Holy Carp! $199 DVD player beats them all except the 5910

PolkThug · August 2005

Oppo Digital - OPDV971H

Excellent DVI out and works with HDTV's that aren't HDCP compliant also.

**Also comes with a DVI or DVI-HDMI cable when you buy new.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all&type=&manufacturer=0&maxprice=0&deInt=0&mpeg=0

Toxis · August 2005

a buddy of mine was telling me about this player. Looks VERY impressive. Just to bad it doesn't do SACD (does do DVDa though). I've heard it hangs with a 3910. IMPRESSIVE!

Emlyn · August 2005

Hmmm, only outputs video above 480i via its DVI board. Won't do progressive scan video over component video cables. Seems like a product still in the design phases, although the video performance seems good for what it does do. Oppo may be products to keep an eye on for the future.

Roy Munson · August 2005

This looks impressive..does anyone know where it can be purchased?

billbillw · August 2005

Roy Munson wrote:

This looks impressive..does anyone know where it can be purchased?

From their website only. www.oppodigital.com

kibro2 · August 2005

Roy Munson wrote:

This looks impressive..does anyone know where it can be purchased?

Amazon sells em too. Same price as Oppo Digital's but with free shipping I think.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00078GLJY/qid=1124084400/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0888943-0931344?v=glance&s=electronics&n=507846

Nice DVD player, good review and from what I read, good cs too.

jrausch · August 2005

I have had mine for 2 weeks now so I guess I will post my findings on the product.

Positives:
To start with, this player has the best picture I have ever seen on any DVD player, simply amazing**(you must have DVI/HDMI on your TV for this to work)**. Once you play back movies you know have bad distortions, you will have a hard time finding them.

The real life motion software adds a nice 3D touch to your movies without over accentuating the process i.e. Philips has the same process built into some of their TV's, but it's over enhancement causes too much motion blur.

The remotes response to menu selection is fast and smooth and the built in 8MB buffer also makes for seamless layer changes without any noticeable stopping.

The units software tweaks are extensive allowing you to adjust picture quality with sharpness, color, brightness and contrast. Sound setup allows the user to setup speaker configurations, timing and volume levels and a lip-sync adjustment of 10-50ms.

Negatives:

This is probably the worst thing about the player that the reviewer does not talk about and that is the audio alignment ( this only applies if you are using the digital audio out into a receiver or pre-pro). Even though it has a lip-sync feature is does not align the sound with the picture. It seems I have to adjust the sound for every movie from 30-50ms and even if you think it looks right the pitch gets thrown off and you still do not get a clean sync throughout the movie. This is the worst case of alignment I have ever seen on any DVD player.

The remote control is not well laid out and is next to impossible to use during a dark showing because there is no backlighting at all.

Neutrals:
Build quality is about what you would expect from a sub $200 player. The tray consists of a thin piece of clear molded plastic thats flimsy, so keep the kids away from this one. The tray well is not very deep, so make sure your discs are seated properly before you hit the eject button or jams and scratches will occur.

Conclusion:
If you love old Japanese movies and you want the absolute best picture quality at rock bottom prices. I have to say the picture quality alone is worth the asking price. :cool:

-Jer

Emlyn · August 2005

Great information, Jerry. Thanks for sharing.

PolkThug · August 2005

Good info, Secrets only tests video. I think I will buy the next iteration of this one.

Toxis · August 2005

but I don't like that it doesn't go progressive via Component... otherwise I'd give it a shot (when the audio gets fixed of course).

Roy Munson · August 2005

Thanks Jerry, I might just give this a try after I thing about it a little more.

BIZILL · August 2005

yes, i've had mine for about a week now via amazon.com. free shipping. adequate packaging. anyway, i already had a nice progressive scan dvd player hooked through components. not bad. but one could NEVER compare it to anything near high def pic quality. i was gonna go the samsung hd-931 over a year ago, but waited. good thing i did. got the oppo and coulnd't be happier. first, get the negative out of the way. no illumination on the remote. second, when you play an audio disc, there is no on screen display showing the track #. but the mp3 playing is nice. haven't tried dvd-audio yet, but can't wait.
now for the picture quality!............watching I, Robot i found myself thinking i was watching a near hdtv broadcast via my hughes e86 directv high def box. nothing compares to hd besides real life, but man, oh man, this baby comes close! dull colors from my old progressive scan samsung were all washed out. this puppy makes dem colors look the way there were meant to be presented in. one can use the speaker set-up menu to accomplish sound management, but i save that to use on my h/k 7300.
dvd region free just as they say, but you must access their secret icon menu. mine is set to 0 (region free) but i have only region one discs. maybe i'll make use of that in the future. all in all, i love this dvd player. glad i waited for oppo as "oppo"sed to going with the samsung up-converters!

BIZILL · August 2005

btw.....i haven't messed around with my avia dvd yet. picture is already so excellent. i just pop dvd's in and relax and enjoy. the blue lighting to it matches all my other components as well. looky good! one more big negative though......if you turn the unit off during the middle of a movie and continue watching it later, you'll have to start from the beginning.........can't have everything.

AsSiMiLaTeD · August 2005

so did you not find the same audio delay issues as jrausch?

BIZILL · August 2005

once i did. but i honestly believe it was due to me moving my satellite receiver around which sits directly atop the oppo. i was watching a movie and decided to put a piece of cardboard in between the sat receiver and the oppo to keep the heat coming from the sat off of the oppo. i was bumpin' shizz around. i just hit the stop button and then hit play and it was all sync'ed up again. must've been from bumping it for sure!

BIZILL · August 2005

one more note........i go into the h/k 7300 via coaxial and not the optical.

AsSiMiLaTeD · August 2005

ah, that may make a difference as well. I'd also be going via coaxial as I prefer it over optical just a bit...

BIZILL · August 2005

polkmaniac, you gonna get this player? i say go for it! i can't wait any longer for hddvd or blu-ray. this makes me smile until hd becomes available. and as with all new technologies.......the first batch of player and their medium will be very highly priced!!!!!!! poor saps who have huge libraries of dvds. just as people had to rebuild their collection from vhs to dvd, the same will apply. some will be content with the now mainstream dvd. many will wish to upgrade. i will build my library when hd-dvd comes down in price.

michael_w · August 2005

BIZILL wrote:

polkmaniac, you gonna get this player? i say go for it! i can't wait any longer for hddvd or blu-ray. this makes me smile until hd becomes available. and as with all new technologies.......the first batch of player and their medium will be very highly priced!!!!!!! poor saps who have huge libraries of dvds. just as people had to rebuild their collection from vhs to dvd, the same will apply. some will be content with the now mainstream dvd. many will wish to upgrade. i will build my library when hd-dvd comes down in price.

When you build a collection you have to know that eventually it will be replaced. The hard part is to keep up with technology but not get caught up in a fad that is really short lived like those massive laser discs.

BIZILL · August 2005

i'm sure that when hd dvd finally agrees upon one format (hddvd vs sony blu ray) that that should remain the standard for quite some time. high def vhs has been around for awhile. but who wants the unreliability of magnetic tape? optical disk with its direct seek capabilities has proven to be the standard. (cd's and dvd's) all we are doing is just refining the good 'ole optical disc. next big leap i'd imagine would be some holographic 3-d shizz. we are already immersed in three dimensional sound. how'z 'bout being enveloped in 3-dimensional visual content!!!

begbie · October 2005

Anyone else have this player yet? It's making the news waves.

http://www.courant.com/technology/hc-hunt1021oct21col,0,6658286.column?coll=hc-utility-technology

punk-roc · October 2005

I own one of these players and I did have some trouble at first in that i needed to update the firmware and remote in order for it to funciton properly. Initially i was a little frustrated but the service department at Oppo is amazing, responding to emails i sent late on a Sunday evening. The service department went out of their way to make sure my dvd player and remote were working properly.

If you are looking for a DVD player on a budget, you wont be disappointed with this player. Being able to play just about any disc and format you throw at it is a nice touch too. Nearly made my HTPC absolete =P

Jason

snakebitten · November 2005

this may sound dumb but... how do you hook the oppo up? Would I run the dvi into my tv-hitachi 46f and the optical or coaxial to the yamaha 2500 for sound? I am a little confused.

BIZILL · November 2005

snakebitten wrote:

this may sound dumb but... how do you hook the oppo up? Would I run the dvi into my tv-hitachi 46f and the optical or coaxial to the yamaha 2500 for sound? I am a little confused.

yes.

dpowell · November 2005

Anyone know how the audio quality compares to higher-end players like the Denon 2900 and 3800 series; specifically in direct mode? For $200, it almost seems to good to be true, especially for those that spent good amounts of money on "higher-end" players.

BIZILL · November 2005

dunno, haven't heard any "higher-end" players. "higher-end" being synonymous with "more expensive".

goingganzo · November 2005

i might have to get one befor they are made ilegal.

snakebitten · November 2005

Any updates on how this dvd player works? Any problems?

BIZILL · November 2005

had mine about 3-4 months now and am happy with it. every now in a great while i'll have a lip synch prob. just hit stop and play again and it's gone. mp3 playing is done on-screen via your television. regular cd playing utilizes no television interface, bummer. all in all a great little dvd player. would not think twice or hesitate getting it.

punk-roc · November 2005

i've had mine about 2 months now i think, about a month since i got all the update/remote kinks worked out. Seems to work fine, i've never noticed any lip synch problems, but i only watch movies on it maybe once every 2 weeks or so. Looks great with my Plasma TV and sounds fine on my HT. I recommend it...

Jason

Josh-S · November 2005

well, they do keep updating the firmware. thats a good sign :rolleyes: I've had mine for 4 months and its really nice. Not great however, since the remote is trash, and the design isnt the nicest... and it comes abit too satuated out of the box. other then that its a good bargin but not the best...

Holy Carp! $199 DVD player beats them all except the 5910

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