89 replies to this topic

[Chill]

m2m, on Oct 16 2008, 10:40 PM, said:

Hey Ritzav,

Just a quick question for you -- or anyone owning both the 983H and the BD30:

For upscaling DVD playback, how does the BD30 compare to the 983H?

From what I understand the 983H is the king for DVD upscaling, but for a similar price (given our wonderful exchange rate at the moment) I could go for pristine DVD playback and no BR, or a BR player with XXXXX (insert apt description in comparison to 983H) DVD playback.

If the difference is subtle, I'd be more inclined to just get the BD30. If the difference is night and day, well, I'll have more deliberating to do

Thanks for any help,

M

This is now a very interesting decision, to import an Oppo 983H currently will cost well over $650 and depending on the day could be close to $$800 including shipping !  ( I got mine for $465 landed just a few months ago and love it to bits)

If you can afford to have 2 players (or want a good SACD / DVD A player as well as a DVD player ) then the Oppo still makes sense, however unless you are desperate I would watch the exchange rate an buy on an up day !

If you can afford only one, I would go with the BD player (Pana 30 or perhaps wait a bit for reports on the SD playback of the new Sony 550 or New Pana 55)
Even with a large DVD collection, if I had to have only one player,  I would trade the slight loss of SD quality for the ability to have HD vision and sound every day of the week.

Just my 3c

[ritzav]

Chill, on Oct 17 2008, 09:34 AM, said:

This is now a very interesting decision, to import an Oppo 983H currently will cost well over $650 and depending on the day could be close to $$800 including shipping !  ( I got mine for $465 landed just a few months ago and love it to bits)

If you can afford to have 2 players (or want a good SACD / DVD A player as well as a DVD player ) then the Oppo still makes sense, however unless you are desperate I would watch the exchange rate an buy on an up day !

If you can afford only one, I would go with the BD player (Pana 30 or perhaps wait a bit for reports on the SD playback of the new Sony 550 or New Pana 55)
Even with a large DVD collection, if I had to have only one player,  I would trade the slight loss of SD quality for the ability to have HD vision and sound every day of the week.

Just my 3c

Agreed. These are tough times for the Aussie battler.. Amazingly, I got my Oppo and BD30 both under a total of 1000 bucks and that was not too long ago ! Falling AUD does make the spend equation difficult and complicated.

Edited by ritzav, 17 October 2008 - 08:42 AM.

[Chill]

m2m, on Oct 16 2008, 10:40 PM, said:

Hey Ritzav,

Just a quick question for you -- or anyone owning both the 983H and the BD30:

For upscaling DVD playback, how does the BD30 compare to the 983H?

From what I understand the 983H is the king for DVD upscaling, but for a similar price (given our wonderful exchange rate at the moment) I could go for pristine DVD playback and no BR, or a BR player with XXXXX (insert apt description in comparison to 983H) DVD playback.

If the difference is subtle, I'd be more inclined to just get the BD30. If the difference is night and day, well, I'll have more deliberating to do

Thanks for any help,

M

This is just one persons view, however food for thought, the Sony 550 will cost the same or less than an Oppo and should be out very soon.
(note no SACD or DVD A though )

http://www.avsforum....d.php?t=1076152


Sony bdp s550 picture quality

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay, there's tons of audio information on the S550's Owner's thread, but not too many people are addressing the PQ. I found this quite frustrating because I wanted to pull the trigger on this machine. I finally lost patience and ordered the unit from ABT. It arrived earlier than expected in a nice double box today ( great price and service ABT!). So here goes:

I hooked the unit up via HDMI to a 60" Sony KDS60A2000. I also have an Oppo DV 983H hooked up to this set.

My first concern was to see how the unit upscales SD DVDs, as this is a major concern for many of us with large SD DVD libraries. Right off the bat, be aware that the S550 will NOT play the PAL format, and region settings does not factor into this.

I chose to start with a well mastered B&W DVD from the Perry Mason Collector's series, then later switched to color episodes from the collection (I have duplicate discs so I could run a nice A&B comparison between the OPPO and the Sony). Everything is set for 1080p, and I picked eight scenes that I know by heart. I'm somewhat obsessive when it comes to PQ and have a lot of patience when doing visual comparisons.

After two hours of viewing back and forth, I was pleasantly surprised how well the Sony upscales. It is in the same league as the Oppo and my Toshiba XA2 (After seeing the great results, I felt I had to get the Toshiba involved).

I would dare say that many would get fooled while doing a blind A&B comparison of the S550 with the OPPO or the XA2. I proved this several times today with my wife and three friends, two of whom are serious videophiles.

Being I was a HD DVD early adaptor, I swore I'd never get a BD player, but who was I kidding... But the fact is I have no BD discs and this machine came a day ahead of schedule, so I'm now off to Walmart to grab a few BD titles, and I will report back on the BD quality. I hope others will begin posting their PQ findings on this thread.

As of now, I can safetly recommend this player when it comes to upscaling SD DVDs. But I will depend on the Oppo for viewing PAL DVDs.

[m2m]

Chill, on Oct 17 2008, 09:34 AM, said:

This is now a very interesting decision, to import an Oppo 983H currently will cost well over $650 and depending on the day could be close to $$800 including shipping !  ( I got mine for $465 landed just a few months ago and love it to bits)

Yes, that's my dilemma.

And thankyou everyone else for your replies too, very helpful.

While I'm here, how does the Sony 708H compare for DVD upscaling compared to the BD30? (I'm pretty sure the 708H will fall short of the Oppo, it's a cheap player, but apparently very good for upscaling).

I guess I'm looking at these options:

1) Buy the Sony 708H or equally cheap DVD player ($120) and wait for Blu-ray to mature
2) Buy the Oppo 983H  for superb DVD playback and wait for Blu-ray to mature, but at around $750 given current exchage rate
3) Buy a relatively cheap BD30 (I have access to a discounted one) and get Blu-ray and 'good' but not great DVD upscaling for about 4-5 times the cost of the Sony, and cheaper than the Oppo 983H

Another part of the equation:

I have a Pioneer LX508A plamsa that (aside from a wonderful picture) apparently has good upscaling built-in. Keep in mind my current DVD player is an old Toshiba SD-9000 that doesn't even have HDMI, so I can't compare to current generation DVD players and their upscaling abilities -- so is the LX508A any better or worse than the Sony 708H, BD30 or even the Oppo 983H? Does anyone have experience comparing the upscaling of these players to an LX508A?

Chill, on Oct 17 2008, 11:23 AM, said:

This is just one persons view, however food for thought, the Sony 550 will cost the same or less than an Oppo and should be out very soon.

That's really interesting, but no PAL? So any PAL DVDs won't play?

[slugger]

m2m, on Oct 17 2008, 02:19 PM, said:

That's really interesting, but no PAL? So any PAL DVDs won't play?

Now sure whether this is the question but the Oppo plays PAL and is multi-region, using the remte.

[Chill]

m2m, on Oct 17 2008, 02:19 PM, said:

Yes, that's my dilemma.

And thankyou everyone else for your replies too, very helpful.

While I'm here, how does the Sony 708H compare for DVD upscaling compared to the BD30? (I'm pretty sure the 708H will fall short of the Oppo, it's a cheap player, but apparently very good for upscaling).

I guess I'm looking at these options:

1) Buy the Sony 708H or equally cheap DVD player ($120) and wait for Blu-ray to mature
2) Buy the Oppo 983H  for superb DVD playback and wait for Blu-ray to mature, but at around $750 given current exchage rate
3) Buy a relatively cheap BD30 (I have access to a discounted one) and get Blu-ray and 'good' but not great DVD upscaling for about 4-5 times the cost of the Sony, and cheaper than the Oppo 983H

Another part of the equation:

I have a Pioneer LX508A plamsa that (aside from a wonderful picture) apparently has good upscaling built-in. Keep in mind my current DVD player is an old Toshiba SD-9000 that doesn't even have HDMI, so I can't compare to current generation DVD players and their upscaling abilities -- so is the LX508A any better or worse than the Sony 708H, BD30 or even the Oppo 983H? Does anyone have experience comparing the upscaling of these players to an LX508A?



That's really interesting, but no PAL? So any PAL DVDs won't play?

That is a US report and the US 550 will not do PAL (just like US HD DVD players did not) the Aus 550 will do PAL.

Given you have the LX508A

1. if you go cheap option DVD option make sure it can do sourse direct via HDMI (that is 576i) out as the Pio will likly be a much better upscaler than a cheap DVD.

2. As I said, it's you money but no way would I be getting an Oppo this week or next, if your luck is anything like mine the AUS$ will go back up to 89c the next week !

3. Blu ray will look great on that Pio !!!!        

[ritzav]

Personally i would get the BD-30 first and then spend the money on mod-chipping it's blu-ray playback to play multi-region blu-rays ( BD-30 is multi-region for sd dvd already ). And if there is some more cash left and if you find the sd dvd playback of BD-30 lacking, only then look at a dedicated dvd player like oppo or a cheaper models. But of course, it is your hard-earned money

[simon2511]

are there any useful settings on the oppo that I should look at fiddling with???

I've had mine for a few weeks now and haven't watched many dvd's but haven't been stunned with the picture, although I watched the Simpsons on DVD yesterday and did notice a few things, a lot more subtle improvements rather than real obvious ones to my eyes.

I'll have to keep testing it out  

[sulrich]

simon2511, on Oct 23 2008, 02:00 PM, said:

are there any useful settings on the oppo that I should look at fiddling with???

I've had mine for a few weeks now and haven't watched many dvd's but haven't been stunned with the picture, although I watched the Simpsons on DVD yesterday and did notice a few things, a lot more subtle improvements rather than real obvious ones to my eyes.

I'll have to keep testing it out  

I noticed alot of difference with the superbit version of Starship Troopers - this machine basically makes the DVD look like it was made for the 40"+ screen, as opposed to the 32" screen etc.
Some disks it can do well, others, it does the best it can.  Overall, best DVD player I have ever seen (my first DVD player was a Pioneer 717 back in 1998-9)

Cheers

Steve

[phreek]

I bought a Pioneer 610AV today and my DVD collection is reborn.

I started out watching the superbit of Fifth Element and it was heaps better than the PS3.

Tried V for Vendetta next and it was so good some parts were comparable to Bluray from the Sony.

I ended up watching the whole film.

And this was on a 1080p Epson proj at 100"cinescope size.

An amazing player.

[fossicker]

phreek, on Nov 2 2008, 01:17 AM, said:

I bought a Pioneer 610AV today and my DVD collection is reborn.

I started out watching the superbit of Fifth Element and it was heaps better than the PS3.

Tried V for Vendetta next and it was so good some parts were comparable to Bluray from the Sony.

I ended up watching the whole film.

And this was on a 1080p Epson proj at 100"cinescope size.

An amazing player.

Is the 610AV a region free player?

[phreek]

fossicker, on Nov 4 2008, 10:02 AM, said:

Is the 610AV a region free player?

Yes it's regionfree out of the box.

Main reason I got it in fact. My PS3 doesn't play the other regions.

$180 from JB.

[fossicker]

phreek, on Nov 4 2008, 11:13 AM, said:

Yes it's regionfree out of the box.

Main reason I got it in fact. My PS3 doesn't play the other regions.

$180 from JB.

Looks good, thanks.

[rollobot]

nexus7, on Jul 29 2008, 02:08 PM, said:

Yep - Got one  - a 983  - it's brilliant.
Region Free, also plays PAL and NTSC
Also plays DVD Audio and SACD
Haven't tried frisbees or pizzas yet.
Upscaling is absolutely brilliant.  The picture is as good as it gets for standard definition.
Sound is brilliant!
Build quality is first class.
The 'zoom' feature is handy.
This player is worth every penny of the $450.

Man, I've just got to get me one of these!  Where do I track down this Merlin chap?

[fossicker]

rollobot, on Nov 4 2008, 03:18 PM, said:

Man, I've just got to get me one of these!  Where do I track down this Merlin chap?

Here.
He doesn't have the 983 anymore. You have to order from the US.
A bit pricey with our low dollar.