Time to crown a new SDI DVD king!  

Well guys, I think the time has come where the Panasonic classics have finally met their match, this illustrious personality is known as the Oppo 981

I have been working on the new Oppo 981 over the past few weeks and I finally got time to set down with it and my DVDO VP50, I checked out what I think are the 2 best SD DVD's ever made, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi

I have never seen a SDI image of this quality, the Oppo 981 is every bit as good as the Panasonic RP82/RP91 and maybe a pinch more, I think the Oppo may have slightly better colors, it is sharp as a tack and clean as a whistle, strikingly so

I compared the HDMI output at 480p into my VP50, which features a amazing Prep process that extracts the original 480i image, comparing this to the SDI 480i image was a riot, a child could see the difference, I checked out the 1080i output and it wasn't much better, the stock Oppo outputs look like **** IMHO

I have to say, the Oppo 981 is NOT a easy SDI mod as was the 971, I never had the pleasure of modding or seeing a 971 Oppo but I hear they were easy, no such luck on the 981, I can say one thing, those that think they can use a moome card or the PMS BT656 kit will be sadly mistaken

-Gary

Mdrew, the problem there is that I have never seen the 970, the 981 is a much higher end player though, and the black case = sweet!

the 970 and 981 use the identical decoder, the 971 used a slightly different version, I was just looking at the 981 some moore, it is just amazing

-Gary

SJ, no only 480p at the bottom

mdrew, HDMI has been compared to SDI many times, both at 480i, SDI always came out the winner, the internal process of decoder to HDMI chip and the insertion of HDCP is labled as the various reasons

and the real kicker, most 480i HDMI players send 480i HDMI at 4:4:4, SDI DVD is exactly what is on the disc, 4:2:2, does anyone know what the 970 HDMI port outputs colorspace wise? just pull up the VP50 info screen, I have never seen a player output true 4:2:2 480i HDMI, but I haven't seen everything either

I don't think SDI will ever be surpassed, it's just a different higher-end truly untouched pathway to feed a scaler, that said I would love to get my hands on the 970 and compare them being they use the same identical Mediatek chip, the 981 is just so nice though, the more I look at it, the more I want to say it is the best SDI image I have see

I love to set the 981 to auto and throw in a pal disc, the player changes the SDI output to 576i 50hz 4:2:2 and plays, then you throw in a NTSC disc and it changes the SDI output to 480i 60hz 4:2:2, that is one amazing out of the box feature and with the SDI output it rocks hard for sure

-Gary

I need to see one of these Philips, for it to beat the RP82/RP91/Denon 1600 and ultimately the Yamaha S2300/CX1 that would mean it has to be one heck of a player

many others would agree(that have seen the Philips) that the Pannies are the top of the game, so there are differing opinions of course , my particular pick for the best SDI image is the Yamaha S2300, but this Oppo 981 may just change that

I noticed CRT Projectors UK is just oo'ing and ah'ing over the 981 SDI

Paul the Oppo upconversion is decent as is the XA2, but they aren't even close to a SDI player and the VP50

-Gary

Madshi if I remembered who it was, I would have called them out on it

all I know is that I have got to get ahold of a Philips to see what the mofo is all about

a little 963a, 981 and RP91 face off should be pretty nice

-Gary

Dave G oh no! no!, it is nothing like what you are comparing it to, DTS vs DD

it is not like that at all, mpeg decoders have vastly different performance levels, you can check hardcore stuff via test patterns, some are softer than others, some are sharper and more detailed, some have less ringing, some have chroma issues and some don't, you know what I mean, this is not a placebo type effect or blind testing showing no differences, this is different

we all know that if a test pattern looks that much better, then the actual video will be even that much better

women are a good example to test this stuff on, when they can tell the difference then something is up SDI makes that much of a difference in most systems

Dave, what kind of pics are you looking for ? if you are speaking of in person screenshots then no, they will never be able to show the difference in players. taking closeups of test pattern issues maybe, but not plain images, it just isn't possible, there are some screenshots of SDI playback on my webpage for a good idea, here is one of the Yamaha DVD-CX1, my reference standard:



if I posted one of the same setup with the Oppo in place, the images wouldn't show the difference

when I spoke of the differences between the standard 1080i HDMI output and 480i vis SDI to the VP50 scaler that is what I meant by a child telling the difference, that is comparind 230$ of gear vs about 4000$, if the difference wasn't huge then we wouldn't be doing this

-Gary

Thanks Dan, appreciate that, the true untouched DVD signal should be Y Cb Cr 4:2:2, that is what the SDI outputs, RGB is another conversion(for use with DVI only displays) as is 4:4:4, SDI would instantly have one over on that because of it's untouched nature

the 970 and 981 have the same identical Mediatek chip, so that would be the perfect thing to test, I really need to do that

Dave the SDI output bypasses all internal workings and processing like addition of HDCP and like the majority of players with 480i HDMI, they are 4:4:4 or RGB, which is another conversion

SDI is just a cleaner image, cleaner meaning onscreen, less ringing/halos and noise, the Oppo players stock video outputs are pretty noisy and have some ringing, SDI of course does not

has anyone ever seen a 480i HDMI player that will output a true component 4:2:2? signal?

-Gary

Drew, while viewing a DVD with the 970, hit the info button at the top of the VP50 remote, a status screen will come up that lists your firmware and a few other things, in there it will list the input status format and etc., for the 970 it will say 4:4:4

Dave the process from decoder to HDMI chip and output, in addition to the stuff you mentioned like 4:4:4 and HDCP would be the best bet

there has been a few threads here and there that compared 480i HDMI, I think someone compared the 970 with a 971 SDI, the 971 won as SDI always does over HDMI

-Gary