I've finally narrowed my search down to the Oppo 970 or the Sony NS55. The wife has OK'd the extra money for the Oppo (sweet) but before I buy I wanted to ask the following question:

If I'm not using upconversion will I see or hear a difference between the Oppo 970 and the Sony NS55?

Please help me either justify the Oppo :D or save me from foolishly spending an extra $100 :eek: !

Thanks,
lennon

Note: I do like the extra compatability of the oppo but this is not a must, just great audio/video.

hi Lennon:

what about HDMI?
and the flexibility of USB / SD memory ports for jpeg/mp3/divx? ;)
discrete SACD / DVD-A output, multi-region capability?
Re-sale value?

all are nice things to have...
the real question I suppose depends on whether it's worth $100 to YOU.

cheers,
Jyzz

I'm gonna' throw in reliability and consider it justified :D

Thanks for the input!

Jake

I once tried the Sony H75 at 480p component and last night tried the Oppo 970 at 480p component; the Oppo is much better.

But, what kind of display do you have?

I'll be using it with an InFocus IN72 projector (480p)

Unless you need the SACD capability, I'd recommend the Oppo 971H over the 970HD for use with a projector. The superior deinterlacing of the 971 will result in a better picture on the large projected image. Generally, I (and Oppo) don't recommend the 970HD for displays 60" and up.

Unfortunately I don't think I can get the wife to go for the extra $50 :( or else I would definately go for the 971.

Are there any resellers that offer the Oppo's at lower prices? The only place I could find them was directly from Oppo.

Thanks,
Jake

Oppo sells 971 refurbs for $40 less than new...that's what I did. The player was in absolute mint condition and has performed perfectly. It comes with the regular one year warranty too.

:D I'll have to go poking around their website, see if I can't find those!

Jake

Call them.

I'll definately be giving them a call, I may still consider getting the 970 though... Someone with an IN72 recommended sending it a 480i signal and letting it handle the de-interlacing.

Also, kinda' off topic but will I see a significant difference between RCA component and HDMI? And can I really use just a regular RCA composite cable to connect the Digital Coax audio to my receiver? This is my first serious HT setup, want to make sure I'm getting as much as I can out of it!

Thanks,
Jake

There's a lot of debate about HDMI vs. component.

On my display (CRT RPTV) with both inputs fully calibrated equally, they are almost identical.

I just got off the phone with Oppo and my new 971 will be on the way soon :)

They didn't have any 970 refurbs in so I figured I'd better go for the 971 for $10 more.

Now I just gotta' get my cables (over at monoprice) and I'll be set!

Thanks for all the help.

Jake

AHH, that's the kind of info I've been looking for. I've been thinking about a DVD player upgrade. The Toshi HD model and the Oppo have been my finalists. The Toshi seems to have some issues and is more expensive. Then I couldn't figure out why I should go w/the 971 over the 970HD. I'm using a BenQ PE 7800 pj on a 96" screen. I'll be upgrading from a Panny CP72 which is a 5-disk version of the good ol RP82.
Thanks!

Unless you need the SACD capability, I'd recommend the Oppo 971H over the 970HD for use with a projector. The superior deinterlacing of the 971 will result in a better picture on the large projected image. Generally, I (and Oppo) don't recommend the 970HD for displays 60" and up.

Unless you need the SACD capability, I'd recommend the Oppo 971H over the 970HD for use with a projector. The superior deinterlacing of the 971 will result in a better picture on the large projected image. Generally, I (and Oppo) don't recommend the 970HD for displays 60" and up.
Have you seen the 970 paired with a Pioneer 43" (mine is the 930HD)?
I like the idea of a straight digital HDMI feed to the Pioneer media box and let the Pure Digital take it from there.
I do need an SACD player so the 971 is out.
My options are the 970 (150 new) or a DV-59AVi (400 used).

This is obviously a stop-gap until the HD-DVD thing gets figured out.

Any thoughts?

Unless you need the SACD capability, I'd recommend the Oppo 971H over the 970HD for use with a projector. The superior deinterlacing of the 971 will result in a better picture on the large projected image. Generally, I (and Oppo) don't recommend the 970HD for displays 60" and up.

So, suppose you have a 60" 1080p display, like the Sony SXRD, with an Oppo 971 or 970. You can either output (from the Oppo) at 480p (thus taking advantage of the Oppo's deinterlacing, but relying on the TV's scaling) or 1080i (thus doing the opposite). Shall I interpret your post to mean that, if you have the 971, the former is the better approach (i.e., because of the Oppo's "superior deinterlacing")? And what if you have a 970? Thanks in advance for your opinion.

Oppo [...] don't recommend the 970HD for displays 60" and up.Please provide a reference.

I'm also pumped about the 970, especially because I'm not in the US and don't have access to programming, I download all divx TV seasons and 700mb movie files, I want something with a USB port to just read from a big external hard drive. But I use a (XGA) projector (not for everything, but some). I realize that divx + projector is kinda asking for trouble, but it's the reality I'm faced with. 90% divx, 10% DVD viewing. Should I bother with a player as good as the Oppo or is it overkill for the relatively low quality source material that I'm using (divx).

Main thing I want to avoid is burning an endless pile of DVD+R divx discs that I don't really want to throw away, but are also very hard to manage. USB or Networked are the solutions I'm most excited about.

I once tried the Sony H75 at 480p component and last night tried the Oppo 970 at 480p component; the Oppo is much better.

But, what kind of display do you have?

Dave,

How is the 970 over component?

Please provide a reference.
It's on Oppo's website under FAQ

So, suppose you have a 60" 1080p display, like the Sony SXRD, with an Oppo 971 or 970. You can either output (from the Oppo) at 480p (thus taking advantage of the Oppo's deinterlacing, but relying on the TV's scaling) or 1080i (thus doing the opposite). Shall I interpret your post to mean that, if you have the 971, the former is the better approach (i.e., because of the Oppo's "superior deinterlacing")? And what if you have a 970? Thanks in advance for your opinion.I'm not going to comment on the quality of the display's upscaling abilities, but by far, the 971 looks better sending a 1080i@60 signal to my 57" 1080P Mits DLP or 720P...480P? uh-uh.

Anyone running this player via component and how would it compare to something like a Sony 3100ES?

Dave,

How is the 970 over component?

For the money, it's excellent. But, it's not a videophile player (as to be expected).

I did some A/B comparing with it against a Denon 2900 and 2930 at 480p component and it's definitely a step below those players.

I would probably take the 970 over the 3100ES.

ok, you answered my question, I hit you up on the other thread with the same question. Considering that the oppo so scored high, what makes lets say the Denon 2900 a more videophile player?

ok, you answered my question, I hit you up on the other thread with the same question. Considering that the oppo so scored high, what makes lets say the Denon 2900 a more videophile player?

Well, the Oppo 971 scored higher than the Denon 5910 and anyone will tell you which produces a better image. As Kris Deering would probably tell you, the benchmark tests have to be viewed in the proper context. They only test specific, objective things...some of which are not even based on picture quality. And, the ones that do involve picture quality are not all-encompassing.

As far as the 970 vs the 2900, I can tell you the 2900 produces a more natural filmlike image, better detail, better clarity, better sharpness, and a more 3-D like image. But, how can I "objectively" test for all of those things? I can't. It's just something you have to see and A/B compare for yourself.

Some things are measurable, but some things aren't. I use Kris Deering's tests for information in addition to "subjective" feedback to make decisions.

Hello Friends,
I'm a proud owner of oppo 970, everything seems fine.... but i wish my external HDD would connect to this oppo... so that i don't have to frequently burn dvds.

Any pointers on what kind of USB drives are working?
I have a 250 GB USB 2.0 HDD.

Please help, anyone who has connected successfully to Oppo using USB HDD

Thanks