Oppo Digital DV-981HD FAQ/Brain Dump - Page 9

FYI, I emailed them a question about a DLP TV/receiver. Here's the question/response (BTW, they really are great at sales/communication for those who haven't purchased from them yet):


> Hi,
>
> I have the OPDV-971H DVD player already and an HP MD6580n 65" DLP TV
> (1080P HDMI inputs). Do you have any information for how the DV-
> 981HD player works with this TV? I heard some TVs are showing
> macroblock problems with your new DVD player. Also is the 1080P
> signal accepted by this TV?
>
> I have the Denon AVR-4306 Receiver that has HDMI inputs as well. DO
> you know if I can run 1080P from DVD ---> Denon AVR-4306 ---> HP TV?
>
> Thanks,
> Ken
>

Ken,

DLP technology is particularly susceptible to macroblocking, due to the
low bit-depth and contrast and brightness ratios. DLP displays
primarily use 8-bit processing and an 8-bit PWM scheme on the DMD
mirrors, and out of box, most DLPs do not fully utilize their entire
range of digital bits (steps between black and white). For this reason,
without proper calibration using professional grade calibration discs
such as AVIA or DVE, DLP displays will enhance macroblocking and
false-contouring errors.

1080p will be supported natively as the HP MD6580N through the HDMI
input.

As long as the Denon AVR-4306 can support a 1080p signal, then you can
use the receiver for video and audio switching for HDMI.

At this time we are still looking at both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray as possible
hardware solutions in the future, but we do not at this time know when
such hardware will be released.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

So in a nutshell DLP/981HD bad...unless professionally setup. A poster above gave a website to calibrate the TV but I think I might just wait for a good HD player now at least unless I get more feedback from folks with DLPs. Still early...

Hi Blackjackmark:

I think you need to adjust Sony TV setting. Each video input for Sony RP TV need to be set separately. Most likely you've calibrated the component input. So if you are using HDMI input for the first time, Sony most likely is set to default which is "vivid". The default setting for Sony is completely horrendous, as the contrast, brightness, and color is turned way up. You need to set to "custom" and use a calibration disk to match the brightness, contrast, color, sharpness ... etc.

I have noticed that 981HD does produce a softer image. I am still trying to get used to it. Well, hope this will improve the picture quality from 981HD.

Well, you can't use the 1080p mode, you won't use SACD or DVD-A, and you don't appear to have a use for audio over HDMI (be it Dolby Digital, DTS, DVD-A, or SACD). Unless you have a great fondness for equipment with black face plates, I can't see any reason to get rid of the 971H.

If you don't need 1080p or SACD, I don't see why you'd need a 981. The output at 720p is said to be identical to the 971.

Blackjackmark . . . in what way is your Oppo's picture inferior?

I would be curious of your review using 1080P, but your overall opinion would be helpful. I have the HLS5687W and currently using the 971. If it doesn't seem to be any different from 720P via the 971 to 1080P on the 981, then I will just stick to what I have.

By law you have to pay the tax even if you buy out of state. Buying out-of-state from an e-tailer that doesn't charge your state's tax just shifts the burden of the paperwork from them to you, but it doesn't save a "law abiding citizen" any money. I don't like taxes, and I really hate the paperwork, but there's no way I'd lie on my annual tax return.

http://www.boe.ca.gov/sutax/usetaxreturn.htm

I assume most states are the same.

I don't think the Sony has a better scaler, but it certainly sounds like your TV is producing the better picture over the Oppo, if what you described is correct and there isn't something wrong with the settings on the Oppo. Also, you should always calibrate a new player to the TV, since it won't have the same picture output from another source (ie. NS55P). The slightest changes to the HDMI input picture settings could make a world of difference.

Good for you. Maine has a provision on its state income tax form to declare the value of purchases made out of state for which no Maine state sales/use tax was paid. It generates a substantial amount of revenue so lots of Mainers pony up that way.

TANSTAAFL http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TANSTAAFL

Dana

My TV is a Mits 65-831. Here is oppo's response. :

For your DLP display we would not recommend the DV-981HD, even though it
supports 1080p, because of the macroblock enhancing that will occur with
the DLP and the DV-981HD. For this reason, we still highly recommend
that you keep and enjoy your DV-970HD product.

We are looking into Blu-Ray and HD-DVD, but at this time we do not know
when we will produce such a product.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
453 Ravendale Dr, Suite D
Mountain View, CA 94043
Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119

Thanks for the post kdaniel! Now it narrows my choice between the Oppo 970 and the Sammy 960 (although I guess the Sammy 960 would be as bad as the Oppo 981 or worse considering they ahve the same F chip?)

i have a samsung 5053 50 inch plasma, oppo said this:

If you are worried about macroblocking or the picture looking soft, then
we would recommend using the DV-970HD product, as this will produce the
sharpest picture at 720p and not suffer from macroblocking errors. For
this reason, it is likely the best DVD unit for your display.

I thought DLPs were more prone to macroblocking, not plasmas? For a 720p display, which player would be the best for PQ?? is the 981 overkill for me?

OK, I screwed up, and didn't have the two inputs at the same settings. Wasn't a "Vivid" issue...just something different from the other.

Now they are both calibrated to be the same...and the winner is....

Oppo in a landslide!

Borrowed a 2nd copy of The Fifth Element Ultimate Edition and Batman Begins, and place both in the players, and A-Bd the same 5-6 second scene.

Sat appx 5ft from the screen (yes, closer than normal, but figure it's easier to see the bad if you're that close for testing)

FIfth Element (Scene where Leilu is leaping off the building)

Sony (jaggies like crazy are easily seen on her "costume" as well as major horzizontal lines as the scene pans down to follow her progress
Oppo: No jaggies anywhere, great detail.

Batman Begins:
Scene where Bruce is thrown into the prison, and Liam Neeson (can't remember the character name) is in there.

Sony: Where Bruce stumbles away from camera, back to camera towards the back of the cell, the quick movement of him shows jaggies on the edge of his jacket.

Oppo: No jaggies

Neither eliminated the noise in the dark portions of the image, but the Oppo didn't have as much "dancing" of the low-light background as the Sony did.

Baraka:

For this one, the differences were EASILY detectable from my normal viewing position:

Scene of houses built on a hillside in Brazil, pans from top to bottom..major windowblind effect on the Sony...TOTALLY eliminated on the Oppo.

Scene of a volcanic crater, jaggies on all the edges on the Sony, none on the Oppo.



Needless to say, no more concerns about returning it...it's a keeper! (and I'm going to delete the original post for such bad info).

I just hooked up my 981. I won't get my 1080p JVC PJ until Feb, so for the time being the 981 is hooked up to an old POS RCA 27" CRT TV via S-Video. Yum. I'am also using a 75 Ohm co-axial digital cable for sound. That's what I'd like to comment on. My previous player is an old Pioneer DV-05. With the oppo, I'm hearing things I didn't hear before. When waching Kal Ho Naa Ho, there is a scene in a large room full of people that was supposed to be quiet. With the 981 I can hear low level conversation I never hear before... very eary. Redbook CDs have more depth. I'm shocked that I can actually hear a difference, but it is definitely there. The drawback, is that the sounds and music sound "grainy". Has anyone else noticed that? I've never really been a believer in break in... especially for digital transports... but who knows. Maybe more hours of playback will help. I hope so.

Would anyone say this is a worthwhile upgrade if I currently use a Sony DVPNS70H? It will hooked up to a 60XBR2.

Asked Oppo about Sony SXRD KDS-60A2000

This 981 report comes to you from someone just just recently got a new Samsung 56" LED DLP (HL-S5679). It has not yet been professionally calibrated. The only DVD players I've owned before this were inside my PC, and were used on a 26" (or smaller) HD TV/monitor. What follows is possibly an over-detailed account of receiving and using an Oppo 981 from a first time Oppo owner.


Standard shipping was fast, as it should of been, since I live little more than 2 hours away from their Mountain View HQ. I only learned this after ordering, and had to wait a *whole day* for it to arrive. Upon opening the box, I immediately noticed that this was one of the most nicely packaged piece of electronics I've ever bought. My invoice lay right on top, underneath there was the Oppo, which comes in a snug cloth pouch that has a Velcro flap. I suppose this bag might be nice to have if you travel around with your DVD player, though there's no room for cables. I personally do not plan on removing the Oppo from my TV stand, but it was a very nice touch that really shows that the people at Oppo really care about the product they're shipping. Also included in the box were a stereo audio RCA cable, a video RCA cable, power cord, and one of the nicest HDMI cables I've seen. Now I may enjoy a quality AV cable a bit more than your average Joe, but I really to need to stress how nick this HDMI cable is. I own both cheap and premium HDMI cables, and while the cheap ones are lightweight, and easy to bend, there is some degradation in video quality. The premium cables (the kind with the braided sheath) are extremely stiff and heavy. As a matter of fact, after 3 months of using one of these 'premium cables' on my 26" Samsung LCD, I turned on my TV to only see a blue screen. I later realized that the weight of the HDMI cable had ripped the solders of the HDMI port right off the board. The HDMI cable included with the Oppo seems to give the best of both worlds. It feels girthy like the premium cables, but has no bulky sheath, is lighter, and is quite bendy like the cheapo cables. I'd actually like to buy more cables like this, only I haven't seen them anywhere before.

But back to the matter at hand... I plugged the power and HDMI cables into the appropriate ports, and am ready to go. First thing I notice is the bright blue illumination. It's a beautiful color, but if the rest of my components were that bight I would probably find it very distracting. Upon hitting the eject button for the first time I noticed a sad whine as the thin tray slowly slides out. Suddenly, my new $250 DVD player felt very cheap. I cheered up by reminding myself that I didn't buy the thing for the quality of it's tray motor. The actual tray its self is very thin and flimsy when open. It also doesn't come all the way out, and you kind of have to wedge a bit of the disk into the player to properly seat it. Again, no biggie, but it looks kind of weird, especially since there is an inch and a half of plastic up front that only adds distance between the front of the tray and the disc.

The first thing I did was to change it to region 0 (per instructions found earlier in this thread), and test it with a Region 2 disk (it worked). Then I changed the default output of 720p to 1080P. Unfortunately I have work tonight, So I haven't been able to put it through it's paces yet, but I did manage to watch the first half of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc. Again, the TV hasn't been professionally calibrated, and my DVE disk doesn't arrive until Friday, so I've only been able to make a few tweaks based on Eliab's (regular forum member and professional calibrator) suggestions in the 5679 thread here on AVS.

Mode: Movie
dnie: off
DNR: off
brightness/contrast reduced from factory default

This resulted in a very good color representation, albeit with lighter than desirable black levels. The title menu of IJ has a prominent Orange to Yellow gradient, and there is absolutely *no* color banding (a major problem caused with dnie on this particular TV). Once the movie starts, I'm immediately floored by the picture quality. It's slightly soft like a film should be with the right amount of sharpness to get the realism of the on screen image to pop. The beginning of the movie has some great dark scenes and some fast moving action, which, from what I've read here, seem to be the prime hunting grounds for macro blocking. The fact that my blacks are more of a dark grey should also help my search. I watched some of these scenes from my couch (11ft away). I also watched some scenes with my nose almost touching the screen. Either way I was not able to catch a single instance of macro blocking. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time to pop in any other movies. I'll watch Baraka later this morning once I'm off of work. It's also unfortunate that I don't have any other Oppo players with which to compare this one to. Having said that, I'm extremely happy with my purchase and wouldn't hesitate to suggest pairing the 981 with a Samsung 5679. It was absolutely worth my money for the PQ I've seen so far. Of course, all of this praise is pending further review with different movies, but as it stands right now I'm really looking forward to the countless hours of quality visual enjoyment this player will be bringing me...

That is, if the tray doesn't snap off first

-raab

Hi, as promised. Here is a personal opinion of Oppo 981HD vs. Oppo 970HD on my TV. Problem: I am trying trying to pick between Oppo 970HD and 981HD for my TV based on picture quality. Disclaimer: My eyes is completely untrained, so this based on personal bias.

My TV: Sony A10 series 50" Rear Projection LCD TV 1280x720
My DVD 1: Oppo 981HD connected via HDMI
My DVD 2: Oppo 970HD connected via HDMI

Testing disc: Lord of the Rings - Return of the King tracks 39-41 (no particular reason. Just selecting randomly).

Setup 1: Oppo 981HD set to 720p
Setup 2: Oppo 970HD set to 720p
Setup 3: Oppo 970HD set to 480i (using Sony internal scaler)

Testing procedure: Completely unscientific. I watch the same tracks over and over again with different settings until I get completely nauseated. Let the image sink in to my brain then form an opinion via personal preference. The process took an hour.

At first, I really couldn't tell any difference. But as I watched more and more I could start to zero in on details and backgrounds .. etc.

Observations:

1. Oppo 981HD with 720p Produced the best image. Very smooth and film like. Rich color and nice depth. Of course nothing close to an actual 720p HD broadcast, but pretty enjoyable image nevertheless.

2. Oppo 970HD with 720p. Produce a slightly sharper image than 981HD. Color / depth is pretty close, but I preferred 981HD image better as it has more "photographic" quality to it. But overall 970HD image was pretty pleasant. Unfortunately with the A10, 970HD, suffers from severe vertical compression bug at 720p. The bug completely distorted the image and made all objects short and fat. For me it was not tolerable.

3. Oppo 970HD with 480i (using Sony internal scaler). Image is sharp, but color is dull and image is "flat" and grainy. At first I thought this was the best image due to the detail on objects, but I got tired as keep on watching.

My Verdict?

1. Oppo 981HD has the best picture quality in my opinion. Is it worth that extra 80 bucks? I am not sure. But if I had 1080p HD display or 60-100 inch screen, it'll probably be the best choice out there.

2. 970HD gives a "pleasant" image, but suffers from severe vertical compression bug which distorted the image at 720p. It was not tolerable, so I think I'll be returning the 970HD.

If there was no vertical compression bug, I'd go with 970HD. But if a new firmware can not fix this, then I probably have no choice but to stick with 981HD.

Great review. I'm glad its working well on the 5679. Be aware that Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation are critical settings for DLP. Even though your set does not have a color wheel, it still has 3 separate primary colors, displayed in a sequential fashion. The calibration principles in my DLP Calibration post still apply. You want to use the FULL range of available contrast, without maxing out any of the colors.

As far as the tray is concerned, I've posted this before on the "DV-971H Brain Dump" thread...

The tray is certainly not flimsy, it is designed to be flexible and tough. My 2 year old kid once whacked the tray so hard that it hit the deck below. The tray flexed effortlessly, and no damage was done.

With the same impact, my Pioneer player would have broken... if not the tray, then for sure, the loading mechanism.

The tray on the DV-981HD is made from the same material as in the 971, but it is now black, not clear.

Gary

Absolutely! On a 1080p display, the picture is incredible. Of course, this assumes that you've turned off all of the XBR's torch-mode "enhancements", and done a basic calibration.

Gary

No. Something must be wrong with your settings or physical connections.

Gary

That's a relief. Calibration is everything! Thanks for the great review.

Gary

Correct. The OPPO is one of the best players as far as the severity of Faroudja macroblocking is concerned. The Samsung 960 could be worse... and other performance details are known to be worse too.

Gary

- Glad to hear that you got the OPPO settled in and it was able to do the trick for you! Great write-up, by the way.

Most macroblocking reports come from DLP and plasma owners. Reports differ on how severe, and whether it can be fixed by careful calibration.

At 720p the 971 and 981 should be about the same. Someone just posted a comparison of the 981 and 970.

-Bill

On the 971 thread it was reported more than once that in Asia, dvd players featuring this tray are labeled "children friendly." My guess is that it's Lexan. It might look fragile but it isn't.

OPPO Digital says "Special disc tray - thin, flexible and strong. Can tolerate some bending without breaking."

On the very long (244 pages!) 971 Brain Dump thread, this topic came up from time to time. I have read every post on every page and I don't recall a single instance where anyone reported that the 971 tray broke. As Gary notes above, the 981 has the same tray, just a different color.

Dana

Not quite. It actually stands for "High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection." Below is a FAQ.

http://www.dvdo.com/faq/faq_learn_hdcp.php

I agree with drbonbi - when I got my 971 in May '05, I had the same reaction as raab and others. It seemed flimsy and weak, and the position of the tray at full extension (with the back of the disc still inside the body of the player) seemed weird at first. Putting discs in the player became second nature very quickly, and the tray has made the trip in and out without incident countless times. By the time my 981 arrived, I didn't even give the thin tray a second thought except to notice that the color of the tray's front edge is a closer match to the rest of the faceplate than was the case with the 971. It may look fragile, but it has survived too long in too many consumers' hands to actually be fragile.

Heh.. It seems that my flimsy tray comment may of touched a few nerves here. Keep in mind that I'm new to Oppo, and did not read through any of the other huge Oppo threads. It's good to know the tray is much sturdier than it appears. None the less, I still stand by my comments about how it looks funky when open, and the tray motor sounds sickly OTB. But as I mentioned, these are extremely minor complaints, especially compared to how fantastically the really important features perform.

I'm really itching to get my DVE disk now, but I still have another day to wait =\\

I owned the 5679W too and color banding was horrible, the only reason I returned it. No rainbows, so that was good.

Anyway, movie mode for me made everything look washed out like an old western. Everything I watched has that 'o brother where art thou' look to it. Too bad that seems to be the only 'solution' to color banding on that set. Also, too bad it's only a 'solution' and not a solution.

Nah, no nerves touched here - just wanted to reassure you as someone who had a similar first reaction that the tray's tougher than it looks.