OPPO DV-980H Mini Review First Impression Its clean, compact and simple. That's 3 words to describe the packaging. No messy packaging like what most DVD players do, no bulky or double boxing and its so easy to unpack.
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I just simply love the colour of black, it just have that expensive look for such a cheap price tag. Its slim, sleek and has that sexy appeal that makes it stands out from any ordinary DVD player.
Oppo has finally decided to have the upscaling indicator on the front panel. Four indicators, 480/576, 720p, 1080i and 1080p which will light up in blue whenever you upscale to your desire mode. User can now easily see setting for upsampling via front-panel LED display.
The display also seems to be bigger for better viewing especially when you are sitted far away. The control pad has a very refreshing look which spots a circular navigation control.
The remote control looks the same but with a few more additional functions. The one button which caught my attention was the "capture" button. You can capture your favorite screen shot to use as background image instead of the Oppo logo (which I find annoying at times). One refreshing look about the remote is the colour (dark grey). Having to own both the 970 and 981, I was wondering when are they every going to make a black or grey remote (again I just have this thing for black).
One great change i notice is the two-prong IEC power connection. For the audiophile enthusiast, it simply means upgrading to audiophile quality powercords.
VideoThe 980 is hooked up to an Onkyo 875 which has the Reon HQV. Although iam in favour of using the Reon to upscale all incoming image I really wanted to see how the Mediatek on the 980 faired. The last A/B comparison between the 981 and the 970 had a clear winner which was the 981 due to the superior chipset on the DCDI Faroudja chipset. Mind you the 970 was really impressive for the price tag of $299 compared to those DVD players you find on the street.
Pop in Peter Jacksons "King Kong" as my test disc. Upscale the image to 1080i since thats the max my display could take. There seem to be slight improvement on the 980 over the 970, the 970 had this wash out look. This time round i can see more colour richness, the thick jungle scene are detailed with clear definition of different shades of green.
Overall the video portion was pretty decent and an improvement over the 970. If you want the best picture quality i would say the 981 is still the clear winner.
I have decided to set the Oppo 980 to 480i and let the Reon do the upscaling since its the best de-interlacing/scaler in the market now. Well it better be for a price tag of $2000.
(Updated 010108)
My last test was on a 32inch 720p/1080i Sharp LCD display, this time round i have the opportunity to run it on a Full HD 1080p Panasonic 42PY700H plasma display.
Using back the same test disk (Peter Jacksons King Kong), I upscaled the 980 to 1080p direcetly to the display. The Onkyo 875 was set on pass through so no video upscaling was used on the REON HQV.
Now playing the 980 upscaled to 1080p on a 1080p display does make a very huge difference. The colours was so rich and images are sharper.
In fairness to this test, the last display can only output 720p/1080i. Having a better (Full HD) and bigger display does make a difference, it really shows the true capability of the 980 PQ.
AudioNow this is one area where I am eager and excited to test out. Why? Simple, finally an Oppo player with HDMI 1.2a which means DSD that can be stream over to any receiver which are 1.2a and above.
Here is a picture of the Oppo set up page where i have to change the SACD setting from pcm to DSD.
Pure DSD/SACD sound pass through from the Oppo 980 to the receiver. Immaculate sound, clarity and impressive imaging. Playing both DSD and SACD was excellent.
Next test, analog since it was mention by the people in nu-force that the
best sound of the 980 is actually through analog connection. You can read more about it here
audiocircle I was suprise to find out that nu-force was actually behind the making of the 980 audio section. That goes to show alot about the audio quality of the 980 as a CDP.
Here is a quote by nuforce-casey
"There are special circuit and audio-grade Opamps used in 980H. The audio grade capacitors are specially custom ordered from Japan for its good sound. We help Oppo fine-tuned the circuit and advice some layout change to further improve the sonic. Oppo also enlisted another major audio equipment supplier for advice (whom they prefer to remain anonymous)."Pop in my favourite CD Ayo, first track "Down on my knees". Guitar strings are distinctively precise, clear vocals and pumping bass. Wow Iam really impressed that the Oppo 980 can do a really good job as a standalone CDP.
Next test DVD-A, put on Blue Man Group and i thought i was in a live concert. The drums, the kick snares, high hats, you name it all came out where they were suppose to sound. Incredible sound even from 2 channel listening! Now this makes me wanna buy more DVD-A as the sound quality is really excellent.
Oh did I mention that this is the first ever DVD player that has 7.1 channel? Yes the 980 can output 7.1 as the other models 981 and 970 only has 5.1 channel.
Well there is going to be more analog listening and further reviews to add on about the sound. There is still so much to offer but that limited time for me to hear.
ConclusionA great improvement over the Oppo 970. In fact it is a fantastic overall improvement and replacement to the 970. It has a pretty good video play back and offers upscaling all the way to 1080p.
The audio portion is what really impresses me. Getting nu-force involve in the audio portion shows a great deal in having the best sound reproduction on the Oppo 980H. I love what they have done to it and would strongly recommend anyone looking for a high quality sounding CDP at a fraction of the price.
Darthfunk
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