Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Home Theater To Blu-ray... Or not to Blu-ray

I have to agree with Homedad on the comment about sound. Everyone always asks about picture comparison between upconversion and Blu-ray. Yes the picture is much better but the newer codecs on more recent BD's is incredible.

I am using a Denon 2500 BD player and an Oppo 981. On a standard DVD, I find the pictures very similar. I will usually use the Oppo to play a SD because of a slower load time on the Denon. Although,I should mention the Denon loads faster than my old Sony BDP-300.

Greg

I just checked out a short article on Oppo's soon to be released blue ray player and it looks like it will take the cake with so much more to offer, so I'll be holding out for it, even if I have to wait six months (or trying really really hard).

Cam

I have a related question and figured not starting a new thread might be prudent.

So I use my sony dvd player for playing CDs also and am not ready to make the leap to SACD or DVD audio yet.

Do any of you guys aout there have any recs for good standard dvd players which also function as good audio sources.

One option is the Oppo 980H .

This has 7 channel stereo output, which would be great for now and also SACD capability for future.

Thanks for your input

Sam
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Denon 3808-2M80v2-VP150v2-EP350v3-2QS4

I have the 980h. It is great for SACD/DVD-Audio. For regular DVDs, I would recommend the 981HD (slightly more expensive, but much better playback from what I have seen at a friend's place).

(I assume here that you have an HDTV; if not, then the 980 will be great at an amazing price).

Thanks,

I looked at the comparison chart 980 vs 981 and I can not figure out the difference in the audio capability that would account for the difference in the audio quality from a standad dvd disc.

And yes I do have HDTV, it's a 46 inch sony bravia which is 1080i.

The difference will be in the picture. Sorry for the confusion. Audio-wise, they are identical.

Check what the native resolution of your TV is. for example 720x1280 or 1080x1920, or 768x1366.

1080i is a type of video signal. Most TV's that have pixel structure of 720x1280 will normally say 1080i compatible(which means the TV processes the signal to the native resolution of your TV.

Why is this important?? Because you might have an option on your DVD player or STB to choose 720P or 1080i. Many find the 1080i doesnt look as good on their TV as the 720P because of the native resolution of their set.

I don't agree with this at all. I think my PS3 does a pretty good job upscaling DVD's. Crappy source is crappy source but movies that had good transfers to begin with look very nice - better than they did in their best SD glory.

For what it's worth, I had a respected (at least on AVSFORUM) tech calibrate my Samsung 1080P DLP last November and he thought I would prefer the PS3 to the Oppo upscaling player I also have. I would say they're close enough that I really don't think much about it.

In the end I bought the Oppo out of curiosity and to play British TV DVD's my cousin started sending me as gifts so I avoided the feeling of redundant purchases.

To further digress, 'Peep Show' is hysterical and I wouldn't have ever known without my Oppo (or youtube :D)

-Nick

Regarding the Oppo’s.

They all serve a purpose and were built with individual needs in mind. The 981 has the best deinterlacing / up conversion chip, but it’s not so great for audio. There was a time when I could recite the different chip models and why one was better than the other, but I’m not too bright and had to make room for new data storage between the ears. However, I do recall that the 970 and 980 share similar audio decoders and both have better SQ than the 981. I don’t know much about Oppo’s new model, so I can’t comment on it other than it’s expernsive. The 970 was originally designed for folks who use an outboard video processor. It was, at the time of release, one of the only DVD players that would output native 480i via HDMI in a digital format. Prior this machine, it was standard practice for videophiles who use output processors to pay someone to modify DVD players with a Serial Data Interface connection that tapped directly off the MPEG decoder. This is what VP users want; unadulterated raw data for the VP to do its magic and the 970 fit the bill nicely. Then Oppo upped the anti with the 980. Not only did it output 480i via HDMI, it also outputs SACD via HDMI in its native DSD format. The 980 also handles the video output better than the 970. The 970 changes the color space from 4:2:2 to 4:4:4. The 980 outputs true 4:2:2. The 980 also has 7 channel analogue outputs. It uses the same (or very similar) audio decoders as the 970 did. However, if you want your DVD player to do the deinterlacing, the 981 will do a better job.

I have a PS3, 970 and a 981 with SDI. I’ve done a fair bit of experimenting with all of them feeding my video processor, and also with the VP out of the chain. Leaving the VP out, the 981 does have the better picture than the 970 or PS3. I rank the 981 first, then the 970, then the PS3. I am not impressed with the PS3 as an up converting DVD player, but I’m sitting 12’ away from a screen that’s 8’ wide. If you have a smaller display, the differences become less pronounced. When I use the VP, there’s no comparison.

Now depending on your display, and how well it deinterlacing and up-scales, you may be better off with a DVD player like the 980 and send the display the raw 480i data and let it do all work. I think the added audio performance of the 980 is worth the risk when you consider the marginal video gains that the 981 has over it.

Or, if you are not in a hurry, wait for Oppo’s blue ray player. I’ve been hearing very positive things about this machine. And knowing Oppo’s history with outstanding products at reasonable prices, I’m sure it will be a dandy.

Thanks for the info, this definitely helps. I like the idea of sending raw data to denon 3808 and letting it to do the up-conversion of the signal.

Even I was thinking about waiting for the oppo blu ray and using netflix for my dvd source. The membership is only 1-2 dollars more a month.

Sam