Many LCD and DLP displays (and plasma, for that matter) actually have 768 pixels of vertical resolution - borrowed from the PC world and the old 1024x768 resolution, although when going to a 16x9 aspect ratio they end up at 1366x768 instead. This is closest to the HD resolution of 720p, so that's the resolution considered to be native for those displays.

Ok. I follow what you have said for the most part. You have peaked my curiosity. This is from the owners manual: "Your TV is able to accept video signals in the standard video scanning rates of 480i, 480p, 720p and 1080i. It is also able to accept signals with PC resolutions from VGA (640 x 480) through XGA (1024 x 768). When using a compatible graphics card and controlling software, this TV is also able to accept the custom PC resolution of 720p (1280 x 720). All signals will be converted to 720p for final display".

So true 720P ?

That's an excellent question, and one that I don't think I've ever seen a really definitive answer. It could be that the display uses 1280x720 mirrors on TI's chip and leaves the other fringe chips alone, or it could be that the display makes everything 1280x720p and then scales it to 1366x768p. Some things I've seen would suggest it's the latter (768p projected) but since I ended up going CRT two years ago I never really figured out for certain which it was.

I finally received the 970 yesterday and I am having a couple problems. I can not get SACD to play in multi channels, it only give me 2.0 channels. Also, I was not able to see the menu of the SACD. On my Samsung 841, I can see the menu on my TV. I wonder if my setup is wrong, below is my setup.

Cable setups are HDMI connection from the 970 to the LCD TV, optical and 6 analogue RCA cables from the DVD to my AVR. I also have S-Video connection from the DVD to AVR and AVR to TV. I just want to see what a big difference between S-Video and HDMI

My speaker setup page > downmix is 5.1 and Audio Setup Page>SPDIF Output is Raw and HDMI Audio is off.

Please let me know what the corrected setup is.

Thanks

When connecting the six analog cables from the DVD player to your 970, I assume you used the 7.1 analog input (left and right channels to the left and right inputs for the DVD and center, surrounds, and sub to the corresponding inputs in the cluster just above there) and that you selected the "7.1D" input. If any of those are not true, then that's probably the problem you are running into with the stereo only of SACD's. Also, make sure the SACD in question is multichannel - many SACD's are stereo only. As for the video side, I assume that in addition to the HDMI from 970 to TV there's also an HDMI from the DVD player to the 970.

Thanks Gonk,

I found out what the problem was. My son put a wrong CD in the SACD cover and I did not check it before I put it in the 970.

I agree with Papabear, the 970's audio is a lots better than the Samsung HD 841.

audio newbie,
Glad to hear that you have your Oppo 970 up and running. It is sad that we both had a weak link in our system. The oppo 970 is a really inexpensive upgrade for our systems untill the bluray/Hd,Hi res ,or sacd gets worked out.
I like the Oppo player alot can not beat the price.

Another review of the Oppo DV-970HD:

Review at CNET.com

I've finally gotten my money together and have a Oppo 970 on the way and also the Outlaw 990 preamp. I'm going to need lots of help setting up both the 970 and 990 as technology has passed by my knowledge of such things. I currently have my old Pioneer dvd player setup as follows, dvd digital coax out into a MSB Gold Dac digital coax in, MSB 2-channel analog out into my old Chiro preamp/processor analog in, 5.1 channel outs to my Chiro 5.1 input (DB-25 type connector). My Chiro didn't do digital processing. For video I'm using Component from Pioneer to my older Toshiba HDTV.

I know some of the setup selections won't be the same with the Oppo since the 990 can now do the digital processing. Questions:

1. If I end up using my MSB Dac for music (don't know for sure) won't I need to pickup a digital optical cable to run from the Oppo to the 990? If so what could someone recommend?

2. Will my current 5.1 cable ( 6 individual plugs at one end and a DB-25 connector at the other) work between the 970 and 990? If not, again what could you recommend?

3. Since my Chiro preamp is outdated I've always just used an analog stereo cable to connect the audio of my Direct TV Tivo to my tv but would I want to get a digital optical cable to use to connect the audio from the Tivo to the 990?

If you use the MSB DAC for music listening, then you'd need to run a digital cable from your transport to the MSB and then run stereo analog cables from the MSB to the 990 (presumably the CD input, which would then be set to "BYPASS").

The 5.1 cable you currently have will not work with either the Model 990 or the 970HD. Both use six RCA jacks. You'll need six analog audio cables for DVD-Audio and SACD. If you don't have any music in those formats, then you can just connect the 970HD to the 990 with a digital cable, but if you have or want to experiment with those formats then you'll need the six cables. Both Outlaw's PCA's and Blue Jeans Cables are good quality options for those six cables.

If your Tivo offers a digital output, definitely use it. Outlaw's PDO optical cable is a great value.