OPPO DV-970HD DVD Player Review
September 5, 2006
For the last year or so the majority of the conversations I’ve had about budget DVD players, inevitably end up with “have you seen the OPPO?” to which I would reply, “Not yet, no”. Well thankfully those days are over and I don’t have to be a conversation killer when OPPO comes up.
OPPO’s first player the OPDV971H was an instant hit among budget minded DVD enthusiasts and rightfully so. OPPO’s latest DVD player the DV-970HD builds on many of the features of its predecessor and adds functionality like SACD playback, HDMI output, 4-in-1 flash memory card reader and a USB connection. Other features include:
• HDCP compliant HDMI output
• SACD and DVD-Audio
• Up-conversion to 720p/1080i
• 480i via HDMI
• DivX certified (including DivX 6) also plays XviD files.
The DV-970HD is a slim, half height player finished in a metallic champagne/silver with an amber display. The supplied remote is a bit different from the run of the mill remotes included with many DVD players, it’s not back-lit but the buttons do appear to glow slightly if exposed to light, I’ve always found that a bit humorous, glowing in the dark if exposed to light..
The remote is more than sufficient for title searches, changing the resolution and menu settings, speaking of changing settings I’m happy to report that player settings and functions can be changed without stopping the disc, via the on-screen menu system.
The DV-970HD includes a few settings typically found on displays rather than sources such as brightness, contrast, color etc. the settings are accessed from the players on-screen menu. These adjustments can be handy if your display doesn’t allow for multiple saved input settings.
Setup and Connections:
HDMI was my primary connection method for this review although I did view a few discs via the component video output and found its performance quite satisfactory. The digital coaxial output was used for audio and the analog L/R stereo outs were used for SACD playback. The DV-970HD also includes 5.1 channel analog audio outputs, composite video and S-Video outputs.
For those who will inevitably ask, no the DV-970HD will not up-scale copy protected DVD’s over the component output. The DV-970HD’s owners manual sums it up better than I could:
“Due to copyright protection requirements, when playing copyright-protected DVD discs, the
component output resolution is limited up to 480p. If the component output resolution of the
DVD player is set at 720p or 1080i, automatic resolution downgrade may happen. HDMI output
resolution is not affected by this limitation as it is copy-protected with HDCP.”
HQV Benchmark Results:
•Color Bar/Vertical Detail: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•Jaggies Pattern 1: Pass – Score 5 of 5
•Jaggies Pattern 2: Pass – Score 5 of 5
•Flag: Pass – Score 5 of 10
•Picture Detail: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•Noise Reduction: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•Motion Adaptive Noise Reduction: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•3:2 Detection: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•Film Cadence: Pass – Score (Combined) 40 of 40
•Mixed 3:2 Film, Horizontal Text Crawl: Pass – Score 5 of 10
•Mixed 3:2 Film, Vertical Text Crawl: Pass – Score 10 of 10
•Total Score:120 out of a possible 130.
Respectable results for any player much less one that retails for $150, overall the DV-970HD faired quite nicely with the HQV disc. The DV-970HD matched or surpassed the HQV benchmark results of many of DVD players I’ve tested of late, some of which obviously retail for 2 to 3 times more.
SACD Playback:
The first thing I wanted to tackle was SACD playback; I have to admit I’m not a big fan of multi-channel audio for music. The reasons are too many to get into here but suffice to say the 2-channel performance of my system far surpasses anything I could gain by enabling multi-channel playback, at least with my current set-up.
Likewise as I’m admittedly not into multi-channel audio I tend to keep my purchases limited to high bit-rate DVD-A’s and SACD’s that offer 2-channel playback. While I’m on the subject, as you’re probably aware I’ve been critical of Blu-ray (minor understatement) thus far but I happen to feel SACD (Spearheaded by Sony & Philips) is a great format, it’s a shame it didn’t fare well with the majority of music lovers, Cie la vie.
About the only SACD I’ve listened to enough to make a critical assessment of a players SACD abilities, is Beck’s ‘Sea Change’. The disc drips with subtle vocal nuances and warm, rich acoustic guitars. Track one’s ‘Golden Age’ had tight defined bass and the top end seemed extended, not in a shrill unpleasant way but as if a layer of murk had been lifted from the high frequencies.
Skipping forward to track 3’s ‘Guess I’m Doing Fine’ the DV-970HD seemed to have a relatively good sense of pace, rhythm and timing but perhaps not quite as good as my Rega CD player. Last buy by no means least was track 5’s ‘Lost Cause’, Beck’s guitar wasn’t quite as convincing as previous listens on a Denon DVD-2910 but not bad at all for a $150 DVD player.
All in all I felt the OPPO DV-970HD performed admirably as a SACD player but I have to admit I’m rather spoiled by my Rega Planet CD player but I will say the DV-970HD easily outperformed the Samsung DVD-HD941 I tested a few years back. But in all honesty that’s not much of a recommendation either, as I found the DVD-HD941 rather unimpressive.
To sum up the SACD playback from the DV-970HD, I suppose I would say if you’re just getting into DVD-A and SACD playback and aren’t overly concerned with the absolute best the formats have to offer, then the DV-970HD will suffice just fine
Video Performance:
Picking up right where I’d left off with the Denon DVD-2930, I skipped forward to Chapter 24 in ‘The Raiders of the lost Ark’ and the desert chase scene, I noticed nice detail in close ups and good black level. Overall this scene looked good and managed to get many of the same things right that the 2930ci had, but overall I liked the 2930’s presentation better. That shouldn’t be taken as a knock on the DV-970HD however, comparing an $849 DVD player to one that sells for $150 could hardly be considered fair. The fact the OPPO was even in the same ballpark was impressive.
Backing up to the beginning of the film, I noticed well saturated greens in the jungle’s foliage and again good black level detail as Indy and his guide proceed into the temple. I noticed good overall color deferention in the subtle shades of hues in the stones on the temples floor. As Indy escapes to freedom and is forced to relinquish the idol, Ford’s fleshtone appeared quite natural.
For comparisons sake and knowing I’d be asked this question I wanted to compare the DV-970HD to my Toshiba HD-XA1 and again I used chapter 24’s desert chase scene. I would have to say that I preferred the XA1’s presentation. I found it to offer slightly better color saturation, black level, fleshtones, and a bit more clarity. Now we’re not talking night and day differences here but differences nonetheless.
One thing in particular I wanted to test for in a player that retails for $150 (any DVD player for that matter) was macroblocking, so I moved onto ‘Kill Bill Vol 1’ and skipped forward to chapter 4. As Vernita and the Bride are having their conversation in the kitchen at about 12:16 in, the yellow section of the wall directly to the left of the window is my favorite scene to test for macroblocking. This section of the of yellow wall should appear smooth and uniform, with just a hint of subtle gradient change from top to bottom due to lighting dispersion.
Players that suffer from macroblocking tend to render this section of wall as two, maybe three blotchy sections of yellow; this scene perfectly illustrates just how poorly the players in question render subtle changes in gradients. I’m happy to report the OPPO DV-970HD passed my macroblocking test quite well. The wall in Vernita’s kitchen was rendered accurately and without the macroblocking present in other up-converters in this price range.
Since ‘Kill Bill Vol.1′ was already in the player I skipped forward to Chapter 14’s ‘Unfinished Business’. Again I noticed good color saturation, black level, and overall detail in the scene. Without getting into some of the gory details of the scene, if you’re familiar with it I’m sure you know red is a predominate color in the scene, and what a red it is. The red hues from the OPPO DV-970HD were rendered correctly without the annoying orange tints I’ve noticed in other players in this price range.
Moving on from Kill Bill, I wanted to check out ‘i Robot’. I picked Chapter 10’s ‘The Factory Floor’ as it was where I left off with the Denon 2930ci and I wanted to see how they compared. The OPPO rendered the scenes quite nicely; the colors were rendered quite well and little to no player induced video noise was apparent.
I suppose one noticeable difference between the 2930ci and the DV-970HD would be image sharpness. The 2930ci was moderately sharper overall as well it should be considering the 2930ci retail for $700 more. For kicks I grabbed a DVD with more miles on it than some of those “pre-owned” Lexus at the local car lot, the Super-Bit version of ‘The Fifth element’. Immediately again I noticed good color saturation and the smooth macroblock free presentation I noticed in Kill Bill.
Overall the presentation was quite nice and I found the OPPO superior to my now retired Denon DVD-1910 which was unfortunately riddled with macroblocking. While I still prefer the presentation from my Toshiba HD-XA1 the OPPO DV-970HD is an impressive feature packed DVD/SACD/DIVX player. The logos that indicate supported formats and playback abilities printed across the top of the unit span ¾ of the player’s width.
The last DVD up was the two disc special edition of ‘Gladiator’; I skipped forward to chapter 15’s ‘The Battle of Carthage’ fleshtones were convincing and palpable but again I felt as if that last bit of detail was eluding me.
Moving forward to chapter 19 and the one-on-one (plus tigers) fight sequence, the motion in the scene was fluid and effortless. It was refreshing to see a DVD player in this price range with as many features as the DV-970HD affords, that wasn’t plagued by the stuttering and unrealistic motion present in so many other budget players.
The bright outdoor scenes in ‘Gladiator’ were rendered with accurate shadow detail when necessary but never at the expense of overall brightness. Fine gradients in the dust rising up from the coliseum floor never macro-blocked or overpowered the surrounding imagery.
Summary:
Now I finally understand what all the hubbub is about, the OPPO’s offer a taste of the high-end for relative peanuts, notice I said taste. The OPPO DV-970HD does indeed offer quite a bit in the way of features and performance considering its $150 asking price, but as with all things consumer electronics, the last 10-15% difference between good performance and reference quality remains an elusive goal for budget gear.
I can wholeheartedly recommend the OPPO DV-970HD to anyone in search of a budget DVD player with a little more oomph than the run-of-the-mill, mass market players found in so many home theater systems of late. But let’s not pretend OPPO has defied the laws of engineering and manufacturing, thereby rendering all other DVD players overpriced junk. $150 is a great price point but we haven’t quite gotten to the point of reference quality below the $200 mark just yet.
The OPPO DV-970HD would make an excellent entry into up-scaling DVD players or an upgrade for those looking to replace an older up-scaler that suffers from macroblocking or other ailments. Off the cuff I would also recommend auditioning the Denon DVD-1730 and OPPO’s earlier up-scaler the OPDV971H alongside the DV-970HD. Between those three players you’re likely to find a great budget DVD up-scaler that won’t break the bank.
Posted by B.Greenway | | Filed Under DVD Player Reviews, Reviews
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