Home > Consumer Reviews > Oppo DV-981HD Universal DVD Player with HDMI, 1080p Up-Converting, DivX & SACD

In theory, you don't need this device.

You've bought an HDTV screen, it's got input for your existing DVD player, and you'd think your swank screen's electronics would do a good job with the DVD's signal to give you a pretty good picture, but they don't. In fact it looks worse than your old TV.

OK, well, you've also got a stylish new blu-ray or HD-DVD player. Maybe the problem is the interconnect from your old DVD player. Your new stylish hi-def DVD uses HDMI -- surely either the screen itself or the swank new DVD player will make sure your DVD looks good on your new screen -- but it doesn't, in fact it still looks worse than your old TV.

In practice you really may not need this device. One of the scenarios painted above may be true for you. Your display or your hi-def player will do a good job of taking the DVD content and upsampling it for the hi-def screen. Perhaps there are screens or hi-def players on the market today that do this, but I don't own one of them. I can state with certainty that the base playstation 3 and the Sony KDL46XBR2 are not such products. Play a DVD straight to the XBR2, or through a playstation 3 to the XBR2 and you will want your old TV back. (Well, I did. Maybe anything looks better than your old TV.)

If, like me, you find your existing video library intolerable on your new hi-def rig, then you should consider this player. Like the other reviewers, I am very pleased with it. It makes the content watchable.

There are two provisos.

First, you have to read the instructions. The DV-981HD does not automatically detect and output in your screen's favorite format. Read the instructions, hit the right buttons, or you will not get any improvement because the DV-981HD will output in 480p and your screen will do it's usual lousy job of upconverting.

Second, no amount of processing is going to take an old 480p signal and make it look as good as a 1080p signal. You own Casino Royale on DVD, you see it on Blu-Ray at the store or a buddy's house, the DV-981HD is not going to make up the difference. Have reasonable expectations. This product will do a good job of making your existing DVDs look pretty good on your HD screen, but they are still going to look bad by comparison right after you've finished watching some 1080p flick. That's why you bought your swank new hi-def player in the first place.

Here's the net. If you have an existing DVD library you want to view, do not find that your current gear produces a good picture for your DVDs, and you have reasonable expectations for what your DVDs should look like -- then this player is for you.

Changes as of 5/24/07.....

Above I wrote: "In practice you really may not need this device. One of the scenarios painted above may be true for you. Your display or your hi-def player will do a good job of taking the DVD content and upsampling it for the hi-def screen. Perhaps there are screens or hi-def players on the market today that do this, but I don't own one of them. I can state with certainty that the base playstation 3 and the Sony KDL46XBR2 are not such products."

This is no longer true. The 1.8 SW release of the PS 3 does upscaling. It's good enough that I'm unhooking the Oppo to save space and clutter in the living room.

Just got this unit last week and I am very impressed with its elegance and performance. First of all, I have never seen an electronic device packaged with such TLC. Easy to open, clean packing materials; a nice little black protective cover wrapped lovingly around the unit; easy-to-ready user manual in a zip-loc bag. These are the little things that indicate that this company is trying to take that proverbial "extra step" to build a good reputation and ensure customer loyalty. It works guys!

The look of the unit is very sleek and pleasing. But the best thing about it is its performance. It plays everything I throw at it and it does it almost flawlessly.

To test the upconvert feature, I popped in "Star Wars: Episode I," and WOW! A clear improvement over my old JVC player. It really brings out the best in our Panasonic 42" plasma! Our plasma only ED, but the improvement in picture quality makes it seem like we upgraded to HD! Makes me want to watch all my DVD's again!

After setting the Region code to "0", I tried one of my Region 2 DVDs and ol' "OPPO" played it like a champ! OPPO also played DiVX with ease, along with mp3, jpg and many others.

So, consider me another of the OPPO converts! We no longer call it the DVD player...we just say "OPPO"!

Got this player yesterday and connected it to my 52" LCD TV through HDMI using 1080P/60 signal. I think I couldn't wipe out smile off my face for about an hour. Not only it plays every single format you can imagine, but doing it in stunning upconversion quality. This player consist the best tecnology of this world: Faraudja DCDi interlacer chip, DivX / Xvid playback and upconverion. It doesn't even have component output because this player has one purpose only: provide DVD upconversion for people with HDTV. I recommend to set your HDMI input to pixel-to-pixel mode (if it's avalible on your TV) and I guarantee you will love the picture this player produces.

I'm not gonna go into technical detail, as I can't add anything new to reviews that done before me. Packaging, output quality even included HDMI cable makes this player a winner and puts to shame any other "premium" manufacturers.

OK, so I was a little skeptical about how much of a difference this unit would make over my standard def Sony DVD player (NS755V) but as soon as I hooked it up I knew I'd made the right decision. The upconvered HD video is a marked improvement and quite obvious. The only concern I have is that in dark areas the unit seems to introduce some noise, but in well lit video it's amazing. Certainly worth the low price!

I was a little apprehensive about ordering a DVD player online from a company I had never heard about. But I'm glad I did. This is an awesome DVD player.

I recently bought a Sharp 42" 1080p LCD HDTV and I didn't want to take part in the format wars going on between Blu-Ray and HD-DVD. Plus those players are just to expensive right now. I decided to buy an upconverting DVD player that would convert regular DVDs to 1080p. I have to say that the Oppo produces images so fine that I personally can't tell them apart from real HD movies.

And the sound coming from the 5.1 analog outputs is so fabulous that I'm enjoying my SACD and DVD-Audio discs with new appreciation. I couldn't get sound from the digital coax output, though. I'm not blaming the player at this point; perhaps it's the cable or a loose connection somewhere. But I'm not too concerned right now since the 5.1 analog gives superior sound quality anyway, being uncompressed.

This player plays almost every kind of disc you can imagine (except the true HD discs). I had to have one that would play SACD and DVD-A, and this one does the trick.

Oppo even packages this player in classy style. The player comes in the box packaged in a nifty cloth pouch fastened with Velcro and the Oppo logo on the front. It wasn't simply wrapped in foam or plastic and fastened with tape. Not a real big deal, but I appreciate the extra little extras Oppo gives, including the HDMI cable that is provided.

It's a little more expensive than most regular DVD players, but it does so much more, and it does it so well. It's worth the price. I highly recommend it.