Oppos nes offering DV-983H

[EM3]

DV-983H is the new flagship model in OPPO's line of award-winning up-converting DVD players. Featuring Anchor Bay's leading video processing technologies, 7.1-channel audio, and 1080p HDMI up-conversion, the DV-983H Universal DVD Player delivers the breath-taking audio and video performance needed to make standard DVDs look their best on today's large screen, high resolution displays.

The DV-983H provides a rich array of features for serious home theater enthusiasts. By applying source-adaptive, motion-adaptive, and edge-adaptive techniques, the DV-983H produces an outstanding image for any DVD, whether it's mastered from an original theatrical release film or from a TV series. Aspect ratio conversion and multi-level zooming enable users to take full control of the viewing experience – maintain the original aspect ratio, stretch to full screen, or crop the unsightly black borders. Special stretch modes make it possible to utilize the full resolution of ultra high-end projectors with anamorphic lens. For users with an international taste, the frame rate conversion feature converts PAL movies for NTSC output without any loss of resolution or tearing. Custom home theater installers will find the DV-983H easy to integrate into whole-house control systems, thanks to its RS-232 and IR IN/OUT control ports.

To complete the home theatre experience, the DV-983H produces stunning sound quality. Its 7.1 channel audio with Dolby Digital Surround EX decoding offers more depth, spacious ambience, and sound localization. Additionally, the player supports DTS Digital Surround, Dolby Digital, and Dolby Pro-Logic II to accommodate any sound track found on a DVD. Music lovers will enjoy the precise rendering of CD, Super Audio CD and DVD-Audio. The DV-983H incorporates high resolution 192kHz, 24-bit audio D/A converters, isolated power supply circuitry, and quality passive components to deliver clear treble, deep bass, and a broad dynamic range.


OPPO DV-983H 1080p Up-Converting Universal DVD Player with VRS by Anchor Bay Video Processing and 7.1CH Audio

[umainebearman]

Hell for $340 I could almost get a BR player.

[plissken99]

Indeed, that price makes it a hard sell these days. I'm very interested to see it compared to the Tosiba XA2 however.

[chlngr1970]

Originally Posted by umainebearman

Hell for $340 I could almost get a BR player.

Yeah, but will it's upconversion be worth a damn? It seems that in order to get HD and great SD performance, you need two machines. Too bad...

j

[Ruined]

I think I am going to buy one. The performance looks better than the XA2, and Blu-ray players for the most part have shit upconversion.

But I will wait til it drops $100-$150 first.

[Astrakan]

Quick question: Historically, are all Oppos region free? Meaning, is it reasonable to assume the DV-983H will be region free?

Originally Posted by Ruined

But I will wait til it drops $100-$150 first.

Any idea on how long this will take? Are Oppo known for dropping their prices quickly or slowly? Or are they comparable to other companies?

Thanks.

KM

[Ruined]

Hmm might be best to wait on this unit. I've seen several reports of video dropouts on AVS.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by Ruined

Hmm might be best to wait on this unit. I've seen several reports of video dropouts on AVS.

Blah! Okay, good to know, thanks.

KM

[viperdream26]

Yes, all the OPPO's can be made region-free by the use of a 4-digit "secret code" typed into it's setup menu. It's fast & extremely easy to do.

Look up the instructions in the DVD Hacks section of VideoHelp dot com.

Also worth mentioning, is that the OPPO's do an excellent job of PAL to NTSC, or NTSC to PAL conversion...which means a very smooth picture when playing back discs from overseas or PAL formatted d/l's.

Take Care,

-DB.

[Astrakan]

Thanks viperdream.

I checked out AVS and basically four people's compained of dropouts so far. Three of those had faulty cables, and the fourth guy refused to apply the latest firmware. So...

I ordered one of these puppies yesterday. The place I ordered from (onlybestrated.com - a local Oppo e-tailer with a local pickup "shipping" option) have it on backorder but will get a new shipment on the 15th. Once I have it I'll report back. I'm thinking I'll borrow a movie I already own from a buddy so I can do an A-B comparison.

KM

[EM3]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

Thanks viperdream.

I checked out AVS and basically four people's compained of dropouts so far. Three of those had faulty cables, and the fourth guy refused to apply the latest firmware. So...

I ordered one of these puppies yesterday. The place I ordered from (onlybestrated.com - a local Oppo e-tailer with a local pickup "shipping" option) have it on backorder but will get a new shipment on the 15th. Once I have it I'll report back. I'm thinking I'll borrow a movie I already own from a buddy so I can do an A-B comparison.

KM

Can't wait to hear the review. Keep us informed please. I may pick this player up since I am pretty sure I am going to skip the Blu Ray.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by EM3

Can't wait to hear the review. Keep us informed please. I may pick this player up since I am pretty sure I am going to skip the Blu Ray.

Well... after having had this player for a little while, you can colour me unimpressed with the upconversion aspects of it.

A couple of comments upfront:

- This is my first experience with upconverters
- I've only been able to do an A/B comparison with one title
- I have a 1080p projector and a 120" screen

Okay... so, yeah, the player is nice. It produces a nice image. But noticeably better than a non-upconverter? Not to my eyes. And that may be part of the "problem" - I'm one of those people who can't tell the difference when Ruined and others post screenshots illustrating quality differences (like this thread) so maybe the benefits of upconverting are too minute for my untrained eye to pick them up.

Question: Does upconverting work noticeably better on better source material? Meaning, if the source material is good already, is the percentual increase in quality higher than if the source material was bad.

The reason I'm asking is that I've mostly viewed some older stuff which perhaps has less than stellar transfers to begin with. I'm talking about things like V the TV series and the old snapper case release of Young Guns II.

The one newer release I've tried is Eastern Promises and I did an A/B comparison with two copies of the disc. One disc playing in the Oppo and the other playing in my 360's DVD drive with the resolution set to 480p.

I kept switching between the two and I gotta say that again I was underwhelmed. I think I noticed some improvements on the Oppo version - but the differences were tiny (like in one scene the patterns on a chair seems moderately more sharp)...

It should be noted that his is not a critique of the Oppo. It's a fine player. I just didn't really notice any major benefits from the upconversion. I don't regret the purchase, as I needed an HDMI region free player anyway.

Comments?

KM

[Wirehed]

I notice a pretty huge difference using upconversion on both my Denon 3910 and XA2. As far as I can tell, the XA2 is slightly better. (though the sound (via analog out) is far better on the 3910.

A bad source is a bad source...so maybe that's not the best place to look. Try a comparison with a known good quality transfer.


I'm looking at the Oppo to replace my Malata 520 for multi-region playback, which does not upconvert and is not HDMI.

[Pirate]

As some of you know, I have not had good experiences with Oppo; everything from that annoying HDMI image border issue (which occurred with the 971H and 980H models) to quirky subtitle issues. But, I am looking at this player since the current crop of BD players suck at upcon. Hopefully Oppo has cleared some of these issues up.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by Pirate

that annoying HDMI image border issue... to quirky subtitle issues... Hopefully Oppo has cleared some of these issues up.

Let me know some specifics and I can check on my player. It's connected via HDMI, I've got plenty of R2 discs, some R4 and R3 too.

KM

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

Let me know some specifics and I can check on my player. It's connected via HDMI, I've got plenty of R2 discs, some R4 and R3 too.

KM

Subtitle Issue:

Originally Posted by From my Oppo thread

One of the reasons people buy Oppo is for the region-free play. Given that, you’d think they would check to make sure the player could handle subtitles.

I put in my Region 2 copy of Pan’s Labyrinth and noticed that only part of the subtitles were being displayed. For example, instead of displaying "What is this place?" it would only display "What is."

I, again, called Oppo and the tech said that I should change the subtitle font to make them smaller. That didn’t work, so I called again. This time they informed me that because of some chip in the player that regulates the "external subtitle display area," some subtitles would be either garbled or display incorrectly. And, of course, there is no fix for this.

HDMI Border:
Around DVI and HDMI images there is a 10 pixel border. Now, you may not notice this if your HDTV has overscan. My projector has very little OT, so this was a problem for me. Oppo knows about the issue and currently has no fix for the older models.

[Sehnzeleid]

I'm toying with the idea of replacing my Denon 2910 with either this flagship model or the 980H...but I wonder if it's even worth it at 720p...?

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Sehnzeleid

I'm toying with the idea of replacing my Denon 2910 with either this flagship model or the 980H...but I wonder if it's even worth it at 720p...?

I've decided to wait and eventually make my next A/V purchase a piece of certified display ass-kickin'.

[Wirehed]

Black?

[Sehnzeleid]

Damn straight.

[Sehnzeleid]

I'm throwing around the idea of buying the 980 instead of the 983, being around $200 cheaper. I'm unsure how much the 980's shortcomings will really show over spending a pretty considerable amount more for the 983. I'll have to decide rather soon though.

Though I fear as we move more and more towards HD in one form or another, DVD player performance will decline more and more with this trend. This happened with LaserDisc and DVD, around '95 LD players hit their performance pinnacle and by the time DVD came around in '97 LD/LD & DVD combo players were "average" performers at best. So maybe the 983 isn't such a bad idea.

Also the 983 might be back in-stock sometime this week, so I'll be on the lookout.

[Pirate]

Full review of the 983H:

Oppo DV-983H Flagship Universal DVD Player Review — Audioholics Home Theater Reviews and News

I usually like Clint DeBoer's reviews, but I'm skeptical about his BD vs. DVD conclusions.

What we did find interesting was to host a quick comparison of the Oppo DV-983H against the same title, only in Blu-ray format. A lot of people don't understand the fascination with Blu-ray and its increased resolution. There's a good reason for this: it's often hard to appreciate a significant difference when you sit back and have a good DVD player at your disposal. We snapped several pictures to illustrate Blu-ray vs. DVD expecting to show a vast difference. In all honesty, there WAS a difference, but the camera (much like our eye) rendered the results extremely similar from 11 feet away.

Blu-ray:


DVD:

[Astrakan]

Pirate, I didn't notice your earlier reply to this thread until now. I'm in the midst of painting my HT room so all the gear is unavailable to me right now, when I finish painting it I'll do those tests.

KM

[Sehnzeleid]

Originally Posted by Pirate

I usually like Clint DeBoer's reviews, but I'm skeptical about his BD vs. DVD conclusions.

After spending a lot of time with the 980H, I will say it does an extremely good job with presenting DVD material.

Recently I caught Once Upon a Time in the West in 1080i OAR on CinemaxHD and I was surprised the difference was almost non-existent from the 576p PAL DVD I've watched numerous times.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

Pirate, I didn't notice your earlier reply to this thread until now. I'm in the midst of painting my HT room so all the gear is unavailable to me right now, when I finish painting it I'll do those tests.

Hey, when you check that other stuff, would you check and see if you can turn off onscreen displays?

Thanks.

[Astrakan]

Originally Posted by Pirate

Hey, when you check that other stuff, would you check and see if you can turn off onscreen displays?

Thanks.

Will do. I got a gig in the midst of re-painting to I'm still only half done. I hope to finish by the end of this week though.

KM

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by Astrakan

- I have a 1080p projector and a 120" screen

Perhaps your projector was "leveling the field". If the projector was converting ALL video it received to 1080p, maybe it was masking things (through its conversion) that you might have noticed. You mentioned above you had the 360 set to output 480p. In this case, I think you were comparing the video upconversion of the Oppo vs your projector.

When you did your A/B testing, which resolution did you have your Oppo set to output?

Peace...