New lower cost DVD player?

mca · « **on:** 13 Apr 2006, 05:48 pm »

My Denon DVD 2900 is starting to have some problems. I want to replace it with something that will take advantage of DVI/HDMI. I no longer care about playing hi-rez formats.

Is the Oppo DVD player the way to go? Has anyone had any problems with this player? I am willing to spend 500.00-600.00 on a new player. Is there anything in that range that would improve on the performance of the Oppo?

bubba966 · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 12:53 am »

Get the OPPO and send it down to Wayne for improvements. I foget what mods he currently offers. But I think he doesn't bother modding the analog outs as it's not worth the $. But the video & digital mods are well worth it in my opinion.

The stock OPPO is pretty good as it is. But the Bolder modded OPPO is a good bit better.

I forget how long Wayne's been running his personal OPPO, but he's not had any problems with it. In fact I recall him saying it plays problems discs rather well.

I forget where I put my review of a stock & a Bolder modded OPPO (a bit tired at the moment) but it was probably in the Bolder circle. But lets just say that I was most surprised at the performance of the little $200 OPPO compared to my $6,000 Pioneer.

If I had DVI/HDMI I'd sell my AX10 and get a Bolder modded OPPO and have nearly $1,000 left over.

wshuff · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 03:22 am »

I own both a Denon 2900 and an Oppo. Have them in the same system, hooked up to a JVC HD-ILA display (720p).

There are a few things about the Oppo that are comparable to the Denon. For instance, no layer change, speedy navigation. I can't live without those now.

My Oppo seems to play nicer with DVD-R, and is the only player I own that will play a dual layer DVD+R.

Picture wise, they are comparable (I have my Denon's output scaled to 720p by a Focus Enhancements CS-1 processor), but remember, the Oppo uses a Faroudja chip, so you may experience some lip sync problems (I never really have) and macroblocking (I do occasionally see this problem). Still, the picture is nothing to sneeze at, and for $200, an absolute steal.

mca · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 04:39 pm »

Quote

Get the OPPO and send it down to Wayne for improvements

I did read your posts about the Bolder mods. I am just a little leary about buying something for $200 and then sinking $400 into it

Doug_B · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 05:31 pm »

Quote from: mca

I am just a little leary about buying something for $200 and then sinking $400 into it

The Oppo in stock form is quite a good player for DVI output video. Go ahead and buy it. Oppo has a 30 day money-back guarantee (at least if you buy direct from them; not sure if that applies to purchases from other vendors). They may even have refurbs available, usually $160, with same warranty and guarantee.

I am quite pleased with my stock Oppo on a 92" screen. You can always decide on mods at a later time.

Doug

Tweaker · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 05:45 pm »

Be carefull with the choice of Oppo if you have a plasma. The Farouda chip used has a well known bug that causes macroblocking. It seems to be especially noticable with certain brand plasmas like the Panasonics. I sent mine back for a refund as it was extremely bad in black areas on the screen. Not every one has the problem and some that do are able to minimize it through calibration. Then there is the lip sync problem...

mca · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Apr 2006, 08:00 pm »

Quote

Be carefull with the choice of Oppo if you have a plasma

Hmmm, this could be a bummer then. I have the Sony 60" XBR in house right now. I'm not all that impressed with the TV and it's picture as of yet. I may end up going back to the Vizio 50" plasma I tried a couple of weeks back. I thought it had a great picture, but wanted to go larger than 50".

mca · « **Reply #7 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 05:45 pm »

I ended up returning the Sony and went back to the Vizio P50HDM plasma. For the price, this set has a truly great picture. I also picked up the Oppo to try out.

It appears you were spot on about the macroblocking. I guess that is what I am seeing as dark scenes tend to flicker and breakup. So my question is, if this is caused by the Farouja chip used in the Oppo, what DVD players out there do not have this problem?

Thankfully, I have about a week left before my 30 day trial ends on the Oppo and can return it with no loss.

wshuff · « **Reply #8 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 08:27 pm »

The Pioneer Elite DV-59, the Onkyo DV-SP1000. There don't seem to be many out there that don't use the Faroudja chip, but either of these should work. If you increased your budget about five times, you could go for the Denon 5900.

What resolution is the Vizio? If not 720p or 1080i, then even the output of an upconverting DVD player will have to be rescaled by your display.

mca · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 09:13 pm »

The Pioneer and Onkyo look to be over my budget amount. Maybe I can get lucky looking for something used.

The vizio outputs 720p.

zybar · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 09:32 pm »

Quote from: mca

Quote
Get the OPPO and send it down to Wayne for improvements

I did read your posts about the Bolder mods. I am just a little leary about buying something for $200 and then sinking $400 into it

Don't be leary...

I spent $240 on my SB2 and a multiple of that with Wayne getting it upgraded and now have a digital front end that will rival and/or beat most digital front ends costing significantly more.

To think of it another way...in this case, can you do better for $600? If the answer is no and you aren't going to have to sell it for a while, go for it!

George

mca · « **Reply #11 on:** 29 Apr 2006, 10:09 pm »

Having the Oppo modded is out the door now as it is showing signs of macro blocking with the Vizio plasma.