Could someone post a review on Oppo DV971H Dvd Playerhttp://www.extremephono.com/Oppo_DV971.htm

thank you

This player was identified some time ago and we are waiting for the bold first purchaser to come forward. It looks promising although with the same Faroudja FLI2310, it will almost certainly have the macroblocking problem of the other players using that chip. Macroblocking doesn't ruin my DVB318 for me so if the build quality is good, it is apparently manufactured by an experienced Chinese OEM Winbase Electronics, it might be better built than the Momitsu, LiteOn and Bravo upscaling players and ultimately be the leader of the inexpensive upconversion players.

Chris

Once I know for sure it plays my DVD-R and +RW i will buy it. Casey at extremephono said he will test the player for me..

I know it will do PAL to NTSC, but does anyone know if it is supposed to be region free out of the box?

If it is, I might have to try one to go along with my v880. I hear the Faroudja chip does better with anime. And since I'm starting to add more anime titles to my collection it might be worth it to add this player to my "quiver".

According to the extremephono site the players have been delayed at customs until 12/21.

Paul

subha,

The gist I got was that it would play -R. Some players wil digest anything, but even in a format they are suppoesed to play much has to do with the media you burned to and the speed it was burned. I've had much better luck with copies I burned at 2x than I have the ones I tried to push at 8x. Anytime you are burning a DVD slower is better.

I guess what I am saying is it is a bit much to determine copied DVD playability on one of your single disks. If Casey comes back and tells you that the Oppo wouldn't load your disk, I would need to know how you burned that disk before I would make a general comment on what it would play.

Wensteph,
I did try burning at different speeds a while ago and that didn't help much. However i would like to inform you that the DVD-R and +RW plays fine on Sony DVD players. I have one right now whose model# i can't remember (got it from Costco). It also played on the Sony HDMI player, and probably all JVC models, as well on Pioneer.

I had trouble playing it on Panasonic, Denon, Toshiba, Samsung.

And yes i have seen cheap DVD players like Cyberhome handle these disks, and yes these disks do play on PCs as well.

The Panasonic 97S will play both + & - R disks. Even though the manual states
that only - will play. I have the unit at it plays both with no problems.

I tried Panasonic S97 with both my DVD-R and +RW, it did not play them at all. The +RW was not even loading..

I will take it back. Yes it did play the -R, however it skips one chapter to the next within a few seconds of playing a current chapter. which is the typical behavior i have seen on most players.

subha,

I've got probably the same Costco Sony. You're right, it will digest anything. The Momitsu is the same way, I've never had trouble with it playing one of my dupes.

Even my panasonic RP-82 has some issues playing DVD-R that my Norcent DP 501M played. So..

Im interested in the Oppo..

I wanted to clarify..when is the Faroudja used?


Video Processing: Oppo OPDV-971H DVI DVD player's DVI output reproduces the highest quality upconverted images in 480P, 576P (PAL), 576I (PAL), 720P, and 1080I output resolutions. Using the top of the line FLI 2310 Faroudja DCDi (TM) technology, video is analyzed on a single pixel granularity to detect presence or absence of angled lines and edges, select the optimal filtering to eliminate motion artifacts. In the film mode, DCDi (TM) properly handles 3:2 and 2:2 pulldown as well as detecting and correcting bad edits. For video-based material, FLI2310 removes the coloration artifacts produced by common video decoders.

Doesnt say here..but is it only used in 480i?

I think it might be a disk or recorder issue for those who can not get the
R-or R+ disks to work. I have had no problem with any disks I recorded.

I would suggest that you update the firmware on your recorders. Many recorder manufactures are updating firmware to accommodate newer
disks.

Originally posted by SpeedyHTPC
I wanted to clarify..when is the Faroudja used?
Doesnt say here..but is it only used in 480i?
It might be similar to the way the samsung's work in that the faroudja solution is only applied to the dvi outputs for progressive deinterlacing and scaling (therfore not 480i) and not the component output. Ive never read what they use for the component deinterlacing... possibly a zoran.

Faroudja is used for deinterlacing, so it will be used on output signals 480p and up.

Faroudja on 480p+ on DVI sounds really good.

So why is this player thread on page 3? Are we just sick of crappy quality upconverting DVDs?

Because Oppo is a no name brand compared to other DCDi upconverting players like Zenith, Panny, Samsung, Denon, etc.

Not much mention here because the player isn't on sale in the US and the imported players are in customs until 12/21. So it will be a few more days until the player is in the hands of the public.

Paul

With specs like this..

Audio DAC
6 x 192KHz/24-bit
Video D/A Converter
6 x 108Mhz/12-bit

DVI-D x1, support 480p, 576p, 720p, 1080i output
Component (Y/Pb/Pr) x1, supports 480i, 480p, 576i, 576p

I'm hoping for at least RP-82 like quality output at 1080i.

Originally posted by Huey
Because Oppo is a no name brand compared to other DCDi upconverting players like Zenith, Panny, Samsung, Denon, etc.

It is made by a Chinese OEM that makes several players for other companies including at least some from brands you just mentioned. The Oppo may actually end up one of the better players capable of playing all of those formats. It looks like the best but we won't know until somebody gets one and posts a review.

Chris

I think the mention of "Chinese" makes people run as far "west" as possible. Little do they know that all these hack DVD players came from China or the like.

I personally like the chinese players from lesser known companies as it seems as though they bend little rules like macro off and secret codes.....imo it is because they dont have to fear political pressure from bending these little rules....

PS: I am wanting the zensonic 5oo myself to act as a server for all my movies....

I agree that Chinese players can have unique abilities (I bought the Neuneo HVD108, Daewoo 5700, and LiteON LVD2001 myself), but there is somewhat more of a gamble ordering overseas compared major-name-brand players. We all know that a lot of the big name brands can be built in China, but there may be more support and better warranty with a big name like Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, and Zenith vs. the no name brand.

Still Oppo may be the hidden gem that needs exploration and some brave beta testers :D The Zensonic 500 does sound nice for a network player (similar and possibly better than Iodata network player) using the newer Sigma chipset.

Yes i agree also...an earlier poster was saying that this faroujda 2310 chipset had the macroblocking problem??I thought that was the 2301??Can someone please confirm?

Originally posted by deez
Yes i agree also...an earlier poster was saying that this faroujda 2310 chipset had the macroblocking problem??I thought that was the 2301??Can someone please confirm?

Both. The FLI2301 and the FLI2310 have the macroblocking problem.

Chris

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
This player was identified some time ago and we are waiting for the bold first purchaser to come forward.

If I can call them and put it on a credit card, I may well go for it.

Caveats - I won't buy from a dealer I can't call, and I see no phone number on their web site.

I also will not use paypal, see http://www.paypalsucks.com for some of the reasons why.

While not necessarily a deal breaker, I have questions about their return policy. They apparantly have a 30 day money back gaurantee for the products listed on their "order now" page, but none of the DVD players are ordered thru that page -

If they will give me a 30 day return and put it on my credit card, as far as I am concerned it's a no-brainer.

Regards

Ken L

Originally posted by triodeuser
If I can call them and put it on a credit card, I may well go for it.

Caveats - I won't buy from a dealer I can't call, and I see no phone number on their web site.

I also will not use paypal, see http://www.paypalsucks.com for some of the reasons why.

While not necessarily a deal breaker, I have questions about their return policy. They apparantly have a 30 day money back gaurantee for the products listed on their "order now" page, but none of the DVD players are ordered thru that page -

If they will give me a 30 day return and put it on my credit card, as far as I am concerned it's a no-brainer.

Regards

Ken L

Hey Ken,

I've ordered from Extremephono before (a Momitsu DV-880) via PayPal and found them to be highly reliable. I've never had to call them because the Momitsu worked as advertised.

I currently have an Oppo on order from them. I will be posting a mini-review and pics next week. Hopefully by then I will have the player in my hands.


S.Anderson

Originally posted by Rieper
Hey Ken,

I've ordered from Extremephono before (a Momitsu DV-880) via PayPal and found them to be highly reliable. I've never had to call them because the Momitsu worked as advertised.

I currently have an Oppo on order from them. I will be posting a mini-review and pics next week. Hopefully by then I will have the player in my hands.


S.Anderson

I look forward to your review with interest.

I have sent them an e-mail asking about credit card purchase other than paypal, and for a phone number, and will see how they respond.

However, I am unlikely to purchase anything through Paypal _grin_. There are any number of places I can buy DVD players of various sorts _bigger grin_

Regards

Ken L

I emailed them in the past for a phone number and they would not send them, and eventually I just ordered the player via paypal because of all the sucesses people here had (even though this was against my comfort zone, I don't buy from ebay people who won't provide a phone number incase of non-payment/delivery)

I received the player (V880) quickly, but was damaged because of the skimpy box and I had to remove the cover and reinstall the cover so that the drawer could open. The unit performed well after that, even thought the remote is annoying (I have the first version not the DLX or the network version of the momitsu.

I'm sure he's in it for business reasons not social hense the lack of customer service.

Registrant:
Amity Products
4076 Deep Creek Road
Fremont, CA 94555
US

Domain name: EXTREMEPHONO.COM

Administrative Contact:
Ng, Kong caseyn@usa.net
4076 Deep Creek Road
Fremont, CA 94555
US
510-791-8726
Technical Contact:
Administration, Domain noc@Hostica.com
24430 Hawthorne Blvd.
Suite #202
Torrance, CA 90505
US
+1.3103757646 Fax: +1.3103750892

Originally posted by Cytocycle
I'm sure he's in it for business reasons not social hense the lack of customer service.

I'm only looking at a business transaction and have enough social activity in my life already _grin_

Originally posted by Cytocycle

I received the player (V880) quickly, but was damaged because of the skimpy box and I had to remove the cover and reinstall the cover so that the drawer could open

That is a little disconcerting to hear that your player was not properly packaged for shipping. I did notice that all player sales are final.

If he won't take a credit card directly from the purchaser, I think I'll hold off for now.

Regards

Ken L

The box was double boxed but must have had a large heavy item dropped on it but it didn't damage the outside box (puncture it), but the Momitsu is a flimsy built box (the weight of my cable box will prevent the drawer from opening) and that's to be expected at this price point, the amazing thing is that it will perform on par with my $1800 HTPC that I've wasted way too much time and money trying to get this upscaled quality. The case was not bent just had popped in at the top. you would never know anything had happened and beside I had to open it up to see how it was built. I used paypal with a credit card for protection because the credit card company has the last word with paypal and the buyer is protected the sell is not.

It was a no hassel deal and I've seen other people who had problems get suppport, I bought another player like this direct from China plus the import duties and had it fail an it wasn't worth it to spend $100 to get it back for servicing and at least with Extremephono they have stateside support.

I'm looking at buying one of the new players either the DLX or N or this latest player in the next month and I'll still buy it from him. When these players are so cheap compared to the $1000-3000 players currently in this performance range I treat this type of equipment as disposable technology. Unfortuately DVD tech has gotten better every 6 months so that the latest set of $200-300 players look better than the last seasons $1000+ players.

Tell me something about the Momitsu V880, please..

how is the DVD menu naviagtion and layer change? Is it sluggish, or pretty snappy?

Thanks!

Originally posted by Crunchyriff
Tell me something about the Momitsu V880, please..

how is the DVD menu naviagtion and layer change? Is it sluggish, or pretty snappy?

Thanks!

Isn't this thread suppose to be about the OPPO?

The older remote with the rubber buttons makes dvd navigation slow but with my pronto it responds much better, I'm also going through an IR repeater in side the grill of my in wall speakers so it really need a more power IR remote. The newer remotes were a different style than mine where if you push a button (taller rubber) down at an angle (it would get stuck and repeat under the remote).. Simple solution get a little more coordinated and push down or just use a programable remote like I do now.

In my opinion the layer changes are pretty quick, rarely will I notice my EAD processor loosing link but the video is fast. Plus I have way better reliabilty in playing all titles unlike my friend Bravo D1 (can't play anything Disney).

I have been amazed by the video output and I understand that this is built like any other $300 player.. cheaply.. but the output results of DVI out upscaled to 720p on my Optoma H76 (720p native) are amazing!

Zeram1: Sorry I think we are all waiting for next week to hear how this player performs so just take this as discussion about the Momitsu as precuror for comparison to the newer Oppo... If it's better I'll buy one!

Besides the fact that I threadjack frequently, I will be a hypocrite and say I would like this thread to remain about the Oppo. There is a thread for the V880 already or make a new one.

Isn't this thread suppose to be about the OPPO

Why yes it IS!! Sorry! :D uhh, no hijacking intended.

I got my wires crossed, as I have been looking at both the V880N and OPPO players online this evening... (post-Christmas "brain scramble"..)

How does the OPPO perform in the areas I already mentioned, along with SQ?

Thanks again...

Cytocycle- thanks for your gracious reply.

No problemo - I just hate it when I receive the email notification, getting my hopes up that someone has received it and has posted a review, to find out that it's not the case at all.

I emailed Extremephono and asked about the MB issue with this DVD player. Here is the response:

John,Personally I could not detect Macroblocking, but will be testing it with a bunch of DVDs for further confirmation The first lot of Oppo shipped yesterday (Dec 23), so I suspect by next Friday, you will see first report on AVSFORUM.

So it looks like he does frequent these forums and is hoping for a good report on this player to boost his sales. I will not purchase unless the MB issue is minimal.

John

I received mine today, sent FedEx Ground, it isn't double boxed, but the standard box has pretty good packing blocks, including one in the middle at the front panel.

The heft seems a bit higher than typical for a relatively inexpensive DVD player (I have the Zenith and the Nueno, as well as Liteon 2001; some of my friends tease me as being the collector of low end players, but then all of these have offered something special or not available readily in combination in main stream players).

Because a close friend's mom died on Christmas night, I'm busy helping her get ready to go to England tomorrow, so won't have time for a couple of days for a detailed look. Remote is nice, with a brushed aluminum inlay like many Sony's.

Main reasons I bought/took a chance on this unit were as follows:

1) Faroudja DCDi (really necessary for video source material like DVD music videos and DVD TV collections, both of which are a large part of my viewing)

2) DVI upscaling to 720P and 1080i (will be run through DVI -> RGBHV converter for my NEC projector)

3) Pillar boxing of 4:3 material on widescreen display modes (Zenith DVB318 doesn't have this) There are additional Zoom modes; unknown if it can support zooming letter box 4:3 to 16:9. Fingers crossed.

5) Does include brigntness, contrast, sharpness adjustments. Don't know if this will be useful. Maybe with my projector, not being a normal TV.

6) DivX playback support.

The unit has 24/192 DACs, and includes a built in DD decoder; optical and coaxial SPDIF are suported. A 1 meter DVI-D cable is included.


Just on the feature check list, it's a promising looking successor to my Zenith. The Zenith works well in my all analog system, but it won't run forever, isn't replaceable, and doesn't pillarbox.

I'm looking forward to later in the week when I have a chance to check it out.

~Jon

I just ordered an one fror myself. They are supposidly in stock and ready to ship so I will be able to report on the shipping time as well as my impressions of the unit's performance. I too seem to have a too many low cost players kicking around. (2) Bravo D1s and a Samsung HD841, to name a few.

Well, I'm definitely getting interested _grin_

Actually, you don't have to be a paypal member to use your credit card with him. He uses Paypal as a secure processor - which would be OK - My problem is with joining and signing the member agreement.

I am looking forward to you guys posting your impressions.

Regards

Ken L

Originally posted by JonMarsh
2) DVI upscaling to 720P and 1080i (will be run through DVI -> RGBHV converter for my NEC projector)

Are you sure that is going to work?

Chris

Let us know how the motion is, too. Artifacts or smooth as butter?? And how about sound quality??

(Yeah, I can dream, can't I??)

I think I want one of these little jobs....

I doubt the DVI->RGBHV converter will work. Only Momitsu and Yamakawa's non-HDCP DVI is DVI-I. Oppo's DVI is DVI-D (Extremephono put a disclaimer that this player will precisely NOT convertable to VGA with a simple VGA converter), and not DVI-I so a $10 pin-converting, passive DVI->VGA is not going to work. If he has the $200-400 active converter to convert digital DVI to analog RGBHV then it may work (Digital Connections sell one and Gefen is another high end brand).

When I'm talking DVI converter, I'm talking DVI-D HDCP compliant to RGBHV transcoder from Dtronics. Whether everything will talk nice and play together, of course, remains to be seen. But based on specs, it Should....

DVI resolution changing is just punching a button.- both good and bad, as I don't have my projector setup for 720P at the moment; maybe I'll do that just to cover the possibilities.

How's the PQ? What'd you own before the Oppo?

Huey or anyone in the know,

Can I play this DVD (PAL DVD (http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.2866/aid.006349/qx/details.htm) ) with the Oppo DV971H?

I have a Sanyo Z3 projector which I plan to use with the Oppo, and was hoping I could play PAL DVDs. Anyone know, please speak up before I place any PAL orders. Thanks in advance.

S.Anderson

I just returned the V592 and ordered the Oppo. It'll be hooked to a Sammy HLP5674. I'll report how it performs.

Hi Deaf,

I ordered the same Sammy last week should've been here today. I can't wait to hear the report from you on how this DVD player works with this TV.

Please fill us in on the SQ as well please.

Thanks in advance!!

No problem GoSpurs, do you mean fill you in on the SD or the PQ?

Sorry, the sound quality. Thanks:)

But, I'm sure there will be people here wondering about SD as well.

I'm semi interested here.

Looking forward to more reports.

Has anyone who ordered this player had a chance to try it out and give a report? The first batch shipped out a week ago and not much is being said about it. Inquiring minds want to know:D

John

My Oppo is scheduled for delivery on Monday. I bought myself a Canon 20D and a 17-40mm "L" Lens for Christmas. So I will be taking professional quality pics next week with my Oppo and Sanyo Z3 projector on a 106" diag. Da-Lite High Power screen.

Keep your eyes posted to this thread for pics and a mini review.

S.Anderson

Originally posted by KJ43

If it is, I might have to try one to go along with my v880. I hear the Faroudja chip does better with anime. And since I'm starting to add more anime titles to my collection it might be worth it to add this player to my "quiver".

IMHO, Faroudja processing is _essential_ for anime, particularly with badly authored discs (***cough***Hong Kong "unlicensed" imports***cough**). I have compared both Sil504 processing and various HTPC DVD players to Faroudja-based solutions, and, with anime, the Faroudja blows both of the other alternatives away. Anime tends to have weird cadences (not just 3:2) and when the F chip drops into video mode in response to these, DCDi makes a _big_ difference.

Originally posted by Robert2413
IMHO, Faroudja processing is _essential_ for anime, particularly with badly authored discs (***cough***Hong Kong "unlicensed" imports***cough**). I have compared both Sil504 processing and various HTPC DVD players to Faroudja-based solutions, and, with anime, the Faroudja blows both of the other alternatives away. Anime tends to have weird cadences (not just 3:2) and when the F chip drops into video mode in response to these, DCDi makes a _big_ difference.

pretty much any video based playback with strange fps playback rates is gonna be better on a player with motion adaptive DE. v880 does fine on movies, but not that great with stuff like anime or TV type recordings (ie: Friends on DVD)

Well, I'm starting to check this out. It's hooked up at the moment just through DVI to a Dtronics DVI to RGBHV converter, and connected to a large screen CRT monitor, to verify output scan rates and so forth. I'm going to hook it up later tonight to my NEC projector.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/attachment.php4?attachmentid=1704&stc=1


DVI output is enabled when plugged into my converter- default 480P; a button push on DVI button changes to 720P, then 1080i. One annoyance is that it defaults to 480P on power down and power up. My Zenith stays in the mode it was left in.

Though this unit remembers where you are if you hit stop once, if you power down, it goes stupid and reloads the disk.

The brightness, contrast, and sharpness control work also on the DVI ouptut- this is good, though it remains to be seen if there are any white or black crush issues.

A quick tour of a couple of chapters of "Attack of the Clones" at 1080i on the desktop CRT monitor looked pretty nice... like a high grade HTPC, but without any combing artifacts. Smallville looks very good- something that gives HTPC's fits, due to the video source issues.

Navigation seems fairly quick, but then that's not how I benchmark players... I understand some are pretty particular about that.

I'll give it a spin tonight, then hopefully be able to report back on some tests with the AVIA or VE disk.

For me, it's all about 1080i video quality for my projector; I can live with a few quirks, if needed.

Thanks for the first report Jon.

I will most likely be ordering this by sunday night if I hear no negative reports. Can anyone compare the picture quality to the Panasonic S97? Are they talking about this on any other forum?

Jon: Thanks for your post. Please report when you get a chance on
issues such as macroblocking, passing blacker than black, white crush,
and any other sesults from the AIA tests that you can.

Originally posted by nothru22
I will most likely be ordering this by sunday night if I hear no negative reports. Can anyone compare the picture quality to the Panasonic S97? Are they talking about this on any other forum?

The Oppo uses the same Faroudja FLI2310 so picture quality will likely be heavily dependent on the display. How well the the display can avoid the macroblocking issue is probably most important. Maybe somebody will have both and give a direct opinion. I don't think I will buy another player with that chip.

Chris

Did some viewing last night; still looking for my test disks (one of the disadvantages of having over 400 DVD's)

It's timings on 1080i are enough different from the Zenith DVB318 that I had to create a new input entry, and do an alignment and convergence! NOT what I was planning yesterday evening- this may be a function of going through the DVI to RGBHV converter to feed by NEC 9PG+ CRT projector.

Did a fairly quick alignment and convergence, and went ahead and watched ATOC. Lovely picture... had left all player video controls (Sharpness, Brightness, Contrast) on default; sharpness is at minimum by default. No discernable edge enhancement from the player in this mode.

Since I haven't gotten my DD processor setup the last month in the new arrangement (seperate HT and 2 chan audio) and have been using anlog outputs with down mixing, it's pointless to compare audio, but it does seem cleaner and clearer than the Zenith on the analog output- but then the Zenith also lags behind a $70 Sony DVP NS-501P that I have for my daughter's system. The Oppo has a set of two channel outputs for CD and down mixed DD, and also has a DD decoder ane 5.1 outputs built in- good for a secondary system, I guess, with an older reciever.

Though I was looking for it in the darker scenes, I didn't see any hints of the dreaded "macroblocking" that usually accompanies FL32310 Faroudja chipset. But I think that's partly an artifact of quantization errors going from the over sampled D/A output of the player and into a subsequent D/A conversion at the front end of a digital display. And I'm all analog- Except that I'm using the DVI output into a Dtronics active converter (Digital Connection)- this is NOT one of those little DVI to VGA dongles that the video card folks supply, to convert DVD-I to VGA; this player only outputs DVI-D. This was also a test of the covnerter, to see that we'd get usuable output in this type of configuration, even up to 1080i. The player and converter work at 480P, 720P, and 1080i.


I've still got to find those test disks today (gawd, I've got a long list of to-do's for today!), but assuming I don't find anything nasty in the way of irreperable black crush or white crush, I'd say it's a keeper over the Zenith. With the Zenith, due to the difference in color space between SDTV (DVD out) and HDTV (transcoder), I've had to twiddle the color balance for it on the projector. Additionally, the Zenith has no built in controls for video, and it doesn't do pillar-boxing. Still, I've gotten a lot of good viewing hours out of the Zenith, especially with mixed source material, where Faourdja chips are champs. And the 1080i looks great on the projector.

I just wish the OPDV971 would remember the DVI setting after powering down- it defaults back to 480P after a power cycle. Not a big deal, but a minor annoyance. Well, I guess at $200-$250 we don't get perfection, eh?

~Jon

Hope to have some more feedback tonight.

I would write to extremephono and let them know about remembering the
DVI settings after powering down. It is possible that a firmware update
could be offered. There were many on the Momitsu.

Good idea. I'll compile a little list of "wishes" over the next week or two, and send it off to them. That would be a very nice touch for me. OTOH, it's probably more a factor of what the manufacturer is willing to do, and this unit doesn't come from the Momitsu folks, as I understand things.

~Jon

Jon,

Thanks for the updates on this player. My major concerns though are still macroblocking and black/white crush with an all digital path to my FP, and your setup is strictly analog. Ultimately, I need to hear from someone using the DVI-D path all the way into their display and how this player handles these issues.

John:)

I am worried about firmware support. Will I be better going with the Panasonic, which has a giant company backing it, or this, with really anonymous people backing it...

Originally posted by johnny_marin
Jon,

Thanks for the updates on this player. My major concerns though are still macroblocking and black/white crush with an all digital path to my FP, and your setup is strictly analog. Ultimately, I need to hear from someone using the DVI-D path all the way into their display and how this player handles these issues.

John:)

Well, technically speaking, if it hands off the bits properly to a DVI-D input of any kind, and it's scaled to the right RGB levels, there shouldn't be any problems. If the player messes it up 0 IRE and 100 IRE levels, nothing you can do after the fact will fix that. If it doesn't mess it up, it should be good to go on any display using the correct receiver levels- so, there are two chances to "mess things up"- one at the player, one at the display. My DVI box is doing all the same D/A as a DVI reciever circuit would have to do in a conventional integrated display with DVI/HDCP input.

This becomes complicated becuase many displays handle the DVI input differently- some so called digital displays actually convert it back to analog, then digitize it with the same A/D front end as they use for other inputs.

I'm sure this will all be settled out in a few years for you guys with fixed panel dispalys- they'll have the inconsistencies between DVI and HDMI resolved, and will have newer chipsets for scaling and handling all these inputs. And I'll probably be watching my CRT projector still. ;)

And DVI was supposed to make things simpler? ;)

Give me back good ole pro 300 MHz +RGB any day... easy to synchronize levels, and well recognized standards.

Jon,

So it seems that you are happy? I'm unsure what to think about your experience.

How did the player handle blacks, not just BTB or crush, how did space scenes look?

How are the colors?

Does this player produce a great looking picture, or are there jagged, fuzzy edges?

Sorry about the 1000 questions!

Eagerly awaiting more reviews!!

Thanks,
Dave

Originally posted by Rieper
Huey or anyone in the know,

Can I play this DVD (PAL DVD (http://www.hkflix.com/xq/asp/filmID.2866/aid.006349/qx/details.htm) ) with the Oppo DV971H?

I have a Sanyo Z3 projector which I plan to use with the Oppo, and was hoping I could play PAL DVDs. Anyone know, please speak up before I place any PAL orders. Thanks in advance.

S.Anderson

I just got my Oppo yesterday and hooked it up via DVI to a 2HD (Sanyo Z2 clone) pj. After testing with a couple NTSC discs, I popped in an R2 PAL factory dvd of 'Thunderball'. It opened to the Setup Menu then played the movie with no problems. After playing a few chapters I tried several other Pal dvds, both Region 2 and Region 0 with no glitches.

Curiously, my other player, a hacked Bravo D1 with a LiteOn 166s loader would not play 'Thunderball' at all - but did play all my other Pal discs without any problems.

The Oppo is set to 'Auto' TV output and 720p, for a native feed to this particular projector.

Sound output seems very good also, via optical digital to our HK 7000Z receiver (especially DTS, of course).

So far, the Oppo appears to be a more than adequate replacement for the Bravo D1 with this combo in both NTSC and Pal dvds. Great picture with no sign of macroblocking in the night time bomber flight and underwater bomb theft scenes in 'Thunderball', nor in 'Pirates of the Carribean' night raid on the port and kidnapping of the Govenor's daughter.

Will keep digging...Happy New Year!

Bob

Thanks Bob!!

How about colors? Blacks?

Happy new year to everyone.

Be assured that Oppo is backed by a very responsive team that are eager to support the video enthusiasts' market.

We are aware of the "DVI not remembering its setting" problem, it will be an easy fix via a firmware change. What we want to do is wait couple weeks to make sure we include and compile your 'wish lists' and feedback to the factory.

So far, we believe the white and black levels are set correctly, and the MPEG decoding chipset selected by Oppo is better and more expensive than some of the other FLI-based DVD players (sorry we don't name names). This particular chipset also has the best MPEG4 support and other hidden goodies with various audio formats.

Will it output a region free PAL disc to 480p like my HK DVD 25? I am inches away from purchasing this unit now that I have assurance the firmware will be supported.

How about a version of this baby that offers SACD and DVD-Audio support?

Originally posted by Gsthe1
I just got my Oppo yesterday and hooked it up via DVI to a 2HD (Sanyo Z2 clone) pj. After testing with a couple NTSC discs, I popped in an R2 PAL factory dvd of 'Thunderball'. It opened to the Setup Menu then played the movie with no problems. After playing a few chapters I tried several other Pal dvds, both Region 2 and Region 0 with no glitches.

Curiously, my other player, a hacked Bravo D1 with a LiteOn 166s loader would not play 'Thunderball' at all - but did play all my other Pal discs without any problems.

The Oppo is set to 'Auto' TV output and 720p, for a native feed to this particular projector.

Sound output seems very good also, via optical digital to our HK 7000Z receiver (especially DTS, of course).

So far, the Oppo appears to be a more than adequate replacement for the Bravo D1 with this combo in both NTSC and Pal dvds. Great picture with no sign of macroblocking in the night time bomber flight and underwater bomb theft scenes in 'Thunderball', nor in 'Pirates of the Carribean' night raid on the port and kidnapping of the Govenor's daughter.

Will keep digging...Happy New Year!

Bob

Bob,

I think I just crapped my pants!!! I have the Sanyo Z3 projector so we will pretty much be running the same equipment. And I was worried whether or not I wasted my money on the OPPO. Glad to know my PAL DVDs will work. Region free is just icing on the proverbial cake. This is too good to be true.

I'm looking forward to receiving my Oppo; t-minus 2 days and counting...

S.Anderson

Originally posted by GoSpurs99
Jon,

So it seems that you are happy? I'm unsure what to think about your experience.

How did the player handle blacks, not just BTB or crush, how did space scenes look?

How are the colors?

Does this player produce a great looking picture, or are there jagged, fuzzy edges?

Sorry about the 1000 questions!

Eagerly awaiting more reviews!!

Thanks,
Dave

Hello Dave,

Re blacks: In my experience, if the player doesn't have black crush, and doesn't have visible macro blocking effects, then it's really going to be up to your display and having the correct calibration to it.

There's two displays I use for testing- a high res CRT compouter monitor, and my NEC 9PG+ FPTV; both of which are color calibrated to D6500 and the correct color gamut (within the limitations of their primary colors). Really good material "pops" on these displays, and even so-so stuff doesn't look back most of the time.

I didn't want to start running off at the mouth after only a few hours viewing experience on a limited amout of material- all of ATOC, the intro to Van Helsing (B&W if color is correct, but with good detail, wide contrast range) some season 2 and season 3 Smallville episodes, and some Alias Episodes- but let's just say I'm QUITE pleased by what I've seen so far; to my eye, without having thrown up test patterns, the player seems to resolve fine detail quite well, and as desired, the 1080i upscaling produces a very good combination of fine detail (when present!) and a more film than video like experience. Judging by eyeball, it preserves more detail than the Neuno player, and is on par with the Zenith (which is flat to 10 MHz); but until I see the test patterns, that's only a subjective by memory comparison. Rendition of the full light scale from deep blacks, shadow detail, on up, is quite good, and may be capble of being optimized to any particular display, as the brightness and contrast controls are functional with the DVI output.

AOTC has never looked better in my system. If I wasn't so tired from some other work I was doing last night, I probably would have gone for some LOTR. But I'm building some new speakers right now for the HT setup, and wanted to save that experience for having completed all the upgrades.

The Zenith is coming out of the rack. It's served me well this last year, and I'll keep it for backup or a secondary system.

I also realize my way of using this player is a little off the beaten path, but with CRT FPTV, you've got to be a little creative to get what you want. Since I'm using a specific DVI to RGBHV conversion, that has to be considered as a major part of the chain. What YOUR projector does for DVI to RGB to drive it's panels will be just as critical- but is not strictly speaking the domain of the player. It's a little like sending an SPDIF digital audio signal to the processor- once it's in the processor, it's up to that, not the sending device.

~Jon

Jon,

Thanks very much.

Hope you, as well as everyone here at AVS, have a great New Year!!

BTW, I'm using a Samsung HL-P5674W, HD is jawdropping:)

Thanks Jon,

Now your review has gotten me excited and my DV971 won't be here until Tuesday (damn!). Can't wait to replace the Sammy.

Hi everyone,

Had my Oppo player for two days and a chance to play with it a bit. The Oppo is connected to my Samsung DLP HLN567 via DVI at 720p or 1080i.
Here are my findings and impressions:

It plays all the Divx (avi) files that I throw at it, even the ones that won't play on my one year old Bravo D1 (which died once and had to be replaced by V'Inc).

It loads fast and plays all the dvds (+/- R/RW) I throw at it, as opposed to D1 (I hate waiting for a minute before the dreaded "NO DISK" display comes on the D1).

So far the pq had been great (I only have the D1 to compare it to), the chase scene thru Coruscant in ATOC is incredible. I'm not a avid videophile so I can't comet on black/white crushes or MB. But at least I don't think I see anything that I would consider as MB by my standard on my display.

Thank you Extremephono! Its nice to know that the retailer is working hard with the manufacturer on firmware updates, such as the dvi not remembering issue, on a new DVD player such as this. It is quite reassuring that my money is well spend.

I'm adding one more to the wishing list: Please fix the stretched 4:3 contents on widescreen display issue for my Oppo (This was not an issue on my D1). I want to see black pillars for 4:3 contents with correct aspect ratios on my widescreen display rather than abnormally stretched pictures. Thank you.

Just a side note for future releases. U might want to consider replacing the fragile plastic DVD tray. It felt like it can break easily. For those of us who have 3 years-olds who knows how to push the eject button, put on a disk, and push the play button, I think we should consider placing the Oppo player somewhere else inaccessible.

BTW - The Oppo is a relatively thin (1.75" high) unit with a very thin ( 1/4" thick) loader to match. It is brushed silver colorerd with a lighted blue display.

The remote is on the smallish side with small, somewhat luminous buttons (better suited to total darkness, rather than a lot of reflected light from a 120" diag. screen). But it has a handy feature called a 'Virtual Keyboard' which projects a knob-like 12 function button onto your video display. This OSD is manipulated using the remote's Up, Down, Reverse, Forward (Cursor buttons) and Enter button, all located in the center of the remote. Short of a lighted remote, this feature is an effective way to operate the remote in the relative darkness of a HT. The 12 functions include: Step, Forward Slow Playback, Play, Next, Fast Foward, Pause, Angle, Reverse Slow Playback, Previous, Fast Reverse, Audio and Subtitles.

sounds like a great player

any custom resolution capability over the dvi or upconversion on the component outputs??

Well, I just ordered it. If you treat me well, extremephono, I promise to get you lots more sales!

Hi all,

I got my Oppo player on Tuesday and I have it hooked up to a Sharp 37" LCD through the DVI connection. So far the picture has impressed me, up until last week I was using a Pioneer Elite 37 DVD 480P player and the Oppo's 720P output is a lot more vivid in my eyes. I do notice that there is some jaggedness to slanted lines on some scenes especially if the lines are tightly spaced (it is very apparent when viewing closing credits to movies). I tried the 1080i setting (540P), but the picture is not centered (moved to the left). Other issue is that I can't convert the resolution unless the player is stopped and the resolution is set back to default when the power is cycled (as others have noticed). Another issue that I noticed is that I can't stop the DVD to change resolutions when the disc menu is up, I have to play the movie then press stop to make the change. I am in the process of ordering a DVI-HDMI cable to check if the picture issues are present in HDMI, I checked if the HDMI worked and it did, but the adapter was too wide so I could not use my other DVI plug when using HDMI (issue with the spacing on the Sharp tuner box).

Anyway, I have only watched two movies with this player so I will comment futher if I find any other issues.

I also have a Aquos 37" lcd so I'd love to hear more about how you like the oppo.

What about the remote? Is it quick to respond? Can anyone who owned a Momitsu, and knows of the woes with that remote, give a comparison?

For viewing 4:3 material, is there a squeeze mode?

There is no squeeze mode, the 4:3 material defalted to stretched on a 16:9 display.

Dylang,

The remote is quick to respond, but its kind of difficult for me to use because the buttons are kind of close to the bottom (DVI button to change the resolution is on the bottom left) and because of the odd shape (battery on the bottom), I keep using the remote upside down! I will changing over to my universal remote soon.

Thanks. I'll be using my universal as well. I just wanted to make sure the ir worked well.

RanmA:

I just went to Oppos site:
http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_moreinfo.html

Notice at the very bottom they have Aspect Ratio Conversion. Is this wrong then? Or does this mean you have to make changes in the main menu? Just clarifying.

Also: I noticed the Film Mode option. What exactly does that do? I can't tell from the example except the lack of cropping in one.

I like this quote:

DVD Magazine:
"OPDV971H, probably the best DVD player in the world!"

dylang,

From the page u'r referring to, it does appear that the Faroudja DCDi chip can convert the 4:3 or the full frame content to pillar box, panoramic, or even crop & zoom views on a 16:9 display. But on the Oppo, I don't see an option to switch between the three views. It is defaulted to only the panoramic view, which is very annoying.

I'm somewhat of a newbie in this area. I have a Fuji HD 42 inch plasma and have been using regular "store-bought" DVD players--I used the Phillips DVD Recorder (the original model) and now a Toshiba RS-TX20 (with the hard drive) to play DVDs. I mostly play the major movie DVDS, but also have a significant number of home made DVDs burned on my computer (have problems with those occasionally with disintegration and freezing and skipping).

Should I be using this DVD player? I have a DVI input--is it that much different in quality compared to the component input? I'm looking for something I can pretty much just plug in and go without a lot of fine tuning.

If anyone has the great review from DVD Magazine please post. I wonder
if this is even a real review. Has anyone heard of Dvd Magazine?

If this player has a picture comparable or better than the Panasonic then it will have a SIGNIFIGANTLY better picture than your Toshiba even over 480p component!

Originally posted by Hi Deaf
I like this quote:

DVD Magazine:
"OPDV971H, probably the best DVD player in the world!"

Wow, the only USA dealer carrying the Oppo DV971H I am aware of is Extremephoto. They are going to have a hard time keeping it in stock if that is true. Amazing and at less than $200. We should be seeing some rapid price drops for the Denon DVD-5910 if they want to compete with this player.:)

Seriously, this player sounds very good. I wish I hadn't already purchased the Zenith DVB318. This may turn out to be the real giant killer.

Chris

The oppodigital home page lists reviews from CNET and Secure Home Theatre. I can't find any of the reviews doing a Google search and I would
like to know what Secure Home Theatre is? I wonder if these reviews are
made up?

http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp

Originally posted by rwestley
The oppodigital home page lists reviews from CNET and Secure Home Theatre. I can't find any of the reviews doing a Google search and I would
like to know what Secure Home Theatre is? I wonder if these reviews are
made up?

http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp



Maybe they (OPPO) meant to say "Secrets" Home Theater review... just a guess.

S.Anderson

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
Wow, the only USA dealer carrying the Oppo DV971H I am aware of is Extremephoto. They are going to have a hard time keeping it in stock if that is true. Amazing and at less than $200. We should be seeing some rapid price drops for the Denon DVD-5910 if they want to compete with this player.:)

Seriously, this player sounds very good. I wish I hadn't already purchased the Zenith DVB318. This may turn out to be the real giant killer.

Chris

There appears to be a vendor on Amazon's website as well, selling the DV971H.

Originally posted by RanmA
There is no squeeze mode, the 4:3 material defaulted to stretched on a 16:9 display.

4:3 material certainly appears a bit stretched on my 16:9 LCD pj display. Guess I'd better hang on to the Bravo D1 for my Nero Wolfe dvds...sigh....

Bob

The vendor on Amazon is Extreme Phono.

Secrets has not reviewed this player.

Extreme Phono? That's odd - the shipping charge is about half as much if ordered on Amazon rather than on Extreme's site - and Extreme is located in Fremont, Ca. The Amazon vendor, who traces back to a site and business name listed as BBKUSA, says they are located in Mountain View, Ca. They request that checks be made payable to OPPO Digital, Inc according to their website.

Bob

I just did a whois search on Oppo's site. It's registered to someone in Mountain View as well.

Originally posted by Gsthe1
Extreme Phono? That's odd - the shipping charge is about half as much if ordered on Amazon rather than on Extreme's site - and Extreme is located in Fremont, Ca. The Amazon vendor, who traces back to a site and business name listed as BBKUSA, says they are located in Mountain View, Ca. They request that checks be made payable to OPPO Digital, Inc according to their website.

Bob

From Oppo's website:

Based in Mountain View, California, OPPO Digital, Inc. is a leading maker of next-generation digital electronics, providing award-winning high-end audio and video products to enrich digital life.

Half!? Hey Extremephono! I want my 9 bucks! :D

As I have a Sony HS20 HD projector with HDMI ( need to use due to fairly long cable run and a DVI connector won't fit through the wiring conduit), so I am awaiting feedback from anyone using this player with a HDMI to DVI cable or HDMI cable with DVI converter.

Extremephono - thanks in advance for providing what seems to be a high performance upscaling DVD player at an affordable price. I know it is against marketing law to reveal upcoming enhanced products (don't want to kill current product sales), but can you tell us if we could expect to see an Oppo player that has HDMI and supports DVD-Audio and SACD? The other item on my wish list is already covered - strong product support from the manufacturer via firmware upgrades.

Cheers,
dagger

The new firmware release will fix the 'stretched' 4:3, and also add DVD Audio, but no SACD.

Sometimes it's not possible to have everything in the same box: we could have a DVD Player with SACD and DVDA support but no Faroudja chip. Or, we can have Faroudja, SACD and DVDA but not MPEG4. So we make the obvious decision and we have the 971H in its current form.

DVD-Audio is a nice addition! I have several of those discs! When might we expect the firmware release?

Paul

Wouldn't a "firmware" not be able to add SACD and/or DVD-Audio, rather only a hardware mod/alteration would only be able to accomplish these feats?

I know Extremephono has been a good company in the past. I wish they
would address the "reviews" and the Amazon link issues. Are they one and the same company as the seller on Amazon and who wrote the reviews? I remember a few years ago that Columbia Pictures wrote their own quotes to put in the ads for their films. They got caught.

I wish, long shot I know, that the firmware offered EITHER SACD or DVD-A. Let us choose if it's a firmware to be issued.

PLEASE!!!!!!

The Oppo website lists a 971H DVD player for $1,200 (list price $2,000). I didn't follow the link to see where it went but the whole site with a $1,300 DVD recorder that seems to indicate HDTV capability, which I didn't try to follow either, seems sort of strange. The Oppo 971H on the Oppo site is here:

http://www.oppodvd.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DVDPlayer001&cat=11

The player sounds great but a lot of the peripheral things, reviews, sellers, Amazon link, etc. seem suspect.

Chris

I think that the company is just setting up their website. They will be at the
CES show. I will try to look them up.

I am still on the fence about whether or not I want to get an upconverting player as I am stuck with a 32" Sony 32HS420 which is a CRT display. A lot of people say that upconverting players aren't worth it on CRT displays, but I have an Xbox, and some games support 720p and when I watch them in 720p compared to 480p I notice a big improvement, so I think that I might want to go with an upconverting player that can do 720 or even 1080i.

Anyway, my display only has an HDMI input, so am I correct in assuming that I should be able to use a DVI -> HDMI cable without any problems with this player?

Constrictor, I don't think you will notice much of a difference on a 32" set.
You might want to save some money and get a good 480P player.

Originally posted by rwestley
Constrictor, I don't think you will notice much of a difference on a 32" set.
You might want to save some money and get a good 480P player.

I think Constrictor should take into account the fact that this player from OPPO (aside from upsampling), has other benefits to consider.

1. Region Free / PAL DVD playback

2. Divx/XViD support (Finally!!!)

3. Relatively cheap ($199)

4. And finally support for DVD-Audio coming soon.

How many DVD-Audio players you know of support XViD? Hmm...

S.Anderson

The Panasonic looked phenominal over component 480p and that's probably how I'll end up using this player. Definitely not 1080i DVI only.

Originally posted by Extremephono
The new firmware release will fix the 'stretched' 4:3, and also add DVD Audio, but no SACD.

Sometimes it's not possible to have everything in the same box: we could have a DVD Player with SACD and DVDA support but no Faroudja chip. Or, we can have Faroudja, SACD and DVDA but not MPEG4. So we make the obvious decision and we have the 971H in its current form.

What is MPEG4 and why do I want it? It seems to me that Faroudja, SACD and DVD-A would be desirable. That's what Samsung is doing, and it seems that there is growing interest in "universal players". Given the excitement over this player, I'd think a newer model that maintained video quality while adding DVD-A and SACD would be very popular.

Divx and xVid are variants of mpeg4 that this player can handle. You can download tons of free internet porn in divx :D but more importantly you can download high definition downmixes of television shows and play them in anamorphic widescreen and 5.1 with xvid. This is a great feature, as my antenna reception is not always rosy.

Oh and I STILL don't understand how there can be 100 posts of "stay away from the samsung, it's crap, it doesn't work, it has issues" and people can still say "I think I'll buy the samsung!"

Originally posted by Chris Gerhard
The Oppo website lists a 971H DVD player for $1,200 (list price $2,000). I didn't follow the link to see where it went but the whole site with a $1,300 DVD recorder that seems to indicate HDTV capability, which I didn't try to follow either, seems sort of strange. The Oppo 971H on the Oppo site is here:

http://www.oppodvd.com/proddetail.asp?prod=DVDPlayer001&cat=11

The player sounds great but a lot of the peripheral things, reviews, sellers, Amazon link, etc. seem suspect.

Chris

That (OppoDVD_com) seems to a beta site as the prices on their gear is all out of wack on most of the pages on the site.

The Oppo Digital site: http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp has no prices for any of their gear and the shopping cart pages don't work.

The Amazon vendor is listed as 'Oppodvd' (yesterday it was listed as 'Thunderauction') whose website is BBKUSA in Mountainview, Ca. The last customer feedbacks for this vendor on Amazon were in 2001-02. Amazon apparently controls the shipping rates by its vendors ($4.49 plus $.50 per pound) for basic ground shipping, which would explain the cheaper rates. And the only way to purchase from this vendor that I could see is via his listing on the Amazon site.

Bob

Originally posted by GoSpurs99
I wish, long shot I know, that the firmware offered EITHER SACD or DVD-A. Let us choose if it's a firmware to be issued.

PLEASE!!!!!!

SA-CD requires a hardware update since the Sony DSD decoder must be added to permit DSD decoding. Most MPEG decoders on the market right now will support DVD-A so as long as the DACs in the player will support 96/24 MC and 192/24 stereo adding DVD-A isn't that big a deal.

Thanks, Kris, for the quick reply!!

Here are some pics from my new Oppo which arrived today from Extremephono.com:

http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=011qm.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=021uy.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=036so.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=041tp1.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=059fc.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=066dp.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=077hg.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=086yd.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=099vw.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=105ps.jpg
http://img145.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img145&image=112kz.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=129ns.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=130uz.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=140gw.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=154nl.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=160wf.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=176tw.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=183im.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=191cy.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=202bg.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=213vk.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=221oj.jpg
http://img102.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img102&image=233po.jpg





I will give my impressions on the quality of the DVI-out picture and any "extras" I may find in the menu options tomorrow. I want to try out some more of my PAL Region 2/3 DVDs and some reference DVDs like LoTR Extended Editions, and Moulin Rouge before passing judgement.

For reference:
I have a Panasonic 42" TH-42PWD7UY plasma and a Sanyo PLV-Z3 using a DVI-HDMI cable. I plan on using the Panasonic to test the component 480p and the DVI 480p. The Sanyo will be used for testing the DVI @ 720p.



S.Anderson

Originally posted by Gsthe1
That (OppoDVD_com) seems to a beta site as the prices on their gear is all out of wack on most of the pages on the site.

The Oppo Digital site: http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp has no prices for any of their gear and the shopping cart pages don't work.



Ok, that would make sense but somebody needs to fix it since a search can lead you to the bogus information.

Chris

Nice picturs Rieper!

The on-screen interface reminds me of the Terapin TT-1800 -- same icons and general layout.

Paul

It might be based on the same transport then. That would be a good thing since the Terapin is using the Mediatek chip. If the Oppo is using Faroudja that means this player should have great de-interlacing and excellent chroma performance. Add to that outstanding access speed and a seamless layer change. Should be very interesting to see one of these.

Just bought it. Hopefully the new firmware will come soon. I really hate stretched 4:3. But I want to get it while I still have a chance to return my 2910. I just hope that it will either automatically squeeze 4:3 or Oppo provides a discrete code. Going into the setup menu each time to change modes is painful. Especially since my dvi switch automatically switches to tv mode each time I squeeze or unsqueeze.

I just noticed that the oppodigital site has removed the quotes from cnet and others.

Originally posted by Kris Deering
It might be based on the same transport then. That would be a good thing since the Terapin is using the Mediatek chip. If the Oppo is using Faroudja that means this player should have great de-interlacing and excellent chroma performance. Add to that outstanding access speed and a seamless layer change. Should be very interesting to see one of these.
The oppodigital website lists the DV971H hardware under the "Specifications" tab. The DVD Decoder chip is the Mediatek MTK1389. Good thing indeed! Now we just need a full test (and a firmware upgrade to fix the 4:3 stretch and to enable DVD-Audio).

Gary

The site is definitely a "work in progress".

MediaTek + Faroudja = This player should *scream*!

Paul

Has anyone tested the black performance of this player? I had been waiting for the Samsung DVD-HD941; hoping that Samsung would have fixed the black issues on the DVD-HD931. But, it still has the same black crush issues (does not send blacker than black (BTB) signals). Is there any reason that I should assume that this player does not have the same black crush issues?

anyone that just bought one of these have a momitsu to compare it against?? i'm guessing though since it has the mediatek & the faroudja that it should beat it out hands down, it probably will be what was expected of the toshiba vd592 after the secrets shootout. i'm considering selling my momitsu to pickup one of these badboys.

Can somone describe the relative degree of Macroblocking this unit has compared to the other Faroudja DVI/HDMI players. Thanks

I ordered one today. I mainly got it for its region-free playback.

I think that anyone who buys this unit should understand that this type of player is a work-in-progress. Problems and issues will be found and fixed over time, so patience is a virtue that may be rewarded ;)

In particular, the DVI adjustments seem to be very rough (low/medium/high). That is certainly not enough for a high-end DVD player.

Originally posted by Kris Deering
It might be based on the same transport then. That would be a good thing since the Terapin is using the Mediatek chip. If the Oppo is using Faroudja that means this player should have great de-interlacing and excellent chroma performance. Add to that outstanding access speed and a seamless layer change. Should be very interesting to see one of these.

Yes, indeed. It would be very interesting to see this player's specs in the "secrets" section of hometheaterhifi. Hint, hint. :)

I'm going to try to compare the Oppo to my Momitsu 880. My intent is to post similar shots from each player, but I need to practice a bit on taking a screenshot. Any recommendations are welcome.

My initial reaction is very good. Build quality is better than the 880, disk tray is quiet and the DVD is recognized and is loaded much quicker than the 880. The tray is very narrow, and an earlier comment about not standing up to child abuse is probably valid. My Momitsu has the earlier loader version and I prefer the Oppo. The Oppo remote is much better than the 880. It's on the small side, but the player reacts quickly and the buttons have a logical layout. I thought the 880 remote was designed by the same guy that translates Japanese manuals into English.

I'm feeding both players to a Runco 710 single chip DPL through a Gefen 2x1 DVI switch. Defaulting back to 480P after a power down is a real pain.

I watched the new Star Wars IV and a ripped Punisher. One scene in The Punisher gave me pause. It's early in the movie with the Travolta character walking with his henchmen along a waterfront. The picture with the Oppo was warmer than the Momitsu. The building in the background had a yellow cast to it on the Oppo. My Momitsu is set to middle of the scale on all adjustments. I frankly don't know what is the "real" color of the scene.

There is no evidence of macroblocking in either light or dark scenes. Attached is a shot of the opening Imperial Cruiser scene.

I think the Oppo goes in the rack and my 880 takes a backup role. For the record, I was never critical of the 880, I have always been pleased with it.

The attached photo is my first attempt at a screen shot as is very under exposed.

is there a noticable layer change?

and are the dvd menu speeds faster than denon's

I am seriously considering dumping my 1910 for one of these, depending on how fast they fix pillarbox and the remember DVi state before power off issues.

Does the remote have the capability to skip either back or forward 10 seconds in a movie? I find the replay (skip back 10 seconds) feature on my current player very useful.

how is the layer change i have a 318 zenith and its anoying

Originally posted by wensteph
I'm going to try to compare the Oppo to my Momitsu 880. My intent is to post similar shots from each player, but I need to practice a bit on taking a screenshot. Any recommendations are welcome.

My initial reaction is very good. Build quality is better than the 880, disk tray is quiet and the DVD is recognized and is loaded much quicker than the 880. The tray is very narrow, and an earlier comment about not standing up to child abuse is probably valid. My Momitsu has the earlier loader version and I prefer the Oppo. The Oppo remote is much better than the 880. It's on the small side, but the player reacts quickly and the buttons have a logical layout. I thought the 880 remote was designed by the same guy that translates Japanese manuals into English.

I'm feeding both players to a Runco 710 single chip DPL through a Gefen 2x1 DVI switch. Defaulting back to 480P after a power down is a real pain.

I watched the new Star Wars IV and a ripped Punisher. One scene in The Punisher gave me pause. It's early in the movie with the Travolta character walking with his henchmen along a waterfront. The picture with the Oppo was warmer than the Momitsu. The building in the background had a yellow cast to it on the Oppo. My Momitsu is set to middle of the scale on all adjustments. I frankly don't know what is the "real" color of the scene.

There is no evidence of macroblocking in either light or dark scenes. Attached is a shot of the opening Imperial Cruiser scene.

I think the Oppo goes in the rack and my 880 takes a backup role. For the record, I was never critical of the 880, I have always been pleased with it.

Is the PQ sharper than the 880? Were you sending 1080i to your projector?

I feel stricken with buyer's remorse. :mad:

Just ordered it to pair with my HL-P5674W. Will report after checking it out.

Originally posted by PoseidonXXL
Is the PQ sharper than the 880? Were you sending 1080i to your projector?

I feel stricken with buyer's remorse. :mad:

why? the v880 produces a fantastic picture, I find it very hard to believe the differences are THAT noticeable. Besidies, upconversion is a big gimmick for the most part. Upconversion can marginally help shadow details, otherwise a good 480p player can look just as good. The only areas that the Sigma players do bad is video based content. Film based content it does a super job. There is always something better, and if you read to much into personal reviews, you will never be satisfied.

This one sounds good. Just picked up a 1910 and really do notice the green push. It will be interesting to compare the two directly.

Anyone know how the firmware updates will be made available?

Hmm, can no longer access oppodigital.com (http://www.oppodigital.com/) . . .

Something due to CES2005???

Why is MediaTek chip desirable as in a DVD player?

Originally posted by zeram1
Hmm, can no longer access oppodigital.com (http://www.oppodigital.com/) . . .

Something due to CES2005???

Probably because of the reports on this forum! It's obviously under construction and some postings questioned some of the data on it as if it were to be accepted as real. The site owner has, apparently and wisely, decided to block the site. It's wasn't ready for "prime time".

Paul

Originally posted by Busybusy
Why is MediaTek chip desirable as in a DVD player?

The current MediaTek chips have *lightning* fast layer changes and disk access. Some expensive DVD players can be sluggish and have relatively slow layer changes. The inexpensive MediaTek chip is unbelieveably fast.

Paul

Plus it is a great performer in regards to chroma problems. It exhibits almost none and is better then just about every other chip I've seen in this regard. But it is very touchy and its overall performance depends a lot on its implementation.

Hi! I am new to this forum, but a frequent user of dvdrhelp.com.

I own an OPPO OPDV971H. I was told about this site and thread by a friend who introduced this model to me. I am not a videophile, just wanted a player to work with my Samsung 32" HDTV (CRT) and to play PAL DVD and Divx programs.

About the slim tray, since my mon in Asia has a DVD player with the same type of tray (could be made by the same OEM), I knew that the tray is designed to sustain bending. My mom's DVD player was advertised as "Child-proof" :) I braved to bend the tray, and here is a picture attached. As you can see from the picture, the front edge of the tray touched the rack surface. After I released my hand, the tray spranged and there was no ill effect at all.

Overall I am very happy with this player. It plays all of my Divx programs without any problem. (I tried the Philips 642 but that one had problem with some programs - the audio gradually goes out-of-sync with the video). It also played all my PAL discs, home video DVD on DVD + and - R discs.

The build quality seems very good just by looking at the outside, but I have not get a chance to open the enclosure to inspect the guts yet. ;)

Originally posted by wensteph
The tray is very narrow, and an earlier comment about not standing up to child abuse is probably valid.

On the Oppo site, it says that the player supports 8 audio surround modes. Are any of those modes setup for headphone surround listening?

Originally posted by Kris Deering
. . . it is very touchy and its overall performance depends a lot on its implementation.

I wonder if you're referring to just the chipset or the entire player as a whole?


Any hints for us as to a possible eta on your company's website "reviews" section?

PoseidonXXL,

Right now I'd have to say the PQ on the two are equal. I got the Oppo as a Christmas present to myself for the heck of it, I have no real dissatisfaction with the 880. Even though the way I use a player is to just put the disk in and hit the play button, I do like the quicker reaction times in the Oppo.

I certainly wouldn't have buyer's remorse over purchasing an 880.


UCSB,

According to the manual the sound adjustments are OFF, CONCERT, LIVING ROOM, HALL, BATHROOM, CAVE, ARENA, and CHURCH. The EQ adjustments are OFF, ROCK, POP, LIVE, DANCE, TECHNO, CLASSIC, and SOFT.

I was referring to the Mediatek chipset.

I've been waiting for the Samsung HD941 but I think I may pull the trigger on this one instead.

Yeah I would definately skip the 941.

From this shot the Oppo has a sharper picture than the Momitsu. I have enough ambient light in the room to read by so overall quality is not good, but the facial blemishes and scrape on the cheek are more visible. The flesh tone on the Momitsu shot is cooler. I'll stop doing this until tonight and the room is dark and hopefully my shots will be of higher quality.

http://images.ofoto.com/photos976/2/2/27/25/38/8/838252702203_0_ALB.jpg

http://images.ofoto.com/photos976/2/2/27/25/82/7/782252702203_0_ALB.jpg

wensteph, there might be something wrong with the links - I get "Forbidden Page" error every ime I try to acces them.

Thanks for the input Kris,

Now gotta wait for my holiday bills to come in and see how much damage I did before I go for this.


same here.

Forbidden Page.

Oops. I tried to post them over on Ofoto because I couldn't figure how to attach two images to my post. The second overwrote the first. I'll do this in two posts. Apologies if this isn't proper etiquette. First is the 880.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Now the Oppo.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

how is the layer change on the oppo

btw were neighbors i live in asheville

Thanks, wensteph. Actually, I preferred the first shot (via V880). The face in the second shot seems to have some more blemishes and does not look as realistic as in the first one. Would be interesting to compare some other facial closeups from a different movie to see if the pattern remains the same.

but use a tripod!

The second image does not appear as crisp but I can't tell if that's because it is zoomed in or not. Comparison shots should be as similar as possible.

yes if you could use a tripod, that's if you have one. because the first shot definitely looks better, but the second one looks like your camera zoomed in and made it a little blurry, not sure though, but you can tell the colors are more vibrant and has more detail in the oppo.

Here are some quick shots I took after opening my Oppo:

http://img8.exs.cx/img8/1990/oppo2ws.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/img8/116/mg02567ys.jpghttp://img8.exs.cx/img8/2086/mg02574lt.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/img8/7287/mg02702km.jpg



Some more random shots...

http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02831xz.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02578wx.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02569kh.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02609zx.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02643tf.jpg
http://img8.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img8&image=mg02745wi.jpg



S.Anderson

Great pictures, Rieper. This player may be what the Bravo D1 promised to be but failed to deliver ;)

I wonder if Oppo designed the Faroudja or other board or whether there is a reference design made by a third-party (just like Sigma's reference design is used in a number of players).

Nice pictures Rieper! Relatively late manu for the chips as well.

Paul

the insides look rather user unfriendly. I prefer DVD players that are more pc-like, makes replacing parts easier.

Originally posted by wensteph
PoseidonXXL,

Right now I'd have to say the PQ on the two are equal. I got the Oppo as a Christmas present to myself for the heck of it, I have no real dissatisfaction with the 880. Even though the way I use a player is to just put the disk in and hit the play button, I do like the quicker reaction times in the Oppo.

I certainly wouldn't have buyer's remorse over purchasing an 880.


UCSB,

According to the manual the sound adjustments are OFF, CONCERT, LIVING ROOM, HALL, BATHROOM, CAVE, ARENA, and CHURCH. The EQ adjustments are OFF, ROCK, POP, LIVE, DANCE, TECHNO, CLASSIC, and SOFT.

Thank you, brother.

Lots of good info here, would really like to pull the trigger on this one.

2 problems I think I see are:

Forced Strech of 4:3 material to 16:9 (not good for my old TV shows)

Looses DVI settings when powered down.

And I am thinking both of these can be fixed with a firmware update. Any idea how far off such an update might be?

MackenzieIII: Extremephono (a user with that name - I believe someone from the dealer) stated that new firmware should be available in a few weeks. Not quite sure how it will be distributed (asked in a post a day or two ago but he has not replied yet). I believe reading in Extremephono's posts that both issues will be addressed in the new firmware.

Ordered one yesterday and am looking forward to comparing with a new Denon 1910. For the most part, the 1910 looks and sounds wonderful, but it suffers from a pretty high green push (at least to my eyes).

bump

I wish someone would compare this unit to the Panasonic 97S. I wonder how bad Macroblocking is? I would also love to see the results of a test disk.

i also would like to know about the layer change

Fed Ex just dropped off the Oppo. A bit disappointed that it wasn't double boxed, but everything appears fine. Using the DVE, it passes BTB and WTW. PQ is great. The Zoom works, but no mode to get rid of the top and bottom bars on 2:35 DVD's. If anyone wants me to check something else, let me know

Mine shipped through USPS. I guess this is the penalty of ordering through Amazon... From the previously-posted pictures, it looks like they just wrap the box in brown paper.

Hi Deaf,

I've been waiting for your opinions because I have the same display.

Is the picture sharp? How does it render color?

Most importantly, does it just look good?

Thanks!!

GoSpurs, yes the picture is sharp and the color is good. No "pushes" that I can see so far. I've had the 318, 941, and V592. I thought the 318 had the best PQ, and the Oppo is as good or better than that. No MB that I can see.

HiDef are you using dvi? i also have the 318 how is the layer change? icant get anyone to comment on that.

DVI, 720p, how do I check for the speed of the layer change?

you have to no were the layer change is in the movie . or watch a movie and see if you notice any little glitch or a slight pause

Is a layer change when the player is segueing from one chapter into another?

Thanks!!

O.K., I'll check for that.

no it;s when it changes layers of the disc. alot of early longer movies you had to turn the disc over .

HiDef are you using a front projector? if so does it have the cropping that the 318 had? i;m using a z1 and it does hopping this unit don't have same problem.

It plays all burnable formats, even the $0.20 per dvd+rs. You need to slow the burn down to 4x though. With higher quality media 8x-16x is OK.

Macroblocking is minimal, I noticed no pinkness in the Hulk sand dune scene. This was done on a 40 inch LCD TV.

If you wish to contact us via phone, our number is 650-961-1118.(Mountain View)

We have a 30 day warranty. No questions asked.

To me, motion seems smooth as butter, I cannot comment on the audio quality as the testing was done via the default speakers. It seemed normal. (I'm also not a audiophile)

The DVD player both PAL and NTSC formats.

A firmware will be released with updates for the memory of the settings. It will be availble via a CD Image(.iso). It'll be availible in a few weeks. Oppo is manafactured by BBK(Winbase export brand), a company that employs over 10,000 people.

I'm not a techie, so I don't know wheter SACD/DVD-Audio will require a new chipset, or a firmware upgrade. If the latter the case, one can expect a firmware update including it,

It handles blacks fine, tested it with Startrek TNG Season 1, Disc 4. Didn't notice any glaring artifacts during the space scenes.

The reviews were put up by our web designer, who wanted to see how it would look, we took them down. Sorry about any misunderstandings. The site is still in beta phase.

We'll be at CES2005, along with the manafacturer. Many representatives departed yesterday.

oppo is the layer change seamless or can you see it

Its seamless, I didn't notice it at all throughout watching both Hulk and other movies.

thank you how a bout cropping my 318 has that problem with my z1 it's were on the side of the screen thers 2 or 3 row that are not working BTW this macine looks promising

Oppo,

I ordered this player yesterday.

Congrats!! The reviews are all positive, I've hardly ever seen that!!

Great job, hopefully customer service will be excellent.

I didn't notice any cropping with the machine, however I believe that problem is more display related then player related.

Thank you for ordering. We wish to see more business from you in the future. We plan on introducing a line of LCD TVs. Other markets may be explored.

Originally posted by OppoDigital
A firmware will be released with updates for the memory of the settings. It will be availble via a CD Image(.iso). It'll be availible in a few weeks.
Will the firmware address the forced stretching of 4:3 material?

Also, how will we request the firmware update CD? Will there be a website to request it?

Thanks Oppo.

I'm hoping it will, I'll be contacting the manafacturer of the units to see when they can address this issue. Hopefully soon.

Oppo - Any idea how will we request firmware update CDs?

oppo! can you change resolution on the player while watching a movie? also can you do it from the remote glad your here to answer questions tonight

The firmware update CDs will be downloadable as a image, they will be availible by the end of this month. The engineers in China happen to be celebrating new years.

No, you cannot change resolutions in the middle of a movie. You need to stop it and then change it. You'll be at the same position after resuming however.

is there a button on the machine for that? or do you have to acces a menu? is there a button on the remote for it? thanks

It plays PAL discs on NTSC TVs like my Harman Kardon DVD player does?

You put the CD in, it automatically reconizes it and takes you to the firmware update program.

Yes, It plays PAL discs on NTSC tvs.

Originally posted by OppoDigital
The firmware update CDs will be downloadable as a image, they will be availible by the end of this month.
Thanks for taking the time to spend with us answering questions tonight. It sure sounds like this is going to be a very good player, after the few mentioned issues get resolved. I am looking forward to getting mine (should be here on Monday).

Will the firmware be downloaded from www.oppodigital.com, or a site associated with BBK?

Originally posted by OppoDigital
The engineers in China happen to be celebrating new years.
Celebrating New Years! don't they know that they should be living their lives only to satisfy our insatiable desires for immediate gratification? :D :D :D

It'll be downloadable on oppodigital.com. I'll be posting pictures of the dune scene in Hulk soon, along with black scenes.

oppo did you see my question on the resolution how to change it

Hit the DVI button on the remote to change it. I'll be off tonight.

THANK YOU!

OppoDigital,

Thanks for showing up in the forum. This gives me a vote of confidence in your product. Like a lot of people here, I have been struggling for 8 months on what DVD player to buy for my home theater and I am ready to push the launch button to buy this player.

Please feel free to chat whenever you want, we will listen.

I'm certainly not happy with my inability to take a decent screen shot with my Canon S45. Here is a facial closeup from the Bourne Supremacy. The Oppo certainly shows more shadow detail than the Momitsu; her chin is slightly visible on the Oppo. This shot does show a slight yellow or golden tint, or maybe the Momitsu has a bluish or cooler tint. I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this. I'm not aware of it when actually watching a movie.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Same shot with the Momitsu

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Colorful shot from same movie on the Oppo.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Colorful shot on Momitsu.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Drew Barrymore on Oppo.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

Drew on Momitsu.

Edit: Attached photo is one of my first attempts at a screen shot and is very underexposed. It is not a good example.

wensteph! did you notice layer change ?

Hi Deaf:

Thanks for submitting yourself to AVS For Guinea Pig akshun :)

Now my question - you don't see MB with the Oppo, but did you see it with the 318? Also, what display do you use?

thanks.

Hi everyone,

I got my DVI to HDMI cable tonight and hooked up the Oppo to my Sharp LCD. The picture is great, but I can't seem to get 1080i on my display now, must be my new cable because it works for DVI and it worked with the HDMI adapter I used from Audioquest. This isn't a great loss to me because my LCD's native resolution is 720P anyway and the 1080i picture wasn't centered.

Another issue that I noticed is the DVD tray does not extend all the way out and you have to angle the DVD into the tray (about 15% of the tray is still covered up by the front of the player).

beam1,

I'll play something longer tomorrow. Both of these flicks were ripped with Shrink so they don't have a layer change. Skipping chapters is very fast with this player, I don't know why it wouldn't handle the layer change the same way. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Wensteph! thanks i've asked several times on this thread that because thats what really bothers me about my 318 some dvd"s are more serious than others. but i really don"t like it on the 318. thats the only reason i:m looking for another player. anyway thank:s

XRacer,

My tray is the same way. Never noticed it until your post.

When I cycle through the DVI switch on the remote I get the default of 540i, 525p, and 720p. No 1080i, but my native rez is also 720 so it's not a concern.

wensteph ... wow, big differences between the two players. A basic question, does the Momitsu have the black crush issue (ie. does not send a blacker than black (BTB)signal)?

is it just me or is the detail better on the oppo but seems as if the sharpness is way too high and the edges doesn't look as smooth as the momitsu? the momitsu's cooler tint to me makes it look more film like. now i'm on the fence? i have a momitsu that i was trying to sell because i got this oppo on the way, but i'm not sure, I guess i'll just have to test it when it gets here.

wensteph ... also, did you recalibrate your monitor to optimize the Oppo picture when you installed it? Could that be some of the difference between these photos ... it just looks like a really big difference to me.

Here's a comparison between the denon 2910 and the oppo. Both are set at their defaults. The Denon in my opinion is way better. The colors are more true and the grain is finer and less chucky. The oppo is to saturated and there is a loss of fine detail, like the hair. I hope this can be addressed with a firmware update.

Switch back and forth between the two in a photo program like ACDsee or photoshop.

The first pic here is the oppo.

and here's the denon:

Comparisons between two players are not really useful unless both are first calibrated with a DVD such as Avia... Your display interracts with the default settings of both players and calibrating with Avia establishes a baseline.

Originally posted by dylang
The Denon in my opinion is way better.

I agree ... what a difference.

I'll confirm that a recalibration with DVE/Avia is needed when using the Oppo (it should be done with any player change -- but in this case it is *really* needed). That recalibration includes brightness and color. The colors are *very* strong with the Oppo as compared with a display calibrated with a Panasonic DVD-XP50.

Paul

are you all calibrating beforehand? there is really little difference between the DVI and component on the momitsu v880, assuming you are using the DELUXE model. Some hav said the V880 produces a softer picture at 720p. I'd use 1080i I'd suggest hooking the momitsu to the component, and the oppo to the dvi, calibrate each input accordingly. then switch back and forth and take screenshots. take note of the disc position/chapter/time etc when swapping discs


And that denon 2910 vs Oppo, something is def wrong with that one. the Oppo shot looks horrid. You might try again

yeah it seems overly saturated on the oppo, at defaults the denon does blow away the oppo, but everyone is right they do need to be calibrated so there is a baseline. But great shot by dylang, and wensteph do you have lotr so can you do the same shot with the momitsu?? Dylang can you post the time and frame of that shot, so maybe wensteph can take a pic with his oppo and momitsu to compare the two.

Thanks.

I used Return of the King (extended). First disk. Chapter 8. 30:37

Both were connected DVI to a Sharp Aquos 37".

I really wish it had a saturation setting. That would help a lot. I tired playing with the sharpness but I really can't see any difference between high and low. One problem is that you have to go into the menu which covers the entire picture to change any settings. So by the time you get back out of setup you've lost any sense of comparison. It would be nice if you could make the on-screen setup controls transparent.

One thing I should add is that I really like the build of the player. Even ejecting is great, it's fast and steady. It's really thin and sleak looking. And finally the remote is very responsive.

one more ROTK test since Loopy suggested it. Again this is not calibrated. For one thing I'm not sure how I'd do that. There are not enough controls as of yet on the oppo and I'm not going to calibrate my lcd since it shares the dvi with my Dish receiver.

Return of the King (extended). First disk. Chapter 8. 34:05

First the Oppo, compare the King's beard.

now the Denon:

Heat, I have a Sammy HLP5674. I didn't see MB on my 318 either so maybe it's there and I'm not seeing it.

I have a short tray also.

If you guys have the Star Wars DVDs, you can use the THX optimizer on them to set brightness and contrast, and check the sharpness settings. You can also check saturation and tint.

This calibration is not as thorough as Avia/DVE but can be easily done. Also, try playing with the Gamma settings on the Oppo to see if it improves picture quality/detail.

Well I got the Oppo today. I agree this one needs to be recalibrated big time on the color saturation. Took brightness back a couple clicks on the player itself. And I had to swizzle the brightness, contrast, but not the sharpness or hue when moving from the S97 to the Oppo. My initial impressions are that the Oppo has the best features of each of the Momitsu and S97. I'm feeding a Benq 8700+ via DVI-I cable. And once I got the DVI output properly set things began to come into "focus". The wrong output really shows up in subtitles and other fixed images. As most of us, I've not had the chance yet to watch a full film to watch for layer changes, but I'm guessing it will be pretty quick. I'm happy that, like the Momitsu, the combination of the Oppo and the Benq handle widescreen films that are NOT anamorphic by properly sizing to widescreen with little trouble. I don't even have to use zoom on "The Hunt for Red October" or the so called anamorphic Criterion version of the "Abyss". I'm very happy the unit handles PAL and other regions automagically. And Casey at extremephono tells me that he expects Oppo to provide Macrovision defeat, though it will not be "advertised" as such, in a future firmware update. Hope this core dump helps many of you. I unfortunately cannot speak to the issue of macroblocking, since with all of these players in conjunction with the Benq, I've not seen it.

Just figured out what "sharpness" does. I retook a photo of the king at low and high.

It is actually changing the saturation. Mostly reds it looks like. At high the saturation is cut back quite a bit. The screen shot of the hobbit I showed earlier I took was set to "low." The pic of the king I showed earlier was set to "high."

here's the king image set to sharpness of "low."

and here's high:

dylang, are you using a tripod? The last one and the Denon seem to be taken from different distances.

I am using a tripod. The denon/oppo comparison and the sharpness hi/lo comparison were taken at two different times.

dylang,

Good catch...

Regarding your Sharp LCD - I have a 32" and believe that there are different picture setting memories so you could set one up for the Oppo (only one is fixed; the rest can be altered).

Rich,

Thanks, I'll check it out.

Oppodigital, can you request the pillarbox option in the firmware include a choice for gray bars as well as the black bars? I'm afraid to run it with black bars as I have a CRT RPTV.

to all who provided screenshots ty but you really need to calibrate each player individually for proper comparisons....also all sharpness/contrast/brightness and color settings should be done on display......in fact if the frimware should have anything it would be to have these settings via player disabled.....and also a screensaver that comes on in stop and pause mode!!!...and isnt it nice to have all these relatively inexpensive gadgets to play with???

Has anyone gotten their Oppo to output in 1080i? If so, did you get there by just cycling through the DVI button on the remote? Mine doesn't do 1080 which doesn't bother me because I have a DLP display, but I'm curious.

Originally posted by wensteph
Has anyone gotten their Oppo to output in 1080i? If so, did you get there by just cycling through the DVI button on the remote? Mine doesn't do 1080 which doesn't bother me because I have a DLP display, but I'm curious.

I get a choice of selecting 480p/720p/1080i with my Panasonic plasma via DVI and my Sanyo Z3 projector via DVI-HDMI (never fails to work for me):

http://img24.exs.cx/img24/5751/1080i8kn.jpg


S.Anderson

Could anyone clarify what are the Zoom function steps? Does it do fine steps or just x2-x4-x8... ? E.g. when watching letterboxed content can it be zoomed say x1.3 to fit wide screen?

Thanks

Anyone know if the manual is online?

Originally posted by vit13
Could anyone clarify what are the Zoom function steps? Does it do fine steps or just x2-x4-x8... ? E.g. when watching letterboxed content can it be zoomed say x1.3 to fit wide screen?

Thanks

Sure thing, here is my breakdown.

This is original size (no zoom):
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/5976/original4qn.jpg

2x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/7526/2x1eg.jpg

3x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/8389/3x5wm.jpg

4x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/4995/4x5ed.jpg

1/2x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/4191/1halfx6yl.jpg

1/3x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/5849/1thirdx7uv.jpg

1/4x zoom:
http://img24.exs.cx/img24/4137/1quarterx5xh.jpg



S.Anderson

Rieper,

Odd. I get 1920x540x60, 525p, and 1280x720x60. I can get 1080i with my HD Tivo and Momitsu.

Anyone have a guess?


Rich4av,

I've got the SW set, but can't locate the THX optomizer. What disk is it on?

Thanks Rieper

So there is no Zoom fine adjustments... It would be nice to have this feature with firmware upgrade...

Originally posted by wensteph

Mine doesn't do 1080 which doesn't bother me because I have a DLP display, but I'm curious.

and

Odd. I get 1920x540x60, 525p, and 1280x720x60. I can get 1080i with my HD Tivo and Momitsu.

Anyone have a guess?


I think you answered your own question with the above two quotes. Your display is incapable of doing 1080i so your DLP display deinterlaces it down to 1920X540X60 and then rescales it to 720P. I have a Matterhorn DLP FP that does the exact same thing. When I use 1080i on my HD satellite receiver the projector shows 1920X540X60 scaled to 576P. I'm assuming your display is doing the same thing.

John:)

Oppo, what does this player do to PAL content? Does it perform the NTSC conversion first (downscale to 480i) before deinterlacing and scaling? Or does it deinterlace and scale from the original 576i source? I hope it's the latter. Would hate to lose the higher resolution benefit from PAL DVDs.

johnny_marin,

When my HR10-250 HD Tivo is set to output at 1080i my projector input shows 1080i. Oh well.