I've been kicking around the idea of upgrading my DVD player for a while now, and since I can't make up my mind on my own, I thought I would solicit the help of you all.

My current player is a Panasonic RP79 (same as the highly acclaimed RP82 of a couple years ago, but a five disc carousel). I've been hearing all of this great stuff about players such as the Oppo's, etc. and am wondering if it makes any sense to "upgrade." My television is a Toshiba 50HX81 rear projection, about 5 years old, so considering this, would there be much improvement first of all in picture quality as the Toshiba does not accept HDMI or DVI; just component video?

Secondly, and actually maybe more important to me at this point, would there be much improvement in the audio, especially DVD-A? I know this medium has not caught on and seems to be dying a slow death, but I love the high resolution audio that this technology provides. Would I be improving the audio from what the Panny is giving me, especially since the player is delivering it to my Outlaw 990 pre/pro directly via analog and I would assume bypassing the Outlaw's DAC's? Am I correct on that?

If I upgrade, what direction should I go in especially considering my desire to give my Axioms the greatest opportunity to "shine?" (Not that they're not doing a pretty good job of it already)

Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I really can't offer any advice on the video quality side.

I will offer my $.02 that gaining the ability to play high-res audio sources such as SACD or DVD-A may be a worthwhile upgrade if you're into music. I do not own any DVD-A's, but I have several SACD's. The sound quality is fantastic.

You are correct. SACD and DVD-A media are connected via analog inputs, so the D/A conversion takes place in the player, not in the AVR/Preamp. Your preamp will do nothing to the audio signal but control the volume. Bass management is done in the player. I currently own and enjoy a Denon DVD-1920, but as soon as I buy an HDTV I'll be upgrading to an Oppo for the upconverting.

The Oppo will give you a good bang for the buck, especially since the Panny you have doesn't upconvert.

Thanks for the input. Will upconverting make much of a difference considering that my monitor is a rear projection model with component video inputs instead of DVI and/or HDMI? And on the audio side, will the audio improve with the Oppo over the Panny which does handle DVD-Audio discs, I just wasn't sure of the quality of it's DAC's?

I guess where I'm at is that last year I invested in the audio side of my HT by going with the Epic 80 system (except the sub for now) and went with the Outlaw 990/7500 combo to power them making my DVD player the "weak link" at this point. How much am I holding my system back by sticking with the Panny RP79 as my source?

Korkster,

One thing to keep in mind if you decide to go the Oppo route for SACDs and DVD-As. As of two weeks ago, the Oppo did not have the capability of time-delaying to surrounds if the surrounds are further from the listener's position than the fronts.

High high resolution can your TV go? (ie: 720p, 1080i, etc.).

If component is all you can input, then go with the oppo 970 (that can play SACD and DVD-A). You will have to get a hack to allow the player to upconvert DVD's to high resolutions via the component cable, I have read that it is very easy to do.

If you want to explore this option, goto avsforums.com and do a search for Oppo 970 hack or something.

-Hutz

Oppo's are the best for the money right now. However, if you do not have DVI or HDMI, double check what the player can output via component before purchasing. I do remember that some Oppo's can only output 480i through component, but 1080i or 1080p in the 981's case through DVI/HDMI.

check the specs at www.oppodigital.com

If you cannot take full advantage of a new player in terms of video performance, and don't need support for other audio formats, then you won't gain much at all with a new player.
That being said, I love my Oppo 981

I love my Oppo 981 as well. Just last night I wanted to watch a video that was on my media center. I extend the media center to the media room via my Xbox 360. Well, my Xbox is in the shop getting fixed for etching disks. Remembering something about Oppo supporting various video file formats (AVI, WMA, etc), I went down to my office and burned the AVI file on a DVD in regular data format. Three minutes later I was watching all the antics of this weekend's easter egg hunt on the Oppo. Amazing. Its flexibility like this that really builds my loyalty to a product and brand.

One thing to note. Don't get the Oppo 981 if you don't have HDMI. There are no component outputs on that model.