Oppo Digital DV-981HD FAQ/Brain Dump - Page 3

Anyone upgrading to 981 and wants to sell their 970? PM me

Excellent. Thank you and yes, it has 2 HDMI inputs.

I owned the 971 and it did a terrific job playing PAL (Region 2) DVDs on my NTSC HD TV. I sold the 971 and bought the 970 because I wanted to connect it to a new HDMI 2 into 1 switiching receiver. But, I didn't think it handled PAL discs as well. So, I wrote OPPO to ask if the 981 would handle them better than the 970.

Oppo customer service promptly responded (as usual) with candid advice.

"Dana,

"The PAL support is far superior on the DV-981HD player versus that of the DV-970HD as the DV-981HD supports 2:2 Cadence, while the DV-970HD does not. This means that the DV-970HD will have more aliasing (jagged edges) and interlacing (combing) errors than the DV-981HD."

So, I am returning the 970 - under Oppo's liberal 30 day guarantee - and I have placed an order for the 981!

Dana

which oppo player will work best for pioneer 5070hd?

I'm also interested in purchasing a DV-981HD for a fairly new Panasonic TH-42PX60U 42" plasma via HDMI. Will I experience significant macroblocking if this display is reasonably well-calibrated? If it will have much macroblocking, I'll probably just get a 970, and I think I'd be happy with that model as well.

I did have some macroblocking with this TV and an older upscaling Denon DVD player when using 1080i, though that was fixed by switching to 720p on the Denon. The Denon works OK now -- I just want to trade the Denon for something with some more modern features to play with: MP3 off DVD, Divx, DL DVD, HDCD, SACD, DVD-Audio, [USB,] etc.

Can the Oppo players load a saved playlist off a DVD in some format and play those MP3s either in sequence or randomly? I'd really love to see that feature, so I could pick a mood and let it play for many hours without changing discs and without buying a separate networked sound device.

My wife just surprised me with an Oppo 970HD for my birthday but I just haven't been that satisfied with the picture. I have a year old 60inch SXRD which has native 1080p but only accepts 1080i. I am wondering if I would see an improvement if I upgraded to the 981 before my 30 day window expires. I currently get the best picture from the 970 outputting at 1080i but I don't feel it is any better than the Sony NS70H it replaced (and still have).

I would appreciate any insights anyone would have to offer.

Michael

I have the JVC LCD 1080p 46" coming in very soon. It's native display is 1080p but does not accept 1080p, just up to 1080i. Is it a waste of money to get the 981 over the 970 or 971? The 971 has a Faroudja so will the picture be the same outputting 1080i?

From what I understand, all orders (reseller and consumer) will ship from Oppo on Dec 8, meaning that your (and my) units likely won't arrive for another few days after that.

-Andrew
(of Solutions A/V)

I'd like to note that the 970 (for all of $149USD/$169CAD) is a rather good CD/music player. Is it a reference? No. But for that price, it is a FANTASTIC value even as just a high res music player.

So here's a strange request for the OP: any chance you could measure the precise width of the 981 for me? I have a snug cabinet (width-wise) and was hoping to get a specific figure. Oppo states 16.5" wide, but some manufacturers round up or down.

TIA.

Is the OPPO DV-981HD region free out of the box?

420mm, exactly 16.5". It is the same chassis as their 971H but in black.

No it's not. But the old hacks still work.

no, you will need to region unlock it. To do so, do the following:

Press Setup.
Press 9210.
Press 0.
Press Setup to exit.

The design of the two products is different. The DV-970HD uses a single 4 layer PCB for the entire system. This reduces the possibilities of interference cause by noise, electricity, and so forth as the single board acts as a shield.

The DV-981HD takes its design cues from the OPDV971H, so the main board, the HDMI board, and the audio board are separate and connected by ribbons. These ribbons may be effected by interference, and therefore may suffer from loss of audio quality.

well...what if we opened the box, and shield the ribbons?

1080i performance will be the same for the 971 and 981. So just decide whether the 981's extra features and 1080p "future-proofing" are worth the extra money.

Gary

If a 1080p TV does not accept a 1080p input, you should feed it with 720p for best results. See this post for the reasons. The 971/981 would give you a better picture on a 60" TV, but check on the SXRD threads for an answer to your macroblocking question. (Remember that a decent calibration can go a long way to reducing it).

Gary

Just talked to the customer service at Oppo ..
unbelieveable, the guy was really knowledgeable. *I know that only have few products*
He really helped me making decision on which one to buy.

First he suggested that since my native Panasonic TH-42PX60U is 720p, he said the 971 would do just fine .. but I said I dont mind spending $30 more for extra features.

so after a long battle in my head..I decided to get the 981 instead cuz it has HDMI..I just dont like having more cables hanging from my TV..and thats 2 LESS cables..which is audio cables..if I was goin to buy the 971.

I also ask they guy.."Why the 981 doesnt come with all the features that 971 and 970 has..like the USB, memory card reader, component feature, etc

He said..those are just minors...but I said..to me those features are actually really nice to have.

And I ask him if Oppo has any plan to have them..He said..he dont know..=(

Since I'm new to the Oppo community ..
does the DVD players works like a charm out of the box without calibration ? ... or do I have to get profesional to get it calibrated with my Panasonic TH-42PX60U.

I do follow the instruction that the plasmatvreview,com gives for best viewing.

On the other hand..I cant wait to get my hand on my first up-convert dvd player =)))

thanks avsforum


mike

What? At two 'o clock in the morning??

The OPPO DVD players work like a charm right out of the box... but it is the TV's that are to blame for poor picture quality. They are designed with torch-mode settings to attract the attention of customers in the electronics stores, but those settings are wildly inaccurate. Hence the need to calibrate your TV for best picture quality.

Gary

The 981 is based on the 971, which also lacks the USB input and memory card reader. The only feature removed from the 971 to develop the 981 was the component video output, which on the 971 was limited to 480i anyway - it's really just sort of acknowledging that the player's purpose in life is to be paired up with an HD display with HDMI or DVI-HDCP input. I don't see how USB and memory card could be added to the 981.

The 42PX60U is 768p and can accept 1080p over HDMI so the 981 is the propper choice. It should allow for a better resolution match with fewer kell atifacts than the 971 at 720p.

Ahhh, thank you. So that makes me think the "loss of audio quality" refers to interference noise rather than a loss of fidelity (i.e., not an issue of reproduction not being true to the original, but just some background hiss & such).

Thanks again. I'm looking forward to receiving my 981 soon, and will listen for noise in the audio.

Craig in NJ

As long as the DAC is right near the output, how would cables affect it? I'm presuming that it's not pushing around an analog signal as that would affect quality. This should not affect digital output either so if your connecting the 981 via optical, coax, or HDMI to the receiver the design should not affect audio quality in the slightest.

I dont think it would impact their target market either as audio buffs tend to be very selective in their analog hardware.

I haven't heard the 970HD to know how its analog performance fares on SACD and DVD-Audio as compared to the 981HD. I have had the opportunity to compare the 981HD to a Yamaha S1500. I was a little leery of the comparison, as I was hoping I might be able to use the 981HD to replace both my 971H and my S1500 (simplying the equipment rack nicely). Just based on comparing the two, I thought the 981HD actually matched the S1500 for SACD and was very close to the S1500 on DVD-A. For what it's worth...

I've been waiting for a true 1080p dvd player. Great. I've got several hundred SD DVD's that could use the best player. I've got a new Mits 65831 1080p TV.
Question I have is macroblocking. I have almost no idea what this is, but it seems to crop up on these threads.
So, is my TV prone to macroblocking? What is it? Would it be sufficient to make me not buy the 981?

Thanks.

There is a detailed review here http://www.prillaman.net/oppo981_review.html written by an AVS forum member.

Yep, that review is mine - must have been busier than I realized yesterday at work, thought I'd posted it in this thread already.

Macroblocking often looks similar to this:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attac...chmentid=49528

It doesn't have to be pink, it can be gray blobs, etc. It often happens in consistent/solid color backgrounds in darker scenes. It is caused exaggeration of encoding artifacts by the DVD player and/or TV. The Faroudja chip in the 981 can create visible macroblocking flaws, despite its other strengths, but it only shows up on some TVs and can be minimized by calibrating the display, optimizing the connection type, changing the output signal type, etc.

More Info:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...63#post7270763

You might call/write Oppo and see what data they have collected on your TV model. I just did that for my TV. They might suggest a player for you.