# Review: OPPO Digital OPDV971 DVD Player



## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

This player scored 94 on the DVD Benchmark, second only to the Denon DVD-5910. But the 5910 is over fifteen times the price. After hooking up the OPDV971H to my Hitachi PJTX100 via a DVI-D cable, I calibrated the picture and watched the Avia reference videos. The picture was a step-up, much like going from S-Video to component. I also tested the player's audio side with a DVD-Audio copy of In Blue from The Corrs. The audio fared well against my Yamaha RX-V1400.

The OPDV971H allowed me to get an excellent level of sharpness. I was unable to reduce the sharpness enough on my previous player, the JVC XV-SA602SL. The edging on diagonals is much smoother. And the de-interlacing and upscaling to 720p features allow me to send a native image to my PJTX100.

The unit was packaged extremely well, and enclosed in a fabric bag. The front is slim, stylish, and minimalist. The LCD display is very clear and displays feedback for any button pressed on the remote. The back is well laid-out, all connections are clearly labeled, and there was absolutely no flexing as I pushed cables into it. The remote is just as slim as the player and has a brushed metal face. There is a remote button for just about every function the player provides. And the player provides an excellent number of features. More features than I would expect from any player at any price.

I actually picked up the player by driving to OPPO's office in Mountain View. This let me save on shipping, not have to wait for a delivery at home, and also to get the player right away. I spoke there with Sally Li, about the player, their products, and why I decided to purchase their DVD player. She was very friendly and helpful, and that was also a nice side-benefit of picking up the player in-person. OPPO is very responsive to feedback, and my interaction with Sally only made that even more clear to me.

I also asked them about the lack of support for 2-2 cadence, as tested by Kris for the benchmark. The other guy there informed me that the 2-2 cadence flag only applies to certain older PAL sources that have been converted to DVD. So I don't have to worry about it for watching NTSC 30fps video sources. (OPPO has since released firmware to support 2-2 cadence flags.)


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

Can you ask her why they don't upconvert output to component? 

If I play insanely-paranoid  ,I can understand the new HD players having the *ability* to restrict HD content to digital-only output (by using HDMI *and* turning on the encryption content bit), because digital copies could be made but putting into an existing non-HD source is just ridiculous. 

The source DVD isn't HD, so just because the firmware on the player can pretend it is an HD source doesn't mean they should restrict it to HD (esp since there is no encryption bit).


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

Based on what I can tell, not from any real information, I believe OPPO focused heavily on the DVI performance and not on any of the analog performance. This would result in a cheaper and better product, being more focused in terms of development effort. Kris made clear that unless you are going to use the DVI output, you should not by the OPPO.

I don't think it had anything to do with copy protection.


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

Unforunately, even in these own forums, people are recommending that box for analog. 

Copy protection, unfortunately, yes. Here's the real kicker: it WILL upconvert non-CSS disks (home movies) Explain that one.


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## bobgpsr (Apr 20, 2006)

toecheese said:


> Copy protection, unfortunately, yes. Here's the real kicker: it WILL upconvert non-CSS disks (home movies) Explain that one.



You mean "backup" discs :devil:


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## toecheese (May 3, 2006)

You know, I didn't think of that... hmmmm. Maybe I will get one after all...:T


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## Josuah (Apr 26, 2006)

toecheese said:


> Copy protection, unfortunately, yes. Here's the real kicker: it WILL upconvert non-CSS disks (home movies) Explain that one.


Really? I wasn't aware of that. Is that stated in the manual somewhere? I haven't tried the component outputs myself, with CSS or non-CSS discs.


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