Can someone please offer me insight?

[CanadianCorona]

I have had an Elta 8882 player for about 2 years. Been fairly happy with it, but yesterday it stopped working and now looks like its done. So I am now researching new players and I have narrowed it down to two. I am hoping someone out the will have some insight on which player to go with.

These are the players for consideration:

Oppo OPDV971H

&

LG LDA-531

Thanks!!

[manono]

I've got the Oppo. As perhaps you know, it got the 2nd best score ever on the Secrets Of Home Theater Shootout:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cgi-bin/shootout.cgi?function=search&articles=all

A couple of caveats, though. Don't get it unless you have a DVI connection, as the Faroudja chipset isn't used over component. It has a MediaTek 1389FE decoder also. Also, there are serious AR problems for DivX playback, which will probably be fixed with a firmware update, as Oppo is aware of the problem. It fills a widecreen TV set no matter the AR of the AVI. So fullscreen 1.33:1 (for example, 640x480 or 512x384) is widened to fill the screen, and 2.35:1 movies (640x272) are stretched vertically to fill the widescreen TV. There's a workaround for 1.33:1 movies (use component), but none so far for 2.35:1 movies.

For DVD playback, it's unrivalled by DVD players costing many times what the Oppo costs, especially after the most recent firmware upgrade.

Don't know anything about the other player.

[CanadianCorona]

Thanks manono.

I did read the great reviews. The only thing that is swaying me to the LG is that it hasHDMI output, and my HDTV takes. From what I've read it is the highest quality of connection you can get and is replacing DVI. I just don't know if I'll lose any quality using a HDMI/DVI connector.

So far Oppo 1 - LG 0

Any more votes?

[lumis]

are you going to use the dvd player for more than just dvd?

you need to let us know what you're looking for in a dvd player.

[manono]

As I understand it, there's no quality loss with a DVI to HDMI adapter, and it's not as if HDMI carries a better video signal than does DVI. They're both pure digital. A case can even be made that HDMI sometimes causes problems that DVI doesn't have. You might be able to find an adapter for $10 or so plus shipping (the Oppo comes with a DVI to DVI cable). My TV set has DVI in, so I haven't investigated that much.

The Oppo has a lot going for it, including the Faroudja chipset with DCDi for watching interlaced material, region-free with a very good PAL to NTSC conversion, upconversion to 540p, 720p, and 1080i, AVI playback (when it gets straightened out), very good handling of strangely edited/encoded material (if you watch a lot of anime or TV series DVDs, Faroudja is worth its weight in gold), and DVD-Audio playback. You may not need all those features, though. In addition, Oppo's customer support is the best I've ever seen, and they upgrade the firmware frequently.

[gshelley61]

HDMI is digital video and digital audio on a single, consumer grade connector. There's no difference in the actual digital video signal whether it's DVI or HDMI. The consumer electronics industry wants to move to HDMI and ditch DVI connectors, that's all.

A $22 DVI to HDMI cable will work perfectly for you to hook up the Oppo to your display:

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&id=ID471759&partno=01742&s...=g.hdmi&rcode=

You could also use their $6 adapter with the Oppo's supplied DVI cable, but that might not be as sturdy long-term (at the TV's HDMI jack):

http://www.pccables.com/cgi-bin/orders6.cgi?action=Showitem&id=ID471759&partno=01760&s...=g.hdmi&rcode=


Sony and several other big-name companies will be releasing a slew of all-new HDMI equipped upscaling DVD players and recorders in the next few months. You might want to hold off until then...

[CanadianCorona]

Thanks for your comments.

90% of the format I watch is DivX/Xvid in 1080i. My old Elta couldn't upconvert standard DVDs but played DivX like a dream. I would wait on new players, but like I said I longer have anything. Really sucks!

One thing I need clarification on.... with HDMI I only need 1 cable, but for DVI>HDMI I will still need my audio cables? Is that right?

Thanks.

[manono]

Hi-

...but for DVI>HDMI I will still need my audio cables? Is that right?

Yes, that's right. DVI handles only the video.

90% of the format I watch is DivX/Xvid in 1080i.

I should have waited until you answered lumis's earlier question. If you watch mainly AVI, then I can't recommend the player until they fix the AVI AR problems for widescreen TV sets. Shouldn't be more than a month or 2, I wouldn't think. Keep an eye on the huge 103 page thread (as of today) at the AVS Forums:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=482239

or the Oppo website. There are quite a few other upconverting DVD/MPEG-4 players as well.

[gshelley61]

Thanks for your comments.

90% of the format I watch is DivX/Xvid in 1080i. My old Elta couldn't upconvert standard DVDs but played DivX like a dream. I would wait on new players, but like I said I longer have anything. Really sucks!

One thing I need clarification on.... with HDMI I only need 1 cable, but for DVI>HDMI I will still need my audio cables? Is that right?

Thanks.

The Oppo is a certified DivX player. With HDMI, you would only need one cable if your A/V receiver has HDMI inputs. If it doesn't, you would still have to run a digital audio cable (optical toslink or standard RCA type) to the receiver so it can do your surround sound decoding.

[CanadianCorona]

Thanks for the clearing that up for me. Thanks for the avsforum link too.

I bought the LG LDA-531 last night from FS. I will test it and determine if it will stay or go back. Seems ok so far.