I am considering this player for my future HT setup. I am not sure how much into SACD I will get, but I am thinking once I have a player that plays it, I may get into it.

Likewise they have a model that is cheaper (the 971) that only plays DVD-A. Do I really need to spend $50 more CAD for SACD or will DVD-A do just fine for me?

Other than that, the new 981 upconverts video to 1080p as well, it is an extreamly cheap and versatile player that does it all, it seems.

Just giving you guys the heads up on a $229 player that does SACD, DVD-A, and upconverts video to 1080p

And Sorry mdrew, it only has HDMI 1.1

DV-981HD

EDIT: Shucks, I was meaning to post this in the Stereo forum...if it could be moved, that would be awsome...

Buy it if you have HDMI or DVI. I've got the 971 and 970 and can vouch for them. They are great little players. This one does me no good as I need 480i via HMDI. The 970 does that for me......

Good thing it doesn't have 1.3 because nothing else i have does either.

Well, the 971 has the better processing chip for visuals, but doesn't have SACD support, the 970 has SACD support but not as good of a video processing chip.

the 981 has the best of both players (it looks like). I guess I am just wondering if SACD is more popular than DVD-A. Or do the audiophiles buy both formats?

I'm not sure if one is better than the other, but the catalogs are certainly different.

If you do get into multichannel Hi Rez music, due to the differing catalogs, you will appreciate the ability to play both DVD-A and SACD. I absolutely love them both but, though I can give no earthly reason why, I slightly prefer SACD.

I like both formats also, but like Jack I give the edge to SACD, it just seems to me everything sounds better on SACD, I'm not sure if its the recordings or the material.

My experience went the other way. For whatever reason, I've liked the DVD-A versions better than SACD. I have the last two Bjork albums in both formats, and DVD-A did more for me. However, I have a fairly cheap universal player, and aren't there very few players that actually process SACD's DSD correctly?

C.V.

I have the 971 and the picture is amazing!!! I wonder if it's worth upgrading to the 981 for the SACD and 1080P (even though my TV only supports 1080i)...

I like the black look a lot, too!

I seem to remember reading the 971 beats the 981 for picture, and to only get the 981 if you needed things like SACD support.

My recollection was "971 has better picture quality than the 970, only get the 970 if you need SACD etc...".

The 981 seems to be a brand new offering which gives 970 "play everything" with 971 "spiffy video quality", no compromising.

The local reseller is out of stock or I would have bought one right this minute

Yes, that sounds right now that you mention it.

So 981 is the PQ of the 971 with the SACD of the 970? Sounds like a match made in heaven.

I just read on AVS forum regarding the 981 and SACD support that Oppo digital wrote a consumer telling him that the 970 will have better SACD playback than the 981.

the 970 has superior SACD and DVD-A support to all their other players.

But the 981 has SACD support, DVD-A support, and the 971 video quality...I may just go with the 981 for future proofing (1080p) and the SACD support.

Those of you interested in the 981 might find this OPPO Digital DV-981HD User Review helpful.

It looks like a nice player. I'm considering it to go with my 1080p tv. I'd rather pay $230 now for an upscaling player that will send 1080p to my tv than go with Blu-Ray or HD-DVD now and pick the wrong horse. That can wait. I wonder how much different the SACD playback is? Is the difference enough that it would be a deal breaker? I don't know. I would like to get rid of another component (my Sony SACD player) and go with the universal player.