Last December I purchased the Oppo 981 fully expecting to get a 1080p tv this year. Well, I did get a tv just not a 1080p. I decided on the Pioneer Elite 1140hd 50 inch plasma. I sit about 12ft from my display and realized after reading through forums that 12ft would be too far away to see the detail a 1080p display could provide. Would the 981 be fine for the Pioneer or does one of the other 2 Oppo players do a better job for the 720p Pioneer. I have heard that the 970 may do a better job but what is the logic behind that.

The 971H (now discontinued) is in many ways identical to the 981HD, albeit with DVI instead of HDMI and without 1080p and SACD support. The 970HD lacks the 981HD's Faroudja video processing chip - the Mediatek chip used in all OPPO players handles everything by itself. The 970HD lacks 1080p support and is not recommended for larger displays (those at or above 50" which are going to benefit more from the Faroudja's smoother image), but the absence of Faroudja means you don't have to worry about enhancing macroblocking (a condition that exists in some DVD transfers and tends to be exascerbated by the Faroudja chip when using DLP or sometimes plasma displays). The concensus seems to be that with the way OPPO has implemented the Faroudja chip in the 981HD it is possible to avoid macroblock enhancement with some good calibration.

I would stick with the 981HD and give it a whirl with the Pioneer. It goes without saying that the display should be calibrated with a disc like Digital Video Essentials, AVIA, or GetGray.

Thanks Gonk. I am planning to have the display professionally calibrated by Gregg Loewen from LionsGate. I will be getting a universal hd/blue ray player at some point but my guess is when he comes to calibrate the tv it will be off of Oppo 981. Gonk, if you were me, would you continue to use the Oppo 981 for regular dvds or do you think that the new blueray/hddvd players would do a better job upconverting. I'm holding out for a new samsung universal player that may be out by July or August (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2113937,00.asp.

I'd hang onto the 981HD for regular DVD duties unless a combo HD player could prove itself to be better for DVD playback. The Toshiba players have made a pretty strong showing in that regard, but I don't know that any of the other HD players have done as well.

I have the 981HD mated to a Pioneer Elite 940HD plasma (720p native res). I wanted the HDMI output and the SACD/DVD-A capability and have been very happy with the Oppo. Sound quality for CDs/multichannel discs is hard to beat. Video quality is top-notch, too, although no up-converting DVD player will give you Blu-Ray/HD-DVD quality. I view the players as a great transition machine until Oppo brings out its own hi-def player. Enjoy!

RCF,

When listening to music have you compared the DACs in the Oppo 981 to those in the 990? If so, which do you prefer?

AvFan -- I have not made the comparison, as the Oppo is used with a different set-up: Yammie receiver and Axiom speakers with the Oppo as opposed to the 990/755 and Def Tech in my main system. Wish I could help!

RCF

I've compared the two some in my 981HD review . I preferred the digital output with the 990 doing the D/A duties.

I am replacing one of my DVD players and intend to buy an OPPO. My TV is a Panasonic HD wit6h only component input. I intend to replace it this year with a unit capable of 1080p. Is there any downside to purchasing the OPPO 981? I would use a HDMI to DVI cable to connect with my 990 and output via component connection to my TV

As I understand it the 990's DVI connections are just a switch and can't convert a digital signal via the DVI input to component analog output. I'm in the same boat, my plasma has just component inputs and there are limited players that will upconvert over component. I've seen on the AVS forum a firmware hack that can force the OPPO to upconvert over component (not the 981 since it does not have component out) versus via the HDMI or DVI connections. I'm not sure I'd use the hack however.