have issues with the Integra 9.8 and HDMI sources when there is not an active HDMI load on the Monitor Out. Using optical/coaxial will give you the same audio performance without the whole HDCP handshaking business.

I have recently run the upgraded firmware and that helped with my audio dropouts ...

The Integra 9.8 or the DVD player?

Does the 983 do a better job playing music CDs?

I do believe the 983 hdmi sounds better than my 981 for music.

When I heard oppo was using the 5532 chip in the analog out, I was a bit disappointed. Not really a bad chip, and its been a workhorse in the industry, its just a bit long in the tooth. The 5532 must be over 30 years old by now. Surely, oppo could have employed something more up to date. So if one has the option of choosing between hdmi or analog, I personally would choose hdmi.

If I did not have the option using hdmi, I would look into modifying the analog out. A 'simple' drop in replacement for the 5532 and possible output cap upgrade, would probably go a long way in improving the analog outs.

Regardless, the 983 video performance by itself, IMO, is worth the price of admission. And the hdmi audio ain't too shabby.

On another note, a friend of recently purchased a new fully modded 983 with new 2 channel analog outs, dexa clock and ps mods. So I will be able to compare whether the mods made any difference with the hdmi, analog audio outs(2ch), and any video improvements, compared to my stock 983. So I plan to post impressions in the near future, fwiw.

I do believe the 983 hdmi sounds better than my 981 for music.

When I heard oppo was using the 5532 chip in the analog out, I was a bit disappointed. Not really a bad chip, and its been a workhorse in the industry, its just a bit long in the tooth. The 5532 must be over 30 years old by now. Surely, oppo could have employed something more up to date. So if one has the option of choosing between hdmi or analog, I personally would choose hdmi.

If I did not have the option using hdmi, I would look into modifying the analog out. A 'simple' drop in replacement for the 5532 and possible output cap upgrade, would probably go a long way in improving the analog outs.

Regardless, the 983 video performance by itself, IMO, is worth the price of admission. And the hdmi audio ain't too shabby.

On another note, a friend of recently purchased a new fully modded 983 with new 2 channel analog outs, dexa clock and ps mods. So I will be able to compare whether the mods made any difference with the hdmi, analog audio outs(2ch), and any video improvements, compared to my stock 983. So I plan to post impressions in the near future, fwiw.

I would be very interested to know how the comparison of a stock and modded 983 turns out.

I would be interested also. I always wondered if a modded player was worth the money. Or better to use your pre amp instead. Mine has a full by-pass mode so I can hear the difference. The Bryston also has the same dacs as the BP-25. They sound nice. At least to me.

Has anyone had any audio/video drop out (using 1080p output through HDMI) with the new denon receivers, such as 4308?


Thanks.

First, calibrate your TV using a calibration DVD like DVE (Digital Video Essentials)... at the very least, set Brightness and Contrast properly, and turn off all the torch-mode image "enhancement" settings that introduce nasty artifacts. Secondly, many DVDs are very badly recorded, compressed, and/or encoded, so try another well-encoded DVD.
No. Another cable won't make any difference. You need to be more specific about what you mean by, "Picture is a little bit hard". Try all of the suggestions above first. Then try setting the player's "Sharpness" setting to "-1" or "-2". Also, try enabling NR (Noise Reduction) in the player and/or in the TV.

Gary

Thanks Gary.. I finished calibrating my TV and setted sharpness to -2,, the PQ is Better now ..

Today , i exprenced a big issue that When i using HDMI output to TV..
After loading the DVD .. the Picture is flashing.. and then i called oppo tech.
They told me it is a hand shake issue and try anther hmdi cable..

after i tried another hmdi cable... the flashing picture is still there..

Ps ..there is no that issue in the component output ..

Just received my 983 from Solutions AV!

Have to say that the 14 gauge power cord is way overkill for something rated at 20 watts.

I just got my unit 2 days ago, and I must say I prefer it to my PS3, XA2, Mitts. HC5000, and Integra 9.8 upscaling...
But yesterday I had the video/audio drop out, just once, and the only way to get it to stop flashing was to power down the 983
Any Ideas?
Thanks Garth

Thanks Gary.. I finished calibrating my TV and setted sharpness to -2,, the PQ is Better now ..

Today , i exprenced a big issue that When i using HDMI output to TV..
After loading the DVD .. the Picture is flashing..

Was this not happening before? What changed?

-Bill

Was this not happening before? What changed?

-Bill

:confused: yesterday morning , i first connected with HDMI to my Tv. The picture was flashing and no sound .. :o but after work and came home at night, The flashing picture was gone..

today morning , the flashing picture come out again and no sound.:(

and even that 'small improvement' is questionable, unless Kal did the comparison blind...something that's rather unlikely in Stereophile.

Anyway, the real 'point' of the 983 is its *VIDEO* performance, from everything Oppo has written.

Guys - so I finally got the 983 after 3 weeks of waiting and after running comparison to my 981 last night - I have to say that I will be keeping the 981...

Also, to be fair, the 983 is a replacement for a reference Denon 2900.

1. video performance is little over "just" better in upscaling

2. sound over optical is same

BIG disappointments and POSSIBLE areas of improvement:

1. I was used to my 981 handling every disc I throw at it - the same CANNOT be said for the 981 (it gives random "unknown" disc error)

2. "advanced" scaling is a joke - the 983 should be able to do manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning and not just "ZOOM" - the 981 already does that.
- maybe I do need to by a video processor ( I just thought why would it be necessary)

IMHO - if you own a 981 you don't need to upgrade..... unless:

1. they change disc handling
2. improve the scaling features - I am sure a firmware upgrade can do this....

Guys - so I finally got the 983 after 3 weeks of waiting and after running comparison to my 981 last night - I have to say that I will be keeping the 981...

Also, to be fair, the 983 is a replacement for a reference Denon 2900.

1. video performance is little over "just" better in upscaling

2. sound over optical is same

BIG disappointments and POSSIBLE areas of improvement:

1. I was used to my 981 handling every disc I throw at it - the same CANNOT be said for the 981 (it gives random "unknown" disc error)

2. "advanced" scaling is a joke - the 983 should be able to do manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning and not just "ZOOM" - the 981 already does that.
- maybe I do need to by a video processor ( I just thought why would it be necessary)

IMHO - if you own a 981 you don't need to upgrade..... unless:

1. they change disc handling
2. improve the scaling features - I am sure a firmware upgrade can do this....Given there's only been one released firmware upgrade for the Oppo 983H since the release mid-march 2008, you can't expect Oppo 983 to play 100% of user burned media without further testing from known samples of media that are causing the issue.

Why do you need manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning?

What kind of display and video material was used for your comparison?

Guys - so I finally got the 983 after 3 weeks of waiting and after running comparison to my 981 last night - I have to say that I will be keeping the 981...

Also, to be fair, the 983 is a replacement for a reference Denon 2900.

1. video performance is little over "just" better in upscaling

2. sound over optical is same

BIG disappointments and POSSIBLE areas of improvement:

1. I was used to my 981 handling every disc I throw at it - the same CANNOT be said for the 981 (it gives random "unknown" disc error)

2. "advanced" scaling is a joke - the 983 should be able to do manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning and not just "ZOOM" - the 981 already does that.
- maybe I do need to by a video processor ( I just thought why would it be necessary)

IMHO - if you own a 981 you don't need to upgrade..... unless:

1. they change disc handling
2. improve the scaling features - I am sure a firmware upgrade can do this....

The 983 walks all over the Denon 2900 which is strictly a 480p unit (which I used to have). I never had the 981, but did have the 971 (same chipsets) and always found it too soft and never could rid the macroblocking despite meticulous calibration. Obviously, room lighting, display technology, screen size, seating distance, calibration, how sharp one's eyes are and things they notice, etc. all factor in too.

Please lets confine discussion to the 983, it's still a hot topic. Take the conspiracy theories somewhere else. There are great look SD-DVDs coming out today and bad ones. Just like the last 10 years. It is a lot harder to make a SD-DVD look good given the compression that has to happen. If you want to discuss SD-DVD PQ, please take it to the movie/DVD forum. Thanks.

larry

Sorry to get off track. I want to thank all the posters here who have taught me a lot.

So, here's a tip for those waiting - Projector People - one of Oppo's only authorized dealers, just got in a shipment of 20 983s. I just nabbed one, already got my FedEx tracking. So for those who don't want to wait, their link is right on the Oppo site, under authorized dealers. I called and spoke to someone directly to make sure there was one available - they were very friendly and helpful. Also, they said they do not charge shipping or tax, so my total was $399!

Just received my 983 from Solutions AV!

Have to say that the 14 gauge power cord is way overkill for something rated at 20 watts.Amen to that comment! You could almost say it qualifies as a monster. :D

I just got my unit 2 days ago, and I must say I prefer it to my PS3, XA2, Mitts. HC5000, and Integra 9.8 upscaling...
But yesterday I had the video/audio drop out, just once, and the only way to get it to stop flashing was to power down the 983

If you change your HDMI cable going to your Integra from the DVD player, do you have the same issues?

If you bypass the Integra, do you have the same issues?

If you lower the resolution to 720p, do you have the same issues?

Which firmware is currently installed on your Integra 9.8?

I do believe the 983 hdmi sounds better than my 981 for music.

When I heard oppo was using the 5532 chip in the analog out, I was a bit disappointed. Not really a bad chip, and its been a workhorse in the industry, its just a bit long in the tooth. The 5532 must be over 30 years old by now. Surely, oppo could have employed something more up to date. So if one has the option of choosing between hdmi or analog, I personally would choose hdmi.

If I did not have the option using hdmi, I would look into modifying the analog out. A 'simple' drop in replacement for the 5532 and possible output cap upgrade, would probably go a long way in improving the analog outs.

Regardless, the 983 video performance by itself, IMO, is worth the price of admission. And the hdmi audio ain't too shabby.

On another note, a friend of recently purchased a new fully modded 983 with new 2 channel analog outs, dexa clock and ps mods. So I will be able to compare whether the mods made any difference with the hdmi, analog audio outs(2ch), and any video improvements, compared to my stock 983. So I plan to post impressions in the near future, fwiw.
What chip is this 5532 you speak of?

Given there's only been one released firmware upgrade for the Oppo 983H since the release mid-march, you can't expect Oppo 983 to play 100% of user burned media without further testing from known samples of media that are causing the issue.

I think its fair to assume that if 981 could do it right out of the box - the 983 should also.

- the only reason I think this way is because I hold Oppo in high regard and expect the best from their products.

"Why do you need manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning?"

IMHO, this has been one of the most valuable features of my old Panasonic commercial plasma.

note: The Pio 4280 will do positioning, but not stretching.

Why is manual image stretching important:

1. letterbox/4:3 content is never correctly zoomed/scaled on 16:9 by a preset scaling function in a TV (f.e.Pio 4280) or DVD (Oppo 981/983-currently) - the faces are always elongated, there are small black bars at the bottom, or some areas of the screen are cutt-off

- here comes the manual stretching of images - i.e. I can fill the whole screen to my visual preference.
- I am surprised that more people do not care about or notice this.
- also, if you are doing your own video encoding it helps a lot if you don't get images right or have logos in corners and want to periodically shift them to prevent bur-in in...

1. I was used to my 981 handling every disc I throw at it - the same CANNOT be said for the 981 (it gives random "unknown" disc error)

We have already talked about this issue in your thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13655332#post13655332). To maximize your support, I highly recommend not posting in two separate threads.


2. "advanced" scaling is a joke - the 983 should be able to do manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning and not just "ZOOM" - the 981 already does that.

And how are you going to accomplish this scaling easily with the provided menus and remote control? Hell, I have a VP50 and I can't get that to scale properly, and that has been designed specifically as an outboard scaler.

The architecture of the DV-983H does not have enough processing power for this high level of X/Y manipulation. OPPO implemented a general Stretch and Zoom/Crop to resolve most issues related to Aspect Ratio control.

I think its fair to assume that if 981 could do it right out of the box - the 983 should also.

- the only reason I think this way is because I hold Oppo in high regard and expect the best from their products.

"Why do you need manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning?"

IMHO, this has been one of the most valuable features of my old Panasonic commercial plasma.

note: The Pio 4280 will do positioning, but not stretching.

Why is manual image stretching important:

1. letterbox/4:3 content is never correctly zoomed/scaled on 16:9 by a preset scaling function in a TV (f.e.Pio 4280) or DVD (Oppo 981/983-currently) - the faces are always elongated, there are small black bars at the bottom, or some areas of the screen are cutt-off

- here comes the manual stretching of images - i.e. I can fill the whole screen to my visual preference.
- I am surprised that more people do not care about or notice this.
- also, if you are doing your own video encoding it helps a lot if you don't get images right or have logos in corners and want to periodically shift them to prevent bur-in in...
No, it's absolutely not fair to assume that. I've worked with this company for a little over a year now as beta tester, they work hard to make these players. You really shouldn't assume that they can just fix something with firmware, or that things are that simple. Are you a software engineer with experience creating firmware on electronics? I'm not, and I definitely wouldn't assume this is something they can just do.

Also, if you need this kind of adjustment why aren't you using something like a VP50??

Neuromancer, Thanks for the help. I will start listening to CD's with a digital coax cable. I was hoping that the HDMI cable would alleviate some of the other cables but I guess not.

The dropouts were happening with the oppo so I did the firmware upgrade.
So far all is well.

What chip is this 5532 you speak of?

5532 is a dual channel opamp originally designed by TI, I believe.

I think its fair to assume that if 981 could do it right out of the box - the 983 should also.

- the only reason I think this way is because I hold Oppo in high regard and expect the best from their products.

"Why do you need manual Hor/Ver image stretching and positioning?"

IMHO, this has been one of the most valuable features of my old Panasonic commercial plasma.

note: The Pio 4280 will do positioning, but not stretching.

Why is manual image stretching important:

1. letterbox/4:3 content is never correctly zoomed/scaled on 16:9 by a preset scaling function in a TV (f.e.Pio 4280) or DVD (Oppo 981/983-currently) - the faces are always elongated, there are small black bars at the bottom, or some areas of the screen are cutt-off

- here comes the manual stretching of images - i.e. I can fill the whole screen to my visual preference.
- I am surprised that more people do not care about or notice this.
- also, if you are doing your own video encoding it helps a lot if you don't get images right or have logos in corners and want to periodically shift them to prevent bur-in in...

Maybe I'm not completely understanding, but I've watched non-anamorphic, letterboxed versions of 1:78/1:85 and 2:35 films and I don't see an issue. Of the zoom options available, I prefer the slight underscan which does give a VERY slight black border around such material but it's really not an issue. Now, my display does have some overscan at 2.5%-3.0%, so there would be more of a border with displays that have less overscan, but still. What kind of display do you have?

We have already talked about this issue in your thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13655332#post13655332). To maximize your support, I highly recommend not posting in two separate threads.

I didn't mean to post twice - I was trying to summarize and not go into details - I should have referenced my other post.

And how are you going to accomplish this scaling easily with the provided menus and remote control? Hell, I have a VP50 and I can't get that to scale properly, and that has been designed specifically as an outboard scaler.

The architecture of the DV-983H does not have enough processing power for this high level of X/Y manipulation. OPPO implemented a general Stretch and Zoom/Crop to resolve most issues related to Aspect Ratio control.

Aspect ratio control doesn not appear that different on the 981 - maybe the 983 is slightly better at it - but, I have no proof of this.

Maybe I am not technically knowledgeable, but I find it hard to believe that a panasonic commercial plasma from 2004 can do this with its lower level video processing and that other devices (DVDO, Pio, Oppo) won't.

Also, it is hard to believe that a DVDO will not do X/Y manipulation - I have never owned a stand-alone video processor.

It is completely different in the DV-983H, as the DV-983H is the only player which will properly stretch 2:35:1 films (constant height) and remove the matting on 4:3 Letterbox/Widesceen movies. None of the previous DVD players offered this support.

Beyond that, the Zooming is done through the scaler, rather than the decoder, so the end result is a much higher resolution image.

Also, it is hard to believe that a DVDO will not do X/Y manipulation - I have never owned a stand-alone video processor.

It will do X/Y manipulation, but the controls are too slow and buried within menus to make it useful for most applications.

Aspect ratio control doesn not appear that different on the 981 - maybe the 983 is slightly better at it - but, I have no proof of this.

Zoom on the two units is very different. The 983 adds full width for letterboxed 4:3 titles, vertical stretch, full screen (no black bars) for both 4:3 and 16:9 titles, and underscan.

-Bill

Zoom on the two units is very different. The 983 adds full width for letterboxed 4:3 titles, vertical stretch, full screen (no black bars) for both 4:3 and 16:9 titles, and underscan.

-Bill

I know, but how many of those are actually usable and better than the scaling functions on your TV?

I know, but how many of those are actually usable and better than the scaling functions on your TV?

Displays are different in what they support.

Actually usable? They're all usable.

Better? They seem high quality to me, although full width for 4:3 letterboxed is the only variation I need at the moment.

-Bill

Plus most displays will disable these AR/Zoom controls at an HD resolution.

I agree. Both my Oppo 983 and Denon 3910 are connected via 2ch analog, and having compared their audio performance with both regular CDs and HDCDs, I clearly prefer the Denon--though admittedly, I am using better interconnects with the Denon, and it's possible that the Oppo isn't fully broken in yet.


Neither the interconnect quality nor the degree of 'break in' is likely responsible for your impression.


I must say, it would be nice if the 983 offered a "digital off" mode, and it is a bit of a nuisance that the "video off" mode takes five seconds to kick in, and resets with each power cycle.

Not sure what a 'digital off' mode would be.

I would be very interested to know how the comparison of a stock and modded 983 turns out.


Me too, if the comparison report includes , at the very least, thorough before/after measurements, and ideally, results of a blind listening comparison of a modded to unmodded 983.

Otherwise , not so much.

Considering most Blu-Ray players don't offer exceptional SD DVD playback, yeah that the only way to go right now is with a Oppo 983H. Then buy the appropriate Blu-Ray player later. BTW you can always return the Oppo 983H if your not satisfied, but you'll probably not. ;)

Also when SD-DVD players first came out they were $500 and up, sound familar.

My 983H arrived today and I am mightily impressed with it. I have tested it on several discs already and I am blown away by the quality on my 50 inch full HD screen. I have never seen DVD look so good. And here in England, the player costs us **600** bucks so I'm thinking that your price of 400 is a real bargain :) Incidentally, I have the Toshiba A35 for HDDVD and the Panasonic DM10A for BD. Until Oppo bring out a BD player, I think my setup is complete for now.

Anyone wavering in their decision to buy this player - don't! Just buy it and enjoy.

Keith

FYI, I sent the following email message to the European OPPO shop;

> I was just wondering what, if any, chance there is of seeing the new Oppo
> model, the DV-983H become available in Europe, and if there is, then what
> the timescale looks like.
>
> Would I be as well ordering direct from USA or are there any benefits in
> waiting to see a European model, if such a thing is planned?

and got the following reply;

>OPPO DV-983H:
>No set dates for the European release.(hopefully in May)
>
>As soon as I receive further information I will send to you.

Hopefully, indeed.

Does anyone know the answer to my second question regarding any differences on the European model?

I'm in the UK and received my 983H today. It is totally brilliant - everything everyone says it is and more. I bought it from crtprojectors. co.uk and it cost me £299 including delivery.

Keith

Neither the interconnect quality nor the degree of 'break in' is likely responsible for your impression.
Maybe it's because I paid so much more for the Denon, so I want it to sound better. :D But contrary to what others have posted upthread, I do find the Oppo's analog outs are noticeably boomy/murky compared to those of the Denon.

What baffles me are all the folks who seem to think that the Oppo will deliver better CD audio than some other player, when both are connected digitally!

Not sure what a 'digital off' mode would be.
I mean a mode which switches off the digital output circuitry, which can (allegedly) improve the analog output quality. I'll admit that with the Denon, I can only tell the difference if I'm not playing anything, and I really crank up the volume--the "digital off" mode does lower the noise floor slightly.

So how many others are having problems reading DVD+-R's that you have burned yourself? I have never had a player not read discs I make, even the $30 Walmart special players.

I was all set to order, but now I don't know.

None of my DVD backups have issues with the DV-983H or with any of the other OPPO players for that matter.

Hell with it, just ordered one from Projector People. But unlike the previous poster mentioned, they did charge $7 shipping.

Me too, if the comparison report includes , at the very least, thorough before/after measurements, and ideally, results of a blind listening comparison of a modded to unmodded 983.

Otherwise , not so much.

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,......

First post.

I've been lurking for sometime and following this thread with great interest.

And yes -- I went ahead and ordered from Projector People. They have 17 in stock at the moment -- got a shipment earlier this afternoon. I decided to call instead of ordering from the web. 399 + 7.60 FedEx.

Also, to be fair, the 983 is a replacement for a reference Denon 2900.

1. video performance is little over "just" better in upscaling

2. sound over optical is same Sound over optical should be the same - the RAW audio stream is passed directly from the disk to the receiver.

The Denon 2900 is an excellent player, but it is certainly not perfect. It scores 90% on the SECRETS DVD Benchmark, with an MSRP of $1000. The DV-983H scores 100% for a fraction of the price. Here's what they said about the Denon: "Overall we think this player [Denon 2900] has excellent progressive video quality marred by one significant flaw - the 3-2 alternating flag chroma upsampling issue. Whether that flaw is a deal-breaker is really a personal choice."

Gary

So how many others are having problems reading DVD+-R's that you have burned yourself? I have never had a player not read discs I make, even the $30 Walmart special players.

I was all set to order, but now I don't know. No problems whatsoever.

Gary

So how many others are having problems reading DVD+-R's that you have burned yourself? I have never had a player not read discs I make, even the $30 Walmart special players.

I was all set to order, but now I don't know.

My advice would be if you are getting it as back-up get the 981 and if not then get the 983 - which is what I did (now I have both - and they take as much space as 1 denon).

I spoke to Oppo support today and:

1. you can mail them the disc you have issues with and they will test it (i believe that to be true) - it will take at least 3 months if they find an issue and fix it with a firmware

2. Also, you have a 30 day money back guarantee from Oppo

I believe my issue is disc specific and I can live with it (but am getting a video processor instead :)).

Displays are different in what they support.

Actually usable? They're all usable.

Better? They seem high quality to me, although full width for 4:3 letterboxed is the only variation I need at the moment.

-Bill

Is this a feature for 4:3 that you can set the 983 to automatically do everytime it recognizes a 4:3 disc, or is it a manual function only? Also, does the 16:9 wide, versus wide/auto setting effect this?

John

Is this a feature for 4:3 that you can set the 983 to automatically do everytime it recognizes a 4:3 disc, or is it a manual function only?

Manual. Auto would be bad for 4:3 titles, unless the intention is to overscan and eliminate the pillarboxes for 1.33:1 material.

Also, does the 16:9 wide, versus wide/auto setting effect this?

No, it works in both modes.

-Bill

If you change your HDMI cable going to your Integra from the DVD player, do you have the same issues?

If you bypass the Integra, do you have the same issues?

If you lower the resolution to 720p, do you have the same issues?

Which firmware is currently installed on your Integra 9.8?

I've changed the HDMI cable with my XA2.

I havn't tried bypassing the Intergra(frimware 1.07) or lowering the resolution as this drop out has only happened once in about 6hrs of opperation. So I'll be doing some more testing to see if it was the cable 1st.

Garth

Is this a feature for 4:3 that you can set the 983 to automatically do everytime it recognizes a 4:3 disc, or is it a manual function only? Also, does the 16:9 wide, versus wide/auto setting effect this?

With using 16:9/Auto the player will automatically pillarbox 4:3 media. You will then need to manually press the Zoom button do to a Zoom and Crop to remove black bars at the top and bottom and sides of a 4:3 Widescreen/Letterbox movie.

With using 16:9/Auto the player will automatically pillarbox 4:3 media. You will then need to manually press the Zoom button do to a Zoom and Crop to remove black bars at the top and bottom and sides of a 4:3 Widescreen/Letterbox movie.

Thanks, that is how I thought the option worked!

John

The new issue of Sterophile just came in the mail and the first thing I turned to was Kal's column for the info on the Oppo 983.Check it out, all.

By the way Kal, I love your column and look forward to it every issue.They just don't give you enough space.

Has anyone had any audio/video drop out (using 1080p output through HDMI) with the new denon receivers, such as 4308?


Thanks.

I had drop out issues when playing at 1080p with my 5308 but the latest firmware fixed that.

Now I have only one minor irritant with the 983 (besides the slight cut-off in the beginning of a CD/SACD) - the SACD stereo/MC playback priorities. It changes depending on the disc you are playing. I have to press the audio butter to play a MC disc after I played a stereo one. This takes a few seconds since it has to change to CD first, load, stop, then MC. Sometimes during this change over it’ll cause the “analogue” indicator on the receiver to light and no sound will appear and I’ll have to change input and back to get the sound back, very annoying.

I asked Oppo why not keeping the priority setting in the General Set-up? Their response was that not every 983 owner will have a monitor connected to set this up. I told them while the (HDMI) audio output of the 983 is good I am not sure anyone will buy 983 without attaching a display unit to it since video quality is its strongest asset. Still, their answer is something along the line that we’ll get to it when we feel like it.

The video quality of 983 is slightly better than my Denon 5900 outputing 480i and upscaled through the Realta chip in my 5308.

As for the sound, Stereophile gave the analogue output of the 980 (983 is slightly better, according to the latest review) a “Class C” rating. I believe the HDMI output is definitely superior than that.

Maybe I'm not completely understanding, but I've watched non-anamorphic, letterboxed versions of 1:78/1:85 and 2:35 films and I don't see an issue. Of the zoom options available, I prefer the slight underscan which does give a VERY slight black border around such material but it's really not an issue. Now, my display does have some overscan at 2.5%-3.0%, so there would be more of a border with displays that have less overscan, but still. What kind of display do you have?

I have a Kuro 4280, but since I "just" got a Lumagen HDQ I am hoping no issues re scaling going forward.

My problem is that I watch custom made anime - and those formats vary so I need something that can do X/Y image stretch on the fly.

Plus I assume the Lumagen will do a better Job than Oppo or Pio on both video scaling/processing.

And now.. I am returning the 983 and getting the 980 since it is the only Oppo that does 480i over HDMI.

I asked Oppo why not keeping the priority setting in the General Set-up? Their response was that not every 983 owner will have a monitor connected to set this up. I told them while the (HDMI) audio output of the 983 is good I am not sure anyone will buy 983 without attaching a display unit to it since video quality is its strongest asset. Still, their answer is something along the line that we’ll get to it when we feel like it.

The problem is the MTK solution is stupid. It can't differentiate between you using HDMI or the multi-channel analog outputs for audio. For this reason, there is no way to set up the player with differences in priorities based on you having a display or no display.

This is the same reason why the player uses an Audio Only mode as a toggle, and not a sticky.

So I'm a bit confused about the auto 16:9 and the zoom settings. I just watched Armageddon wide screen DVD (2:35). When Oppo is set to auto, the display has bars on all four sides, in which the side bars go away with zoom set to FULL (picture looks awesome though - no distortion). Or, I can change the setup from Auto to 16:9, in which case the picture is a little larger, but still needs the zoom to be set to stretch to kill the side bars.

In my previous player (ancient Sony), it would produce the expected top/bottom bars - but no side bars.

Is this a manifestation of the Oppo not always correctly identifying 16:9 material? Or an oddity with this movie?

-Dave

So I'm a bit confused about the auto 16:9 and the zoom settings. I just watched Armageddon wide screen DVD (2:35). When Oppo is set to auto, the display has bars on all four sides, in which the side bars go away with zoom set to FULL (picture looks awesome though - no distortion). Or, I can change the setup from Auto to 16:9, in which case the picture is a little larger, but still needs the zoom to be set to stretch to kill the side bars.

In my previous player (ancient Sony), it would produce the expected top/bottom bars - but no side bars.

Is this a manifestation of the Oppo not always correctly identifying 16:9 material? Or an oddity with this movie?

-Dave

Armageddon is not a 16:9 title. It is 4:3 letterboxed, eg "nonamamorphic." This causes the behavior you are seeing on the Oppo. The Zoom setting is the best you can do.

Big article on the issue here: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

-Bill

Armageddon is not a 16:9 title. It is 4:3 letterboxed, eg "nonamamorphic." This causes the behavior you are seeing on the Oppo. The Zoom setting is the best you can do.

Big article on the issue here: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

-Bill

Also: The INFO button on the remote will tell you if a title is 4:3 or 16:9.

-Bill

And now.. I am returning the 983 and getting the 980 since it is the only Oppo that does 480i over HDMI.The 970 also does 480i over HDMI. You should be able to pick up a used or refurb unit and it would cost less than a new 980.

Anybody ever order from Projectorpeople.com?

I ordered yesterday at 3:15, they assured me it was in stock, and would ship that day. It didn't. I got an e-mail this morning from customer service, apologizing, and stating that it would go out today, and I would have tracking info by this afternoon. The tracking info has not arrived, and now the site no longer says "in stock". They have a lousy reseller rating at resellerrating.com.

The new issue of Sterophile just came in the mail and the first thing I turned to was Kal's column for the info on the Oppo 983.Check it out, all.

By the way Kal, I love your column and look forward to it every issue.They just don't give you enough space.It's not more space but more time that I need. Thanks.

Anybody ever order from Projectorpeople.com?

I ordered yesterday at 3:15, they assured me it was in stock, and would ship that day. It didn't. I got an e-mail this morning from customer service, apologizing, and stating that it would go out today, and I would have tracking info by this afternoon. The tracking info has not arrived, and now the site no longer says "in stock". They have a lousy reseller rating at resellerrating.com.
I know they had a very limited supply, under 50 units I believe. Hopefully your order goes through. It's not going to look good for Projector People to gaurantee shipment of something they don't have in stock. Oppo's not scheduled to be in stock until mid-may. keep your fingers crossed...

Armageddon is not a 16:9 title. It is 4:3 letterboxed, eg "nonamamorphic." This causes the behavior you are seeing on the Oppo. The Zoom setting is the best you can do.

Big article on the issue here: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

-Bill

By an amazing coincidence I watched Armageddon today too. And here it is a normal 2.35:1 format. The barcode number for the version I have is 5 017188 883146 and it is a Region 2 version. It's called "2 disc collector's edition. For anyone who likes this movie, this version has awesome picture quality - on the Oppo 983H it is just below HD.

Armageddon is not a 16:9 title. It is 4:3 letterboxed, eg "nonamamorphic." This causes the behavior you are seeing on the Oppo. The Zoom setting is the best you can do.

Big article on the issue here: http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

-Bill

Still confused. The jacket clearly states widescreen 2.35:1. I believe that it is
amamorphic - but what I don't understand is why Oppo is treating this different than my older DVD player.

For kbarnes701:
My version is bar code #717951000842, Region 1, Release Date, 1/25/2005
Screen Ratio: Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1)

Does any of this make sense? The picture quality was stunning, so I don't think it was simply a zoomed in 4:3 version.

-Dave

Set the player to 16:9 Wide. Is the picture squished vertically or is it correct?

Still confused. The jacket clearly states widescreen 2.35:1. I believe that it is
amamorphic - but what I don't understand is why Oppo is treating this different than my older DVD player.

For kbarnes701:
My version is bar code #717951000842, Region 1, Release Date, 1/25/2005
Screen Ratio: Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1)

Does any of this make sense? The picture quality was stunning, so I don't think it was simply a zoomed in 4:3 version.

-Dave

You are confusing Aspect Ratio with anamorphic/non-amamorphic. See: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/dvd ; there is no anamorphic edition shown. The 4:3 letterboxed versions are 2.35:1.

-Bill

Anybody ever order from Projectorpeople.com?

I ordered yesterday at 3:15, they assured me it was in stock, and would ship that day. It didn't. I got an e-mail this morning from customer service, apologizing, and stating that it would go out today, and I would have tracking info by this afternoon. The tracking info has not arrived, and now the site no longer says "in stock". They have a lousy reseller rating at resellerrating.com.

I ordered the 983 at 3:04pm PDT yesterday for Projector People. I received a shipment notice at 10:30am PDT today. I would imagine you should have received a ship notice by this point. Hopefully, they didn't run out of stock. I heard through the grapevine they had a limited number of units on hand.

I ordered the 983 at 3:04pm PDT yesterday for Projector People. I received a shipment notice at 10:30am PDT today. I would imagine you should have received a ship notice by this point. Hopefully, they didn't run out of stock. I heard through the grapevine they had a limited number of units on hand.

3:04 PDT? That means I ordered before you did (3:15 EST). I knew they had a limited number, that's why I called. She also assured me in the email this morning that they were still in stock, yet no tracking info. Maybe they don't fill orders in the order they are recieved.

They have charged my card already, so it better have shipped!

Set the player to 16:9 Wide. Is the picture squished vertically or is it correct?

Squished. I have to set the zoom to stretch to remove the distortion in that case. PQ seemed better with the Oppo set to AUTO and zoom at FULL.

-Dave

If 16:9 Wide shows up squished, then the video is in fact non-Anamorphic 2:35:1. I believe on the Criterion Collection is Anamorphic.

If 16:9 Wide shows up squished, then the video is in fact non-Anamorphic 2:35:1. I believe on the Criterion Collection is Anamorphic.

Armageddon? No, there is no region 1 anamorphic edition. See: http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=68

Criterion has had a lot of non-anamorphic titles.

-Bill

My copy of Armageddon Criterion is indeed NON-anamorphic.

Well this is weird (to me). I put the Armageddon DVD back in and sure enough - the info button reports 4:3.

So, is the jacket a lie when it says wide screen? Or is this common practice? I had thought I decoded all the ways they word the aspect ratio - but I guess I'm still learning. When is 2.35:1 not wide screen?? I know they don't always put the anamorphic tag there.

How are we supposed to know?!

-Dave

p.s. I just watched I am Legend (for the first time) DVD. Now THAT'S a well done movie - and it looked (and sounded!) fabulous on the 983.

The keyword is Anamorphic or enhanced for 16:9 TV's. Otherwise it is widescreen presented in a 4:3 frame.

Good to know - widescreen is not enough. And I'd have to say, given the 4:3 format, the Oppo sure made it look good.

-Dave

Well this is weird (to me). I put the Armageddon DVD back in and sure enough - the info button reports 4:3.

So, is the jacket a lie when it says wide screen? Or is this common practice? I had thought I decoded all the ways they word the aspect ratio - but I guess I'm still learning. When is 2.35:1 not wide screen?? I know they don't always put the anamorphic tag there.

How are we supposed to know?!

-Dave

You are getting all mixed up. 2.35:1 is widescreen no matter what. The difference is if it is anamorphic or not.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

I was kinda confused until I saw the pictures at the the address below.....Anyways..has anyone in Vancouver received their 983 from solutionsAV yet? My estimated delivery date is 04/22. :mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic

Still confused. The jacket clearly states widescreen 2.35:1. I believe that it is
amamorphic - but what I don't understand is why Oppo is treating this different than my older DVD player.

For kbarnes701:
My version is bar code #717951000842, Region 1, Release Date, 1/25/2005
Screen Ratio: Theatrical Widescreen (2.35:1)

Does any of this make sense? The picture quality was stunning, so I don't think it was simply a zoomed in 4:3 version.

-Dave

Hi Dave - the only thing I can see is that my version of the movie is R2 PAL and yours is R1 NTSC. You could maybe pick up a R2 version if you like the movie a lot. The PQ is simply stunning on this movie - makes a great reference disc. Why yours says it is 2.35:1 but doesn't play with the usual black bars top and bottom I have no idea, sorry. But I;ve never really got to grips with this 'anamorphic/non-anamorphic' thing :)

Keith

I was kinda confused until I saw the pictures at the the address below.....Anyways..has anyone in Vancouver received their 983 from solutionsAV yet? My estimated delivery date is 04/22. :mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic

You are getting all mixed up. 2.35:1 is widescreen no matter what. The difference is if it is anamorphic or not.

http://www.thedigitalbits.com/articles/anamorphic/index.html

Very helpful articles there - thanks for that.

The keyword is Anamorphic or enhanced for 16:9 TV's. Otherwise it is widescreen presented in a 4:3 frame.

Bingo....... this is what is so confusing to most people "but the package says it's widescreen"

John

Armageddon region 1 is non-anamorphic (4:3 letterbox)
Armageddon region 2 is anamorphic

I used to have the Criterion but switched to reg 2 Pal. Almost the same extras, but the reg 2 is anamorphic, thus delivering a better pic.

back to 983...

I was kinda confused until I saw the pictures at the the address below.....Anyways..has anyone in Vancouver received their 983 from solutionsAV yet? My estimated delivery date is 04/22. :mad:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anamorphic
I Live in Toronto where SolutionsAV is located and I just got mine yesterday. According to Andrew at SolutionsAV they just go their shipment in on Monday. My guess is you should have yours by early next week.

fish1050

I had drop out issues when playing at 1080p with my 5308 but the latest firmware fixed that.

Now I have only one minor irritant with the 983 (besides the slight cut-off in the beginning of a CD/SACD) - the SACD stereo/MC playback priorities. It changes depending on the disc you are playing. I have to press the audio butter to play a MC disc after I played a stereo one. This takes a few seconds since it has to change to CD first, load, stop, then MC. Sometimes during this change over it’ll cause the “analogue” indicator on the receiver to light and no sound will appear and I’ll have to change input and back to get the sound back, very annoying.

I asked Oppo why not keeping the priority setting in the General Set-up? Their response was that not every 983 owner will have a monitor connected to set this up. I told them while the (HDMI) audio output of the 983 is good I am not sure anyone will buy 983 without attaching a display unit to it since video quality is its strongest asset. Still, their answer is something along the line that we’ll get to it when we feel like it.

The video quality of 983 is slightly better than my Denon 5900 outputing 480i and upscaled through the Realta chip in my 5308.

As for the sound, Stereophile gave the analogue output of the 980 (983 is slightly better, according to the latest review) a “Class C” rating. I believe the HDMI output is definitely superior than that.


Thanks. I had some drop out issues with my 4308, even with the new firmware.

I just got mine yesterday and the first two movies I tried were divx copies of There Will Be Blood and Juno and both played without a hickup and the video quality was amazing. :)

Video Dropout on Planet of the Apes :(
Funnily enough when I played a THX optimized version of Planet of The Apes I did get video drop out 5 minutes into the movie but not on the divx movies. I changed the Color Space setting on the 983H from Auto to RGB which matched my Samsung 5089H DLP and no more dropouts.:)

I figured the auto setting for color space was forcing to much handshaking for HDMI connections. Setting both television and 983H to same color space should reduce required handshaking and it did fix the problem. My unit arrived with the latest firmware. :)

fish1050


So how many others are having problems reading DVD+-R's that you have burned yourself? I have never had a player not read discs I make, even the $30 Walmart special players.

I was all set to order, but now I don't know.

Well I called Projector People this morning, and mine had not shipped yet, but it was all set to go and it did ship this morning, and I have a tracking number.:)

No explanation why it did not ship Wednesday, or Thursday. Annoying, because if it had shipped on time I would have it Saturday, but instead it will arrive Tuesday, 3 days later. No movie watching this weekend...and it's supposed to rain all weekend here.

I read the article and I am still not sure if anamorphic is good or bad. I have a 16:9 1080P TV, so do I rent anamorphic DVDs or Widescreen DVDs?

Well I called Projector People this morning, and mine had not shipped yet, but it was all set to go and it did ship this morning, and I have a tracking number.:)

No explanation why it did not ship Wednesday, or Thursday. Annoying, because if it had shipped on time I would have it Saturday, but instead it will arrive Tuesday, 3 days later. No movie watching this weekend...and it's supposed to rain all weekend here.

It turns out that my previous post was erroneous. My invoice date stamp was EDT and not PDT. I didn't realized where Projector People were located and I made one of those assumptions. So I ordered the 983 a little before. Although the unit probably should have shipped yesterday anyway. Sorry about the misdirection.

I read the article and I am still not sure if anamorphic is good or bad. I have a 16:9 1080P TV, so do I rent anamorphic DVDs or Widescreen DVDs?

Anamorphic, if available. They have greater vertical resolution than the 4:3 letterboxed versions. Upgraded editions sometimes come from better masters.

But sometimes you don't have a choice. Especially with older discs, sometimes no anamorphic upgrades have been released. Sometimes you can find PAL versions from other regions (as with Armageddon).

This all goes away with Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, by the way.

What we are dealing with for SD-DVD is that DVDs appeared when 4:3 displays were common but 16:9 displays were coming. The standard has two ways of authoring the discs; putting widescreen titles on 4:3 discs was a bad idea but was very commonly done in the early years. It makes no difference on a 4:3 display but is less than optimal for 16:9 displays.

-Bill

I read the article and I am still not sure if anamorphic is good or bad. I have a 16:9 1080P TV, so do I rent anamorphic DVDs or Widescreen DVDs?

Anamorphic is definitely the way to go given the option between anamorphic and non-anamorphic. The effective resolution and presentation is better with anamorphic DVDs presented on a widescreen HDTV.

Think of it this way. Anamorphic DVDs are likely always labeled as "widescreen" on the packaging; however, Widescreen labeled DVD may or may not be Anamorphic. Just look at the packaging on the back of the DVD for the tell tale signs of Anamorphic, which unfortunately varies from DVD producer to DVD producer.

Some discs, like the widescreen ones say 16:9 on them. If anamorphic distorts the image with some sort of lens, I don't want that. I want to see the same thing one would see in the movie theater. I don't mind the black bars on the top and bottom at all.

I have two blockbuster DVDs in my hand right now - one says "widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs" the other says "16:9 anamorphic full frame presentation." What is the difference?

Armageddon? No, there is no region 1 anamorphic edition. See: http://www.dvdcompare.net/comparisons/film.php?fid=68

Criterion has had a lot of non-anamorphic titles.

I checked mine at home and I have the Buena Vista UK release. I asked a friend who had the Criterion Collection to bring his over, and it is in fact non-Anamorphic.

Video Dropout on Planet of the Apes :(
Funnily enough when I played a THX optimized version of Planet of The Apes I did get video drop out 5 minutes into the movie but not on the divx movies.

All reports I have seen of video and audio dropouts relate to DVD-Video only. CD, DTS-CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and DATA (MP3, DivX, XviD) do not exhibit this problem.

I changed the Color Space setting on the 983H from Auto to RGB which matched my Samsung 5089H DLP and no more dropouts.:)

That would also be the first time I have seen changing the colorspace had any effect on audio/video dropout errors.

Some discs, like the widescreen ones say 16:9 on them. If anamorphic distorts the image with some sort of lens, I don't want that. I want to see the same thing one would see in the movie theater. I don't mind the black bars on the top and bottom at all.

I have two blockbuster DVDs in my hand right now - one says "widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs" the other says "16:9 anamorphic full frame presentation." What is the difference?

Anamorphic DVD presentations should impart no distortion to the image and should in fact present the movie in it's true aspect ratio. Unless your DVD player is setup to output to a widescreen TV and your TV is a standard 4:3 aspect ratio TV, Anamorphic movies will appear on your TV with black bars and no distortion AND better resolution than non-anamorphic formatting. Note 1.85:1 movies will present with small black bars top and bottom, 2.35:1 will present with larger bars and 1.78:1 will present with no bars as this is exactly HDTV aspect ratio of 16x9.

I am not sure what is meant by "16:9 anamorphic full frame presentation." That seems an odd phrasing and seems to be a rare description on DVD boxes. Maybe someone else can input on this one that may have noticed this before.

Some discs, like the widescreen ones say 16:9 on them. If anamorphic distorts the image with some sort of lens, I don't want that. I want to see the same thing one would see in the movie theater. I don't mind the black bars on the top and bottom at all.

It has nothing to do with black bars or no black bars, or with anamorphic lenses. It's about a better use of the space on the disc to put in more image data for widescreen displays.

I have two blockbuster DVDs in my hand right now - one says "widescreen version enhanced for 16:9 TVs" the other says "16:9 anamorphic full frame presentation." What is the difference?


I would guess they are the same in the sense that both are anamorphically encoded. "Full frame" sounds odd; at one time it meant a wide screen title chopped down to 1.33:1 so it would fit on a 4:3 display. Now people sometimes use it to mean a 1.78:1 or 1.85:1 aspect ratio title that fits on a 16:9 display without black bars.

None of this has anything to do with the Oppo 983. Give me a few days and I'll write up an article and post it elsewhere in the forum.

-Bill

All reports I have seen of video and audio dropouts relate to DVD-Video only. CD, DTS-CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and DATA (MP3, DivX, XviD) do not exhibit this problem.


I have reported witnessing audio & video dropouts while viewing XviD from disc to Oppo. Per their advice I will be swapping out cables this weekend, as well as trying the colorspace fix.

Cnet has their review up for the 983:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/oppo-dv-983h/4505-6463_7-32896592.html

That would also be the first time I have seen changing the colorspace had any effect on audio/video dropout errors. fish1050 experienced a single drop-out before changing the colorspace. The frequency of dropouts is so low that it may only seem to have fixed the problem (it may return).

Gary

Cnet has their review up for the 983:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/oppo-dv-983h/4505-6463_7-32896592.html

The bad: Very expensive for a standard-definition disc player; remote is cluttered with buttons;


Ok.

Blu-ray discs look much better than DVDs.

Is that supposed to be a criticism of the 983?

-Bill

Cnet has their review up for the 983:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-players-and-recorders/oppo-dv-983h/4505-6463_7-32896592.html Thanks for posting.

The DV-983H gets CNET's highest rating ever for a DVD player. However, it is truly annoying to see them repeatedly disparaging it for not looking as good as Blu-ray. It is a DVD player for Pete's sake! It makes no claim to compete with Blu-ray, which has 6x the resolution of DVD.

Gary

At least OPPO has the top 3 sports for DVD players now.

My brother used to say to me, "on Cnet I read this...".
I showed him several places to go to read reviews and such... like AVS, Audioholics, Stereophile, ect...
He did some reading and was like "man those guys really know their stuff, don't they?"

I would never put an educated decision of purchasing any CE products against anything that Cnet has to say. Ok for J6P I guess :rolleyes:. I miss those days. I wish I was one of those people who can float through life with the motto of ignorance is bliss... nahhh. :)

It's not more space but more time that I need. Thanks.

Kal, I understood that you had previously been limited in your ability to comment regarding some aspects of the 983HD because of nda considerations pending release of your article in Stereophile. Now that the article is published, could you comment regarding your opinions of the audio quality of the 963 as compared with the 980? (I'm interested in using one of the Oppo players for SACD MC, with an HDMI AVR. It would also be nice to have a player that was of sufficient quality with analog outputs for stereo CD and SACD.) As I understand your article, the audio with the 983 is not significantly better than that of the 980. However, I'm not clear whether you were referring to the performance of the two units via their analog outputs, or via HDMI to an HDMI 1.2 AVR. If audio quality is critical, would a "higher end" player provide significant improvements for SACD or CD audio?

(Incidentally, I'm one of the relatively few audiophiles still enthusiastic about classical music reproduced on SACD, as I understand you are, and you have my support regarding support of the surround music formats.)

Recommendations, clarifications, or suggestions will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jim Cate

I would never put an educated decision of purchasing any CE products against anything that Cnet has to say. Ok for J6P I guess

For any manufacturer having a good review from Cnet is a blessing. As you say, J6P will visit Cnet, and J6P is the market all CE manufacturers want to sell to in order to increase their sales volumes.

Quote:
Originally Posted by HDPeeT
Cnet has their review up for the 983:

http://reviews.cnet.com/video-player...-32896592.html

Quote:
The bad: Very expensive for a standard-definition disc player; remote is cluttered with buttons;

Ok.


Quote:
Blu-ray discs look much better than DVDs.

Is that supposed to be a criticism of the 983?

-Bill


That "review" was so ridiculous that I actually viewed it more of a marketing push for Blu Ray than a truly objective analysis of a DVD player.

Kal, I understood that you had previously been limited in your ability to comment regarding some aspects of the 983HD because of nda considerations pending release of your article in Stereophile. Now that the article is published, could you comment regarding your opinions of the audio quality of the 963 as compared with the 980? (I'm interested in using one of the Oppo players for SACD MC, with an HDMI AVR. It would also be nice to have a player that was of sufficient quality with analog outputs for stereo CD and SACD.) As I understand your article, the audio with the 983 is not significantly better than that of the 980. However, I'm not clear whether you were referring to the performance of the two units via their analog outputs, or via HDMI to an HDMI 1.2 AVR. If audio quality is critical, would a "higher end" player provide significant improvements for SACD or CD audio? Minor improvement over analog. Less via HDMI.

MVP (most versatile player) of the century...
I have the wonderful Panasonic DMP-BD30, the Toshiba HD-XA2 and the Samsung BD-UP5000 but none comes close to the upconverting capability of the 983H. I watched a 35-year-old movie last night (Mean Streets) and the quality has me rethinking my earlier intention to replace my DVDs as HD versions become available. As an owner of several thousand DVDs you can imagine how good that makes me feel (however, when extra special movies like Lawrence of Arabia get released on Blu-ray I'll be first in line to grab them). Another huge advantage for me is the 983H's region free capability. To those who complain that the 983 is too expensive for a 'regular DVD player' : being able to play movies that I've lusted after since the beginning of home theater but available only in the PAL format is worth the price alone. And did I mention how it plays CDs? OMG! Thanks a million, Oppo. I may be buying a back-up for security :)

Thanks for posting.

The DV-983H gets CNET's highest rating ever for a DVD player. However, it is truly annoying to see them repeatedly disparaging it for not looking as good as Blu-ray. It is a DVD player for Pete's sake! It makes no claim to compete with Blu-ray, which has 6x the resolution of DVD.

Gary

True, but keep in mind some of the people reading Cnet have been under the delusion pushed by manufacturers that upscaling DVD players make their DVDs look just like real HD. I think Cnet was just trying to make the distinction more clear.

True, but keep in mind some of the people reading Cnet have been under the delusion pushed by manufacturers that upscaling DVD players make their DVDs look just like real HD. I think Cnet was just trying to make the distinction more clear.
I will give them credit for being realistic about the differences between DVD and Blu-ray, but listing one of the "bad" traits of the player as "Blu-ray is better than DVD" kind of misses the whole point of reviewing a DVD player...

HI Guys,

I live in the UK and got this player delivered in the week, just sat down to watch my first DVD on it - The Singing Detective, not the best film I've ever seen, I'm watching it on a Pioneer LX508, not sure of the model no in the US but it's the 1080p 50" so I set the 983 to 1080p and it was unwatchable with video dropouts all the time, when I set it to 1080i it played without a hiccup.

Without going thru all the post I know this has been a problem but has there been a fix yet. Oh yeah I've tried several HDMI leads and I'm running the latest firmware, I tried it straight into the screen and also thru my Pioneer VSX LX70 but with no improvement.

Thanks.

Without going thru all the post I know this has been a problem but has there been a fix yet.

I haven't heard of new beta firmware yet. Oppo is still researching, so you should send them the details of your gear and experiences.

-Bill

I will give them credit for being realistic about the differences between DVD and Blu-ray, but listing one of the "bad" traits of the player as "Blu-ray is better than DVD" kind of misses the whole point of reviewing a DVD player...

Agreed.

Lately this DVD player has been tickling my fancy more and more. Even though I have accumulated a closet full of DVD players over the years most are not worth a darn. I do have a few that are very good up scalers like the XA2 but this 983 seems a tad better. On paper I don't need another player but as a hobbyist and the fact that I have a massive library of SD DVD's I feel like they deserve the best technology available. I will probably try and wait it out a few months for all the bugs to get fixed but I am pretty sure one of these will be in my future. The price seems steep by todays standards but I remember paying around $400 for a very basic DVD player back in 1999. One of the first so called affordable models. So in reality this player is rather affordable considering its specs.

HI Guys,

I live in the UK and got this player delivered in the week, just sat down to watch my first DVD on it - The Singing Detective, not the best film I've ever seen, I'm watching it on a Pioneer LX508, not sure of the model no in the US but it's the 1080p 50" so I set the 983 to 1080p and it was unwatchable with video dropouts all the time, when I set it to 1080i it played without a hiccup. I assume you have set the "TV Type" to PAL in the Preferences menu.

Also see this thread (http://www.avforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=621921) about trouble with HDMI cables dropping out of the downward-facing plugs on the Pioneer LX508. Check your connections very carefully, and make sure the cables are well-supported. If those plugs are prone to dropping out, even audio vibrations could cause momentary dropouts.

Gary

Lately this DVD player has been tickling my fancy more and more. Even though I have accumulated a closet full of DVD players over the years most are not worth a darn. I do have a few that are very good up scalers like the XA2 but this 983 seems a tad better. On paper I don't need another player but as a hobbyist and the fact that I have a massive library of SD DVD's I feel like they deserve the best technology available. I will probably try and wait it out a few months for all the bugs to get fixed but I am pretty sure one of these will be in my future. The price seems steep by todays standards but I remember paying around $400 for a very basic DVD player back in 1999. One of the first so called affordable models. So in reality this player is rather affordable considering its specs.

I agree, paying $400.00 for a high quality DVD player is comparatively inexpensive considering what people pay for other A/V products!

I bought a DVD player back in 1990 and I paid $300.00.

Can anyone explain why they think $400.00 is a lot for this high quality player ??

Please don't include comments about not affording one because of financial reasons, the real question is the worth of the player and the pleasure you'll get from watching the countless regular DVDs out there.

Blu-Ray is just starting and look what people are paying for the headaches that accompany this new technology. I would rather watch a high quality DVD than worry about BluRay at this time and when Oppo sells a BR player that works well then I'll buy it.

I bought a DVD player back in 1990 and I paid $300.00.

I think the first DVDp'rs were released around 1997, so I think you may be mistaken about your date there.

Per wikipedia: mass retailer sales of DVD-Video titles and players began in late 1997. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD


Can anyone explain why they think $400.00 is a lot for this high quality player ??
Mostly because of the current price of many other fairly good DVDp's. The Oppo 980 @ $169 is the first that comes to mind.

I think the first DVDp'rs were released around 1997, so I think you may be mistaken about your date there.

Per wikipedia: mass retailer sales of DVD-Video titles and players began in late 1997. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD


Mostly because of the current price of many other fairly good DVDp's. The Oppo 980 @ $169 is the first that comes to mind.

You're correct, my mistake I was thinking CD player!


Timeline


1978: Pioneer introduces the first LaserDisc player for business use.
1979: Magnavox introduces the first consumer LaserDisc player.
1982: The CD debuts in Japan and Europe.
1984: Philips unveils the CD-ROM.
1987: Philips develops the Video CD.
1988: Philips strikes again with the release of the CD-R.
1990: Approximately 288 million CDs have been sold in the United States since its introduction.
1996: The DVD appears, developed by a contingent of companies that worked together to create a new optical format for consumers.
1999: The SACD is born but to date has not been a hit among consumers.
2000: The first DVD-Audio players appear.
2001: Pioneer introduces the DVD-RW format, and HP and others

Perhaps this is not the place for this question, but as it relates to the 983 output, I'm putting it here.

I have Mahler's Symphony No. 6 "Tragic" in SACD. The disc was recorded with a 2.8224mHz DSD sampling rate, however when I check the input on my Onkyo 705, it says fs: 88.2kHz. (This is over HDMI)

Is this the correct maximum sampling rate? It says 88.2 whether I have selected the stereo SACD layer or the discrete multichannel SACD. It also does this regardless of whether my "Down-Mix" setting is set to stereo, 5.1 or 7.1.

*EDIT*: Is this because the DSD is being converted into PCM and a multiple of 44.1? If so, why not use 176.4? HDMI bandwidth issue? For clarification's sake, this is with the original firmware on the Oppo, resolution set to 1080p(60hz).

Attn: Neuromancer -

This SACD has Stereo SACD, multichannel SACD, and regular CD layers. However the "SACD Priority" setting in the 983 is NOT being correctly applied, as every time I start this disc, despite having my preference set to "Multi-Channel," the Stereo SACD layer is autoplayed.

A further question for Neuromancer - is it possible to get a "Down-Mix" setting that would allow for native output? i.e. If a stereo disc is played, it outputs in stereo, and if a 5.1 disc is played next, it outputs in 5.1 automatically.

Anybody ever order from Projectorpeople.com?

I ordered yesterday at 3:15, they assured me it was in stock, and would ship that day. It didn't. I got an e-mail this morning from customer service, apologizing, and stating that it would go out today, and I would have tracking info by this afternoon. The tracking info has not arrived, and now the site no longer says "in stock". They have a lousy reseller rating at resellerrating.com.

I ordered one on 4/17. They were very easy to deal with. They had 10 left at that time. Had a tracking number by the afternoon and it arrived 4/18 as promised.

The 983 really does a nice job with non-enhanced material. My brother brought over "Dusk Til Dawn" tonight and when I first put it in the player, I was thinking, "oh sh*t, it's not anamorphic." However, I zoomed it so that there was just a very slight amount of underscan and all in all, it looked presentable. Obviously is lacked the resolution of other DVDs, but it looked pretty clean and even somewhat filmlike, albeit soft.

I assume you have set the "TV Type" to PAL in the Preferences menu.


Gary

If he lives in the UK he needs to set TV Type to AUTO as all UK TVs will do the conversion from PAL/NTSC automatically. If he sets it to PAL every time he wants to play a R1 DVD he will need to go and change it.

HI Guys,

I live in the UK and got this player delivered in the week, just sat down to watch my first DVD on it - The Singing Detective, not the best film I've ever seen, I'm watching it on a Pioneer LX508, not sure of the model no in the US but it's the 1080p 50" so I set the 983 to 1080p and it was unwatchable with video dropouts all the time, when I set it to 1080i it played without a hiccup.

Without going thru all the post I know this has been a problem but has there been a fix yet. Oh yeah I've tried several HDMI leads and I'm running the latest firmware, I tried it straight into the screen and also thru my Pioneer VSX LX70 but with no improvement.

Thanks.

Something wrong somewhere probably hdmi lead/connection as suggested. (I have the LX5080 and 983 set at 1080p) great picture.

Thanks for your reply's to my dropout problems. So far I tried 3 different 1080p certified HDMI leads, set the output to PAL and also changed the colourspace to RGB from Auto but at 1080p I still get the dropouts, the colourspace change seems to have helped a little.

What I can't understand is that it plays perfect at 1080i but I get the picture dropouts at 1080p, any ideas what would cause this?

I'll e-mail Oppo now to see what they have to say.

I experienced video dropouts last night while watching "Dan In Real Life." I moved the DVD over to my Panasonic DVD/VCR recorder and, of course, the movie played without a problem. Having said that, I would like to point out that the Panasonic is connected via component video to my Sony STRDA5300ES receiver which upconverts with a Faroudja chip and sends the signal to my Sony XBR5 50 inch HDTV. I was AMAZED with the tremendous step-up in video quality when the same disc played through the OPPO.

I would be interested to know if anyone has had success is correcting the dropout problem using any specific brand of cable. I'm using the HDMI cable provided by OPPO, and I have the latest firmware. I really hope this dropout thing can be sorted out quickly since it's a special pain to experience this kind of thing while watching a video with other people. I ove the 983 in every other way and I'd hate to not use it for movies before I was anticipating a video dropout to happen at any moment.
- Esau

I would be interested to know if anyone has had success is correcting the dropout problem using any specific brand of cable. I'm using the HDMI cable provided by OPPO, and I have the latest firmware. I really hope this dropout thing can be sorted out quickly since it's a special pain to experience this kind of thing while watching a video with other people. I ove the 983 in every other way and I'd hate to not use it for movies before I was anticipating a video dropout to happen at any moment.
- Esau

The only solution I have found is not to use 1080p. My display does not show 1080i very well so I am using 720p at the moment.

As an experiment I tried an HDMI->DVI cable because I have found that has resolved some HDMI flakiness in the past on other devices. But in this case I still see intermittent dropouts at 1080p.

My beta hardware did not have this problem but the production machine does. Pure speculation on my part, but this suggests variation in the electrical components used in constructing the 983, which is why only some units have the problem. If you've ever built computers you know that between or even within batches of widgets there is variation which is not supposed to exist, but sometimes does.

-Bill

I experienced video dropouts last night while watching "Dan In Real Life." I moved the DVD over to my Panasonic DVD/VCR recorder and, of course, the movie played without a problem. Having said that, I would like to point out that the Panasonic is connected via component video to my Sony STRDA5300ES receiver which upconverts with a Faroudja chip and sends the signal to my Sony XBR5 50 inch HDTV. I was AMAZED with the tremendous step-up in video quality when the same disc played through the OPPO.

I would be interested to know if anyone has had success is correcting the dropout problem using any specific brand of cable. I'm using the HDMI cable provided by OPPO, and I have the latest firmware. I really hope this dropout thing can be sorted out quickly since it's a special pain to experience this kind of thing while watching a video with other people. I ove the 983 in every other way and I'd hate to not use it for movies before I was anticipating a video dropout to happen at any moment.
- Esau

You reported earlier http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13611451#post13611451 that "I had a brief cable glitch that probably had to do with my SonySTRDA5300ES receiver(the connection would intermittently cut out when connecting the OPPO-supplied cable to HDMI IN 1 but the problem was resolved as soon as I plugged the same cable into the receiver's HDMI IN 2)..." Is that solution no longer working?

Dana

My beta hardware did not have this problem but the production machine does. Pure speculation on my part, but this suggests variation in the electrical components used in constructing the 983, which is why only some units have the problem. If you've ever built computers you know that between or even within batches of widgets there is variation which is not supposed to exist, but sometimes does.

-Bill

My first 983 had intermittent A/V dropouts that were so bad I arranged for a replacement unit. I have only had the time to watch a few movies on the replacement, but so far I have not had any dropouts. (Same hookup, cable, settings, etc.) Because the dropout problems were intermittent, I feel I have to put many more hours on the replacement to be sure I'm out of the woods, but so far I'm encouraged.

If a supplier has provided some bad "widgets", it's important that anyone having dropouts report the problem to Oppo, so that they can attempt to isolate the problem.

I went ahead and signed up for this player after reading all the post on this thread. It says out of stock on the Oppo website so hopefully it will not be long. I am a little nervous about some of the reported issues but it sounds mostly like the firmware needs sorting. I suspect Oppo will continue working on it until they get a firmware that works.

I was especially sold on how the PQ is reported to be more film like. I have an XA2 and it up converts very well but the PQ does have a plastic and processed look to it. I also like the scaling abilities because a lot of my DVD's are not anamorphic. Unless I am missing something (and it happens more and more so forgive me :D ) the XA2 lacks any scaling ability. On my non anamorphic movies I get stuck with a box in the middle of the screen with black bars on the tops and the sides. I also liked how people reported how much it cleans up older movies. I have a lot of classic and fun films from back in the day and the transfers are not the best. They can look horrid on an average scaling player.

You reported earlier http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13611451#post13611451 that "I had a brief cable glitch that probably had to do with my SonySTRDA5300ES receiver(the connection would intermittently cut out when connecting the OPPO-supplied cable to HDMI IN 1 but the problem was resolved as soon as I plugged the same cable into the receiver's HDMI IN 2)..." Is that solution no longer working?

Dana

That problem actually occurred while playing SACD's and DVD-Audio discs. Video AND audio were both affected. That problem remains resolved. The new issue has to do specifically with video dropouts occurring with DVD-Video's.
- Esau

The only solution I have found is not to use 1080p. My display does not show 1080i very well so I am using 720p at the moment.

As an experiment I tried an HDMI->DVI cable because I have found that has resolved some HDMI flakiness in the past on other devices. But in this case I still see intermittent dropouts at 1080p.

My beta hardware did not have this problem but the production machine does. Pure speculation on my part, but this suggests variation in the electrical components used in constructing the 983, which is why only some units have the problem. If you've ever built computers you know that between or even within batches of widgets there is variation which is not supposed to exist, but sometimes does.

-Bill

Thanks Bill. I may need to switch over to 1080i and look to see if I detect a difference with casual viewing. If your speculation is correct, BTW, that would make a good argument for returning the 983 to OPPO and requesting another unit. Of course, you could end up with a new one with the same problem but that's the chance you take.
- Esau

Well I just got thru my first DVD without any picture dropouts

Hopefully it was just a case of not enough ventilation. I used the player with the doors open on the cabinet it is in and it played without missing a beat at 1080P

I guess when you are getting the player to output at 1080P it has to do more processing so it runs alot hotter and needs more ventilation. Anyhow I'll try afew more disks over next weekend, but hopefully its looking more promising.

Well I just got thru my first DVD without any picture dropouts

Hopefully it was just a case of not enough ventilation. I used the player with the doors open on the cabinet it is in and it played without missing a beat at 1080P

I guess when you are getting the player to output at 1080P it has to do more processing so it runs alot hotter and needs more ventilation. Anyhow I'll try afew more disks over next weekend, but hopefully its looking more promising.

I wouldn't think it would matter if the doors were open or not. If this unit runs that hot, I would think oppo would have put some vents in the case, but there are none. I would try it a few times each way, and see what happens.

Is this because the DSD is being converted into PCM and a multiple of 44.1? If so, why not use 176.4?

When I asked OPPO about this many moons ago they said that 88.2KHz sampling was the nominal specification for SACD DSD->PCM conversions for DVD hardware.

However the "SACD Priority" setting in the 983 is NOT being correctly applied, as every time I start this disc, despite having my preference set to "Multi-Channel," the Stereo SACD layer is autoplayed.

Did you at any time press the Audio button to change the SACD layer selection? Pressing the Audio button will change the SACD Priority option as well.

Try pressing the Audio button to select Multi-Channel. Turn Off the player then turn it back on. Does the disc still play as Stereo or is not Multi-Channel?

A further question for Neuromancer - is it possible to get a "Down-Mix" setting that would allow for native output? i.e. If a stereo disc is played, it outputs in stereo, and if a 5.1 disc is played next, it outputs in 5.1 automatically.

Set the player to 5.1. 5.1 will playback the source as it was originally encoded. So if it is Stereo, only the Left and Right channels will be active.

I'll e-mail Oppo now to see what they have to say.

In all dropout cases where the cables were not the issue, the resolution was. I have not seen a drop-out case where setting the resolution to 1080i or lower did not resolve the error.

If trying different cables did not resolve the problem, then you have two solutions:

1. Replace the player. Although it is within your rights to replace the DVD unit in hopes that another player will resolve your errors, there is no guarantee that this will actually happen.

2. You have the player refunded.

As a diagnostic I would recommend trying the player on another display at 1080p 50/60Hz. If the errors do not occur on another display, then you are looking at a compatibility issue with your television, in which case a replacement unit will highly unlikely resolve your problem.

I wouldn't think it would matter if the doors were open or not. If this unit runs that hot, I would think oppo would have put some vents in the case, but there are none. I would try it a few times each way, and see what happens.

You are presupposing that the closed environment does not hold a lot of heat. If a cable box or other "venting" device is in the same closed environment, you will artificially be increasing the heat of the DVD player.

As a design, the DVD player does not need to vent heat to operate properly. That does not mean that the player can't be effected by heat.

In all dropout cases where the cables were not the issue, the resolution was. I have not seen a drop-out case where setting the resolution to 1080i or lower did not resolve the error.

*********

As a diagnostic I would recommend trying the player on another display at 1080p 50/60Hz. If the errors do not occur on another display, then you are looking at a compatibility issue with your television, in which case a replacement unit will highly unlikely resolve your problem.

As I said earlier, I will try the 1080i setting and see if it resolves the problem. I also have a spare Monster HDMI cable lying around to try, though the OPPO-supplied cable looks to the naked eye to be pretty well made. My hope/expectation is that the picture quality difference between 1080i and 1080P won't be that noticeable.

To followup on Viper's comments. I'm not sure how many DVD's you have to watch before you know that you're out of the woods(ok, allow me one moment of paranoia - thanks for indulging; that moment has passed). I don't even know if the dropouts are necessarily reproducible on the same disc.

While trying the 983 connected to a different TV is a reasonable thought, I also wonder if the receiver itself has role in the dropout issue since the connection is OPPO>HDMI>Receiver>HDMI>HDTV.
- Esau

You can try bypassing the receiver. Use optical/coaxial to the receiver for audio and a direct connect to the display for video.

I ordered one on 4/17. They were very easy to deal with. They had 10 left at that time. Had a tracking number by the afternoon and it arrived 4/18 as promised.

Well apparently their customer service varies. I ordered on the 16th, and it shipped on the 18th. Did it arrive double boxed, or was it just in the Oppo packaging?

It is just the OPPO box. The box itself has been designed for shipping and receiving.

It is just the OPPO box. The box itself has been designed for shipping and receiving.

You ordered from Projector People? Or Oppo?

Well apparently their customer service varies. I ordered on the 16th, and it shipped on the 18th. Did it arrive double boxed, or was it just in the Oppo packaging?

Delayed orders can be caused by several factors. From personal experience it is usually due to a discrepancy between your supplied billing address on the order and the billing address you have on file with your credit card company.

If the company actually does fraud checking, in this situation, it can delay your order processing for several days.

Delayed orders can be caused by several factors. From personal experience it is usually due to a discrepancy between your supplied billing address on the order and the billing address you have on file with your credit card company.

If the company actually does fraud checking, in this situation, it can delay your order processing for several days.

There were no discepancies, and I was promised it would go out on the 16th, and was then promised that it would go out on the 17th. Oddly, the tracking info shows it was entered on the 17th, before noon, but it was not picked up until the 18th. Someone dropped the ball, it happens.

No big deal, just wish I had the player already. I don't own a projector, so I doubt I will ever have to deal with projector people again.

You ordered from Projector People? Or Oppo?

All companies I believe ship with the OPPO box since it was designed for that purpose. I know Amazon.com does not bother putting the player in an additional shipping box.

Can't comment about PP, since I have never ordered product from them.

Maybe I was just lucky last night watching my 1st DVD without any picture dropouts.
Just spoke to CRT from were I ordered the player and he seems to think the picture breakup problems maybe to do with a HDCP problem between the 983 and my Pioneer PDP-LX508 as apparently Pioneer are known for their HDCP issues.

He is going to get in touch with Oppo direct to see if they are aware of this issue.

Is anyone else using the 983 on a Pioneer screen?

Maybe I was just lucky last night watching my 1st DVD without any picture dropouts.


Hello.

As someone lucky enough to also get one from CRT Projectors in the UK, I thought I'd pipe up and let you know how I'm getting on.

I'm also getting video dropouts on everything I watch (audio's through an optical connector so I don't get any glitches with that). The most worrying thing with this is that I've only watched one disc the whole way through. Everything else I've only put on for 10 minutes just to test it out. normally within 5-8 minutes it blanks out for a second.

The player's connected to a Sony 40W2000 via hdmi. I can connect it via Component but wouldn't want to long term. It is on the 1:1 pixel setting or whatever Sony call it.

I'll try changing the Colourspace setting and trying it on 1080i, but I don't think it's a problem with the hdmi leads unless they've got a bad batch.

Haven't spoken to CRT yet but I'll try a few things later.


Re: the earlier thread about setting the oppo to TV type: PAL if you're in the UK.

I played a NTSC disc both ways. With it set to PAL, and with it set to Auto, The picture was noticably better (no jerky panning) with it set to auto. With it set to PAL, does the DVD player convert internally and output PAL, with the auto or NTSC settings outputting as NTSC leaving the TV to convert it?

Another question with displaying photos from the USB drive. The instructions say that the pictures will be displayed full screen. Does this mean 4:3 as that's what I'm getting. With no chance to zoom. Actually I can only get a single photo to appear for a second or two. In a folder with loads it'll do a slideshow, but just one disappears quickly.


Incidentally, my experience of playing music from the USB drive and some remastered older films (eg. Planet of the Apes) is very :D.

I played a NTSC disc both ways. With it set to PAL, and with it set to Auto, The picture was noticably better (no jerky panning) with it set to auto. With it set to PAL, does the DVD player convert internally and output PAL, with the auto or NTSC settings outputting as NTSC leaving the TV to convert it?

When set to PAL, NTSC discs are converted to PAL.

When set to AUTO, NTSC discs are played as NTSC, PAL discs are played as PAL.

If your display accepts both signal types, AUTO is the best choice: no conversion.

-Bill

Hello.

Re: the earlier thread about setting the oppo to TV type: PAL if you're in the UK.




No - if you're in the UK set it to AUTO. All TVs in the UK can handle PAL and/or NTSC. If you set it to PAL every time you want to play a R1 disc you will have to change the setting to NTSC. Just leave it on AUTO.

Hello.

As someone lucky enough to also get one from CRT Projectors in the UK, I thought I'd pipe up and let you know how I'm getting on.

I'm also getting video dropouts on everything I watch (audio's through an optical connector so I don't get any glitches with that). The most worrying thing with this is that I've only watched one disc the whole way through. Everything else I've only put on for 10 minutes just to test it out. normally within 5-8 minutes it blanks out for a second.

The player's connected to a Sony 40W2000 via hdmi. I can connect it via Component but wouldn't want to long term. It is on the 1:1 pixel setting or whatever Sony call it.

I'll try changing the Colourspace setting and trying it on 1080i, but I don't think it's a problem with the hdmi leads unless they've got a bad batch.

Haven't spoken to CRT yet but I'll try a few things later.



Hi - I got mine from CRT Projectors too in the same batch as you did and I'm having no problems at all with audio or video dropouts. I am connected to my Samsung 50 inch full HD screen via HDMI direct (not through my AVR) and am using a coax output for 5.1. I also use 1:1 pixel mapping. My screen can do 1080p as it is full HD - not sure about yours - could that be the problem maybe? I have left the Oppo on default settings for everything (CRT had kindly set the TV Type PAL/NTSC to auto for me as I assume they did for you - otherwise all the settings are defaults. I'm sorry to hear you're having problems but as our players are from the same batch then I'm hoping it's just a setup issue for you and not a broken player. Last night I watched Kill Bill Vol 1 all the way through and the picture was amazing. Hope you get this sorted. One final thought - have you tried a different HDMI lead (just in case)?

Haven't spoken to CRT yet but I'll try a few things later.

If you speak to Henry@CRT, he's very helpful, I had to e-mail him the problems and a list of the DVD's that have shown the problem, then he's going to speak to the firmware guy at Oppo and give him the list of DVD's, he then said Oppo will buy them DVD's and try to recreate the problem and sort out a firmware fix.

Thing is I even had the dropout problem on the 'Montage' section of movie clips that came on the calibration disk with the player.

Neuromancer, why doesn't Oppo upgrade the 983h with these Mods?

http://www.asi-tek.com/Oppo6.html

Or would you say they don't improve the unit like they claim?

I too have had problems with video drop-outs with my 983. I've switched cables to no avail. I connect the 983 to a Denon 3808 AVR.
Here's what I've noticed so far in diagnosing this:


For me, it happens more frequently on PAL material than NTSC material.
For me, it happens more on my own DVD-9 burns more than pressed media. However, there is a difference in behavior when the video drop-out is due to a readability problem of the burned disc (you can hear the drive transport seeking, trying to find its place again) versus an HDMI drop-out, where the signal just goes away momentarily but the drive's tracking does not miss a beat.
Setting the HDMI output to 1080i seems to correct the problem. However, I view this as only a temporary workaround since I bought this player for its 1080p output.
Setting the ColorSpace from Auto (which was choosing YCBR in my case) to RGB seemed to help the problem. I was surprised to notice that RGB PC looked more like YCBR (in terms of color depth) than RGB Video.

I still need to try hooking directly to my Sharp 52D62 LCD to see if there is any improvement to the HDMI drop-outs. I also intend to try downgrading to the original firmware version to see if Oppo broke something when it changed the timing to work better with the Pioneer receivers.

Are any of you that are also having video drop-outs also seeing these trends?

-shoek

No - if you're in the UK set it to AUTO. All TVs in the UK can handle PAL and/or NTSC. If you set it to PAL every time you want to play a R1 disc you will have to change the setting to NTSC. Just leave it on AUTO.

Sure. I understand now. I was commenting on post 1402. Setting it to PAL means that NTSC is converted by the player.

kbarnes701: my TV is full HD. Our screens are probably very similar as there are links between Samsung and Sony. I don't have any other hdmi leads at the moment. Everything else I've got is connected via SCART or Component.

vipers: Thanks. I've emailed him and he's replied already. Unfortunately, he hasn't got anything else to go on other than what's really already been mentioned...

"1) Try colour space forced to RGB then Component 4:4:4 and Component 4:2:2

2) Try “Auto” as TV type then forced PAL (only for region 2 PAL DVD’s)

3) 1080i may work, but it defeats the point of having the player as the TV is then doing the deinterlacing. I do not recommend it as a long term fix.

Oppo did release a firmware to help on Pioneer AV amps which have HDMI issues. It maybe their TV’s are the same."

I'll try some more fiddling this evening.

Thanks.

...probably as you'd expect, (I don't know all the technicalities), but I did notice that setting the de-interlacing mode to 2:2 odd makes me get similar dropouts all the time.

All reports I have seen of video and audio dropouts relate to DVD-Video only. CD, DTS-CD, DVD-Audio, SACD, and DATA (MP3, DivX, XviD) do not exhibit this problem.


Neuromancer, I don't know this is delibrate or not. This is the second time you seen to ignore my posts. Yes, I HAD dropped out issue with SACD at 1080p and yes, the latest firmware seems to have fixed this.

You seem to have known some of the issues earlier in the game but never disclosed them until someone else have encountered them. Then you will dismiss every issue as minor and can be more than compensated by the other greatnesses of the machine.

Among the few AVS threads that I have visited, this is perhaps the most one sided one.

I will give them credit for being realistic about the differences between DVD and Blu-ray, but listing one of the "bad" traits of the player as "Blu-ray is better than DVD" kind of misses the whole point of reviewing a DVD player...

May be Cnet is trying to tell people who do not have a substantial DVD collection that while 983 is best of the Toyotas but there are Lexuses?BMWs out there that cost about the same.

We don't want to belong to the "ignorance is bliss...." group, do we?

Although it's always worth running through different settings to try and resolve the problem, the more I hear about this video dropout issue I don't think there is an answer other than a firmware upgrade from Oppo.

It seems the only way to resolve it for now is run at 1080i and for me changing colourspace to RGB definately seemed to help.

I'll have another play tonight.

I am interested in buying this player or wait until oppo will produce an "all in" blue ray player (does upconverting and blue ray). Within a year they should have it since they bought a blue ray license (so I heard).
The company I want to buy it from here in Canada made me aware of the following:

"I should clarify – the chipset they’ll likely move to is the new ABT2010 chip, which is a one chip integration of the ABT102/1018 solution in the current 983, but with some additional features, including Fine Detail Enhancement and Edge Enhancement. This switch (if it happens as I and some others are predicting, since it’s the chip Oppo wanted to originally use but wasn’t available in time) will have no negative effects on the quality of the player."

Is the above correct and should I wait for for this newer chip? Thanks for any input.

The next batch will feature the same ABT102/1018 configuration, since I gather that they’ve been able to secure more of these chips to get more of the DVD players produced. There are no real advantages to the ABT2010 over the current configuration, so there's no sense in waiting for a change that "might" happen (somewhere down the line - it isn't going to happen now, and I underscore that it's still a MAYBE for the future). The switch over was a speculation based on the perceived cost and availability of the chips they're using right now which seem to be bottlenecking production.

May be Cnet is trying to tell people who do not have a substantial DVD collection that while 983 is best of the Toyotas but there are Lexuses?BMWs out there that cost about the same.

We don't want to belong to the "ignorance is bliss...." group, do we?

Being someone with a lot more DVDs than I should have, I'd like to think of it as a Porsche that'll run on regular gas rather than one that'll run on high octane super. ;)

Neuromancer,

Any word on Oppo eventually using the ABT2010 chip in future 983s?

I'd doubt they'd change the solution midway through. It's already hard enough for them to source enough chips, to switch to something that isn't really available either and would require different firmware more than likely, and a whole host of other hurdles, it just seems unlikely.

Any word on Oppo eventually using the ABT2010 chip in future 983s?

No.

Neuromancer, I don't know this is delibrate or not. This is the second time you seen to ignore my posts.
I do not actively overlook or ignore posters. If you had issues, but they were repaired with firmware, then there is no need for me to further comment on this situation. Whenever I post I am talking completely about current issues which have not been resolved or situations in which current issues can manifest themselves.

Most of my posts are done to add additional information. I missed your first post, but read your second post. You clearly stated you had a problem but the firmware fixed your problem. There was no need for me to comment further.

EDIT: Additional. There are over 1,400 posts. I can't be held culpable to all posts.
You seem to have known some of the issues earlier in the game but never disclosed them until someone else have encountered them.
False. I had some issues with beta hardware and firmware, but no issues with the final hardware with my current setup. What I have been reading on the forums (here and other) becomes my knowledge, which I use in these forums to help diagnose problems or communicate probable issues some users may run across.
And even if I had prior knowledge of some of the purported errors, I am under no license, contract, or other accord which requires that I disclose them. As the military says: you are on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know.
Then you will dismiss every issue as minor and can be more than compensated by the other greatnesses of the machine.
Where have I dismissed claims? I have downplayed claims, I have offered solutions to claims, but I have never stated that there are no issues with the product.

I am in no position to claim hardware or software defects. I am a simple end user and do not have the technicality to claim defects.
Among the few AVS threads that I have visited, this is perhaps the most one sided one.
I can only voice from personal experience. Personal experience with the beta hardware, beta firmware, and retail hardware has shown that in my setup there are no issues with the final retail product.

If you do not like my manner of support and community service, then put me on your ignore list.

Does anybody know wheter the 983 can be switched on/off by using a master/slave power socket or is it a problem for the device (or the firmware state) if the power gets interrupted in running state instead of a smooth shutdown first?

I do not actively overlook or ignore posters. If you had issues, but they were repaired with firmware, then there is no need for me to further comment on this situation. Whenever I post I am talking completely about current issues which have not been resolved or situations in which current issues can manifest themselves.

Most of my posts are done to add additional information. I missed your first post, but read your second post. You clearly stated you had a problem but the firmware fixed your problem. There was no need for me to comment further.

EDIT: Additional. There are over 1,400 posts. I can't be held culpable to all posts.

False. I had some issues with beta hardware and firmware, but no issues with the final hardware with my current setup. What I have been reading on the forums (here and other) becomes my knowledge, which I use in these forums to help diagnose problems or communicate probable issues some users may run across.
And even if I had prior knowledge of some of the purported errors, I am under no license, contract, or other accord which requires that I disclose them. As the military says: you are on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know.

Where have I dismissed claims? I have downplayed claims, I have offered solutions to claims, but I have never stated that there are no issues with the product.

I am in no position to claim hardware or software defects. I am a simple end user and do not have the technicality to claim defects.

I can only voice from personal experience. Personal experience with the beta hardware, beta firmware, and retail hardware has shown that in my setup there are no issues with the final retail product.

If you do not like my manner of support and community service, then put me on your ignore list.

Personally, I find your input to be most helpful and I appreciate it greatly.

Does anybody know wheter the 983 can be switched on/off by using a master/slave power socket or is it a problem for the device (or the firmware state) if the power gets interrupted in running state instead of a smooth shutdown first?

I have not personally done a hard power Off on the player. I always turn Off the DVD player first then turn Off my receiver (which the player is connected to).

It shouldn't be a problem, but I highly recommend turning the player Off before switching the power socket Off.

Neuromancer, I don't know this is delibrate or not. This is the second time you seen to ignore my posts. Yes, I HAD dropped out issue with SACD at 1080p and yes, the latest firmware seems to have fixed this.

You seem to have known some of the issues earlier in the game but never disclosed them until someone else have encountered them. Then you will dismiss every issue as minor and can be more than compensated by the other greatnesses of the machine.

Among the few AVS threads that I have visited, this is perhaps the most one sided one.An unnecessary attack on our Most Valuable Poster. Neuromancer is a walking encyclopedia of knowledge, who dedicates countless hours to help us and liaise with OPPO. We deeply appreciate his expertise and his tireless efforts.

If your questions haven't been answered to your satisfaction, please rephrase them nicely.

Gary

I too have had problems with video drop-outs with my 983. I've switched cables to no avail. I connect the 983 to a Denon 3808 AVR.
Here's what I've noticed so far in diagnosing this:


For me, it happens more frequently on PAL material than NTSC material.
For me, it happens more on my own DVD-9 burns more than pressed media. However, there is a difference in behavior when the video drop-out is due to a readability problem of the burned disc (you can hear the drive transport seeking, trying to find its place again) versus an HDMI drop-out, where the signal just goes away momentarily but the drive's tracking does not miss a beat.
Setting the HDMI output to 1080i seems to correct the problem. However, I view this as only a temporary workaround since I bought this player for its 1080p output.
Setting the ColorSpace from Auto (which was choosing YCBR in my case) to RGB seemed to help the problem. I was surprised to notice that RGB PC looked more like YCBR (in terms of color depth) than RGB Video.

I still need to try hooking directly to my Sharp 52D62 LCD to see if there is any improvement to the HDMI drop-outs. I also intend to try downgrading to the original firmware version to see if Oppo broke something when it changed the timing to work better with the Pioneer receivers.

Are any of you that are also having video drop-outs also seeing these trends?

-shoek You have provided very good feedback, but the most important diagnostic step (which you still intend to do) is bypassing the receiver and connecting directly to your LCD.

If "RGB PC" looks more like YCbCr (in terms of color depth) than "RGB Video", then, either your display is set up to expect PC RGB, or it badly needs calibration for Video RGB.

Gary

The next batch will feature the same ABT102/1018 configuration, since I gather that they’ve been able to secure more of these chips to get more of the DVD players produced. There are no real advantages to the ABT2010 over the current configuration, so there's no sense in waiting for a change that "might" happen (somewhere down the line - it isn't going to happen now, and I underscore that it's still a MAYBE for the future). The switch over was a speculation based on the perceived cost and availability of the chips they're using right now which seem to be bottlenecking production.

thanks for the quick response.
What about the second part of my question - should I rather wait for a blue ray machine from oppo which also upconverts sd dvd (all in one machine)?

thanks for the quick response.
What about the second part of my question - should I rather wait for a blue ray machine from oppo which also upconverts sd dvd (all in one machine)?

I have seen no information about when that machine is coming or what it's features will be.

I would hope to see it in 2009 but there has been no word on whether that will happen.

-Bill

I too have had problems with video drop-outs with my 983. I've switched cables to no avail. I connect the 983 to a Denon 3808 AVR.

As GSB has mentioned try direct connecting to ensure that the error is not related to a HDMI chain issue.

Also, do these dropouts occur on all DVD media or only certain movies? If the later, then what are the ISBN and film titles? I am beginning to suspect that these errors are related to specific media culls, which is why I have not been able to replicate these errors despite a lot of time using my DV-983H and the Integra 9.8 combination.

As GSB has mentioned try direct connecting to ensure that the error is not related to a HDMI chain issue.

Also, do these dropouts occur on all DVD media or only certain movies? If the later, then what are the ISBN and film titles? I am beginning to suspect that these errors are related to specific media culls, which is why I have not been able to replicate these errors despite a lot of time using my DV-983H and the Integra 9.8 combination.

Try this DVD if you have it DVD #2 of 2. Very repeatable Audio drop outs, and only once in a while video drop outs with my DV-983H and the Integra 9.8 combination.
CLAPTON ERIC, CROSSROADS GUITAR FESTIVAL 2007, DVD, 0349-79877-6

Garth

Also, do these dropouts occur on all DVD media or only certain movies? If the later, then what are the ISBN and film titles? I am beginning to suspect that these errors are related to specific media culls

The worst one for me was the UK (PAL R2) version of Phil Collins Finally First Farewell Tour, especially on the "extras" but occasionally in the main concert footage
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Phil-Collins-Finally-First-Farewell/dp/B000621OL6******sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1208810932&sr=1-1

I also saw it occasionally on the UK (PAL R2) version of Bee Movie:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bee-Movie-Jerry-Seinfeld/dp/B000ZGKCTS******sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1208810815&sr=8-1

I have many other burned DVD's, mostly PAL, of other concerts, etc. that also exhibited the problem, but these 2 are the more mainstream discs.

I'll go direct to my LCD this week.

If you change the audio tracks, say from Dolby Digital or DTS 5.1 to DD 2.0 Stereo or LPCM, do the dropout errors increase or decrease?

I am beginning to suspect that these errors are related to specific media culls, which is why I have not been able to replicate these errors despite a lot of time using my DV-983H and the Integra 9.8 combination.

I am using the same combo you are, and I do not believe this is media related. In my case the dropouts occurred randomly. One disc had numerous dropouts, then played fine.

FWIW, I have about 8 hours on my replacement 983, and I haven't experienced any problems (yet), using exactly the same cable, etc.

Oppo has informed me that they have not been able to duplicate the dropouts with my original unit at their facility.

Oppo has informed me that they have not been able to duplicate the dropouts with my original unit at their facility.

Which is why I am saying it must either be a media compatibility or a hardware conditional error (specific cable, receiver, and television combinations which make isolation impossible). If your DVD player had as many problems as you reported to OPPO, they should have been able to verify the error immediately. If they have found no errors with testing your exact returned player and their Integra DTC-9.8, then there is a major disconnect that needs to be diagnosed.

The easiest assumption right now is to assume it is media specific. This is the cheapest and easiest compatibility test we can do on these forums.

I am using the same combo you are, and I do not believe this is media related. In my case the dropouts occurred randomly. One disc had numerous dropouts, then played fine.

FWIW, I have about 8 hours on my replacement 983, and I haven't experienced any problems (yet), using exactly the same cable, etc.

Oppo has informed me that they have not been able to duplicate the dropouts with my original unit at their facility.

On the subject of drop out, I've now had my 983 for over a week and managed to take 4 days off so I've had a great opportunity to play lots of DVDs - both PAL and NTSC. The amp I'm using is a Cambridge 640R which simply passes through the video signal at 1080p through to a panasonic AE100 which is a 720p projector. I'm using oppo hdmi and supra cables which are both quality cables. Audio is via optical and analoque.

Initially everything was hunky and the picture on a 120 in screen was such a clear improvement over my 981 that I can best sum up by saying I've been camping in the cinema den ever since. Sound was just as great with more punch from the dialogue and SACDs sounding even more 'there'. so a happy camper all round. Great colour, natural tones, smooth motion, all in all a great viewing experience from TV recorded Sherlock Holmes to superbit DVDs.

Then I suffered video drop out, not audio since the HDMI is not being used for sound in my set up and either/or the optical or analogue kept pumping sound out. This happened 4-6 times during 'Just Cause' a Sean Connery thriller and the Dreamworks version of Sinbad. Both are PAL versions. At the time, I just ignored and watched to the end since I was with company but noted where the drop outs had happened. Next day when I had the time, I replayed both and could not reproduce the errors even when I queued up the segments with different run in times. This has lead me to conclude rightly or wrongly that I don't think they were encoding errors.

This was running the oppo at 1080p (yes I know that's illogical given the projector resolution limits but to my eyes it looks better and I know from running blu ray through it that it hiccups by occassional purple lines that flicker and then go away, so it was not the projector that was getting throttled.

Anyway for what it's worth I changed to RGB on the basis that the projector manaual describes its display method as '3 transparent LCD panels (RGB) and some 20 discs down the line I've not had another incident with either PAL or NTSC from mid '90s - 2008 issues discs.

My logic may be screwed and it may be too early to say conclusively, but on a 'so far so good' basis switching from 'auto' has so far made the difference in the set up I've got.

Hope that adds another perspective to the drop out debate

Which is why I am saying it must either be a media compatibility or a hardware conditional error (specific cable, receiver, and television combinations which make isolation impossible). If your DVD player had as many problems as you reported to OPPO, they should have been able to verify the error immediately. If they have found no errors with testing your exact returned player and their Integra DTC-9.8, then there is a major disconnect that needs to be diagnosed.

The easiest assumption right now is to assume it is media specific. This is the cheapest and easiest compatibility test we can do on these forums.

My situation refutes your premise, as:

1) The same media had problems one minute and played fine the next.

2) I am am using exactly the same hardware and media as before, and I am not having dropout problems (yet).

The dropout problems I experienced with the first 983 were intermittent, and therefore I do not agree that Oppo should be able to verify the problem "immediately." Perhaps Oppo has simply not put enough hours on the unit to see it malfunction. Or, perhaps I have not put enough hours on the replacement to see it malfunction. Either way, we agree: "..there is a major disconnect that needs to be diagnosed." As the reports of dropouts with the 983 rise, it becomes less important to diagnose the other hardware in the system and more important for Oppo to make the player work in all systems. My 981 @ 1080p never had this problem, same cable, pre/pro & projector. I feel confident that Oppo is on the case as best they can with the sketchy, anecdotal information they've got to work with. They seem eager to get to the bottom of this, and I bet they will!

My situation refutes your premise, as:

I am not saying that what I promote is accurate.

What I am saying is that it is better to try to isolate the problem then to just assume it is something beyond anyone's control. It makes no sense that you would report major issues with your DV-983H, and OPPO has had not a single dropout error.

You received a replacement, and that worked. What about William who has received replacement units throughout the beta and final production stage? What about brand new customers? What if their replacement units don't work? It is in no one's interest to just assume that there is not a root cause for the problem.

It costs OPPO money to replace units (real issues or not), it frustrates the customer, and it leaves the possibility that any unit sold to a customer is sold "defective". That is a horrible way to sell product, as you are basically playing video/audio-dropout Russian Roulette.

... it becomes less important to diagnose the other hardware in the system and more important for Oppo to make the player work in all systems.

This argument has already become quagmired when OPPO couldn't replicate problems with your returned hardware.

Now we're getting some thorough, constructive observations for the diagnostics database. Have any of you further explored the overheating scenario that was raised recently?

Gary

Anyway for what it's worth I changed to RGB on the basis that the projector manaual describes its display method as '3 transparent LCD panels (RGB) and some 20 discs down the line I've not had another incident with either PAL or NTSC from mid '90s - 2008 issues discs.

For us Integra DTC-9.8 users the output should be set to RGB anyways. The Integra DTC-9.8 does not like YCbCr at upscaled resolutions.

mjmbond, which colorspace did you have your DV-983H set to previously, and what colorspace is your current DVD player set to?

I am not saying that what I promote is accurate.

Well, thank you for clarifying that. :confused:

What I am saying is that it is better to try to isolate the problem then to just assume it is something beyond anyone's control.

Who made that assumption?! Not me. Truth be known, I'm trying to help Oppo isolate the problem at this time!

It makes no sense that you would report major issues with your DV-983H, and OPPO has had not a single dropout error.

It make perfect sense if you appreciate, as I have said, that the problem was intermittent. Are you suggesting that I lied to go through the hassle of returning a perfectly good unit for another? :mad:

You received a replacement, and that worked. What about William who has received replacement units throughout the beta and final production stage? What about brand new customers? What if their replacement units don't work? It is in no one's interest to just assume that there is not a root cause for the problem.

Are you responding to something you think I said here? If so, what? Of course there is an interest in finding the root cause. If my replacement 983 continues to work w/o dropouts, then I will have found the root of my problem: the first 983. How Oppo chooses to use that information is up to them. I wish only the best for Oppo, Bill and anyone else who wants a 983 that works properly in their system.

It costs OPPO money to replace units (real issues or not), it frustrates the customer, and it leaves the possibility that any unit sold to a customer is sold "defective". That is a horrible way to sell product, as you are basically playing video/audio-dropout Russian Roulette.

Yes, that is all true, as is that fact that if dropout reports persist, folks may simply choose not to play the game. I hope that reports of dropouts go away. Do you think they are about to?

This argument has already become quagmired when OPPO couldn't replicate problems with your returned hardware.

Well, I'm sorry to be part of the quagmire. Perhaps I should have just lived with the audio and video dropouts associated with my brand new DVD player and kept my bad experience to myself. :rolleyes:

Neuromancer, your assistance to Oppo users has been invaluable. However, your tendency to shoot the messenger of "bad" news relating to their products is not serving anyone well. If it hadn't occurred to you, I'm one of the guys trying to help solve the problem.

For us Integra DTC-9.8 users the output should be set to RGB anyways. The Integra DTC-9.8 does not like YCbCr at upscaled resolutions.

mjmbond, which colorspace did you have your DV-983H set to previously, and what colorspace is your current DVD player set to?

Ok, back to problem solving! :)

It's set to YCbCr 4:4:4. The 9.8 is set to "Through" with the "Immediate Display" set to "Off." The 9.8 is not performing any video processing.

Now we're getting some thorough, constructive observations for the diagnostics database. Have any of you further explored the overheating scenario that was raised recently?

Gary

When I first experienced A/V dropouts my 983 had been on for a few hours, and my first thought was overheating. The next time I experienced dropouts, it was from a cold start.

For the record, the 983 sits on an open rack shelf with a BD30 below it, nothing to the sides and another shelf about 10" above it. Plenty of airspace.

It make perfect sense if you appreciate, as I have said, that the problem was intermittent. Are you suggesting that I lied to go through the hassle of returning a perfectly good unit for another? :mad:

I am not saying that you are lying or that you just wanted a replacement unit. I have better things to do with my free time then to insinuate this.

The purpose of my posts is to isolate as much as possible the cause of these purported errors. As we have determined it can't be a compatibility issue, as both Kal and I have DTC-9.8 units and have not had issues. We can't rule out the possibility of it being hardware related (as your unit is not exhibiting anymore problems). But the fact that your first unit is not giving OPPO problems eliminates the direct link to hardware defects at this current stage of testing.

So this leads me to media compatibility, as it is possible that something within the media used can be causing the issue. OPPO may not be using media which can introduce the problem. This is analogous to the DV-980H and CD track truncation. You can't presume anything.

As a matter of diagnostic we are trying to weed out the problem. This is why I always mention using new cables, bypassing the receiver, or changing output resolutions. You can't pre-assume anything.

If my replacement 983 continues to work w/o dropouts, then I will have found the root of my problem: the first 983.

No, this thinking does not help isolate the problem. If your first unit was indeed hardware defective, then OPPO should be able to reproduce the problem. If there is no reproduction of the problem, then there is some other factor which is prohibit OPPO from experiencing the same errors as you. Without knowing this factor, and just saying your first unit was defective, is poisonous, as it does not help OPPO resolve issues which may be inherent to the design or other integration of the DV-983H.

I hope that reports of dropouts go away. Do you think they are about to?

Am I here to squash the reports; to sweep them under the rug? No. I am here to help fine tune the diagnostics to determine exactly what is causing the issue.

Well, I'm sorry to be part of the quagmire. Perhaps I should have just lived with the audio and video dropouts associated with my brand new DVD player and kept my bad experience to myself. :rolleyes:

Once again, did I ever once say that you should have lived with the problem? My statements are a rebuttal of a rebuttal. Just because "a" exists does not mean that "b" exists. That is, with OPPO having your exact player back at their office, and this player not producing errors, then you can't define your original unit as defective. Purpose of discourse is synthesis; we are here to synthesize the cause of the these problems.

Neuromancer, your assistance to Oppo users has been invaluable. However, your tendency to shoot the messenger of "bad" news relating to their products is not serving anyone well.

I am not shooting the messenger. I am offering more comprehensive diagnostics. If hardware (your unit) is not reproducing artifacts on OPPOs setup, then there is another factor which we need to explore. Right now we are exploring media, as several users have stated tendencies for some media to be more problematic than others. Why is it the concert DVDs are causing more errors then Film contents? Why are PAL more problematic than NTSC? We need to properly explore all possibilities.

My harshness is more aimed at your immediate discouragement that the problem is media related. You don't begin a statement with "My situation refutes your premise" without being aligned against a different approach.

Summation: Let's give OPPO the best date we can give them. It can't hurt to tell them what DVD-Video titles you have attempted to playback that produced audio and video synchronization errors.

I am not saying that you are lying or that you just wanted a replacement unit. I have better things to do with my free time then to insinuate this.

I have no interest in how you spend your free time, only about what you have said. Your inference about what makes "sense" about my situation was an insult to me, but I doubt that you'll understand why.

The purpose of my posts is to isolate as much as possible the cause of these purported errors. As we have determined it can't be a compatibility issue, as both Kal and I have DTC-9.8 units and have not had issues. We can't rule out the possibility of it being hardware related (as your unit is not exhibiting anymore problems). But the fact that your first unit is not giving OPPO problems eliminates the direct link to hardware defects at this current stage of testing.

Your deductive reasoning does not serve your self stated purpose of isolating the cause of the real problems. You continue to draw conclusions based on Oppo's inability to reproduce my dropouts thus far, and you do so though I have stated that the problems were intermittent.

So this leads me to media compatibility, as it is possible that something within the media used can be causing the issue. OPPO may not be using media which can introduce the problem. This is analogous to the DV-980H and CD track truncation. You can't presume anything.

You have led yourself to media compatibility, not the facts. No, it is not analogous to the CD truncation. That problem is reliably replicable. As I am compelled to state again, the very same media that gave the 983 fits one day played fine the next. If you can't explain why this would occur with the same media, then stop positing that hypothesis.

As a matter of diagnostic we are trying to weed out the problem. This is why I always mention using new cables, bypassing the receiver, or changing output resolutions. You can't pre-assume anything.

Finally, some sound deductive reasoning.

No, this thinking does not help isolate the problem. If your first unit was indeed hardware defective, then OPPO should be able to reproduce the problem. If there is no reproduction of the problem, then there is some other factor which is prohibit OPPO from experiencing the same errors as you. Without knowing this factor, and just saying your first unit was defective, is poisonous, as it does not help OPPO resolve issues which may be inherent to the design or other integration of the DV-983H.

My stating that my first unit had dropouts and that my second unit (thus far), has none is "poisonous?" Who do you think you are to attempt to arbitrate the terms of deduction, discussion and discourse?! No, it is your apparent supposition that if anecdotes reported here don't make "sense" to you or that Oppo has not experienced dropouts on a unit with which I did that you are entitled to draw conclusions of your own, which often attempt to invalidate the experiences of others, often in a derogatory way. That has little to do with your stated goal here. Perhaps the "factor" prohibiting Oppo form experiencing intermittent dropouts is simply time.

Am I here to squash the reports; to sweep them under the rug? No. I am here to help fine tune the diagnostics to determine exactly what is causing the issue.

Then open your mind to the possibility that your "fine tuning" maybe hurting the process, at least in this case.

Once again, did I ever once say that you should have lived with the problem?

What does sarcasm sound like as it sails above you head?

My statements are a rebuttal of a rebuttal. Just because "a" exists does not mean that "b" exists. That is, with OPPO having your exact player back at their office, and this player not producing errors, then you can't define your original unit as defective. Purpose of discourse is synthesis; we are here to synthesize the cause of the these problems.

I do not need a lecture from you on semantics. You seem completely incapable of appreciating that a unit which gave me dropouts but has shown Oppo none as of yet could still be defective. I don't know either way, and neither do you.

I am not shooting the messenger. I am offering more comprehensive diagnostics. If hardware (your unit) is not reproducing artifacts on OPPOs setup, then there is another factor which we need to explore. Right now we are exploring media, as several users have stated tendencies for some media to be more problematic than others. Why is it the concert DVDs are causing more errors then Film contents? Why are PAL more problematic than NTSC? We need to properly explore all possibilities.

Then continue to explore the media. In my situation, the dropouts were not replicable with the same media. Something else was causing the dropouts. But I understand that doesn't help you with your comprehensive diagnostics.

My harshness is more aimed at your immediate discouragement that the problem is media related. You don't begin a statement with "My situation refutes your premise" without being aligned against a different approach.

Spoken from the true master of discouragement. I guess your harshness was earned...

Neuromancer, I'm sure that on balance you'll help more than hurt here in diagnosing the dropouts, but I'm tired of having my experiences filtered by you; I'll continue to work with Oppo directly.

The thing I don't understand, if the dropouts were caused by media incompatibility, why would changing the output to 720p, or 1080i solve the issue for most?

I will not turn this thread into a pissing match. But I will post one more response:
What does sarcasm sound like as it sails above you head?
I am here to help you and everyone else on the forums. If you want to alienate me, do it in PMs. This is a place for discourse and discussion. Sarcasm is not necessary nor is it called for.

The thing I don't understand, if the dropouts were caused by media incompatibility, why would changing the output to 720p, or 1080i solve the issue for most?

This can relate completely to a decoding and transmission problem which is a part of the media compatibility. The higher the resolution, the higher the bandwidth for both audio and video. Presuppose that the Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding on the disc is causing a buffering, memory leak, or a general decoding and transmission error. This error then becomes a part of the HDMI transmission (remember, audio and video are part of the same signal with HDMI). At the higher resolution this may cause visual manifestations (video dropouts) or loss of the audio signal (audio dropout) as there is more data in the signal to cause data mixups.

At a lower resolution the bandwidth is smaller, so the tolerances for the errors may be tighter or ignored completely.

You can take the same example but for video instead of audio. At 1080p your bandwidth is twice as much as 1080i. Suppose a sequence of cadences causes a scaling error with the ABT-1018, which results in a corrupt signal when the solution tries to scale to 1080p. The corruption leads to a video drop. On most receiving equipment, if the video drops, the audio will drop as well when using HDMI.

This is why I am now asking if the errors occur on specific media and if changing the audio tracks had any effect on the performance of the player. If we find that the errors are more frequent (or only occur, even on a random basis) with select media, we can further isolate what is the causing the error. Isolation can result in a simple software solution (see: Pioneer Elite receivers and 1080p audio drops), to something as drastic as hardware replacement.

1) The same media had problems one minute and played fine the next.

Did you find that some media had no problems at all with your previous DVD player? Your first DVD player may not have had issues on a completely random basis.

It is random in the sense that it may or may not happen with a disc (time, heat, and other factor considerations); it may not be random in the sense that specific discs cause the issue, while others are immune.

Perhaps the "factor" prohibiting Oppo form experiencing intermittent dropouts is simply time. While there may have been a number of variables affecting your intermittent dropouts, the one variable proven to affect it, is bandwidth. The problem only exists at 1080p. The problem also seems to show up more often with certain material. That's no surprise, because every disk has a different audio and video bit-rate... and the combined bit-rate at the output (bandwidth) is highly variable, even spiky in nature. Therefore, the likelihood of dropouts would be higher during the spikes on a high bit-rate disk, or on a disk with particularly challenging material.
...the very same media that gave the 983 fits one day played fine the next. That's where other, more subtle (and changing) variables at your local installation, like electrical noise, temperature, humidity, etc, can push the electrical tolerances of your equipment one way or another, and increase or decrease the chances of susceptibility to bandwidth-related errors.

So, perhaps the "factor" prohibiting Oppo from experiencing intermittent dropouts is time AND media.

Gary

When I asked OPPO about this many moons ago they said that 88.2KHz sampling was the nominal specification for SACD DSD->PCM conversions for DVD hardware.

That's unfortunate...I didn't realize that not passing DSD created such a tremendous loss in sampling rate. It's also unfortunate that they don't use 176.4kHz. I know that my receiver and many others would be able to handle such resolution just fine.

Does using the analog outs on the 983 also give only 88.2 resolution?

Did you at any time press the Audio button to change the SACD layer selection? Pressing the Audio button will change the SACD Priority option as well.

Try pressing the Audio button to select Multi-Channel. Turn Off the player then turn it back on. Does the disc still play as Stereo or is not Multi-Channel?

After confirming my SACD priority was set to Multi-Channel and turning off the player entirely, the Mahler SACD correctly picked up the Multi-Channel layer and autoplayed it. I will do further testing with my Boston SACD (which is only stereo) to see if the 983 will correctly pick up the Multi-Channel layer after playing a Stereo-only SACD.

Set the player to 5.1. 5.1 will playback the source as it was originally encoded. So if it is Stereo, only the Left and Right channels will be active.

Thank you for that information. Does the 983 not pass DTS ES 6.1? I have a DVD-A disc which contains a 5.1 DVD-A mix, as well as a 6.1 DTS ES mix, but selecting the DTS ES version only sent 5.1 PCM to my receiver - even when setting the "Down-Mix" option to 7.1. Why would it not send the raw bitstream over HDMI? (HDMI Audio set to Auto)

For reference (so someone doesn't say the DVD-A track is better anyways), both the 5.1 DVD-A track and the 6.1 DTS-ES are 48kHz, 24 bit.

I too have had problems with video drop-outs with my 983. I've switched cables to no avail. I connect the 983 to a Denon 3808 AVR.

For me, it happens more frequently on PAL material than NTSC material.

I just received a new 983 from the second charge that will be connected to my Denon 3808 AVR using HDMI / 1080p. Since I'm living in germany most of my DVDs are PAL. Thus I have a great chance to reproduce the drop-out problems if my configuration is affected. Currently the system isn't configured since I'm quite busy.

Well I can elimate my overheating theory as I played a dvd from cold last night with the player well ventilated and the dropouts started straight away.

Tonight I'm going to hook the 983 upto my 1080p Samsung LCD and see if I experience any dropouts, at least that may point the problem in a certain direction, ie maybe a HDCP problem between the 983 and my Pioneer Plasma.

Now I feel vindicated. I was one of the first to receive the new 983 and report dropout problems. It is obvious that there is something wrong with this unit but reporting it on this forum got the betas on me like ducks on a june bug :) I have no idea what is causing it, perhaps faulty hdmi boards or whatever. Hopefully Oppo will get it fixed soon so I can get another one.

(Bizarrely, echoing what I mentioned in post 1441), I followed the advice of changing the colour space setting last night and got the following...

Mine was set as the default of Auto, but when I swapped it to RGB TV, it was dropping out constantly and couldn't display the image for more than a fraction of a second, which seemed odd. I switched to the other settings and Auto and then went back to RGB TV and it was OK. I only played around for another 15 minutes, but I'd changed it back to Auto and didn't experience any dropouts. I'll try and start fresh tonight and test it for longer.

Anyone know why the RGB TV setting should cause it to freak out so much the first time it's chosen, but then be OK?


Re: Neuromancer. Anyone with a foot in the official door is more than useful, so I appreciate your involvement.

Slightly OT, but still as help:

...panasonic AE100 which is a 720p projector.

I take it you mean AX100. The ol' AE100 (used to have one) was 480.

This was running the oppo at 1080p (yes I know that's illogical given the projector resolution limits but to my eyes it looks better and I know from running blu ray through it that it hiccups by occassional purple lines that flicker and then go away, so it was not the projector that was getting throttled.

The purple flash of the AX100 when running 1080p via HDMI is a well known issue with that projector. Your AX100 needs a firmware upgrade. I used to have it on mine, but with the latest firmware all flashes are gone.

Back on topic...

I meant to mention earlier that when testing to see if running too hot was the problem for my dropouts I had the sound coming thru the TV via HDMI rather than the amp via Coaxial and the sound was dropping out also which I don't get normally thru the amp.

So it looks like I'm getting picture and sound dropouts thru HDMI, is this a common issue?

While there may have been a number of variables affecting your intermittent dropouts, the one proven variable, is bandwidth. The problem only exists at 1080p. The problem also seems to show up more often with certain material. That's no surprise, because every disk has a different audio and video bit-rate... and the combined bit-rate at the output (bandwidth) is highly variable, even spiky in nature. Therefore, the likelihood of dropouts would be higher during the spikes on a high bit-rate disk, or on a disk with particularly challenging material.
That's where other, more subtle (and changing) variables at your local installation, like electrical noise, temperature, humidity, etc, can push the electrical tolerances of your equipment one way or another, and increase or decrease the chances of susceptibility to bandwidth-related errors.

So, perhaps the "factor" prohibiting Oppo from experiencing intermittent dropouts is time AND media.

Gary

I (fortunately) am not having any problems at all with my Oppo 983H, but I can comment on the truth of what is said above. Some time ago I did have problems with video dropouts (before I even bought the Oppp) but these were from all my sources. Interestingly, if I changed down to 1080i from 1080p the dropouts would disappear. As soon as I changed back to 1080p they would reappear. The problem in the end turned out to be a faulty HDMI cable - it seemed able to pass the bandwidth of 1080i without problems but could not handle the increased bandwidth needs of 1080p. Changing the cable solved the problem.

I know this doesn't directly help with the Oppo 983H dropout issues being reported here and for the sake of the guys who are experiencing problems, I hope it's soon sorted - but my experience does show directly that it van be a bandwidth issue 'overloading' something along the signal chain.

So it looks like I'm getting picture and sound dropouts thru HDMI, is this a common issue?

Yes, HDMI dropouts are for both audio and video.

I hate to comment on the issue without certain data, and just as Oppo has a hard time replicating the problem, so do I.

It seems to me:

Heat related: no.

Color space related: no.

Cable and connection related: not in this case. I've tried two cables, HDMI and HDMI-DVI and wiggle the connectors fiercely while testing.

Bandwith related: yes, happens only at 1080p.

Hardware component variation: don't know. That would explain why some units have it and others not.

Media or programming related: maybe.

I found a spot on LOST season 2 last night which seemed to give a consistent dropout.. I could even see the dropout during fast forward and reverse. If I stopped playback at that point the logo screen would shimmer and show static.

Then power off and try again: no more dropout at that point. Went to bed.

This experiment put the machine into a "state" where dropouts started happening continually. Power off cleared that state.

HDMI is hard to debug because an A/V system is not like a deterministic computer program where every event is exactly the same every time. The video signal comes from a spinning disc and is going to be different every time; the display responds to handshakes by it's own schedule. So timing is everything and some timing events must sometimes be revealing a flaw not otherwise seen, which may in fact be intertwined with factors I discounted above: heat, cables, etc.

-Bill

Does the 983 not pass DTS ES 6.1? I have a DVD-A disc which contains a 5.1 DVD-A mix, as well as a 6.1 DTS ES mix, but selecting the DTS ES version only sent 5.1 PCM to my receiver - even when setting the "Down-Mix" option to 7.1. Why would it not send the raw bitstream over HDMI? (HDMI Audio set to Auto)
The 983H cannot internally decode DTS-ES Discrete, all it can do is the basic DTS 5.1. Having said that, though, setting HDMI Audio to Auto should allow DTS tracks to be output over HDMI as bitstreams. The bigger problem is probably the fact that it's a DVD-Audio disc: I've used discs that include both DVD-Audio MLP tracks and DTS tracks on the same side (Blue Man Group's "The Complex" comes to mind) and have found that many DVD-A players will not select the DTS track if the player is set to use DVD-A. I'm pretty sure that my Yamaha S1500 was this way. It's sort of a guess, but just in case this is the problem, you might try setting the "DVD-Audio Mode" on the 983H (general setup menu) to "DVD-Video" and trying again.

Now I feel vindicated. I was one of the first to receive the new 983 and report dropout problems. It is obvious that there is something wrong with this unit but reporting it on this forum got the betas on me like ducks on a june bug :) I have no idea what is causing it, perhaps faulty hdmi boards or whatever. Hopefully Oppo will get it fixed soon so I can get another one.

It is not obvious to me that "there is something wrong with this unit." There may have been something wrong with your unit.

I would like to note for those reading this thread and possibly considering purchasing a 983 that I have no dropouts, no colorspace problems, no overheating problems, no problems at all with my 983 playing NTSC and PAL Region 2 DVDs (with the exception of a minor aspect ratio glitch when using Auto and playing 4:3 Region 2 DVDs easily corrected with a press of the INFO button).

Let's not generalize from very small samples. Those of us who read the 981 thread may recall a long exchange of early posts from a fellow in Norway who was convinced that the 981 had "green push." That was because he apparently had green push on his expensive Panasonic plasma display. He didn't want to calibrate his display because he was convinced it was a problem with the 981. And support from Panasonic was nonexistent. So he elected to pound on the OPPO 981. He made such a stink about it that new posters began to ask if the 981 "known green push problem" had been fixed. Meanwhile, I didn't have any "green push" nor did lots of others either, based on the lack of "me too" posts. His wasn't a very constructive approach to problem-solving, IMHO.

This is not to say that the 983 is perfect. Nothing is perfect. There undoubtedly will be 983s that will exhibit idiosyncrasies. There may be component failures. (The Apple eMac is still plagued with a batch of bad capacitors for which Apple has extended its warranty although Apple didn't make the capacitors. But, not all eMacs are affected. And the machine remains widely in use in schools.)

That's why these probing questions asked by Neuromancer, Gary and others are so valuable. They are trying to identify the causal variables among the many that aren't. For those familar with the Pareto's Principle aka the 80-20 Rule, this is a classic exercise. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle

This process is not personal. There is no blame; there is no vindication. There are simply facts to be gathered. And assistance offered in the process.

Dana

I post my contribution to the A/V dropouts issue.
I own a 983 (one of the first, sn VD0803702176 v.2.13) usually set at 1080p to feed a Sanyo Z4 through Oppo HDMI cable, then Oppo HM-31 HDMI switch and then 10m Atlona Ultra series HDMI cable.
I've not experienced any video dropout (audio via coaxial) in over a month I own it, with pressed PAL R2 DVDs and DVD-R5 (usually Verbatim 16X recorded at max 2x) as well.

I was just going to pull the trigger on one of these, guess I'll wait until I see how all with the dropout problem make out. Has Oppo even acknowlegded that there is a problem?

It is not obvious to me that "there is something wrong with this unit." There may have been something wrong with your unit.

I would like to note for those reading this thread and possibly considering purchasing a 983 that I have no dropouts, no colorspace problems, no overheating problems, no problems at all with my 983 playing NTSC and PAL Region 2 DVDs (with the exception of a minor aspect ratio glitch when using Auto and playing 4:3 Region 2 DVDs easily corrected with a press of the INFO button).

Dana

Same here. I am in the UK and use both R1 NTSC and R2 PAL discs and I have had NO problems of ANY kind with my Oppo 983H. Whatever is causing these problems others are having, it's not something simple that is easily replicated or discovered.

People come onto forums usually because they have problems. Not very many people seek out help from the forums when everything is working fine, so you rarely see posts that say 'hey guess what - I have bought XYZ and it is working just fine...". This can therefore give a biased view of the reliablity etc of some equipment. The majority of people who have bought Oppo players will never use a forum in their life and I'd bet that most are 100% happy with their purchase.

Has Oppo even acknowlegded that there is a problem?

I'm not sure they can acknowledge what can't be reproduced. They could acknowledge getting reports and replacing some units.

-Bill

While there may have been a number of variables affecting your intermittent dropouts, the one proven variable, is bandwidth. The problem only exists at 1080p. The problem also seems to show up more often with certain material. That's no surprise, because every disk has a different audio and video bit-rate... and the combined bit-rate at the output (bandwidth) is highly variable, even spiky in nature. Therefore, the likelihood of dropouts would be higher during the spikes on a high bit-rate disk, or on a disk with particularly challenging material.
That's where other, more subtle (and changing) variables at your local installation, like electrical noise, temperature, humidity, etc, can push the electrical tolerances of your equipment one way or another, and increase or decrease the chances of susceptibility to bandwidth-related errors.

So, perhaps the "factor" prohibiting Oppo from experiencing intermittent dropouts is time AND media.

Gary

Based on my experience, I do not I believe media is a factor.

First, with my original 983, the exact same discs played fine at one moment, then had problems the next, only to play fine on another attempt. (You can read my previous post on the trouble shooting I attempted at that time.)

Second, I have not had a dropout on the replacement 983 (yet) using the same discs, same bit rates, same bandwidth, same location, cable, electrical noise, temperature, humidity, etc.

It's possible I'm tempting fate here and that the replacement unit is about to explode, but one thing I know for sure is that 983 #1, dropouts, 983 #2, no dropouts (yet).

Hello. I just received my Oppo 983 and set it up. I am using an old TV which does not even accept progressive scan (I can hear the groans already) so the Oppo is connected using component cables. No HDMI here. I am straight 480i. I have the latest firmware. However there is a strange issue with the player. :confused:

I set up and calibrated the player for a TV type of 4:3 letterbox etc. Standard stuff. I put in my first DVD (the new beowulf) and I see that everything is stretched vertically. So I tried another DVD (I am legend). Same thing. Then I tried the Bee Movie DVD and it was full screen (even though its anamorphic widescreen material).

After an hour checking and changing settings in the menus, I discovered that the player DOES NOT keep my TV type setting. It likes to go back to the default of 16:9. Could be 16:9/auto.

Even when I just stop the movie and then resume the TV type goes back to 16:9. My setting is lost.

I checked the DVD info screen and it correctly says 16:9 material but looking at the video window on top of the DVD info screen it is pillarboxed not the correct 16:9 aspect ratio. It is stretched vertically.

The only way I can correct this issue is to select the TV type of 4:3 letterbox as I am watching the movie. Then it goes back to its correct aspect ratio and everything looks normal. When I check the DVD info screen the video window on top is also the correct aspect ratio 16:9 (no pillarboxing).

The strange thing is it says its 4:3 letterbox even though it is clearly on a 16:9 setting. I have to select 16:9 then reselect 4:3 letterbox.

Is there a way to have the player keep my TV type setting even after stopping and resuming a movie??

Is this a defect??

I have an old Sony that keeps my TV type settings just fine even after power cycles so I thought this is kind of wierd for a player of this calibre.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Got mine this morning, FedEx delivered it just as I was leaving for work. I did have time to pull it out of the box and take a look. It has a scrape in the finish on the front lower edge of the unit. This is not shipping damage, as the box was in perfect condition, and the unit is wrapped in a cloth bag. Oppo definitely needs to work on quality control. This is unacceptable on a $400 unit, and will destroy the re-sale value.

So this unit is going to be returned, and there are no replacements available, so I will probably not get another, as I have already been without a player for weeks, and I need a replacement now. But I will still hook it up this evening, and see if I have any issues with audio or video dropouts. It will be connected to an Onkyo PR-SC885, and from there to a 42" Toshiba LCD.

My 983 has studdered on a couple of clean, scratch-free commerical DVDs which were clean...the studdering was also non-repeatable. It sort of raises a question as I've hardly even used the unit that much yet.

After an hour checking and changing settings in the menus, I discovered that the player DOES NOT keep my TV type setting. It likes to go back to the default of 16:9. Could be 16:9/auto.

Is your Video Out setting under Video Preference set to Component or HDMI? Is HDMI connected at all to the DVD player?

Have you attempted to re-install the firmware and try the player again. I have never set the player to 4:3/LB or 4:3/PN, but I know for a fact 16:9 Wide and 16:9/Auto will be remembered correctly.