All-new Oppo 983 universal player available for pre-ordering
Comments
-
That's right Mike.:) When HDTV gives me as good a picture as my 1 ton 32" Sony tv I'll think about it. Or when it dies.
In the meantime, I'm not one of the masses & refuse to pick up some 69.99 special. I have to have a player that does dvd's, sacd's & dvd-a's at a decent level. Now if I get a better picture on top of that well then that will be a bonus.
My last vcr that I still have is a 4 head stereo machine from Sony that I paid over $400.00 for at the time back in the 90's.Funny, you'd buy this $400 player, but have no intentions of purchasing an HDTV? To take full advantage of the upscaling abilities of this Oppo player is having a display that is 1080P capable, the other reason people get into BR.Marantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2 -
That's right Mike.:) When HDTV gives me as good a picture as my 1 ton 32" Sony tv I'll think about it. Or when it dies.
In the meantime, I'm not one of the masses & refuse to pick up some 69.99 special. I have to have a player that does dvd's, sacd's & dvd-a's at a decent level. Now if I get a better picture on top of that well then that will be a bonus.
A $199 981 will do that for you, you dont need to spend $400. Since PQ is not a major concern.Monitor 7b's front
Monitor 4's surround
Frankinpolk Center (2 mw6503's with peerless tweeter)
M10's back surround
Hafler-200 driving patio Daytons
Tempest-X 15" DIY sub w/ Rythmik 350A plate amp
Dayton 12" DVC w/ Rythmik 350a plate amp
Harman/Kardon AVR-635
Oppo 981hd
Denon upconvert DVD player
Jennings Research (vintage and rare)
Mit RPTV WS-55513
Tosh HD-XA1
B&K AV5000
Dont BAN me Bro!!!!:eek: -
Again, I totally disagree that there is a minimal difference between different upscaling solutions.
I agree that good upscaling player produces a better picture than regular player but still the difference is minimal when you compare it to real high definition source.
As for the content in HD, for me there is more than I have time to watch. I watch the occasional classic as well, but even they are appearing in HD now. All the new (bigger) releases seem to be coming in BD, it's only a matter of time when Universal and Paramount start producing theirs. With 135" and a pair of 61" 1080p displays, there just isn't a comparison between HD and SD. The difference in SD and upconverted SD, well, you can see it but it's not all that. The difference between upconverted SD and upconverted SD, not worth the asking price. -
Not enough bang for the buck on this one imho.
Venom -
When HDTV gives me as good a picture as my 1 ton 32" Sony tv I'll think about it. Or when it dies.
HDTV absolutely gives a better picture. I guarantee you my 1.5 ton (
) 32" Sony HD CRT will blow away your 32" SD CRT on a 1080i source and be just as good on 480p. You may not like the current tv technologies out there but there is nothing inherently wrong with HDTV as a standard. -
Cathy
Direct TV HD (and Blu Ray) transformed my Samsung DLP into a lean, mean High Def machine. What a difference. I had no idea what I was missing until now...it's like I got a new television with my satellite service!
After the dust cleared, Direct TV cost me about $29 a month more than Cox cable, BUT....I get 100 more channels, I get 36 HD channels (including locals ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX), 40 XM radio channels, AND a far better picture to boot. It's a no-brainer. I've got the "Choice Extra + HD" package, w/1 HD receiver and 4 standard receivers.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Source: Rotel CD14MkII CD Player - Speakers: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2 -
LOL! Well rest assured guys, when it comes time to replace my tv I'll be coming to you for advice. But since CRT's last practically forever, don't expect it to be anytime soon!:DMarantz AV-7705 PrePro, Classé 5 channel 200wpc Amp, Oppo 103 BluRay, Rotel RCD-1072 CDP, Sony XBR-49X800E TV, Polk S60 Main Speakers, Polk ES30 Center Channel, Polk S15 Surround Speakers SVS SB12-NSD x2
-
Now with the Toshiba firesale that has all ready started, the ABT chips can be found in the A30 and A35 which are now all most 1/3 the price of the Oppo.
-
Now with the Toshiba firesale that has all ready started, the ABT chips can be found in the A30 and A35 which are now all most 1/3 the price of the Oppo.
The A30 and A35 (and A20) have half of the equation. They use the same ABT1018 upscaling chip. They do not have the ABT102 deinterlacer. -
The A30 and A35 (and A20) have half of the equation. They use the same ABT1018 upscaling chip. They do not have the ABT102 deinterlacer.
Well whatever, deinterlacer they use, its pretty damn good. Better than any previous Oppo.Monitor 7b's front
Monitor 4's surround
Frankinpolk Center (2 mw6503's with peerless tweeter)
M10's back surround
Hafler-200 driving patio Daytons
Tempest-X 15" DIY sub w/ Rythmik 350A plate amp
Dayton 12" DVC w/ Rythmik 350a plate amp
Harman/Kardon AVR-635
Oppo 981hd
Denon upconvert DVD player
Jennings Research (vintage and rare)
Mit RPTV WS-55513
Tosh HD-XA1
B&K AV5000
Dont BAN me Bro!!!!:eek: -
Well whatever, deinterlacer they use, its pretty damn good. Better than any previous Oppo.
My A3 did such a good job, I gave up on the Oppo I had. Then I picked up a A30 because I had gotten a 1080P TV and it beat out the A3. At $129, not to shabby -
I hope the "Target Market" for this $400 DVD player doesn't forget to throw in a $125 set of Monster Cables. After all, you want to get the most out of this machine, right?
LOLDo you hear that buzzing noise?
-
In all seriousness, after some thought, let me elaborate on one more reason why this Oppo player makes no sense at all: any given player's resolution are limited to their source.
Its the same premise as CD vs. tape and SACD vs. CD. Case in point: I threw in Ocean's Thirteen DVD a couple weeks ago (rental from Big Blue and Yellow video rental store) on my Harmon/Kardan DVD25 and was amazed at how poor the picture quality was. It was borderline VHS-like, and I do not exaggerate. It was nearly unwatchable. In comparison, I have many titles (such as Superbit) that have near-HD level pictures.
Stated differently, the picture (and audio) is only as good as the transfer, and the Oppo, nor any other player, can overcome this inherent SD DVD weakness. Heck, we've even heard of (or seen) accounts that some HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies have had bad transfers, and the movies have been re-issued to correct these problems.
This brings me to an unrelated tangent: I have recently heard of a "Conspiracy Theory" in which the quality of the transfer of DVD movies are intentionally being reduced. This is to make HD (Blu-Ray) movies look much better in comparison. I'm not sure I buy into it (the theory) or not, but movie transfers like Oceans sure seem to make me think "Hmmmm".Do you hear that buzzing noise? -
Monster Jam wrote: »In all seriousness, after some thought, let me elaborate on one more reason why this Oppo player makes no sense at all: any given player's resolution are limited to their source.
Its the same premise as CD vs. tape and SACD vs. CD. Case in point: I threw in Ocean's Thirteen DVD a couple weeks ago (rental from Big Blue and Yellow video rental store) on my Harmon/Kardan DVD25 and was amazed at how poor the picture quality was. It was borderline VHS-like, and I do not exaggerate. It was nearly unwatchable. In comparison, I have many titles (such as Superbit) that have near-HD level pictures.
Stated differently, the picture (and audio) is only as good as the transfer, and the Oppo, nor any other player, can overcome this inherent SD DVD weakness. Heck, we've even heard of (or seen) accounts that some HD DVD and Blu-Ray movies have had bad transfers, and the movies have been re-issued to correct these problems.
This brings me to an unrelated tangent: I have recently heard of a "Conspiracy Theory" in which the quality of the transfer of DVD movies are intentionally being reduced. This is to make HD (Blu-Ray) movies look much better in comparison. I'm not sure I buy into it (the theory) or not, but movie transfers like Oceans sure seem to make me think "Hmmmm".
Oceans 13 is bad on HD/Blu too. Too much artistic effect, graininess, etc. -
On DVD, it was downright blurry.Do you hear that buzzing noise?
-
Is ther a pic of the rear of the 983? Also, does anyone know if the multi channel audio (sacd dvd-a) is the same or better than the 981.
-
I'm not biting.
I have an Oppo 981 that's just a little over a year old, plugged into a 1080i plasma, and I can't see where the pic quality would be significantly better, maybe incrementally, but not some quantum leap. and as far as I can tell the 981 does pretty much everything else the 983 does too.
I'd be surprised if they sell at anywhere near the rate the 981's and below sell/sold at.My equipment sig felt inadequate and deleted itself. -
You guys are still missing the point. Who do you think keeps buying all of these CD players that are on the market costing $500-$5000? Companies are constantly redesigning, improving their products, mostly for small gains in audio quality. People keep buying them even though the majority of people cannot hear the difference between a $90 Sony and a $1000 unit from any of the high end companies.
There are always those who want better!
Apparently none of you care enough about your video quality to warrant this kind of spending, but I know there are many, many people out there who would gladly spend their money on this unit. There are over 2000 posts and 185,000+ views in the 'pre-production/announcement' thread at AVSforum for this DVD player! The unit will sell. -
FWIW the HT Guys mentioned in their latest podcast that they were going to review it in the next podcast.
I gotta say though billbillw, that it isn't that we don't care enough about quality video, its that there are NO returns (forget diminishing returns) on a more expensive DVD player. The medium is limited by the source. As for it selling, I know people who have bought $80 Monster Cables (HDMI) when they could have spent less than $20 at monoprice.com. (And guess what, the cable STILL failed!!! True story)Do you hear that buzzing noise? -
Monster Jam wrote: »I gotta say though billbillw, that it isn't that we don't care enough about quality video, its that there are NO returns (forget diminishing returns) on a more expensive DVD player.
Exactly. I care about the video quality enough that to me a DVD player is almost obsolete (when BD player will play the medium). The rare SD-DVD that I watch, well I can live with a player that gives me 99% of the PQ. -
I care enough about video to have bought a 50" hd plasma before anyone else I know had a hd plasma. I just don't think that there's going to be a big enough jump between the old faroujda (sp) chipset they made such a big deal about, and the new chip set to make that much difference.
If the reviews say differently, and they say this new 400 buck player is the greatest thing since sliced bread, and the equal of a blu-ray in std, I'll retract everything I said.
Oh, and I'd buy one too.My equipment sig felt inadequate and deleted itself. -
they say this new 400 buck player is the greatest thing since sliced bread
Yes, of course, 480 is the greatest thing since sliced bread...
-
Sami, Monster, You guys have still totally missed my point.
I can firmly state that the video difference between this ABT equipped Oppo will be far more than a diminishing return. It will be a more noticable improvement than say going from regular CD to SACD. No it won't be true HD like Bluray, but it will be far better than everything out there, except for Reon/Realta equipped players (all of which are at least double the asking price of the Oppo)
Sami, you say that DVD players are obsolete because the BD players can play DVD. Well most DVD players can play CD, but they continue to sell high end stand alone CD players because they do a superior job at playback in most cases. In addition, almost every review shows that the majority of BD players do a poor job at deinterlacing and upscaling DVD (there are a handfull of exceptions). If you really care about video playback, you would want a better solution for DVD, which still accounts for 99% of the available movies/tv series out there.
Bluray discs are still pretty rare and will continue to be for many years. Before long, you are going to run out of new titles to watch and get sick of the ones you own. Then you will be back watching DVD.
This player will be a very noticable improvement over any Faroudja based upscaling DVD player. Whether its better than the Reon equipped players is to be seen in reviews, head to head comparos, etc.
DVD is no more of a limited source than CD is. Yet CD still dominates more than 10 years after SACD and DVD-A hit the scene. Why? Limited availability, high prices on the players, and consumer indifference. Much like Bluray. -
Sami, you say that DVD players are obsolete because the BD players can play DVD. Well most DVD players can play CD, but they continue to sell high end stand alone CD players because they do a superior job at playback in most cases.
Audio and video are two totally different animals and you can't really compare them.If you really care about video playback, you would want a better solution for DVD, which still accounts for 99% of the available movies/tv series out there.
If you REALLY care about video playback, you won't bother with SD-DVD. It accounts for less than 5% in our household (cartoons bring it up, PQ is not really a dealbreaker there, is it?).Bluray discs are still pretty rare and will continue to be for many years. Before long, you are going to run out of new titles to watch and get sick of the ones you own. Then you will be back watching DVD.
Still rare, yes and no. Run out of titles, no. Almost every good (or blockbuster) title released seems to be in BD or HD-DVD (as long as it's relevant) as well. I don't see it being rare for years to come, it will catch up on SD-DVD really soon and while we wait it to surpass SD-DVD we will have plenty of titles to watch. Some rare title is still going to be SD-DVD exclusive but I don't expect any of the big titles to not be released in BD.
Even if the consumer doesn't want it, studios are going to push it to them. When BD players reach $100 mark that's when the time is closing on SD-DVD. Releases pushed back a week after BD is released, some titles will be BD exclusive etc... it will happen.DVD is no more of a limited source than CD is. Yet CD still dominates more than 10 years after SACD and DVD-A hit the scene. Why? Limited availability, high prices on the players, and consumer indifference. Much like Bluray.
Music reproduction is limited by our ears, which limits are much closer to CD's resolution than eyes are to SD-DVD resolution. People also know how to use their eyes, not so with ears in many cases. Then there is the equipment issue, many people don't have the systems where they would hear a difference between SA-CD/DVD-A vs CD. With even a 720p display the difference is very obvious which is better, SD-DVD or BD. Like I said, you can't compare the audio world to the visual world. -
I'm kinda surprised at how poorly this forum is receiving this player. Clearly it is not designed or being sold to Joe Beergut with his whizzy new "HD" TV which he grabbed on blue light special at Walmart. This is geared to videophiles who want the absolute best they can get from their DVDs.
How many of us have spent obscene amounts of money on a redbook player? Do we need to spend that much on one? Of course not, but we can notice the difference and it's important to us.
Why not upgrade everything to SACD? It's kinda analogous to Blu-Ray, wouldn't you agree? Similar to the availability of SACD, I would think. How many of us have spent huge amounts of cash on TTs? It's an old technology, right?
$400 is nothing in the grand scheme of home theaters. For top of the line performance, it's chicken feed. The only question is whether or not you're the type of person that wants to have that much performance.Lovin that music year after year.
Main 2 Channel System
Polk SDA-1B,
Promitheus Audio TVC SE,
Rotel RB-980BX,
OPPO DV-970HD,
Lite Audio DAC AH,
IXOS XHA305 Interconnects
Computer Rig
Polk SDA CRS+,
Creek Audio 5350 SE,
Morrow Audio MA1 Interconnect,
HRT Music Streamer II -
Sami, I simply disagree with you on every point above.
Bluray will never catch up to DVD. I am a movie fan and I have several hundred DVDs, most of which are not available on HDDVD or Bluray, and many likely will never be.
It is quite possible that Bluray will not succeed despite winning the war with HDDVD. Sales are still miniscule compared to DVD and if the studios don't lower their media prices drastically, it will never catch on. The future of HD movies is not clear, but most experts agree that DVD is still going to dominate for at least another 5 years.
That said, I'm not going to argue anymore. The Oppo 983 will be a great product at its price point; Take it or leave it. -
I'm kinda surprised at how poorly this forum is receiving this player. Clearly it is not designed or being sold to Joe Beergut with his whizzy new "HD" TV which he grabbed on blue light special at Walmart. This is geared to videophiles who want the absolute best they can get from their DVDs.
How many of us have spent obscene amounts of money on a redbook player? Do we need to spend that much on one? Of course not, but we can notice the difference and it's important to us.
Why not upgrade everything to SACD? It's kinda analogous to Blu-Ray, wouldn't you agree? Similar to the availability of SACD, I would think. How many of us have spent huge amounts of cash on TTs? It's an old technology, right?
$400 is nothing in the grand scheme of home theaters. For top of the line performance, it's chicken feed. The only question is whether or not you're the type of person that wants to have that much performance.
Well my XA1 plays HD (now dead, but ok) and does an excellent job at upscaling SD. So all I would need is a great SACD/DVD-A player. Thats why I have a "$199" 981. Not $400. I would bet that the 983 does not do a better job @ SACD's than the 981.
I am a huge Oppo fan. Love thier products. But not a $400 SACD/DVD-A player, that is no better than a $199 player.
Anyways... we could go on and on and on and on and on and on....:pMonitor 7b's front
Monitor 4's surround
Frankinpolk Center (2 mw6503's with peerless tweeter)
M10's back surround
Hafler-200 driving patio Daytons
Tempest-X 15" DIY sub w/ Rythmik 350A plate amp
Dayton 12" DVC w/ Rythmik 350a plate amp
Harman/Kardon AVR-635
Oppo 981hd
Denon upconvert DVD player
Jennings Research (vintage and rare)
Mit RPTV WS-55513
Tosh HD-XA1
B&K AV5000
Dont BAN me Bro!!!!:eek: -
I would bet that the 983 does not do a better job @ SACD's than the 981.
Not to start a new arguement, but you'd probably loose that bet. According to everything I've read, the 980 has better audio (including SACD) playback than the 981. Rumor has it that the 983 is supposed to improve on the 980, so by that logic, it should sound better than the 981. By how much? Who knows. -
i just wonder how this unit would fare pitted against say, a toshiba xa2 or a35 for upconversion...
i'm sure it will beat out the ps3 for upconversion, by far...unless some miracle firmware comes out to better the upconversion process as a whole.
POLK SDA-SRS 1.2TL -- ADCOM GFA-5802
PANASONIC PT-AE4000U -- DIY WILSONART DW 135" 2.35:1 SCREEN
ONKYO TX-SR805
CENTER: CSI5
MAINS: RTI8'S
SURROUNDS: RTI8'S
7.1 SURROUNDS: RTI6'S
SUB: SVS PB12-PLUS/2 (12.3 series)
XBOX 360WiiPS3/blu-rayTOSHIBA HD-A35 hd dvd
http://polkarmy.com/forums/index.phpbobman1235 wrote:I have no facts to back that up, but I never let facts get in the way of my arguments. -
Bluray will never catch up to DVD.
Just like DVD never caught on VHS?
This Oppo would make sense if better format wasn't already in the market, and with readily available material (which I admit, could be a better selection but it will get there). How many videophiles don't already have a very good upscaling player? How many are into HD medium (all should be as they are videophiles)? Add 1+1 and a $400 SD-DVD player doesn't really make sense anymore. If you need a new upscaling player and have money to burn, why not.
