Which oppo? (combined thread-Differences Between Oppo Players)

[KevInCinci]

I'm looking to buy a <$200 DVD player and everyone here seems to like the Oppos. My question is, given my particular setup, which one (the 970 or 971) going to give me the better picture? I'm using the Yamaha HTR-5990 receiver and the Optoma HD72 projector. I originally planned to go all-HDMI and in fact ran just an HDMI cable back to my projector. If I get the 971, I will have to use the DVI-HDMI cable to my receiver, then the long HDMI cable from the receiver to the projector. If I go with the 970, I can run the long HDMI directly from the projector to the DVD player and avoid the receiver for video if that helps at all. Either way I will have to run a separate cable for sound, unless I go all HDMI from DVD-rec-proj with the 970.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

Kevin

 

[j_garcia]

As a stand alone player, the 971 will most likely give you the better picture. Your projector is 720p, so I would expect the best thing to feed it would be 720p, and my understanding is the 971 is better for that than the 970. Still waiting for the AH review of the 970 though...

Video through the recevier isn't much of an issue these days, though I typically prefer not to do it if I can avoid it - the main reason, you have to have the receiver on to watch any video sources that run through it. That may not be an issue with a DVD player though....I always have the receiver on with DVDs because that is the only thing I have the audio of the player connected to.

 

[KevInCinci]

My receiver is the only thing cranking out audio, too, so it will always be on when I'm watching movies. I was leaning toward the 971 in any case, so that looks like the way to go. Thanks for the advice.

Cheers,

Kevin

 

[j_garcia]

Somehow, I neglected the fact that you would be using the receiver for audio with the projector...

 

[majorloser]

Spend the few bucks more for the 971.

 

[supervij]

Was it mentioned here that Oppo is releasing a new 971? It's basically got the same video guts as the original 971, but with SACD support, HDMI out, and it's black. That'd be the one I'd wait for if I had a digital TV.

cheers,
supervij

 

[KevInCinci]

I hadn't heard about a new version coming out. In any case, I'm using a borrowed older DVD player and really didn't want to wait a few months (or however long) for something that will really take advantage of the rest of my system. The HDMI would be nice, though...

Cheers,

Kevin

 

[j_garcia]

I think it was touched on some time back that they might release a player that is higher than the 971, but I haven't heard anything since then about it.

 

[SMM]

Help: Oppo 970 vs 971

Planning to run this through the new Pioneer Elite VSX-84TXSi to an InFocus IN76 projector. Can you help me understand which is the better choice and why. Thks!

 

[supervij]

I think if you have an external scaler, you might want to go with the 970, since it passes 480i over HDMI.

But I think the original 971 would be more suited for you; it's got much better video processing for digital connections, which I assume is what you're using.

I mentioned it elsewhere that I read that Oppo is planning a "new" version of the 971, which will have HDMI out, SACD support, and will be black in colour, but all the same video processing that made the original 971 such a hit with people. Depending on your tastes, you might want to hold out for that, which is supposed to be released late August.

cheers,
supervij

 

[j_garcia]

http://forums.audioholics.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23970