OPPO Digital DV-981HD

Price: $229 - $229.99

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If you need a GREAT upconverting DVD Player03/01/07

Pros:

Picture quality - Autoscaling - Mulitple formats - Aesthetics

Cons:

Tray feels REALLY fragile - Unintuitive remote

I am a very discerning electronics purchaser and research all my purchases to the nth degree. Having never heard anything worthwhile that was negative about the Oppo, I decided to try it out. WORTH EVERY PENNY!

Have had this unit about three weeks now paired with a Samsung 4095(1080p) LCD in the master bedroom. The picture quality is nothing short of amazing and I can actually see a visible difference between the Oppo and the Samsung HT-TQ85 DVD changer(used more for it's audio and HDMI passthrough to satellite than DVD watching). The remote leaves a little to be desired and the tray feels so thin that you are reluctant to touch it with any force(I only use the remote to close it). These minor annoyances were overshadowed by the obvious care which went into the packaging of the product and a picture quality which left me thinking, "Who cares about the format wars...this thing is amazing!". The packaging said a LOT and made me feel good about the purchase even before setting it up. It comes with almost all required cables and has a HDMI cable which has a good heft to it(No optical audio cable).

For once, I am COMPLETELY happy with a purchase!



On HDMI Cables:
Unlike other video cables, HDMI does not transfer a "signal" but 0's and 1's thus the cable issue is not one of "high-end" vs "low-end" as you will get the exact same signal no matter which you use. Save your money and buy the cheapest cables you can find and/or are comfortable with as the only difference is how they feel to you and the length of the connectors.