Today's Show

As we start winding down for the year we have one final review. Today we take a look at the Oppo DV-981HD. Its an upconverting DVD player with 1080p support.

Listen Now - mp3 (http://media.libsyn.com/media/hdtvpodcast/HDTV-2006-12-22.mp3)

Funny, I just logged on to this forum to see if there was anything about the oppo dv-981hd. What luck.

Funny, I just logged on to this forum to see if there was anything about the oppo dv-981hd. What luck.

Same here!

I'm sold, thanks for the review!

There was a time when people would only buy well known brand name merchandise. My cousin has a 72" Toshiba DLP and it's native 1080P. I don't think he can get 1080P through his HDMI input.

He's got the Oppo DV-970HD. Guess he will just have to keep that one. It does a very nice job. I hope they come out with Plasma's that will do 1080P. I mean affordable 1080P plasmas, not the Pioneer $5,000 1080P plasma. LCD's 1080P sets are looking better everyday.

thanks for the review, i found it helpful! are all tv's with DVI input, HDCP compliant?

fwiw, the review starts at about 16 minutes into the podcast.

awesome thanks

I need some help, I just hooked up my Oppo 981, the plan was hdmi to one tv and run component to the room next door to TV#2, problem is TV#2 gets no signal from the components, does the HDMI disable the component out? Is there a toggle to turn it on at the same time as the HDMI or is the only solution an HDMI splitter? Any help would be fantastic.

Hi simonpeter2

The 981 does not have any component connections. It does have S-Video and composite. But those should only be used to to help get a picture back on the screen if something has gone bad with the setup and you can't see the menus. This would happen if you inadvertently set it to 1080p and your TV does not support 1080p. You'll have a big blank screen. Watching on S-Video or composite will give you a SD picture. These ouputs are always active.

If you want email us at hdtvpodcast@mac.com and we can discuss this further.

Ara

I was thinking about the 981 or a denon 1930 for bedroom HT anyone done an A-B or seen/heard both?

I have a plasma TV supporting 1080i. Is there a need to buy the more expensive Oppo DV-981HD or the 970 should work equally good ? My basic question is does 981 have anything better than 970 to justify its purchase for a Plasma owner. Thanks in advance

I have a plasma TV supporting 1080i. Is there a need to buy the more expensive Oppo DV-981HD or the 970 should work equally good ? My basic question is does 981 have anything better than 970 to justify its purchase for a Plasma owner. Thanks in advance

there isn't enough info on the website (about video processing, etc i.e. it says for video d/a converter n/a for the 981 versus it sayd d/a converter 108mhz 10 bit for the 970). both seem to have a faroujda/genesis chipset although I am not sure how similar they are on the inside. a reason NOT to get the 981 is if your plasma has only component inputs because the 981 doesn't have them. The 981 is a lot better looking to my eye (worth the $70 alone) and both seem to be an outstanding deal for the money--I guess if you plan on upgrading your tv in the near future (i.e. before getting a hd player or a new dvd player) you may want to future proof and go for the 981...

haven't seen them side by side so I can't comment on what they look like compared to each other at 1080i on a plasma...

Aww shucks...

i have a sony bravia xbr lcd. the DRC (image doubling chip) in the sony acts on any input NOT 1080p.
would i get double the image quality if i let the DCDi to upconvert to 1080i and then let the sony chip upconvert to 1080p? or should i just rely on DCDi by Faroudja to upconvert all the way to 1080p?

thanks
Dan

Hi Dan,
If you buy the 981 your should let the player upconvert it to 1080p. You won't get double the quality by letting the player upconvert to 1080i and then let the TV take it to 1080p.

Ara

Thanks for the review guys! I ordered my 981 last week and according to the FedEx tracking site it should get here Wednesday. We'll have to see if Oppo DV-981HD + JVC HD-56FN97 = :D

Hi Dan,
If you buy the 981 your should let the player upconvert it to 1080p. You won't get double the quality by letting the player upconvert to 1080i and then let the TV take it to 1080p.

Ara
Thanks Arad for the answer.
Here is a follow up question. maybe you can point me to the right place for an answer.

If the Faroudja DCDi video processor is superior to sony's XBR built-in video processor, would you recommend the purchase of an external video processor, then couple that with a similar sony lcd, but without the video processor (ie. the non-xbr line?). I have been pondering the need for a video processor to improve the image quality from the cable provider. But most of the setups i have read about is for a front projector.

Thanks
Dan

I need help on which upscaling dvd player I should get. I just got .. as in just a few min ago lol..right in my hallway the 42hds69. Not interested yet to pick up a blu=ray or hd dvd player. So should i pick up the Helios ot the OPPO DV-981HD? Or is there a better choice. I'm new to this, so any help i would appreciate.
Oh, one more thing.....
Is there a fix calibration that you can just input on you tv, like ..+5 on color,-3 on contrast and so forth thats printed out? What can you recomend me instead of paying someone to come over to calibrate it.

How does this DVD player look on a 1080i tv going from HDMI to DVI?

Thanks

I need help on which upscaling dvd player I should get. I just got .. as in just a few min ago lol..right in my hallway the 42hds69. Not interested yet to pick up a blu=ray or hd dvd player. So should i pick up the Helios ot the OPPO DV-981HD? Or is there a better choice. I'm new to this, so any help i would appreciate.
Oh, one more thing.....
Is there a fix calibration that you can just input on you tv, like ..+5 on color,-3 on contrast and so forth thats printed out? What can you recomend me instead of paying someone to come over to calibrate it.


Never mind guys just ordered the DV-981HD cant wait!

Never mind guys just ordered the DV-981HD cant wait!

Me too ;)

Just purchased a 46 inch Sony xbr2 1080P and I'm very excited about the 1080P output of the OPPO DV-981HD DVD player.

Should I be? Or is the quality so negligible that it’s not worth it. The scaling on Standard Quality on my sony lcd is very bad. By the way, the HD picture is glorious.

With an HDMI input to my HDMI A/V receiver with passthru, should I pay the list price for the quality or just buy the cheapest upconvert DVD player I can find? (Awaiting the winner of the Blu-rey/Tobi- HD wars.)

Any and all feed back would be appreciated.

I have the oppo 981 and i love it.. mind u i have the hitachi 42hds69 and it only goes up to 1080i and i tell u it makes those dvd's look incredible!!! I give it two thumbs up!!

I have the 981 myself looks great on my Sharp Aquos 52' with regular Dvd's @ 1080p.

My question is regarding the 981 on SACD & DVD-A through HDMI. The Oppo 981 uses HDMI 1.1 right? And by doing that if I have a Yamaha RX-V2700 receiver HDMI 1.2a how can I use this SACD & DVD-A then? I thought I read somewhere in order to get SACD & DVD-A you must use HDMI 1.2 or above? Any thoughts??

For anyone still rockin a CRT proj, conventional wisdom has been that upconverting players are of dubious benefit. However, I just hung a philips upcoverter on my Tosh 51H83 via HDMI, and compared to the component signal, the improvement is quite noticable. Just to be sure, I had my girlfriend do an A/B test, and she declard the upcoverted signal a clear winner.

Just my 2 cents, if you've been on the fence about getting an Oppo for a CRT Proj, I'd go for it.

I have the 981 myself looks great on my Sharp Aquos 52' with regular Dvd's @ 1080p.

My question is regarding the 981 on SACD & DVD-A through HDMI. The Oppo 981 uses HDMI 1.1 right? And by doing that if I have a Yamaha RX-V2700 receiver HDMI 1.2a how can I use this SACD & DVD-A then? I thought I read somewhere in order to get SACD & DVD-A you must use HDMI 1.2 or above? Any thoughts??


BUMP!!

I think my set (SXRD XBR1) has native resolution of 1920x1080, but not sure if it accepts 1080p input. I like to get DV-981HD but reluctant to get it now since most people have true 1080p TV.

I sent the same question to oppo but heard nothing.

thanks.

I think my set (SXRD XBR1) has native resolution of 1920x1080, but not sure if it accepts 1080p input. I like to get DV-981HD but reluctant to get it now since most people have true 1080p TV.

I sent the same question to oppo but heard nothing.

thanks.

I'm not sure what your question is. The oppo still upconverts to 1080i as well as 1080p if that's what you're concerned about.