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REVIEW: Oppo DV980H

Category: Home Theater

I am now three years into a long and twisting road toward assembling a "permanent" home entertainment system including decent H/T as well as 2-channel audio. And along that road I've had pleasant surprises and I've had unpleasant surprises -- but I've never been as shocked and stupefied by the disconnect between what other people are saying, and the experience I had, as with the Oppo DV980H. The player (and the company) for which nearly everyone has only praise and nary a whimper of complaint was, in my experience, just about the most single overrated piece of consumer tripe, this side of the New Coke.

To begin with, the Oppo doesn't work properly even by its own standards without a dizzying assembly-line of firmware upgrades. (Note to self: Never again buy a piece of electronics that touts how easy it is to upgrade with a front-end USB port. If it didn't work when it left the factory, don't buy it.) Break point insertions either do- or do not happen from disc to disc, with the same set of keystrokes, audio decoding either works or it doesn't with no apparent rhyme or reason, and most personal DVD backups of old VHS tapes either don't spin up at all, or return perhaps one frame in every twelve to the screen, making every old recording in your collection look like it was made with clay-mation.

Picture quality is lackluster at best, with lots and lots and lots of false contouring, and the audio is peppered with so much midrange breakup at even moderate output levels that for weeks I thought I'd somehow managed to blow up both of my front-channel speakers. It took me three solid days of experimentation to figure out how to make DTS content play to all six channels including the subwoofer, and then when I changed to a second DTS-encoded disc the same switch-settings no longer worked.

Along the way I also learned that the company apparently staffs a team of thinly disguised schills, trolling the discussion forums under the guise of helpful enthusiasts who immediately close down all discussions of their products that aren't favorable. As soon as it became apparent in a different forum that the helpful suggestions I was getting were self-contradictory and ignored my previous posts, my ostensible hobbyist friend posted one more time to say that next time I should read my manual, and then had the thread closed.

Finally I just threw up my hands and bought a Marantz DV7001 and -- WOW! -- it's so much better, from picture quality to audio reproduction to user interface to support, that I just can't see how anyone on earth should patronize Oppo and their second-rate products, whatsoever. Granted, the Marantz will cost a bit more money, but these days it's not really that much more, and besides: in the words of one famous movie character, you *WILL* know where that extra money went.

Send an e-mail to author "at" escapeclause "dot" net, if you'd like more details.
dog_or_man
ponnie
233 posts
 
Hi My oppo 980H bested my Pioneer DV563 SACD/DA player. I have been using mine as a transport and I tried to listen to the unit's DACS but My tube DAC simply sounded more solid in the soundstage and more refined. I also tried it on a 32" LCD and a 26" LCD and the picture was awesome. I used HDMI connection for the video. I like the OPPO and I have been searching for over 3 months to find something better under $1000 but I haven't yet. I increased it to $2000 and now there seem to be some DACs out there that may offer better performance but I haven't found a player that gives you as much performance for under $1000. I'm still open to suggestions for something better.
You must have had a defective unit! Why didn't you send it
back for a replacement? I will give the Marantz and Pioneer a chance in the near future.
I have had my Oppo for almost 10 months.
Happy Listening
blindjim
3,092 posts
 
Dog_or_man

I'll second or third, that "Why did you not return it?" note.

Mine came after all the firmware updates and though it's not played much while the remodeling is ongoing, I use it to test ripped DVD's, CD's, and new store boughts, now and again. Each time wether it's a DVD - or +, itteration it does quite well. Once in a great while I'll have to do the eject and insert routine with burned DVD's, and it's usually a suprise when it happens. Every disc however plays in it that gets put in it.

...somehow or other I've been given, found or came by, exact copy, and movie only (sans menus) copied store bought DVDs in it without a hitch... and I know for a fact some were copy protected. In fact I just watched Bucket List on mine the other night and the DVD was a dupe.

It also stands up to lengthy run times as I've run it in and run other stuff in with it by using it as the source/preamp.... no probs.

I've not tried the USB interface for flicks yet as none of my drives are formated FAT or under the 160G limit.

Nothing is perfect in this world, and anyone can make a dud. Sounds like you were unfortunate enough to have gotten one too. I'd have sent it right back.

The Oppo support has been OK too, nothing superior but pretty good... and easily reachable. Way better than Marantz's support. I waited nearly 40 minutes one day to ask a few q's on a receiver I was interested in and they refused to answer my questions until I gave them a lot of personal info up front on me, and my other components!

So I gbought an Onkyo receiver instead. I know that really killed 'em too. lol.

About the only knocks I got on the 980H, is it's noise when ejecting or accepting a disc, and it's kind of clumsy in the doing of it... and the jacks on the back are simply way to close to one another for upscale analog IC useage... and true enough the menus could be more thoughtful.

Performance wise? As has been said already, it's a slam dunk of a player for the $$$... if it's working right of course.

If not? Well that's where that warranty bit comes in, isn't it?
ponnie
233 posts
 
It's funny reading all the points of view that I have never used any of the USB functions or anything else. I played with the OSD once and that's it. But I have enjoyed my 980 since it's purchase. We (af friend and I) recently purchased a Playstation 1 to listen to and compare to the Oppo. My friend has 2 tube DACS and an OPPO 980 and a Denon 29?? DVD player. We both came to the same conclusion that we are keeping our Oppos and Scot Nixon tube DAC's. I can't say the Oppo/Scott Nixon setup it's a slayer or anything like that but the sounds are very pleasing. That combination is pleasing and very musical too. I haven't done any of the updates at all to my Oppo and don't plan to. Updates only work some of the time. That little difference and it usually not worth the hassle.
reubent
6,939 posts
 
Ponnie,

You bring up a good point about using the available functions of these units. The Oppos are kind of like a swiss army knife. They basically have nearly every conceivable disk player function ever designed built into them. They are designed to play nearly everything you could possibly throw at them. Heck they even have built-in remote controlled variable volume so you can connect directly to an amp or use it for level matching with your other sources.

HOWEVER, it is nearly impossible for any company to design a product that will be "all things to all people", especially on the first go around. Like you, my Oppo has performed flawlessly on everything I've thrown at it. But, I play mostly store bought disk. Some folks use a lot more of the avialable functions and some folks are on the bleeding edge of technology and push units to their limits and beyond.

This is why companies like Oppo produce multiple firmware updates over the course of a model's life. Users like Dog or Man will find a scenario where a unit does not perform to their requirement and firmware updates may be implemented to "fix" the issue or enhance the product to work for their scenario.

I've never performed an update on my Oppo either. And I likely never will. But it is good to know that companies like Oppo do listen to their customers and often provide firmware fixes as a result of their customers feedback.

It didn't work for Dog or Man, but it has worked for many satisfied Oppo customers.

Enjoy,

TIC
tgrisham
1,291 posts
 
I recently started using my Oppo 980 with my PS Audio DAC III and it is excellent. No functional problems with its operation. It needs a better power supply. I cannot tell the difference between my Oppo 970, Pioneer 563, or Jolida 100A as far as being a transport. I have compared it to the Oppo alone and there is no comparison, nor should there be. The key is the DAC. No doubt the Marantz beats the Oppo as a stand alone player. P.S. I don't work for Oppo, have no business relationship with them, and don't post on their behalf.
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