OPPO Digital Presents: DV-980H (1080p, SACD DSD, 7.1 Surround, USB 2.0) - Page 13

Nothing like that available. Although I don't personally see how there could be a need for it.

Thanks . I should have mentioned that.

Thanks a lot, Smarty-pants and Neuromancer.

My interest is because that would help my kids to always select the audio track with the highest number of channels, which I'm trying to teach them...

OK, I got mine today. Very nice looking unit that goes well with my BD-P1200 and HD-A2.

Some quick observations... definitely has an improved upscaled image over the 970. Looks really great at 1080i on my Toshiba 62" DLP (62HM196). Might give the HD-A2 a run for its money. PAL playback is much better than the 970 as well. It sounds fantastic playing DVD-Audio and SACD, at least as good as the 970 (I am using HDMI out into a compatible receiver, not discrete analog).

Some first quirks... unlike the 970, it horizontally stretches the 4:3 menu pictures on my DVD-Audio discs to 16:9. Also, the HD-JPEG playback looks OK, but is a disappointment because it incorrectly vertically compresses the images (in other words, the aspect ratio is incorrect). 1920x1080 JPEG test patterns do not fill the screen properly for 1:1 pixel mapping. There are black bars above and below (kind of like a letterbox image).

My old Toshiba SD-6980 does not have this flaw. Hopefully Oppo will address this problem with a firmware update as I really like the HD-JPEG feature for slide shows. Unfortunately, people look wide and chubby in photos viewed with this player.

I do and I do. Wide/Auto and 1080i (which is max for my set). 4:3 DVD-Video pillarboxes just fine.

Anyone try the USB yet? It doesn't readm my external drive for some reason. And I have a little 2G flash drive that it reads, but once I pick a song, it locks up. And the directions say that may happen, but offer no other explanation or remedy. Is that flash drive just incompatible? Its a SanDisk.

I asked OPPO about this just yesterday, as I also noticed it. They already have it on their list to take care of in a firmware update. As you say, 4:3 DVD's pillarbox fine when set to Wide/Auto, the problem is related to displaying still images only.

2 Against Nature, Automatic For The People... OK, weird. Now its working.

I'll re-check digital photos later. My teenage daughter is watching Phantom of The Opera on HD DVD with her friends now.

The Oppo testing will have to wait.

I am very impressed with the 980's image quality so far, though.

Tried playing WMA's

The artist and songs came on the screen, but I selected one and hit play, and it locks (Flash drive).

The external it didn't even read it.

How I know if they are FAT16 or 32?

It just says FAT, no numbers after it. My WMAs are all 128 or 192

My external HD is NTFS which explains why that doesn't work.

I'm gonna try again here in a second. I'm trying to load it with my new computer. My fossil computer messes everything up. Transitioning everything currently to the new one, including music.

That's exactly what I did. Still waiting for the 980 to try it out.

Works now. Thanks. Must have been USER ERROR. As always.

I received my 980 yesterday and finally had time to sit down and watch a movie tonight. Twice, there has been a squeal through the speakers after removing a movie and closing the tray empty. It's a brief high pitched squeal.

I have the 980 connected by optical to an Audio Refinement Pre2DSP. Anyone else experience this?

BTW, I like it a lot but could do without the squeal.

Thanks!

Jim

Well for any canucks wondering; I got mine from Oppo today (Friday). It was shipped on Monday so that's not bad, although I'm in Vancouver and they are in California, so it doesn't take long to get up the coast.

I ended up paying $21 Canadian more than if I ordered it from Solutions A/V, HOWEVER, that's factoring in air shipping, not ground. I wouldn't want this player to go ground from out east all the way to Vancouver...Just my personal choice.

I don't know why others are always bringing up duty. There is none. I paid GST and PST plus (and if you want to call this duty whatever) an $8.00 handling fee that Canada's Express service charges. I'm assuming Solutions A/V has to charge tax, even if out of province. I know Only Best Rated does.

Anyway, just giving a heads up.

Jeff

Just wanted to know of anyone has used the 980H on one of the new Panasonic Plasmas. I have the TH-50PZ750U and was previously going to purchase the 981 until I heard that there was alot of macroblocking w/ that model and the Panny. I was currently waiting for the Pioneer Elite DV48AV and was wondering if the new 980H would better suit the bill.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have a few questions:

1) Can the Oppo background screen be turned off
2) Can DIVX file names fill the whole screen instead of scrolling when you select one. That's not real long file name support if you ask me. Also can you make it so just the list comes up when the disc is inserted? I rarely ever want the first track to be played on a disc full of files.
3) What does the Auto Play do? It's not mentioned in the manual. On my former LG player it would seek the longest track on a DVD (90% of the time being the movie) and bypass everything else. On the Oppo, it doesn't seem to do anything different whether it's on or off. I loved that feature on the LG, by the way.

Thanks,

Jeff

Have you read Gonk's 980H user review?

You know there really isn't any information concerning the Pioneer Elite DV-48AV yet, even though I see three online dealers selling them (probably grey market version)?

What are you looking for in a player if I might ask?

Thanks for the reply Neuromancer.

I swapped cables and made sure everything was plugged in securely. Popped a movie in and started it, then stopped and ejected the DVD. Removed the DVD and then closed the tray. It squealed as before.

The squeal seems to be an artifact of the 980 searching for a disc. The sound is brief and is of a low enough volume that there isn't a concern of speaker damage. It's just annoying. I've also emailed Oppo support with the issue. I'll post their reply when I get it.

Just as an FYI, I had a Sony NS75 connected the same way that was quiet so I'm certain that it's the 980.

Thanks for the help!

Jim

Hi John, just looking for a solid 1080p upconverting player that will give the best picture quality w/o breaking the bank. HDMI is nice, but I am looking into a receiver that does not accept audio via HDMI, so I need the flexiblity to have audio fed separately. I will be using DVD's 99% of the time but the other formats are nice just in case I have the urge to pick up a SACD or so. The thing that really concerned me before was the macroblocking issues that other Panny owners experience and I must avoid that at all costs. It seems like Gonk didn't experience any, so maybe the Oppo is back on my list.....

The 980H (and all of OPPO's players) provide output from all audio connections simultaneously. In my system, I have a DVI display and DVI switching in my processor, so HDMI audio support is really not happening. That doesn' matter, though , since the coaxial, optical, and multichannel analog outputs are active all the time (except with SACD, which doesn't allow coax/optical output, and sort of DVD-A, which forces a downmixed two-channel output at coax/optical).

The 980H does not use Faroudja processing, so you won't have macroblock enhancement with this player.

One more review:

http://www.hdtvmagazine.com/reviews/...dvd_player.php