Oppo 971 vs. 970

It is ILLEGAL to compare such worshipped DVD players like these.

The SEARCH function is your friend.

The OPPO 971H is a better choice if you are going to the player for 720p or 1080i DVI output.

The 970H would be best if you plan to feed a 480i HDMI signal into an external scaler.

OPPO say get the 970 for displays 37" and under but get the 971 if you are getting a bigger display.

Someone else told me I would not tell the difference with my 43" set sitting further than 6' away.

My actual impression of the 970 was that the picture at 480p/720p or 1080i was good but just about the same as my old sony pushing out 480p over component feed

I posted a performance comparison here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...&&#post7962776

For a feature comparison, the best place is the Oppo web site.

Be aware that the conclusions I reached are specific to my NEC PX-50XR5A plasma. Other displays will yield different results.

For people with 1080i native CRT RPTVs - I wonder if the 970 for film-based DVDs would actually be a better solution than the 971. I hear the 970 has better 1080i output and a sharper image. The deinterlacing of the 970 should be pretty close to the 971 for film based movies I hear.

I'm getting my 970 in this week...should be interesting to compare to my 971.

David -

Looking forward to your 970/971 comparison! I too have a Sony RPTV that is 1080i native but, like yours, will accept (and convert) 720p. I'm currently using a Zenith DVB318 via component but have an HDMI port open. Keep us posted!

Just corrected a major typo in my last post.

Tony, I'll definitely post my thoughts. What model do you have? I have a KP-57WS520.

Well done, that was a very nice comparison. As for a subjective comparison on my Panasonic PT50LC13 (HD LCD) and Toshiba 52" 720p DLP RP, the results are similar. The 971 is a clear winner. The 970 is no slouch, but it is easy to see the difference from my viewing distance (~8 to 10 feet).

David - I have the KDP-51WS655, which I believe is the same model year as yours. Again, looking forward to that comparison!

Will we soon have a new addition to the Oppo family? Something more like the 971, with Faroudja and 2:2 cadence for PAL discs, but with an HDMI interface?

I understand that the Oppo's play PAL discs. However, do they do PAL -> NTSC conversion, so that PAL discs can be played on a NTSC set?

Oppo Digital has two superb DVD players, the DV-970HD and the OPDV971H.

The DV-970HD is a complement to OPDV971H. We will continue to sell the OPDV971H and Oppo Digital is going to release another new firmware for it soon. In short, the DV-970HD is a more consumer oriented version of the OPDV971H.
The difference between DV-970HD and OPDV971H are as follows:
The DV-970HD utilizes a new MediaTek upscaling chipset MT1392 for up-conversion. Visually the picture quality is excellent. However when doing benchmark test, it doesn't score as high as the OPDV971H. For example, it does not pass as many cadence tests and cannot pass some HQV test very well. OPDV971H utilize the Genesis DCDi Faroudja chipset. The overall video processing is well known and can receive high scores in any benchmark test.

The DV-970HD is designed for customers seeking a lower cost and still fully featured up-conversion DVD player. Its selling points are HDMI, SACD and lower price. For most users who can afford $199, we should always recommend OPDV971H for its superior picture quality.

Since DV-970HD support 480i/576i over HDMI output, it also good for those high end users who want to utilize their own expensive video processors or scalars.
Q: What are the main differences between the OPPO DV-970HD and OPDV971H DVD players?
While both the OPPO DV-970HD and OPDV971H are excellent DVD players with high definition up-conversion, the OPDV971H emphasizes more on the video performance and the DV-970HD emphasizes more on the overall performance and value. The main differences between the two models are:

1. The OPDV971H features video processing with "DCDi by Faroudja" technology and video chipset by Genesis/Faroudja; the DV-970HD uses a different chipset and technology for video de-interlacing and up-conversion. While both player produce excellent picture quality and the difference is subtle, the "DCDi by Faroudja" technology is able to handle some tricky video contents. On very large TV or projector screens, the difference could be noticed by experts or videophiles. When benchmarked with contents designed to test video performance, the OPDV971H will score higher than the DV-970HD.

2. The OPDV971H has a DVI output for digital video that optimize video performance; the DV-970HD has an HDMI output for both digital video and audio.

3. The DV-970HD has a flash memory card reader and USB interface while the OPDV971H does not.

4. The DV-970HD supports Super Audio CD (SACD) in addition to DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Audio CD etc. supported by OPDV971H.

5. The OPDV971H front panel has a brushed aluminum finish; the DV-970HD front panel has a reflective mirror finish.

Both are excellent upscaling DVD players and would look great with your new HDTV.

Well, today I received my 970. As you know, I also have the 971.

My display is a year-and-a-half old Sony 57" CRT RPTV (KP-57WS520) which has been fully calibrated, tweaked, and ISF'd. 1080i native.

My comments are not yet definitive and I'll post more later this weekend; I need to do more A/B comparing, but I spent well over an hour tonight with some film-based DVDs which I'm very familiar with.

The results may surprise some.

After re-calibrating for each player, I am leaning toward the 971. One of the main reasons is the vertical squeezing at 1080i on the 970. I find it unacceptable. Period. It's just too distracting for me. I also think this is one reason why the image is very slightly sharper than the 971. I think if this image was not compressed, it wouldn't look as quite as sharp as it would be spread out more. I say that because at 480p where there is no compression, the image is not quite as sharp. Still good definition, just not quite as much if you know what I mean.

In addition, the 971 is a bit cleaner - that is, fewer artifacts.

Finally, if you factor in the Faroudja deinterlacing, that adds more impact.

As I mentioned, I'll be doing more comparisons and post more thoughts later. By the way, the 970 makes a very good 480p component player.

I thought the main difference was people with older displays that do not have HDMI input should go with the 970 since it upconverts over component inputs.

Yes.

-Bill

The 970HD won't upconvert copy protected DVD's over component. It will only allow 480p over component with copy protected DVD's.

I've concluded the 971 is definitely the way to go in my case.

David - thanks for the comparison! Any macroblocking with the 971 on your Sony TV?

Occasionally, I do see what I would call "hints" of it.

In every case, it's been a disc that already has some compressioning issues (as I've looked as the same disc on a non-Faroudja player and see the compression problem); the Faroudja sometimes seems to very slightly enhance it for that particular "badly compressed" scene. And, we're talking less than 1% of the time this crops up based on the movies I've watched so far.

Just make sure your display is as well calibrated as possible using Avia or DVE. There's a post somewhere by "GSB" on calibrating tips for Oppo to help avoid it. The only tip I haven't done a lot with yet is reducing or increasing saturation on the Oppo while simutaneouly doing to the same on the display.

All in all, I don't consider macroblocking an issue at this point.

David, would you recommend the 971 for use with the new Sony A2000 SXRD? Would it be susceptible to MB? Do either one of the Oppo machinew put out 1080p?

Sorry, I'm not sure about the A2000 and possible macroblocking with the 971. Neither Oppo outputs 1080p. I would imagine a good 1080p display would just upconvert the 1080 interlaced signal to progressive and you'd be good to go.

I thought the 971 will NOT pass 480i over its HDMI port? This is reason to go with the 970 if it is to be hooked up to one of the uberscalers (vantage, etc)

Thank You David,

My question about the Oppo putting out a 1080p signal was clearly a lapse in sanity, of course they don't...not even the new high def units output a 1080p signal yet. My real question should have been something about the competence of the Sony to deinterlace the 1080i signal, and noone knows that yet. Your preference for the 971 carries a lot of weight with me, by the way. I just wonder if the Toshiba HD-DVD player is enough better at upscaling SD to justify the extra $300 and putting up with the quirks of that new product.

Funny you mention that, because I did A/B comparisons with the RCA HD player (Toshiba rebadge) and 971 a few weeks ago.

Overall, I would say they are very close. The Toshiba is sharper and slightly more defined, however, it shows more digital artifacts. I don't know if these are compression artifacts from the source (disc), or from the scaler/player. But even with reference quality DVDs, I see artifacts on the Toshiba which I don't see on the 971. The Oppo is a bit softer, but smoother and cleaner. The deinterlacing is superior with the Oppo....especially for video-based material. Color rendition and richness of blacks seem about equal for both players. Both players have a very filmlike or "analog" looking image...the Oppo maybe a bit more. Both are excellent.

My advice is this: if you are buying the Toshiba primarily because of it's SD DVD upscaling capabilities and aren't terribly concerned with actual HD DVD, don't buy it. Save a few hundred dollars and buy the 971...especially since, overall, they are overall pretty close for film-based DVDs.

P.S. The Samsung Blu-ray player does output 1080p, however, it has been speculated that it's not doing it in the most ideal manner.

Thanks again for that tremendous insight. I am going with the 971 to go with either the A2000 or the JVC FH97, and I will wait till the HD format thing works out, and/or a good dual mode player appears for a reasonable price. Having seen the HD demos at CC, I really can't wait until everything comes together. You are a great help and I appreciate it!!

I intersted in Rich Malloy's question too
will oppo be coming out with a 971 with HDMI out? I don't want to get the 971 now and 2 month later finds out a new model is around the corner
I'm mainly concerned about the whole DVI->HDMI solution will I expereince overscan/underscan?

A DVI-HDMI conversion will not cause ill effects, as it is a straight digital pin to pin transfer. There is no interpretaton of the signal. The only time this can be an issue is if the destinaton device does not support the DVI specifications, or you add another chain of adapters which could potentially polute the signal.

There is speculation that a replacement to the OPDV971H with HDMI and SACD support will be released late August. But this same unit was speculated to have been released in February.

That's great. Time to get rid of the Memorex.

Is the 970 that inferior to the 971? I just ask because I own a Samsung DLP, and the whole 'macroblocking' concern...