My venerable, antique but still chugging Cyberhome CH-DVD500 never did like recordable DVDs too much, a well-documented flaw in these players, but lately I've been watching a lot of DVD-Rs and the frequent lockups are getting really irritating. So I figured it was time to track down a new DVD player. I've been considering an Oppo for some time based on testimony from pleased owners, but my question is: which one? I've narrowed it down a bit after checking out this comparison chart, but some input from Oppo owners here would be appreciated.

My requirements:

- must have component video output; I still have a direct-view analog TV, but plan to upgrade to an HD set eventually, at which point the upconversion will come in handy

- must handle NTSC and PAL DVDs (it appears all of the Oppo models do this)

- must be region-selectable or region-free (there are remote and firmware hacks for all models except the newest DV-983H at VideoHelp.com)

The DV-981HD is ruled out due to lack of component outputs, and until a region-free hack turns up, the DV-983H is probably out as well. That leaves the DV-980HD and the discontinued but still findable DV-970HD.

Any opinions on which of these is preferable given my stated requirements, and why? Also, what are the significant differences in the chipsets used by each of the different models?

Dave:

I own the OPPO DV-981HD. It replaced my Cyberhome 500, which still functions.

Although you are not interested in buying this OPPO model, what I can tell you about my OPPO player is that it does a much better job than my Sony R1 NTSC player in reformatting the aspect ratio of non-anamorphic DVDs on my 16x9 Sony HD screen when I zoom them.

Even a 1.66:1 DVD will have all the information on the sides while only losing a very little bit of info at the top and bottom. I'm also able to read subtitles on non-anamorphic discs. On the other hand, my Sony player, loses information on both sides and the top and bottom when I zoom a non-anamorphic disc and subtitles often disappear. Even a 2.35:1 non-anamorphic disc will lose lots of info on the sides on my Sony Player.

The 981 does occassionally fail to recognize a DVD, and will shut done - This has happened with both PAL and NTSC discs from various regions - but will inevitiably recognize it on the second or third attempt to load the disc. This has occurred maybe 3 or 4 times out of 200 discs, but as previously stated on the second or third attempt to load, the 981 has behaved and recognized the disc.

I'm very happy with my OPPO 981 player, though the lack of component outputs is a little baffling.

Hope this helped a little.

The chart you link to pretty much says it all. I've had an Oppo DV-980H for awhile, it was my first upconverting player, and I'm pretty in love with it, especially for the price. These are my non-A/V guy impressions:

The video processing/ PAL to NTSC conversion aren't as up to date and pretty as the DV-983H, but really: it all works pretty beautifully. After hacking, it's handled every disc I've thrown at it (I mean "put in it"), all regions, DVD-Rs, etc. The machine doesn't look too hideous, the remote is cool, and generally it kicks a butt. Did I mention the under $200 thing?

The only problem the 980's given me is that it's fickle about when it chooses to play a disc from the last point stopped. Also load time is not amazing.

There are region-liberation hacks for the 983 (at VideoHelp.com, no less), if you go with that. If I were buying an Oppo today, that's what I'd want. BUT!...

While the 981 outperforms it, the 980's tuff enuf to keep most people happy. Unless there's one of those TVs involved that is bigger than a human body. Given your current output needs, and as the 983 is like, twice as expensive, maybe it's more prudent to go with the 980 and see what the options are when you've made that planned HD jump?

Have you tried this.

Pause the disc, hit the eject button and once the tray opens turn the power off, which causes the tray to close. The next time you hit power, the 981 asks if you want to resume the disc where it last stopped.

That pretty much sums up my current line of thinking. The 983 does look like it may have superior PAL decoding, and I do have a fair amount of PAL discs, but at the end of the day is it really worth >2X as much to me considering that either one's probably going to be a major improvement over the Cyberhome?

I failed to mention that my direct-view set is a 36" 4:3 Toshiba Cinema Series, a high-end analog set in its day, and it's probably not going to go away even when I get an HD set (although my wife keeps protesting that it's too big to relegate to eventual bedroom duty). The 980 sounds like it'll be a nice fit for now at a relatively cheap price. Perhaps it's time to send the Cyberhome off to a well-deserved retirement in my own personal DVD Player Museum next to the Panasonic A110 and Apex AD-600A, both of which still work just fine.

Nothing too technical to contribute, except that this tough little player has been able to handle every (relatively) clean disc I've put in it over the last year and a half. I'm really happy with it. A friend of mine was looking for a new player and I wanted to recommend this one. Is the 980 the upgraded version?

Dave, my Toshiba SD 3990 fits all of your criteria, if I understand them correctly. For further info, check out the Amazon page on it:

http://www.amazon.com/Toshiba-SD-3990-Prog...r/dp/B000EBRLHK


It plays everything I've ever put into it, including many discs that won't play on anything else I've tried. Someone gave me a bunch of CD-R's on which she'd burned Japanese TV shows off the computer. These things wouldn't play on anything I've got except the Toshiba, where they play just fine. I didn't even know you could burn video to a CD until I watched these discs.

Every PAL disc I've gotten plays fine on it, too. I think I tried the component video output once when I got my HDTV set, but I don't remember the result. I stuck with the DVD player I've already got in the living room for that.

The Toshiba cost me $130 cash at a Chinatown store in NYC. I had one before but that one became unusable when I accidentally knocked over a 13-inch monitor on it. :o (The setup in my bedroom is not the most sophisticated.) So I bought another one and I've been a little more careful with it. I plan to buy another one soon before they disappear from the market. It does almost everything I could possibly want. It even has a time display that gives you the entire running time of the disc being played. The only thing it doesn't do is take me back to the point I'd left off in a disc once I turn the machine off.

There are some pretty dire reviews of the Toshiba on that amazon page. This is what makes shopping for electronics such a pain. You find one that comes highly recommended and there's always someone to rip it to shreds in the feedback section.

I still have a functional CyberHome 500 in the living room and 320 in the bedroom. I bought the TruTech 320 to replace the thought to be failing CyberHome in the bedroom but it turned out to be a loose S-video cable. It still works, but I have to get up and fiddle with the cable sometimes or I lose picture. That's what you get, I guess, when you buy the cheap cables. But I couldn't see paying twice as much for a monster cable as I paid for the player itself. :P

Speaking of Monster Cable, have you folks seen THIS?

Wow, I hadn't even looked at those reviews when I linked the page. I've never had the problems that they talk about with either of the Toshiba machines I've used. (Knock wood--wait, there's no wood in my office, does a cardboard box--made from wood--count?)