I just got an Oppo 981 and am running it via hdmi outputting at 1080p to my Sony 60a2000. After a couple hours of testing it versus my panny xp30 (480p) and regular xbox 360 dvd player, I haven't noticed much of a difference if any. Maybe a little versus the xbox, but I had to go back and forth several times to really start to notice a difference.

Is the scaler in the tv so good that the upconverting dvd player is kind of negated? Or am I just crazy and blind?

I have the picture settings identical for all three inputs, though the brightness is down about 10 clicks on the xbox because it seems to output a much brighter image. And I also did the tests at night in a fairly dark room.

So, I'm gonna return the oppo I think, unless someone can convince me I'm nuts.

thanks!

Rob

I just got an Oppo 981 and am running it via hdmi outputting at 1080p to my Sony 60a2000. After a couple hours of testing it versus my panny xp30 (480p) and regular xbox 360 dvd player, I haven't noticed much of a difference if any. Maybe a little versus the xbox, but I had to go back and forth several times to really start to notice a difference.

Is the scaler in the tv so good that the upconverting dvd player is kind of negated? Or am I just crazy and blind?

I have the picture settings identical for all three inputs, though the brightness is down about 10 clicks on the xbox because it seems to output a much brighter image. And I also did the tests at night in a fairly dark room.

So, I'm gonna return the oppo I think, unless someone can convince me I'm nuts.

thanks!

Rob

To do a fair test you should use a calibration disc with each device to get the correct display settings.

-Bill

To do a fair test you should use a calibration disc with each device to get the correct display settings.

-Bill

what are some good calibration discs to use?

what are some good calibration discs to use?

The easiest way to start is with the THX Optimzer, which can be found in the
setup section of THX Certified disks (there's a logo on the disk case, or see
the entire list here: http://thx.com/mod/products/dvd/dvdFind.html). When
adjusting color it is handy to have the blue filter glasses available for $1 +
shipping from http://thx.com/home/dvd/blueglasses.html.

There are more advanced calibration disks. I use GetGray from
http://www.calibrate.tv/. You have to download it and burn your own DVD, and
you need the filter glasses mentioned above. Easy to use, no nonsense.

Avia and Digital Video Esstentials are popular. I have them, but find the
navigation clumsy and have not spent much time with them yet. They are loaded
with tutorial and informercial material, and are available from Amazon.

I have not seen the Monster/ISF disk, but have heard that it uses video clips
instead of test patterns. It might be best for a non-technical user.

There is a calibration forum:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/forumdisplay.php?f=139

-Bill

I have a similar set up (60A2000, XBox 360, Toshiba 6200 and Oppo 981) and think that the Oppo beats the TV's upconversion (when paired with the Toshiba / XBox).

It's quite possible that the difference is small enough to boil down to personal preference, but the image looked better to my eyes and it's a universal player to boot.

I am using Avia on all 3...but had to bring brightness down on the xbox, it was just naturally brighter by 10 clicks than the other two.

Yeah, I see a bit of a difference with the oppo...but geez, to me it's maybe 5%? I don't know if that's worth $230...

Unfavorable review (http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2088531,00.asp) of the xbox 360 player.

favorable review of the xbox 360 player

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=125#MicrosoftXbox%20360%20

The DVD player on 360 is good. I do hope they redo the whole DVD player engine and re-architect everything to fully use the Xenon and Xenos in Xbox 360, because right now its pretty much a standard software conversion, and putting it through its Ana scaler chip. There is much room to improve, but many DVDs look great right now.

Im currently debating on buying an Oppo981 for my DVD's. I have the 360 HD-DVD/Sony 60a2000. Is the improvement well noticable?

Send the Oppo back, even w/ calibration you will not notice much of any difference. I was in the same boat i was using my PS3 though, and didnt notice any difference from an Oppo 970hd and the PS3. Everything was calibrated w/ the Avia disc. In my opinion the difference was about a $20 difference.