Is it possible to use the oppo hdmi output for only sound and use the component for the video?

My TV is a tube style HDTV with HDMI, so it's max resolution is 1080i, no 720p allowed. That being said, would I set the 970 to 1080i output, and it would scale the 480i DVD to that?

Also, the 970 has optical audio out right? So I could run my HDMI from the player to my TV, and mute the sound, and then run the optical to my receiver.

Yes to both your questions.

My TV is a tube style HDTV with HDMI, so it's max resolution is 1080i, no 720p allowed. That being said, would I set the 970 to 1080i output, and it would scale the 480i DVD to that?

Also, the 970 has optical audio out right? So I could run my HDMI from the player to my TV, and mute the sound, and then run the optical to my receiver.
Having used a CRT HDTV myself, I'd recommend trying 1080i - although you can always play with 720p just to see how it compares.

You are exactly right that you can run HDMI from the player to the TV and optical to the receiver, but rather than mute the TV's speakers you can set the "HDMI Audio" option in the 970HD's menu to "Off" and the 970HD simply won't send any HDMI audio. Since you have a receiver, you may also consider disabling the speakers in your TV (an option that most HDTV's will offer, since they are so often used in home theater setups).

Is it possible to use the oppo hdmi output for only sound and use the component for the video?
Yes, it would be possible, although unless you use the hacked firmware the component output will be limited to 480p and the only formats for which HDMI audio differs from coaxial or optical audio are DVD-Audio and SACD.

Having used a CRT HDTV myself, I'd recommend trying 1080i - although you can always play with 720p just to see how it compares.

You are exactly right that you can run HDMI from the player to the TV and optical to the receiver, but rather than mute the TV's speakers you can set the "HDMI Audio" option in the 970HD's menu to "Off" and the 970HD simply won't send any HDMI audio. Since you have a receiver, you may also consider disabling the speakers in your TV (an option that most HDTV's will offer, since they are so often used in home theater setups).


Thanks for the response. Now I play the waiting game until its no longer on back order.

Thanks for the response. Now I play the waiting game until its no longer on back order.
Speaking of backorders...I ordered a DV-970HD last week. At that time, Oppo's web site stated it would be shipped on 1-26.
I now see on their site that orders will be shipped on 1-29. Does anyone know if the 1-29 date is for orders placed now, or is it likely mine was also pushed back?

Anxiously waiting in Pahrump,
Rick

All orders as OPPO is still awaiting their containers. Containers are supposed to arrive tomorrow or Monday at OPPO's office, but depending on when they arrive OPPO may or may not have time to fulfill any orders on the arrival date.

Yes, it would be possible, although unless you use the hacked firmware the component output will be limited to 480p and the only formats for which HDMI audio differs from coaxial or optical audio are DVD-Audio and SACD.

That is exactly what I want it for. My tv only has component inputs so I can't use the HDMI for video anyway.

That is exactly what I want it for. My tv only has component inputs so I can't use the HDMI for video anyway.
Then as long as your receiver supports HDMI v1.1 (necessary for the multichannel PCM that is used for both DVD-A and SACD), you'd be fine.

Yes, the sync signal is negative, around -300mV, but it is not the only negative voltage.

The black to which they refer would be video black (7.5 IRE), which puts anything below video black at a negative voltage.

You are correct in that the DVE manual does say that, however they are referring to the full bandwith, which includes BTB. 0v is 0IRE, which is black on non-NTSC systems as well as Japanese NTSC systems. However in the US, modern systems put black at 7.5IRE so that the blanking signal is below black and won't cause visual artifacts. This is referred to as 'black setup' or 'black pedestal.' According to specifications blanking signal is 0V, and since 'black' is above that in modern systems 7.5IRE will be a positive voltage and BTB will also be at least partially available in positive voltage.

See http://www.tek.com/Measurement/cgi-bin/framed.pl?Document=/Measurement/App_Notes/Component_Puzzle/standards.html&FrameSet=television just below figure 50 to get a more in-depth description.

IRE is a scale to make dealing with video easier since it goes from 0 - 760 mV for the actual signal, and it is broken into 100 steps. As such a perfect system (which I'm sure none are) would put 7.5IRE around 50 odd mV.

Hello

I ordered the OPPO 970HD on January 9 / 2007 and I still waiting for the player to arrive at my door. Of course, they took the money the same day. Has anybody had the same experience? I send an email 4 days ago and the answer was that the 970HD was backordered and will ship today January 26. Well, if you take a look at there web site now is showing backordered until January 29.

Anybody care to comment?


Regards,

The container is due to arrive at OPPO's offices on Monday - they'd hoped to get it today, but lost a day along the way.

when the units arrive at OPPO and they ship it to your home it will take a week before you get it

Thank you Gonk. I cancel my order for the OPPO 970HD and order a Toshiba HD-A2 @ Amazon.com

For $248 more I will get and excellent DVD upconvertion player and HD-DVD player.

davidhiggins,

I will have my Toshiba tuesday January 30.

Have a nice day!


Regards,

Hello

I ordered the OPPO 970HD on January 9 / 2007 and I still waiting for the player to arrive at my door. Of course, they took the money the same day. Has anybody had the same experience? I send an email 4 days ago and the answer was that the 970HD was backordered and will ship today January 26. Well, if you take a look at there web site now is showing backordered until January 29.
Anybody care to comment?
Regards,

I ordered a 981 on 1/23 and they charged my cc immediately knowing they had no stock. I'm paying interest (not really, it's AMEX) on a product at sea.

I order mine August 4th- received it two day latter.....;^)

Umm, people?... HELLO?! If you know it's backordered and you don't want you're CC charged, then don't order it. If it's unknowingly backordered and you don't want to wait then just cancel your order. Ya, it's sucks when they have no stock and you want one, but geez man, get over it people. The best things in life are worth wating for as they say. Some of you act as though your waiting for a heart transplant organ donor or something.

Just call them on the phone and ask for a refurb,I just got mine and it's perfect with the full warranty and $30.00 less.

I order mine August 4th- received it two day latter.....;^)

I ordered mine the morning of July 20th. Paid for standard ground shipping. The package was waiting on my porch when I got home from work on July 21st. Amazingly fast and efficient.

-- Rich

I ordered the 970 evening of December 17--a Sunday. It shipped 3 pm the next day and arrived in Minnesota on December 20. I had excellent service and to me the player is an outstanding value.

Oppo said they got a large amount of orders after Christmas. I guess everyone needed a good DVD player to go with thier new TVs. They said if you want to get one from the shipment that is coming on Monday the 29th, then you better order now because they are almost sold out.

I ordered a 981 on 1/23 and they charged my cc immediately knowing they had no stock. I'm paying interest (not really, it's AMEX) on a product at sea.

Yeah -- hopefully they'll take that interest they are earning and ship mine via FedEx Overnight! ;)

All orders as OPPO is still awaiting their containers. Containers are supposed to arrive tomorrow or Monday at OPPO's office, but depending on when they arrive OPPO may or may not have time to fulfill any orders on the arrival date.

Will any crumbs from the table fall in the direction of Amazon ?? My estimated shipping date there is FEBRUARY 23rd ??

My player has been doing a wierd thing when it ejects..... It spins the disc up really fast then ejects it... one time the dvd got stuck inside the player. The tray was out but the dvd was no where to be seen I looked in it and couldn't see it... I hit the eject twice so the tray would go in and out. The tray came out, but the DVD only came half way out. So I went to oppodigital to see if there was a new firmware that addressed this and low and behold... My firmware doesn't seem to be posted up at all. Mine is
05.00.01.07 Batch: 3A-0903 .... that batch number isn't up on the site... Anyone know what I should do. Oh and it won't play The Pink Panther.

Call oppo they have very good customer service and I am sure they can help.

yeah.... I think that's what I'll do.

Is it possible to use the oppo hdmi output for only sound and use the component for the video?
Yes, the Oppo does not mind, and that is exactly what I use.
My Denon receiver allows alternate video for each input,
so I set V-AUX to HDMI input for multichannel SACD from the 970,
then configured the AVR to use VCR-3 for video, which is set for component
input from the 970, works a treat.

The only drawback that I notice is my best component video quality from the 970
is 480p (perhaps better cables would help), but that 480p disables
multichannel HDMI audio, at least from SACD. Multichannel HDMI audio works for 480i, 720p and 1080i. This is with 3A-0919 firmware.

You are correct in that the DVE manual does say that, however they are referring to the full bandwith, which includes BTB. 0v is 0IRE, which is black on non-NTSC systems as well as Japanese NTSC systems. However in the US, modern systems put black at 7.5IRE so that the blanking signal is below black and won't cause visual artifacts. This is referred to as 'black setup' or 'black pedestal.' According to specifications blanking signal is 0V, and since 'black' is above that in modern systems 7.5IRE will be a positive voltage and BTB will also be at least partially available in positive voltage.
It's entirely possible, even likely, that I am misusing the IRE nomenclature, so I will cede that point. I still believe, however, that BTB can extend into negative voltage, partly because I know of nothing else to which the -48mV in the DVE manual could be referring, and partly because of the oscilloscope graphs present in the DVE manual and on the DVE DVD itself. I refer you to page 28 of the online manual located here:
http://www.videoessentials.com/docs/DVE_Consumer_NTSC.pdf
On that page, there is a graph of how the PLUGE pattern should appear on an oscilloscope. It shows the video black background at zero volts, and the BTB bar at below zero volts. Are you saying that this graph, and by extension all the other such graphs on the DVD and in the manual, are wrong?

Also, do you know anyone with a current generation LG HDTV, with which you could test your 970 via S-Video? I'm curious if it is that your 970 somehow differs from mine, or if my LG 37LC2D TV is just unusual in it's ability to get BTB from the 970 via S-Video.

I do not know anyone in my area with an LG TV. I tested on a Philips HDTV, however it also did not pass pluge via the S-Video, although it did just fine over HDMI.

That DVE Oscilloscope image first off looks like it was just generated as a graphic, i.e. is not from a real oscilloscope. Secondly since it shows 0IRE as being 'black' it is showing a scale, according to all my research, that only applies to NTSC sets sold in Japan. From everything I have seen (which I have done a bit of research on this, but I am no expert by any means) equipment sold in the USA are supposed to use 7.5IRE as black, and any values between 7.5IRE and 0IRE are BTB.

That Oscilloscope image actually has the IRE numbers on the right side, you can see it treats 0IRE as black, which is contrary to standards. I'm curious if that image is 'simplified' for consumers, as an engineer with experience testing with a scope wouldn't even need it in the first place.

I suggest you do a google search for 7.5 IRE black standard and read a few of the links it pulls up. Upon reading those and checking the IRE levels on the DVE manual graph you will see that they are inconsistent.

Also keep in mind that these are ideal measurements. In reality some equipment may have a negative value for some of BTB, but likely not -2%.

I received a DV-970HD from OPPO last week (refurbished) and it looks brand new- for anyone that wanted to save some money.

My question is regarding the component video upconversion. I have read the previous 4-5 pages of posts and people were referencing using a hack (older firmware modified) to achieve HD upconversions via component. I'm not sure what I am missing but I just pressed the HDMI button and changed my player to 720p (60hz) and my TV reported a 720P signal (32" westy LCD). I haven't installed any hacked firmware... am I missing something?

Here is the firmware it has on it (which I believe is the most current)

05.00.01.07 Batch: 3A-0916

I received a DV-970HD from OPPO last week (refurbished) and it looks brand new- for anyone that wanted to save some money.

My question is regarding the component video upconversion. I have read the previous 4-5 pages of posts and people were referencing using a hack (older firmware modified) to achieve HD upconversions via component. I'm not sure what I am missing but I just pressed the HDMI button and changed my player to 720p (60hz) and my TV reported a 720P signal (32" westy LCD). I haven't installed any hacked firmware... am I missing something?

Here is the firmware it has on it (which I believe is the most current)

05.00.01.07 Batch: 3A-0916
Are you using original store bought dvds or burnt disks/DivX? From what I know it will pass anything through component that doesn't have copy protection on the disk.

You hit the nail on the head. I haven't tried any retail dvds yet. Only a couple of xvid discs and a burned dvdr.

I will have to flash the firmware after all. No big deal.

Thanks

Also, the player will silently shift to 480p output *even* if you select a higher res, for copy protected DVD's.

Here's hoping they'll be back in stock tomorrow.

I received a DV-970HD from OPPO last week (refurbished) and it looks brand new- for anyone that wanted to save some money.

My question is regarding the component video upconversion. I have read the previous 4-5 pages of posts and people were referencing using a hack (older firmware modified) to achieve HD upconversions via component. I'm not sure what I am missing but I just pressed the HDMI button and changed my player to 720p (60hz) and my TV reported a 720P signal (32" westy LCD). I haven't installed any hacked firmware... am I missing something?

Here is the firmware it has on it (which I believe is the most current)

05.00.01.07 Batch: 3A-0916

Without performing the hack, the unit will be able to upconvert over component if the DVD you are playing is not copy protected. If you want to play copy protected DVDs and upconvert them over component, you will need the hack.

opps sites says the 970 is on backorder.. but can ship in a few days, anyone know how accurate thier site is?

I received my refurb 970 on Saturday morning.Looked brand new and all pieces were there:remote,HDMI cable,etc.
Came packed in a brown box with various OPPO verbage on it about HDMI and stuff.Very nice package and very sturdy for shipping.
Hooked it up with a HDMI>DVI cable and loaded rental " Wicker Man".Set resolution to 1080i and there it was,on screen and everything.Looked good and all was well.
Sooooooooooooooo it was time to hook up using component and see if it would upconvert.
No way-locked in at 480p and that was it.No upconvert on this type of store rented/bought product.
Loaded the hack and within 5-10 minutes upconverting thru component was alive and I actually like the picture quality better than thru the HDMI>DVI connection.
All in all a terrific product in my opinion for the price and the build seems very very good.
Thanks to this forum for helping me to make the right decision on the OPPO line.

Hello
I have a Oppo 970 DVD player and a Dish Network's satellite receiver. I am trying to get auto-switching to work, when I use these connect these devices to a LCD panel via a DVDO VP30 scaler.

I have set priority 1 for Oppo and 2 for the Dish receiver.

If Oppo is powered-up, then (as expected) I see the its output on screen from it. If it is off (standby mode) and devices with any other priority (2-12) are on then I only see a blue screen.

It seems to me that the video output is still active, when Oppo is in standby mode. I confirmed this, by putting Oppo in standby and then removing the HDMI cable. The moment I removed the HDMI cable, DVDO would display the ouptut from the Dish receiver.

I have the latest firmware installed on my Oppo. DVDO tech support tell me that Oppo may be sending a video signal in standby mode, to stay synced-up. Is there a way to disable this or resolve it some other way?

opps sites says the 970 is on backorder.. but can ship in a few days, anyone know how accurate thier site is?
OPPO is expecting a container of players to arrive at their offices today, with shipments to customers following. I think they may even be hoping to get some customer shipments out today assuming the container arrival cooperates.

I connected my 970 on Friday and have been pleased with the results thus far. I read the manual for setting the configuration but not the rest so I didn't see initially how to set a DVD to resume play at the same spot after powering down and then powering up. The memory button -- I was using my Harmony remote, not the Oppo remote. Is there any setting to have memory be on by default so there would be no need for the extra button push or is this enhancement that is being considered for a future firmware release?

Just went to the oppo site, looks like it's back in stock. 970 here I come.

Just ordered the Oppo 970, can't wait to get it.

how fast is their shipping? and getting orders out to ship?

I read the Review of the Oppo 971 on IGN and they claim that it looks great but he says the colors are so bright it will burn a hole in your retina. I hope that people arent mistaken great video quality for just jacked up and over saturated color. If the benefit of a Oppo is it just makes things brighter and jacks the color up that would suck. I dont want a DVD player that will hurt my eyes.

I read the Review of the Oppo 971 on IGN and they claim that it looks great but he says the colors are so bright it will burn a hole in your retina. I hope that people arent mistaken great video quality for just jacked up and over saturated color. If the benefit of a Oppo is it just makes things brighter and jacks the color up that would suck. I dont want a DVD player that will hurt my eyes.That was a gross exaggeration. The colors are on a par with most other players. You are supposed to properly calibrate your TV's brightness, contrast, and color saturation for every source device anyway.

Gary

I read the Review of the Oppo 971 on IGN and they claim that it looks great but he says the colors are so bright it will burn a hole in your retina. I hope that people arent mistaken great video quality for just jacked up and over saturated color. If the benefit of a Oppo is it just makes things brighter and jacks the color up that would suck. I dont want a DVD player that will hurt my eyes.

And this is the 970 thread, not the 971 thread. :confused:

I just ordered the 970 from Oppo's website and there was no mention of the item being on backorder. I hope it gets shipped immediately. By the way, why is the 971 more expensive than the 970, when the 970 has hdmi and the 971 is dvi?

Norgoth, everything you need to know about that question is already located in this thread and on Oppo's website.

Smarty-Pants,

Thank you for the reply(my initial reaction was to be insulted, but actually your response was quite dignified).

I did do searchs through this thread and also looked through the website. I have come to the conclusion, and this takes interpretation, that the 971 is more expensive because of the Faroudja chip and the processing power of the 971 over the 970. Having a HDMI connection made my decision simple.

The Faroudja chip is the main difference, yes. You're welcome and sorry if my coments seem abrupt, but there is soooo much info here already that sometimes just by doing a little searching one can find quick answers to questions. Oppo has a very informative website as well as impecable customer service. So you can always e-mail them with questions too. :)

Anyone heard any rumors on a new firmware update, beta or otherwise to fix the gapless playback on the Beatles - Love DVD-A?

Today I went to OPPO's office and I collected my 970. I saw that they have a whole bunch of DVD Players waiting to be picked up by USPS

I have come to the conclusion, and this takes interpretation, that the 971 is more expensive because of the Faroudja chip and the processing power of the 971 over the 970.

The 971 used to be the only model they had. It has now been phased out as they came out with the 970 as a lower priced option and the 981 as the higher end.

Today I went to OPPO's office and I collected mine. I saw that they have a whole bunch of DVDs waiting to be picked up by USPS

So you went direct to their office in Mountain View and buy one? That's amazing. Do you know their exact address and how to pay? Thanks.


Hou

You buy it online, and then choose the option to pick it up at the office in Mountain View.

So you went direct to their office in Mountain View and buy one? That's amazing. Do you know their exact address and how to pay? Thanks.


Hou

Its in Ravendale Dr, Mountain View. I purchased it online and went to their office to pick up the DVD Player.

Hello
I have a Oppo 970 DVD player and a Dish Network's satellite receiver. I am trying to get auto-switching to work, when I use these connect these devices to a LCD panel via a DVDO VP30 scaler.

I have set priority 1 for Oppo and 2 for the Dish receiver.

If Oppo is powered-up, then (as expected) I see the its output on screen from it. If it is off (standby mode) and devices with any other priority (2-12) are on then I only see a blue screen.

It seems to me that the video output is still active, when Oppo is in standby mode. I confirmed this, by putting Oppo in standby and then removing the HDMI cable. The moment I removed the HDMI cable, DVDO would display the ouptut from the Dish receiver.

I have the latest firmware installed on my Oppo. DVDO tech support tell me that Oppo may be sending a video signal in standby mode, to stay synced-up. Is there a way to disable this or resolve it some other way?
ummm... try putting the Dish box as 1 and the oppo as 2?

-Gagan

I am trying to watch a DVD and my subtitles are looking all pixelated (I would post a picture, but this site won't let me since I am new).

Is this an issue with the TV, DVD Player, or Reveiver (or some combination)?

TV - Panasonic TH-42PX60U
DVD Player - OPPO DV-970HD
Receiver - Onkyo HT-S894

TV Player connected to the receiver via HDMI
DVD Player connected to the receiver via HDMI

Thanks for the help.

What DVD title are you trying to playback the subtitle files from? I know some DVDs have horrible fonts which are exaggerated by the DVD player.

Will any crumbs from the table fall in the direction of Amazon ?? My estimated shipping date there is FEBRUARY 23rd ??

The problem with Amazon.com is that there is not real communication between the buyer and the warehouse. OPPO has sent Amazon.com plenty of stock of the DV-970HD and DV-981HD, but both units continually say "Coming Soon". There is no real way to determine when Amazon.com will sell a product once it is received.

What DVD title are you trying to playback the subtitle files from? I know some DVDs have horrible fonts which are exaggerated by the DVD player.

It is the movie 13 (Tzameti). It's a region 2 import, but just to make sure it was not just that title I popped in The Descent (Region 1) and it had the same problem. There are big lines just cutting thru the subtitles,

how fast is shipping from opppo?

how fast is shipping from opppo?

From when you place your order to when it leaves the warehouse or from when it leaves the warehouse to when it gets to you?

For me it took 1 day from when I placed the order till it shipped.

It took 10 days from it shipped (California) till when it was received (Illinois) via whatever the standard shipping is. It did not help that I ordered it around the holidays however (December 26th).

I hear that with some Oppo dvd players there is a small black border around the screen I heard with the 981 it doesn't have it, but the 971 does. Does anyone know if the 970 has it? I cant seem to find anyone to confirm it eaither way, I would really love to know because I am thinking about buying one.. Thanks.

Sorry for all the posts in a row, but I believe I can post pictures now.

Here is what the subtitle issue looks like:

http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/9929/subgh2.jpg

There also tends to be an issue sometimes on the menu. Not really the text, but the arrow or whatever else you use to select one item or another.

From when you place your order to when it leaves the warehouse or from when it leaves the warehouse to when it gets to you?

until it leaves the warehouse, ofcourse when it does its in the hands of the shipping company

Wow mine took 4 days from LA to NY

I connected my 970 on Friday and have been pleased with the results thus far. I read the manual for setting the configuration but not the rest so I didn't see initially how to set a DVD to resume play at the same spot after powering down and then powering up. The memory button -- I was using my Harmony remote, not the Oppo remote. Is there any setting to have memory be on by default so there would be no need for the extra button push or is this enhancement that is being considered for a future firmware release?
:confused:
I am seriously considering buying the 970, but I don't see any resume function in the manual or in this thread. Most DVD players will automatically resume playback at least on the most recend movie after the unit is powered down. Does the 970 have this feature???

RECENT (not recend) movie. Sorry.

:confused:
I am seriously considering buying the 970, but I don't see any resume function in the manual or in this thread. Most DVD players will automatically resume playback at least on the most recend movie after the unit is powered down. Does the 970 have this feature???
Taken from Amazon reviews:

"However, the 971 does. According to the manual (p.22) down-loadable from Oppo:

1. If you must interrupt the playback and would like to resume from the interrupted position at a later time, you may press the EJECT button on the remote control to eject the disc. While ejecting the disc the DVD player will save the current playing position.
2. The position is memorized even after turning off the unit or changing the disc.
3. When the next time the disc with a memorized playing position is played back, the DVD player will recognize the saved playing position. Playback will automatically resume from the saved playing position. However if you wish to cancel the automatic resume and start playback from the beginning, you may press the STOP button when
prompted."

"Actually, the 970 does have a memory feature, but it is not automatic. You have to invoke it by pressing the memory button on the remote before stopping/ejecting the disk. I'm not sure of how many disks it can "memorize" but I know it can do at least one at a time. Even if you remove the disk from the player, when you reinsert it, playback by default will start at the previously memorized point."

I see this in the manual:
1. If you must interrupt the playback and would like to resume from the
interrupted position at a later time, you may press the MEMORY button
on the remote control to save the current playing position.
2. The position is memorized even after turning off the unit or changing the
disc.
3. When the next time the disc with a memorized playing position is played
back, the DVD player will recognize the saved playing position. When
prompted, you may press the STOP button to cancel resuming and start
playback from the beginning. If you press a button other than STOP, or
do not press any button at all, playback will resume from the saved
playing position.

Sounds like there is no automatic resume function. Is that correct?

I see this in the manual:

Sounds like there is no automatic resume function. Is that correct?
That's correct. Just the memory button.

The problem with Amazon.com is that there is not real communication between the buyer and the warehouse. OPPO has sent Amazon.com plenty of stock of the DV-970HD and DV-981HD, but both units continually say "Coming Soon". There is no real way to determine when Amazon.com will sell a product once it is received.

I cancelled my A. order and ordered directly. Beside time, I hoped for better customer support just in case. Now if it would arrive before the weekend..

can someone please tell me if theres a small black border around the screen with the Oppo 970, I hear with the 971 there is when its upconverting.

I received my refurb 970 on Saturday morning. Hooked it up with a HDMI>DVI cable and loaded rental " Wicker Man".Set resolution to 1080i and there it was,on screen and everything. Looked good and all was well.

I'm somewhat of noob trying to learn, so excuse me if this is a dumb question, but why would you hook it up HDMI>DVI cable ? Wouldn't the optimal way be to connect it via HDMI>HDMI cable ? My guess is this is because your display does not have a HDMI input but does have a DVI input, correct?

Sooooooooooooooo it was time to hook up using component and see if it would upconvert. No way-locked in at 480p and that was it. No upconvert on this type of store rented/bought product. Loaded the hack and within 5-10 minutes upconverting thru component was alive and I actually like the picture quality better than thru the HDMI>DVI connection.


Again, please excuse my noobyness, I read on the oppo site that "Component output for CSS-encrypted DVD discs (almost all commercially pressed DVD discs) is limited to 480i/480p only." But why would anyone want to connect it via component? I'm going to guess that the reason is, is that the display that is being fed from the oppo only has component inputs, correct?

RetRoe, you are correct in both your assumptions. Also, some dvd players like the Oppo 970hd can be hacked so that the resolution output can be scaled to 1080i over a component connection.

OK, thanks Smarty. So then I take it's correct to assume that if I have the option of connecting the oppo 970hd via HDMI>HDMI, then the HDMI>DVI or to hook up using component and hack the firmware so that the resolution output can be scaled to 1080i over a component connection, is of little concern to me.

Just got my 970HD today (picked it up from the office in Mountain View.) Wow, does it look great on my setup (DVDO VP-30 + 102 deinterlacer card, Panny 50PH9UK). I think I sold two more to coworkers when I explained a) how little I spent and b) how spectacular the performance is.

There also tends to be an issue sometimes on the menu. Not really the text, but the arrow or whatever else you use to select one item or another.

Is this disc PAL? If so, this can be an error caused by an improper cadence decoding. I mainly see this kind of error (in the form of interlacing) due to improper cadence decoding that is done to the video and the subtitles at the same time (ex. video is 2:2 but the subtitles are done as 3:2 which causes synchronization errors).

Is this disc PAL? If so, this can be an error caused by an improper cadence decoding. I mainly see this kind of error (in the form of interlacing) due to improper cadence decoding that is done to the video and the subtitles at the same time (ex. video is 2:2 but the subtitles are done as 3:2 which causes synchronization errors).

The first disc I posted about is PAL. The picture I posted came from a region 1 release (The Descent). I also noticed the menu problem on Rollerball (original), which I know is not PAL.

or to hook up using component and hack the firmware so that the resolution output can be scaled to 1080i over a component connection, is of little concern to me.

Yes, but to some it is of great concern. That's why it's talked about so much here.

Myself, I use an Audio Authority 1166 switcher to run video to 6 zones in the house plus the projector, so upscaled 1080i component out of a DVD player is pretty much my most viable option.

Chris

I have a Oppo 970 DVD player and a Dish Network's satellite receiver. I am trying to get auto-switching to work, when I use these connect these devices to a LCD panel via a DVDO VP30 scaler.

I have set priority 1 for Oppo and 2 for the Dish receiver.

If Oppo is powered-up, then (as expected) I see the its output on screen from it. If it is off (standby mode) and devices with any other priority (2-12) are on then I only see a blue screen.

It seems to me that the video output is still active, when Oppo is in standby mode. I confirmed this, by putting Oppo in standby and then removing the HDMI cable. The moment I removed the HDMI cable, DVDO would display the ouptut from the Dish receiver.

I have the latest firmware installed on my Oppo. DVDO tech support tell me that Oppo may be sending a video signal in standby mode, to stay synced-up. Is there a way to disable this or resolve it some other way?


ummm... try putting the Dish box as 1 and the oppo as 2?

-Gagan

Unfortunately, my Dish receiver also shows the same behaviour i.e. if its priority one and put into stanby, it continues sending a sync signal and DVDO would not switch to other device unless I pull out the video cable or power-cord.

Oppo techincal rep. confirmed that Oppo keeps sending sync signal in standby mode - but there is no way available presently to turn it off.

I received my Oppo 970 packed in a black retail box with no mention of refurbished anywhere except for the receipt that came with it. Basically, unless you know it is refurbished there is no way to tell just by looking at it or the box?

How's the SQ on the Oppo for DD and DTS???

My previous player is a sony 775 480p player and the sound is very good, but want to make sure when i get the oppo i'm not actually getting downgraded SQ compared to the sony i have.

I received my Oppo 970 packed in a black retail box with no mention of refurbished anywhere except for the receipt that came with it. Basically, unless you know it is refurbished there is no way to tell just by looking at it or the box?
That's my understanding - it carries the same warranty as a "new" player and is effectively identical.

Please forgive my ignorance on some matters, but I learn things as I move on over this search for a DVD player that can upscale to 720p and/or 1080i.

The 970 apparently can do that, as long as the disc has no CSS-encryption.

Now that seems to be related with firmware, as I have seen on the Zenith 318 thread.

The reason for me to buy such a player is to be able to play rented DVDs, which WILL be CSS protected.

So is older firmware available that will let me do what I want, which is play and up-scale rented DVDs.

This so-called infringement protection is totally foolish here, because we are not talking copying anything, but simply play the DVDs at home.

Please forgive my ignorance on some matters, but I learn things as I move on over this search for a DVD player that can upscale to 720p and/or 1080i.

The 970 apparently can do that, as long as the disc has no CSS-encryption.

The restriction is only on component, not HDMI, which will upscale any title.

The restriction is not technical but contractual. To get permission to use certain patents the vendors must agree not to allow upscaling of CSS-protected material over component. Even HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players may not do that, even though they may deliver HD signals of HD discs over component (for the time being).

We undertstand the restriction makes no sense.

-Bill

The restriction is only on component, not HDMI, which will upscale any title.

The restriction is not technical but contractual. To get permission to use certain patents the vendors must agree not to allow upscaling of CSS-protected material over component. Even HD-DVD and Blu-Ray players may not do that, even though they may deliver HD signals of HD discs over component (for the time being).

We undertstand the restriction makes no sense.



Yes, I know about HDMI upscaling any title.

My concerns are over probably lock-ups that might involve the HDMI output.

Many of us (and I am tired of reading such claims in forums) suffer from DVDs that refuse to play on standard players because of the newer copyright protections, so I would like to be able to play things through component, if I can.

So my question again: eventually can I get an older firmware that will let me play and upscale CSS encrypted DVDs through component?

So my question again: eventually can I get an older firmware that will let me play and upscale CSS encrypted DVDs through component?

Yes, there is hacked firmware that removes the component upscaling restriction. It is not from Oppo or supported by Oppo. It is discussed all the time here. It is available from http://www.filefactory.com/file/ebf391/. Install it using the same procedure as Oppo details for the official firmware on their web pages.

-Bill

I got in touch with Oppo about the subtitle issue and they are having me send it back to them since they have not seen a problem like it before. A bit of a hassle, but if gets me a player that works I am fine with it.

I just called OPPO and ordered the 970 refurb (good phone experience, although I had to call back 5 minutes later, because the first call had no one available). I should have it in a few days (Fedex)! Can't wait!

I just called OPPO and ordered the 970 refurb (good phone experience, although I had to call back 5 minutes later, because the first call had no one available). I should have it in a few days (Fedex)! Can't wait!

did oppo say they have the refurb 970s in stock??

Yes, they have A FEW! CALL TODAY to be sure you can get one!
(650) 961-1118

How's the SQ on the Oppo for DD and DTS???

My previous player is a sony 775 480p player and the sound is very good, but want to make sure when i get the oppo i'm not actually getting downgraded SQ compared to the sony i have.
I also am considering this player and therefore have not heard it.

I don't see how digital sound could possibly vary from one player to another. There is no AD conversion involved. It would simply send out whatever bitstream is on the DVD you are watching.

Oh boy, can o' worms officially opened. :)

I received my Oppo 970 packed in a black retail box with no mention of refurbished anywhere except for the receipt that came with it. Basically, unless you know it is refurbished there is no way to tell just by looking at it or the box?

I don't know about Oppo but some companies put a "Refurbished" stamp or sticker on the serial number sticker. One thing to remember is that many units considered "refurbished" are merely random units the company pulls off a pallet to do a quick quality test of the production run. So you're getting basically a brand new product at a fantastic discount!

-- Rich

I don't know about Oppo but some companies put a "Refurbished" stamp or sticker on the serial number sticker. One thing to remember is that many units considered "refurbished" are merely random units the company pulls off a pallet to do a quick quality test of the production run. So you're getting basically a brand new product at a fantastic discount!

-- Rich

I decided that $30 is worth my peace of mind to get a new untouched unit.

I don't see how digital sound could possibly vary from one player to another. There is no AD conversion involved. It would simply send out whatever bitstream is on the DVD you are watching.


Is it not so simple. There's not such a thing as digital sound being just one and not being able to vary. They do and a lot.

DA conversion has a sound imprinted basically by the chip used, as well as the analog chips used to amplify it and the quality/type of the passive parts used.

Or do you think expensive CD players or DVD players are so because rich people will pay for them and they are all fools that deserve that?

DA conversion has a sound imprinted basically by the chip used, as well as the analog chips used to amplify it and the quality/type of the passive parts used.

Why would there be DA conversion occurring in the player for DD or DTS?

Why would there be DA conversion occurring in the player for DD or DTS?

Oh, you mean the audio in films! The one that is decoded in the receiver or an external preamp.

Of course there's a DA conversion somewhere, and it's that which imprints the audio quality you will have. Please don't be naive or innocent enough to think there is none, because you will be in for a surprise.

The audio I meant was for CD audio, which I would never let it go through an external receiver or preamp for AD. An external DAC maybe.

Many DVD players don't take special care on their own audio analog outputs, and as I would be listening from them too I would like to know how they sound.

Carlos, are you focusing on analog output of audio for either CD or DVD? I don't think anyone is questioning the need for D/A conversion or the significant role played by the D/A converter in determining the final sound quality, but the original question was whether the sound quality for Dolby Digital and DTS (the two cases specifically mentioned in SurfingMatt27's original post) digital output would differ between an older Sony player and an OPPO player. That was why sync was saying that there's shouldn't be any difference, and I have to say that I agree with him. In both cases, the digital bitstream is being passed from the disc to the output - and in both cases, the receiver being used is responsible for both the decoding of the bitstream and the D/A conversion.

To answer SurfingMatt27's original question, I would not expect there to be any downgrade in sound quality by going from the Sony player to an OPPO.

Excellent, ordered my 970 two days ago, and it just got here. I don't have time to set it up now before work, but I'll post my comments on it tonight.

Surf- is your SONY player a CE775{ 5 disk player}?

Why would there be DA conversion occurring in the player for DD or DTS?

If you were outputting them as ANALOG from the player, there certainly would be. Otherwise, not.

Oh, you mean the audio in films! The one that is decoded in the receiver or an external preamp.

Of course there's a DA conversion somewhere, and it's that which imprints the audio quality you will have. Please don't be naive or innocent enough to think there is none, because you will be in for a surprise.

The audio I meant was for CD audio, which I would never let it go through an external receiver or preamp for AD. An external DAC maybe.

An external receiver or preamp that has a digital input and analog output, will of course have a DAC in it as well. There's no a priori reason to automatically reject such DACs and outputs stage as inferior to the one in your CD player. The only reliable ways to know how they compare are to compare measured performance and performance in listening tests (which should be done blind and level-matched). Few if any people actually do both yet many assumptions aboiut comparative sound are made and offered publically nevertheless.

Carlos, are you focusing on analog output of audio for either CD or DVD? I don't think anyone is questioning the need for D/A conversion or the significant role played by the D/A converter in determining the final sound quality, but the original question was whether the sound quality for Dolby Digital and DTS

Sorry, I did miss the DD and DTS detail on the original question.

Is the picture quality the same with the firmware hack vs HDMI?

Also, is the firmware hack missing too much when compared with the latest firmware on oppodigital?

The Firmware Hack will not reduce picture quality, but you will lose any benefits from more mature firmware which OPPO has released.

any chance there will be a firmware hack based on the latest firmware? Also, how many real differences are there between the hack and the latest firmware? I have HDMI but my receiver doesn't.

any chance there will be a firmware hack based on the latest firmware? Also, how many real differences are there between the hack and the latest firmware? I have HDMI but my receiver doesn't.You can hack this yourself by publicly available tools, but you have to got the knowledge, time and talent to do it. Better be happy someone did it for you! Difference is small, nothing to worry.

Slonk,

Thanks for the "advice" but it could have come with a little less sarcasm. I don't have the knowledge nor time to recreate the firmware hack, so I was asking this knowledgeable forum whether it was in the works. that's all.

I can't stand these be happy with what you got posts. If that were the case, half of the forums here wouldn't exist. We all want to tweak out our equipment to its fullest extent.

Thank you for letting me know though that the difference is minimal.

Oppo's support page for the 970 list the firmware version and the major features fixed/added in the new firmware. I've gone back and forth a couple of times with firmware and have never noticed a change in PQ. I run Avia after each install and nothing changed. The new beta did fix my problem that the Oppo had of not retaining my Colorspace setting.

Excellent, ordered my 970 two days ago, and it just got here. I don't have time to set it up now before work, but I'll post my comments on it tonight.

New or refurbished?

Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't feel like skimming through 129 pages of this thread again) but I believe one of the fixes included how the player handled SACD. If that is the case I may be in trouble. One of my reasons for looking at the 970 was for SACD. The other, equally important feature was the ability to hack for upscaling over component. Unfortunately my tv does not support HDMI.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I don't feel like skimming through 129 pages of this thread again) but I believe one of the fixes included how the player handled SACD. If that is the case I may be in trouble. One of my reasons for looking at the 970 was for SACD. The other, equally important feature was the ability to hack for upscaling over component. Unfortunately my tv does not support HDMI.
You would lose the fixes for SACD with the old firmware. Check Oppo's site and you can see what was fixed.

any chance there will be a firmware hack based on the latest firmware? Also, how many real differences are there between the hack and the latest firmware? I have HDMI but my receiver doesn't.

From what I've gathered, you will only lose the MOST recent fixes. The hack is only 1 version old at this point. My plan is to wait until the firmware gets pretty much finalized and then beg and plead for someone to hack it. There is not point in that person (whoever it was) to keep redoing his or her work everytime a firmware comes out.

SACD will still work, you'll just notice some gaps and the interface is a bit annoying (from what I've read, my 970 is still waiting to ship.)

BTW: Whoever you are, THANK YOU for the hack! :) I almost feel guilty wanting the thing, but why should we feel like ciminals when all we want to do is play back DVDs on our HDTVs that aren't new enough to have HDMI? It's not like we're pirating DVDs or anything. In fact, one way to get around the current firmware is to burn your own copies of your own DVDs but how annoying would that be? "What movie do you want to watch tonight honey? Okay, just give me two hours to rip and burn a copy so we can use our new DVD player!" lol. Not Oppo's fault, I know why they do it.

Carlos, are you focusing on analog output of audio for either CD or DVD? I don't think anyone is questioning the need for D/A conversion or the significant role played by the D/A converter in determining the final sound quality, but the original question was whether the sound quality for Dolby Digital and DTS (the two cases specifically mentioned in SurfingMatt27's original post) digital output would differ between an older Sony player and an OPPO player. That was why sync was saying that there's shouldn't be any difference, and I have to say that I agree with him. In both cases, the digital bitstream is being passed from the disc to the output - and in both cases, the receiver being used is responsible for both the decoding of the bitstream and the D/A conversion.

To answer SurfingMatt27's original question, I would not expect there to be any downgrade in sound quality by going from the Sony player to an OPPO.

I gotta point out that the way each player reads each disc, overcomes flaws, and uses error correction will significantly change the digital output.
Defficiencies in source components can never be overcome by display and playback components further down the chain.

Here's a question I forgot to ask, would I get better sound out of my DVDs while connected to my receiver with the 5.1 analog output, or the optical?


And to get said 5.1 analog connection, I would merely connect 3 of these http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=2869&seq=1&format=2&style=
to the inputs on my receiver?

Thanks for the "advice" but it could have come with a little less sarcasm. I don't have the knowledge nor time to recreate the firmware hack, so I was asking this knowledgeable forum whether it was in the works. that's all. wburtis,

Did not mean to harass you. Only that's it a little naïve asking what you did :) No one knows who's making the hacks and certainly no one is gonna tell you if he knows. We just have to wait and see. But the current hack is very usefull as many pointed out by now!

Here's a question I forgot to ask, would I get better sound out of my DVDs while connected to my receiver with the 5.1 analog output, or the optical?


And to get said 5.1 analog connection, I would merely connect 3 of these http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=102&cp_id=10218&cs_id=1021803&p_id=2869&seq=1&format=2&style=
to the inputs on my receiver?

Nobody will know which is better. It depends on the type of receiver you have but the 970 has been reviewed in audio only magazines (that don't even talk about the video stuff) and they rate it up there with a $1400 setup that had a disk transport + seperate DA convertor. Not bad! My guess is that you'll get better sound w. the Oppo's 5.1 output. If you plan on doing SACD or DVD-A, you'll need to use the 6 RCA cables unless your receiver can decode those formats (or has HDMI 1.1).

Those cables will work and yep, you'll need 3 pairs of them. If you're bored while waiting for the Oppo to arrive, they have the setup guide and advanced setup guide on their web site. Print and browse! I still have at least two weeks before mine ships from Amazon so that's what I did! :)

Thanks for the response, and actually, my 970 arrived today. I think I'll go ahead and order the rcas, the only way to be sure is to try them out.

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.

Found another alterative this week, can't guaratee this would work for anyone else, but....

Borrowed (and I am now planning on buying) a Gefen "extendit HD Digital audio 4x1 switcher". This is the discontinued model with 4 HDMI inputs and one DVI output. Each input also has a digital audio in (optical and coax) and it has digital audio out (again both flavors).

When I place it between my Z2 and my Oppo eveything works.....

I just purchased a 970 (from Amazon) and I can play DVD Audio just fine but 0/3 SACD discs (Mahler's 3rd symphony, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue) are playable via HDMI to my Anthem D2 Pre/Pro. Went over this issue at length with both Oppo and Anthem tech support but no dice--kept getting static/noise when trying to play SACD. Ordered a replacement (hopefully here tomorrow or the day after) from Oppo--Anybody aware of this being an issue? Could this be a DSD to PCM conversion issue?

I just purchased a 970 (from Amazon) and I can play DVD Audio just fine but 0/3 SACD discs (Mahler's 3rd symphony, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue) are playable via HDMI to my Anthem D2 Pre/Pro. Went over this issue at length with both Oppo and Anthem tech support but no dice--kept getting static/noise when trying to play SACD. Ordered a replacement (hopefully here tomorrow or the day after) from Oppo--Anybody aware of this being an issue? Could this be a DSD to PCM conversion issue?My guess is you have a bad unit. I have been using my 970 to stream PCM to a Pio Elite 72 with no problems. Decoding DSD from SACD works great -- no issues -- great clear sound on all channels.

Although not specifically related to DSD-PCM conversion, I also want to say that the Oppo's ability to handle a wide variety of digital audio formats is extraordinary. When playing some of the DVD demo tracks from the AVS demo DVDs that have high-end audio my Pio's display has shown coding formats I didn't even know existed. Bottom line is that in my experience there are no problems with the Oppo's ability to properly read, convert and transmit a digital steam (PCM or otherwise) from any digital audio format that I have thrown at it -- including DSD, DD-EX, THX-EX, DTS-ES, and few others for which I can't remember their names/acronyms.

Carlos, are you focusing on analog output of audio for either CD or DVD? I don't think anyone is questioning the need for D/A conversion or the significant role played by the D/A converter in determining the final sound quality, but the original question was whether the sound quality for Dolby Digital and DTS (the two cases specifically mentioned in SurfingMatt27's original post) digital output would differ between an older Sony player and an OPPO player. That was why sync was saying that there's shouldn't be any difference, and I have to say that I agree with him. In both cases, the digital bitstream is being passed from the disc to the output - and in both cases, the receiver being used is responsible for both the decoding of the bitstream and the D/A conversion.

To answer SurfingMatt27's original question, I would not expect there to be any downgrade in sound quality by going from the Sony player to an OPPO.

thank you very much for the info,that's all i needed to know. :)

Surf- is your SONY player a CE775{ 5 disk player}?

Single disk player and the exact model # is:

DVP-NS775V

I just purchased a 970 (from Amazon) and I can play DVD Audio just fine but 0/3 SACD discs (Mahler's 3rd symphony, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue) are playable via HDMI to my Anthem D2 Pre/Pro. Went over this issue at length with both Oppo and Anthem tech support but no dice--kept getting static/noise when trying to play SACD. Ordered a replacement (hopefully here tomorrow or the day after) from Oppo--Anybody aware of this being an issue? Could this be a DSD to PCM conversion issue?

Doc,
Did you try another HDMI cable?

Surf- the reason I asked, was if we had the same player-I could comment on sound differences. I replaced (just removed) my Modified Sony CE775 (5disk). And now just use the oppo970 as my SACD/DVD player. I thought the SONY had a little more SQ over all. But not that great a difference. I am happy with the sound both with DVD and cd/sacd music. But I also have an acoustically challenged LV.
db


Single disk player and the exact model # is:

DVP-NS775V

I just purchased a 970 (from Amazon) and I can play DVD Audio just fine but 0/3 SACD discs (Mahler's 3rd symphony, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue) are playable via HDMI to my Anthem D2 Pre/Pro. Went over this issue at length with both Oppo and Anthem tech support but no dice--kept getting static/noise when trying to play SACD. Ordered a replacement (hopefully here tomorrow or the day after) from Oppo--Anybody aware of this being an issue? Could this be a DSD to PCM conversion issue?

It's odd that it plays DVD-A and not SACD, assuming you really were playing DVD-A (and not the DVD-V layer of a DVD-A) and that you were playing the multichannel and not stereo DVD-A tracks. I also presume you tried the highest HDMI resolution setting (1080), and also tried a different HDMI cable? Oppo support would likely have made these suggestions too.

The only issues with SACD playback I've enocuntered with the Oppo were the gapped playback and lack of track display (now fixed in firmware) and no sound when the HDMI resolution (bandwidth) is set too low.

(I also recently had a problem with it skipping the first few seconds of HDCD tracks, but updating the firmware seems to have fixed that too.)

Hi all,

Recent purchaser of the oppo and have a question thats been bugging me.I downloaded and searched the thread and couldn't find an answer.

Does any of the hacked firmware allow you to read other than the first session on a multisession disk?

It's odd that it plays DVD-A and not SACD, assuming you really were playing DVD-A (and not the DVD-V layer of a DVD-A) and that you were playing the multichannel and not stereo DVD-A tracks. I also presume you tried the highest HDMI resolution setting (1080), and also tried a different HDMI cable? Oppo support would likely have made these suggestions too.

The only issues with SACD playback I've enocuntered with the Oppo were the gapped playback and lack of track display (now fixed in firmware) and no sound when the HDMI resolution (bandwidth) is set too low.

(I also recently had a problem with it skipping the first few seconds of HDCD tracks, but updating the firmware seems to have fixed that too.)
will try a different cable

Well, I'm finally sending in my "defective" player. I posted about a month ago how it locks up at 720p/1080i with the hacked firmware installed. I have very little free time, but since then I've done some testing:

- Via component, with current firmware, all retail discs discs play fine at 480i/p; non-copywritten discs play fine at all resolutions
- Via component, with hacked firmware, all discs play fine at 480i/p; HOWEVER, every disc I've attempted at 720p or 1080i, retail or not, has failed

When using official firmware, compatible discs play great at every resolution. When using the hacked firmware, discs simply will not playback at 720p or 1080i. The player locks up completely within minutes- the only thing I can do is unplug from the wall. I have re-flashed several times, downloaded the firmware multiple times, etc to no avail. I simply have no idea why my unit essentially can't use the hack.

I feel anxious about sending it back, since the unit works fine as intended. It just doesn't make sense to me that seemingly hundreds of people from AVS have used the hack with no issues whatsoever - my player has to be defective in some way, I just don't know how.

Didn't go through all 130 pages, though I did search- anyone else with the Oppo 970 seeing blue where there should be deep black? I have an ISF calibrated CRT HDTV, and I don't see this with other sources. I've done Avia, and in general I'm very satisfied with the unit, but when part of a scene should be absolutely black it's more of a dark navy blue. Odd, and distracting. Possible defective unit, or known issue? Thanks.

I just ordered a Oppo 970, was using a Xbox360 to watch dvd's, hope I see a nice improvement. But I noticed everyone recommends to calibrate it when you get it, which calibration disc do you guys recommend, and where can I get them?

anyone else with the Oppo 970 seeing blue where there should be deep black? I have an ISF calibrated CRT HDTV, and I don't see this with other sources. I've done Avia, and in general I'm very satisfied with the unit, but when part of a scene should be absolutely black it's more of a dark navy blue. Odd, and distracting. Possible defective unit, or known issue? Thanks. No that's not normal, but did you have the HDMI input you are currently using calibrated? If not, I still suspect grayscale calibration. Do you have another HDMI source to compare with? (on the same input of course).

Gary

I just ordered a Oppo 970, was using a Xbox360 to watch dvd's, hope I see a nice improvement. But I noticed everyone recommends to calibrate it when you get it, which calibration disc do you guys recommend, and where can I get them? "Digital Video Essentials" has excellent, clean patterns, and is considerably cheaper than "Avia", but "Avia" is more user-friendly. Shop online for the best price from a reputable seller.

Gary

I have a new Oppo 970 and new Hitachi 65f59 CRT RPTV (just settled in, after 100 hours). I got the Avia DVD. Now how shall I start with calibration (what first) if I need Oppo for playing the DVD. Basically, do I calibrate the >pair< together, right ?

Calibrate by adjusting the display's controls - leave the OPPO's controls "zero'd" if you can.

Put in a DVD with a THX logo and display their video test patterns.
Start with black level setting your brightness so as to provide real black.
Then adjust contrast/picture so that you get max contrast without color or geometric distortion. Reset the black level again since these can be interactive adjustments.
Then adjust color so that it is fully saturated but not over saturated.
Adjust sharpness to a min level so that vertical lines are not distorted with false contours.
Thats really about it for basic calibration of the DVD settings.
Tip; pay attention to shadow detail and refine your adjustments so that you are able to reproduce these on your display.

I have a new Oppo 970 and new Hitachi 65f59 CRT RPTV (just settled in, after 100 hours). I got the Avia DVD. Now how shall I start with calibration (what first) if I need Oppo for playing the DVD. Basically, do I calibrate the >pair< together, right ?

I use getgray to calibrate. With Oppo set to 0 for contrast, I could not get WTW bars to clip. I had this problem withy my original DVD player. I boosted contrast on the oppo and now WTW clips. The result is better contrast than setting contrast based on the color shift method I've used in the past. Other than that, I used the display controls for everything else.

I just purchased the 970 this morning. Anyone know the status on shipments at this time?

I am hoping to get my new 50 Sony by thurs/fri and would like to hook both up at the same time.

The 970 is listed as being in stock (although the 981 is listed as being out of stock until 2/15), so I'd expect it to ship out later today.

Ordered mine last week and got it 3 days later.....quick

where you located ronin22?

NYC area

I got mine in 2 days! I'm in California.

Any Canuks out there ordering? What's your delivery time looking like?

Placed my order on 1/30 and still waiting. I should get it tomorrow; I'm in Florida.

OK, I got my 970 today. I placed a call to ask if their refurb player is available this morning (last Friday was out of stock), and was glad to get one. Picked it up at their Mountain View office at noon, well, just 5 miles from my home. I see two piles of 981 and 970 ready to ship, and still some 970s available. I didn't see any difference between a refurb one and a new one. In the same box, all staff included and sealed, only the paper signed indicates it is refurb. So I am very happy to paid it with $128, after tax.

HDMI is great, hooked it to my bravia 46s2010, default to 1080i, no setup required. I had a BBK player, so I am already familiar with that kind of tray. No problem. The fun part is, this player definitely has blood related to the BBK player. The tray, the screen saver, even more, when I eject the disk using remote, both player will do the ejection. :-) Well, BBK is much faster on that. Remoter is better than the BBK one, solid feel, and larger button.
HQ is good, some problems I saw on BBK are solved by the progressive scan. I can definitely feel the difference between these two players (BBK outputs in 480i with component cable). I shot some pictures for these two with same DVD at still mode, to my surprise, no difference I can tell. I think it might be OPPO does well when picture moves - movie, not still picture. I can definitely tell when the dvd plays.
Compare to my modded XBOX1, which can upscale DVD to 720p, outputs in component, I can not tell much the difference.
Can not recognize my kodak camera when I hooked to the USB port, but do list the content of the SD I took out from the camera.
XVid movie ripped from DVD plays OK; 720P movies downloaded from the net only plays sound with no video, which I already know, still feel sad. My XBOX1 is too slow to play 720p either, so I have to use my computer VGA connected to the TV. I am not satisfied with this.
One more issue for me, particularly for me, I missed the Karaoke function of the BBK. My wife loves to sing and she sings very well. She's very disappointed to know that this player lacks the function. Almost all DVD players sell in China have karaoke, a non-asking feature, things just not true here in the US. So I have to keep the old BBK along with the new player.
Even my xbox can do upscale just well, and it is a real media/game center, I am still happy with the OPPO 970. The xbox DVD-ROM is picky for the discs, and well known for the bad quality. I'd better save it for game only and let the OPPO do DVD playing job.
To summarize, for $128, I get a good upconvertor, HDMI enabled, doing what it is supposed to do, no 720p movie playback. Good deal! Please note this, models with almost same features sell around $200 or more in China.

Hou

I just purchased a 970 (from Amazon) and I can play DVD Audio just fine but 0/3 SACD discs (Mahler's 3rd symphony, Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue) are playable via HDMI to my Anthem D2 Pre/Pro. Went over this issue at length with both Oppo and Anthem tech support but no dice--kept getting static/noise when trying to play SACD. Ordered a replacement (hopefully here tomorrow or the day after) from Oppo--Anybody aware of this being an issue? Could this be a DSD to PCM conversion issue?

Could this be the problem? Did you set your HDMI video output to 1080i?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=130#Oppo DigitalDV-970HD (HDMI)

"A bug that I ran into with the 970HD is playback of DVD Audio and SACD via HDMI. I am currently using the Anthem Statement D2 A/V processor in my system, and it is HDMI 1.1 compliant. But for some reason, the only way to get the full output support of DVD Audio and SACD is if I set the output of the 970HD to 1080i. Otherwise it is truncated in both resolution and number of channels present. Anything other than 1080i results in stereo only playback, even if 5.1 sound was selected."

Explained by Oppo here: http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-3a-0916.html

"When the HDMI output is connected to an A/V receiver or audio processor with HDMI v1.1 or above specifications...

Note: If you use HDMI to connect audio to an HDMI A/V receiver or audio processor, it is recommended that you choose 720p or 1080i HDMI output resolution when playing high resolution audio content (DVD-Audio and SACD). According to the HDMI specification, the bandwidth available for digital audio is proportional to the total bandwidth used by digital video. At 480i/480p/576i/576p resolution, the HDMI specification can only support 2 channels of audio with high sample rate (up to 192kHz), or 8 channels of audio with standard sample rate (up to 48kHz). Depending on the capability of your A/V receiver or audio processor, if you play high resolution audio content at 480i/480p/576i/576p resolution, you may encounter problems of incomplete audio channels or no audio/video output at all. Choosing a high HDMI output resolution such as 720p or 1080i allows enough bandwidth for all high sample rate audio channels."

My Denon does not do HDMI Switching; Can I Connect directly to my Mitsu LCD Rear projection via HDMI and then run the audio via coax/optical to my Denon? I have asked this question on a couple other threads but so far no help..... Thanks

Thats what I plan on doing.

I have the Onkyo HTS790S HTIB. I plan on hooking the HDMI from my Oppo to my HDTV and then running an optical cable out to my receiver. Probably run another optical out from my HDTV to my receiver also and muting my tv speaker.

If it doesn't work out like that, I'll let you know.

One more issue for me, particularly for me, I missed the Karaoke function of the BBK. My wife loves to sing and she sings very well.
Hou
Check the manual again, I'm sure I saw a setting which is used for Karaoke. The reason I remember is that in the previous 3900 messages not once did anyone mention or ask if the unit supported this feature. Ten years ago it would have been karaoke, today it's divix.

Check the manual again, I'm sure I saw a setting which is used for Karaoke. The reason I remember is that in the previous 3900 messages not once did anyone mention or ask if the unit supported this feature. Ten years ago it would have been karaoke, today it's divix.

No, I didn't seen anything in the manuals, both of them. I could not imagine how can a player make karaoke when I found no where to plug microphone. :-(

Hou

OK. I must admit that up-convertors don't make equal. Although I think my xbox output 720p pretty well for the DVDs in good quality, it does not that good as OPPO does for the DVD ealier days or not that well made. Anyway, I am happy with 970, and think about make my XBOX as the karaoke center so I can have the old BBK go away. :-)

No, I didn't seen anything in the manuals, both of them. I could not imagine how can a player make karaoke when I found no where to plug microphone. :-(

Hou

This is what is was referring to on p 16.

5. Audio Tone (+/-16): This function raises or lowers the tone (key/pitch) of the audio track. This is useful for playing Karaoke discs and should not be used for regular music listening or movies.
• Press the SELECT button to show the tone control window.
• Press the LEFT/RIGHT ARROW buttons to lower or raise the tone/pitch.
• Press the SELECT button to confirm the setting.

Edit: That was in the Advanced setup guide.

My Denon does not do HDMI Switching; Can I Connect directly to my Mitsu LCD Rear projection via HDMI and then run the audio via coax/optical to my Denon?

Yes. Right now I have HDMI directly to my Mitsu LCD flat panel and raw digital audio going to my receiver (you can use either cable or optical). It seems to work just fine.

This is what is was referring to on p 16.

5. Audio Tone (+/-16): This function raises or lowers the tone (key/pitch) of the audio track. This is useful for playing Karaoke discs and should not be used for regular music listening or movies.
• Press the SELECT button to show the tone control window.
• Press the LEFT/RIGHT ARROW buttons to lower or raise the tone/pitch.
• Press the SELECT button to confirm the setting.

Edit: That was in the Advanced setup guide.

Yeah, you are right. I think it is the legacy left when they removed the karaoke feature, since it does not have microphone plug, I can see the usefulness of the setup. Thanks.


Hou

OK. I must admit that up-convertors don't make equal. Although I think my xbox output 720p pretty well for the DVDs in good quality, it does not that good as OPPO does for the DVD ealier days or not that well made. Anyway, I am happy with 970, and think about make my XBOX as the karaoke center so I can have the old BBK go away. :-)

When I first got the Oppo, I thought the picture was pretty good. I needed to live with it for several weeks to really appreciate the differences in picture quality.
Watched Lord of the Rings today with my son (home sick from school). The picture was less grainy than when I saw it at the theater. Fantastic depth and seemless integration of the special effects. All through the component cables so I can keep my HDMI for the Dish DVR.
Real customer satisfaction is an ongoing episode not immediate gratification.

Could this be the problem? Did you set your HDMI video output to 1080i?

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=130#Oppo DigitalDV-970HD (HDMI)

"A bug that I ran into with the 970HD is playback of DVD Audio and SACD via HDMI. I am currently using the Anthem Statement D2 A/V processor in my system, and it is HDMI 1.1 compliant. But for some reason, the only way to get the full output support of DVD Audio and SACD is if I set the output of the 970HD to 1080i. Otherwise it is truncated in both resolution and number of channels present. Anything other than 1080i results in stereo only playback, even if 5.1 sound was selected."

Explained by Oppo here: http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-3a-0916.html

"When the HDMI output is connected to an A/V receiver or audio processor with HDMI v1.1 or above specifications...

Note: If you use HDMI to connect audio to an HDMI A/V receiver or audio processor, it is recommended that you choose 720p or 1080i HDMI output resolution when playing high resolution audio content (DVD-Audio and SACD). According to the HDMI specification, the bandwidth available for digital audio is proportional to the total bandwidth used by digital video. At 480i/480p/576i/576p resolution, the HDMI specification can only support 2 channels of audio with high sample rate (up to 192kHz), or 8 channels of audio with standard sample rate (up to 48kHz). Depending on the capability of your A/V receiver or audio processor, if you play high resolution audio content at 480i/480p/576i/576p resolution, you may encounter problems of incomplete audio channels or no audio/video output at all. Choosing a high HDMI output resolution such as 720p or 1080i allows enough bandwidth for all high sample rate audio channels."


i had the same problem with my oppo. i connected the player and when i set it to 5.1 ch on the setup, i received no sound from my speakers. tech support from oppo were a little confused when i told them but after a while they told me to set the upconvert from 480p to 720p and boom, it worked like a charm.

So from what iv'e been reading about the Oppo 970, I dont have to use the hack to upconvert dvd's when hooked up with component, I could just make a backup of them with DVD shrink, then the backup would upconvert without the firmware hack?

Don't know if this is the right place but I just recieved a oppo 970 that I'm running to a panny plasma through component but now I'm thinking I would like to connect via the HDMI the only problem is my plasma has only one HDMI input that is being used for the DVR. Is there a way to hook up both to the tv? I have seen HDMI splitters and switches but which and how do these work? Anyone have a setup like this? Thanks, appreciate the help

So from what iv'e been reading about the Oppo 970, I dont have to use the hack to upconvert dvd's when hooked up with component, I could just make a backup of them with DVD shrink, then the backup would upconvert without the firmware hack?You could, but doing the firmware hack is SO easy and quick I see no reason not to do it. I just got my 970 yesterday, hooked it up and modded the firmware last night. You just burn the ISO to a CD-R, set the disc in the 970's drawer and hit play, it will ask you if you really want to "update", you hit play to confirm, and in a few seconds the disc will eject, you remove the disk from the tray and wait for a minute or two until it automatically closes the drawer and you're done! On-screen instructions explain all this very nicely, it's totally painless.

Don't know if this is the right place but I just recieved a oppo 970 that I'm running to a panny plasma through component but now I'm thinking I would like to connect via the HDMI the only problem is my plasma has only one HDMI input that is being used for the DVR. Is there a way to hook up both to the tv? I have seen HDMI splitters and switches but which and how do these work? Anyone have a setup like this? Thanks, appreciate the help
I agree with matte. Some have even stated that the picture is more rich with component (I didn't really notice any difference).
HDMI switches are availble in manual (push button) and remote varieties:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&style=

Don't know if this is the right place but I just recieved a oppo 970 that I'm running to a panny plasma through component but now I'm thinking I would like to connect via the HDMI the only problem is my plasma has only one HDMI input that is being used for the DVR. Is there a way to hook up both to the tv? I have seen HDMI splitters and switches but which and how do these work? Anyone have a setup like this? Thanks, appreciate the help
There are a number of HDMI switch boxes available that will allow you to connect both the 970 and the DVR to your plasma's single input. I handle it with a DVI switch built into my surround processor, but the more typical approach is to get something like this (http://www.gefen.com/kvm/product.jsp?prod_id=3055) from Gefen ($250) and this (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011002&p_id=3047&seq=1&format=2&style=) or this (http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10110&cs_id=1011001&p_id=2786&seq=1&format=2&style=) from MonoPrice.

Thanks for the imput guys

i had the same problem with my oppo. i connected the player and when i set it to 5.1 ch on the setup, i received no sound from my speakers. tech support from oppo were a little confused when i told them but after a while they told me to set the upconvert from 480p to 720p and boom, it worked like a charm.With the latest beta firmware I am able to playback multi-channel DVD-A and SACD over HDMI at 480i into my D2. My Pioneer Elite 79AVi needs to be in 720P or 1080i for multi-channel to work. I never considered it an Oppo bug, but more of an HDMI idiosyncrasy as it is part of the HDMI spec. I loaded the beta firmware when I first receive my 970 so I’m not sure what the older versions of firmware do.

Now if Oppo cold just get the gapless working on the Beatles – Love DVD-A I’d be a very happy owner and get rid of my over priced Elite.

You could, but doing the firmware hack is SO easy and quick I see no reason not to do it. I just got my 970 yesterday, hooked it up and modded the firmware last night. You just burn the ISO to a CD-R, set the disc in the 970's drawer and hit play, it will ask you if you really want to "update", you hit play to confirm, and in a few seconds the disc will eject, you remove the disk from the tray and wait for a minute or two until it automatically closes the drawer and you're done! On-screen instructions explain all this very nicely, it's totally painless.I agree that updating the firmware is pretty painless, but one reason to not apply the hack would be if you want to use the latest beta from Oppo that fixes the gapless playback and track display for SACD's.

The component hack is based on an older version of the Oppo firmware that doesn't have these fixes, so if gapless SACD is important to you then that needs to be balanced against the need for upconverted component output from commerical DVD's -- and a decision made one way or the other since you can't have both at the same time. :( :mad:

I agree that updating the firmware is pretty painless, but one reason to not apply the hack would be if you want to use the latest beta from Oppo that fixes the gapless playback and track display for SACD's.

The component hack is based on an older version of the Oppo firmware that doesn't have these fixes, so if gapless SACD is important to you then that needs to be balanced against the need for upconverted component output from commerical DVD's -- and a decision made one way or the other since you can't have both at the same time. :( :mad:True. So, where did the modified firmware come from? Is there any chance that we may see the mod applied to newer versions of the firmware?

There was a thread within the last couple of days where a guy looked at what's in the hacked firmware and compared it to the latest oppo beta, on the binary level. I think he's got a version around, but if it fails, you'll have a doorstop or will have to send it in to oppo for fix.

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=799121

jeff

Don't know if this is the right place but I just recieved a oppo 970 that I'm running to a panny plasma through component but now I'm thinking I would like to connect via the HDMI the only problem is my plasma has only one HDMI input that is being used for the DVR. Is there a way to hook up both to the tv? I have seen HDMI splitters and switches but which and how do these work? Anyone have a setup like this? Thanks, appreciate the help

As other responses have indicated, there are switches available. You should also try connecting your DVR via component and see for yourself if there is any difference. In may case, I did not see a difference, so I moved the DVR over to component which frees up my HDMI. I preferred this option for two reasons. First, I did not not have to lay out any cash for a switch. Second, I can have individual settings for each input on my display which provides one set of settings for my HDMI. However, the settings for the DVD player and the DVR would need to be different. Therefore, I would need to manually change the settings each time I switched between the two devices. It would be a PITA.

maybe Neuromancer can verify or discount this report -- which is from the LFE thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=748147)

Oppo 970HD: Can bass manage and level adjust HDMI output; unfortunately this means LFE is 15dB low to make room, even with bass management off

You could, but doing the firmware hack is SO easy and quick I see no reason not to do it

Could someone please email me a copy of the ISO hack firmware? My Oppo is scheduled to be delivered this Friday. I tried to convert the extracted unzipped BIN file from yahoo.groups to ISO. Even the Client Server pros at work couldn' t convert it.

Thanks,

Monkey

Could someone please email me a copy of the ISO hack firmware? My Oppo is scheduled to be delivered this Friday. I tried to convert the extracted unzipped BIN file from yahoo.groups to ISO. Even the Client Server pros at work couldn' t convert it.

Thanks,

MonkeyI'll send it you. Either enable email for your AVS account (under settings in User CP) or PM me your email address...

Has anyone done a comparison between the analog outs and the digital outs for 5.1 DVD playback?

I have a Toshiba 62hm196 which is a DLP that upconverts everything to 1080p. My question is whether or not to get the Oppo 970. Will it make a difference in my PQ? I'm trying to decide whether or not to get an upconverting DVD player. Does anyone have this set up or something similar. Any input would be great.

Thanks

Has anyone done a comparison between the analog outs and the digital outs for 5.1 DVD playback?
Not exactly, because this comparison can't be done and apply consistently for other users. Theis comparison will be significantly impacted by the reciever you connect the player's digital output to, as that receiver's DSP and DAC's will determine how the digital output sounds.

I'll send it you. Either enable email for your AVS account (under settings in User CP) or PM me your email address...

matte303:

I sent you a PM.

Monkey

Does anyone have the Oppo 970 > Onkyo 604 via HDMI then output to Samsung DLP via HDMI? I have both Directv HR20 (HD DVR) and Oppo 970 and neither will work through the 604 (no picture on the Samsung) but they both work fine when hooked up via HDMI directly to the Samsung.

Right now I am using Direct connection via HDMI to my Sammy and optical audio from each component into the 604. I control all of this pretty easily because I have a Harmony 659 remote. Would you bother sending the 604 back or just keep it? Is optical audio just as good as HDMI audio?

I have a 970 at home in a box. Just got in today. I just registered my Onkyo receiver and got an offer for this 404 refurb for $85 out the door including shipping and tax.

Should I keep the Oppo or go ahead and get the refurb Onkyo? It will match my receiver....

Any insight will be appreciated..

BTW...my HDTV won't be coming in till next week, so I can't even use the Oppo to its full potential till then.

IMHO, No. The Oppo is better that the Onkyo player. Don't chase every special that you come across.

I'd be happy to GET my OPPO 970HD I ordered it from Amazon on Jan 21st and it still hasn't shipped! (Thank God I got my 5687w and stand though!)

I'd be happy to GET my OPPO 970HD I ordered it from Amazon on Jan 21st and it still hasn't shipped! (Thank God I got my 5687w and stand though!)

Order Date: January 17, 2007
Delivery estimate: February 26, 2007 - March 16, 2007

I'm in the same boat! :(

ouch guys... :confused:

I ordered my 970 direct from Oppo yesterday and it arrived this morning...given, I'm only 3 hours from Mountainside...

I am glad I ordered direct...

[QUOTE=Quank]Order Date: January 17, 2007
Delivery estimate: February 26, 2007 - March 16, 2007

I'm in the same boat!

OPPO 970 and 981 available AV Science. I ordered my 970 on Monday and it shipped same day. Call Richard to place you order

Or you can wait till amazon gets them in,,,,whenever ! Texoma Flyer
__________________
Richard Sales Technician
A/V Science, Inc.
585.454.1460

Hi, I just got my OPPO 970 today and I would like to do the component hack since my Mitsubishi 65411 doesn't have a HDMI input. I can't find the file online so I was hoping someone could email it to me.

Thanks

Hi, I just got my OPPO 970 today and I would like to do the component hack since my Mitsubishi 65411 doesn't have a HDMI input. I can't find the file online so I was hoping someone could email it to me.

ThanksSend me a PM with your e-mail address.

Hi, I just got my OPPO 970 today and I would like to do the component hack since my Mitsubishi 65411 doesn't have a HDMI input. I can't find the file online so I was hoping someone could email it to me.

ThanksI just checked, it's still available here: 613AMOD.iso (http://www.filefactory.com/file/ebf391/). That hosting site is kinda funky, you have to jump thru a couple hoops, but the file is there.

i ordered the 970 once I get it , do I or should I make any adjustments or is it just plug and play??

i ordered the 970 once I get it , do I or should I make any adjustments or is it just plug and play??Depending on your HT and A/V setup and your intended use of the 970 (e.g., SACD, DVD-A, etc. in addition to straight DVD) there are various configuration/setup choices. Read both the USER MANUAL and ADVANCED SETUP GUIDE included with the player and proceed accordingly.

If you want to get a jump on the setup just download PDF copies of these docs from the Oppo web site so you can be ready when your unit arrives. :) http://oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd_support.html

I've checked oppo's site (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd_support.html), there's no mention of squeeze fix.

Component hack is based on which old firmware? I only see 2 firmwares and 1 beta.




I searched this thread for "squeeze", and read all the posts...

What I haven't seen answered is this:

If you get the latest unit with the firmware that fixes the "squeeze", and then you load the hack to get upconversion over component, you will lose the squeeze fix, right? Because the hack was based on an older version of firmware?


correct

the squeeze fix is a beta that you have to call/email and ask for.

Are anyone else's xvid files getting cropped? I'm running the oppo with an hdmi to dvi adapter to my 1024x768 Harsper pdp. Part of the left and right side of the picture is being cut off.

Thank you for the post. I was about to purchase a 970 specifically for this reason (Divx/Xvid AVI's of hour long show's that I downloaded) and liked that I could put them on a USB flash drive or SD card for easy copy/playback (rather than always having to burn it to DVDR).

Anyone else have this experience? Maybe it was a bad encoding job on that particular show?

Just wanted to say that I am experiencing this same thing. Which is a pity because this was a major reason why I wanted this Oppo player (to play hour-long TV shows). I hope Oppo will fix this with the latest firmware. I just ordered it, so I have the latest official firmware release.

Has anyone tryed the firmware for the squeeze fix? Does it make the video quality any worse in any way??

the beta for the squeeze is not a production release because oppo feels that it softens the image more than they would like.

jeff

I have a 970 at home in a box. Just got in today. I just registered my Onkyo receiver and got an offer for this 404 refurb for $85 out the door including shipping and tax.

Should I keep the Oppo or go ahead and get the refurb Onkyo? It will match my receiver....

Any insight will be appreciated..


First of all, the Onkyo doesn't play DVD-A nor SACD, so the Oppo would be the betrter choice if that matters to you. The Oppo has excellent video over HDMI and is excellent with audio. I love my 970.

-- Rich

Is there a big difference in picture quality when using the hack to pass 1080i over component vs. using hdmi? I had to sacrifice my DirecTivo HD Recorder to hook up the oppo since I only have one dvi port. If the picture quality is as good with the oppo through component as it is through dvi (using a conversion cable), I may apply the hack and move the tivo back to the dvi port.

Thanks,

Roy

I have a Mits 65609. It only has component inputs. in the specs it has:

Component Video Inputs 2 (480i/480p)
HDTV Video Input Scan Rates (auto select)
Component 480i,480p,1080i
RGBHV 480p,1080i


I currently use the HDTV component input for D* HD. Therefore all I have left are the 2 component inputs labeled 480i/480p. Does this mean that the TV limits the signal that goes into these 2 inputs?

Yes, I'm afraid it does. Those two inputs labeled 480i/480p will not accept resolutions higher than 480p.

You can use a very cheap, effective and simple switch to deal with that. Get a component video switch, the manual kind from radio shack for about $10. The hard mechanical switch will no degrade your signal and will allow more connections to be fed into the component HD signal.

To use the rgbhv you'd need a transcoder and a break-out cable.

jeff

the beta for the squeeze is not a production release because oppo feels that it softens the image more than they would like.

jeffwhat is the squeeze problem you guys are referring to? The only beta firmware I see is the one with a couple of SACD related changes... :confused:

You can use a very cheap, effective and simple switch to deal with that. Get a component video switch, the manual kind from radio shack for about $10. The hard mechanical switch will no degrade your signal and will allow more connections to be fed into the component HD signal.jeff


Thanks. I'll look into that.

what is the squeeze problem you guys are referring to? The only beta firmware I see is the one with a couple of SACD related changes... :confused:Do a thread search for the word "squeeze" and you'll get plenty of hits. See post #3324 for a succinct statement of the problem from neuromancer. As he says the beta firmware is available by request to Oppo, not on their web site.

Do a thread search for the word "squeeze" and you'll get plenty of hits. See post #3324 for a succinct statement of the problem from neuromancer. As he says the beta firmware is available by request to Oppo, not on their web site.I see, thanks! I hope by the time Oppo comes up with a fix for this that they're happy with, someone has figured out a way to re-apply the component upconvert mod. I'm keeping a close eye on that other thread....

is DV-981HD has significant diff from 970?
worth the extra $$$?

is DV-981HD has significant diff from 970?
worth the extra $$$?See this link on the Oppo web site to compare Oppo models. (http://oppodigital.com/dv981hd/dv981hd_comp.html)

See post #3639 ijn this thread for some discussion on this subject. Do a thread search for "981" and you'll get lots of hits.

Also check out the official 981 thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=760726)

What's worth the extra $$$ to one person won't be the same to another. Different strokes, ya know ...... :) Check out the 981 thread and let us know what you decide.

981 is 1080p

Anyone able to host the file for downloading?

Thanks.

the squeeze fix is a beta that you have to call/email and ask for.

Anyone able to host the file for downloading?

Thanks.No need for anyone to host a D/L. Just send an e-mail to service@oppodigital.com and ask for it. I got mine attached to a reply e-mail in a couple of hours. Ask for "the beta firmware with the vertical compression fix."

ALSO FYI -- this firmware does NOT include the SACD gapless playback fix currently available on the Oppo web site. Here's a quote from the reply e-mail from Oppo --

This firmware does not contain the gapless audio fix. We are looking at combining the two firmware together, but do not have an ETA for this fix.

I posted this in a different thread, could someone here help?
What is the best resolution to use?

"Based on the positive reviews in this forum, recently purchased an Oppo 970 to go with my HLS-6187w. I thought it'd be best to wait out the HD format war, but wanted to have the best possible picture in the meantime.
For all of you who have this TV/DVD combo, or people with an upconverting player:
Do you guys really see a difference in the pq between the different resolutions?

I spent hours going from 480i -> 480p -> 720p -> 1080i, but can't seem to see any difference. Comparing pq is also very difficult since you can't switch resolutions while watching a movie.
Any recommendations on the best way to compare pq in this case?

btw, I have the player connected directly via HDMI port on the tv.
I have seen many posts praising the upconverted pq on the Oppo, so I guess I'm a bit dissapointed with what I'm seeing or not seeing. Maybe I did something wrong?"

I posted this in a different thread, could someone here help?
What is the best resolution to use?

"Based on the positive reviews in this forum, recently purchased an Oppo 970 to go with my HLS-6187w. I thought it'd be best to wait out the HD format war, but wanted to have the best possible picture in the meantime.
For all of you who have this TV/DVD combo, or people with an upconverting player:
Do you guys really see a difference in the pq between the different resolutions?

I spent hours going from 480i -> 480p -> 720p -> 1080i, but can't seem to see any difference. Comparing pq is also very difficult since you can't switch resolutions while watching a movie.
Any recommendations on the best way to compare pq in this case?

btw, I have the player connected directly via HDMI port on the tv.
I have seen many posts praising the upconverted pq on the Oppo, so I guess I'm a bit dissapointed with what I'm seeing or not seeing. Maybe I did something wrong?"
I don't have an Oppo but here's my take on your post. 480 is the native resolution of DVD so that should look the best. If you don't see a difference then that means the Oppo is doing a hell of a good job in upscaling. So don't be dissapointed. What are you expecting to see?

HI. spent hours on this thread last night and this morning. went out came back and the thread was down. I was torn between the LG players and the oppo. I have a LG DN191H just bought before Xmas and before I came across AVS. this is some place you can learn so much from you people out there. Thank you so much for being there for everyone. someone on the page before this one asked about the squeeze and was lead to post 3324 I believe. so I went there too. and read back up to this spot. ordered my oppo at about 5:30 Wi. time. and I was able to ask the man about the squeeze, and the gaps in dvd-a. and I also asked if the 970 upscaled over component. I knew the answer but had to ask because that is the only way I'm going to be able to get HD from this DVD player NO HDMI and no dvi. old Mits. rp vintage 1999. So I asked him and he said there was a third party out with a hack that would let me do that but Oppo has nothing to do about with that. And I asked Him if any of the new firmware over writes that and he said no the fixes are mostly Just for bugs, (So once I get the fix I'll be set.) My words not His. Thanks to all of you. Because the way that the help is given here. you realy believe in this Oppo 970 and that is good enough for me. sounds like a very good player. Thanks again. PS. I may need help with the firmware I use a apple and I'm not to up on what your talking about.

And I asked Him if any of the new firmware over writes that and he said no the fixes are mostly Just for bugs, (So once I get the fix I'll be set.) My words not His. First of all -- Welcome to the AVS forum and this thread in particular.

I'm sure you will like your Oppo 970 -- BUT -- I want to provide some clarification about firmware updates. Any time you install a firmware version it completely overwrites the currently installed firmware. This means if you install the component hack firmware, and then later install another official Oppo ("bug fix") version (e.g., either of the current betas to fix the SACD playback gap or the vertical "squeeze" problem) the new firmware will wipe out the old hacked firmware and you will lose the upscaled component features (because they are not inlcuded in any official Oppo firmware). :(

In other words the firmware update process is all or nothing -- not incremental. :( That is why there is so much interest in this thread in someone (anyone??) volunteering to modify future Oppo firmware releases with the component hack -- (see various previous posts about this subject).

Also -- FYI there is another recent thread (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=799121) devoted to the topic of modifying Oppo firmware versions with the component hack. Pretty interesting. :D

Thanks for telling me that The way he made it sound, It could be done. some on the Thead said that the virt. was not that bad, Is it happening to you? And if so how bad is it. And as far as the gap. How bad is it. that is something I was going to try.( DVD-A) well I was able to play one video in 1080i with my LG DN 191H and it was burned in a PC by someone I know But could not get it to work with my mac burnt dics And there is no hack for the 191 Don't know why it worked for the PC, burn. But anyway it looked great and it was something I would like to do. Thanks again,

I don't have an Oppo but here's my take on your post. 480 is the native resolution of DVD so that should look the best. If you don't see a difference then that means the Oppo is doing a hell of a good job in upscaling. So don't be dissapointed. What are you expecting to see?
I think I misinterpreted your post in my original reply. I guess you are saying the Oppo doesn't do a better job of upscaling than your tv. Hopefully, that means your tv is really good at upscaling.

I have the OPPO DVD Player DV-970HD and the Activation ID for DIVX VOD however when I input this activation ID to register the player I get the error message:

"Failed to activate device, The model ID specified in the activation code does not correspond to the device."

I know the activation code is correct. Can anyone tell me what is wrong? Does DIVX not recognize the 970?

Thanks for telling me that The way he made it sound, It could be done. some on the Thead said that the virt. was not that bad, Is it happening to you? And if so how bad is it. And as far as the gap. How bad is it. that is something I was going to try.( DVD-A) well I was able to play one video in 1080i with my LG DN 191H and it was burned in a PC by someone I know But could not get it to work with my mac burnt dics And there is no hack for the 191 Don't know why it worked for the PC, burn. But anyway it looked great and it was something I would like to do. Thanks again,Yes the vertical squeeze is happening to me (and everyone else who hasn't applied the Oppo beta fix) since it is due to a basic problem with the Mediatek chipset that Oppo is doing thier best to fix via firmware. The underscan is about 20 lines out of 1080 and I don't really notice it. Other more critical viewers say they notice it, but I don't and it doesn't really bother me. The problem is most evident using high res test patterns and is much less noticable (if at all) with "real life" DVD video.

Might be that my Panny plasma HDTV is overscanning by the same amount and thereby "correcting" the problem on display -- I don't really know. I will probably try applying the fix to see if I notice any difference, but to me the gapless SACD playback fix is more important (see below) and if I do apply the vertical sqeeze fix, it will be just as an experiment and I'll go back to the gapless SACD firmware as my baseline. Of course if a combined fix is made available someday (see post #3961) I'll install it just to have it corrected on principle.

As for the playback gap I think it is only on SACD playback, and not DVD-A (someone correct me if I'm wrong since I don't have any DVD-A discs.) On SACD it only affects discs that are burned as "gapless" such as DSOTM. The vast majority of SACD discs already have an inter-track gap, to the Oppo problem doesn't really affect them. But when a disc is designed to be gapless having a gap inserted between tracks is VERY annoying. I have applied the beta fix for gapless SACD playback and it works fine. And since I use the HDMI output I don't need the component upscale hack, so at present the gapless SACD beta firmware is what I am running.

Sorry I can't be of any help with Mac stuff as I am a PC guy with no Mac knowledge or experience.

I think I misinterpreted your post in my original reply. I guess you are saying the Oppo doesn't do a better job of upscaling than your tv. Hopefully, that means your tv is really good at upscaling.

Thanks for your reply.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is: how effective is the Oppo in upconverting SD dvds?
If I don't see much of a difference between 480i versus 1080i, then doesn't that mean that the unconversion is obsolete?

If what you're saying is true about the TV doing a better job of upscaling, then there really isn't a need to buy a unconverting dvd player. Is this true?

If what you're saying is true about the TV doing a better job of upscaling, then there really isn't a need to buy a unconverting dvd player. Is this true?
If you don't notice a difference and there isn't some unknown technical factor involved, then there wouldn't be any need for you to buy an upscaling player. Have you compared it to a regular DVD player?

I finally got my remote from Oppo and now am doing the hacks... Made mine region free without any problem. Did the component firmware upgrade. I am not able to get it to upscale. When I press the HDMI button, I see 480p. When I press again, I get the "no-go" circle with the slash.

Any ideas? My firmware in the player now says "OP970-1A-0613" I believe this is the hacked firmware, but not positive. Any ideas what I'm missing?

Thanks.

Tony

I finally got my remote from Oppo and now am doing the hacks... Made mine region free without any problem. Did the component firmware upgrade. I am not able to get it to upscale. When I press the HDMI button, I see 480p. When I press again, I get the "no-go" circle with the slash.

Any ideas? My firmware in the player now says "OP970-1A-0613" I believe this is the hacked firmware, but not positive. Any ideas what I'm missing?

Thanks.

Tony

Make sure dvd playback is stopped, then you may switch resolutions with the HDMI button.

Make sure dvd playback is stopped, then you may switch resolutions with the HDMI button.


DUDE!


And that's from a surfer....

Thanks.

DUDE!


And that's from a surfer....

Thanks.

Is that good or bad?? :D

very, very good. I cant' say I can really see a difference between 720p and 1080i on my TV, but both are a clear improvement over the stock 480p.

I'm happy I didn't just go for a regular $75 panny or sony unit.

Thanks again.

Thanks for your reply.
I guess what I'm trying to get at is: how effective is the Oppo in upconverting SD dvds?
If I don't see much of a difference between 480i versus 1080i, then doesn't that mean that the unconversion is obsolete?

If what you're saying is true about the TV doing a better job of upscaling, then there really isn't a need to buy a unconverting dvd player. Is this true?

Yes there is a visable difference and yes the hack is worth doing!

I've received several requests for the hacked firmware lately, since it no longer seems to be available at the Videohelp website. I decided to make it available at this hosting site if anyone needs it: http://www.looler.com/file/2823/613AMOD-iso.html

Please read the Oppo instructions for loading new firmware before doing this: Oppo Instructions (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-3a-0916.html)


Enjoy! :)

how effective is the Oppo in upconverting SD dvds?
Very!
If I don't see much of a difference between 480i versus 1080i, then doesn't that mean that the unconversion is obsolete?
Not at all.
If what you're saying is true about the TV doing a better job of upscaling, then there really isn't a need to buy a unconverting dvd player. Is this true?
No. It's all going to depend on the display. I didn't research you particular display but if you're not seeing any improvement then maybe it is doing as good a job as the Oppo can do.

I've used the Oppo players on 6 different displays now, and I can see a visible improvement on all but the smallest one, a 26" RCA LCD. The smaller the display the less you may notice. On my 9 ft. wide Stewart Firehawk, the difference is huge.

What shames me is the fact that over the years I've spent hundreds of hours and a couple thousand dollars to do what the Oppo does for a couple Frankies. :confused:

Chris

This is a mac. user and I'm so worryed that I' going to screw this up Idon't have My Oppo yet but having a mac. are the files going to be right? I don't know about the mac.PC. thing Will I be alright or will I have to get someone with a PC. to download it and burn it . Thanks

This is a mac. user and I'm so worryed that I' going to screw this up Idon't have My Oppo yet but having a mac. are the files going to be right?

Doesn't matter, Mac or Pc.....just be sure to use a CD burning program (like Nero) to extract the ISO (or image) file to a blank CD. In Nero, the menu says "Burn a Disc Image." Also, make sure to "close" the CD.

Read the instructions for doing this on the Oppo website...the CD should have a "bin" file on it when finished, NOT the iso file you downloaded.

Ok guys, I have a Sony LCD rptv KDF-E60A20. What will give me a better picture, the Panasonic s97 i have now (with firmware 540) or the Oppo DV-970hd. I understand the obvious MB issue should be nonexistent with the Oppo. All input is appreciated. I just want to maximize the pq on my monitor until the hd/blueray war ends, although I admit i'd pickup an open box hd-dvd player for mid 200's if i saw one just to feed it a netflix diet until the war is over.

Jon

According to the DVD benchmarks at Secrets of Home Theater HiFi (http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0) the Oppo 970 gets a score of 86 while the Panasonic S97 gets a score of 91. I'd read the full reviews to make sure the scores are based on the qualities you're looking for.

DVD players are like any other machine. They're either a benefit or a hazard. If they're a benefit, it's not my problem. Oops, I mean Replicants!

Hey guys, I'm thinking about exchanging my 981 for the 970 since I'm experiencing a lot of macroblocking problems with my 42" Samsung plasma. I've calibrated it and it's not as bad anymore but it's still very distracting. 30 days is almost up so I have to make a decision soon.

The only concern I have right now is with PAL playback. My DVDs are mostly NTSC, but I live in Australia so will be watching some PAL dvds too. I was told that the 970 doesn't do 2:2 cadence and I just want to know how much this will affect dvd play back. Is it big enough a factor to stay with my 981? I just can't stand the macroblocking anymore.

Thanks!

Tom

Again, it depends. If you set this for PAL output 50 Hz/580i active line output your display will do the 2:2 cadence (if it has the proper chip set and instructions). This may work to perfection but it is display dependent.

Richard.

... is real noticeable on my Oppo 970HD and Panny 50" 9UK. This artifact is noticeable to the same degree on any output resolution from 480I/P to 1080I. Is this something that can only be corrected with high-end video processors? Vertical pans are fine; jaggies are fine, it's just fast horizontal pans with a bright large object against a dark background that "tears" as it moves across the screen.

Any insight appreciated.

I watched An Inconvenient Truth last night and was VERY happy with the PQ from my 970. It looked much better than my old Panny HT-900's 480p output.

I'm at a loss to see a difference in PQ from 720p & 1080i settings.

I'm seeing a bit of drooping on the ends of the letterbox when viewing non-16:9 formatted stuff. What's up with that?

Today, I feed my Sony Bravia 46s2010 with 480i through HDMI from my oppo and found my TV did pretty well, actually, slightly better than my xbox up-convert to 720p through component, and noticably better than my old BBK dvd player with only 480i component. Well, OPPO 1080i, or 720p through HDMI is still the best among others.

I'm seeing a bit of drooping on the ends of the letterbox when viewing non-16:9 formatted stuff. What's up with that?
If I understand your description correctly, sounds like a geometry problem with your TV (pincushion?).

If I understand your description correctly, sounds like a geometry problem with your TV (pincushion?).

Not sure what that is... I've got a CRT Sony KV-34XBR910.

Thanks.

Not sure what that is... I've got a CRT Sony KV-34XBR910.
Well, if it /is/ the TV, you would probably notice that with your other inputs and your old player as well.

just got the oppo paired with my sammy 4692 and so far im not really impressed...you have to look real hard to see any difference between this and my ps2 playing DVDs, i dunno amI doing something wrong??? its set at 720p..anything else I can do?

It's amazing how some have noticed a better difference with the oppo. I've tried unhooking/hooking the components between my old panasonic RP82 and oppo970, a tiresome process but can't really confirm if there's any difference on my 100" screen (standing 4 feet away). Only way i could do it properly is if I have a side by side comparison ... apple to apple.


Is there a solution yet for the picture squeeze bug?

Hey guys, I'm thinking about exchanging my 981 for the 970 since I'm experiencing a lot of macroblocking problems with my 42" Samsung plasma. I've calibrated it and it's not as bad anymore but it's still very distracting. 30 days is almost up so I have to make a decision soon.

The only concern I have right now is with PAL playback. My DVDs are mostly NTSC, but I live in Australia so will be watching some PAL dvds too. I was told that the 970 doesn't do 2:2 cadence and I just want to know how much this will affect dvd play back. Is it big enough a factor to stay with my 981? I just can't stand the macroblocking anymore. Tom, the 970 cannot handle 2:2 cadence on PAL DVD's, so that may affect you adversely in Australia. The combing and jagged lines will be quite obvious.

Just be sure that the macroblocking isn't recorded on the DVD. If it is, it will look just as bad on the 970. If you're sure that it is Faroudja macroblock-enhance, it can be suppressed with a proper grayscale calibration - usually done in the TV's service menu.

You'll have to pick the lesser of the two evils.

Gary

Judder on horizontal pans... is real noticeable on my Oppo 970HD and Panny 50" 9UK. This artifact is noticeable to the same degree on any output resolution from 480I/P to 1080I. Is this something that can only be corrected with high-end video processors? Vertical pans are fine; jaggies are fine, it's just fast horizontal pans with a bright large object against a dark background that "tears" as it moves across the screen.

Any insight appreciated. Really fast pans judder at the cinema too. Its a limitation of the 24 frames-per-second film speed. However, 3:2 cadence for 60Hz displays does worsen it to some degree. If your player and display supports it, 72Hz (a multiple of 24Hz) is supposed to be considerably smoother.

Gary

just got the oppo paired with my sammy 4692 and so far im not really impressed...you have to look real hard to see any difference between this and my ps2 playing DVDs, i dunno amI doing something wrong??? its set at 720p..anything else I can do? Often, its the trickier material that shows up the weaknesses in a player. Remember that to get the best results, and to make a fair comparison, your display should be calibrated to each player. And turn off all the TV's image "enhancement" circuits that can quite easily bury the subtle advantages that one player may offer over another.

Gary

All this combing, judder, jaggies, macroblocking, what- nots.... which movie/particular scene do you experience? Maybe some of us can verify, if same problem occurs on our end.

Hi,

Has anyone run across this problem, and, if so, how did you solve it?

Whenever I route any of my video outputs from the Oppo 970 into my Lumagen video processor and hook up my analog outputs to my receiver which is acting as a pre-amp for my Outlaw 7500 power amp, I get a significant ground loop hum in my speakers. However, if I hook up a Pioneer Elite DVD player to the very same video cables running to the Lumagen, no ground loop hum whatsoever. There is also no ground loop hum when the Lumagen is hooked up to HDTV receiver via HDMI. The Oppo seems to be the catalyst.

I'd appreciate any insight you might have on this. Thanks!

Not sure what that is... I've got a CRT Sony KV-34XBR910.

Thanks.

How old is the tv? I've got a similar problem with my CRT rear projection. Went through a calibration and the convergence is shot. Everything lines up perfectly except about 6 inches from the edge, around the entire set. There is obviously something wrong with mine ... might be a similar issue with yours? Try to adjust the convergence and see if it possible.

OPPO has seen it fit to drop two firmware releases today. As of yesterday all units will be shipping from OPPO Digital with the 4A-0111 Firmware (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-4a-0111.html). This firmware addresses the following:
1. Super Audio CD (SACD) Gapless Playback

There are a small number of SACD discs on the market that are mastered to play continuously without pause between tracks. The DV-970HD with previous firmware versions plays SACD with a silent gap of about 1 second between each track. With this firmware version, the gap between tracks is eliminated.

2. 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.

They have also released a new, and dare I say, exciting 4A-0209 Beta Firmware (http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-4a-0209.html). This firmware addresses the following

1. Super Audio CD (SACD) Track Number On-Screen Display

With previous firmware version, the on-screen display of SACD track number indicates the selected/highlighted track in the user interface. When the player is playing a track not listed on the current screen, the user has no way to know which track is playing unless he/she checks the front panel display. This firmware version makes the on-screen display show the currently playing track number.

2. Alternative Remote Control Code

This firmware version adds an alternative set of remote control code that the player will respond to. The alternative remote control code enables users to program their universal remote controls that comes with TV, Projector or A/V Receiver to operate the DVD player. If the universal remote control has a DVD player control function, please program it with the code for TOSHIBA, PHILIPS, MAGNAVOX, MARANTZ or ZENITH DVD players. Since each brand of remote control may have several sets of codes, you may need to try several times using different codes to get the working one.

Response to the alternative remote control code can be turned off by setting the "Alt RC Code" option to "Off" in the "General Setup Page" of the DVD player's setup menu. This setting is useful for avoiding remote command conflict when a user owns another DVD/LD player which uses the same remote control code.

3. Noise Reduction

This firmware version adds a video Noise Reduction function to the DVD player. Noise reduction can be turned on or off from the "Video Setup Page" of the DVD players setup menu. Generally noise reduction is not necessary or recommended, since it could cause image retention or "ghosting" artifacts. Noise reduction may be useful when viewing older television show episodes or movies shot with CCD cameras.