Interesting new DivX compatible DVI DVD player

**David Meek** · 13 December 2004, 09:25 Monday

Hmmm, looks pretty interesting Jon. :T

However, my one gripe with most of the DVD players on the market today is the build-quality. I know not everyone will give us an Ayre, but puh-lease, at least get it above 5 lbs!

**JonMarsh** · 13 December 2004, 09:33 Monday

Well, I think the going rate is around $40 per lb., which is why for for $200 - $250, you get 4 -5 lb., then for $400 or so you might actually get 8 lb.

Maybe we've hit on something here, huh? Another insider Industry secret?

BTW, I did order one to evaluate- with 20% off for the pre-order, and Faroudja de-interlacing, I couldn't resist.

~Jon

**David Meek** · 13 December 2004, 10:42 Monday

All that for $160? Wow. Maybe, I'll just have to park my issue with build-quality....

**JonMarsh** · 13 December 2004, 13:31 Monday

Well, that's $200- normal price will be $249. Still, for the "specialized" needs I have (RGB projector, either component transcoded or DVI converted, and want 1080i), it should be worth the modest risk.

ThomasW says I have an altogether too large collection of $200 DVD players- Liteon 2001, Zenith DVB318, and now this. Well, maybe he's right, but then my Zenith is more useful to me than a lot of $600 players....

~Jon

**JonMarsh** · 28 December 2004, 10:54 Tuesday

It's here- will check out in detail this week...

Well, the little guy arrived via FEDEX ground yesterday, in nice shape.

The manual is fairly comprehensive, especially if you read Chinese...

..just kidding, has a nice English section, too!

Main reasons I bought/took a chance on this unit were as follows:

1) Faroudja DCDi (really necessary for video source material like DVD music videos and DVD TV collections, both of which are a large part of my viewing)

2) DVI upscaling to 720P and 1080i (will be run through DVI -> RGBHV converter for my NEC projector)

3) Pillar boxing of 4:3 material on widescreen display modes (Zenith DVB318 doesn't have this) There are additional Zoom modes; unknown if it can support zooming letter box 4:3 to 16:9. Fingers crossed.

5) Does include brigntness, contrast, sharpness adjustments. Don't know if this will be useful. Maybe with my projector, not being a normal TV.

6) DivX playback support.

The unit has 24/192 DACs, and includes a built in DD decoder; optical and coaxial SPDIF are suported. A 1 meter DVI-D cable is included.

Attached Files

**Shane Martin** · 29 December 2004, 07:39 Wednesday

Does this have the macroblocking problem comman amongst all of the other Faroudja players out now? Or maybe that is HDMI output only.

I'm more concerned with the 480P output as upscaling showed me nothing on my set.

**JonMarsh** · 29 December 2004, 10:21 Wednesday

The level of visibility of macro blocking is apparently dependent on two factors-

1) How the Faourdja chip is programmed

2) Whether the output is being fed to a display which does subsequent A/D conversion with possibility of quantization errors in D/A conversion and subsequent processing.

I have an NEC CRT projector, which obviously has no subsequent digital processing, and I like a lot of those creepy, low light Sci Fi flicks, with dark scenes and low light levels, and I've never seen macroblocking with my Zenith in my system.

So, who knows?

I'd say it's a trade off; if you don't watch video source material much (which I didn't used to), and if you have a digital projector, I'd find a player with a different chip set- you know which DVD benchrmark reports are good guides to this. And I'd check it out first on your planned outputs and display- especially if it's one of the moderately expensive players (that being in my mind, $400 ~ $800.) For a $200 player, in my system, this is relatively low risk.

To answer your question, I'll be looking at 480P component and DVI, just for curiousity sake. For my projector, upscaling works very well with the Zenith, it has great bandwidth on the top end (unlike the Sigma based players), and 1080i looks good because it get's rid of visible scan lines without harming detail, and makes the presentation more film like. Obviously, it would be nice if this player doesn't have the Y/C delay and other issues the Zenith has at 480P and 720P. Only a checkout will tell... But for me, it's the 1080i that's the make or break.

**Shane Martin** · 29 December 2004, 11:59 Wednesday

Jon,
Let me know how it handles layer changes and how fast the navigation is. Also a few more questions:

1. Does it have a memory in it to remember where I stopped the disc at? so that it can restart at the same point. My Sony has this feature. I can turn off the player and power it back on and it will start up where I left off.

2. Layer changes and Navigation speed?

3. Region free? Not necessary for me but curious

I think that's it.

I need a new player to hold me over until HD or Blu Ray takes off..

**JonMarsh** · 31 December 2004, 20:51 Friday

Hello Shane,

Got it hooked up for some preliminary checkout, but can't find my AVIA disk so some details will have to wait...

It's hooked up at the moment just through DVI to a Dtronics DVI to RGBHV converter, and connected to a large screen CRT monitor, to verify output scan rates and so forth. I'm going to hook it up later tonight to my NEC projector.

I'll look for some of the concerns you have. My Zenith is like your Sony- will resume at last spot in a disk - don't see anything about this in the manual.

DVI output is enabled when plugged into my converter- default 480P; a button push on DVI button changes to 720P, then 1080i. One annoyance is that it defaults to 480P on power down and power up. My Zenith stays in the mode it was left in.

Though this unit remembers where you are if you hit stop once, if you power down, it goes stupid and reloads the disk.

The brightness, contrast, and sharpness control work also on the DVI ouptut- this is good, though it remains to be seen if there are any white or black crush issues.

A quick tour of a couple of chapters of "Attack of the Clones" at 1080i on the desktop CRT monitor looked pretty nice... like a high grade HTPC. Navigation seems fairly quick, but then that's not how I benchmark players... I understand some are pretty particular about that.

I'll give it a spin tonight, then hopefully be able to report back on some tests with the AVIA or VE disk. It's no where near as glitchy as the Nueno player prototype I have, though, though it seems to be a similar Sanyo loader. Remote is decent, for an inexpensive one.

For me, it's all about 1080i video quality for my projector; I can live with a few quirks, if needed.

**JonMarsh** · 01 January 2005, 10:22 Saturday

It's timings on 1080i are enough different from the Zenith DVB318 that I had to create a new input entry, and do an alignment and convergence! NOT what I was planning yesterday evening-

Did a fairly quick one, and went ahead and watched ATOC. Lovely picture...

Since I haven't had my DD processor setup the last month in the new arrangement (seperate HT and 2 chan audio) and have been using anlog outputs with down mixing, it's pointless to compare, but it does seem cleaner and clearer than the Zenith on the analog output- but then the Zenith also lags behind a $70 Sony DVP NS-501P. The Oppo has a set of two channel outputs for CD and down mixed DD, and also has a DD decoder ane 5.1 outputs built in- good for a secondary system, I guess, with an older reciever.

Though I was looking for it in the darker scenes, I didn't see any hints of the dreaded "macroblocking" that usually accompanies FL32310 Faroudja chipset. But I think that's partly an artifact of quantization errors going from the over sampled D/A output of the player and into a subsequent D/A conversion at the front end of a digital display. And I'm all analog- Except that I'm using the DVI output into a Dtronics active converter- this is NOT one of those little DVI to VGA dongles that the video card folks supply, to convert DVD-I to VGA; this player only outputs DVI-D. This was also a test of the covnerter, to see that we'd get usuable output in this type of configuration, even up to 1080i.

~Jon

**JonMarsh** · 02 January 2005, 18:52 Sunday

Last night I watched the pilot episode for "Millenium" - set it up in 720P at 4:3, to match the DVD aspect ratio. Yeah, that's one thing nice about CRT projectors, they're pretty flexible once you get the hang of things. Millenium is a sort of psychic/hidden organization show regarding crimes with a decided evil twist- lots of nice dark scenes, lots of more conventional scenes also. Video source, makes a lot of conventional DVD players a bit crazy. This little guy handles it very, VERY well- very good detail, rich but natural color, great shadow detail. This is on DVI output into a Dtronics DVD-D conveter into RGBHV. I think I can get used to this in my system pretty easily.

If you want a player that can handle video sourced as well as film sourced material with the best of them, and can do DVI with upscaling, it's a very reasonable performer at a relatively low price. A quick check shows good performance on the standard 480P component output, too - probably due to the combination of the Faroudja chip and 12 Bit video output DACs.

I got swamped with problems with my Audio Test PC today, including a bad ower supply in a new chasis, so I haven't gotten to VE tests on this. Probably by next weekend.

~Jon

**Brandon B** · 03 January 2005, 23:00 Monday

Any clue if they put HDCP on its output?

My Bravo D1 will actually play some versions of DIVX as well. It is beginning to drop clues that it may not be long for the world though.

BB

**DrJRapp** · 06 January 2005, 08:09 Thursday

Originally posted by Brandon B

Any clue if they put HDCP on its output?
BB

The Oppo is currently HDCP compliant, but rumor has it that an upcoming software relese will change this "unofficially".

The 971 is a superb player. I replaced a Samsung HD841 which had replaced a D1. The Oppo makes them both look like "old news".

**Shane Martin** · 06 January 2005, 09:30 Thursday

Reading the AVS thread on this player is pushing me over the edge.

**Evil Twin** · 06 January 2005, 11:35 Thursday

The thread over at AVS seems to have a lot of "noise" on it, to me, but there's nothing wrong with folks getting excited about it...

I don't have a non HDCP compliant gizmo to test this with, so I can't say regarding the HDCP issue- it worked fine with mine at any resolution.

Been in the office for long days this week, so I won't have a chance to run a test disk until the weekend-

The only two things I would really like to see addressed in a firmware update are support for pillar boxing, and to have the the DVI button "remember" the resolution setting after the power has been cycled and turned back on.

I did have the cover off of my OVP971 the first day I opened it, because I picked it up and tilted it while ejecting a disk, and the disk slid back into the player. This required popping the cover, wherein I duly noted the use of the Genesis chip, the Mediatek controller, etc. It isn't the fastest disk loading player I've seen, but navigation, layer change, etc, seem quite fine.

It's funny to see comments by folks at AVS complaining that it doesn't look like a PC unit (like the Sigma Designs DVD players), and doesn't use a conventional IDE interface for the DVD, but a normal CE one. The folks at AVS must make marketing people go crazy with all their whims and fancies about what is good or isn't.

So, my plan is to tweak and cal with VE this weekend, as well as check out the bandwidth on test patters, especially in the upscaling mode. Still, based on what I've seen to date, this unit is a keeper for me, espcially at the price.

If you Don't have a projector with DVI/HDCP input, and can/want to feed an RGBHV input, check out the Dtronics converter at Digital Connection.

Regards,

Jon

**Shane Martin** · 06 January 2005, 12:16 Thursday

The only two things I would really like to see addressed in a firmware update are support for pillar boxing, and to have the the DVI button "remember" the resolution setting after the power has been cycled and turned back on

If the post by extemephono was accurate, they are addressing them.

**JonMarsh** · 06 January 2005, 16:24 Thursday

Paul Bigelow did a great brain dump on his preliminary testing on DVI out- seems everything is pretty solid, including blacker than black, whiter than white, (obviously no black or white crush!), good HF patterns, good color patterns, no Chroma bug, etc, etc.

It's nice to have positive reinforcement on one's impressions and impulse buy purchasing decisions!

~Jon

**Brandon B** · 06 January 2005, 18:54 Thursday

Originally posted by Evil Twin

It's funny to see comments by folks at AVS complaining that it doesn't look like a PC unit (like the Sigma Designs DVD players), and doesn't use a conventional IDE interface for the DVD, but a normal CE one. The folks at AVS must make marketing people go crazy with all their whims and fancies about what is good or isn't.

I think that stems back to the ease of swapping loaders in and out of the Bravo D1 to get performance you wanted. It actually is nice to be able to do that. Certainly not something I'd expect CE mfrs do adopt as a standard practice though.

BB

**JonMarsh** · 06 January 2005, 21:09 Thursday

Yeah, I understand the reasoning- if you need to swap loaders in and out because the stock ones are flaky, as was sometimes the case with the Bravo's, Momitsu's, and Liteon's. I've got a couple of the latter...

I deal with a lot of marketing guys in our company, and sometimes they get pretty crazy with their concepts for developing customer check lists... which aren't often really rooted in the real customer needs.

I think this is a pretty cool little player; as inexpensive as it is, may get another one and another DVI to RGB converter to plop in the bedroom system. It's cheaper than buying someone elses $600 DVD player, and the converters could be useful in the future when HD DVD players are out, or with some HD tuners. Hard to tell... it's like taking a walk in quicksand, trying to figure out what to buy today that will still work wtih what's coming out in a year. Some consumers I know, when I explain what's going on, get pretty angry to think that their two year old top of the line Toshiba TV doesn't interface properly with a lot of these new players to get the best picture.

~Jon

**CJ Paul** · 13 January 2005, 13:41 Thursday

I just ordered one of these and I will be using it on a digital display. I'll have to report back on any macroblocking issues, but I dont really know what it is, so someone will have to give a me a 30,000 foot overview and maybe recomend some scenes to test.

**JonMarsh** · 06 February 2005, 13:30 Sunday

The firmware update is out, which I've installed in mine; requires two CDs to be burned, but it's pretty easy. It can be downloaded from the Oppodigital site, and there is a link to it from extremephono.

Now, if you have display set to NTSC instead of auto, it will remember DVI resolution settings after being powered down. This is helpful if you're only wanting to use one resolution, such as I do with 1080i, on the DVI output. Once you punch through the options by hitting the DVI button while paused, the resolution is diplayed briefly with on screen text, and the setting will remain after powering down, including apparently removing AC power (I tested it both ways, with the same results).

Also, the display mode setup now has a mode for 4:3 window boxed in a widescreen display, which facilitates playing back TV shows which were only produced in 4:3 format on DVD (becuase of the source OAR), such as Millennium.

DVD A is reportedly enabled with the firmware update, but I haven't had time to check that out yet- have a busy weekend handling some domestic chores. Probably next weekend, if I'm lucky...

~Jon

**DrJRapp** · 06 February 2005, 15:18 Sunday

Just need to add my $.02. Ive had my Oppo for about a month now and it's still my favorite player (even over my Denon 2900). The software upgrade makes it even better!

**CJ Paul** · 06 February 2005, 15:49 Sunday

I've had mine for a couple weeks. With the original bug list, I was going to send it back, but now that they've already put out one firmware upgrade, I'm confident that they'll fix any remaining items as well.

**JonMarsh** · 07 February 2005, 13:20 Monday

Jerry, I'm probably in your camp as to the degree I'm overall pleased with this player; it's replacing an HTPC and a Zentih DVB318. With it's adjustability and quality of picture on DVI out, plus an overall responsive transport mechanicsm (using the Mediatek decoder/controller) I've been very pleased with the performance, especially at the modest price point. I watch a lot of TV based DVD and mixed mode material, and this stuff is handled very well on the DVI output. Additionally, it has pretty decent DAC's on the interlaced component ouptut, if one wanted to use an external scaler.

I use mine with a DVI to RGBHV converter at 1080i into my NEC 9PG+ projector (all analog!

and I'm very happy with the results to date. I've just been a bit stingy about what I've been willing to pay, and have been looking for something comparable or better to the hardware 1080i output from DVD on my MyHD card. The DCDi performance with video source material is what sells me on this, that and the DVI otuput, crush free (either white or black), blacker than black, etc.

**Al Garay** · 07 February 2005, 13:56 Monday

How's the audio quality while watching DVDs? I'm ready to order the Oppo and see if it sounds better than my NAD.

Do you recommend AVIA (about $35) or the newer VE disc (about $18)?

thanks,

Al

**JonMarsh** · 07 February 2005, 17:23 Monday

Hey Al,

I've used the direct analog outs a couple of times, but wasn't paying much attention- it was just ATOC, and it sounded OK; I was paying more attention to the picture. It does have a full DD decoder built in with basic setup options, and as I mentioned I'll be trying out some DVD-A disks this next weekend. On SPDIF DD output, into my Sony ED9ES, it seems to sound fine, but I haven't done any critical listening- to busy with speaker stuff. I set it up for PCM down mix once, and ran it into the Benchmark DAC- that sounded just fine, of course, but what does that mean?

I suppose I could compare it against some of the other players I have, but I don't want to watch them, in comparison.

I think the rationale behind the Oppo is the high quality DVI output- but it looks like the overal balance is surprsingly good, considering the price. But, i'm not expecting miracles- all I usually hope for in this range is above average video, and OK SPDIF pass through, which shouldn't be too hard.

Are you more concerned about the SPDIF out, or the quality of the internal decoder? If so, I'll see If I can't setup for that sometime soon and give you some feedback.

~Jon

**Al Garay** · 07 February 2005, 18:51 Monday

Hi Jon,

I went ahead and ordered one directly from Oppo Digital through their Amazon store. It includes 31 day guarantee and I asked them this morning and they replied quickly that all the new units do have the firmware burned in and that my unit is being FedEx'ed today. That's impressive customer support.

I'm interested in the analog stereo outputs that I would plug into my pre-amp to hear the soundtrack through my 2-channel stereo. I bought some cheaper Toshiba, Panasonic and Pioneer DVD players. All of them had good to very good PQ but their audio quality when watching movies was poor in comparison to my NAD. I wish I could use the digital output for the audio ... which I guess would be a HDMI but my Toshiba CRT has DVI and I don't have a HT processor (yet).

thanks,

Al

**Shane Martin** · 15 April 2005, 10:13 Friday

Secrets just gave it a 94. 2nd highest behind the $3,500 Denon 5910. This was with the latest firmware that was just released.

**CJ Paul** · 15 April 2005, 10:25 Friday

Hey Shane!

**JonMarsh** · 15 April 2005, 13:44 Friday

Originally posted by Shane Martin

Secrets just gave it a 94. 2nd highest behind the $3,500 Denon 5910. This was with the latest firmware that was just released.

Way cool... when I bought mine, I didn't really know how well it would be supported as regards firmware development, but in general, the guys at Extremephone (where I got it) pick some pretty good stuff, and seem to pick companies that will stand behind the products, so to speak.

I only have the first firmware upgrade; I've been so busy at work I've hardly had time to think abou the new one, or to watch any movies...

That will change in time, I hope.

~Jon

**Al Garay** · 17 April 2005, 22:17 Sunday

You can get support and latest firmware downloads directly from OppoDigital,

OPPO Digital - Ultra HD Blu-ray Disc Players

http://www.oppodigital.com/opdv971h_support.html

Based in the heart of Silicon Valley, OPPO Digital designs and markets high quality digital electronics that deliver style, performance, innovation, and value to A/V enthusiasts and savvy consumers alike. The company's attention to core product performance and strong customer focus distinguishes it from traditional consumer-electronics brands.

I'm extremely pleased with the picture quality. And now have two locals (awm and mac) interested in trying it out.

Thanks for the good tip Jon,

Al

**Brandon B** · 28 April 2005, 00:33 Thursday

Turns out this will serve me in plakce of my Bravo just fine and give me region free playback to boot.

My D1 has become a consistent pain to use. Was thinking of going SDI + scaler, but for 1/8 the price, nope, too good an oppo-tunity to pass up. har.

BB

**JonMarsh** · 28 April 2005, 06:23 Thursday

Especially for the money, and with the latest firmware, I don't see how you can go wrong. Sheeesh, my DVI-D to RGBHV converter cost more than the DVD player!

~Jon

**David Meek** · 28 April 2005, 08:11 Thursday

Ouch! Somebody call the pun police, quick! :B

**maseline_98** · 02 May 2005, 16:21 Monday

Will this player do 1080i if I have a DVI to HDMI cable? My HD set only has HDMI. no DVI

**maseline_98** · 03 May 2005, 09:22 Tuesday

My HDTV only has a HDMI input(no DVI). Does anybody product/link that I can get an DVI-D to HDMI adapter/cable without losing quality?

**JonMarsh** · 03 May 2005, 09:32 Tuesday

Google is your friend- if you use a DVI to HDMI adapter you should be fine. The cables are physically different; DVI is just all the video part of HDMI, but with HCDP copy protection also. However, HDMI works fine as a reciever of DVI with an adapter cable. The other way around often isn't the case, though.

~Jon

**Al Garay** · 05 May 2005, 19:03 Thursday

Thanks to mac, here is a site with realistic prices for DVI to HDMI cables.
http://www.monoprice.com/products/su...d=10231&style=

Mac and Andy came by last weekend and were impressed at the picture quality with Oppo connected with the standard DVI cable to my Toshiba 34" CRT. Both have recently bought new Pioneer Plasma and Hitachi UltraVision DLPs and were not getting the color and sharpness as I had with the $199 dollar Oppo and relatively inexpensive CRT.

What most impresses me is the service from Oppodigital. During the weekend, I accidentally bumped the tray as it was opening with a center channel speaker, Adire LCR... heavy... big. The speaker did not give. The tray did, throwing it out of alignment. I could not get the tray to load again. It was jammed. I called Oppo, explained what happened and it was clearly my mistake. I shipped it to them on Tuesday. They sent me an e-mail today (Thursday) that they fixed the tray and applied the latest firmware upgrade and are FedEx'ing back to me. I should have it by this weekend. Less than a week turnaround. And they didn't have to fix it since it was clearly my error.

That shows me that Oppo is very serious about establishing a high-excellence for customer service.

I thank JonMarsh again for giving us this tip. Now, if you can give me an equally good tip on HT preamp-processor or HT receiver that works awesome as preamp to match the Hypex UcD400 amps that I will build... I'm thinking Pioneer Elite VSX-56txi or Arcam AVR300 but I wish there was a good Oppo like alternative.

Al

**Brandon B** · 06 May 2005, 01:30 Friday

Mine shows up tomorrow. My stinking out-of-town-on-business friend has my Avia disk, though, so I don't know if I can comment meaningfully for a while.

BB

**JonMarsh** · 16 May 2005, 21:54 Monday

I'm really enjoying my Oppo, and I'm looking forward to seeing HD-DVD or Blu Ray, hopefully sometime this year or early next.

But sometimes I get so irritated at what seems like the glacial progress our industry is making, due not to technology, but due to economics and the politics behind it.

We could actually have rather good HD on current red laser DVDs- I sure wish a Superbit DVD looked anywhere near as sharp as stuff like the Serenity movie tralier in WMV-720P at a measely 8 MBits per second- it's not even maxed out for what standard DVD drives can do...

Well, hopefully the real thing will impress me even more...

~Jon

**Brandon B** · 23 May 2005, 21:23 Monday

Well mine spat out some smoke on my last useage this weekend. To The vendor I bought it froms' credit, they replied to my Saturday email within a couple of hours with an RMA. Shipped back today, should have a replacement within a week.

Good people to do business with.

BB

**JonMarsh** · 23 May 2005, 22:27 Monday

Hope you get yours back soon, Brandon. They don't work very well once the magic smoke is let out of some of the components. Probably power supply...

My latest guilty pleasure is the 2nd season of Millenium on DVD (another Chris Carter production); it's widescreen, and the video transfer is very good- lots of dark torture test stuff, but the player handles it well. Nice music and sound track on this show, too.

~Jon

**Brandon B** · 15 June 2005, 10:36 Wednesday

Well, their response was good. 5 business days from me shipping out the smoky box to receiving the replacement. They ran the new one on the bench for a few hours to make sure I didn't get "burned" twice.

Now I am not sure I love this thing though. Watched ROTJ and there was a lot of artifacting that wasn't there with my Bravo, I think the much discussed "shimmering" on vertical lines (although for me it was most noticeable on the circular window mullions in the emporer's chamber on the death star).

Have to tweak this thing a bit and see if it gets better. If not, I may have to sell it and try putting a new DVD loader into the Bravo and see if it becomes usable again. Too bad, because I really like everything else about this deck.

BB

**JonMarsh** · 15 June 2005, 11:10 Wednesday

Yeah, if they get the new firmware to turn that one mode in the Faroudja chip "off" that's responsible for that, this will be a pretty tough unit to beat for $200 or a lot more. I haven't really been able to come up with a better alternative- the thing is, I watch a LOT of video source material with poor edits, and this unit handles them fine. Most non Faroudja chipset DVD players don't. I had one of the original prototype Neuno's to evaluate before they shipped, and it didn't work well with video material at all- there were some other issues besides that, too.

Maybe we're just expecting too much for $200? To be so tantalizingly close...

Interesting new DivX compatible DVI DVD player

Interesting new DivX compatible DVI DVD player

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