OPPO DV-983H Released!

[MOVIEGEEK]

Supports PAL/NTSC and can be made region-free,it uses ABT chips for upscaling and deinterlacing:
http://www.oppodigital.com/dv983h/default.asp

[Jim44]

And also temporarily sold out. They had a "pre-order" according to the thread on AVS Forum.

[MOVIEGEEK]

And also temporarily sold out. They had a "pre-order" according to the thread on AVS Forum.

I just noticed that,not to smart to release a player and be out of stock.

[Jim44]

And also temporarily sold out. They had a "pre-order" according to the thread on AVS Forum.

I just noticed that,not to smart to release a player and be out of stock.

According to AVS Forum, this is the first time they've done any kind of "pre-order", apparently mainly because of some early reviews (and maybe the "buzz" on AVS? There was a lot of it.) Also, I think their on-line ordering system charges cc right away, so they want to make sure they can actually ship you a product.

(That's what I remember from reading the thread at AVSF - any errors in the above info are mine alone )

[MJA]

Price: $399.00.no thanks

btw. where is the divx?

[ricoman]

I don't get it, $400! You can buy a Bluray for that price. What is so special about this? Before you think I'm a basher, I have a 970. It cost $200 a couple of years ago. Just wondering in this day and age, why a $400 upconverter when you can can decent one for less than 1/4 of the price?

[MOVIEGEEK]

I don't get it, $400! You can buy a Bluray for that price. What is so special about this? Before you think I'm a basher, I have a 970. It cost $200 a couple of years ago. Just wondering in this day and age, why a $400 upconverter when you can can decent one for less than 1/4 of the price?

It's supposed to be their "elite" player for videophiles,OPPO said they are making a BD player but mentioned no release date:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/oppo-next-to-create-a-new-blu-ray-player/

[MJA]

I don't get it, $400! You can buy a Bluray for that price. What is so special about this? Before you think I'm a basher, I have a 970. It cost $200 a couple of years ago. Just wondering in this day and age, why a $400 upconverter when you can can decent one for less than 1/4 of the price?

It's supposed to be their "elite" player for videophiles,OPPO said they are making a BD player but mentioned no release date:/
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/oppo-next-to-create-a-new-blu-ray-player/

if this player is $400 I'm scared to ask how much the blu-ray player is going to be.one more 0 ?

[budz]

I don't get it, $400! You can buy a Bluray for that price. What is so special about this? Before you think I'm a basher, I have a 970. It cost $200 a couple of years ago. Just wondering in this day and age, why a $400 upconverter when you can can decent one for less than 1/4 of the price?

It's supposed to be their "elite" player for videophiles,OPPO said they are making a BD player but mentioned no release date:/
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/oppo-next-to-create-a-new-blu-ray-player/

if this player is $400 I'm scared to ask how much the blu-ray player is going to be.one more 0 ?

Might as well just buy a PS3 for Blu-ray if that's the case!

[paulw]

I don't get it, $400! You can buy a Bluray for that price. What is so special about this? Before you think I'm a basher, I have a 970. It cost $200 a couple of years ago. Just wondering in this day and age, why a $400 upconverter when you can can decent one for less than 1/4 of the price?

It's supposed to be their "elite" player for videophiles,OPPO said they are making a BD player but mentioned no release date:
http://www.engadgethd.com/2008/02/20/oppo-next-to-create-a-new-blu-ray-player/

Wonder if the Blu-ray side can be made region free??

[FulciLives]

The OPPO DIGITAL website says the DV-983H is XviD compatible but says nothing of DivX ... guess they didn't want to pay money to DivX.

I don't see this as a problem though because I'm sure if it can play XviD it can play DivX just fine.

Does seem overly expensive though ...

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[sovkiller]

Is there any way of making it region free? Does anybody had tested that feature after hacking it?


BTW for the ones who are complaining about price, any audiophile DVD or CD player from the market will cost you far more. We are used to the see those $50.00 DVD Philips Walmart DVD players, and this one if far from being one of those. I have the 980 right now and the performance audio and video is from a three times as much pricewise machine...
This little Oppo was supposed to be one of the best DVD players ever made till now, of course it does not support BR, but honestly, right now, how many titles we have released in BR...I think that BR for now was just a way to fight a battle to displace the HD-DVD from the market, but later on they have fall a little asleep in the titles release...

[manono]

Is there any way of making it region free?

Like all Oppos, yes:

Press Setup.
Press "9210" in quick succession. A new window will appear.
Press "0". Your region is now multi-region.
Press Setup to Exit.

Reviews:

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cd-dvd-player-product-reviews/dvd-players/oppo-digital-...rk-review.html
http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-player-and-cd-player-reviews/dvd-players/oppo-digit...the-story.html
http://www.prillaman.net/oppo983_review.html

FAQ:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1001832

[EatMoreChickens]

So what's the biggest HDTV I can get where upconverted DVD's and Divx movie look good w/ the 983H?

[MJA]

it's not made yet

[manono]

So what's the biggest HDTV I can get where upconverted DVD's and Divx movie look good w/ the 983H?

Well, plenty of people watch DVDs on a projector using a 100+ inch screen. Yours is a question with no definitive answer. Only you will know what your "blur limit" is. I don't much like watching AVIs any more on an HDTV because they look too blurry to me. But I still do it sometimes. Well encoded DVDs look great. This is using a 46" HDTV and sitting about 7' away from the screen.

[sovkiller]

I thought that there was golden rule for distances and sizes of screen, IIRC it was said once long time ago that you must sit in a position that is at least 5 times the size of the screen, to guarantee the optimal view, not sure if this applies now to HD systems, any idea? or maybe that rule was just for old CRT TVs with 480 lines?

[jagabo]

That's for SD TVs. THX says about 1.2x the diagonal size is optimal for 1080p. SMPTE a little farther.

[MOVIEGEEK]

If you have Excel you can use this calculator:
http://www.carltonbale.com/home-theater/home-theater-calculator/

The THX recommended viewing distance is rediculous:a 37" HDTV for instance has a viewing distance of 3.8 feet(1.2m).Who is going to sit that close to their tv?If I sat that close to my HDTV I would be going crazy looking at all the artifacts in the picture.
I think 2x diagonal is a more realistic distance for the average home.
BTW:OPPO is still out of the 983,they must be on a slow boat from China.

[sovkiller]

I sign in for the notifications, I'm really excited in getting one, even while my TV is still a Samsumg flat screen crt, it says HDTV monitor on top, but to me is a rip off, it only has component in as the best connector (the model is TXR2765, as my livingroom is really small, but that is a thing I can not change for now) the picture is good enough for the size, but I diying fro one LCD or Plasma in the fiture, but I will not dump this one yet...not sure fi I wil get advantage fo the features this new player has or not though...but I think that for any future upgrade is still a good purchase...

[sovkiller]

I got mine today and is on the way to them again, it has serious issues with the aspect ratio feature. The pan-scan and letter-box do not work properly. What is sad is that they know about the problem and are still selling it...they assured me that they will fix it in future firmware updates but sorry, on the 980 the screen freezes the image while trying to return playing, and they promised the same, and the last update was in octuber 2007...no way Jose that for a $400.00 player I will accept it like that, sorry guys...that is not the way of doing business....

[Jim44]

on the 980 the screen freezes the image while trying to return playing, and they promised the same, and the last update was in octuber 2007...

FWIW, there's a Beta firmware out for the 980. I've loaded it and it solved one issue I've had.

[sovkiller]

on the 980 the screen freezes the image while trying to return playing, and they promised the same, and the last update was in octuber 2007...

FWIW, there's a Beta firmware out for the 980. I've loaded it and it solved one issue I've had.

Can you post the link, on where is the beta version, the one of the website do not fix this problem at all, I already ahd the latest one...which problem did you have?

[Jim44]

Right from Oppo's web site:
http://oppodigital.com/dv980h/dv980h-firmware-07-0328.html

I had an issue with MPEG2 audio on a couple of DVDs, which appears to be resolved according to #6 in the release notes and my own, brief, testing.

Keep in mind this is "Beta" software; while it has fixes for the items listed in the notes, a few things are missing from it, also as noted. But they will be back in when the firmware is officially released (as confirmed by my email with Oppo).

Too bad you sent the 983 back so quickly. Oppo is very good, customer service wise, and probably could have informed you via email if they were aware of, and working on, the problem. Or might have asked for your help in finding & solving it.

[sovkiller]

Right from Oppo's web site:
http://oppodigital.com/dv980h/dv980h-firmware-07-0328.html

I had an issue with MPEG2 audio on a couple of DVDs, which appears to be resolved according to #6 in the release notes and my own, brief, testing.

Keep in mind this is "Beta" software; while it has fixes for the items listed in the notes, a few things are missing from it, also as noted. But they will be back in when the firmware is officially released (as confirmed by my email with Oppo).

Too bad you sent the 983 back so quickly. Oppo is very good, customer service wise, and probably could have informed you via email if they were aware of, and working on, the problem. Or might have asked for your help in finding & solving it.

They are very good in customer support, and trust me that I'm very good paying, far better than them, so we are even...WELL NOT EVEN THEY STILL HAVE MY MONEY.
What is unacceptable IMO, is that you release an expensive player like this one, with issues that you are aware off, and try to fix them later on...IMO if you sell something that gear must be ready for all the existent scenarios, the updates are just that, updates, just to maybe introduce new features that may be coming in the market after, but never to fix bugs, that is a really lame attitude, to accept defective products, based in promises, and baseda market based on promises, westill have the isuue with the screen saver in the 980, that has not being solved yet, are they planning to do the same with this model???

Sorry that is my very personal point of view...

[Grain]

...we still have the isuue with the screen saver in the 980, that has not being solved yet, are they planning to do the same with this model???

Sorry that is my very personal point of view...

What screen saver issue are you refering to? The only issue I have with my 980 is when trying to zoom non-anamorphic widescreen DVD's to fit a 16:9 TV. By the way, the 983 doesn't use the Anchor Bay chips when using component video, only with hdmi. If your using the component connections, you basically have a 980, hence the aspect ratio problems.

[sovkiller]

...we still have the isuue with the screen saver in the 980, that has not being solved yet, are they planning to do the same with this model???

Sorry that is my very personal point of view...

What screen saver issue are you refering to? The only issue I have with my 980 is when trying to zoom non-anamorphic widescreen DVD's to fit a 16:9 TV. By the way, the 983 doesn't use the Anchor Bay chips when using component video, only with hdmi. If your using the component connections, you basically have a 980, hence the aspect ratio problems.

Itis not a big deal, while you set the screen saver to on, and for some reason you stop the player, when the screen saver begin to work, the player get frozen, and it stays with the screen saver forever, there is no way that you can make it play again, unless you power it off and on again...Their solution was "turn the screen saver off" for now...but that defeats the purpose of having it, also they do not have an stand by feature, and well I could do a few more remarks but, well, OK for a 169 player is OK, but for a 400 is not...

[Jim44]

sovkiller, if you have the time, I'd suggest looking through the AVS Forum thread dedicated to the 983:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1001832

I don't know if your particular issue has been talked about, but a search should turn something up if it's there. Lots of users there, as well as a few of the beta testers for the unit. A very good back-up source of info, aside from Oppo itself.

[sovkiller]

sovkiller, if you have the time, I'd suggest looking through the AVS Forum thread dedicated to the 983:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1001832

I don't know if your particular issue has been talked about, but a search should turn something up if it's there. Lots of users there, as well as a few of the beta testers for the unit. A very good back-up source of info, aside from Oppo itself.

rant mode on:

Jim I'm aware of what the 983 is about, an excellent player, I do not need to read more reviews, that was why I ordered it, but I have another two players here home as well, the 980, and a Sony ES, trust me that the quality of picture in my current humble setup is not too far from the 980, and none of those two has any remarkable issue that depart me from enjoying them, this one has one (that I know of) the aspect ratio was wrong, I could not bear an stretched image, that is simply ridiculous.
Also my point is that regardless of how good or bad it will be, it is defective, there is no way in earth that I could find reasonable to paid $400.00 for a defective unit, even less, while they know about the problem from day one, that is not fair for any customer. We should get paid for doing their homework, nor the other way around, that is part of their research, we dop not need ot report the problems in order for them to fix them, that is their job not mine...
BTW I offered myself as a beta tester, at the beginning of the process, and they refused to take me. OK, that is their right to choose whom to use, I understand that, but that place me in a different position, right now I'm in all my right to demand a perfect working unit, as I'm not a beta tester, and I paid for it full price...and I encourage all of the users to do the same, the research is part of their job, not ours...

Maybe in the future while they fix all those problems, I will order again another one, but for now, it is on the way back...sorry...

rant mode off!!!!

[manono]

I don't know if your particular issue has been talked about...

Probably not, since most of them would have more sense than to buy this particular player for a TV set it's not designed for. One reason it's so expensive, and the reason it got the first ever perfect score from the Secrets Of Home Theater people, is because of that Anchor Bay chipset ... which sovkiller can't use.