Yes, there are differences. The question is whether they are worth the money since the 2930 lists for around $800 and the 980H sells for $170. The 980H has a quite respectable analog output section for the money, but I would expect the 2930 to offer some improvements in that regard since it has more expensive DAC's (which will show up if you are listening to a lot of DVD-Audio and SACD titles). For video, the 980H and 2930 are quite different products. The 980H is using a very competent Mediatek chip for deinterlacing and scaling, but that ship is a "jack of all trades" (it also houses the audio DSP and video DAC's, among other things). The 2930 uses a Reon chip from HQV, which is one of the favored video chipsets these days.

If you are looking for video performance first and foremost, I'd ask a couple of questions. First, what screen size do you have? Second, what type of display is it? OPPO's 981HD uses a Faroudja chip, which can give excellent results (better than the 980H) on larger displays but which can have problems dealing with macroblock artifacts when used with some DLP and plasma displays. If you have a big screen (in the 50" and beyond range) using either DLP or plasma and you really want to get the best bang for your buck, you might look at either a Toshiba HD-XA2 (which also uses a Reon chip but can be had for under $500) or wait a few months for OPPO's upcoming 983H. The 983H will be using a pair of Anchor Bay chips (one for deinterlacing and one for scaling) that would reportedly be a match for the Reon with DVD source material, and it will cost around $350. It will also offer the 980H's support for PAL content and region-free playback.