I'm on the waiting list for a 990, at which point I'll probably get a 7100 as well for use in a relatively small (10 x 11) but new room. I'll be getting a relatively recent DLP rear projector TV and will be on a cable settop box. I've been focusing up 'til now on the pre-pro and the TV, but now I should start thinking about a universal DVD player.

So here's the question. In your experience, have you found any particular DVD players to be especially good or bad with the 990? I'm not certain why they would be, but I just thought I'd ask!

Thanks in advance for any help.

Here's one you might want to look at. It scored very highly on the Secrets DVD benchmarks (number 2 all time highest I think), and it is only $200!
http://www.oppodigital.com/default.asp

I don't think there are any that are good or bad in relation to the 990. The Oppo that CJL1138 mentions is a really good value if your new TV has DVI or HDMI (the component output is limited to 480i, while the DVI output will do 480p, 720p, or 1080i). In the event that your cable box also offers DVI or HDMI, it would be a prime opportunity to use the 990's DVI switching.

Gonk & CJL1138, I appreciate the advice. The importance of getting a player with DVI & higher resolution video outputs to take advantage of the 990's DVI switching is just the kind of advice I was looking for.

I'm wondering if the 990's bass management capabilities have any implications for what I need or don't need in a universal DVD player. Any thoughts there?

Well, bass management on universal players has improved over the last couple years, but it's still a bit unpredictable from player to player. Because of the way the 990's 7.1 direct input works, I'd recommend not even worrying about bass management on a universal player and simply leaving all the speakers set to "large" and the sub to "on" in the player setup. That's what I've done with my Yamaha S1500.

Well I've done a bit more research and firmed up my specs a bit. I'd really like that Oppo, but it and a few other players ranked highly in the Secrets comparison, don't do SACD. I realize that there are a lot of people who don't like SACD because it's another Sony-created non-standard "standard," but there are a few good items in the catalog of music produced in SACD and I'm not willing to exclude them (yet) from my future.

So do any 990 owners (which I will be next Monday if I can believe the Fedex website) have any universal (all formats) DVD players that work nicely with the 990's bass management and inputs, that upconvert to 720p & 1080i, and have a DVI/HDMI connector, that they can recommend? I don't have any objections to Denon, but the price premium (perhaps for SACD licencing?) just seems like a lot (and we all know that Outlaws are conscious of value in A/V gear).

If you're not in a rush, you might want to look into this one when it becomes available: universal player Although the site says that it became available in May, rumor has it that it'll be released mid July. I've looked at the Denon DVD-3910 and Onkyo SP-1000, and the Sherwood looks like it might offer more bang for the buck.

Many thanks. That's exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I've been waiting for my HT project to come together for a few years, so a few months to get the right gear is no big deal.

Does anyone know how quickly Kris Deering upgrades his DVD Benchmarks in Secrets? I'd really like to see where this Sherwood comes out.

The DVD Shootout used to get new batches of players added every few months. Lately, though, they seem to have shifted their approach - instead of adding a whole bunch at once, they have been posting one at a time as they finish testing.

The Sherwood does look pretty promising. I've got another idea that may be a bit odd in a discussion of all-in-one-box universal players. If you want both a universal player and an upconverting player, you might consider what I've ended up doing (although I stumbled into it). I've got the Oppo for DVD-Video, which I'm very pleased with, and I've got a Yamaha DVD-S1500 that I now just use for CD, DVD-Audio, and SACD. There are some pretty popular Pioneer universal players that cost less than the Oppo, and the combination of one of those and the Oppo would set you back less than $400.

Will I get a better picture with my 106 inch LCD projector if I get the Oppo player and use the DVI output upconverted to 720p? Currently I am using a Marantz progressive scan DVD player with component outputs. I ask because recently I read that DVI output would not yield a better picture than component output on a progressive scan player unless the video display was DLP or LCoS. I am interested in hearing from anyone who has had experience moving from a progressive scan DVD and component outputs to the Oppo using DVI, particularly any improvement when upconverting to 720p.

JohnW, I have an LCD projector as well and have made the jump from a progressive scan to upconverting dvd player . I will say I did not go with the Oppo . I have looked at it and it seems to be an excellent player though .

My experience in short .
I bought a sony LCD front projector . Hooked up my existing Sony progressive scan dvd player . Used Monster M-1000 component cables . Pressed play and was disappointed in the picture quality . I managed to get an o.k. picture with the component but it sure was not what I had expected . I am lucky in that I can try out components from the store I work at and did so in this case .

I brought home a Samsung HD-931 with DVI output and upconversion to 720p . Through the upscaling of the Samsung I saw a huge and I mean huge difference in quality . This actually surprised me as I had seen the Samsung on several large screen systems from DLP, LCD too rear projection and saw improvement in the sharpness and clarity but nothing like I was seeing here through my front projector on my screen . It was such a large scale improvement that I bought the Samsung HD-931 . I have since upgraded to a Sony Which upconverts through HDMI to 768p . It too has a huge advantage over component or at least in my setup it does .

Whoever told you that it would only show improvement on a DLP or LCOS was a LIAR a FOOL or BOTH .

My old Samsung HD-931 now sits proudly under my mom and dad's Sony 60 inch LCD . They are in there late sixties and both were surprised at how much better the HD-931 was over their Panasonic progressive scan dvd player .

JohnW, if I could have you over and show you I would . At least I can prove I have experience in what I say . Click on my link and you will see my upconverting Sony dvd player . I even have close ups of the HDMI going into the back on page two .

So with that said I think that yes you will have a big improvement in picture quality . And just for peace of mind buy from someone with a return policy . That way you can always send it back .

I also have the Samsung HD-931, and use the DVI port and upscaling (in my case I prefer to upscale to 1080i rather than 720p).

The results are excellent, and I find the picture far superior to the one I get through the component port. This is not a valid comparison however, because the upscaling and highest quality output features available with the Faroudja chipset on the Samsung are only available through the DVI port.

The only major complaint I have with the Samsung is the quality of the audio decoding. This problem goes away of course when you pass the digital signal straight through and use the DACs in the 990.

I am using the Hitachi 65XWX20B as my video display unit.

I'm not very familiar with the Samsung line, but it appears that the HD-931 is no longer available, but the HD-950 is. Here is a reference: Samsung DVD HD950 .

It looks like it's just a minor modification of what you folks have described. Anyone have experience of this with the 990?

Hi there,

I'm using the Denon 2910 (about $600). It plays beautifully in 720P although it does have DVI out and 1080i capability. Read an article recently that said upsampling DVDs to 720p was probably a better experience than up to 1080i...I concur. The Denon plays SACD fabulously, especially with the 990/755 rig I have. Why not get a better player? Well...the Denon is great for the price...and I'm saving up for Blu-Ray Hi Def DVD next year. I didn't want to spend a lot on a DVD player just before the "big" format change next year.

Hope this helps...Marcus

Mike,

I'm using an older Samsung 841. It upconverts (using the same Faroudja chipset) to 720p on a Sharp Aquos panel. I'm extremely happy with it. The difference in picture quality over 480p is startling. I've got it set up so the toslink out goes to the DVD input on the 990. The coax output goes to the CD input of the 990 and that is piped through a Monarchy DIP 24/96 "jitter buster". 2-channel audio is outstanding.

I've never been convinced of the utility of SACD. There are only a small number of titles available and it defeats the purpose of having a nice outboard DAC (since you're forced to use the DAC in the player). Not my cup of tea.

Cheers,

Chris

Gonk,

I noticed you said you have the Oppo, may I politely ask where you found it on sale? I couldn't find the silly thing online, so I thought I would ask.

Thanks,

Bobo45

Certainly, Bob. Try this page to order one from the manufacturer with your choice of DVI-DVI or DVI-HDMI video cable. It's really a quite slick little piece of gear.

I should really smack myself, how the heck did I miss that! *Sigh*.

Thanks Gonk!

Thanks for the recommendation of CJL1138, I ordered the OPDV971H from OPPO this afternoon. Their customer service is really good and quick in answering questions. My 990 will be delivered tomorrow if Fedex is reliable.

I ordered the Oppo and I am very pleased with it. Initially I couldn't get it to switch/upconvert to 720p and Oppo's customer service solved the problem immediately. You cannot switch/upconvert while a DVD is playing. You must press the'DVI' button while the player is stopped.
I also noticed that Oppo has a DVD recorder in the works. When I was comparing upconverting DVD players with DVI or HDMI outputs I noticed that the Samsung models looked very similar to the Oppo. Could it be that they are both based on the same platform? Does Oppo produce the Samsung models that feature DVI/HDMI?

When I spoke with Oppo customer service they told me that they do not advertise and that they depend on 'word of mouth'. I told them that I learned about them from the 'Outlaw' website. I really should have told them that I learned about the Oppo from gonk. The Oppo really is a nice piece of equipment at a very reasonable price. Thanks gonk.

FYI, I was initially concernrd about the length of cable that I needed to connect the Oppo to my front projector. Surf Audio/Video sold me a 10 meter DVI cable made by NXG that works great. The cable is fat. I think that the cable cost around fifty dollars.

Good advice from Gonk.

I have been using the Oppo for my DVD playback for many months now, and the latest firmware makes this unit very, very good indeed.

Other than the Oppo, I can recommend the Denon 1600 and ORIGINAL Zenith DVB318 for HDTVs without DVI/HDMI inputs.

For an all in one player(audio and video), I can highly recommend the Onkyo SP1000 and the Denon 3910 with the slight edge going to the Onkyo for audio playback. Unfortunately, my Onkyo occasionally exhibited the lip sync problem, so I sold it and got my Denon 3910 modded by Modwright.

Still, I use the Oppo for movie playback and the Denon 3910 for all(stereo and Multichannel) my audio playback.

PS - My current HDTV does not have a DVI or HDMI input, but I use a Dtrovision DC-DA1 converter between it and the Oppo and Denon DVD player which allows me to get upconverted 1080i DVD signals into my older HDTV. Fortunately, I bought this unit at the price of $249, before they became so popular... and before Hollywood's threats to Dtrovision led to their stopping manufacture of the unit.

Thanks to all for keeping this thread alive and well. I'm very tempted by the Oppo, but have a few more weeks before I make a decision, so am still exploring. I'm still interested in hearing any first-hand experiences with the Samsung HD-950 as a universal (audio and video) DVD player (I probably don't have the space for two players). And anything else that plays nicely with the 990.

The predecessor to the Samsung HD-950 (Samsung HD-841) works great for both audio and video. That's my main player. It's not a Theta transport, but it's also 1/20 of the price. 8-)

Cheers,

merc, the link to that site for the converter you have looks like the device can still be bought? I have a RPTV with no DVI input support and would like to get something like this. Can you tell me were you bought yours?

Thanks

I got my Dtrovision DC-DA1 converter from Digital Connection that merc linked to. They raised the price about a month ago from $259 to $399. Good company to do business with as I have used them several times.

Gonk,

I saw in a prior post that you have a Yamaha DVD-S1500. I picked one up at a clearance sale the other day, and am having problems getting the 990 remote to recognize it. Do you have any suggestions? I tried the two provided codes and went through about five minutes of searching for a code with no success.

I immediately switched to a third-party universal remote, so I didn't try to get it working with the 990's remote. HiFi Remote lists 0539 as a Yamaha DVD code that might work for the UEI remote if 0490 and 0545 didn't work for you. Are you trying to program it to the AUX button? If not, try that one since it's the one that by default is associated with the DVD code library.

Gonk, which remote are you using? I've been toying with the idea of picking up a Pronto so I can retire my pile 'o remotes.

Cheers,

I'd been using an MX-500 for a couple years and think very highly of it (about to get one for my dad since they got an HDTV recently and are having trouble keeping the TV, cable, DVD, and VCR remotes under control), but I recently upgraded to an MX-700. Either remote is an excellent choice, and the MX-500 can be had for around $85 from some reputable online dealers.

I've now found the Denon 3910 and Rotel RDV-1060 to be very good with the 990. I picked up the Rotel last Saturday and did pretty extensive a/b testing between the two. Video performance is outstanding and I'd say equal from the component connections of both. In fact, I preffered component over DVI. The Rotel had the edge on Multi-channel audio and two channel stereo performance from all digital and analog connections and stereo modes. The analog outs from the Rotel are unbelievable when running the 990 in bypass or upsample mode.

Gonk,
If I may ask--how much did you pay for the MX-700? Does it come with a reasonable manual for macro programming? I've gotten the 990's remote to be a universal remote for just about all the attachments, but I now understand why macros are really nice--not just for the technophobic spouse, but for me as well. I counted the number of steps to get from "everything off" to a particular channel on the set-top box: 8. This is indeed a brave new world.

I got my MX-700 from an ebay dealer for around $155 or so. The macro programming, like everything else abont the setup, is handled very well in the computer program. If it helps, you might want to peruse my notes on both the MX-700 and MX-500 .