Is the Oppo really that good?

[Trapps]

I'm new to posting here, but I've been lurking a fair bit here and on some other sites (ones with politics, egos and clique type bs). I just upgraded my pre/pro from an RSP980 to an RSP1066. I need a DVD player in another room now and plan to move my very old Sony. This leaves a hole in my system:

Pre/Pro - Rotel RSP1066
Amp 1 - Rotel RB980BX (L,R)
Amp 2 - Rotel RB970BX (C)
Amp 3 - Rotel RB970BX (surround)
DVD/CD - Sony DVP-NS400
Tuner - Adcom GFT555 II
Monitor/TV - Samsung SP-P4251
L,R - Mission 734
C - Mission 73C
Surrounds - Mission 731LE
Sub - B&W ASW600
Speaker wire - CableTalk Talk3
Interconnects - mostly G-Snakes
Remote - Harmony 550

I am very happy with the Samsung. My question is, given the current system, would the Oppo 981 be a compliment? If not, what other DVD players in the sub $400 catagory should I consider?

TIA for any comments!

Mark

[peterS]

since your plasma is 480p
consider the denon 19xx series too i had one and found the colors to be very good relative to other cheap players on a sony tube

i currently have the oppo 970 and like it- but use it for sacd/dvd-a not so much video

[Azeke]

Welcome Trapps to HT Guide :welcome:

I would consider the Oppo 981 the best bang for the buck in the sub $400.00 category, especially since it has 1080p upconversion and a multi-region hack. The only other DVD players to consider are HD, but that would put you in another economic category. I don't think you would be disappointed with this purchase, but you probably have to order it directly from Oppo, due to availablity.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[Hdale85]

You can get the HD-A1 for 300 bucks a lot of places... so I wouldn't say HD is out of his price range. I've even seen the BD-1000 for around 300 bucks.

[sirbogey]

I owned the oppo 971 for 3 weeks and sold it on. The difference between my RDV1060 and the Oppo were basically not worth mentioning. In my opinion, not worth the money; you get what you pay for... my 0.02 cents

[peterS]

I owned the oppo 971 for 3 weeks and sold it on. The difference between my RDV1060 and the Oppo were basically not worth mentioning. In my opinion, not worth the money; you get what you pay for... my 0.02 cents

a lot of people would disagree with this

[yourtoys7]

I did have 971 and now 981, love it. For the money I think this the best available... or at least for me :>

[spyboy]

Dougie and Sirbogie have this exactly right.

[cobbpa]

I don't think I follow. I don't put blind faith into all publications, but when multiple magazines & reliable online testing sources tout the Oppo's performance, isn't it more unlikely that the player is the weak link in any of the systems where one isn't pleased with the performance? I'm just surprised at the negative feedback here.

[shades]

I have the 981 and love it. No complaints here. For an up converting DVD, this thing is awesome. The Oppo will do the duties of all my standard def movies i own which is about 300 movies. When i purchase the PS3 that will do all the BDP watching. You just can't go wrong with the Oppo. Compare for yourself with some other brands that cost 7times as much ans you won't see a difference.

[sirbogey]

a lot of people would disagree with this

That might be well the case, but I did A/B them for 3 weeks and had it projected onto 100"+ screen through a 720p projector. I did that with both US and European DVDs.. My RDV1060 is hooked up with decent component cables, 15 meters, in standard mode (not even progressive) and matched the 971H in picture quality; could have been slightly inferior when projecting texts...
I had the 971H imported from the States because I read so much about it. It sas hooked up with a 3 meter DVI/HDMI cable to the 720p pj. The build quality is scary, I could crash it with my thumb if I wanted to. :B
In my opinion, if you got a decent player, the Oppo is not worth the hasle. Get a HD player instead.. :

[wolfgang]

That is about right. The Oppo is probably one of the better SD player you could get for now. You could pay more say 3x of the 971 and you'll get the same toy with better looking metal box. If you pay 10-20x the price of any of the Oppo players you will still get the same toy but obviously even more impressive looking with much thicker metal box and hopefully even a huge and impressively heavy transformer built in.

[shades]

When i a/b'ed there was hardly a difference. My dealer was very impressed when i showed him. I agree with the build quality especially the door, but again for $200 price tag this thing is awesome. Now with all the hoopla with HD/BRD, this will do just fine until you decide on a format to choose. Some of these so called high end players just do not impress for the prices their asking. Only HD and BRD players actually impress me with quality that i can see right away without putting in the same disc and tring to pick the differences between the two.

Don't let us sway you these are just our opinions. Take a look for yourself.

Just my 2 cents.

[sirbogey]

Think about the cables as well. A decent 15m cable will put you back at least couple hundred bucks. In my case, I didn't feel like adding another HDMI cable...

[wolfgang]

Think about the cables as well. A decent 15m cable will put you back at least couple hundred bucks. In my case, I didn't feel like adding another HDMI cable...

Are you still into those cable voodoo stuff? When you finally got around to shop for some real cables like for hdmi application, you might find some interesting facts awaiting you.

[sirbogey]

cable voodoo? have no clue what you are refering to?! in a good or bad way? I don't wanna upgrade to HD yet, so didn't even research the HDMI subject yet. expensive?

[peterS]

That might be well the case, but I did A/B them for 3 weeks and had it projected onto 100"+ screen through a 720p projector. I did that with both US and European DVDs.. My RDV1060 is hooked up with decent component cables, 15 meters, in standard mode (not even progressive) and matched the 971H in picture quality; could have been slightly inferior when projecting texts...
I had the 971H imported from the States because I read so much about it. It sas hooked up with a 3 meter DVI/HDMI cable to the 720p pj. The build quality is scary, I could crash it with my thumb if I wanted to. :B
In my opinion, if you got a decent player, the Oppo is not worth the hasle. Get a HD player instead.. :

just realized you probably have a different frame rate than the us- i have heard they are not so hot with 540/50 stuff

build quality is on par with anything at that price range here, maybe the exchange rate is skewing things for you

[comeup]

I'm considering an Oppo 981 for the bedroom my Sony won't play half the dvds I put into it any more. I don't think I would use the Oppo in a high end system because of the audio of the player. From what I hear it has top notch picture quality. For two hundred and fifty bucs your not going to get audio & video IMHO. There is something to high end dvd players other than picture quality don't get me wrong I think the Oppo is a hell of a deal for what it does especially for a plasma on the wall, but in a high end system I don't think so. That old saying your system is only as good as the weakiest link the audio performance in the Oppo. My two cents.

[cobbpa]

I don't think I would use the Oppo in a high end system because of the audio of the player.

My understanding is, and correct me if this is wrong, that when using a digital output such as HDMI, that there is no influence in the sound until it hits the receiver or processor. I.e., if the player & cable do their respective jobs, the raw signal is passed on the same no matter what the source or internal components. I'm saying this only concerning digital outs; I understand analog is different and maybe that's what you're speaking to.

[comeup]

Cobbpa,

From what my ears hear I don't think thats completly true I have a Denon 3910 dvd player that sounds really good using the digital coax out, but before the Denon I had a Pioneer DV59AI that sounded much more hifi than the Denon loved the way that pioneer sounded I noticed it right out of the box I don't think it was my imagination or maybe it was sound is a funny thing. All I know is I hated to return it because it sounded so good. The reason I returned it it was having blurred red in some of the video content so I settled with the Denon. I really had a hard time retuning that player based on sound only. I know when your using the digital out on a dvd player your using the audio dacs in the receiver and when using the RCA outs your using the dacs in the dvd player, but I believe its more to it than that I'm going on what my ears tell me. I don't know exactly how it works maybe someone else hear could explain it. Please don't take this the wrong way not downing Oppo at all actually I don't think you could do better for the money :T

[june]

Dts?

Hello All,

Does this player decode DTS? I'm only getting this for DTS dvd's from Hong Kong. There's a major difference in the sound from Hong Kong dvds to our NTSC dvds. Also more DTS titles.

[peterS]

Hello All,

Does this player decode DTS? I'm only getting this for DTS dvd's from Hong Kong. There's a major difference in the sound from Hong Kong dvds to our NTSC dvds. Also more DTS titles.

yes.

[june]

Ordered!

Hello All,

I ordered this unit on Friday.

[JonMarsh]

Bet you'll like it. It's especially good if you're a fan of TV on DVD or Anime.

[Azeke]

Exellent June, keep up posted :T .

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[june]

????

Hello All,

Are there any 1080p/1080i DVDs execpt blu-ray & hd-dvd? Right now all of my dvds are 480p. I did an A/B with my sony NC85H & the Oppo 981. Picture wise no difference but a difference in the sound.

[Azeke]

June,

Congratulations.

If you haven't already you should be able to up-convert those 480p (720x480) DVDs to 720p, 1080i and 1080p with the included HDMI cable.

However to answer you question, I don't believe they are any other kind of 1080p DVDs, but I've been wrong before.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[june]

azeke,

there is a hdmi button on the remote. after checking several dvds, only 480p pops up.

[riceaterslc]

azeke,

there is a hdmi button on the remote. after checking several dvds, only 480p pops up.

i dont know how it work on the 981, but on the 971 you have to hit that button with NO disk in the player. a little box will be displayed in the lower right hand corner of the "Oppo" screen with the resolution setting. hope that helps.

[Azeke]

June,

This is from the Oppo FAQ:

"First, make sure playback is stopped and the OPPO logo screen is shown on the TV display. Then press the HDMI button on the remote control to show the current output resolution, and press it again to change to the next output resolution. You may repeat this procedure to cycle through all available output resolutions. The TV display may not support all resolutions. If you get a blank screen, please press the HDMI button again to try another output resolution."

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[Chris D]

Hello All,

Are there any 1080p/1080i DVDs execpt blu-ray & hd-dvd? Right now all of my dvds are 480p. I did an A/B with my sony NC85H & the Oppo 981. Picture wise no difference but a difference in the sound.

The only other HD material available is Windows Media Video High Definition (WMVHD) available on certain DVD discs and playable on computers/HTPCs, and D-VHS.

[june]

Thanks Everyone,


NOW THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN' BOUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
or should I say "Yall" talking about??

[wkhanna]

I just ordered the 970 yesterday.
I didn't go with 981 since my current display is a 36" CRT.
I will be upgrading to some sort of flat panel soon, (probably something from our local Sear sscratch & dent store), but with the 981 not supporting component-outputs, I thought I would be safer with the 970. I know the new display will not be supporting 1080p, cuz I don't have a budget for a $2K monitor.
I am very curious to compare the SACD performance to my 2 ch SQ, though.

[eddiespaghetti]

I waffled between the 970 and a Denon 2910 (955). I was literally set to press the "Buy" button for both at various times over a 2 week period. In the end, I went with the Denon (at 2x the price of the Oppo). While it is going to replace the Xbox for video, the reviews I had read gave the Denon a better audio score, and ultimately that is the role this will be filling.

[wkhanna]

Yes, I see the reasoning for your decision.

I already have an (IMHO) adequate 2 ch system for audio, and use a Rotel RSP-1066 for video processing. I was in dire need of DVDp to replace my aged and ailing old JVC SACD/DVD.

90% of my use and 99.9% of my audio library is redbook, so I wasn’t really look for, or expecting exceptional audio performance, but I would like to get some DVD-Audio discs and some SCAD discs.

Unit is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday, looking forward to getting a new toy play with!

[wkhanna]

Well, it came on Wednesday, just like they said it would.

Hook-up and programing was straight forward. The wife and I have watched 3 movies on it so far, and though I knew my old unit was low end, I am very pleased with the improved video and audio quality. My ONE SACD disc sounds immensely better on the Oppo. Guess it’s time start adding to the library.

Only gripe so far is the irritating YELLOW display. I may end up getting out the black electrical tape before too long.

[John Holmes]

Congrats to you and June on the new players!

Man, I've been trying to wait for this HD war thing to pan out. I've been delaying buying the 981 as such. I swear, all the soild impressions of these Oppo's, makes me want to just get it so my DLP FPTV will be happier. :W

[Azeke]

Indeed congratulations to both of you. If I didn't have my Pioneer Elite 59avi, I would jump on the Oppo with most haste. I have heard only a few negative comments on this player, and since I am a bang for buck kind of guy, it would certainly top my list.

Enjoy you new toy.

Peace and blessings,

Azeke

[wkhanna]

Thanks guys.

As I said previously, I still only have an old Sony 36" CRT with S-Video output, so I am not really getting the most this player has to offer. Still, my wife and I both noticed increased video and audio quality. I’m sure my Cat S-Video cables don’t hurt, either!

For ~$170 shipped to my door, I really don't think I could do better for my current needs and budget.

Now it's time to feed the coffer and begin the search for a flat panel!

[John Holmes]

Thanks guys.

As I said previously, I still only have an old Sony 36" CRT with S-Video output, so I am not really getting the most this player has to offer. Still, my wife and I both noticed increased video and audio quality. I’m sure my Cat S-Video cables don’t hurt, either!

For ~$170 shipped to my door, I really don't think I could do better for my current needs and budget.

Now it's time to feed the coffer and begin the search for a flat panel!

Isn't it funny how a new piece of gear, almost forces the purchase of another?! :lol:

[bigburner]

Isn't it funny how a new piece of gear, almost forces the purchase of another?! :lol:

Agreed. I ordered my Oppo the day after I ordered my plasma.

[hdash]

I had planned, and may still follow through with getting a 981, but I responded to a listing for an Outlaw 770 200x7 amp and talked her down to $700, then added a Denon DVD player she needed to get rid of for $200, so now I have a DVD-3910 region free.

On to some new PSB speakers and an un-released Pre/pro - Revcr....must keep AMEX hidden from wife.