Oppo Digital goes universal (and HDCD) for $150.00

AsSiMiLaTeD

Any other thoughts form anyone who owns this player? Anyone using the SACD capability, would like to know how that works.

PolkThug

zombie boy 2000 wrote:

It's just that when using the components, the picture becomes a mess and starts rolling like the V-hold is out of control. Components are hooked up correctly to the back of the television, as I just replaced one DVD player with another.

What TV do you have? Can the TV accept a progressive signal? What resolution is the Oppo outputting?

zombie boy 2000

PolkThug wrote:

What TV do you have? Can the TV accept a progressive signal? What resolution is the Oppo outputting?

My television isn't HD, but it does have component inputs. My previous DVD player was hooked up this way with no problems. As for the resolution, do you change this by pressing the HDMI button as Polkatese suggested?

Early B.

Got my 970 a couple of days ago and hooked it up. Nice picture. It's using the default settings at this point. Lots of nice features on it (although I probably won't use any of them). My Oppo is for DVD video only via HDMI to a Sony 50" LCD and a coaxial digital cable to the receiver.

I'm using the stock HDMI cable. Any value in upgrading? (I'm not a videophile, so upgrading cables would have to make a significant difference in order for me to seriously consider it.)

Danny Tse

Polkmaniac wrote:

Any other thoughts form anyone who owns this player? Anyone using the SACD capability, would like to know how that works.

Check out this review, which has the following quote in its evaluation of the Oppo playing a Patricia Barber SACD....

Comparing the analogue outputs of the Oppo to the analogue outputs of the Denon DVD-5900 reference player we heard no discernable difference when listening via the Status Acoustics Decimos.

Schris22

I just bought one for my dad's 60 RPTV, it's pretty old CRT proj. and doesn't have any high res inputs except comp. but I might as well buy this for the price point anyway. I just hope he'll upgrade in the future.


Chris

polkatese

Has anyone try to make a copy of a commerical (CSS-encoded) DVD, and check out the upconvert quality over the component hookup? I am curious on the subject, and thinking of doing it just for fun, if no one has done it. Thanks.

brijenjas

Polkmaniac wrote:

Any other thoughts form anyone who owns this player? Anyone using the SACD capability, would like to know how that works.

I received Pink Floyd's DSOTM SACD yesterday and put it in the OPPO.
I have the OPPPO hooked straight to my amp right now(receiver was sent back to HK for replacement).

While the 5.1 channel sound was excellent to my ears, there is a gap/pause between tracks in SACD "mode, where there are none when using the CD track.

I cannot skip forward or back tracks while in SACD mode.

Also the on screen display does not display the song names for each track, just the generic track1. track2, etc.


Sound was also very good in CD mode.

Edit: I checked the OPPO 970 thread over at avsforum, and the gaps and nameless tracks problems in SACD mode appear to affect all 970's.

trees

Agree re good DVD-A and SACD sound and re bugs you noted.

Another bug, and OPPO's service folks said the engineers would try to fix this in the next update, is that the HDCD indicator is on the monitor, not the player's LCD. Some HDCD-recorded CDs are not labeled as such and it would be nice to see when you are running HDCD without having to turn on the TV.

Trees

polkatese

New firmware is out:

http://www.oppodigital.com/dv970hd/dv970hd-firmware-3a-0916.html#ISO

and hack to output uncovert over component:

http://rapidshare.de/files/29049631/613AMOD.iso.html

Let me know what you think of the hack's result/output. I'll do the same.

polkatese

UPDATE: Hack works! noticeable on test DVD: Blade Runner's Director Cut. Details improved.

Early B.

THANKS!!

I will load the firmware and post my results here.

univera

Can anyone shed light on whether or not I have to use HDMI for SACD playback or multi-channel audio? And, if I can get full function HD video via component inputs? I also want to make sure I can use my AVR's upgraded chips instead of the Oppo's. I don't have HDMI capability on my AVR and want to make sure that won't be a problem before purchasing.

brijenjas

univera wrote:

Can anyone shed light on whether or not I have to use HDMI for SACD playback or multi-channel audio? And, if I can get full function HD video via component inputs? I also want to make sure I can use my AVR's upgraded chips instead of the Oppo's. I don't have HDMI capability on my AVR and want to make sure that won't be a problem before purchasing.

I'm not quite sure what you mean about the SACD DVD-a playback, the unit has 6 channel analog output for SACD.

"Q: Why is there no audio output from the coaxial or optical digital audio port when I play DVD-Audio or SACD discs?
A: The copyright protection feature of the DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD (SACD) disc format prohibits unprotected digital audio output. Since the coaxial or optical digital audio output has no copy-protection ability (i.e. pure audio stream without encryption and authentication), audio from DVD-Audio or SACD cannot be output via these interfaces. To enjoy high resolution digital audio from DVD-Audio or SACD discs, please use the 5.1-channel analogue audio output. If your A/V receiver supports HDMI 1.1 (or above) digital audio, you may also use the HDMI port, which has the required copyright protection mechanism (HDCP)."



For full upconversion on component connections you will need to use the hack for any copy protected media, otherwise video output is limited to 480p .

polkatese

Univera, you do need to have a pre/pro that can handle full HDMI multi-channel. Btw, there are only a hand-full upper line pre/pro and AVR that can handle HDMI multichannels, such as Denon 59XX and Lexicon 12HD pre/pro. I don't know if I am answering your question.

univera

Thanks. I'm not sure if you are answering my question. I essentially want to know if I could output the digital signal to my AVR which has a better D/A processor. I'm still not sure if I can bypass the onboard processing of the Oppo for SACD playback in either two channel or multi-channel. Are you saying I need an AVR with HDMI in order to play multi-channel material such as SACD?

polkatese

you can pass through Digital Multichannels PCM from your Oppo to use your Receiver/Pre/Pro using HDMI, as long as you have HDMI version 1.1 and above. I haven't tried this, since I don't have pre/pro that can. Otherwise, you can use the Analog 5.1 connection (RCA) between Oppo and your receiver.

polkatese

one more data point on the component upconvert hack:

I popped in "Friends" season 6 first disc. In general, "Friends" transfer quality is ok at best, so it is easy to notice improvement. Well, the details improved, color saturations albeit a tad better, still crappy (bad transfer is bad transfer). But that's beside the point, the hack WORKS!!

Early, how was your hack install going?

Danny Tse

univera wrote:

I'm still not sure if I can bypass the onboard processing of the Oppo for SACD playback in either two channel or multi-channel. Are you saying I need an AVR with HDMI in order to play multi-channel material such as SACD?

You can use one of the $250 Panasonic receivers with HDMI 1.1 input....the HDMI audio (DVD-A and SACD) would then be amplified using the Panny's digital amps.