Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater Oppo DV-970 vs DV-981

I’ve got all three Oppo’s.

The 970 is the only player that has the “capability” to route HD content over Component. However, unless you know how to hack through the HDMI compliant handshaking, all you will get through component is 480P. I’m not certain, but I believe some crafty hackers have figured out how to do this.

The 970 also does a fairly good job at sending 1080i and 720P to a display devise via HDMI. The 970 does a VERY good job at sending 480i over HMDI, and is one of a very small crop of players to do this. This is an important feature to videophiles who use external video processors or have display devices with excellent internal video processors.

The 981 does a very good job at sending up converted 1080P to a display device via HDMI. The 981 also has one of the best MPEG decoders available, but unless you know how to modify this player with a SDI card and have an external video processor with the SDI input, you’ll never see the difference. I haven't looked, but I do not think the 981 has component outputs. (not sure why I haven't noticed that, maybe because I don't care)

If you do not want to pull HDMI to your projector, go with the 970. If you want a better picture, you’ll have to pull HDMI and go with the 981. If you can figure out how to hack the 970 to send 720P or 1080i via component, that might be the best option. And if you do figure out how, send me a PM with instructions because I have big screen TV that will display 720P, but it has no HDMI or DVI inputs.

If you have an external video processor or a display with a great VP, I would pick up the 970 and output 480i to that VP or display device.

And as a side note on just how good the 970 does with HDMI 480i, I have a SDI modified 981 and external VP (DVDO VP-50) with a SDI module (at a cost of around $900 for the SDI mod and module). I have it and the 970 going into the VP. I have tried over and over again to see if there is an improvement with the SDI mod by switching back and forth between the two, playing the same DVD (I have two copies of several different DVDs - long story involving booze and my nemisis, Amazon). I can not tell a difference. Oppo has done a very good job with the 970. It’s one hell of a player and probably the best value in Video right now.