slightly disappointed with Oppo 971

[sirbogey]

My Oppo 971 crossed the Atlantic last weekend, so I hooked it up through the provided DVI/HDMI directly to the Panny 900U pj, both set to 720p. I got to admit, the picture seems to be marginally better than my Rotel DVD1060 (through component), but it didn't blow me away :B :M :twisted:

To start with, it won't read PAL discs; I get the "wrong region" message. I guess the firmware needs an update... So, I tested it only with my NTSC DVDs last night.

Already the first 30 secs of the "Pitch Black" DVD, where the spaceship crosses the screen, put me off. You can clearly see a stutter as if the spaceship was moving, pausing, moving, pausing etc.. Extremely annoying -> basically unwatchable! :rofl:

I know that many of you use the Oppo 971 / Panny 900U combination, so my question is, what settings should I be considering?

I noticed a much better picture when I upgraded projectors, but unfortunately not such a big difference between the two players, and keep in mind I'm not even running the Rotel in progressive mode. I tested 2 or 3 DVDs, but the picture wasn't really much better....

[Brandon B]

it won't read PAL discs; I get the "wrong region" message. I guess the firmware needs an update... So, I tested it only with my NTSC DVDs last night.

Mine came region free but Google tells me:

It might be multi region out of the box, depending on the firmware however if not then you can try this hack:

Press Setup on remote control to access the setup page

* Enter 9210 on the remote
* A hidden menu will display
* Select 0 to 6 in region code. 0 is multi region
* Press Setup on remote again to exit

BB

[sirbogey]

yeap, I found it out in the meantime as well.

am slightly more concerned with the pic quality. will do a firmware upgrade before I ask any more qs...

there seems to be a 240 page long "Oppo Brain Dump" on the avsforum! little bit too much reading :twisted:

[fordster]

Check out http://www.avforums.com/forums/showt...po+multiregion as this provides an FAQ and a list of known bugs (and which firmware updates fix them if any) and gripes.

[Andrew M Ward]

yeap, I found it out in the meantime as well.

am slightly more concerned with the pic quality. will do a firmware upgrade before I ask any more qs...

there seems to be a 240 page long "Oppo Brain Dump" on the avsforum! little bit too much reading :twisted:

I wouldn't worry about the picture too much, I would worry about the MTBF
both of mine worked for about a month... I wish I was kidding

[peterS]

mtbf?

[SteveCallas]

Lol, I went through two Oppos in about 3 weeks - that was it for me. But I seem to be in the vast minority for quality issues with the Oppo.

[peterS]

Lol, I went through two Oppos in about 3 weeks - that was it for me. But I seem to be in the vast minority for quality issues with the Oppo.

cant have it all....

[whoaru99]

mtbf?

Mean Time Between Failure

[sirbogey]

Mean Time Between Failure

MTBF: that's a good one!

well, the firmware upgrade will have to wait till this weekend! I've read so much good stuff about the Oppo that I thought it was a no brainer.

But honestly now, the built quality is really on the light side and the remote is trash! what were they thinking... :E

[riceaterslc]

But honestly now, the built quality is really on the light side and the remote is trash! what were they thinking... :E

whatdon't you like about the remote? i think they were thinkin lets build something for 200 bucks that will pretty much blow anything else away in its price range...

sorry to hear about your troubles though, that would bug me too. i honestly thought the picture was worse running 720 than 480, but i am also using a H31 and sit wayyy to close to the screen and have constant SDE

[Brandon B]

My first one made a pretty smoke and light show in front of my projector the second time I used it. And the second one I got smelled a litle too much like that same smoke for me to believe it was a new unit so I returned it. Bought my friend's off him and it's been fine for 6months.

I also loaded in the UPO-killing firmware, and can now merrily skip through FBI warnings and forced previews at will.

BB

[JonMarsh]

I bought one from the first batch that came over here, around December last year, an through the several firmware upgrades, it's worked fine. OTOH, only running NTSC into a DVI to RGBHV converter (not adapter), and into a CRT projector, and running 1080i in upscaling, which I find superior to 720P. Color and pop are just a skosh off from the Zenith DVB318, but I don't have a component adapter in the signal chain, the Oppo is more detailed, and has good automatic side boxing for 4:3 material; it's been a work in progress, but very good value for $200, especially for video sourced material (think TV shows). The Pal thing may be throwing a mondey wrench into the works; you complaint sounds like judder due to framing conversion issues.


Alas, after watching Thomas's Toshiba HD-A1 a little before I sent it to him last April, and seeing it again last month at his place, I'm going to have to pick one of the Gen1 Toshiba's up before they're all gone...

Oh, and these don't do a shabby job with 2 channel DVD Audio, either- I'll keep mine in the system just for that, for now, to supplement my SACD players.

~Jon

[Brandon B]

Costco has them at the online store for what I think is a decent price.

BB

[Chris D]

Wow, HD-DVD for $400? Nice.