Back in the days before the HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats arrived to tempt intrepid, deep-pocketed movie fans, someone shopping for a standard DVD player was well-advised to check out "upconverting" models — players capable of generating 720p, 1080i, or even 1080p video signals from the standard 480i signal encoded on DVDs. Even with recent high-def disc developments, upconverting players still remain a viable force in the marketplace. Though they can't quite make a silk purse from a sow's ear — upconverted standard-def signals never look as good as real high-definition — a player that does a good job of upscaling DVDs can make them look worthy of displaying on your new HDTV.

One such model that's received a bit of buzz is the Oppo DV-981HD upconverting DVD player. Although this machine doesn't play high-def discs, it can handle just about any other media that you throw at it, from regular CDs and DVDs to multichannel Super Audio CDs and DVD-Audio discs. Remember those?

Other disc types the DV-981HD supports include Kodak Picture CDs, discs loaded with DivX video and Windows Media Audio (WMA) files, and HDCD-encoded CDs. That last item is something of an audio curiosity: a method of mastering CD audio that's supposed to allow for extended dynamic range on discs. Back in the mid-'90s, audiophiles shelled out big bucks for HDCD-compatible hardware; here it's thrown in almost as an afterthought! The player can also be easily modified to Region 0 status (one that will play all discs regardless of region code) through a few simple button pushes on its remote control — do a search on one of the Web A/V forums to get the gory details.

On the video side, the Oppo can deliver 480p, 720p, 1080i, or 1080p output from its HDMI jack. Deinterlacing is courtesy of the Faroudja/Genesis DCDi (Directional Correlation Deinterlacing) system, and the chip also provides True Life video processing to help flesh out details in upconverted pictures. Oddly, Oppo chose not to provide a component-video output, so you'll need an HDTV with an HDMI input (or an HDCP-compliant DVI input with an adapter) to take advantage of all the image processing. Both composite- and S-video jacks can be found on the back panel, alongside coaxial and optical digital and six-channel analog audio outputs.

Standing just 1.5 inches high, the all-black DV-981HD is nothing if not sleek. The aluminum faceplate lends it a solid, high-quality façade, although the illusion is shattered somewhat by the player's flimsy disc tray. The Oppo offers only a sparse selection of control buttons, so if you misplace the remote control, you'll definitely be in trouble. Speaking of remote controls, this one is a lightweight thing with a large group of similar-size buttons cluttering the surface. Fortunately, its keypad glows in the dark, making button searches during dim viewing sessions a bit easier on the eyes.

SETUP I hooked the DV-981HD up to an Anthem AVM 50 preamp/processor via HDMI (the player comes with a free 2-meter HDMI cable!) and also strung cables between the Oppo's six-channel analog audio output and the Anthem's six-channel audio input. The preamp then passed the player's 1080p/60 video signal directly to an Olevia 747i 1080p LCD HDTV via HDMI. To switch between video output formats on the Oppo, you press a button labeled HDMI on the remote. Selecting the 16:9 Wide/Auto mode from the TV display option in the General Setup menu automatically displays 16:9 (widescreen) and 4:3 (full-screen) DVDs in the correct aspect ratio (the other option, 16:9 Wide, stretches 4:3 pictures to fill out a 16:9 screen area).

The presence of Faroudja/Genesis processing in the DV-981HD means there are more video-tweaking options than you'd find on an average DVD player. True Life, a general brightness and color enhancement mode, can be turned on or off — my positive experiences with it encouraged me to leave it on. You also get standard brightness, contrast, color, and sharpness sliders, along with noise-reduction settings of high, medium, low, and off. Oppo's clear and very informative owner's manual — a rare thing these days — provides surprisingly straightforward guidance concerning the effects of the various video settings, warning of "ghosting" from a too-high noise reduction setting, for example.

The player's audio setup menus provide nearly every setting you'd look for, and then some. The speaker setup option lets you configure the six-channel analog output for systems with large or small speakers, as well as those with or without a subwoofer. And there's also a channel-delay option that lets you dial in distance settings for each speaker, sub included. Other key audio settings include 48-, 96-, or 192-kHz PCM output for the digital audio jacks, Dolby Pro Logic II processing modes (to create multichannel output from stereo soundtracks), and channel-level trims for the analog outputs. With the player hooked up to a receiver via HDMI, selecting Auto from the HDMI audio option also lets it automatically switch between regular Dolby Digital/DTS output for DVD soundtracks and multichannel PCM output (at the highest available sampling frequency) when listening to SACDs and DVD-Audio discs.

The Short Form

Price $230 / oppodigital.com / 650-961-1118

Snapshot

It's not real high-def, but Oppo's upconverting DVD player puts out a solid 1080p picture — plus it sounds great.

Plus

•Clean 1080p upconversion of regular DVDs •Plays a wide range of multimedia file formats and disc types, including DVD-Audio and SACD •Flexible, wide-ranging audio and video setup options

Minus

•Cluttered remote control •Somewhat flimsy disc tray •No component-video output

Key Features

•Upconverts regular DVDs to 720p, 1080i, or 1080p HDTV format •Plays DVDs, audio CDs, DVD-Audio discs, Super Audio CDs, HDCDs, Kodak Picture CDs, and discs with DivX video and Windows Media Audio files •Six-channel analog audio output •Comes with 2-meter HDMI cable •Outputs HDMI, composite-video, and S-video; optical and coaxial digital audio, 6-channel analog audio, and stereo analog audio •16.5 x 10.5 x 1.5 in; 5.3 lb

PERFORMANCE To be honest, the thing that most excited me about the DV-981HD was its ability to play both of the high-rez audio disc formats, so that's the area I dug into first. When I listened to a multichannel DVD-Audio mix of "Old Man" from Neil Young's Harvest album, the Oppo's sound was lush, open, and detailed. Even the banjos packed into the surround channels on this song didn't spoil the vivid sense of sonic immersion the disc delivered. To my ears, high frequencies sounded a bit more extended when listening via the player's analog outputs, but PCM playback over HDMI was also very satisfying.

Before diving into the Oppo's video performance, I'll repeat what I said up front: DVDs digitally upconverted to high-def don't look anywhere near as crisp and clean as the real thing on HD DVD and Blu-ray. Having got that out of the way, let me say that movies bumped up to 1080p by the Oppo looked as good if not better than on other upconverting DVD players I've handled in the past, and its picture also held up very well when compared to that from my Toshiba HD-XA1 HD DVD player. That model offers high-quality DVD upconversion, but its resolution maxes out at 1080i, leaving it up to the TV to complete the final deinterlacing step to create a 1080p picture. (Toshiba's new second-generation HD-XA2 HD DVD player, which we reported on in our May issue, also does full 1080p upconversion.)

With the DV-981HD, you won't have to worry about jaggies or other deinterlacing-related artifacts, because the player delivers a consistently solid-looking picture. When I checked it out on the suite of tests contained on the Silicon Optix HQV test DVD, the Oppo passed every one except a motion-adaptive noise test with the player's noise reduction set to either medium or high — a situation that the player's manual warns about! It also proved capable of passing below-black signals on test patterns from the Avia Pro DVD and displayed zero pixel cropping on another test from the same disc.

What ultimately matters most, of course, is how a player performs with movies, and here the Oppo held up extremely well. When I watched a scene from The Interpreter where Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener) converse with a U.N. honcho, I could make out a wealth of detail in the utilitarian office environment. A large, bright red phone on a nearby desk also looked impressively clean, with no visible sign of softness or streaking.

BOTTOM LINE With HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc continuing to battle for the title of sole next-generation video format, alternatives such as the Oppo DV-981HD upconverting DVD player are an excellent option for HDTV owners who, either through a shortage of cash or an excess of good sense, prefer to wait things out on the sidelines. The DV-981HD provided consistently solid-looking 1080p pictures, as well as fine-sounding audio from DVDs, DVD-Audio discs, SACDs, and regular CDs. When you add in the player's ability to handle additional disc and multimedia file formats such as Picture CDs and DivX, it totals up to a pretty great deal.

HD DVD/Blu-ray Info Center
More Test Reports
Back to Homepage
What's New on S&V