 DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552
aficionado
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OP
aficionado
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552 |
Well, my nice Onkyo 804 receiver arrived yesterday, and I spend all evening hooking it up to my 43" Samsung 720p DLP, PS3 and cable box, and Rotel CDP. Everything works fine through my M60s, while still waiting for my surrounds and center to be shipped from Axiom. I am especially pleased with HDMI (video and audio) capabilities of my new receiver, as I was very nervous they would not work for a reason. Have you ever got that feeling with brand new equipment and technology? Fortunately everything went smoothly on: 1 - PS to Onkyo 804 to TV (HDMI and HDMI) 2 - Cox HD DVR to Onkyo 804 to TV (Component Video, Optical Audio to receiver and HDMI again from receiver to TV). Have not yet tried my Rotel RB-1080 2X200 watts at Onkyo's preouts. I have been itching to have a DVD-Audio player (I actually own 3 DVD-A discs, with no player!!!) and have seen several interesting titles for sale. Unfortunately, PS3 does SACD and NOT DVD-A. I also want to try an upscaling player with standard DVDs, knowing that my TV can do that, but why not trying to see the difference. Certainly OPPO comes to mind, reading all forum posts, reviews etc. I have also contacted their excellent customer service with questions on my specific setup. They suggested 970 due to my tv being DLP and problems that Farudja chip in their other two model has had. They also said that audio performance is best at 970. Do you guys agree? Any other brands come to mind? I can't just buy without your opinion. Thanks!
Axiom M60s, QS4s, VP100 Onkyo TX-SR804 Oppo 970HD
Rotel RB-1080/RCD-1072 REL Q150E sub, PS 3
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 11
frequent flier
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frequent flier
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 11 |
thyname, I have a similar TV as yours, samsung 61 with 1080p. I also have the Oppo 981 player that works very well with regular DVDs. Video performance is amazing for this price range. As far as SACD and 2 channel performance, its DAC is not that good (see below).
I bought it for its video rather than audio performance.
Disclaimers:
1. I have only 1 SACD (Dianna Krall), so very limited.
2. 2-channel performance was compared with Marantz DAC and Musiland DAC.
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,569
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,569 |
Here is a discussion on the AVS Forum of the relative merits of the 970 and 981. http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=785398From the AVS Forum posted by Bislander: Quote:
The internal DAC on the DV-981HD and the DV-970HD are the same Cyrus
Logic chipset. They are rated at 192Khz/24-bit. Bass management is
non-user adjustable. If you set the speakers to Small, all information
80Hz and lower will be sent to the subwoofer. Large will bypass the
subwoofer all together.
Both players convert DSD to PCM for multi-channel analog and HDMI
connections.
The DV-970HD is better designed for audio performance as it is a single,
4-layer PCB board which has the possibility of removing noise and other
interference artifacts. The DV-981HD is designed around 3 daughter
boards connected by ribbons. This lack of shielding can cause a loss of
audio fidelity.
Our DV-970HD has been favored over other DVD players for its price
point, and has been likened to players several times its cost for
DVD-Audio and SACD audio playback quality. The DV-981HD has similar
audio performance, with higher quality video de-interlacing and
scaling.
The video DAC in the DV-970HD is a MTK solution. We do not generally
recommend the use of the component output, for the simple reason that
they are protected by CSS. If a disc is CSS encrypted, then we will be
forced to 480p only. We generally prefer the HDMI output of the
DV-981HD for plasma displays.
On our Panasonic TH-42PX50U we have macroblocking errors with the
DV-981HD, but they are infrequent and only a minor inconvenience.
Best Regards,
Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
I also have a Samsung DLP using an Oppo 981 and have only noticed macroblocking once in about 50 movies and uncounted hours of SD and HD TV viewing. The only time I’ve seen it is in one brief cut near the beginning of “Master and Commander” where the ships boats are pulling the ship into the fogbank.
3M80 2M22 6QS8 2M2 1EP500 Sony BDP-S590 Panny-7000 Onkyo-3007 Carada-134 Xbox Buttkicker AS-EQ1
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552
aficionado
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OP
aficionado
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552 |
Thank you for the link to AVS forum, very informative. It looks like I'll be fine with 970 for audio, since it is about $80 cheaper. Considering the above description and price I would go w/ 970, but I do have two questionmarks:
1 - Superiority of Farudja chip at 981 in terms of upscaling
2 - Futureproof. I have a 720p tv right now, but I may have a 1080p in a year or two.
Any other brands? It seems like Oppo is the only one out there. I would not mind paying more than for Oppo.
Axiom M60s, QS4s, VP100 Onkyo TX-SR804 Oppo 970HD
Rotel RB-1080/RCD-1072 REL Q150E sub, PS 3
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7
axiomite
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axiomite
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 6,379 Likes: 7 |
Everyone talks about the Oppo because it is the "sleeper" of the industry right now. It's inexpensive, slightly ugly, and performs WAY out of proportion to its price, especially the ones with the Faroujda processors.
Personally, if there were any chance of you using this as your primary video player I would go with the 981. It's the Faroujda processing that catapults the Oppos from middle of the pack to the head of the pack.
The Panasonic S97 and similar are probably next best in terms of high quality video for the $$, but I don't think they do DVD-A and SACD. The Pioneer 587 (which I have) was the best DVD-A/SACD player for the $$ but ranked much lower on the video performance scale.
There is a humongous list which ranks the video performance of about 150 players, does anyone have a link handy ? It's worth reading just to see how "out of place" the Faroujda-based Oppo is on that list.
M60ti, VP180, QS8, M2ti, EP500, PC-Plus 20-39
M5HP, M40ti, Sierra-1
LFR1100 active, ADA1500-4 and -8
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,458
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: Sep 2004
Posts: 11,458 |
Quote:
There is a humongous list which ranks the video performance of about 150 players, does anyone have a link handy ?
Is this it? Secrets
::::::: No disrespect to Axiom, but my favorite woofer is my yellow lab :::::::
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552
aficionado
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OP
aficionado
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 552 |
Thanks John for your post. I am going to use my existing Rotel RCD-1072 dedicated CD player for red book CDs, and my Playstation 3 for Blu-Ray and SACDs. The new upscaling, universal DVD player would be for standard DVDs (which I mostly rent from Netflix) as well as for DVD-Audio. My decision had to be made between Oppo 981 (superior video) and 970 (superior audio, inferior video - no Faroudja chip and $80 less expensive). Unless I really find something interesting on your Pioneer, or through that list that you mention.
Axiom M60s, QS4s, VP100 Onkyo TX-SR804 Oppo 970HD
Rotel RB-1080/RCD-1072 REL Q150E sub, PS 3
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,351
connoisseur
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connoisseur
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,351 |
Is the 971 better than the 981 for audio? Is it similar to the 970?
Thanks.
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654
shareholder in the making
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shareholder in the making
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 10,654 |
Ravi, there doesn't appear to be any good reason(including the AVS post)why the 970, 971, or 981 would differ audibly; any differences would relate to video.
-----------------------------------
Enjoy the music, not the equipment.
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Re: DVD-A/SACD, upconverting (upscaling) players
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Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 48
buff
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buff
Joined: Feb 2003
Posts: 48 |
971 doesn't do SACD Quote:
Is the 971 better than the 981 for audio? Is it similar to the 970?
Thanks.
Jeff
2x m22ti and 1x VP150
Panasonic SA-XR55S
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