Oppo DV-981HD vs. DV-983H

[Pyrrho]

Anyone with experience with both the Oppo DV-981HD and the new DV-983H? I am planning on buying one of them, but am unsure which I want. Is the DV-983H significantly better than the DV-981HD?

I am planning on using the HDMI for both audio and video, so the D/A converters in the players are irrelevant to me, and I also do not have a DLP TV, so the macroblocking issue is not a concern either. I am primarily concerned with picture quality of the players, not extra features (like a USB connection, etc.).

I can afford either, if necessary, but I would like to save money if the difference between these players isn't significant. If the difference between them is significant, I would rather buy the better player.

I have read reviews of both, and both are highly regarded. But I have not seen reviews comparing the two players.

Which of these players should I buy?

 

[j_garcia]

Do you already have a Blu-ray player and/or are you considering one? If it were me, and concerned mainly with PQ, I'd get the 981 (or even the 980) and put the rest towards a BD player.

 

[Pyrrho]

Do you already have a Blu-ray player and/or are you considering one? If it were me, and concerned mainly with PQ, I'd get the 981 (or even the 980) and put the rest towards a BD player.

I will probably eventually get a Blu-Ray player, but I want to get the best, or at least reasonably close to the best, picture quality I can from my DVDs, some of which will probably never be re-released on Blu-Ray.

Also, I need the player to deal with PAL and be region free. The Oppo players are all supposed to be easy to make region free and the DV-981HD and the DV-983H are supposed to be better at upconverting PAL to HD @ 60Hz than the Oppo DV-980H (which is also supposedly not so good from a video standpoint compared with the DV-981HD).

So, unless you know of a Blu-Ray player that is as good as these Oppo players at dealing with upconverting DVD and dealing with PAL and being region free, I am not interested in getting it for this purpose. And, of course, it would also need to work properly (for an explanation of that, just look at the reviews of Blu-Ray players at Amazon to see all of the complaints about so many of them freezing up during playback, refusing to play, etc.).

 

[j_garcia]

The numerous complaints are potentially people who don't update their firmware, since many are not used to that. I am not sure about any BD players being region free and capable of PAL to NTSC however. The 980 is not quite as good as the 981 video wise, but that is like saying a Ferrari F355 is not as good as an F430...and of course the audio portion is better on the 980 vs the 981 due to a design difference. However, in terms of PAL to NTSC, the 981 is going to be the clear winner from what I have read. The Oppos can be made region free in minutes. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with the 983 because for that price, you are in Blu-ray territory and the PQ is considerably better IMO (not having seen the 983's capabilities yet) than any upscaling player I've seen.

 

[Soundman]

How about the PS3? How well does it upconvert regular DVD's? I've been looking at this issue as well, but also for CD playback and had considered the PS3 since it plays DVD, blu-ray, as well as CD's and SACD's. I've really considered going this route, but haven't been set on it since it's hard to say how well a universal type player compares to a dedicated player. Anyone else have some experience with the PS3 that could shed some light on this? This option could save some money in the long run.

 

[obscbyclouds]

How about the PS3? How well does it upconvert regular DVD's? I've been looking at this issue as well, but also for CD playback and had considered the PS3 since it plays DVD, blu-ray, as well as CD's and SACD's. I've really considered going this route, but haven't been set on it since it's hard to say how well a universal type player compares to a dedicated player. Anyone else have some experience with the PS3 that could shed some light on this? This option could save some money in the long run.

I have a PS3, and an Oppo 981. PQ is a toss-up between the two. Some DVD's look marginally better on the Oppo, others on the PS3. If I had to put it into words, the Oppo is probably sharper, where the PS3 is softer/smoother. With poorer quality DVD's, the Oppo does signifcantly more artifacting in dark scenes than does the PS3. I'm using both @ 1080i over HDMI.

Mostly I use the Oppo for Multi-Channel SACD/DVD-A, and PAL DVD's. It is in fact the simpliest, easiest way to play PAL DVD's with good quality IMO.

The one thing that frustrates me about using the PS3 as a CD player, is the 1-2 second pause it puts between every track. SQ over HDMI is comparable to the Oppo in every way. I only have a 40GB PS3, so I can't and don't use it for SACD's.