can you recommend a cheap hdmi cable to use with the 970, from monoprice or partsexpress ok?

Yes Mike, monoprice is your best choice when it comes to quality for a low price.

I assume you need a longer cable than was included with the 970HD, as the cables provided by OPPO with the 970HD and 981HD are really quite nice. If you are staying within the 15 meter limitation established by the HDMI spec, Monoprice would probably be a good choice - I've heard generally good results.

That is it is a known problem and is being addressed, though they do not know when.

Like David said, there is an internal beta that OPPO can send you, but it drastically effects test patterns. If the vertical compression error is something that annoys you, request the beta from OPPO.

I received this beta firmware for the squeeze problem from OPPO today; has anyone tried this yet? I just want to know before I try it. Thanks.

Did you notice a difference in picture quality?


I switched to the hacked firmware and didn't notice a difference. I actually haven't noticed any differences at all, in either reliability or performance. Granted, I only use it for DVD movies, standard CD's, and listening to digital audio via USB (i.e. no DVDA or SACD).

O.K. I admittedly did not read 100 pages of posts. A few questons:

Does this player automatically pillarbox 4X3 material?
How complicated is the hack to upconvert to 1080i over component?
Does the zoom function zoom-in in small increments, or larger ones like most DVD players?

O.K. I admittedly did not read 100 pages of posts. A few questons:

Does this player automatically pillarbox 4X3 material?
How complicated is the hack to upconvert to 1080i over component?
Does the zoom function zoom-in in small increments, or larger ones like most DVD players?

-2 settings for 16x9: one stretches and the other pillarboxes.
-The firmware hack is as simple as burning the ISO to a cdr and then loading the disc into the player. The gotchya for me was I was trying to change resolution while the DVD was playing. Change it while the disc is not playing. :p
-Depends on what you mean by small increments. Small enough for me.

-2 settings for 16x9: one stretches and the other pillarboxes.

Is that to say if I set it to pillarbox then it will always display 4:3 material correctly on a 16:9 display? Basically, I don’t want to have to constantly change ratio settings between 16:9 DVDs and 4:3 DVDs. I simply would like for the player to pillarbox a 4:3 DVD automatically, without me having to change a setting.

Is that to say if I set it to pillarbox then it will always display 4:3 material correctly on a 16:9 display? Basically, I don’t want to have to constantly change ratio settings between 16:9 DVDs and 4:3 DVDs. I simply would like for the player to pillarbox a 4:3 DVD automatically, without me having to change a setting.
Yup. That's exactly how it behaves. Set it and forget it.

I received this beta firmware for the squeeze problem from OPPO today; has anyone tried this yet? I just want to know before I try it. Thanks.

It works but is greatly diminishes the clarity of test patterns from AVIA and DVE. I did not really see how it effected the normal playback of films, however.

To do this I set it on 16:9 Wide and not 16:9 Wide/SQZ right?

Yup. That's exactly how it behaves. Set it and forget it.

Wide/SQZ is the setting that pillarboxes 4:3 material automatically.

Wide/SQZ is the setting that pillarboxes 4:3 material automatically.


Doesn't that put black bars on the side when watching on a 16:9 set?

Yes. That is what pillarboxing does.

Doesn't bars on the side risk burn in on a 16:9 set?

I need to update my FW.

Could someone provide me with a link to freeware CD burning software?

Doesn't bars on the side risk burn in on a 16:9 set?

It can if you are running the set in that mode for several hours straight.

Could someone provide me with a link to freeware CD burning software?

I would recommend www.BurnAtOnce.com

Doesn't bars on the side risk burn in on a 16:9 set?

Plasma CRT yes, LCD DLP no

Doesn't bars on the side risk burn in on a 16:9 set?
As with letterboxing on 4:3 sets, there is some risk of burn-in for CRT and plasma, but it would take a significant duration of time. In the 5.5 years that I watched widescreen DVD's on my old CRT SDTV, I never had any indication of burn-in from the letterboxing.

I need to update my FW.

Could someone provide me with a link to freeware CD burning software?

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=608677

Did you notice a difference in picture quality?

Yes, I did notice slightly increased detail but the colors were washed out compared to 480p. Once I tweaked the player's color settings a bit to compensate everything looked great!

I need to update my FW.

Could someone provide me with a link to freeware CD burning software?
I've been using Nero (http://www.nero.com/) for a long time now, and my DVD burner came with a free copy of it. If your CD or DVD burner did not include some free software that you already have conveniently at hand, the best I can do is offer a few links that I found with a quick search. I haven't got any experience with them, but they appear to offer support for burning ISO files (which is all you really need for burning a firmware disc for your OPPO). One is CDBurnerXP (http://www.cdburnerxp.se). Another is Deep Burner (http://www.deepburner.com/), which offers a free version (http://www.deepburner.com/?r=products&pr=deepburner&prr=provsfree) of their commercial product - it's a smaller download than CDBurnerXP. There are others, I'm sure.

Don't forget that's an image of a 2.35:1 shot on a 16:9 screen. I think you should be comparing the distance of the pause icon from the top in each shot.

Spekaing about aspect ratio, i noticed all DVD with a ratio of 2:35:1 will generate a vertical compression on 16:9 screen.
My concern is would this black bar on top and bottom would have a burn effect on my new Samsung plasma screen?

Any thoughts?

I need to update my FW.

Could someone provide me with a link to freeware CD burning software?

http://www.imgburn.com/

Spekaing about aspect ratio, i noticed all DVD with a ratio of 2:35:1 will generate a vertical compression on 16:9 screen.
My concern is would this black bar on top and bottom would have a burn effect on my new Samsung plasma screen?

Any thoughts?
You will always get black bars on anything with 2.35:1 AR. It will not hurt your plasma, as long as it's properly calibrated.

Are you referring to using an AVIA or DVE Cd to calibrate the plasma?
A dumb question..how does black bars due to 2:35:1 AR does not hurt the plasma if its propoerly calibrated?
Are there specific tuning ie. contrast, brightness, etc that matters?
I thought any form black sidebars or vertical is not good for plasma even if the plasma is properly calibrated.

Thanks in advance...

putting any static pattern on a plasma or crt set will cause burn-in if there long enough, calibrated display or not. Limit viewing with bars (vertical or horizontal or gaming icons) to less than 20-30% generally to be safe. if the display is in torch mode, then less time to burn-in.
Best,
jeff

When you have your plasma set to the proper contrast, brightness, and saturation settings, you are not pushing the hardware. When the hardware is not in proper working order, you prematurely reduce its half life and susceptibility to burn in errors.

As long as you do not marathon watch films or television shows which have boarders on them, you will not cause any harm to your plasma.

putting any static pattern on a plasma or crt set will cause burn-in if there long enough, calibrated display or not. Limit viewing with bars (vertical or horizontal or gaming icons) to less than 20-30% generally to be safe. if the display is in torch mode, then less time to burn-in.This debate has raged for many years. You're right about torch mode but the 20-30% figure is conservative, especially if you figure in station logos, and gives justification to people to not watch stuff in OAR. My professionally calibrated RP CRT showed no signs of burn-in after being in service for over 5 years.

Aplologies for the OT.

Thanx for the links everyone. :)

Spekaing about aspect ratio, i noticed all DVD with a ratio of 2:35:1 will generate a vertical compression on 16:9 screen.
My concern is would this black bar on top and bottom would have a burn effect on my new Samsung plasma screen?

Any thoughts?

The best solution I have found is to use the DVD player's zoom function to remove the black horizontal bars on my LG plasma. For 2.35:1, I think the zoom required is 1.3 for my TV.

The best solution I have found is to use the DVD player's zoom function to remove the black horizontal bars on my LG plasma. For 2.35:1, I think the zoom required is 1.3 for my TV.
I guess the fact that you're missing 24% of the picture the director intended to be seen is not very important to you.

The best solution I have found is to use the DVD player's zoom function to remove the black horizontal bars on my LG plasma. For 2.35:1, I think the zoom required is 1.3 for my TV.

No, the best solution is to get a damned television that's capable of displaying the movie image fed to it without permanently damaging itself.

This is an odd one , when using AVIA's IRE Gray Scale patterns , I used to get the IRE value appear below the window displayed . Since I've hooked up the Oppo , I don't get them anymore ! I rechecked this same chapter on my old Samsung and they are there but not on the Oppo .

I've stared at the Oppo Menu until my eyes hurt :p and I can't see anything that would disable this . I'm outputting 720p over HDMI .

Thanks ,

Scott................... :(

DOH ! never mind , it seems Subtitles were off in the main Setup . I need another coffee :rolleyes:

No, the best solution is to get a damned television that's capable of displaying the movie image fed to it without permanently damaging itself.

I think I peed a little reading your comment.

oh that's funny.

I guess the fact that you're missing 24% of the picture the director intended to be seen is not very important to you.

Not to come off as rude, especially seeing as how you are a Senior Member, but I see from your profile that you do own this dvd player, so did you actually try the zoom at 1.3 on a 2.35:1 movie before you replied? If so then I can't see how setting this player's zoom to 1.3 results in losing 24% of the picture. I have Pirates Of The Caribbean 2 which has an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 and I, and everyone else I asked to check after reading your post, must be blind if setting this DVD player's zoom to 1.3 results in losing 24% of the picture.
And it was only a suggestion to try if one is really concerned about burn in. Personally I have not had a problem with my LG regarding burn in issues due to the latest technology it, and most other 2006 model plasmas use. I am not a Senior Member, nor an expert, but I do have a Oppo 971 and 970 and a 37 inch Toshiba LCD and a 42 inch LG Plasma.
I didn't really expect your tone of reply on this Forum. Because, believe me, if I thought there would be a 24% loss of picture, I would not have even suggested it to a blind person :). However, if this player's 1.3 zoom really does result in 24% of the picture missing, on say a 42 inch widescreen TV, I would be interested in how this is calculated so I can explain it to the others who I asked to view the TV with me. Because they thought your reply was as "crazy" as you thought mine was. Thanks.

Nope, never tried the zoom. It's simple geometry: when you get rid of the bars, you lose part of the picture on both sides (unless you stretch things vertically). The percent difference between 2:35:1 and 1.78:1 is a tad over 24%. Don't take my word for it, do the math.

Why not just buy the full screen version of the dvd so you can get more picture by filling the screen (:))

It's simple geometry: when you get rid of the bars, you lose part of the picture on both sides (unless you stretch things vertically). The percent difference between 2:35:1 and 1.78:1 is a tad over 24%. Don't take my word for it, do the math. epsilon is absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, if you take 1.78:1 (16:9) as the baseline, 2.35:1 is 132% wider. This means that if you zoom enough to remove the black bars on top and bottom, you're actually losing 32% of the width - 16% off each side!

Gary

epsilon is absolutely correct. As a matter of fact, if you take 1.78:1 (16:9) as the baseline, 2.35:1 is 132% wider. This means that if you zoom enough to remove the black bars on top and bottom, you're actually losing 32% of the width - 16% off each side!

Gary

So if I understand this correctly, what you are saying is that all the new releases, which are actually 1.85:1 (eg: World Trade Center) that completely fill both of my "widescreen" tvs screens using both Oppo Players with no zoom; then I am actually missing part of the picture that the director intended me to see.? Or am I just more confused? And if not, then on my TVs wouldn't 1.85:1 actually be the "baseline" then/ Thanks for helping clear this up - because my friends and I have had a liot of discussion on this since the original post.

Oppo states on their website comparison chart that only the new 981HD unit is best for screens > 50". I have a DLP Mits FP with an 103" diag screen (would be HDMI through Denon 2807).....

Does anyone have experience with a large screen, a DLP FP and the 970HD? How is the PQ? Would I gain even better PQ with the 981HD with the 103" screen?

I realize there is not much $ difference ($80) but wanted to hear some 970HD users experiences with FPs and large screens?? I like the component option on the 970 whereas the 981 doesnt have the component option.

Comments?

So if I understand this correctly, what you are saying is that all the new releases, which are actually 1.85:1 (eg: World Trade Center) that completely fill both of my "widescreen" tvs screens using both Oppo Players with no zoom; then I am actually missing part of the picture that the director intended me to see.? Or am I just more confused? And if not, then on my TVs wouldn't 1.85:1 actually be the "baseline" then/ Thanks for helping clear this up - because my friends and I have had a liot of discussion on this since the original post.

Not all movies are photographed in the same aspect ratio. There are two theatrical projection standards that directors can choose based on their preference, either 1.85:1 or 2.35:1. A movie like World Trade Center has an Original Aspect Ratio of 1.85:1, so when it fills your plasma you're not losing any picture. A movie like Lord of the Rings has an OAR of 2.35:1, which is wider than your TV and will require letterbox bars at the top and bottom of the frame. If you zoom the picture to fill the height of the frame, obviously you are cutting off the sides. This is simple geometry, "square peg in a round hole" stuff, not complex math.

See here for more info: www.widescreen.org

So if I understand this correctly, what you are saying is that all the new releases, which are actually 1.85:1 (eg: World Trade Center) that completely fill both of my "widescreen" tvs screens using both Oppo Players with no zoom; then I am actually missing part of the picture that the director intended me to see.? Or am I just more confused? And if not, then on my TVs wouldn't 1.85:1 actually be the "baseline" then/ Thanks for helping clear this up - because my friends and I have had a liot of discussion on this since the original post.

An easy way to think about this is that the 1.3 zoom function is magnifying the movie image on the DVD by 30% over the normal movie image which is 100%. Hence the 100% normal + 30% zoomed = 130% = 1.3 zoomed picture image. Now unfortunately there is no zoom function that makes the physical size of your display bigger. So you've got a 30% bigger image to display on the exact same physical size display. Something's got to go and and it is the sides of the zoomed image.

Kind of like looking at the moon through a wrapping paper tube. The tube limits your field of vision so you can only see a small section of the moon, but the rest of the moon is still there, it's just outside your field of vision. Similarly, zoom inflates the picture on the dvd to where it won't all fit on the display. Your field of vision is now smaller than the zoomed image and you only see a part of the total picture.

Thanks for all the information and the link, that also included picture examples. I have to admit, logically and mathematically, I agree with all that has been said here.
However, our eyes are not seeing it on my TV. The thing with the Oppo 1.3x zoom is when we froze the frame at the beginning of Chapter 21 of "Pirates 2" (which is a 2.35:1 aspect DVD) the right edge of Johnny Depp's hand, on my 42" LG Plasma which has a horizontal measurement of 36", is 7 and 1/2 inches from the edge. When I zoom the Oppo to 1.3x, his hand is now 6 inches from the edge. Therefore at a 1.3x zoom I have only lost 1 and 1/2 inches on each side of my screen, for a total of 3 inches across the screen. That is 3 inches out of 36 inches (or approx. 8%), and of course I have not lost anything off the top or bottom of the picture at 1.3x. Is this just a peculiarity of the Oppo's zoom, or my LG , or a combination of both. Or does it also have to do with the fact that the DVD's specifications say "Widescreen (2.35:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 televisions". That is why when I suggested 1.3x for a 2.35:1 DVD, without even measuring at the time, I knew it did not appear to be anywhere near losing 25%+. I would be interested in someone else using the Oppo's zoom at 1.3x and learning how much of the sides/picture they are missing.
Thanks for all your help and time.

brettski, are you sure that maybe your tv isn't in some kind of zoom/stretch mode already, before you zoom with the Oppo?
If not, and what you are discribing is the way it is, then there is either something wrong with your tv or with your Oppo, or even maybe the dvd which is very unlikely.
Did you buy the tv new?
Did you buy the dvd new from the store?

brettski, are you sure that maybe your tv isn't in some kind of zoom/stretch mode already, before you zoom with the Oppo?
If not, and what you are discribing is the way it is, then there is either something wrong with your tv or with your Oppo, or even maybe the dvd which is very unlikely.
Did you buy the tv new?
Did you buy the dvd new from the store?

The LG TV was built in July 2006 and I purchased it less than 2 weeks ago. It is connected to the Oppo via HDMI. The HDMI input is set to the aspect ratio called "Set By Program" which means that "the output matches the sources image" (I also get the same results when I change the TV to 16:9). The DVD was purchased new last Tuesday. I'm not saying that the Oppo's 1.3x zoom doesn't still leave small black bars (top and bottom), just that at the Oppo's 1.3x zoom I am only losing 1 and 1/2 inches off each side of the picture, for a total of 3 inches out of 36 inches.
On my TV, with a combination of the Oppo at 1.3x zoom and my TV's "Zoom 2" setting, I can completely remove the top and bottom black bars and still only lose the same 1 and 1/2 inches, that I mentioned in my previous post, off each side of the original image. I am not complaining about this, but the 1.3x zoom Oppo gives me on my LG doesn't come close to "Stylin"'s explanation of 1.3x zoom. That's why I asked if others had tried a 2.35:1 aspect DVD at 1.3x zoom.

Many sets have overscan which lops off some of the sides on a 2.35 movie, even at full setting.

Thanks for all the information and the link, that also included picture examples. I have to admit, logically and mathematically, I agree with all that has been said here.
However, our eyes are not seeing it on my TV. The thing with the Oppo 1.3x zoom is when we froze the frame at the beginning of Chapter 21 of "Pirates 2" (which is a 2.35:1 aspect DVD) the right edge of Johnny Depp's hand, on my 42" LG Plasma which has a horizontal measurement of 36", is 7 and 1/2 inches from the edge. When I zoom the Oppo to 1.3x, his hand is now 6 inches from the edge. Therefore at a 1.3x zoom I have only lost 1 and 1/2 inches on each side of my screen, for a total of 3 inches across the screen. That is 3 inches out of 36 inches (or approx. 8%), and of course I have not lost anything off the top or bottom of the picture at 1.3x. Is this just a peculiarity of the Oppo's zoom, or my LG , or a combination of both. Or does it also have to do with the fact that the DVD's specifications say "Widescreen (2.35:1) - Enhanced for 16x9 televisions". That is why when I suggested 1.3x for a 2.35:1 DVD, without even measuring at the time, I knew it did not appear to be anywhere near losing 25%+. I would be interested in someone else using the Oppo's zoom at 1.3x and learning how much of the sides/picture they are missing.
Thanks for all your help and time.
I think we are getting confused here between AREA and LINEAL measurements. You loose 25%+ of the total area, but of course much less of the total width. If you were to multiply the height by the width of the area lost when overscanning, you'd get closer to the AREA lost as a proportion of the total AREA of the 2.35:1 aspect picture. Hope that hasn't confused things further. :)

I stumbled into something interesting the other night. Got a 970HD connected to my Pioneer 5070 via HDMI and also component. I used the HDMI function to change the upconversion to 720p. I selected the HDMI input on my 5070 and as expected the display said it was receiving 720p. THEN, I selected the component input and the display said it was receiving 720p! Next I changed the HDMI output to 1080i, and toggled between HDMI and component inputs on the 5070. Again, the display said it was receiving 1080i over component! Can anyone tell me what is going on? Any way to verify that the display is indeed receiving 720p or 1080i over component? I would think that the display is "smart" enough to recognize the input signal and if it says 720 or 1080, then it has to be so! Also NOTE, I just purchased my Oppo and haven't touched the firmware.

If you're a Pioneer 5070 owner, try it out and let me know your result!

Usually an upconverting component hack is only necessary to view COPY PROTECTED dvds in 720p/1080i. If the dvd does not contain copy protection then it will probably upconvert without a hack.

I stumbled into something interesting the other night. Got a 970HD connected to my Pioneer 5070 via HDMI and also component. I used the HDMI function to change the upconversion to 720p. I selected the HDMI input on my 5070 and as expected the display said it was receiving 720p. THEN, I selected the component input and the display said it was receiving 720p! Next I changed the HDMI output to 1080i, and toggled between HDMI and component inputs on the 5070. Again, the display said it was receiving 1080i over component! Can anyone tell me what is going on? Any way to verify that the display is indeed receiving 720p or 1080i over component? I would think that the display is "smart" enough to recognize the input signal and if it says 720 or 1080, then it has to be so! Also NOTE, I just purchased my Oppo and haven't touched the firmware.

If you're a Pioneer 5070 owner, try it out and let me know your result!

You're using the "HDMI" button on the remote to display this? If so, I suspect the Oppo is reporting the HDMI resolution over both the HDMI and component outputs. At least that's the way the 971 works. Yes, it's confusing.

If your display has some sort of info option to show the signal it is receiving, it should show a different value for component.

-Bill

If there's no commercial DVD in the player (if it's empty, if there's a CD in the tray, or a DVD-R, for example), then the 970's component output would match the HDMI's output. My understanding is that the component output is only limited to 480i or 480p when there is a copy-protected DVD loaded.

I thought I mentioned this earlier in the thread but I have my 970 set to 1080i output. When I select component I am still getting 1080i when I hit the HDMI button on the Oppo remote and playing what should be a copy protected dvd. However, I did notice when watching movies at this res they had multiple "hiccups" during playback. If I switch to my DVI input (using HDMI-DVI converter) there are no hiccups.

There are hiccups because you are playing a copy protected dvd.

Component output better than HDMI ??

I just purchased 970 for my Pioneer Elite CRT based HD TV (Pro-730 HDI with HDMI inputs). After trying out 1080I, 720P and 480I using AVIA disk for calibration, I concluded feeding 480I via component and upscale to 1080I is the best configuration for my TV. Maybe Pioneer Elite has better interlacer and can do a better job to upscale to 1080I.

Could it be possible component better than HDMI in CRT based TV? I don't know if 971 or 981 would be a better match for my TV. Anyone who has tried both 971 and 970 on Prioneer Elite CRT based TV?

Thanks!

Just here to add my experience with the 970 I just got. Thanks to you guys and this forum I would have never heard of Oppo.

I have the 970 hooked up to a Hitachi 51F59 via HDMI feeding it 1080i ,optical and analog outs being fed to my sony receiver.

My previous DVD players were a Sony DVD-NS75H and a Pioneer DV-45A, the Sony was having a lot of problems with some of my older backups and the sound was bad compared to my Pio (the Pio did not upscale and the picture was horrible compared to the Sony so I kept it for playing SACD).

So I'm comparing the video and sound between the Oppo and the Sony and the SACD sound from the Oppo and Pio.

Right out of the box the Oppo had better sound and picture than the Sony. The oppo had better shadow detail, more natural colors and in some cases a more detailed picture. I say some cases because there is more detail but sometimes a little more noise. I played 5 of my worst looking dvds, 5 of my best, and 5 so so DVDs. Overall the Oppo looked better. It seemed to me like the Sony was masking some of the errors on some DVDs.

All my backups played perfectly, even the old ones. I have 1 PAL disk and it looked spectacular, no issues noticed, looked better than I remember with the Pio.

The sound was the big improvement for me. The Sony does not have the ability to play with the sound as much as the Oppo does. The problem I had with the Sony was I could barley hear the center channel and the soundstage was narrow sounding. The Oppo however has a clear center channel and the soundstage was much more open feeling.

SACD sound was a bit disappointing. The SACDs sounded a little muffled, muddy, and bass heavy compared to the Pio, but I heard somewhere that the Oppo needs a break-in period of 50-100 hours before it sounds good, so I have a SACD on playing on repeat when I'm not watching DVDs. I hope it will get better.

I have not done a calibration yet or even fiddled with the settings much, there is a lot to go through, it can only get better.

I have some questions about this player.
Is there any way to dim the display on the player itself?
How do you see what firmware is currently installed in the player?
Any tips on increasing SACD performance would be appreciated.

Thanks

Recently I bought HT HT-S990THX, with this dvd player (970), can I obtain 7.1ch by digital out? (toslink or coaxial), because with my actual dvd player (Samsung HD-850) I can do it ( the 5.1ch movies turns to 7.1ch)

The 970's digital output will carry whatever signal format the disc has - up to and including Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Digital EX, DTS, and DTS-ES. If your receiver offers 6.1 and 7.1 decoding modes (Dolby EX and DTS ES for 6.1 and Dolby Pro Logic IIx for 7.1), then you will have up to 7.1 channels. It is dependent entirely on your receiver, not on the DVD player.

Can someone supply a link to the upconvert hack for the DV-970HD? I cannot find a working link?

Thanks,
JC

Here is the post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8189937&post8189937) way back in this thread that offers some links for the hack. That post's links seem to work (at least the first two).

Ahh, gracias Gonk!! I had tried that one before and thought it was out of service but I was able to get it to work.

Have a great weekend!

How do you see what firmware is currently installed in the player?

Thanks
From Paul Bigelows 1st post.
CHECK FIRMWARE VERSION
1. Power on the player with no disc inserted.
2. Press "OSD" on remote.
3. Note the popup on the screen. The "Batch" notation will be the firmware level

Thank you! (Sorry, page 1 is a distant memory now)

You're using the "HDMI" button on the remote to display this? If so, I suspect the Oppo is reporting the HDMI resolution over both the HDMI and component outputs. At least that's the way the 971 works. Yes, it's confusing.

If your display has some sort of info option to show the signal it is receiving, it should show a different value for component.

-Bill

Bill, I am using the "Display" button on the Pioneer remote, which does display signal information. I was playing a non-copy protected DVD so I suspect this may be the explanation. Nevertheless, I'm going to try it tonight with a copy protected DVD :D

This should be an easy question but I'm not sure of the answer. I'm trying to decide whether to buy a Pioneer Elite 79avi or the Oppo-970HD for DVD use only.

I only need the player to pass 480i over HDMI to a pre/pro. Both seem to do that well. Other than build quality is there any advantage that the much more expensive Pioneer has over the Oppo?

Also any difference in SQ? I'm guessing that since the HDMI cable is sending an encoded digital (DTS or Dolby) signal to the pre/pro, which does the actual decoding, the player doesn't make that much difference (with the audio)?

Or am I wrong?

So I really only want a quality transport for the 480i signal and the encoded audio signal.

wow 103 pages already--

having not read through the last 96 pages, i just want to interject that my 981 is looking great on my pio 1140.

Thank you! (Sorry, page 1 is a distant memory now)

The reference was to give Paul credit, not to put you down. No need for a sorry.

Is there any way to dim the display on the player itself?

No. The front VFD is LED. You can't dim LED.

How do you see what firmware is currently installed in the player?

Press Eject then OSD. The Batch Number on your display is your firmware revision.

Any tips on increasing SACD performance would be appreciated.

If you are using the HDMI output ensure that you are using 720p or 1080i. If your receiver can do Bass Management when receiving a multi-channel PCM signal, then change your Speaker Preference settings on the DV-970HD to Large and Subwoofer to On, then use your receiver for all Bass Management.

I only need the player to pass 480i over HDMI to a pre/pro. Both seem to do that well. Other than build quality is there any advantage that the much more expensive Pioneer has over the Oppo?

Well, to OPPO's credit ABT bundles the DV-970HD with their ABT DVDO VP30 video processor. For a 480i output, I do not believe it is worth the extra cost to go with Pioneer, other than for aesthetic reasons.

For those of you who use the 5 channel analog outputs of the OPPO, do you just use RCA patch cords of random color, or are there 5 cables sets available that have color coding for each cable (sort of like the old red, white, yellow RCA cords for standard audio & video)? I've searched around and don't see any dedicated connectors. Thanks!

Both AR and BetterCables have sacd 5.1 audio sets. Use the search term "sacd cable" at amazon and you can see their selection.

For those of you who use the 5 channel analog outputs of the OPPO, do you just use RCA patch cords of random color, or are there 5 cables sets available that have color coding for each cable (sort of like the old red, white, yellow RCA cords for standard audio & video)? I've searched around and don't see any dedicated connectors. Thanks!

Buy 2 sets of cheap Component cables, or 6 individual Composite Video cables (the yellow "video" ones, not the red & white "audio" ones). Basically, any decently-shielded 75 ohm RCA cables will do. You don't need to buy specially packaged "5.1 audio" cables.

Color Space = YCbCr 4:4:4

On the setting page it say to use -Color Space = YCbCr 4:4:4
I have set it to Auto- would it be better go strictly to YCbCr 4:4:4 ?
NEC xr5 plasma >HDMI
Digital cable for audio
5.1 6CA- music
db

I just got delivered a 970HD, the first Oppo player I've ever owned. Out of the box...

1. Nicely packed, love the sleeve the player came in. A nice touch.
2. I ordered a 15 foot HDMI cable and apparently they still send you the original 6 ft one too. Oh well, can't have too many cables I guess.
3. First problem...the clear plastic bezel on the front display is very scratched up...almost like this wasn't a new player to begin with. Has anyone had this issue? I'm going to have to bring this up with Oppo on Monday.

I hooked it up to my Denon 3805 receiver (non-HDMI) and my Mitsubishi 65813 65" CRT RPTV (w/DVI). Oppo recommended this player versus the 981HD in the scenario since my set is a 1080i machine. I had been using an HDMI-DVI cable on my cable box so I poached that cable and returned the cablebox to component, which my previous DVD player had been using. That player was a Sony DVD/SACD changer (non-progressive) purchased about 5 years ago and recently broke. I didn't buy the older 971H since it didn't do SACDs and I have a fair number of SACD titles now.

One thing I was curious about was the ability of this unit to do a simple deinterlace versus it's scaling functions. Most of you guys have digital displays with only one native resolution. My old skool high end CRT televisioncan do 480p as well as 1080i. If the source feeds it 480i, then the TV will do the deinterlace. I've been watching the TV do with with my old Sony for nearly three years. So I first watched the Oppo output at 480i straight to the TV. THe picture was servicable, but darker than I'm used to....I'm going to have to calibrate again, especially since the DVI port on my TV was previously hooked up to the Motorola 6412 cablebox. Switching to 480p output was a noticeable difference. Gone were the smeared picture I hadn't really noticed before. In it's place was something sharper and nicer.

Next stop was 1080i. Should I leave well enough alone with 480p at a native resolution for the TV and the DVD, or would scaling buy me anything? Remarkably, the answer is yes. 480p from the Oppo looks very nice, but 1080i has a sharpness that is pleasing to the eye. I know understand what the hoopla is about Oppo's products. This is a nice presentation that costs next to nothing.

I'm still evaluating high def music. The old Sony did one thing well....SACD. It was an honest presentation that didn't need to be converted from DSD. I don't expect to get an as-good presentation, but I hope that it's at least decent since I can't afford a capable Denon right now. I did try one of the few DVD-Audio discs I own and it sounded pretty good. More critical listening to come later. One thing was has been commented on around here but I haven't seen an answer to is the crossover issue. There seems to be no documentation on where the listed crossover point is. My Denon 3805 does no bass management on the 5.1 analog ports, so it would be nice to know just what the Oppo is doing in this regard.

When I checked the version of the firmware on my new DV-970HD, it indicates: 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0919, but when I checked Oppo's website they show the latest (non-beta) firmware version as 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0916. Does that mean I have a more recent firmware edition than what is shown on their website?

JR

There seems to be no documentation on where the listed crossover point is.The crossover is 80Hz.

480p from the Oppo looks very nice, but 1080i has a sharpness that is pleasing to the eye. I know understand what the hoopla is about Oppo's products. This is a nice presentation that costs next to nothing.
Hey there, Sevenfeet. Glad to hear you've got the OPPO up and running, and that you tried the different resolutions to figure what differences existed and which worked best for you.
One thing was has been commented on around here but I haven't seen an answer to is the crossover issue. There seems to be no documentation on where the listed crossover point is. My Denon 3805 does no bass management on the 5.1 analog ports, so it would be nice to know just what the Oppo is doing in this regard.
When I was beta testing the 981, I used some test tones to verify what the crossover point was. On the 981, it was 80Hz, and since the two use the same Mediatek chip for these duties the 970 should have the same crossover point.

When I checked the version of the firmware on my new DV-970HD, it indicates: 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0919, but when I checked Oppo's website they show the latest (non-beta) firmware version as 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0916. Does that mean I have a more recent firmware edition than what is shown on their website?

JR

It's the exact same as 3A-0916. They just installed it at the factory so they gave it the 3A-0919 number to avoid confusion, no different.

Color Space = YCbCr 4:4:4

On the setting page it say to use -Color Space = YCbCr 4:4:4
I have set it to Auto- would it be better go strictly to YCbCr 4:4:4 ?
NEC xr5 plasma >HDMI
Digital cable for audio
5.1 6CA- music
dbThe prefered setting for Color Space is YCbCr 4:4:4. Auto defaults to YCbCr, unless the TV has an RGB input only, as in the case of a DVI input.

Gary

I just got delivered a 970HD, the first Oppo player I've ever owned. Out of the box...
3. First problem...the clear plastic bezel on the front display is very scratched up...almost like this wasn't a new player to begin with. Has anyone had this issue? I'm going to have to bring this up with Oppo on Monday. Was that after you took off the plastic protective covering? It's hard to see at times.

I have the 970 and the Infocus SP4805. The pj is well known to have a good 'out of the box' PQ, so I use the default settings. I used to have a cheap Pioneer dvd conected over component and interlaced to the pj and I only calibrated contrast and brigthness using DVE. Now, I conected the Oppo and over interlaced or progressive 480 the colors seems unnatural. The Oppo is on default settings too. It's is possible, I need to calibrate saturation, hue and any other pattern to have what I consider natural colors. What can I do?

3. First problem...the clear plastic bezel on the front display is very scratched up...almost like this wasn't a new player to begin with. Has anyone had this issue? I'm going to have to bring this up with Oppo on Monday.I had the same issue with the player that I received a few weeks ago. There was actually a plastic covering on the card reader/USB panel, but that's it - the rest looked pretty beat up.

I didn't think too much more of it, since the scratches aren't at all noticable with the player in my TV stand, but Oppo DOES sell refurbished players - I didn't want to think that I paid full, new price for one of those after all of the good things I've heard about Oppo as a company.

I have the 970 and the Infocus SP4805. The pj is well known to have a good 'out of the box' PQ, so I use the default settings. I used to have a cheap Pioneer dvd conected over component and interlaced to the pj and I only calibrated contrast and brigthness using DVE. Now, I conected the Oppo and over interlaced or progressive 480 the colors seems unnatural. The Oppo is on default settings too. It's is possible, I need to calibrate saturation, hue and any other pattern to have what I consider natural colors. What can I do? You should definitely calibrate! Never trust the 'out of the box' settings on any display. Leave the OPPO settings at default and calibrate the display. At the very least, turn off all display "enhancement" circuits, select cinema/movie/theater mode and set brightness, contrast, and saturation properly. Don't always trust the color filters in DVE/Avia for saturation either. Those filters were designed with CRT color primaries in mind. DLP and other technologies have slightly different primaries, so the Saturation result may not be 100% accurate for those display types. Trust your eyes to help you pick a Saturation setting that looks the most natural, not necessarily the most vibrant, particularly in skin tones lit with midday sun.

Gary

When I checked the version of the firmware on my new DV-970HD, it indicates: 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0919, but when I checked Oppo's website they show the latest (non-beta) firmware version as 05.00.01.07 Batch 3A-0916. Does that mean I have a more recent firmware edition than what is shown on their website?

The factory uses a firmware which is a higher number than the firmware on the website. There is no difference other than the firmware number.

You should definitely calibrate! Never trust the 'out of the box' settings on any display. Leave the OPPO settings at default and calibrate the display. At the very least, turn off all display "enhancement" circuits, select cinema/movie/theater mode and set brightness, contrast, and saturation properly. Don't always trust the color filters in DVE/Avia for saturation either. Those filters were designed with CRT color primaries in mind. DLP and other technologies have slightly different primaries, so the Saturation result may not be 100% accurate for those display types. Trust your eyes to help you pick a Saturation setting that looks the most natural, not necessarily the most vibrant, particularly in skin tones lit with midday sun.

Gary

I will concur on the calibration suggestion. Now that I have the 970HD hooked up to my TV's DVI port (the previous Sony DVD player was connected to component), I took the time this evening to get out DVE and did a recalibration (I also recalibrated my cablebox's input, which is now on component). Changing inputs and DVD sources did require some tweaking of the color decoder (and black level) on my Mitsu's Perfectcolor screen. I've gotten pretty good at using the DVE filters and test patterns combined with the six primary/secondary color settings on the TV to get a decent color representation. Anything better will need a real ISF guy.

In using DVE, I cued up some of the familiar test sequences, like the shuttle launch which opens with the waving U.S. flag. Wow, what a difference! I was pretty used to jaggies with the old player. Not so with the 970HD. After looking at some of the more familiar test clips, I looked through some of the Snell and Wilcox test patterns...again, big improvement. Finally I decided to look at one movie DVD before retiring to bed. I got out Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle". All Miyazaki animations have gorgeous natural backgrounds and the Oppo really shows off what my Mitsu's 9-inch guns can do at 1080i.

BTW, I notice that the latest beta firmware on Oppo's web site is a fix for SACD gapless playback. Has anybody tried it and are there other fixes/problems with this release?

I had the same issue with the player that I received a few weeks ago. There was actually a plastic covering on the card reader/USB panel, but that's it - the rest looked pretty beat up.

If the unit is scratched, then it was scratched at the factory. You did not receive a refurbished unit for a new purchase.

BTW, I notice that the latest beta firmware on Oppo's web site is a fix for SACD gapless playback. Has anybody tried it and are there other fixes/problems with this release?

All it fixes is the lack of gapless playback with SACD discs.

When I was beta testing the 981, I used some test tones to verify what the crossover point was. On the 981, it was 80Hz, and since the two use the same Mediatek chip for these duties the 970 should have the same crossover point.

The x-over for the 970 is set at 100Hz. Oppo is investigating flexible x-over - hopefully, something will appear in a future firmware update.

The x-over for the 970 is set at 100Hz. Oppo is investigating flexible x-over - hopefully, something will appear in a future firmware update.

A crossover of 100 Hz would not be desireable. I may have to get my old ICBM out of the box.

Good day,

I was reading through about a quarter of this thread before I lost patience. I want to order a player today and I just need a few answers. I apologize is these have been answered before, but I wanted to get a more recent update that takes into account the newest firmware.

1. I have a Sony 30" inch Widescreen CRT HDTV (kv30hs420), will I native much of a difference between the 970 and the 971? I notice many people in this thread have bigger televisions, so I was just curious.

2. Has the PAL issue been fixed? Not that it is very important to me, but I am just curious.

3. Is the USB a viable option for an external HDD or transferring video (divx or xvid) directly into the player. I am aware the USB is only 1:1, but the transfer rates vary depending on the application and the hardware involved.

4. I don't have an external scaler, so is the 970 still a good option for me (30 inch tv). I understand that the size of your tv affects the quality involved, so if the difference between the 970 and 971 is small enough to be non-existant...

Really all I want to do is watch DVD's that are unconverted and watch xvids/divx's in good quality, SACD and so forth isn't a selling point for me.

Thanks guys and gals. I apologize for the newbish and mundane questions, but I really wanted to order a player today, and finals have taken all my patience away. :) Happy holidays.

The prefered setting for Color Space is YCbCr 4:4:4. Auto defaults to YCbCr, unless the TV has an RGB input only, as in the case of a DVI input.

Gary

can you give me a short run down of YCbCr? I just got my 970 Saturday and hooked it up to my Pio4360. i bought it due to the recommendations of many Pioneer owners that say the Scaler/deinterlacer in the Pioneers is fantasic and i would not need the 971. just 480i over HDMI. I admit, the 480i over HDMI PQ is fantastic, but i tried 720p and i'm hooked on everything except the image squeeze thing with the higher resolutions. but even that isn't a big deal unless you A/B he two resolutions. the biggest difference i see between the 480i and 720p are the colors. the higher resolutions have much more punch and slightly sharper images. i'm not sure what my color space is set to but it's default. also, i'm not sure what the gamma and other options do. what do you (or other posters) recommend for settings on the player. thanks!

Has anyone used this player with a Sanyo Z2 projector using HDMI to DVI? The Sanyo is well known to be flaky with HDCP issues (to my knowledge, the Toshiba HD-DVD players still don't work with it).

If the Oppo would upconvert via HDMI, and the Sanyo Z2 accept it, this player would be just what I need.

The x-over for the 970 is set at 100Hz. Oppo is investigating flexible x-over - hopefully, something will appear in a future firmware update.Are you sure about that? Through email, Oppo told me the 970 had a 80Hz crossover.

I wonder why this information isn't in the FAQ on the first page?

Good day,

I was reading through about a quarter of this thread before I lost patience. I want to order a player today and I just need a few answers. I apologize is these have been answered before, but I wanted to get a more recent update that takes into account the newest firmware.

1. I have a Sony 30" inch Widescreen CRT HDTV (kv30hs420), will I native much of a difference between the 970 and the 971? I notice many people in this thread have bigger televisions, so I was just curious.

2. Has the PAL issue been fixed? Not that it is very important to me, but I am just curious.

3. Is the USB a viable option for an external HDD or transferring video (divx or xvid) directly into the player. I am aware the USB is only 1:1, but the transfer rates vary depending on the application and the hardware involved.

4. I don't have an external scaler, so is the 970 still a good option for me (30 inch tv). I understand that the size of your tv affects the quality involved, so if the difference between the 970 and 971 is small enough to be non-existant...

Really all I want to do is watch DVD's that are unconverted and watch xvids/divx's in good quality, SACD and so forth isn't a selling point for me.

Thanks guys and gals. I apologize for the newbish and mundane questions, but I really wanted to order a player today, and finals have taken all my patience away. :) Happy holidays.


I watch .avi files on an SD card with good, but not great results. I don't notice any frame skipping, but it does exhibit occasional lip-syncing problems. This is with a 150X speed SD card. Slow cards exhibit frame skipping and are not viable. Overall, it is acceptable to me and I watch .avi files on a regular basis.

Are you sure about that? Through email, Oppo told me the 970 had a 80Hz crossover.

Originally the CSRs were told it was at 100Hz. But after further investigation they nailed it down at 80Hz. All e-mail and phone calls should reflect this.

That (80Hz) matches what I found with the 981 and a frequency sweep test tone.

Really all I want to do is watch DVD's that are unconverted and watch xvids/divx's in good quality, SACD and so forth isn't a selling point for me.


Forgot to address this one. If you just copy the .avi files to a DVD (I use ImgBurn) the oppo plays them perfectly. I did this originally using +RW formatted DVDs. This gives the best results, but takes longer than just copying the files to an SD card, which is what I do now. The occasional lip-syncing problem bugs me, but not enough to burn a DVD. YMMV

You should definitely calibrate! Never trust the 'out of the box' settings on any display. Leave the OPPO settings at default and calibrate the display. At the very least, turn off all display "enhancement" circuits, select cinema/movie/theater mode and set brightness, contrast, and saturation properly. Don't always trust the color filters in DVE/Avia for saturation either. Those filters were designed with CRT color primaries in mind. DLP and other technologies have slightly different primaries, so the Saturation result may not be 100% accurate for those display types. Trust your eyes to help you pick a Saturation setting that looks the most natural, not necessarily the most vibrant, particularly in skin tones lit with midday sun.

Gary

Gary,
My projector color temperature is set at 6500K, the Gamma at Film. For saturation I understand red, blue and green gain/offset. All are set at 50. Do you mean I must tweak gain, offset or both trusting my eyes?
Why I saw (IMHO) natural colors whith the cheap Pioneer (only tweaking contrast and brightness) and now I feel that colors are unnatural (the tweaking of contrast and Brightness do not solve the problem)?
Thanks in advance

Gary,
My projector color temperature is set at 6500K, the Gamma at Film. For saturation I understand red, blue and green gain/offset. All are set at 50. Do you mean I must tweak gain, offset or both trusting my eyes?
Why I saw (IMHO) natural colors whith the cheap Pioneer (only tweaking contrast and brightness) and now I feel that colors are unnatural (the tweaking of contrast and Brightness do not solve the problem)?
Thanks in advance

Check your PM.

1. I have a Sony 30" inch Widescreen CRT HDTV (kv30hs420), will I native much of a difference between the 970 and the 971? I notice many people in this thread have bigger televisions, so I was just curious.

2. Has the PAL issue been fixed? Not that it is very important to me, but I am just curious.

3. Is the USB a viable option for an external HDD or transferring video (divx or xvid) directly into the player. I am aware the USB is only 1:1, but the transfer rates vary depending on the application and the hardware involved.

4. I don't have an external scaler, so is the 970 still a good option for me (30 inch tv). I understand that the size of your tv affects the quality involved, so if the difference between the 970 and 971 is small enough to be non-existant...

Really all I want to do is watch DVD's that are unconverted and watch xvids/divx's in good quality, SACD and so forth isn't a selling point for me.

Thanks guys and gals. I apologize for the newbish and mundane questions, but I really wanted to order a player today, and finals have taken all my patience away. :) Happy holidays.

First, it's not necessary to apologize for questions. The only bad questions are the ones not asked. :)

I think that Oppo would tell you the 970HD is a more appropriate player for you because your TV is an interlaced display at 1080 lines. The 970HD is a better 1080i device than the 981HD, which is primarily geared for HD progressive displays (virtually all digital televisions). I think Oppo made the 50" size distinction in order to make it simple to choose a player. It used to be that virtually all digital TVs under 50" were 720p sets, which the 970HD does nicely. 1080p sets were limited to more expensive larger sets. But with the recent crop of 1080p LCD TVs that are as small as 37", that means of choosing a player by the 50" rule may be obsolete, especially if the TV can accept a 1080p signal (if it can't, then the 970HD again is a fine choice). And if course you own an external scaler, the 970HD is a better solution for it's ability to do 480i over HDMI.

For a display CRT HDTV with native resolution 1080i specifically the TV Samsung 32" model TX-R3079WH Slimfit (support 480p, 720p and obvious 1080i)

what dvd oppo is the best choice?

if I connect it the 971 or 981, it will present the effect of macroblocking? or, is better the model 970 for this display?

a friend has a CRT HDTV Sony model KD-34XBR970 and the model 971H, has commented to me that the image is perfect and that it has not noticed anything of macroblocking.

Will be possible that in my screen it notices macroblocking?

For a display CRT HDTV with native resolution 1080i specifically the TV Samsung 32" model TX-R3079WH Slimfit (support 480p, 720p and obvious 1080i)

what dvd oppo is the best choice?

if I connect it the 971 or 981, it will present the effect of macroblocking? or, is better the model 970 for this display?

a friend has a CRT HDTV Sony model KD-34XBR970 and the model 971H, has commented to me that the image is perfect and that it has not noticed anything of macroblocking.

Will be possible that in my screen it notices macroblocking?

The 970HD is probably a better choice for a CRT display and that's what they recommended to me for my set. The 970HD also doesn't have the macroblocking issue of the 971 and 981. But CRT sets historically don't seem to be prone to macroblocking, which is why your friend probably hasn't seen the problem on his TV.

The 970HD is probably a better choice for a CRT display and that's what they recommended to me for my set. The 970HD also doesn't have the macroblocking issue of the 971 and 981. But CRT sets historically don't seem to be prone to macroblocking, which is why your friend probably hasn't seen the problem on his TV.

ahh ok, thanks..

perhaps this question is a little newbish, but....

what is an external scaler? :confused:

how I know if my TV has it?

An external scaler refers to a totally separate device (the VP30 (http://www.dvdo.com/pro/pro_isvp30.php), for example) that is located between your video sources and your TV. Scalers a powerful, purpose-built devices for manipulating a video signal to produce the desired output resolution, and many people use the 970HD with scalers because it allows for an unaltered 480i digital signal to be passed from the DVD to the scaler, allowing the scaler to be the only device in the signal path to be doing video scaling and deinterlacing.

The prefered setting for Color Space is YCbCr 4:4:4. Auto defaults to YCbCr, unless the TV has an RGB input only, as in the case of a DVI input.

Gary

the default setting on my 970 was RGB. i'm connected via HDMI to a Pio 4360. I switched the color space to YCbCr 4:4:4 after reading this. is this the correct color space i should be using? what is the difference between the color spaces?

Was that after you took off the plastic protective covering? It's hard to see at times.

You guys were right. There is a plastic covering on the bezel. Oppo also describes this on their 970HD FAQ page on their web site.

Thanks guys. I bought the 970HD from Oppo yesterday and it will be here just before Christmas. I appreciate the replies and I hope it all works out. Thanks again fellas. :)

the default setting on my 970 was RGB. i'm connected via HDMI to a Pio 4360. I switched the color space to YCbCr 4:4:4 after reading this. is this the correct color space i should be using? what is the difference between the color spaces?
I don't remember who to credit for this post or even which is the RGB colorspace, but this link shows you what a mismatch will look like.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=32137

Is there a complete firmware history (including hacks) somewhere? The oppo site just gives two the most recent versions and a beta.

I would like to see the changes that occur over each version, to decide if I need to upgrade or not. It would be good to know in case an upgrade causes problems.

The two official updates listed on OPPO's site are from late May and late September. The late May firmware would have been the first change from the firmware used when the player was released early in May. There would have been betas prior to both official releases, I'm sure, but once the official release arrived the betas would no longer matter. Those two and the beta currently available (which provides gapless SACD playback) should be the complete official firmware history. The only hacked 970 firmware I've seen mentioned here is the original hack (based on the late May firmware, I believe) that allows component upconversion and disables HDCP.

I don't remember who to credit for this post or even which is the RGB colorspace, but this link shows you what a mismatch will look like.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=32137

thanks but that doesn't mean much to me. can you explain it? is color space specific to output?

You will see that when you are doing a conversion 601-701 for example) the green becomes neon, and magenta becomes too dark. This will offset your colors and produce a less than satisfactory picture.

thanks but that doesn't mean much to me. can you explain it? is color space specific to output?

If you are connecting via HDMI, use the YCbCr 4:4:4 color space. Most eny device that has an HDMI connector should support YCbCr. RGB is typically used when you convert the HDMI output to DVI for use on a set that ony supports DVI with RGB.

If the colors look off, you can change to RGB, but I'd try YCbCr 4:4:4 first.

The two official updates listed on OPPO's site are from late May and late September. The late May firmware would have been the first change from the firmware used when the player was released early in May. There would have been betas prior to both official releases, I'm sure, but once the official release arrived the betas would no longer matter. Those two and the beta currently available (which provides gapless SACD playback) should be the complete official firmware history. The only hacked 970 firmware I've seen mentioned here is the original hack (based on the late May firmware, I believe) that allows component upconversion and disables HDCP.

Thanks for the information.

I'm in the process of installing a moderately priced home theater.
The projector is a Panasonic PT-AE700U with an 84" matte white screen.
I just ordered an OPPO DV-970HD from OPPO Digital.

I was hoping to use the 720P up-converting function on the OPPO thru the HDMI to the AE700. THe AE700 does 720 native.

Anybody have any input of using the 970 with this or another Front projector.

I've been playing around with some of my mp3's and the 970. I burned a bunch of my mp3 onto a DVD. For whatever reason there are some mp3 files which will not play and others play fine. Are there certain known compatibility issues with mp3 encoders? What bitrates, ID tags, etc are compatible/suggested? My mp3's come from various sources and so the encoder and ripping settings tend to vary.

Thanks!

I've only had the player a week and burned various music files onto a DVD and experienced the same situation.


I've been playing around with some of my mp3's and the 970. I burned a bunch of my mp3 onto a DVD. For whatever reason there are some mp3 files which will not play and others play fine. Are there certain known compatibility issues with mp3 encoders? What bitrates, ID tags, etc are compatible/suggested? My mp3's come from various sources and so the encoder and ripping settings tend to vary.

Thanks!

You will see that when you are doing a conversion 601-701 for example) the green becomes neon, and magenta becomes too dark. This will offset your colors and produce a less than satisfactory picture.

Thanks. I suppose that would explain why it was hard for me to adjust saturation properly though the THX setup in Attack of the Clones.

Also, thanks Steve. I switched it to 4:4:4 but i didn't A/B any material. I'll try to do this tonight and see if I can tweak it properly.

I noticed a big difference in color saturation between 480 and 720. would this be due to the color space or the resolution?

Thanks. I suppose that would explain why it was hard for me to adjust saturation properly though the THX setup in Attack of the Clones.

Also, thanks Steve. I switched it to 4:4:4 but i didn't A/B any material. I'll try to do this tonight and see if I can tweak it properly.

I noticed a big difference in color saturation between 480 and 720. would this be due to the color space or the resolution?

HDMI is supposed to provide some level of communication between devices. Among the things that an HDMI display can tell it's source device (DVD player, receiver, scaler, Tivo, etc) is that "Hey, I'm an HDMI device and use a YCbCr colorspace by default!". DVI is backward compatible with the pinouts for HDMI concerning the video signal, but not for all communication. So if the TV gives no response to the source, the source assumes it's talking to a DVI device and therefore locks in the colorspace at RGB.

It is possible that your Pio display isn't telling your DVD player what it needs to know to choose the right color space. Fortunately the Oppo 970 allows you to override that decision on the setup menu. HD and SD use different color matrixes so it's important for the Oppo to know if it needs to know what color space to use in generating a signal. SD images played on HD TVs in the wrong colorspace often look like the colors are washed out, especially green.

You can often see this in advertising on TV these days. Even on HD programs, most ads are still in SD and sometimes the SD ads look awful for color, while other ads look crisp and vibrant. The difference is that the SD ads that look awful were submitted to the network without the signal in the tape master that declares the original color space. If that information is not there, the processing equipment won't do a proper SD->HD color conversion, and hence the crappy looking colors.

-The firmware hack is as simple as burning the ISO to a cdr and then loading the disc into the player. The gotchya for me was I was trying to change resolution while the DVD was playing. Change it while the disc is not playing. :p

O.K. I got my player, and I have the “hack” ISO file. Do I simply burn that file on a disc? I ask, because I have read that you are supposed to burn the ISO file as an “image file,” and I am not really sure I understand what that means.

Many thanks.

O.K. I got my player, and I have the “hack” ISO file. Do I simply burn that file on a disc? I ask, because I have read that you are supposed to burn the ISO file as an “image file,” and I am not really sure I understand what that means.

Many thanks.

You do NOT want to just burn that file onto a CD-R like you would with any other file. An ISO file itself is a representation of an actually CD....data structures, headers, all files, everything. What you need is CD burner software that will take that ISO file and transform it into a CD-R. Then you can pop it into the 970 and change the firmware.

I have a 4+ year old Sony analog only RPTV that has a native 960i resolution. Installed the 970 hack and can see a small but definite improvement when switching between 480p and 1080i. No distortion visible in the THX Optimizer circle test

Edit: P.S. burned it with this http://www.burnatonce.net/downloads

Burned my ISO file and updated the player with no problem. I also found the code for to make it region free, so I’m good in that department as well.

This player is replacing a Malata DVP-520, which was beginning to act a bit hinky. I’ll miss some of the features on the Malata, though. (Most notably, its ability to automatically zoom and properly frame non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs.)


I do have a question, however. I popped in couple of Region 2/PAL DVDs (The American President, Så Som i Himmelen) and noticed an intermittent picture “blip” every so often. I saw this both before and after I upgraded the firmware. It does not appear to do it on any of my R1/NTSC DVDs.

Anyone know what the issue is?

Have my HT all set up as follows:

Onkyo TXSR804
Infinity TSS-1100
Panny 42" THPX60U

...and now I am in the arduous process of getting the right DVD player to (at the very least) get me through until the HD-DVD/Bluray wars are over, or at least until a suitable player hits the market so I can jump on it.

I know that the 970 seems to be the model of choice amongst owners of 42" plasmas, from readin the entire forum,..even Oppo themselves, whom I spoke with, suggested that one for my plasma. I know that any MB issues were adressed on the 970 but there is the talk of some kind of pixel/size isseue with it that truncates the image on the screen a bit.

Ahhhh, but now the x-factor! With the Toshiba HD-A2 out, and slowly getting rave reviews about it, and with their upscaling abilites to be on par if not slightly better than the Oppos, and with the feeling (by reading forums, internet articles, etc) that the HD-DVD/Blurays wars may either drag out for a few years or not have a clear winner at all (for example: theHD-DVD and Bluray camps might just live together side by side) I am leaning towards being a semi-early adopter and going for the A2.

-------

Can I live with the Oppo for a while? I am sure I could. But the quality of the HD-DVD players may be too tempting to resist. Worst case scenario, the HD-DVD player could just be a top of the line upscaler that supposedly is better than the Oppo with no MB issues, until more titles come out on HD-DVD (and by looking at the upcoming titles list on the HD-DVD site, seems that a LOT of great movies will be coming out next year).

I don't know,...any thoughts out there?

: )

I do have a question, however. I popped in couple of Region 2/PAL DVDs (The American President, Så Som i Himmelen) and noticed an intermittent picture “blip” every so often. I saw this both before and after I upgraded the firmware. It does not appear to do it on any of my R1/NTSC DVDs.

Anyone know what the issue is?

See this post (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=9048162&&#post9048162)

This may be old news to those out there in the know,....but I just spoke with the great guys at Oppo in regards the "squeeze" issue. Basically they have an internal beta that resolves the issue, although he mentioned that the amount of compression depends on the overscanning of the display as some will maks the error to begin with. Anyone know if the Panny TH42PX60U masks this problem? Either way, this fix may be on the way for public use.

~ almar

Is the 970 the best Oppo to use for DLP based HDTVs?

Have my HT all set up as follows:

Onkyo TXSR804
Infinity TSS-1100
Panny 42" THPX60U

...and now I am in the arduous process of getting the right DVD player to (at the very least) get me through until the HD-DVD/Bluray wars are over, or at least until a suitable player hits the market so I can jump on it.

I know that the 970 seems to be the model of choice amongst owners of 42" plasmas, from readin the entire forum,..even Oppo themselves, whom I spoke with, suggested that one for my plasma. I know that any MB issues were adressed on the 970 but there is the talk of some kind of pixel/size isseue with it that truncates the image on the screen a bit.

Ahhhh, but now the x-factor! With the Toshiba HD-A2 out, and slowly getting rave reviews about it, and with their upscaling abilites to be on par if not slightly better than the Oppos, and with the feeling (by reading forums, internet articles, etc) that the HD-DVD/Blurays wars may either drag out for a few years or not have a clear winner at all (for example: theHD-DVD and Bluray camps might just live together side by side) I am leaning towards being a semi-early adopter and going for the A2.

-------

Can I live with the Oppo for a while? I am sure I could. But the quality of the HD-DVD players may be too tempting to resist. Worst case scenario, the HD-DVD player could just be a top of the line upscaler that supposedly is better than the Oppo with no MB issues, until more titles come out on HD-DVD (and by looking at the upcoming titles list on the HD-DVD site, seems that a LOT of great movies will be coming out next year).

I don't know,...any thoughts out there?

: )
My thoughts -- Like many others I have decided to wait out the HD-DVD/Blu-ray wars and have recently purchased the Oppo 970 for my HT system (which inlcudes a Panny 42" plasma). So far I'm very pleased with both the PQ and SQ of the Oppo 970 via 1080i HDMI to/through my Pioneer Elite VSX-72TXV to the Panny 42" (PQ) as well as my 5.1 speaker system (SQ).

So -- up front -- I admit that I don't have any "hand on" experience with the new hi-res DVD formats -- but I have a basic question.

The new hi-res disks/players deliver 1080p video with an inherent resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. A display such as the Panny 42" THPX60U has a resolution of 1024x768 pixels delivering 720p or 1080i (not 1080p) video. Also -- I don't know anything about the Onkyo TXSR804 AVR, but assuming you plan to use it as a central video switcher in your system (like I use the Pio 72), can it handle 1080p video?

Seems to me a system is only as good as its weakest link -- in this case the video display -- or maybe also the Onkyo AVR. So unless you plan to get a new 1080p display, wouldn't you just be wasting your money on a 1080p player and hi-res disks?

If you truly intend to sit out the near-term format wars and stick with your current 42" Panny plasma, I would think a good 1080i upscaling player like the Oppo 970 is just right -- especially for the $149 price tag. Of course, you could probably get a decent 1080i upscaling DVD player for less money, but to me the availability of excellent quality SACD and DVD-A were terrific bonuses that pushed me over the top in favor of the Oppo 970. (If you haven't heard the SACD remix of DSOTM you're missing one of life's truly amazing audio experiences :D -- highly recommended!!)

My $0.02 -- FWIW.

quick calibration question:

I've got the Star Wars ATOTC DVD and have used the THX optimzer in the past. How does this compare to AVIA or DVE? i've read that some people say that the sharpness test patterns have a bit of ringing or EE on the DVE discs. i find it a little hard to set sharpness bright and contrast sometimes. maybe my eyes are a little fuzzy, but the lines are never un blurred with sharpness unless it's all the way up, the contrast is likewise all the way up as well according to the instructions on the disc. would i be better off to invest in AVIA or DVE?

I searched and searched and finally found an answer to my question, and what I found was that, yes, Oppo recommends the use of the 970 with DLP sets due to the potential for macroblocking.

I've just received my 970 from Surf Audio and proceeded to hook it up to my Yamaha rxv2600 using HDMI for audio, however, I'm not sure I'm getting 96/24 at the yamaha. Do I need to use the multi cable set up from the player to the receiver in order to play DVD -A properly?

It's the exact same as 3A-0916. They just installed it at the factory so they gave it the 3A-0919 number to avoid confusion, no different.

Thanks to all who responded to my question. This list is a great resource!

JR

If by 'properly' you mean , at the original bitdepth/sample rate, that depends on your AVR, and whether it keeps the input at the same rates. The Oppo can output 96/24 via HDMI.
Application of compute-intensive DSP (like DPL II) in the AVR might lead to it resampling to a lower rate, e.g. 48 kHz, but it's unlikely you'd hear the effects of that. In my experience many AVRs can display the input sample rate/bit depth, but I can't think of any that tell you the numbers at output

Proper hookup and settings for digital passage of DVD-A and SACD are detailed in the 'supplemental' User Manual that came with the Oppo.

hi, I just got my 970hd a couple of weeks ago and have been fooling around with it. I have toshiba 52hm95 dlp display. I have both the hdmi and component outs connected to the tv to compare. I seem to have what I think is macroblocking on some scenes, especially ones with smoke or fog with the hdmi connection but none on the component connection. I have tried all display modes I can't discern a difference between 720p and 1080i. I have not been using copy protected discs yet so from what I have read here is that when i do use one , i wont be able to upconvert to the component out. Hence my problem, anyone have any suggestions for getting rid of / minimizing the macroblocking of the hdmi out?

The 970 doesn't have Sage/Fourdja (sp) processing, so won't produce MB enhancement. Instead it has a mediatek all in one solution. When comparing make sure you have each input calibrated properly (this assumes you can have seperate calibrations for each input which I think the tosh supports). maybe your display has dcdi technology inside?

As stated many places in this forum, including the upconverting sticky at the top, seeing or not seeing an improvement from upscaling depends on the scaler in the display. if it's better than that in the player then generally you'll see no improvement, if not then you might see improvement.

Best,
jeff

Ok i have been looking at my tv's spec sheet trying to figure out what scaler it has and I can't tell. Has the TALEN DLP engine, toshiba pixelpure AT, 3DYC (4MB, 10 Bit) Digital Comb Filter, any of these answer that question. 2nd way to get around this I guess is if there is a mod that will indeed upconvert commercial dvd's for the component ? If so where do i get this ?

usually if it has DCDi, it'll say DCDi.
For component upconversion, search is your friend. search this thread for "hack".


http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=8189937&&#post8189937

has anyone seen the review of the 970HD in the January issue of The Absolute Sound? i've heard that it's pretty good.

Thanks Krabapple,
I just hooked up the multi channel wire array from the oppo to the Yammi and I'm still not sure of whats what.
When using multi channel imput the processing of the receiver is removed so it sounds differentl, but I'm not sure that its better.
In my previous set up Toshiba DVD and B&K pre amp I knew exactly what the pre amp was getting. Now I'm in the dark.
Helier

ok thanks, i'll try it tonight. Thanks for posting the page, I read the first 15 pages of this topic and it took a couple of hours so there is no way I could have found it. guess search is my friend :P

I’m confused about something. What part does the internal (?) crossover in the Oppo play in my overall system settings? If I set my Velo sub for 120Hz crossover is the Oppo making that not happen because it’s set internally to 80Hz?

*scratches head*

:confused:

The OPPO's internal crossover is applied to the five full-range channels (left, right, center, left surround, right surround) so that material in those channels is redirected to the subwoofer (where it joins the LFE channel, if there is one). This is done only if the speakers are set to small and you are using either the multichannel analog output or the HDMI output with a source that is decoded internally to the player (DVD-A and SACD only if you have the "HDMI Audio" setting on "Auto"). For the coaxial or optical output, the OPPO's crossover is not being applied at all.

With the crossover on your Velodyne set to 120Hz, the sub discards any data above 120Hz that is sent to it. If you have a surround receiver that offers bass management, it's best to either set the sub's crossover as high as possible or (even better, if possible) bypass the sub's crossover entirely.

The OPPO's internal crossover is applied to the five full-range channels (left, right, center, left surround, right surround) so that material in those channels is redirected to the subwoofer (where it joins the LFE channel, if there is one). This is done only if the speakers are set to small and you are using either the multichannel analog output or the HDMI output with a source that is decoded internally to the player (DVD-A and SACD only if you have the "HDMI Audio" setting on "Auto"). For the coaxial or optical output, the OPPO's crossover is not being applied at all.

With the crossover on your Velodyne set to 120Hz, the sub discards any data above 120Hz that is sent to it. If you have a surround receiver that offers bass management, it's best to either set the sub's crossover as high as possible or (even better, if possible) bypass the sub's crossover entirely.

Thanks for clearing that up Gonk. I have a Harmon Kardon AVR125, I'm not really sure it it has bass management. I have my Oppo speakers selection set to large and on the H/K speakers set to small. I'm using optical out form the Oppo so sounds like I'm setup correctly.

(Xover is off on my Velodyne too)

Thank you!
BR

The new hi-res disks/players deliver 1080p video with an inherent resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. A display such as the Panny 42" THPX60U has a resolution of 1024x768 pixels delivering 720p or 1080i (not 1080p) video.

Seems to me a system is only as good as its weakest link -- in this case the video display -- or maybe also the Onkyo AVR. So unless you plan to get a new 1080p display, wouldn't you just be wasting your money on a 1080p player and hi-res disks?

A 1024x768 display has 786,432 pixels.
A DVD has a resolution of 345,600 pixels.

The display may not be able to take advantage of the full potential of an HD disc format (2,073,600 pixels), but it's got at least 2 1/4 times more resolution available than you'll ever get out of a DVD, and right now you're not doing anything with it.

quick calibration question:

I've got the Star Wars ATOTC DVD and have used the THX optimzer in the past. How does this compare to AVIA or DVE? i've read that some people say that the sharpness test patterns have a bit of ringing or EE on the DVE discs. i find it a little hard to set sharpness bright and contrast sometimes. maybe my eyes are a little fuzzy, but the lines are never un blurred with sharpness unless it's all the way up, the contrast is likewise all the way up as well according to the instructions on the disc. would i be better off to invest in AVIA or DVE?

The THX Optimizer patterns have a lot of inherent design and implementation flaws, and aren't a reliable tool for calibration. For one thing, it's contrast setting (the "blooming" test) is designed for analog CRT monitors, not a digital display. If you've got your contrast cranked all the way up, that's way, way, way wrong.

You should buy a copy of Digital Video Essentials. It costs $18 or less at most retailers. There's no excuse to not own a copy.

The THX Optimizer patterns have a lot of inherent design and implementation flaws, and aren't a reliable tool for calibration. For one thing, it's contrast setting (the "blooming" test) is designed for analog CRT monitors, not a digital display. If you've got your contrast cranked all the way up, that's way, way, way wrong.

You should buy a copy of Digital Video Essentials. It costs $18 or less at most retailers. There's no excuse to not own a copy.

thanks josh. i didn't leave them set that high, i reverted them back to normal. in your opinion, are DVE and AVIA about the same? I've heard one has better patterns than the other, but haven't delved that deep into the matter. One thing i think i remember is that one or the other is significantly older than the other.

I tried to hook up my external hard drive to the oppo 970 via usb. It gave me an error message and said the drive could not be read. I have an extensive collection of ogm and avi files i would like to watch and not burn to dual layers. Can anyone suggest how to fix this or will it not support an external hard drive?

The new hi-res disks/players deliver 1080p video with an inherent resolution of 1920x1080 pixels. A display such as the Panny 42" THPX60U has a resolution of 1024x768 pixels delivering 720p or 1080i (not 1080p) video. Also -- I don't know anything about the Onkyo TXSR804 AVR, but assuming you plan to use it as a central video switcher in your system (like I use the Pio 72), can it handle 1080p video?

Yes, the Onkyo TX-804 AVR can handle a 1080p signal.

Seems to me a system is only as good as its weakest link -- in this case the video display -- or maybe also the Onkyo AVR. So unless you plan to get a new 1080p display, wouldn't you just be wasting your money on a 1080p player and hi-res disks?

Well that is the $1,000,000 question at this point. The way I am looking at it, is how much better is the HD quality of a second generation Toshiba A2 playing an HD-DVD disk as oppsoed to the same DVD title being upscaled on the Oppo, even if the display is not a native 1080p display? MY feeling from consensus here is that it is that much better than the Oppo, enough to warrant wading to the dep end of the pool in the HD-DVD age we have entered. I guess the only true definitive answer for now would be an A/B comparison. Any one out there who has had the priveleg of doing such a side-by-side analysis between an Oppo 970 and an HD-DVD player,..please feel free to add to this conversation.

If you truly intend to sit out the near-term format wars and stick with your current 42" Panny plasma, I would think a good 1080i upscaling player like the Oppo 970 is just right -- especially for the $149 price tag. Of course, you could probably get a decent 1080i upscaling DVD player for less money, but to me the availability of excellent quality SACD and DVD-A were terrific bonuses that pushed me over the top in favor of the Oppo 970. (If you haven't heard the SACD remix of DSOTM you're missing one of life's truly amazing audio experiences :D -- highly recommended!!)

I kow that the impeccable rep that the 970 has for audio discs is outstanding and arguably the best in the field. That being said, given the cheap cost for the 970, worst case scenario, even if I do decide to get the A2, or any generation after down the rooad, I could always spring for the 970 anyway, and use it for top quality, almost reference-level music reproduction.

: )

Thanks for clearing that up Gonk. I have a Harmon Kardon AVR125, I'm not really sure it it has bass management. I have my Oppo speakers selection set to large and on the H/K speakers set to small. I'm using optical out form the Oppo so sounds like I'm setup correctly.

(Xover is off on my Velodyne too)

Thank you!
BR


If your AVR has an option for setting speakers 'large' or 'small', it almost certainly applies bass managment to digital input, as well as the two-channel (2 jack) analog input. For any channel set to small, all bass will be sent to the subwoofer. This is true whether or not your player has already applied some bass management. It's best not apply it more than once, because it's not good to apply cascading crossovers

Bass management may not apply to the analog multichannel (6 jack) panel though. Often they are just passthrough, and bass management should be applied beforehand , in the player, for any small speaker channels.

The Oppo 970HD, P50HDM, Pio VSX-816K, & SLS Q-Line Silver 5.1 were voted Bargin System of 2006 by The Perfect Vision.

http://www.avguide.com/features/tpv-poy-06/

thanks josh. i didn't leave them set that high, i reverted them back to normal. in your opinion, are DVE and AVIA about the same? I've heard one has better patterns than the other, but haven't delved that deep into the matter. One thing i think i remember is that one or the other is significantly older than the other.

Avia is easier to use and pretty much everything you need, but it's older and still more expensive. DVE has terrible menu navigation, but it has some patterns specifically tailored to digital displays and is only $18.

Thanks Krabapple,
I just hooked up the multi channel wire array from the oppo to the Yammi and I'm still not sure of whats what.

I don't think analog input will carry information about sampling rates and bit depths of hte source, so the receiver won't display any.

Avia is easier to use and pretty much everything you need, but it's older and still more expensive. DVE has terrible menu navigation, but it has some patterns specifically tailored to digital displays and is only $18.

DVE is indeed a pain to use if your player doesn't support direct title navigation. However, the GoTo navigation feature on the 970 allows you to directly navigate to the title and chapter on DVE overcoming the navigation problem.

has anyone seen the review of the 970HD in the January issue of The Absolute Sound? i've heard that it's pretty good.

Only good things to say, some minor crits that it may be too analytical:

"A $149 Giant Killer?

Excellent overall transparency, and detail, good measure of treble smoothness, taut, clean (though occasionally to lean) bass, and a persona that emphasis clarity more than it does warmth.

...evently balanced performance against all disc formats...

Compared to a Rega xport and a MF DAC it was less smooth in the upper midrange/treble region, a touch more forward and less fine-graind in the midrange, and somewhat less full-bodied and three-dimensional. But these drawbacks seem minor considering that the Oppo is the more verstitle player and that it cost less than one tenth what the CD combo does.

... fits equally well in home-theater or two-channel audio systems...

... SACD controls are a bit unorthodox...

... the 970 is the best low-priced universal player Ive heard. It does so much, so well, for so little, that it makes many higher-priced players seem like underachievers by comparison. "

Avia is easier to use and pretty much everything you need, but it's older and still more expensive. DVE has terrible menu navigation, but it has some patterns specifically tailored to digital displays and is only $18.

well it looks like i'm goinng for DVE then. do you know of any B&M retailers that carry it? i've looked at BB, but to no avail.

can i bring up the crossover topic again?
1. is the crossover OFFICIALLY at 100hz? or in truth at 80Hz?
2. why would it matter? if your recievers crossover would be set at 'x', then it wouldnt matter right?
3. if they do plan to do a firmware update, what would be the benefits if we look at question number 2?
4. i love my 970

Would the scaler in the 970HD be better than the one in my cheap 32" Westinghouse tv? Here are the specs:

Xilleon video processing delivers crisp images

3:2 inverse pulldown for accurate reproduction of film-based sources

Digital SERA de-interlacing and video processing corrects vibration, stair-stepping, cutoff and other standard video-processing artifacts

Having owned my 970 for about a month now, I got some time off for the holidaze and tried some (any actually) audio discs. I bought this unit for my bedroom which has great, but older (very much older) stereo components. So this is not going to be an audio review because it wouldn't be fair to compare it to my main listening room system. Just some intial CD playback observations.

First - yes it plays everything: redbook, 20bit DTS, HDCD, DVD-A, SACD, MP3, WMA! Which is pretty darn cool. And it plays them all pretty darn well. Again this is not an audio review, but I am an audiophile and can tell if the quality is there or it isn't there. It is there within the limits of this older system.

Some limitations:

* Album names are not displayed on either the player or the video display
* Track/Song titles are not displayed either place either
* There is a 1 to 3 second pause between every single SACD track/song change
* On some formats you do get a "TRACK##" directory listing
* Fast-forward and Rewind are more like skip and sample

So it does play everything, but usability leaves a bit to be desired compared to single purpose (well less than universal) players. Not complaining as I really only bought it to play DVDs. I haven't read the manual, so I may be missing something. Unless you read the manual, you probably will too :)

Styln

PS While trying out all these different CD formats and functions (including 'audio only') I noticed that my Vizio P50HD10A connected over HDMI was hosed. It had vertical pink hash lines running all across the screen. Now, this has never happened during the one month I've owned this TV. Changing to the TV tuner input didn't fix the problem, so it wasn't (directly) the Oppo. Pulling the plug on both corrected the problem. I don't want to implicate the Oppo just fully report my experience. This display has been working perfectly up until this incident. It has been working fine for the last two hours since the pink parade. Is it the Vizio, the Oppo or the interaction between the two during the CD format torture test? Don't know... yet.

can i bring up the crossover topic again?
1. is the crossover OFFICIALLY at 100hz? or in truth at 80Hz?
2. why would it matter? if your recievers crossover would be set at 'x', then it wouldnt matter right?
3. if they do plan to do a firmware update, what would be the benefits if we look at question number 2?
4. i love my 970Oppo is telling people now.

If using 5.1 analog output, the crossover on most receivers is bypassed. If using HDMI audio, most receivers (save for a few exceptions like the Panasonic SA-XR57) can apply their bass management. The Oppo doesn't apply its bass management to optical output.

Is Amazon and the Oppo website the only place its sold? Amazon says out of stock until late January, early February so I can't get free shipping :(

Is Amazon and the Oppo website the only place its sold? Amazon says out of stock until late January, early February so I can't get free shipping :(

http://www.oppodigital.com/wheretobuy.html

-Bill

I'm looking for a new DVD player to pair up with my Sony 46E2000 RPLCD. Which of these two would you recommend and why. I've heard good things about both players but the Oppo seems to come out ahead but I haven't seen any head to head comparisons. Would be interested in your thoughts. thanks.

Has anyone used this player with a Sanyo Z2 projector using HDMI to DVI? The Sanyo is well known to be flaky with HDCP issues (to my knowledge, the Toshiba HD-DVD players still don't work with it).

If the Oppo would upconvert via HDMI, and the Sanyo Z2 accept it, this player would be just what I need.

I have a Z2 and a HD970. If I directly connect the Z2 to the 970 the HDCP handshake would fail (a flash of OPPO splash screen then a screen of fine "snow"). Tried different cables, tried different power on sequences, also tried a friend's 970 with my projector, all with the same result. My 970 worked with his HT1000 - so its was not a problem with my particular 970.

Two things did work. My friend also has a VP50, putting the VP50 between the Z2 and 970 seemed to work. There is also hacked firmware available for the 970 that disables HDCP and allows the HD970 to put out 720p/1080i on it component outputs even if the DVD is encrypted (note a std. HD970 uses HDCP on the HDMI even if the disk isn't encrypted). The main down side is that it is derived from an older version of the firmware.

Hope this helps

I've had such success with my 971, that I bought a 970 to go with my scaler/RPTV. Needless to say, it's working flawlessly. Another beautiful job by the folks at Oppo.

Here's a Pronto CCF device to control the 970, which is based upon the control codes found in the Excel spreadsheet found HERE (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/download/remote%20key%20code%20dv970hd.xls) .

I have a Z2 and a HD970. If I directly connect the Z2 to the 970 the HDCP handshake would fail (a flash of OPPO splash screen then a screen of fine "snow"). Tried different cables, tried different power on sequences, also tried a friend's 970 with my projector, all with the same result. My 970 worked with his HT1000 - so its was not a problem with my particular 970.

Two things did work. My friend also has a VP50, putting the VP50 between the Z2 and 970 seemed to work. There is also hacked firmware available for the 970 that disables HDCP and allows the HD970 to put out 720p/1080i on it component outputs even if the DVD is encrypted (note a std. HD970 uses HDCP on the HDMI even if the disk isn't encrypted). The main down side is that it is derived from an older version of the firmware.

Hope this helps

Thanks. That's what I was afraid of. I really don't want to go to an earlier version of the firmware, because I want the gapless SACD playback.

It is pretty obvious by now that the HDCP problems reside with the Z2, and not with the source devices.

I'Here's a Pronto CCF device to control the 970, which is based upon the control codes found in the Excel spreadsheet found HERE (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/download/remote%20key%20code%20dv970hd.xls) .


What are those codes for?

Oppo is telling people now.

If using 5.1 analog output, the crossover on most receivers is bypassed. If using HDMI audio, most receivers (save for a few exceptions like the Panasonic SA-XR57) can apply their bass management. The Oppo doesn't apply its bass management to optical output.

thanks for the heads up bfdtv. great job on that one.

styln,
there is a BETA firmware update available on their website, under the support tag. this is to remove the gap for sacds.

What are those codes for?

If you use a Pronto universal remote control, you can load this file into your configuration, and you're able to control the Oppo with it.

:confused: Weird thing, when I connect Oppo 970HD to my Mother-in-laws Panasonic TH-42PX50U Plasma via HDMI, I seem to be lose a very narrow amount of audio on one particular DVD, "Love Actually". I'm not experiencing this with other DVD's or playing this particular DVD on her older Progressive Scan (420P) DVD connected via Component Cable.

Specifically, I lose a part of the dialog in every scene. In the opening scene, for example, I can hear the backup singers, the record producer, and narrator, but I can't here Bill Nye as he sings his solo or his dialog as he "curses" the song. Again, it doesn't happen when I play the DVD on a older non-upconverting DVD.

Any guesses as to why this is happening. Does this Panasonic have an "older" version of HDMI that makes it less compatible with HDMI today? Should I just except that this TV is best hooked up via Component.

I hope some of you have idea, I've just gotten her to return a Bose Lifestyle 28 system and had her replace that with a Bose Acoutimass 10 (basically the Lifestyle w/o the Bose receiver) and an Onkyo 674. I wanted to help her get the most out of her 1080i Plasma while "near-future" proofing her home theater system, so that in a few years if she decides to replace the Panasonic, she won't have to upgrade the rest of her home theater (at least that's the plan)

I have a Canon Powershot A510 digital camera. This is a still camera, but has an option of creating small videos up to 3 minutes long. This is a nice feature, because I don't really need fancy movie camera to shoot 2-hr home movies. I shoot short clips to save interesting moments of my life and this is enough for me.

I tried to play these videos on OPPO 970 from Secure Media card that I pulled out of the camera, but the player could not it. Bummer, I was hoping of watching videos directly from the memory card instead of creating a DVD. Have anyone encountered such an issue? If not, I will file a bug report with OPPO.

Attached are the properties of one of these files.

I can watch these movies on my computer using either Windows Media Player or BSPlayer. When I opened this file in my general viewer app, which I use to view text files, it said: "Video not available, cannot find 'vids:mjpg' decompressor". I do not know much about different video codecs, but most other movies that I have seem to have "DIV3" or "DX50" compressor type (see attachment 3 for hex view). So, maybe OPPO 970 does not have this particuar "MJPG" decompressor? If so, can this be fixed?

How is playing PAL DVDs with the 970HD to a PAL monitor? I am buying a Panasonic 9UK display so I'm considering the 970HD instead of the 971, which would play better PAL disks, but will risk having macroblocking.

Thanks.

:confused: Weird thing, when I connect Oppo 970HD to my Mother-in-laws Panasonic TH-42PX50U Plasma via HDMI, I seem to be lose a very narrow amount of audio on one particular DVD, "Love Actually". I'm not experiencing this with other DVD's or playing this particular DVD on her older Progressive Scan (420P) DVD connected via Component Cable.

Specifically, I lose a part of the dialog in every scene. In the opening scene, for example, I can hear the backup singers, the record producer, and narrator, but I can't here Bill Nye as he sings his solo or his dialog as he "curses" the song. Again, it doesn't happen when I play the DVD on a older non-upconverting DVD.

Any guesses as to why this is happening. Does this Panasonic have an "older" version of HDMI that makes it less compatible with HDMI today? Should I just except that this TV is best hooked up via Component.

I hope some of you have idea, I've just gotten her to return a Bose Lifestyle 28 system and had her replace that with a Bose Acoutimass 10 (basically the Lifestyle w/o the Bose receiver) and an Onkyo 674. I wanted to help her get the most out of her 1080i Plasma while "near-future" proofing her home theater system, so that in a few years if she decides to replace the Panasonic, she won't have to upgrade the rest of her home theater (at least that's the plan)

I only have the Oppo and none of the other pieces, but I would verify your settings on the Oppo to properly pass non-enhanced audio:

Speaker setup page
Downmix: 5.1 ch
Front speaker: LARGE
Center speaker: LARGE
Rear speaker: LARGE
Subwoofer: ON

Audio setup page
SPDIF output: RAW
HDMI audio: Auto

The other thing to try (if possible) is to make sure the HDMI is set to output 720p or 1080i. The HDMI spec restricts the bandwidth available for audio if the video is at 480i/p.

I have a Canon Powershot A510 digital camera. This is a still camera, but has an option of creating small videos up to 3 minutes long. This is a nice feature, because I don't really need fancy movie camera to shoot 2-hr home movies. I shoot short clips to save interesting moments of my life and this is enough for me.

I tried to play these videos on OPPO 970 from Secure Media card that I pulled out of the camera, but the player could not it. Bummer, I was hoping of watching videos directly from the memory card instead of creating a DVD. Have anyone encountered such an issue? If not, I will file a bug report with OPPO.

Attached are the properties of one of these files.

I can watch these movies on my computer using either Windows Media Player or BSPlayer. When I opened this file in my general viewer app, which I use to view text files, it said: "Video not available, cannot find 'vids:mjpg' decompressor". I do not know much about different video codecs, but most other movies that I have seem to have "DIV3" or "DX50" compressor type (see attachment 3 for hex view). So, maybe OPPO 970 does not have this particuar "MJPG" decompressor? If so, can this be fixed?

I have a Cano A620 but haven't tried this feature yet. I'm on vacation and away from my toys, but I'll try this on my setup mid week and let you know how it goes. I'll have lots of material from the holidays :)

Merry Christmas!

I only have the Oppo and none of the other pieces, but I would verify your settings on the Oppo to properly pass non-enhanced audio:

Speaker setup page
Downmix: 5.1 ch
Front speaker: LARGE
Center speaker: LARGE
Rear speaker: LARGE
Subwoofer: ON

Audio setup page
SPDIF output: RAW
HDMI audio: Auto

The other thing to try (if possible) is to make sure the HDMI is set to output 720p or 1080i. The HDMI spec restricts the bandwidth available for audio if the video is at 480i/p.

:) :p :)
Thanks, but I figured things out. It dawned on me that the reason I was losing a single tract of sound was precisely because the Oppo was set to output audio 5.1 (you made me think...it was already set to 5.1)...I haven't hooked up the Bose 5.1 speaker system to my Mother-in-Laws TV; so, currently the audio passes through her TV speakers...her Panasonic simply couldn't "downconvert"(?) the audio signal out of the Oppo to stereo, without manually setting the Oppo's audio to stereo first...hence, piece of the sound tract was lost in that opening scene.

Made the Oppo audio switch to stereo and everything worked well.

Note: I did have to replace the Oppo supplied HDMI cable in order to connect the Oppo to the Panasonic before I started...it's nice that Oppo supplies a cable, but few things in life are truly "free"...it kept failing to send the video signal to the TV...once I replaced the cable with (cough) a Monster Cable HDMI cable, no problems with the video...just the audio issue described above that I was able to solve.

Merry Christmass Everybody!!!!!...


Lessons:
1). most things aren't broken, they're just not set up properly.
2). be sure you give all the "vitals" before you ask for advice.

Happy Holidays everyone! Thanks to this thread I bought the Oppo 970 a few months ago and I am glad I did. Thanks to everyone who has made this thread interesting and informative.

-- Rich

I've read that you can turn off the display on the 971, can you also do this with the 970? I searched the thread but all I could find was a few posts about it being possible in a beta test last June.

hi! there's one thing keeping me from this so far... allow me to explain:

i had a panasonic prog scan player that would turn into a complete stumble-bum whenever it came to a dvd that was slightly dirty to filthy-mangy, or slightly scratched to tortured with a brillo pad (i have been a Netflix subscriber since january 2001 and have truly seen it all in terms of disc atrocities).

the stupid thing would pixelate, pause, shut down, lock up, blue screen, lose sound, lose video, whatever. it was a disaster. a disc would look brand new and it would cough its way through it sometimes.

then i got a sony, which - if i recall correctly - had some patented system to burn through all that garbage. i thought, "yeah, right," but here i am 18 months of Netflix later, and - aside from the several discs that arrived broken in half - it has played everything without a hitch. i had one disc it had trouble with in the entire period, and flipping it over, i laughed. the dvd player of the gods would have failed on that one.

anyway, i am tempted to go with a sony to avoid this issue with the upconverter. i discovered the existence of oppo on these forums, and now want the 970.

i searched this gigantic thread for this subject and found one very brief exchange on this topic (page 33).

i want a second, third, fourth opinion. some of you that have had this thing since the summer, let me know about its reliability, especially if you watch rented discs frequently.

thanks!

oh - i'm going to be putting this thing together with a pioneer 4270 - anybody have that mix already? how's life?

anscules

I've read that you can turn off the display on the 971, can you also do this with the 970? I searched the thread but all I could find was a few posts about it being possible in a beta test last June.

All you have to do is press the button on the remote titled "Audio Only" and the video section shuts off. Again and it turns back on.

hi! there's one thing keeping me from this so far... allow me to explain:

i had a panasonic prog scan player that would turn into a complete stumble-bum whenever it came to a dvd that was slightly dirty to filthy-mangy, or slightly scratched to tortured with a brillo pad (i have been a Netflix subscriber since january 2001 and have truly seen it all in terms of disc atrocities).

the stupid thing would pixelate, pause, shut down, lock up, blue screen, lose sound, lose video, whatever. it was a disaster. a disc would look brand new and it would cough its way through it sometimes.

then i got a sony, which - if i recall correctly - had some patented system to burn through all that garbage. i thought, "yeah, right," but here i am 18 months of Netflix later, and - aside from the several discs that arrived broken in half - it has played everything without a hitch. i had one disc it had trouble with in the entire period, and flipping it over, i laughed. the dvd player of the gods would have failed on that one.

anyway, i am tempted to go with a sony to avoid this issue with the upconverter. i discovered the existence of oppo on these forums, and now want the 970.

i searched this gigantic thread for this subject and found one very brief exchange on this topic (page 33).

i want a second, third, fourth opinion. some of you that have had this thing since the summer, let me know about its reliability, especially if you watch rented discs frequently.

thanks!

oh - i'm going to be putting this thing together with a pioneer 4270 - anybody have that mix already? how's life?

anscules


I've had mine for about 3 months and I am also a Netflix subscriber. So far the 970 has had no problems with any thing they have sent me, some of which have been pretty scratched up.

All you have to do is press the button on the remote titled "Audio Only" and the video section shuts off. Again and it turns back on.

I was refering to the display on the front of the player. Its awfully bright. Can it be turned off like it can on the 971?

Which player would be better for a Samsung LN-S4051D 40" the 970 or 971?

I was refering to the display on the front of the player. Its awfully bright. Can it be turned off like it can on the 971?

Sorry I misunderstood what you were asking. To my knowledge, the front display is not even dimmable, much less disableable. It doesn't bother me, but then I am not a videophile. You might consider something as simple as this:

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/WF/3MWindowFilms/

I was refering to the display on the front of the player. Its awfully bright. Can it be turned off like it can on the 971?

No, it will not be able to be turned Off or dimmed due to the the front panel being LED based.

Quick question if it's been asked before I couldn't find it and I apologize in advance. If I apply the hack for the upconversion through component does anything else change with the player. In other words will I make it a more backward player or not. Also is the right color choice for that RBG or 4-4-4-4?? Thanks!

Anyone here using an OPPO 970HD with a Vizio GV42L 42 inch LCD panel (1366x768)? If so, what output resolution are you using? The Vizio accepts 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. Thanks in advance.

If I apply the hack for the upconversion through component does anything else change with the player. In other words will I make it a more backward player or not.

The hack is based on the 1A-0613 beta firmware, so you will not be getting the latest revision that fixes SACD gapless playback. So it depends, if the SACD fix is more important to you, you should apply the latest firmware instead...

Anyone here using an OPPO 970HD with a Vizio GV42L 42 inch LCD panel (1366x768)? If so, what output resolution are you using? The Vizio accepts 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. Thanks in advance.
720p will best fit for you display. But try them all, and see what your eyes like best.

-Gagan

Quick question if it's been asked before I couldn't find it and I apologize in advance. If I apply the hack for the upconversion through component does anything else change with the player. In other words will I make it a more backward player or not. Also is the right color choice for that RBG or 4-4-4-4?? Thanks!

You'll lose any fixes after 613A, but nothing major was fixed after 613A. Videowise, you shouldn't lose anything. Audiowise, you'll lose gapless SACD playback,

Also, over component, 4-4-4-4 is the correct choice.

Folks,
I have a question about the connectivity options for my Oppo 970 player. This is probably a very basic question for most of your pros here. The deal is this:
1) I have a audio receiver that accepts optical audio inputs, but has no HDMI capability
2) I have a HDTV that has HDMI inputs
3) My Oppo has HDMI and optical outputs


This is what I want to achieve:
1) I do not want to route audio through the TV as I do want to have to turn on the TV if I am simply listening to music.
2) Even when I am watching DVDs, I still want audio through my audio receiver due to its better sound quality.


I want to interface the Oppo such that I can get the video signal to the TV, but I want the audio to go to the receiver. If I were to do a HDMI connection between the TV and the OPPO, would I be able to simultaneously use the optical output from the Oppo to my receiver? Would the HDMI connection to the TV disable the optical audio output?


Thanks!

Folks,
I have a question about the connectivity options for my Oppo 970 player. This is probably a very basic question for most of your pros here. The deal is this:
1) I have a audio receiver that accepts optical audio inputs, but has no HDMI capability
2) I have a HDTV that has HDMI inputs
3) My Oppo has HDMI and optical outputs

I want to interface the Oppo such that I can get the video signal to the TV, but I want the audio to go to the receiver. If I were to do a HDMI connection between the TV and the OPPO, would I be able to simultaneously use the optical output from the Oppo to my receiver? Do I have to disable the audio component in the HDMI connection?

I do not want to route audio through the TV as I do want to have to turn on the TV if I am simply listening to music.

Thanks!
All of the audio outputs on the Oppo's are live. So yes, you can use optical output to your receiver, and use hdmi for video to your TV. This is exacly how i have setup my 970hd.

If you do not want the audio signal to be transmitted to your tv via HDMI, you can turn this feature off via the setup menu on the oppo player.

-Gagan

All of the audio outputs on the Oppo's are live. So yes, you can use optical output to your receiver, and use hdmi for video to your TV. This is exacly how i have setup my 970hd.

If you do not want the audio signal to be transmitted to your tv via HDMI, you can turn this feature off via the setup menu on the oppo player.

-Gagan

...or just turn the volume down on the TV when you don't need it and use your receiver for audio.

JR

wow, thanks for all that info!

I am interested in purchasing the Oppo DV-970HD player as an upgrade to my current Sony DVP-NS50P DVD Player to take advantage of DVD-A, SACD and hopefully some improvements in sound and picture quality; however, I do not own an HDTV.

I have read most of this thread and searched to find an answer as to what I can expect in terms of improvement in sound and picture quality or even if this would be a waste of money considering the analog Trinitron. Alas, no one seems to own anything less than an HDTV.

I currently have the following:

1. Sony KV-35S41 Trinitron 35” TV
2. Sony DVP-NS50P DVD Player
3. Pioneer VSX-1016TXV-k A/V Receiver
4. SVSound SBS-01 5.1 Speaker System (Black)

Unfortunately, I will not be upgrading my display for the foreseeable future and thus the question begs, will I see an improvement over the Sony DVP-NS50P player in any fashion?

Thank you in advance for any responses.

Folks,
This is what I want to achieve:
1) I do not want to route audio through the TV as I do want to have to turn on the TV if I am simply listening to music.
2) Even when I am watching DVDs, I still want audio through my audio receiver due to its better sound quality.

Dolby Digital and DTS are available through the co-axial and optical outputs -- so the previous replies have been "right on" for regular digital DVD sources (DD, DTS).

But just to cover all the bases -- IF you are interested in SACD and/or DVD-Audio, those are only available via HDMI (PCM) or 5.1 analog.

...will I see an improvement over the Sony DVP-NS50P player in any fashion?....
I'd just wait until you have a new display. The Oppo is only going to be able to send a 480i signal to your present Sony set, just like your Sony DVD player, and doubtful you would really notice it. For sound though, the ability to play DVD-Audio and SACD if you have a surround sound receiver with 5.1 analog inputs is very nice.

Are you keeping that set to save yourself the herniation from moving it??? :D

I'm still concerned about the "squeeze" issue on this player when playing 1080i (720p also has it IIRC). I will be using th3 970 with the hacked firmware upconverting via component.
The player will be connected to a 73'' mits 2nd gen HD-ready rp crt. How much really "off" is it when it squeezes? How do others compensate or do you just get used to it?

Best,
jeff

Hi there,

I'm now using an Infocus X1 and I'm having problems trying to toggle it to 480p. Once I switch my Oppo to 480p, my Infocus shows a split screen. Toggling it back to 480i is fine but the interlaced image is driving me nuts. Is there a fix for that? My old Pioneer dvd player and my HTPC seems to be fine with the 480p setting on the projector but not the with the Oppo.

I plan to buy an Optoma HD70 to go with my Oppo 970HD if there is no fix for the problem. I'm wondering if anyone can advise me if there are any compatibility problems between the two.

thanks

Is Oppo still working on a fix to the slightly "squeezed" output?

I'd just wait until you have a new display. The Oppo is only going to be able to send a 480i signal to your present Sony set, just like your Sony DVD player, and doubtful you would really notice it. For sound though, the ability to play DVD-Audio and SACD if you have a surround sound receiver with 5.1 analog inputs is very nice.

Are you keeping that set to save yourself the herniation from moving it??? :D

Yes, my Pio 1016TXV Receiver has the 5.1 Analog inputs so I should have no problem enjoying the added benefits of SACD and DVD-A. On the display side, yeah, the 35" Trinitron is a pig and I truly have no desire to move it. On the other hand it is in an oak EC (Entertainment Center) that fits it perfectly. Nothing "wider" would ever fit and thus I would have to convince the wife to 86 the TV/EC for a new display. No luck thus far.

Thanks for the response.

I'm still concerned about the "squeeze" issue on this player when playing 1080i (720p also has it IIRC). I will be using th3 970 with the hacked firmware upconverting via component.
The player will be connected to a 73'' mits 2nd gen HD-ready rp crt. How much really "off" is it when it squeezes? How do others compensate or do you just get used to it?

Best,
jeff

I was concerned with this as well before I bought the 970. The squeeze isn't too drastic IMO. If you A/B the two resolutions 480/720, i only lose about 1/2" max from the top and bottom. I don't even use the upconverted resolutions anymore. 480i over HDMI looks great on my Pioneer and I could see no significant detal difference between the two. The major difference I could see was more vibrant colors. Once I calibrated via DVE, the colors have just as much punch as the unconverted versions and there was a significant improvement once the bright/cont. was adjusted. hope this helps.

Thanks Krabapple,
I just hooked up the multi channel wire array from the oppo to the Yammi and I'm still not sure of whats what.
When using multi channel imput the processing of the receiver is removed so it sounds differentl, but I'm not sure that its better.
In my previous set up Toshiba DVD and B&K pre amp I knew exactly what the pre amp was getting. Now I'm in the dark.
Helier
I'm not sure if this will help but in order to get full 5.1 ch SACD and DVD-A one needs to set HDMI setting to either 720p or 1080i. Apperantly this increase bandwith via HDMI connection from the player that includes sound.

If you are connecting via HDMI, use the YCbCr 4:4:4 color space. Most eny device that has an HDMI connector should support YCbCr. RGB is typically used when you convert the HDMI output to DVI for use on a set that ony supports DVI with RGB.

If the colors look off, you can change to RGB, but I'd try YCbCr 4:4:4 first.


David Abrams [Eliab's business partner] had my tv calibrated and put my Oppo into RGB, and showing to me that one of his test pattern[part of ot] wasn't visible with the YCbCr 4:4:4 setting and Auto was also unreliable[once it was fine once it wasn't]
After calibration colors looks spectecular, so I'm guessing RGB is the way to go.
The tv is Samsung HLS-5678W.

I was concerned with this as well before I bought the 970. The squeeze isn't too drastic IMO. If you A/B the two resolutions 480/720, i only lose about 1/2" max from the top and bottom. I don't even use the upconverted resolutions anymore. 480i over HDMI looks great on my Pioneer and I could see no significant detal difference between the two. [snip] hope this helps.

Thanks for the the input. HDMI/DVI are not an option as the set is old. Is that 1/2'' max vertically on what size display? The squeeze should depend on the display size.

If a fix comes from Oppo, then I hope the firmware hackers will release a new hacked version.

Best,
jeff

Press Setup.
Press 9210 in quick succession. A new window will appear.
Press 0.
Press Setup to Exit.

By selecting "0" for a Region and making this player now Region Free , will that have any effect on MacroVision coding or HDCP protected disks ? I thought I remembered somewhere that these could be affected by such a change . Maybe not :confused:

Scott.....................

By selecting "0" for a Region and making this player now Region Free , will that have any effect on MacroVision coding or HDCP protected disks ? I thought I remembered somewhere that these could be affected by such a change . Maybe not :confused:

Scott.....................
If it does, it's simple to set it to region 1.

does anyone have a samsung 5053 plasma and use the 970? i just bought it b/c i heard the 971 might cause too much macroblocking with the samsung. any feedback is appreciated.

Plasma display little, if no, macroblocking. But you will be extremely happy with the 970.

-Gagan

4A-1220 Beta Firmware (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-4a-1220.html) released. This firmware has the SACD gapless playback fix and the following:

Super Audio CD (SACD) Track Number Display

With previous firmware version, the front panel display of SACD track number indicates the selected/highlighted track in the user interface, but not the currently playing track. This firmware version makes the front panel display show the currently playing track number. Users who do not turn on their TV while listening to SACD can now check the track number by looking at the front panel display.

4A-1220 Beta Firmware (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-4a-1220.html) released. This firmware has the SACD gapless playback fix and the following:

Super Audio CD (SACD) Track Number Display

With previous firmware version, the front panel display of SACD track number indicates the selected/highlighted track in the user interface, but not the currently playing track. This firmware version makes the front panel display show the currently playing track number. Users who do not turn on their TV while listening to SACD can now check the track number by looking at the front panel display.

Seems to work as advertised....

What is the maximum resolution or bitrate of DivX encoded files supported the 970HD? The specs only mention the "Home Theater Profile" specification. Thanks!

Thanks for the the input. HDMI/DVI are not an option as the set is old. Is that 1/2'' max vertically on what size display? The squeeze should depend on the display size.

If a fix comes from Oppo, then I hope the firmware hackers will release a new hacked version.

Best,
jeff

yeah i would imagine the display size would make a difference. mine is 43". to put it another way, for the average person who isn't looking for it, you probably wouldn't even know.

Which player would be better for a Samsung LN-S4051D 40" the 970 or 971?

Anyone?

yeah i would imagine the display size would make a difference. mine is 43". to put it another way, for the average person who isn't looking for it, you probably wouldn't even know.

Oppo states the squeeze is 5-10 pixels/scanlines. on my display, 73'' diagonal gives 36in vertical with 1080 scan lines. This is between 0.15in and 0.3in, for my display.

I should just use the 30day try-out...

Best,
jeff

Oppo states the squeeze is 5-10 pixels/scanlines. on my display, 73'' diagonal gives 36in vertical with 1080 scan lines. This is between 0.15in and 0.3in, for my display.

I should just use the 30day try-out...

Best,
jeff

That should not even be noticed on your CRT RPTV. You probably have 2-5% overscan on the set and it would be hidden in the overscan area.

So I was reading in another thread and it stated that the 970 (which I have) applies bass management to the digital outs no matter what *(even if you turn it off) and also something about the LFE level being -5 dB down. Didnt come up with much searching "audio" in this thread or LFE - can anyone clarify this for me or is it even true? Thanks.

Which player would be better for a Samsung LN-S4051D 40" the 970 or 971?
I can't answer your question directly, but I have seen quite few posts that mention getting this kind of advice from Oppo's tech support team and I would recommend that approach to you.

I have exchanged a number of e-mails with their tech team on other topics and found the replies to be prompt and thoughtful -- and they answer the question(s) directly rather than simply supply some "canned"response. Other posters have had similar experience with the support they have received -- whether it is pre-sale or post-sale.

I can't answer your question directly, but I have seen quite few posts that mention getting this kind of advice from Oppo's tech support team and I would recommend that approach to you.

I have exchanged a number of e-mails with their tech team on other topics and found the replies to be prompt and thoughtful -- and they answer the question(s) directly rather than simply supply some "canned"response. Other posters have had similar experience with the support they have received -- whether it is pre-sale or post-sale.

Thanks for the response. I'll shoot them an email, but I think I'm leaning toward the 970. :)






I have a questin about back up copies made using DVD X Copy Platinum Edition. Will this player play these discs at all? If so will they up convert using HDMI? I'm a newbie with all of this so any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, J.T.

So I was reading in another thread and it stated that the 970 (which I have) applies bass management to the digital outs no matter what *(even if you turn it off) and also something about the LFE level being -5 dB down. Didnt come up with much searching "audio" in this thread or LFE - can anyone clarify this for me or is it even true? Thanks.
On the contrary, the 970 will not apply any bass management to the optical or coaxial digital outputs, no matter what the settings are. If you use the HDMI output's audio, you can set it up to apply bass management, but it can also be disabled.

If you use the HDMI output's audio, you can set it up to apply bass management, but it can also be disabled. or, the 5.1 analog outs.

or, the 5.1 analog outs.
Exactly right - I was only talking about the digital outputs, but the analog also allow bass management but do not require it.

OK, I recognize that a lot of this is going to be deep in Newbie territory so first off, I appreciate any time and patience you can offer with this question. I've tried to read through a lot of this thread ang glean some answers but feel like it's likely best to frame and ask my question clearly.

Here's the situation. I run screening events at a small nonprofit venue and we have a fairly decent budget projection system that we purchased about 3 years ago which has served us well. Essentially a NEC LT260 projector with a Panasonic XP30 DVD player with sound run through our house PA. The NEC's been a great projector and hasn't had a problem but the XP30, due to heavy misuse, is giving up the ghost. In reading about new DVD players, I came across some rave reviews for the Oppo 971 DVD player and thought this would be a great replacement for the XP30 and we would probably benefit from the better image quality due to upconverting. Alas, the LT260 has no DVI input, so after emailing Oppo for any suggestions, I got a recommendation that the 970 has upconverting thrugh it's component outs for non CSS-encrypted DVDs and sort of a wink-wink mention that third party firmware could allow upconversion for CSS-encrypted discs (though Oppo can't support these, of course).

My question . . . If we buy and hack the Oppo 970 and run component video out of the deck into the NEC LT260 will we see a noticeable improvment of our image? Are there any factors to this that should be considered? The image is usually projected at 8' to 10' feet wide depending on ratio, viewing angle, subtitles, etc . . . Does this size mitigate any improvements?

Ideally, we'll probably hang onto the NEC for a couple more years until it starts to peter out and then buy into whatever reasonably-priced upgrade is affordable at the time but if we can put $150 into an Oppo 970 and get a decent image boost from it now, that's a reasonable upgrade. If not, we'll probably just get something like a Sony NS55P now and save the $100 difference toward the future.

The LT260 claims HD compatability:
Compatibility: HDTV:
1080i, 720p
EDTV/480p: Yes
SDTV/480i: Yes
Component Video: Yes
Video: Yes
Digital Input: No

Full specs at a glance here: projectorcentral[dot]com/NEC-LT260[dot]htm

Thanks very much in advance for any help and guidance!

THANK YOU OPPO for the SACD fix - everything works great!!

What is the maximum resolution or bitrate of DivX encoded files supported the 970HD? The specs only mention the "Home Theater Profile" specification. Thanks!

720x480 (NTSC) and 720x576 (PAL) pixels.
8Mbits.

My question . . . If we buy and hack the Oppo 970 and run component video out of the deck into the NEC LT260 will we see a noticeable improvment of our image?

With the DV-970HD you can't really go wrong with the purchase, especially since you are in a situation where your current DVD player is no longer functioning to your standards. The DV-970HD produces a damned good picture for a 150 dollar piece of equipment, and I have seen it run on some very large screens with some amazing results.

The DV-970HD use a motion adaptive de-interlacing chipset, which means you should see less jagged edges and combing errors on your display over your current DVD player. How much a difference you will see greatly depends on the de-interlacing capabilities of your previous Panasonic XP30 and the projector. Your eyes will also make a difference as well, as some are more critical than others.

I'm in... I ordered it today and it's to arrive tomorrow. It'll replace a zenith 318 and a pioneer 563a. I'm tried of MB enhancement which seems to be apparent on more and more discs these days....

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.
Best,
jeff

I'm in... I ordered it today and it's to arrive tomorrow. It'll replace a zenith 318 and a pioneer 563a. I'm tried of MB enhancement which seems to be apparent on more and more discs these days....

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread.
Best,
jeff
:D Enjoy!! :D

How much a difference you will see greatly depends on the de-interlacing capabilities of your previous Panasonic XP30 and the projector. Your eyes will also make a difference as well, as some are more critical than others.

Thanks for the response, Neuromancer. At the time of it's purchase, the XP30 was a very highly rated player for it's price range. It's been on the fritz for several months and we've been using one of the $40 no-name players from the gallery so I assume anything will be an improvement.

[There's a very sad/funny side-story about how the XP30 was used by a gallery assistant for a piece of installation art where it was built into a fake hill of sod with television monitors and then, more-or-less waterered for several weeks before I noticed that they had used it instead of one of the cheap players we had set aside for that purpose. Didn't do a lot to help the player's performance or lifespan I can report. Still getting over that one.]

I guess my question is: will the hacked $150 Oppo 970 perform significantly better than say the $60 Sony NS55P (or comparable, sub$100 consumer model) on our particular system (see description of said system in previous post)? And when I say "noticeably" I guess I'm asking: will an untrained layman's eye notice an improvement or is that $90 better saved on the Oppo towards an upgrade in our entire system (projector and all) in a couple of years? (As a small nonprofit with a perpetually tight budget, yes, $90 is a significant enough amount to think about).

Anyone else using a hacked Oppo 970 component out in a "large" public projection situation have any feedback? Thanks again for your time.

I noticed a difference on my 57" TV. I don't know if I'm a "layman", but I'm no videophile either. You may have to tweak the colors when viewing at 1080i over component as they looked a little washed out compared to 480p at first. After a little tweaking it looked great!

Per the manual, DVD-Audio output should be available only over HDMI or 5.1 Analog outputs, right?

Well, I hooked up a brand new 970 to my Pio 1014 using just the optical link and played the only DVD-Audio disc in my modest library: Beatles "Love".

Right now I've got just two speakers connected, with receiver set to 'stereo' mode. I expected to hear nothing (per the manual). But, No! I'm not confident that all the content is there, but there are musical sounds from this supposedly non-functional mode.

Explanations, anyone?

you're not getting the dvd-a track. there's probably another digital track on the disc or it's passing a downmixed pcm bitstream. I don't have that one, so check again. With this player and your receiver, I can guarantee you're not getting the dvd-a soundtrack via optical link.

Best,
jeff

Now, there's a quirk on OPPO setup, don't know if happened with someone else. When I change colorspace to a given value, let's say ycbcr 4:4:4, when the oppo is powered next time it will reset it to auto again. hmm



I had a similar problem and contacted Oppo support. Mine would always change back to RGB. They suggested the new beta firmware 4A-1220 to fix the problem. I applied it last night and it is in fact fixed.

Per the manual, DVD-Audio output should be available only over HDMI or 5.1 Analog outputs, right?

Well, I hooked up a brand new 970 to my Pio 1014 using just the optical link and played the only DVD-Audio disc in my modest library: Beatles "Love".

Right now I've got just two speakers connected, with receiver set to 'stereo' mode. I expected to hear nothing (per the manual). But, No! I'm not confident that all the content is there, but there are musical sounds from this supposedly non-functional mode.

Explanations, anyone?
Jeff's right - the DVD-Audio format allows for a downmixed PCM stereo output over SPDIF (optical or coaxial) digital output, but will only output the true high-res MLP data via either multichannel analog or an approved digital avenue (the approved digital channels being IEEE-1394, HDMI v1.1+, or some of the proprietary connections such as Denon Link). As a result, you can get a stereo signal from DVD-Audio via optical or coaxial output.

SACD, on the other hand, is a somewhat different story - in my experience, you don't even get a downmixed stereo output over SPDIF with SACD's.

[QUOTE=gonk]Jeff's right - the DVD-Audio format allows for a downmixed PCM stereo output over SPDIF (optical or coaxial) digital output....... As a result, you can get a stereo signal from DVD-Audio via optical or coaxial output.

QUOTE]

Say, thanks greeno / gonk. I did a quick A/B against the CD version of the 'Love' release and found that the SPDIF audio from the DVD-Audio disc was missing quite a bit: entire instrumental solos or vocal tracks depending on the song. (Although the newer mixes on Love are strange to my ears anyway.... :p

Seems that the 970 is volunteering some sort of SPDIF output from a DVD-Audio media, but it's not a proper stereo downmix (nor is it documented anywhere that I've found). The various manuals just say: "Don't do that!".

HDMI 1.1 can handle multi-channel, stereo and mono SACD but this is not implemented in this player. No big deal since there is only one receiver I know of with SACD decoding and it does not work with HDMI 1.1 but its own interlink setup. Not a big deal.

Richard.

HDMI v1.1 can not support SACD's DSD bitstream. You need HDMI v1.2 for that. The 970HD decodes SACD's DSD to multichannel PCM, which HDMI v1.1 can support. As a result, the 970HD can output SACD over HDMI to any HDMI v1.1-capable receiver. It's a pretty slick trick, actually.

you're not getting the dvd-a track. there's probably another digital track on the disc or it's passing a downmixed pcm bitstream. I don't have that one, so check again. With this player and your receiver, I can guarantee you're not getting the dvd-a soundtrack via optical link.

Best,
jeff

Yes you do, the 2ch LPCM track is DVD-A. Don't think that only the PPCM tracks constitute as such using MLP. They both are DVD-A.
The Oppo can pass 192/24 LPCM via SPDIF[no down res] but naturally only 2ch ones.

Speaking of the Beatles Love DVD-A...

Is anyone else experiencing a glitch between tracks? Playing the high resolution MLP tracks via HDMI to a Denon Avr-887 I get a skip/drop-out between songs that cross track boundaries. It is very quick, unlike the 1 second SACD issue (which the new firmware did fix, thank you very much).

I just got this player today and so far it looks hopeful. It's replacing a Toshiba DVD-A/SACD & Outlaw ICBM with 12 RCA interconnects. If I can get DVD-A/SACD playback reliably with just 1 cable I'll be thrilled.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Update: I tried the Pink Floyd DSOTM & Chicago DVD-A's and get the same result. Next I tried the DVD Video layer of these discs over HDMI and the track changes are seamless, so my problem is strictly with the high resolution layer.

Can the subwoofer out on the 970 be used to power a subwoofer such as a Sony SA-WM250 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-WM250-100-Watt-Active-Subwoofer/dp/B00026KYFS/ref=dp_return_1/103-6312156-1270242?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics) or would I have to buy a receiver?

Can the subwoofer out on the 970 be used to power a subwoofer such as a Sony SA-WM250 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-WM250-100-Watt-Active-Subwoofer/dp/B00026KYFS/ref=dp_return_1/103-6312156-1270242?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics) or would I have to buy a receiver?

As long as the sub has a built in amplifier, then it should work. In the menu of the Oppo, turn the subwoofer output ON and set the soundtrack to downmix to stereo (assuming your useing you tv to hear the sound +sub for bass). Plug your subwoofer cable in the subwoofer output from the dvd player, then to your input on your sub.

Also, unless you already own that sub, please don't buy it.

Can the subwoofer out on the 970 be used to power a subwoofer such as a Sony SA-WM250 (http://www.amazon.com/Sony-SA-WM250-100-Watt-Active-Subwoofer/dp/B00026KYFS/ref=dp_return_1/103-6312156-1270242?ie=UTF8&n=172282&s=electronics) or would I have to buy a receiver?
Just like in the above post, yes you can, as long as it's powered. I use Digital coax to my Pioneer (no 5.1 inputs) reciever for DD. and I run a single cable fro sub out on the Oppo to my powered sub. Works great!

No, it will not be able to be turned Off or dimmed due to the the front panel being LED based.Not quite sure what you meant by this... LED is very easy to dim.

Gary

SACD Gapeless upgrade works great. Just listened to the entire DSOTM with no problems at all. However if one do it don't forget to write down your settings, as everything will be reset.

Thanks Oppo.[Neuromancer]

Not quite sure what you meant by this... LED is very easy to dim.

Gary

I asked the same question in an email to Oppo CS, here's their reply,


There is no way to dim the front video panel due to the front panel being LED based. You can't dim LED lights.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

I know it's possible to dim LEDs but Oppo does not have this feature as far as I know.

Wow, what a thread. I'm a newbie to all this, but I just purchased the following equipment:

1) Onkyo HT-S790B HTIB
2) Mitsu HD1000U Projector
3) Oppo DV-970HD DVD

I was told that I could get true 720p resolution out of this combination, but I'm unclear on the optimum way to hook it up. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

Just ordered the 970HD, planning on sending signal into a sanyo PLV-60 with components- no hdmi-. If I upgrade the oppo firmware of A3-0916 then 4a-1220 and then the 0613aMod, will I be able to get the benefit of all the upgrades and still be able to upconvert on component cable?

I thought HDMI was the way to get the best resolution/picture quality? Why would you prefer to use the components instead?

Chris

I thought HDMI was the way to get the best resolution/picture quality? Why would you prefer to use the components instead?

Chris

I doubt it's his preference. His projector doesn't have HDMI inputs.

I gotcha! Sorry, I'm so new to all this. With my combination will I get true 720p resolution, and if so what's the best way to hook it up?

Chris