Highest Ranked DVD Player, Takes Another Step UP!

Oppo Digital's DV-971HD has been ranked as the number one player available, by professional reviewers, and magazines, upon buying one, I must agree, it no doubt is the best overall. BUT it had a serious handicap it was a 1080i player in a 1080p world and even worse it is DVI based and all players being released as well as HDTV's are HDMI based.

Now with the Oppo DV-981HD we do not have that situation. To better explain the HDMI used with new sets allows one single DIGITAL connection, no excess wires for audio or video, all in one. And higher quality due to it being a pure digital connection, not a conversion to digital from an analog source.

One can go with the basic settings but to truly have the best picture, there is an array of choices, OPPO uses DCDi technology and is one of the few players that allow you to interact with DCDi, being able to control, true life and color suppression, to highly fine tune your picture. All major options such as brightness, sharpness, color, hue, zoom, are here. More option for the perfectionist than about any other current player.

WHAT IT DOES: Takes your traditional DVD, and raises the resolution to tyhe Highest HDTV level. It is not a Blu-Ray or HD DVD player, BUT it takes a standard DVD and makes it look close to that level. Sometimes better. Works best on newer released DVDs. Works with any HDTV, does not have to be a 1080p unit, does very well on 720p and 1080i.

VIDEO: What you get here is stunning, rich and vivid pictures, you can adjust between 480p, 720p, 1080i and 1080p. Fine tune this to suit your taste with " CONTROLS THAT ACTUALLY SHOW A VISIBLE DIFFERENCE ". High Clairity, NO Chromo errors and passes BELOW BLACK PLUGE, this is a fancy way of saying you can see the details in a black object, such as a jacket, and see them well. A REAL PLUS!
DCDi which is a video filter/ enhancement technolody adds to the crystal clear picture, and can also be adjusted.

TESTED: Star Wars III, Matrix Revolutions, and unit will play PAL " European standard " and here I have used several Ocean Videos, on Coral Reefs, to check for high details. All are wonderful and high resolution on TVs listed below. The UNIT does well on LCD, plasma, and DLP even at 1080p DVDs which are made for 480i resolutions, beef up to handle the higher details. However some old VHS to DVD movies, would not improve much. This is true of all upconverting players.

REMOTE: Easy to use and easy to use the interface as well as locate buttons. Attractive as well in silver/ black. Remote is solid and offers complete set of functions.

UNIT: So far all this model has been in black, with previous units in silver. I like silver, BUT am very satisfied with the black unit.

VALUE: High and has a HIGH resale value compared to other DVD players, if one follows auctions, these players sell very well used. And as well as being popular they are well constructed units.

SETUP: Basic setup is within a couple of minutes, with a HDMI TV. I did not have to use the manual to figure out the player, BUT the manual is EASY to use if needed. It is also complete and not simple.

DESIGN: Clack with bright blue LCD makes it stand out, but there is a DIM mode if that light bothers you. It feels solid and has a quality look to the unit.


AUDIO / SOUND: Oppo has not let down on the sound you will get, just to have a perfect picture. Ths sound is amazing and impressive. Setup is easy, and varied for those who want to use a reciever.

Player offers many sound options, such as living room, hall, concert, rock, classic and more. Unit has a graphic equalizer that one can bring up with a button. In this respect it is like a reciever. One can fine tune audio to whatever sound they prefer.

Unit was tested with both a Yamaha receiver and the basic TV speakers. Both offered great clarity. Use can vary depending on just how loud you can play your system, it does great on high output, but if you live in a appt. It will perform just fine'

NEGATIVE: If it can be called a minus, the unit does not have component out. But this is nade for HDMI, and being such it is hard to consider that as a minus, there are other OPPO units, that component outs are available, BUT NONE that will UPconvert via component. If you need an UPconverting DVD player via a component connection, your best bet is looking at a Chinese imports, no Major brand does this because of copyright laws.


PROBLEMS: I have noticed some electrical interference with other components when the unit is running. This is unusal and was also true of the previous unit. Can cause static on the TV if you are using another DVD and this unit is close. EASY to avoid and correct, but seems typical of both this and the earlier DV-971HD. The quality of this unit, and what it offers for the price, it is simple to avoid, makes me not mention this as a con. And I can only say what has occured with my own setups. Most people do not run several DVD/ VCR units into one TV, and because I am always comparing and testing, this problem showed up. Again, I call this the BEST DVD player in it's class to date, and the best DVD player with 1080p resolution.

WHAT WOULD IMPROVE THE PLAYER? Gamma correction, is the one adjustment option left out that would help improve the
visuals. Still the picture is beautiful.


SPECS:

Disc Types:

DVD-Video, DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), DivX®, XviD, Audio CD, HDCD, Kodak Picture CD
Official DivX® Certified product, certified to the Home Theater Profile
Plays all versions of DivX® video (including DivX® 6) with standard playback of DivX® media files with encoded video resolution up to 720x480 30fps and 720x576 25fps
CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW, DVD-R/RW, DVD+R DL (Compatibility with user-encoded contents or user-created discs is on a best effort basis with no guarantee due to the variation of media, software and techniques used.)


Output:

Analog Audio: Stereo, 5.1ch
Digital Audio: Coaxial, Optical, HDMI
Analog Video: Composite, S-Video (Y/C) - standard-definition output only
Digital Video: HDMI with HDCP (NTSC 480p/720p/1080i/1080p, PAL 576p/720p/1080i/1080p)
No Component Video Output. The DV-981HD is designed for use with a display device with HDMI or DVI digital video input.


Video Characteristics:

HDMI: HDMI Specifications 1.1, CEA-861-B
S-Video Amplitude: Y: 1.0Vp-p (75 Ohm), C: 0.286Vp-p (75 Ohm)
Composite Video Amplitude: 1.0Vp-p (75 Ohm)


Audio Characteristics (Nominal specification):

Frequency: 20Hz – 20kHz (+/-1dB)
Signal-to-Noise Ratio: >100dB
Total Harmonic Distortion: < 0.01%


General Specification:

Power Supply: ~ 100V – 240V, 50/60Hz AC
Power Consumption: 20W
Dimensions: 420mm x 270mm x 41mm, 16-1/2 x 10-5/8 x 1-5/8 inches
Mass: 2.4kg / 5.20 lbs (DVD player unit only)


FINAL: WHILE MAYBE NOT THE BEST PLAYER ON EVERY SINGLE DVD, IT IS THE BEST OVERALL 1080p DVD PLAYER OUT THERE. BEST VALUE, CAN BE UPDATED WITH FIRMWARE, AND OPPO DOES SUPPORT THIS. I HAVE OTHER OPPO PLAYERS AND HAVE UPDATED SEVERAL TIMES. EASY TO DO. FOR MORE INFO VISIT OPPODIGITAL.COM. IN MY OPINION IF I HAD JUST ONE PLAYER, IT WOULD BE THIS ONE.

THOUGHTS: Do not let the fact this is not a popular brand name name player fool you. Oppo is a huge electronics company, and you will be very sorry buying some name brand over this, for that reason. Few even come close to this player's abilities.

CONNECTION TO TV USED: HDMI Sony Brand of HDMI Version 1.3. This is the latest and best form of HDMI cables.


Below is a list of players I have used to compare this player with, and have now or have owned.
Panasonic DVD-S97S - HDMI
Panasonic DVD-S77S - HDMI
Denon DVD-955S - DVI & HDMI
Denon DVD-755S - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD931 - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD841 - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD850 - HDMI
Samsung DVD-HD950 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-4990 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-5960 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-5970 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-5980 - HDMI
Samsung DVD-HD941 - HDMI
Toshiba SD-V592 DVD-VCR Combo - HDMI
Denon DVD-2910 - DVI & HDMI
Denon DVD-3910 - DVI & HDMI
LG LGDVB418 - HDMI
LG DN191H - HDMI
Oppo Digital DV-971 - DVI
Samsung DVD-HD960 - HDMI
Denon DVD-1930 - HDMI

This player was tested on the following TV sets:


Mitsubishi 73" DLP 1080p
Hitachi 60" LCD
SONY 50" LCD
Panasonic Plasma 42" HDTV " plasma will only do 768p
resolution and works fine here!
Panasonic CRT HDTV Widescreen 30" tube