On the topic of firmware, I have the last 2006 "official" firmware from the company's website, but I was wondering if there are other unofficial feature-enhanced firmware editions floating around out there, and if so, where would I find them? I've gotten a few missed TV series episodes off of ********** that were xvid-encoded and they don't play on the Oppo.

Thanks in advance.

Unfortunately there were no other firmware releases past the 11-0830 Firmware.

What happens if you try and push the button from inside the case thereby bypassing the outside eject button? Just a thought. Strangely enough, once the tray is open, he can use the eject button on the front panel to close the tray, so that seems to rule out hardware problems... but you never know.

Gary

Exactly.. I had thought of opening it up but wasn't sure from the symptoms if that would accomplish anything.

I bought this on the recommendation of an audio/videophile friend of mine who said Oppo made one of the best dvd players... so far I'm trying to convince my wife that it is! All she notices is the button doesn't work, the sound and video don't match up on some of our divx movies and when you hit stop and play it starts over from the beginning instead of returning to where you left off! Oh well you can't please everyone.

I bought this on the recommendation of an audio/videophile friend of mine who said Oppo made one of the best dvd players... so far I'm trying to convince my wife that it is! All she notices is the button doesn't work, the sound and video don't match up on some of our divx movies and when you hit stop and play it starts over from the beginning instead of returning to where you left off! Oh well you can't please everyone. You bought it used on ebay, and this problem may have been the reason it was sold to you. Nevertheless, if it is important to you to fix it, OPPO can do so for a very reasonable price.

It is true that OPPO makes some of the best dvd players available, but remember that this model is many years old now. Technology has improved in leaps and bounds since then. Additionally, this player's claim to fame is high quality DVD playback... not Divx, which is just a nice-to-have feature.

Gary

I recently got a new tv set. when I played the oppo dvd player on the new set. it works much better then on the old set. the new set is a philips pfl7403 while the old tv was a rear projection samsung hc-r4755.

it seems to be working better with the new tv. thank goodness.

Jacob

Good Show!

Gary,
after getting the dvi cable and playing with this for several weeks gotta say its been a great machine. its lived up to all my expectations. great pal player and plays my burnt dvds (-R) great too. tray seems a bit flimsy but working great. appreciate all the great info.

I've had my 971 for a long time, but I recently upgraded my receiver and now have mutichannel analog inputs. I have quite a few DVD-A discs that I would like to play ( they sound awesome in my wife's car). I'm mostly palying blu-rays and dvd-video through my PS3 now, but would like to use the oppo for dvd-audio.

So I tried hooking up the multichannel outs from the oppo to the ins of my Onkyo tx-sr805 receiver but I'm only getting sound from the right front speaker:confused:.

What settings does the oppo need to play it properly? I spent quite some time yesterday messing with but to no avail. I'm sure it's probably something simple that I missed, but any help would be appreciated.

Ensure that your DownMix is set to 5.1 and your Channel Trims are set to 0dB.

If you connect Left Front (Analog Cable) to Right Front (Analog Output) do you hear audio?

What if you move Right Front (Analog Cable) to Center (Analog Output)?

I've had my 971 for a long time, but I recently upgraded my receiver and now have mutichannel analog inputs. I have quite a few DVD-A discs that I would like to play ( they sound awesome in my wife's car). I'm mostly palying blu-rays and dvd-video through my PS3 now, but would like to use the oppo for dvd-audio.

So I tried hooking up the multichannel outs from the oppo to the ins of my Onkyo tx-sr805 receiver but I'm only getting sound from the right front speaker:confused:.

What settings does the oppo need to play it properly? I spent quite some time yesterday messing with but to no avail. I'm sure it's probably something simple that I missed, but any help would be appreciated.

Just to confirm, you're sure the cables are connected properly? You should use the Front, Surround, Center, and Subwoofer outs on the Oppo (not the Mixed). And you're sure they are connected to the Multichannel inputs on the Onkyo (not the Pre Out inputs)?
From the Oppo manual regarding 5.1 audio connection: "Please set the audio down-mix mode of the DVD player to '5.1 CH.' (Refer to page 28 for details.)"
Setup Menu Options, General Setup Page:
6. DVD-Audio Mode: To select which portion of a hybrid DVD-Audio disc to playback. The options are:
• DVD-Audio – Play the DVD-Audio portion of the disc with surround audio
• DVD-Video – Play the DVD-Video portion of the disc with Dolby Digital or DTS audio
Speaker Setup Page:
1. Downmix Mode: To set the audio down-mix mode to convert multi-channel audio into twochannel output. This setting only affects the “Mixed L/R” analog audio outputs. The options are:
• LT/RT - Left and Right channels only. This mode is intended for use with two-channel Dolby Pro Logic receivers. If the content is encoded with Dolby Pro Logic then the encoded audio will be passed to the receiver for Dolby Pro Logic processing. For stereo content the output will be stereo. For multi-channel content only the left front and right front channels will be re-produced.
• Stereo - This mode down-mixes decoded multi-channel (5.1ch) audio to 2-channel stereo output. For stereo content the output will be stereo. For multi-channel content the surround and center channels will be mixed with the left and right front channels. Recommended for use with TV sets or stereo receiver/amplifiers.
• V. SURR - Virtual Surround. This mode creates a virtual surround effect from stereo or multi-channel audio contents.
• 5.1 CH – This mode enables 5.1ch decoded analog audio output. The number of actual output channels depends on the disc.

Good luck!

Just to confirm, you're sure the cables are connected properly? You should use the Front, Surround, Center, and Subwoofer outs on the Oppo (not the Mixed). And you're sure they are connected to the Multichannel inputs on the Onkyo (not the Pre Out inputs)?
From the Oppo manual regarding 5.1 audio connection: "Please set the audio down-mix mode of the DVD player to '5.1 CH.' (Refer to page 28 for details.)"
Setup Menu Options, General Setup Page:
6. DVD-Audio Mode: To select which portion of a hybrid DVD-Audio disc to playback. The options are:
• DVD-Audio – Play the DVD-Audio portion of the disc with surround audio
• DVD-Video – Play the DVD-Video portion of the disc with Dolby Digital or DTS audio
Speaker Setup Page:
1. Downmix Mode: To set the audio down-mix mode to convert multi-channel audio into twochannel output. This setting only affects the “Mixed L/R” analog audio outputs. The options are:
• LT/RT - Left and Right channels only. This mode is intended for use with two-channel Dolby Pro Logic receivers. If the content is encoded with Dolby Pro Logic then the encoded audio will be passed to the receiver for Dolby Pro Logic processing. For stereo content the output will be stereo. For multi-channel content only the left front and right front channels will be re-produced.
• Stereo - This mode down-mixes decoded multi-channel (5.1ch) audio to 2-channel stereo output. For stereo content the output will be stereo. For multi-channel content the surround and center channels will be mixed with the left and right front channels. Recommended for use with TV sets or stereo receiver/amplifiers.
• V. SURR - Virtual Surround. This mode creates a virtual surround effect from stereo or multi-channel audio contents.
• 5.1 CH – This mode enables 5.1ch decoded analog audio output. The number of actual output channels depends on the disc.

Good luck!

Thanks for the info. I definitely have the cables connected correctly. The odd thing is that I don't recall seeing anything on the general setup page that allowed me to do anything with dvd-audio. I think it was locked. I'll try it again tonight when I get home.

:o I figured it out last night. Options were not available in the menu when a disc was installed, so I couldn't set the downmix to 5.1 channels. I'll play with it more tonight to get the bass management set up correctly.

:o I figured it out last night. Options were not available in the menu when a disc was installed, so I couldn't set the downmix to 5.1 channels. I'll play with it more tonight to get the bass management set up correctly.

Oops. Yeah, it's been awhile since I've played with the menus, totally forgot about not having a disc in. Glad you solved it.

The DownMix should be alterable during playback. Grayed out options like DVD-Audio should require that the tray be ejected or playback double stopped.

:D

I got it dialed in last night and I must say it sounds fantastic. Definitely worth the effort. Flipping between the optical output with Dolby PLIIx music and some other options- and the analog multichannel outs of full high res sound on my Onkyo 805 was not just a minor difference. I can now hear how muffled and compressed lossy formats are. Until you do an A/B comparison, you would never know.

I don't watch very many DVDs anymore now that there is more and more blu-rays coming out and when I do I usually just pop them into the PS3. But this Oppo is definitely staying in my equipment rack for DVD-Audio:).

Glad to hear that you resolved your audio issues.

Hi Guys,
I've had an Oppo 971 for several years now. I've been running it via DVI at 1080i to a BenQ PE7800 which is a 576p pj. The 971 was a huge improvement over my Panny CP72 which was the 5-disk version of the RP81. I'm upgrading my pj to a BenQ W5000 1080p and will probably buy a blu-ray player (either Pioneer 51FD or Sony S550 but that's another thread).

How may have upgraded the 971 to the 981? Is it worth it or should I just keep the old 971. I'm sure there is a ton of info on that in this thread but it's over 8000 posts and I will skim through it.

Scaling is probably 20% of less of your picture quality. The biggest enhancement to picture quality will be the de-interlacing. I would not recommend upgrading the OPDV971H with the DV-981HD.

If anything, I would wait for the BDP-83 to be released. It will scale and de-interlace standard definition DVDs to a much higher precision that your OPDV971H while having the ability to playback true high definition video and audio formats.

I never even considered that option. Buying the 981 and the 51FD blu-ray player are going to cost me $600. I could just sit on my 971 and wait for the BDP-83.

Scaling is probably 20% of less of your picture quality. The biggest enhancement to picture quality will be the de-interlacing. I would not recommend upgrading the OPDV971H with the DV-981HD.

If anything, I would wait for the BDP-83 to be released. It will scale and de-interlace standard definition DVDs to a much higher precision that your OPDV971H while having the ability to playback true high definition video and audio formats.

Hi Guys,
I've had an Oppo 971 for several years now. I've been running it via DVI at 1080i to a BenQ PE7800 which is a 576p pj. The 971 was a huge improvement over my Panny CP72 which was the 5-disk version of the RP81. I'm upgrading my pj to a BenQ W5000 1080p and will probably buy a blu-ray player (either Pioneer 51FD or Sony S550 but that's another thread).

How may have upgraded the 971 to the 981? Is it worth it or should I just keep the old 971. I'm sure there is a ton of info on that in this thread but it's over 8000 posts and I will skim through it.

I did A/B testing of the players with 720p/DVI from the 971 and 1080p/HDMI from the 981 both to a 1080p LCD. The differences were negligible.

-Bill

Thanks Bill,
I think that once I plug the 971 into the new W5000 which is 1080p, I'll see a big difference in pq from my old 7800 but probably not so much between the 971 and 981. I'm going to keep the 971 and either buy a blu-ray player now or wait for the new oppo.

Buying the 981 and the 51FD blu-ray player are going to cost me $600. I could just sit on my 971 and wait for the BDP-83. Perfect solution. You will not be sorry!

Gary

Just experience this problem with Fast and the Furious DVD off my PS3 using a Pioneer FPJ1 projector. Checked other 2.35 material but did not see the lines. Do you ever figure out what was causing it?

Does anyone else know?

I did a search of the thread for "thin black line" and didn't find anything so please excuse this question if it has already been asked and answered.

Last night, while watching Sahara (great popcorn flick!) on the Oppo 971, I noticed two very thin horizontal black lines at the top and bottom of the image. These lines are located just a few pixels below and above the black letterbox bands (they are in the movie image). They sort of look like "ghost" lines paralleling the black letterbox bands. Since I had not noticed it before, I assumed it was the DVD. But I later popped in a few other 2:35:1 discs and, sure enough, the lines were there too.

When I first installed the Oppo, I had routed the video (DVI to HDMI) directly to my JVC HD70FH96. But a few weeks ago, I added an Intel Mac Mini as my HTPC and, at that time, changed the HDMI routing so that the Oppo and the Mini went through my Pioneer VSX-72TXV first (giving me the ability to switch between them without having to deal with the extremely slow video input switching of the JVC).

So, my question is... has anyone else noticed these very thin horizontal black lines in the picture area just below and above the letterbox bands? And, if so, were you connected directly to the display or routed through a A/V receiver?

Thanks!

Mark

...to Blu-Ray rendering my Oppo 971 obsolete. Is there much of an after market for this player? Should I list it on eBay?

...to Blu-Ray rendering my Oppo 971 obsolete. Is there much of an after market for this player? Should I list it on eBay?

Switched to a BDP-83 one would hope.

Hey, give flea bay a shot.

Joe

eBay or Audiogon are the best options.

...to Blu-Ray rendering my Oppo 971 obsolete. Is there much of an after market for this player? Should I list it on eBay?

It may be obsolete but it's still worth something (http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ank/ele/1529155531.html).
My guess is it will be gone in a few days. It's the only Oppo I've seen for the last 6 months, prior to that I saw a 981 which was listed for $130 and went in a day:cool:
One could buy a Magnavox BR for less but my guess is a Oppo would still blow it out of the water for DVDs.

Thanks Bill,
I think that once I plug the 971 into the new W5000 which is 1080p, I'll see a big difference in pq from my old 7800 but probably not so much between the 971 and 981. I'm going to keep the 971 and either buy a blu-ray player now or wait for the new oppo.

I'm with you on that one. I also still have my 971. Not totally sold on the 83 so I'm waiting to see what comes next.

My DV971H is still working after all these years and the controversial (at the time) disc tray has held up, no cracking or breakage. The drive has proven to be tough. I don't fire it up so much these days as there are better players -- like Oppo's BDP83.

My 971 is the only DVD player I use. Still works like new. Since you own the BDP83 can you tell me if it is really better with DVD's than the 971? I have yet to make the move to BLU.

My 971 is the only DVD player I use. Still works like new. Since you own the BDP83 can you tell me if it is really better with DVD's than the 971? I have yet to make the move to BLU.

I still use my 971 every day; it is in the basement with the exercise bike.

DVD performance involves a lot of factors, some technical and some personal. You mighty have a look at my thoughts in the BDP-83 FAQ: Is the DVD picture quality of this player amazingly better than any other player? (http://watershade.net/wmcclain/BDP-83-faq.html#is-the-dvd-picture-quality-of-this-player-amazingly-better-than-any-other-player)

Compared to the 971/981, ABT players like the 983H and BDP-83 are sharper but still film-like. A lot of people have charged the Faroudja chip of the 971 with having excess green. I think that may be true, although OPPO always denied it.

The 971 has a bit of horizontal underscan which is not present in the later players.

-Bill

Compared to the 971/981, ABT players like the 983H and BDP-83 are sharper but still film-like. A lot of people have charged the Faroudja chip of the 971 with having excess green. I think that may be true, although OPPO always denied it. With a fully calibrated display, there is no measurable green push from the Faroudja chip. BUT it definitely tends to boost colors in low-light scenes and shadows, requiring saturation to be toned down a bit to look natural. Faces in shadow sometimes seemed to have too much red and/or green. This also worsened the DVD macroblocking artifact (blocks of color generated by MPEG compression algorithms).

Thankfully, the ABT chip in the 983 and BDP-83 does wonders for deinterlacing and scaling without the above side-effect.

Gary

What do you think I would get for them? I rarely used these as they were for spare bedrooms. Clearing out some stuff I had in my closet. These were great in their day (region free & all).

I may list here or on flea bay. I'm thinking $75 for each. What say y'all?

I think my player just died. I cannot get the tray to eject. I tried unplugging overnight, but no go. I contacted Oppo, and they say my only option is to send in the player, which I don't think is worth it at this point - $49 + shipping.

Any one have any other ideas what I can try?

I think my player just died. I cannot get the tray to eject. I tried unplugging overnight, but no go. I contacted Oppo, and they say my only option is to send in the player, which I don't think is worth it at this point - $49 + shipping.

Any one have any other ideas what I can try?

I'd open it up and reseat any connectors. Blow out the dust while I was at it.

Then I'd give up.

-Bill

I think my player just died. I cannot get the tray to eject. I tried unplugging overnight, but no go. I contacted Oppo, and they say my only option is to send in the player, which I don't think is worth it at this point - $49 + shipping.

Any one have any other ideas what I can try?

Either buy a unit from Paul (two posts above) or get an Oppo DBP-80, which is what I have. Decent unit and works well with my large screen.

I think my player just died. I cannot get the tray to eject. I tried unplugging overnight, but no go. I contacted Oppo, and they say my only option is to send in the player, which I don't think is worth it at this point - $49 + shipping.

Any one have any other ideas what I can try?
I have the same player. Still works like new. Sorry, not trying to rub it in. But I think this player is worth a fix. Do you have a working DVD player that can be removed from a PC??? If so then open the case and hook up the DVD player you took from the PC and see if it works. You don't have to mount it in the case, just hook up the cables. If the Oppo turns on and is still able to play a movie then what you need is a new DVD player that will fit in the Oppo case. You may be able to make one fit and get many more years out of this player for a very low cost$$$

I'm not going to buy another DVD player because I currrently have 3 Blu-ray players as well as the DV-980H. This one is mostly being used by my kids. I guess I will try to open the player up.

Success! Not sure what I did, but the tray is working now.

I opened up the player, took off the top of the spindle assembly, jiggled the tray around. Now the tray is opening and closing properly.

The player lives on.

Might have become misaligned or the teeth did not properly line up with the cogs on the loader mechanism. Messing with it would have aligned everything to their proper positions.

My OPDV971H is showing the infamous "No Disc" error. I contacted tech support at Oppo and they gave a me a list of things to try such as unplugging for over 15 min; power blow internals to remove dust etc etc. They did not work. Now I have to send it to them to be repaired for $49. Is there anything else I should try?

In contrast, probably not worth it at this point. Better to put the $50 towards a $90-$170 BluRay Player. There are many to choose from out there...Pioneer BDP-320 1080p, LG BD390, Panasonic DMP-BD65K, Sony BDP-N460.

I assume these BluRay players will present a superior picture to the oppo....correct? They also will upscale current SD DVD to BluRay Definition...correct?

Thanks for any suggestions/opinions.

I assume these BluRay players will present a superior picture to the oppo....correct?

It's hard to make a categorical rule; Blu-ray players vary in quality of DVD playback just as DVD players do. You might have a look at the DVD scores at Winston's site: http://winstonsreviews.com/

I don't think any new players are using the Faroudja chip that the 971 does; it has been superseded and I wouldn't doubt that the average player has improved since when the 971 was new. Later OPPO models using Mediatek and ABT seem sharper to me, but still film-like.

They also will upscale current SD DVD to BluRay Definition...correct?

Yes.

-Bill

Thanks Bill....

I was looking for the perfect excuse to bury the oppo in the back yard....:D The oppo was awesome "back in the day". Starting to educate myself more on all this bluray stuff. I already get the Netflix streaming through xbox 360 elite which upconverts to HD....At least that is what the signal states before every movie starts. Pound for pound, I am looking for the best video image possible....The Pioneer seems to get awesome reviews/ratings.....The panny looks good too. We shall see.

My 971 finally gave up the ghost. Won't play any DVDs. I opened it up and the mechanism is making a clunking noise and the laser repeatedly tries to go to far and crashes. I see some have sent theirs into Oppo for repair for $50 plus shipping. I don't have the box and don't really want to do that. Does anyone know if I can order the mechanism from somewhere? Looks like it would be easy to put in myself. Otherwise I guess it'll go in the trash to be replaced by a cheap blu-ray from costco.

Steve

My 971 finally gave up the ghost. Won't play any DVDs. I opened it up and the mechanism is making a clunking noise and the laser repeatedly tries to go to far and crashes. I see some have sent theirs into Oppo for repair for $50 plus shipping. I don't have the box and don't really want to do that. Does anyone know if I can order the mechanism from somewhere? Looks like it would be easy to put in myself. Otherwise I guess it'll go in the trash to be replaced by a cheap blu-ray from costco.

Steve

Going from the OPPO to a cheap BD player you'll be sorely dissappointed. Yes, any BD player can play BDs, but they won't do all the specialized things that OPPO does so well. Like play Divx or PALS or region free. Cheap BD players don't upscale near as well as an OPPO. Used 971H OPPOS are selling on eBay for only slighly less than some new BD players. There's a reason for that. For playing DVDs there isn't much better.

Call them @ 650-961-1118. Few companies will treat you better. If you do call let us know what they say.

When setting the region code is there a way to set it to auto? If so how? I hate having to press setup 9,2,1,0 every time in order to change the region.

When setting the region code is there a way to set it to auto? If so how? I hate having to press setup 9,2,1,0 every time in order to change the region.

"0" is for all regions and you shouldn't ever need to change that.