I'm looking to replace my current plasma and dvd player and I've been looking at the OPPOs trying to decide between them. The new plasma will be (for now) either a Pioneer PDP-5080HD or a Panasonic TH-50PH9 or 10UK probably mated with iScan DVDO VP-20. The Oppo 970 was the choice if I went with the Panasonic/VP-20 since it outputs 480i via HDMI. But darn if all the folks that have the Pioneer PDP-5080HD have been raving about its colors, black levels and improved video processing. I probably would use the Oppo 981 with the Pioneer.

Now the 980H is out with its better audio performance, component outs, better video performance than the 970 and it does 480i via HDMI. I guess the 980H would be better the Panasonic, but I don't know if it will be better with the Pioneer.

Gonk, I'd really appreciate it if you can help me decipher the features and benefits of the various Oppos with the displays I'm looking at. It sounds like you may have beta tested a version of the 980H.

One last thing, since about 50% of the time I listen to music I wonder how the audio performance of the 980H will compare with the 990's Upsample mode? That will be an interesting comparison!