Secrets has a mini-review out of the new Oppo 983 DVD player, and from the review it sounds like this is a new benchmark player for DVDs, all for an affordable $399.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/cd-dvd-pl...ark-review.html

The benchmark tests on the 983H look impressive - first "100" score for a standalone player ever. Indications are that the 983H will start shipping next Monday, at which point beta testers will be freed from NDA's and you're likely to hear a bit more about this player.

Oogly Boogly, bought my 981H in December. I wonder if the 983H will with my rear projection DLP?

Followup to the Secrets benchmark is now posted . It's quite complementary.

I wonder if they could come up with longer file names for their HTML files...

Gonk,

If you were a beta tester we'll look forward to your thoughts on OPPO's latest offering. There sure is a lot of buzz over on AVS and some really anxious folks that can't wait to take delivery. You don't want to look too far down the road, but could you imagine all the features of the 983H and BD in the same player? Oh, my!

I'll just say that once OPPO starts shipping 983H pre-orders, I'll probably be editing my sig...

Retep,

How does your Oppo 981HD work with your DLP display?
I was going to buy one but Oppo told me that the 981HD would have a problem with macro blocking with any rear projection display so I passed and bought the 980H instead.
I haven't had a chance to get the 980H in my system yet but I was really wondering how the 981HD actually works in your system.

Oh, look - my sig has a new link at the very end...

Since I am now allowed to speak about the 983H, I have posted my 983H review . There are a few pictures of the 983H's innards, but they are all of my beta sample. When I receive a production sample, I'll be updating those pictures.

I've been working on a second article, intended to try to summarize my experience with all three current OPPO players (the "98x-series", so to speak) both in relation to each other and in relation to Blu-ray's recent format war victory. That'll probably go up later this week, as I'm still working on it (mostly the video performance and conclusion sections).

Gonk, thank you for writing another thorough review --I find them quite informative and helpful in my purchase decision making process.

That said, when will you publish the Oppo Blue-Ray review?

Rob

- My fingers hover at the ready above the keyboard. I certainly look forward to being able to start writing an OPPO Blu-ray review, but I think it'll be a while before that happens...

Sorry. that was a typo. I have the 980H. The 980H works well, but I'm interested in the 983H. I'm hoping I'll see a difference on the 61" screen.

I don't get any notifications of new posts on these forums. Any way to do that?

You have to use the "Full Reply Form" or "Reply with Quote" (which takes you to the full reply form), at which point there are three options available below the instant graemlins. The first is "Email Notification".

Nice review on the 983H, Gonk, but for me, and I'll bet a lot of others here, the only new disc player to be considered must play EVERYTHING: Blu-Ray, DVD, SACD, DVD-Audio (I have several discs and might still get others), CDs of all types, digital photo discs in HD, and anything else now extant that I haven't thought of here. One disc player, no more.

I went directly from the 980H to the 983H on my 32" display (direct-view CRT). There was definitely a difference, although how much difference there was varied depending on the disc being viewed. Curiously, one of the most obvious demonstration came from some of our daughter's DVD's - computer animation (The Backyardigans, specifically, for those other parents of young children) that exhibited deinterlacing problems with the 980H were extremely crisp and clean with the 983H.

ah thanks... I don't think I ever used the full reply form. I wish the quick reply form had the option.

I am pretty sure that you are far from alone in that sentiment. The one notable omission from the 983H in relation to this list is Blu-ray. It's too soon yet for a company like OPPO to have Blu-ray support, and the big manufacturers have largely abandoned DVD-A and SACD. I'm optimistic that the OPPO Blu-ray review candyman asked for will describe a player that meets the requirements you describe, but I don't expect that to happen in 2008.

Thank you for the review. In your audio section, you state: "You could get better analog output for DVD-Audio and SACD, but you'll have to pay a pretty hefty premium for it, even with the 983H's relatively high price tag."

Could you/can you name some names?

Sadly, while today is the launch day, the only thing that has happened is that oppo now lists the machine on the front page of their site. When one clicks on the 'buy now' button, one is informed that the machine is out of stock. No stock = no launch.

I suspect that the modified Denon that Lizard King has could beat it ($1500 for the 3930CI and another grand for mods), but I'm not sure that the stock 3930CI would offer an appreciable benefit.

They're shipping pre-orders - apparently when the Secrets review went live a week ago, it created such a frenzy that they accepted pre-orders for the first time and sold out their entire first run by late last week.

I am looking at the McCormack UDP-1, the Marantz DV9600 and the Lexicon RT-20. Secrets did a review of the Marantz a while back and seemed to like it quite a bit. They beat the McCormack up on its video.

Those are some high-dollar players, all right. The DV9600 uses a very similar scaling solution as the 983H (both use an ABT chip), but the 9600 uses a Pioneer deinterlacer - not an ABT deinterlacer like the 983. Based on comments from others (including Kris Deering, who wrote the benchmark test review at Secrets), the 983H will edge the DV9600 out for video quality via HDMI. The UDP-1 and RT-20 are likely going to be in similar positions - they likely won't be able to beat the 983H for digital video output.

The 5x to 10x (or 11x) list price of these three players should provide some performance benefits, and those benefits are likely to be in the analog audio section. How much benefit I don't know - although if you are able to demo any one of them at home, you could pick up a 983 (when they get stock back) and try it out for 30 days. That way you could go a head-to-head comparison and decide if the benefits are worth the extra cash.

The analog output is what I am interested in. I have an analog 6 channel preamp that leaves all the processing to either the on-board disc player or a separate DAC.

I got badly hooked on that darn multichannel audio a couple of years ago and am still paying the price.

Oppo has shown up in some really high end systems and the only "real" knock I have ever heard against them is based purely on the appearance of their equipment. I have never seen a bad review concerning the quality of the various unit's outputs.

Thanks for your answers.

If you haven't seen it already, you might take a look through the Secrets review of the 980H\'s audio performance . It is more in-depth than JEJ's review of the 983H's audio performance, and the 983H takes the 980H design and adds some refinements.

http://www.hometheaterhifi.com/dvd-playe...-the-story.html

John E finishes up the review.

Hey Gonk,

I was wondering what your recommendation would be on whether it is worth upgrading from the 981HD to the 983H. I am currently using the 981HD as my main player for my audio play back (CD, SACD and DVD-A) as well as for SD DVD. I have a BD player but for SD DVD the Oppo seems to be much better then my Sony BDP-S300. I seem to be watching less and less of the SD DVD as there are more BD DVD titles becoming available everyday. So my primary function is Audio playback. Therefore, do you think there is a substantial improvement in the Audio playback that would justify the upgrade.

On a side note, I notice that Oppo does not recommend the 981HD with DLP TVs. Yet I am using it with my Mitsubishi 65" Diamond DLP with absolutely no complaints. In fact I have been very impressed with its video performance. Will I really be able to notice a difference if I go to the 983H?

I wish uou guys would stop saying that SACD is dead. Some of the recording companies might hear about it and quit making them! ;

You guys have time to give this decision a little thought. According to Oppo website "Temporarily sold out".

govguru

I think that all of the pre-orders were shipped as of late yesterday. While you wait and think, here is some more light reading: I've posted my OPPO 98x comparison musings ...

If your objective was just audio playback, I'd get a 980H - it is very close to the 983H on analog audio performance. The 980H won't have as film-like a picture as the 981HD, though, although it may still be a better DVD upscaler than the S300.
You are not alone in successfully pairing the 981HD with DLP. However, OPPO is cautious about pairing the 981HD with DLP's because of the Faroudja' chip's macroblock enhancing tendencies. That tendency is not global (some DLP's never exhibit it), and it is often very reduced by calibration even in those that do exhibit it. The 983H is immune to that. You would see a difference between the 981HD and the 983H on a 50" screen (I saw one on a 32" CRT). The question is whether that difference is worth the cost of upgrading, especially if you are starting to spend more time with Blu-rays.

You might hold on to the 981HD for another year or so and see what OPPO does with Blu-ray. I think the odds are pretty good that they'll include DVD-A and SACD support in such a player (although they haven't told me so yet, and even if they ever do tell me one way or another it'll be under an NDA). Then you could potentially replace the S300 and 981HD with a single player...

Thank You Gonk for your reply.

I was thinking along the same lines as your comment about holding out until Oppo comes out with a Blu-ray player. And hopefully that player will support SACD and DVD-A with quality audio outputs.

BTW, I am quite confident that the 981HD produces a much better picture then does the Sony BDP-S300. In fact I am quite disappointed with the S300 in general. Once it is playing it seems to be OK, but not spectacular. The real problem is that it takes forever to load the DVD and get it playing. With some of the more advanced BD's it can take literally 7-8 minutes from the time you turn the thing on until you see the first frame of the movie! And God forbid you have a less then pristine disc (like most of the ones from video stores) the unit locks up at least half the time when it encounters any trouble spots. So my plan is to just keep limping along with the S300 until a better quality affordable unit (like an Oppo) comes along.

To Koyaan, I don't think that SACD is dead at all. It certainly isn't as widely accepted as I would like, but there are new releases coming out on SACD on a regular basis. In my area, both Fry's and Best Buy has several racks dedicated to SACD and DVD-A. I suggest that you do what I and several of my friends have been doing and that is requesting that these stores continue to expand the SACD selections. Let them know there is a market and then support them by buying their products. Nothing works better then voting with you dollars! BTW, if you are interested in what is currently available in the SACD format then check out this site as it has all sorts of news about what is going on in the SACD world.