Considering buying Oppo DV-980H or ??? Opinions wanted.

[Puppets86]

I need to get a new dvd player, because my Denon DVM-1815 has been a real pain lately, and is out of warranty, and I'm done with dealing with the tray not wanting to open all the time. I'm considering just taking the plunge and going Blu-ray, but may wait a bit on that because they will no doubt keep dropping in price. On the fence with that one. Anyway, for just a good single disc dvd player, I have heard a lot of good things about the Oppo DV-980H, and am considering getting that for now. I might add that I have a simple system, but I know a good picture, and the Denon gave me that, for the most part, and now a lot of other problems. My tv is a Samsung 50" DLP and the native resolution is 720p. Like I said, this player gets good reviews, but anyone agree or disagree, or have any opinion on any other player that will suit my needs? Should I just go Blu-ray? Any feedback greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[CDan]

Apples and oranges. Oppo is for watching DVDs, BluRay is for watching BluRay. Very few BluRay players are good at upscaling and deinterlacing DVDs. You will be very pleased with the performance of the Oppo 980 for watching DVDs over HDMI. It has a lot of other things to offer too, like region-free capable, plays PAL and NTSC and most common media file types.

[victoriabears]

2nd and third that

[edDV]

Why go BluRay to play standard DVD? Are you saying you want to replace the library? What is the TV?

[gshelley61]

I've got a 60GB Sony PS3, a Toshiba HD-A20 and a DV-980H hooked up to my 62" 1080p DLP.

I use the PS3 for playing Blu-ray rentals (my kids sometimes use it for games), the HD-A20 for HD DVD's (there's still some rental discs available that aren't on Blu-ray) and for very high quality upscaling of standard DVD's... and the Oppo DV-980H for DVD's, audio CD's, MP3 discs, DVD-Audio, SACD, PAL discs, etc.

Blu-ray is probably overkill for a 50" 720p screen. Upscaled DVD will look nearly as good on that set.

I think you would really like the 980H and it plays everything you can throw at it. It's a very good upscaler, too.

[robertazimmerman]

Oppo 980? Outstanding standard DVD player and as another person said, it plays just about any format you can find (including ripped MLPs!!).

Roberta

[Puppets86]

Why go BluRay to play standard DVD? Are you saying you want to replace the library? What is the TV?

Not going to replace the library, but, in the future, may start buying Blu-ray. Just wondering if I should spend the money now, but have decided to buy the Oppo for now, and wait until Blu-ray drops in price, which it will. Thanks everyone for the feedback! Same response I got at AVS forum. The Oppo it is!

[edDV]

Why go BluRay to play standard DVD? Are you saying you want to replace the library? What is the TV?

Not going to replace the library, but, in the future, may start buying Blu-ray. Just wondering if I should spend the money now, but have decided to buy the Oppo for now, and wait until Blu-ray drops in price, which it will. Thanks everyone for the feedback! Same response I got at AVS forum. The Oppo it is!

That was my decision as well.

[hanugro]

Is the Oppo player that good in upscaling. I watched an upscale DVD with Philips DVD player and 42" Philips HD Ready and to be honest I don't see much difference when I activate 720p (compare with 480p). I own a Sony HD ready TV and wondering whether I should buy Oppo DV-980.

[victoriabears]

We all have different vision and quality perspective, if you liked the Philips, save your money, but if you seek better and a clearer picture, the oppo is about 50% better, I have both oppo and Philips.

The HD TV may already upscale for you, try connecting a VCR and see what you think, I was amazed.

[hanugro]

Yes this is exactly what I am wondering about. I know that even if I use standard DVD player (480i), the LCD TV will upscale it and make it progressive anyway. When I said I didn't see much different is in fact I saw NO difference at all. Maybe because both (TV and player) is the same brand (Philips).

I wonder Sony upscaling engine will be better (but my TV is basic HD ready model). I wonder what is the OP experience after buying Oppo. I own 4 DVD players at home (Philips, Pioneer, LG and Sharp) and I would say Pioneer give the best picture on standard TV.

I might wait until PS3 price is lowered again this holiday season since I heard it has decent upscaling engine that should be more powerful than Sony's standard LCD TV (due to cell processor????).

[victoriabears]

I used to be a hi-fi enthusiast, and what can end up happening is that you spend more time wondering about the equipment and losing the fact that the whole point of the excercise is to enjoy the content.

[jman98]

Is the Oppo player that good in upscaling. I watched an upscale DVD with Philips DVD player and 42" Philips HD Ready and to be honest I don't see much difference when I activate 720p (compare with 480p). I own a Sony HD ready TV and wondering whether I should buy Oppo DV-980.

If your TV does a very good job of upscaling (my Samsung is like this), you may not notice any difference. I have a Philips DVP-642 and it's a cheap piece of crap, but set to output 480p video it gives excellent results on my TV.
Honestly, I can't really tell the difference between it and my Toshiba HD DVD player, which many consider to be an excellent upscaling DVD player in addition to being able to play HD DVDs. The Samsung upscaling circuitry is so good that it even makes the output from the Philips look as good as the upscaled 1080p output from the Toshiba player.

[robjv1]

I used to be a hi-fi enthusiast, and what can end up happening is that you spend more time wondering about the equipment and losing the fact that the whole point of the excercise is to enjoy the content.

NO kidding. I feel exactly like this sometimes. I've had ardously gone through all of my old VHS stuff, trying to convert it to DVD in the best possible quality, obtaining multiple copies of things for extroidinary prices sometimes to make a "perfect" pristine "final" copy on DVD... and in a lot of cases after having worked with this footage so much, I never want to see it again! LOL.

[victoriabears]

I am enjoying viewing some of my vhs stuff and mostly seeing how much I enjoy it and want to preserve it, some stuff though, yes it gets ditched.

As a Brit, some old music stuff from Top of the Pops, makes me scringe now.