Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
by OPPO Digital
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List Price: Our Price: $99.99 You Save: $199.01 (67%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Home Theater See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD
Customer Review: Simply unbeatable! - SACD via HDMI as 5.1 PCM 88.2 kHz
Summary: 5 Stars
I have always looked for a universal player that does something more with SACDs. For those of you enjoying SACDs you probably know what a hassle it is to connect 6 analog outputs from a player that actually plays SACDs to a receiver that would accept 5.1 (or 7.1) analog input. Well, finannly we have a player here that routes all signals digitally via HDMI as 5.1 PCM using 88.2 kHz!!
As for video performance, simply put: awesome! - I also appreciate the fact this player can be made region-codefree with just a simple pushs on the remote (described by other readers already). It outputs NTSC or PAL (the way I want it to feed my 50" Pioneer Plasma PRO-FHD1, which accepts NTSC and PAL) or you can use the internal video converter that can convert PAL to NTSC, or if you wanted, NTSC to PAL. I have many region 2 PAL discs that look so stunningly beautiful in 1080p. Same applies to U.S. DVDs that are in NTSC and region code 1.
Indeed, this player is a slim-line unit but nicely illuminated in blue. Since the width is idential to Pioneer dimensions it found a nice place on top of my Pioneer Blu-Ray player. I compared regular DVD upconversion of my Pioneer Blu-Ray player to the Oppo, and man, the Oppo simply beats the picture quality. But let's face it, DVDs will never be able to be even close to High Definition material, such as Blu-Ray. Blu-Ray has twice the colors compared to a DVD. This alone make a gigantic difference in picture quality, left alone the resolution. Still, the Oppo's upconverted DVD picture quality in 1080p is really nice!
As a reader previously said, this unit comes with a high-end 6 ft HDMI cable. No need to buy one extra to connect this player. And also, I have never seen a better packaged unit than the Oppo, wow!
And lastly, the remote control, not bad at all. does have a typical plasticy look, but very functional. Also love the "keyboard" function wich when pressed shows a navigation menu of typcal tasks that you can access via the cursor keys. Perfect for dark rooms. No need to guess where the pause button is, etc.
All in all: Highly recommended.
Customer Review: This is the one!
Summary: 5 Stars
Almost everything about the Oppo DV-981HD exceeds expectations. From the attention to detail in the packaging, to the unexpected features on the remote (volume control, zoom out as well as zoom in, etc.) to the friendly and helpful customer support at Oppo, I've been happy with every aspect of this product and the company behind it.
The most important thing for me, though, is that I've finally found a DVD player that will do true PAL conversion for an NTSC TV. My previous Toshiba DVD player played everything I put in it, but it was a cheap unit and PAL playback suffered from occasional dropped frames. Once I read the Oppo manual carefully and got the settings configured correctly, this unit plays PAL discs as crisply and smoothly as NTSC. What a treat.
Even on a 40" LCD TV, the difference between this unit's 720p output and my old player's 480p output is outstanding. The best areas of comparison are fine detail, such as venetian blinds or wicker furniture, and skin tones, which are astonishingly realistic on this machine. After watching a movie or TV episode on this unit, switching back to my old machine looks like I'm watching through a layer of cheesecloth.
This is a unit that I'm certain to keep around even once I decide to buy a high-def DVD player, due to the flawless PAL playback and the high-quality upconversion offered by the Faroudja chip. This way, when I finally take the plunge and purchase an HD-DVD or Blu-Ray player, I won't have to worry about whether that player also plays PAL DVDs flawlessly, or how good the upconversion is, or whether it plays audio CDs well, etc. I'll be able to buy the best unit for high-def discs, and keep the Oppo around for everything else. Honestly, though, the quality of the image produced by this unit is so good -- especially on standard DVDs produced in the last couple of years -- that I'm in no rush to upgrade to a high-def unit anyway. I'm perfectly happy to sit out the current format war and enjoy gorgeous-looking programming from all over the world while I'm waiting.
Customer Review: Great player but beware tech support / customer service
Summary: 5 Stars
Like everyone else, I have nothing but praise for this machine. It is, without a doubt, the best DVD player on the market. There is nothing this machine can't handle. I have not read any reviews on the Oppo company itself so I decided to write one for anyone who will need to use their customer support service. I bought the 981 10 months ago. Unbelievable machine. The other day, I went to turn on the unit and the power button light was just blinking red continuously. The machine would not turn on. I literally spent half day speaking with tech support, and the technician did not have a suggestion as to what it was, just that it needed to be returned to them for repair. Five (5) phone calls to them over the course of the day, as they didn't send the RMA return label to me as promised within an hour, and I got it the next day after a nasty letter. I'm worried about what will happen to my machine. I have called their tech support in the past for some general information and they had problems solving any problems I was experiencing. I was not, and am still not, impressed with their technical support. Also, be aware that you will have to ship any malfunctioning units back to California to be repaired. There are no authorized dealers to handle repairs.
***Edit: Almost a year later and I still have nothing but praise for this machine. It plays anything you can put into it, and makes your existing DVDs look fabulous. As stated in one of my other reviews, I purchased a Pioneer up-convert DVD player, and while I have the utmost respect for Pioneer products, it just cannot compete with the Oppo picture quality. It did, however, produce better audio than the Oppo, but when push comes to shove, nothing beats the Oppo players. I'm hoping that their customer service has gotten better since they have just released their Blu-Ray players, and I still can't figure out how a company that makes the best DVD players has such less-than-stellar customer support. In the meantime, Oppo players are killer.
Customer Review: IT REALLY WORKS GREAT
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the OPPO DV-981HD directly from OPPO because Amazon did not have it in stock. Delivery was fast,5 days including over a weekend and cheap, for standard FedEx. It was easy to set up, just plug it into the HDMI slot in my Samsung 42" Plasma and it worked right away. I did not fool around with any settings. I played TOP GUN at least 3 times as the picture inproved that much. But, how do you justify spending $229 for a dvd player when you can get a cheapee dvd player, non-signal upgrade, for under $30? Well, your eyes will tell you why when you see the great picture. PLUS, I had a second serious reason; I burn TV shows as they occur, onto my SAMSUNG dvd burner. It uses cheap DVD blanks, DVD-R. I can burn an hour tv show onto 1 dvd disc at the highest rating, however I prefer to use the 2nd highest rating,which places 2 hours of tv on 1 dvd disc. After I burn, and finalize the disc on rating 2, I then "play" the disc on my OPPO; and picture is great, great. The burned discs showed blurry on the Samsung Dvd burner/player burnt disc showed up at 16:9 with spaces above and below. The OPPO corrected all this, and increased the High Def beautifully; and the OPPO alows me to "zoom" the screen up to full screen 16:9.
I am very happy as now my DVD TV collection can continue with 20 cent discs. I buy the DVD-R's from Frys Electonics - 100 discs for $19.50. Sorry for the long story, but the
OPPO gave me 2 great things: 1. beautiful upgraded HD picture from regular movie dvds; and 2. beautiful picture from my "taped", an old word, tv shows that I burn on blanks. PS The price includes the HDMI cable, 6 ft, with what appears to be gold connectors.
3. I forgot the best part; the OPPO has terrific rca connectors to your audio receiver and one rca connector for your subwoofer. Prior to OPPO, my receiver was having trouble pushing out loud sound when playing a movie dvd. After I attached the OPPO to my receiver, I was able to push out the sound at almost double! Wow.
Customer Review: A Winner - Tested side-by-side with Samsung DVD-HD960
Summary: 5 Stars
I recently bought a Samsung DLP 1080P TV which I struggled mightily over before taking the plunge. I thought the easier decision would be a DVD player to "upconvert" my library of DVD's purchsed through the years. I was wrong.
After seeing my TV and the DVD-HD960 together in the store I took the plunge and bought the Samsung player. I probably watched a dozen movies on it and frankly was fairly impressed with the difference between a regular Progressive Scan player and the DVD-HD960. However, a friend convinced me to at least try the Oppo and I recently completed a side by side test with it, the Samsung player and a Sony Progressive Scan system. I did a "blind" test with my wife and teenager. They both had a questionaire to fill out that I made up of items like picture and audio, clarity sharpness, color, and a rating system of 1 through 5 - 5 being the best. I played several movies for them and didn't always change the player. I sometimes played it on the same player twice and generally mixed up the order so that they would not gain a bias. This was hardly scientific, but the results were consistant. In each case I played the disc at the highest resolution the set could handle.
The lowest rated player for color and sharpness was, not surprisingly the Progressive Scan Sony that is about 3 years old or so. Both the the Samsung and Oppo boxes boast 1080p so I was a little surprised at what the family saw in terms of differences. In every case, for every movie, the Oppo box was far and away the winner. The average score was 4.7, whereas the Samsung was 3.9. Again, not scientific, but in a world where perception is reality, this is all I needed to see in order to return my Samsung box and keep the Oppo.
I've now watched maybe 20 movies on the Oppo and I have not found one instance where I was underwhelmed. The price tag of this unit is steep, but in my mind if you spent all that money on true 1080p set, why would you not consider the Oppo?