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This thing plays everything I've tried (except for Blu-Ray of course). But the picture quality from this thing is simply amazing. By far the best universal player for the cost. All other cheaper players skimp on features.
So for the amount of money I spent, I was quite happy to buy a DVD player that fill all my needs & had such stellar quality output.Over time of using the thing, some of the player's (lack of) features began to irk me, & for that I've deducted a point from what could very easily be a 5 star product. Because I had a very good High Fidelity analog stereo system & a large selection of music that included SACDs, I was interested in a player that had excellent sound output & very good 1080p output, capable of upscaling both DVDs & CDs (my Denon CD player had also just kicked the bucket). Some of the annoyances include: -flimsy disk tray (this thing feels like it could be broken easily)-while the player does a pretty good job of reading all disks, disks that are slightly off or have labels (i.e. I also am a foreign film buff & prefer anamorphic presentations & so I buy DVDs from other regions when a US dvd isn't available or is of poorer quality, so I also wanted a multi-region player. The part where the clock chimes sound startled me out of my chair & was quite lifelike. So, I drove to their offices (I live in the bay area) & bought one directly (at the time this model hadn't even been listed on Amazon). At this point, I can't envision Blu-Ray discs/player providing much more detail or richer color than I get on my best dual layered/anamorphic DVDs (ie.
After getting it home, I connected it to my TV via HDMI & directly to my stereo via high end RCAs (the one shortcoming of the Samsung TV is lower quality sound output, so I wanted it direct to my amp from the player). After reading all the glowing reviews, I concluded that this was the best option & that if I wasn't happy with the output, I could always get an SACD player or try another brand when I upgraded my collection to Blu-Ray. I (and everyone who has visited me) have been quite floored by the quality of both the image of regular DVDs & the sound of CDs & (some) SACDs on this system. -despite being able to play PAL/region 2 disks, the player "blinks" (a flash of black) every couple of minutes on some disks despite the fact that the sound isn't interupted.
I needed to buy (my 1st) DVD player after buying my 1st TV,Samsung LN46A750 46-Inch 1080p DLNA LCD HDTV with RED Touch of Color, 6 months ago. Criterions). The sound quality of my Dark Side of the Moon 30th Anniversary Edition is absolutiely stunning. (This is definitely the best SACD to test the sound quality of SACD). possible. It would really be nice to be able to customize this.-no way to upscale external audio source too (would be really nice to be able to pass my ipod/computer audio through this player's audio chip), you'd have to burn it to a cd or dvd & play it.-The unit's maximum possible sound delay of 10 nanoseconds is nowhere near enough to sync the audio & video on a setup like mine (hdmi for tv & analog audio), the sound is very noticably off (even w/ maximum delay) when playing PAL/non Region 1/0 discs. Although most other DVD players were quite a bit cheaper than the 983H, all of the SACD players I had my eye on were considerably more expensive. library rentals w/ labels on the ring) or Dualdiscs often vibrate really loudly, much louder than any CD/dvd drive/player I've ever had.
I have the output upscaled to the max. My regular CDs sound quite a bit better than my previous Denon CD player and the images of DVDs is quite amazing. -long boot up time (even regular CDs can take close to a minute after closing before they're ready)-poor buttons on unit itself (sometimes you have to hit the "open" button on the face plate 3 or 4 times before the tray actually opens, which isn't a problem when hitting the open button on the remote)-ugly & not very useful display (Texas Instrument calculator font in blue, which is too light & poor quality to read unless you are right in front of the unit, the icons displaying disk type & whether you want repeat play are really tiny, you have to have your face right up to the display to see those).-ugly onscreen font (we're talking 80s Atari font here) & poor default image (the earth picture is ok, but the Oppo label is ugly). Not sure why this is or whether there's a workaround.-despite setting the default for DVD-audio & SACDs to stereo or mixing to stereo, many play in surround sound & I have to turn on my TV just to readjust when all I want is to listen to music (having more control over this on the remote would be nice, but maybe it's the disc's manufacturing that prevents this).If I was more concerned about features over image & sound quality, I'd give this model 3 stars, but because I've been more than happy with the sound & image quality & because buying this dvd player has now made the purchase of a dedicated SACD player obsolete, I'll give it 4.
You can find this particular player on e-bay sometimes, and it always sells for $350 upward, i.e., has kept its value nicely. The sound is unbeatable.Even though the price tag is hefty, it's worth every singly penny.
So impressive how easy it is to make the player region-free (on the remote press the Setup button, type 9210, then type 0), and it also comes with a built-in PAL --> NTSC vice versa decoder, which I don't need to use, because this player is connected to a Pioneer Plasma TV that does PAL natively in addition to NTSC.Using the latest firmware (available from the oppodigital web site; currently in beta) I have never had any problems with the player recognizing 4:3 material and showing it as such (when configured for 16:9 auto). I upconvert all of my DVDs to 1080p, and needless to say, it's simply the best picture quality I have ever seen.
I am using this player as my universal DVD player to play back all my NTSC and PAL DVDs. It's amazing to see the configuration panels for SACD (and for that matter, DVD-Audio as well) in the Setup menu.
None of my previous Denon players come even close to Oppo's picture quality.My player is connected via HDMI to a Pioneer A/V receiver (and from there via HDMI to a Pioneer Plasma), and I am also using this player to playback my SACDs, which I have plenty. Awesome sound.
Too bad that this player is not available for purchase anymore, because Oppo plans to replace this one with the upcoming Blu-Ray player. I am giving this player an enthusiastic 5 stars.
It's scaling is only beat by players with the Reon chip but not by much. This product is not aimed at that level of experience or investment. Ok, first off please don't listen to people that own 32" tv's and have a $250 Home Theater in a box. Where this player trumps all others is the fact that it plays every format under the sun and does it with ease. Upscaling is all about 1)How large your television is 2) If you display is capable of 1080P 3)Viewing distance in comparison to the display. Bar none this player has the best deinterlacing available on a consumer device. If you have a 42" or under display don't even bother worrying yourself with high end upscaling solutions. If you have a larger display that is capable of 1080P then you will reap the benefits and breath life into your standard dvd collection.Again, when taking advice about any particular "high end" electronic device consider the source along with their experience.
Lets just say if you don't already have one of these-you're out of luck cause Oppo has discontinued production to make way for their upcoming bluray player. Oppo's service is second to none-in the 2 times I've had to take advantage of the warranty the service and customer support are exemplairy. I've had one for 8 months now and it's the best[.]. I've ever spent-I have a library of over 2000 anime dvds and it makes them look the best they ever will. Would I buy another Oppo product. Without hesitation.
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