OPPO Digital Presents: DV-980H (1080p, SACD DSD, 7.1 Surround, USB 2.0) - Page 156

From the Oppo 980 Support page
(http://oppodigital.com/dv980h/dv980h_support.asp):
A: To check the firmware version, please eject the disc tray. While the TV display is showing the OPPO logo screen and the "OPEN" message, press the "OSD" button on the remote control. The current firmware version will be displayed.

Jim

bump

why would I want to downgrade

Someone might want 480i or DSD over HDMI, or simply want a more economical player.

-Bill

He wants to give you his 983, for your 980+cash.
How is that a downgrade?

I believe the quip here is that a trade for and switch to OPPO's top-of-the-line player, the 983, from the 980H would be the downgrade; in other words vfrjim is saying the 980 is the better box (IT'S KIND OF A JOKE, Get It?). But maybe you're answering the rhetorical question, why would anyone want to give up a 983 for a 980 in return?

However, I'm with both of you, vfrjim & wmcclain; I'm an OPPO 980H owner and much prefer it over the 983 (I use 480i and DSD via HDMI -- just like you said).

-da Choge

Well, ya!! If you've got an external scaler better than or equql to a VP30, then the 980 is the one to have .

I prefer the dsd output (just to put the cat among the pigeons). Only ever heard it in my setup (denon avr 3808). Plenty of posts here with differing views which may very well reflect differing receivers.

Suggest you try it and see which sounds best to you. Of course you should also satisfy yourself that the 983 is better or as good as the 980 at PCM

Is it safe to place anything directly on top of a 980? Like a heavy digital cable box which may generate a lot of heat.

Hello... I just got my 980H yesterday. So far I love this player and it's my second Oppo product. Searching this thread I already found a partial answer to this question... The channel trim does not work when Digital Output is set to RAW, but does it work on any of your 980H players if Digital Output is set to PCM? I have a Cambridge Audio DVD player and there is obviously some cross-polination between Cambridge and Oppo because they share almost identical menues and features. In my Cambridge player, channel trim is passed through the Digital Output when this option is set to PCM.

I find it a little odd that the 980H passes the equalizer settings through PCM digital out, but not the channel trim, which is vastly more useful. I think this is an option the firmware writers could incorporate if they chose to.

Can someone chime in and let me know if channel trim passes through PCM Out on their 980H?
Thanks!

BTW, I'm running firmware version:19-0722

Well my satellite hdtv box is sitting on top of my 980 and I've not had any issues so far. I guess it depends on how much heat you're talking about.

This isn't really a definitive answer for you, but...

I've never tried to see if the channel trim settings work when digital output is PCM. I would not be surprised to learn that they are applied (it would actually seem to be more difficult to capture the decoded PCM before other DSP processing is done than simply sending left and right channels of the final DSP output), but I'm not entirely sure when that would be a benefit. The only channels you are going to get in this scenario are left and right (coax and optical can't carry more than two channels of PCM audio), and since you're in the digital domain when you get to the receiver I'd expect your receiver's settings to also apply. As a result, I wonder how often having those trim settings applied would be especially desirable.

As for the similarities between Cambridge and OPPO, that's probably due mainly to the use of the same (or very similar) Mediatek MPEG decoder chip in both players. It's also likely that both players are being built in the same factory (BBK was building Cambridge's players at one time, as I recall, and that's where OPPO's are built), but I've also got an Audiovox portable DVD player that uses a Mediatek chip and the menus were very familiar to me.

You are correct. But I'm using the PCM out to an external 2 channel DAC, then into a tube pre-amp that lacks balance control, then into my 2 channel power amp. It's great to be able to adjust channel balance on-the-fly, from the remote, like is possible with my Cambridge player. I wish, Wish, WISH the 980H could do this too! This would be a great benefit to many 2 channel guys like myself. What is driving me nuts is that I know this is probably possible with a slight firmware change.

Prior to owning this Oppo I had the yamaha 750 and 540. Both had the same menu layout as the Oppo too.

I place an ancient VCR on top of it. The shell except for front panel's made of hard metal, and on the inside there's lots of space so it shouldnt be an issue if you place something on top of it.

My parents have an RCA with the exact same menu as my Oppo. There's probably one company that writes menu software and sells to every hardware vendor.

That would have been nice on the Yamaha I had - the S1500's menu structure drove me nuts...

It's the chip at the middle of these players that is responsible for this - Mediatek designed it and manufactures it, and there is a standard structure and appearance to the menu because they also wrote a core firmware set that covers the basic features offered by the chip. It would probably be possible to go in and make large-scale changes to it (to hide the identity of the chip, or try to maintain a certain standard look with other players from the same company that use different architecture), but it's going to add development time and programming costs without any performance benefits. Instead, the player manufacturers retain the framework and make changes as they need to for the player they're designing.

What was funny to me was my wife's reaction when I was testing out the portable Audiovox player we bought early this summer (good for long road trips with a three-year-old) and I showed her that the menus were similar to those on our OPPO players, a clear sign that the MPEG decoder inside was a Mediatek chip. "Oh, so we got a good player, then!" was her comment. She'd ordered it on her own one evening while I was getting our daughter ready for bed and was a little worried that she might not have gotten a good player, but in her mind the "Mediatek=OPPO=good" equation played out very rapidly and from that point onward she had no concerns about the player. I probably could have pointed out that the disc drive, LCD panel, and other player internals were totally unrelated to any other player we owned and could be good or bad, but it was actually a decent little player for the price...

Paring down my system to a Samsung BD-UP5000(reon HQV) and a OPPO DV-980.

I've put my 983 and 970 in the classifieds for sale.....

Can I connect the 980 to my TV via HDMI for video, and then connect the 980 to my receiver via digital coax or optical for sound? My receiver doesn't have HDMI inputs, and I would like to take advantage of HDMI for video, but use digital optical/coax for sound. Thanks guys.

Yes. All outputs are active simultaneously.

-Bill

wm, I can always count on you for DVD questions. In your opinion, which is better in terms of image quality and upscaling of standard DVDs? a PS3 or the 980? Thanks.

I have no experience with the PS3. I hear opinions on both sides, and each plays formats the other doesn't, so it is a hard choice.

-Bill

I've had the 980H for about 5 months and today it did a strange thing with the loading. It seemed like it was taking a long time for 2 of my movies to load. But movies play on here flawlessly. I shutdown the Oppo and unplugged it, then plugged it back in. It loaded my one disc up in ample time.

Has this ever occurred to anyone else?

What kind of basic warranty does Oppo offer on their player?

I have a question about pausing dvd movies:

When paused, is the dvd laser still on?

If paused, and on screensaver mode, is dvd laser still on?

While this player has been available for over a year and even though I've come late to the 980H party... I thought I'd post my impressions of it nevertheless.

The two features that led me to choose this player are:

Volume control through PCM output.

(None of the other components in my two channel system offer remote volume control, so having this feature on the disc player, through the PCM output, was absolutely essential. Another plus is that the player remembers the volume level through the power off / on cycle.)

USB input / with ability to read audio and picture files from an external hard drive.

(It's great having my entire music and photo collection available via navigation from the remote control. You can even watch a photo slide show while simultaneously listening to music off the hard drive. It makes searching through CDs and loading / unloading discs seem totally primitive and obsolete.)


2 things I would have liked to have seen in this player are:

Channel trim option available through the PCM output.

(This would greatly benefit us 2 channel guys. I suspect a minor firmware change would turn this feature on.)

Better utilization of the on screen display space for the the USB menu yielding longer file lists and file names.

I do have a major criticism of this device which is the audible popping between tracks etc. that emanates from its analog outputs. These pops are loud enough to preclude direct connection of the 980H into a high power amplifier (if the amp lacks level controls, as most do.) The good news is that when using the 980H as a transport connected to an external DAC, there is no popping between tracks whatsoever.

Overall, this is an excellent player, especially when used as a transport and as a music / photo server through its USB input.

1 stop or press stop twice to get laser off?

Your inventive use of color makes your post unreadable for many without extra effort. Please use it more sparingly.