89 replies to this topic

[Dortamur]

larry, on Aug 13 2008, 03:55 PM, said:

i found dortamurs comments about how the xbox running xbmc at 720p gave him the best pic of his options
so i suppose if one doesn't have a oppo 983, then the xbox/xbmc/720p option isn't too bad ?

Actually, I've been using the 360 over HDMI to play back DVDs since I did those tests.  

While the Xbox/XBMC/720p was clearer in the Star Wars test, I think the 360/HDMI gives a crisper clearer picture for most DVDs - which it should, since it's scaling from the source material directly to 1080p, whereas the Xbox scales to 720p, then your TV still has to scale from there to 1080p.

Originally the 360 failed the Star Wars for me test due to a lot of added noise to the starfield of the scrolling text. I haven't gone back and tested it since, to try and figure out what was causing the noise...

The Xbox/XBMC still plays back the widest variety of digital video files (DivX, etc), but is showing its age - especially when it hits real Hi def files. The 360 now handles a decent range of file formats, but is still missing some key ones, such as MKV. Apparently most MKVs can be repackaged as MP4, so I might see if I can configure my media server to transcode repackage without doing a full video format transcode...

[momaw]

larry, on Aug 13 2008, 03:55 PM, said:

it seems a bit strange that a $1500-3000 amp doesn't include as good a video scaling as the oppo 982, but i suppose the amp manufacturers make things to a budget, and somethings get compromised....

I know I'd rather them put the money into better dacs, amps etc than scaling.  But then again I bought a Marantz which doesn't upscale at all.  My old Yamaha 2700b upscaled and my sister (who now owns it) does make use of it's upscaling abilities for her wii, but lets her XE1 do the job for DVD's.

[Adelaideltpc]

Kazz, on Aug 11 2008, 09:23 PM, said:

Sorry, due to an emergency last night I only just had the chance to compare the Oppo and the 640c.

Mo is 100% correct about this, I love my Oppo but for CD playback there is just no comparison between the Oppo and the 640c.

Thanks Kazz, momaw for the replies.  Looks like the 540/640 is back on the "Wanted" list. :-)

[momaw]

Adelaideltpc, on Aug 14 2008, 12:42 PM, said:

Thanks Kazz, momaw for the replies.  Looks like the 540/640 is back on the "Wanted" list. :-)

Merlin, who ships for ridiculously low rates, has the 640c on special at $750.  If I could find the money I would be tempted to upgrade.

[Dean Murphy]

Ordered a DV-983h from Oppo U.S. today and is on its way. Should have it by next week. Looking forward to it.

[Adelaideltpc]

momaw, on Aug 14 2008, 12:19 PM, said:

Merlin, who ships for ridiculously low rates, has the 640c on special at $750.  If I could find the money I would be tempted to upgrade.

Is it worth upgrading to a 640 from a 540?  I've heard the 540 is pretty good.
BTW, I can get a 640 for $690 from a local store.  Let me know if u want one. (*Disclaimer* - This is not a GB and absolutely there's no incentive for me! - j/k) :-)

[momaw]

Adelaideltpc, on Aug 15 2008, 12:20 PM, said:

Is it worth upgrading to a 640 from a 540?  I've heard the 540 is pretty good.
BTW, I can get a 640 for $690 from a local store.  Let me know if u want one. (*Disclaimer* - This is not a GB and absolutely there's no incentive for me! - j/k) :-)

I'll be hearing a 640 this weekend.....but I can't afford it.  Thanks though.

[Kev]

Are Oppo 983's ordered directly from the USA locked to region 1?  I had planned to get one from Merlin Audio but their website says they no longer carry that model.  They still have the 981.  Is there a huge difference between the 981 and the 983?

[collinhack]

You can easily get the unlock codes.  In fact, if you email Oppo they will tell you where on the internet you can find the unlock code, but they cannot tell you directly due to some pointless law :-)

And yes, the Oppo is so much better at upscaling than my Yamaha 3800 receiver that Stevie Wonder could tell the difference.

[momaw]

Kev, on Aug 15 2008, 09:06 PM, said:

Are Oppo 983's ordered directly from the USA locked to region 1?  I had planned to get one from Merlin Audio but their website says they no longer carry that model.  They still have the 981.  Is there a huge difference between the 981 and the 983?

Having owned both, yes.  But milage may vary with different setups (mine is in my sig for comparitive purposes).

As to region locked, you don't have to scour the web.  Just look here:

http://www.dtvforum....&...t&p=1133538

[Moonraker]

Glen1, on Jul 8 2008, 11:11 PM, said:

As the title asks who's got one, what have you got and what do you think?

I have a 983 and it's fantastic. I can't imagine a blue ray disk being that much better.

[ritzav]

I have the Oppo 983H and yes it upscales nicely to 1080p but I also have the pana BD30 player and that sends 1080p as is from a blu-ray disks. I have to admit that the Blu-ray 1080p pic from BD30 is better than Oppo... With my limited knowledge I just think that Blu-ray, among offering some other features, seems to add that CRT style depth to a picture, some how it is more 3-dimensional. That is the best way i can describe it really.

I really don't want to start a comparision discussion here and get into trouble.

I have both and am Very Happy with both the Oppo 983H & Pana BD30
ritesh

[Kazz]

ritzav, on Aug 19 2008, 06:08 PM, said:

I have the Oppo 983H and yes it upscales nicely to 1080p but I also have the pana BD30 player and that sends 1080p as is from a blu-ray disks. I have to admit that the Blu-ray 1080p pic from BD30 is better than Oppo... With my limited knowledge I just think that Blu-ray, among offering some other features, seems to add that CRT style depth to a picture, some how it is more 3-dimensional. That is the best way i can describe it really.

I really don't want to start a comparision discussion here and get into trouble.

I have both and am Very Happy with both the Oppo 983H & Pana BD30
ritesh

That's because the disc is encoded with a 1080p transfer and so is outputting at it's native res of 1080p.

The Oppo however, as good as it is, is sending an upscaled picture from a disc encoded at 576 for pal and 480 for NTSC, it can make the picture look better but it can't add information that isn't there, which is why Blu-ray will always look better.

Edit: update to DVD resolutions.

Edited by Kazz, 19 August 2008 - 07:22 PM.

[ritzav]

Kazz, on Aug 19 2008, 06:38 PM, said:

That's because the disc is encoded with a 1080p transfer and so is outputting at it's native res of 1080p.

The Oppo however, as good as it is, is sending an upscaled picture from a disc encoded at 576i, it can make the picture look better but it can't add information that isn't there, which is why Blu-ray will always look better.

That explains it. Thanks Kazz.

I am fan of both 983H & BD30, just can't belive that we can pick them for around $500. Recalling paying just about that for a 6-head hifi VCR not too long ago. Wonder how with the inflation, petrol, bananas, etc... this HT gear keeps getting better but chaeper. Going a bit OT here... so Sorry for that. HT's economy baffles all other consumer economic therories somehow. I guess, part of the answer is China but they are now producing some excellent stuff at great prices for us to enjoy.

more later - cheers
ritesh

[50MXE20]

Cross reference: Eoi - Oppo Dv983 For Sale

[Chill]

Thought I would post my experience and thoughts so far with the OPPO 983H

Two weeks ago while surfing the net I came across
DVDpedia 4.3, http://www.bruji.com/dvdpedia/
this was just the DVD catalogue program I was looking for and it also syncs to my iPhone.  So set about entering in all my collection, very easy by the way. Job well done, but then I started to think of all those 842 DVD’s I have, how I now almost exclusively purchase Blu Rays, how I was missing out perhaps on making the most of my collection. That night, late, while surfing this forum I read Momaws review on the Oppo 983, so I them searched the web for other reviews 4 hours later I clicked a few buttons on the OPPO site, flashed the card and my new DVD player was on its way.

5 days latter oppo arrives at work and I set off home to see if it was a good idea!

First impressions:

Well packaged, not apple quality but  love the cloth bag.
Unit is attractive, better in the flesh in my view, well made and with quality connectors’, looks and feels every bit of $469 worth.
Comes with high quality HDMI lead around 2m long, would seem a $60+ extra value right there.

Great manual, well written nicely laid out and in real English !

Hook up easy as, just HDMI and power. The included power lead is US but any standard computer type lead fits.

Turn on, set up takes only a few min as the manual makes sense and so do most of the set up menus. A few strange terms like “raw” for audio but other wise very easy.

Mini Review:
1.Let the player bed in from new, I was a bit disappointed in the picture for the first 20min, but then it all started to get better and better.
2.After the above I can say this is a cracking player, I did some comparisons with my Sony S1e (blu ray) and my Denon 1920 and the Oppos is much better, but perhaps not in the ways I was expecting. The Sony for instance is actually not to bad a DVD spinner as long as the DVD has correct flags, where the Oppo kills it is in color and natural film like appearance not just detail. As for the Denon, not even playing the same sport. I have had good long looks at most of the better players and the Oppo would beat them all IMO.
3.One issue, no mosquito noise reduction.
4.Sound on the DVD played so far I would rate the best standard Dolby and DTS I have heard in my system.

So to sum up very happy all round with this spur of the moment decision.

I will report back in more detail after I have spent some quality time but right now I just want to watch a DVD



Came region free out of the box, with latest firmware


PS: big thanks momaw for you initial review

[momaw]

It's enough to make you wanna buy DVD's ain't it

Lucky for me my taste runs to alot of stuff that won't see blu-ray for many years so the oppo is a very very good investment.  Also good for the odd DVD-A (bought 2 more this week).

It's funny, you have to be careful when talking about this player because as you said, just a 20 min view will have you going "I don't see what all the fuss is about".  It's when you sit down and let it play that you start to see new details and better definition and if you then try your old player, well, you wonder who you didn't see how much better the oppo was from the first minute.  Oh and as you said, it does a great job extracting the audio from the discs.

the audio is interesting, we just accept that some DVD players extract audio better than others (even though it passed digitally to an AVR for decoding), but when it comes to blu-ray, that seems to be a subject best avoided.

[Chill]

momaw, on Aug 25 2008, 06:12 PM, said:

It's enough to make you wanna buy DVD's ain't it

Lucky for me my taste runs to alot of stuff that won't see blu-ray for many years so the oppo is a very very good investment.  Also good for the odd DVD-A (bought 2 more this week).

It's funny, you have to be careful when talking about this player because as you said, just a 20 min view will have you going "I don't see what all the fuss is about".  It's when you sit down and let it play that you start to see new details and better definition and if you then try your old player, well, you wonder who you didn't see how much better the oppo was from the first minute.  Oh and as you said, it does a great job extracting the audio from the discs.

the audio is interesting, we just accept that some DVD players extract audio better than others (even though it passed digitally to an AVR for decoding), but when it comes to blu-ray, that seems to be a subject best avoided.

Yep I will now be back on the DVD wagon, still get Blu Ray when I can but the anguish of a small BD catalogue is now gone   .

The biggest problem with this player is I get out test DVD's just to check one bit and end up watching the whole movie enthralled, and that is the proof in the pudding, that is what we strive for in this hobby, same effect when you get a new audio component that really clicks. I saw over at AVS one guy noted how many OPPO fans are also analogue audio fans  

I have not entered into that HD audio discussion much, floors me that people still believe this digital is digital stuff, or that it "just"  1's and 0's, just because some measurements say it is the same, perhaps we are just measuring the wrong thing !  


any way thank a heap for your posts, one of the best purchases I have made, recommend to anyone 100%

[charger44]

they are good

[slugger]

I just ordered the DV983H this afternoon. I need the upscaling.

[sulrich]

Hi,

I had foolishly gone along the last few years thinking that a dvd player was a dvd player, made no difference, blah blah blah, its all in the display etc.

Sheesh was I wrong.

I have been satisfied (not completely happy, or impressed I have to say) with my 40"M81 Samsung LCD.  
Shoving the R1 superbit version of Starship Troopers in it, and well, I was taken aback.  The Oppo 983H really did give a close rendering of what the cinematic experience was.  I watched this and at times I thought I was watching it on another display.  I also had to stop and remind myself that this player was dealing with a 480 line source, and upscaling it to 1080i (I tried 1080p though wasn't happy with the results - this is the fault of the Samsung display not handling 1080p properly I think, not the player).  Outstanding rendering of the source material, which really complements a HD display.    

The audio.  Well here I go again.  A dvd player is a dvd player etc.  Wrong.  I have noticed more detail in the sound field watching this film than I had before. Punchy, dynamic, all those words you want to hear in describing a soundtrack.  Outstanding again.

The player seems solidly built, nicely packaged, delivered form the US in NO TIME.

At the end of the day, this player lived up to expectations, I have confidence in the player, and has slowly started to get me to forgive the little things that I am not happy with on the Samsung M81 display  (any if anyone has had experience in getting the firmware upgraded, please PM me or let us know how you went).

Cheers

Steve

[sol381]

when importing an oppo form the states do you need a stepdown transformer to run them of just change the power chord

Edited by sol381, 31 August 2008 - 07:50 AM.

[sulrich]

sol381, on Aug 31 2008, 06:54 AM, said:

whne importing an oppo form the states do you need a stepdown transformer to rum them of just change the power chord

Hi,

Nope - you just need a standard PC power cord. Plugs in the back.

Cheers

Steve

[SLE355]

What was the total cost getting it from the US?

Edited by SLE355, 31 August 2008 - 08:42 AM.

[Chill]

SLE355, on Aug 31 2008, 08:41 AM, said:

What was the total cost getting it from the US?

I got mine for $469, but will depend on exchange rate

just go to

http://www.oppodigital.com/


fantastic service