Since 2006, OPPO has been providing a DVD performance envelope covering the main feature, the movie, at roughly the $200 mark directly competing with other players and external scalers costing $1000 plus. They have been earning my recommendation since then along with a full model line review last year. When it was announced that OPPO was releasing a flag ship DVD player at nearly double the price, I requested a review sample to find out how OPPO has raised the bar on an already very successful product line.

As with past models...

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OPPO DV-983H Upconverting DVD Player - On the Test Bench

Your article keeps making a distinction about the performance of the Oppo 983H vs. the Toshiba A35 by using the phrases "main program" and "other stuff on your disc besides the movie" -- except that you seem to count letterboxed movies as "other stuff" and not the main program. I have a mix of full-screen (i.e. pan-and-scan) DVDs and "widescreen" DVDs -- the widescreen-format movies ARE the main program on those discs.

So, are you saying that the Toshiba will provide more detail when upscaling a full-screen DVD movie, but the Oppo will do better when upscaling a widescreen letterbox movie?

That would certainly be a drag because it would mean buying two scaling players for my legacy DVD collection PLUS a Blu-ray player! (I do NOT want to spend money to upgrade to HDTV only to find that the 150-200 DVDs I now own look like cr@p.)

BTW, my most likely HDTV purchase would be a Samsung 52" 650 or 750 series LCD.

Please clarify, and thanks.

Hi Rsteer,
I own both the OPPO DV-981HD and the OPPO DV-983H. I moved the '81 to my bedroom when I upgrade my media room to the '83. I have a DVD collection of more that 1500 DVD's mixed in both Standard and Widescreen. My layman's opinion is both formats play extremely well on my 52" Sharp Aquos LCD. I see no quality difference between the two formats. I would not go back to a cheaper upconverting player.
Pete

rsteer,

The review is based on Hollywood mastered DVD content for a 16:9 widescreen TV. That infers the main feature will be in the 16:9 widescreen format, not 4:3 pan and scan.

The DV-983H clearly has the edge for widescreen movies that were released in the letter boxed format intended for an old 4:3 standard definition TV.

If you have a boat load of movies that were released as full screen for an old 4:3 standard definition TV so the picture is completely filled out, 4:3 pan and scan, then neither player has an edge and both will automatically switch to the correct format of a 4:3 presentation with black side bars.

The DV-983H is targeted for the videophile DVD collector market and that means any videophile would have avoided full screen releases like the plaque.

The Toshiba player is no longer available unless you purchase it used. It is used simply as a known reference amongst HDTV videophiles and enthusiasts for the review. The differences noted are based on using an HDTV to it's full potential which few folks rarely do and that was put in perspective in the review.

It occurs to me that you are likely a casual viewer who happens to be a collector of movies on DVD and chose full screen releases to match the 4:3 aspect ratio of your old TV. Did you know that full screen movies crop the original presentation making you lose 20-50% of the original frame? What I am driving at is most would not have bought full screen releases and would have replaced any they had with the letter boxed or better yet the widescreen version when it became available because HDTVs are made just for that and why miss some of the original picture.

I get the feeling that you are new to HDTV and trying to get your ducks in a row preparing for a smooth purchase of the TV along with supporting products. If so my next question is what will be the viewing distance to your new 52" TV?

If I have this all wrong please let me know....

The reason I asked about your viewing distance is because that plays the central role in determining how much money you need to spend for performance versus what you think you need to spend or what someone else tells you to spend. Simply put the further you are away from the screen the less important sheer performance becomes and the rule of thumb is 3-4 screen heights. If you are properly using the HDTV system as designed then the size of your screen determines your viewing distance. Reality says most folks prefer a 6-10 screen heights viewing distance making detail performance far less important.

Putting the DV-983H in perspective is far more difficult than most players because it’s value is directly related to the content you desire to watch. In the end discussing the OPPO is no different from discussing the finer attributes of external scaling (conversion, upconversion) and what value it may have in your system. The review was lengthy so my hope was that DVD collectors would have an understanding up front of what discs in their libraries had problems with generic players from well known major manufacturers. I grant that also requires a DVD collector with a basic education in current display technology. I’ll take that space here to go in further depth.

If mainstream Hollywood movies are the majority if not all of your content and this is the only content on the disc that concerns you then this player really has no benefit. Other players including those in OPPOs own line up do as well or better for less money. In your case that includes the 4:3 pan and scan titles you bought.

Expectation is everything and since most folks do not understand the technology or are incapable of understanding they naturally depend on marketing hype to differentiate between products. Upconverting DVD players are no exception and claims of turning SD into HD are 100% false. As an example, if you expect the artifacts of a grainy poorly mastered DVD from 1999 and others like it are going to disappear you will be 100% disappointed. The key element in reviewing DVD player performance is how many additional artifacts the upconversion process creates and we seek the least amount possible. In this case garbage in equals garbage out and quality DVD mastering in gets us quality DVD upconversion out.

So what’s all the hoopla over?

Anime titles from Japan are notorious for using the oddball cadences this player was tested for. I have had maybe four of such titles on my system over the years so where is the benefit? Now if I had a hundred of these titles that bear repeated viewing that would be a different story. Check the Test Bench portion of the review for all the details. This is one side of the DVD upconversion coin; proper frame rate and cadence detection so the interlaced video is turned into progressive and this is what the DV-983H excels at. This aspect of conversion is not sensitive to viewing distance so even at 6-10 screen heights is useful.

The trailers and special features of any disc tend to be challenging due to the little money and effort spent by producers to have mastering houses give them their full attention. DVD may be a 16:9 format but years of concern over 4:3 users have created a habit of 4:3 image capturing, processing and presentation for this content. Newer discs over the years have also mixed 4:3 with 16:9 content. Fully utilizing any capable player or external scaler with this content is not automated requiring the end user be capable of figuring out what is the correct aspect setting for each new piece of content as it arrives on screen and adjusting the settings. The only automated attribute is the occasional oddball frame rate and cadence detection that can come with special features.

The manual letterbox aspect setting of this player provides the greatest benefit because it can apply to all the above and does a great job. Adding to that content, if you are a far east martial arts or Bollywood Indian movie fan this player has an aspect for you. Most Hollywood movies of mass popularity are not letter boxed to begin with or have been re-released in the widescreen format. That leaves us with the movie buff who owns less popular titles released as 4:3 letter boxed that will never be released again in widescreen because there is not enough interest. I own a whopping two discs of such content and the main reason I own them is for evaluating 4:3 letter boxed scaling! This is the other side of the upconversion coin after frame rate and cadence detection; converting from one pixel matrix to another, in this case 720x480 into one of the HD scan rates, 1280x720 or 1920x1080. Letter boxed content is even more difficult because you are actually zooming the image to get it to fill out the screen. While the DV-983H excels in that specific application I have seen better pixel conversion from other players. This relates to the color detail performance results from the bench test. This aspect of conversion is particularly sensitive to viewing distance so at 6-10 screen heights you are wasting your money and is directly related to user endorsements of how an upconverting DVD player looks just like HD.

This a great point to leap into defining what a movie buff is versus a movie fan. In my view a movie buff is someone who seeks out the ownership of movies for their historical value. This is someone who appreciates the finer details of movie making such as directing, sets and costumes, cinematography and performances and because of that will watch degraded images or live with poor sound because that is the only format a particular movie is available in. The unpopular and outdated of yesteryear has significant volume in their library. This is potential OPPO DV-983H country!

A movie fan on the other hand seeks a new experience or to repeat a past experience and is typically following popular trends. That pretty much covers my home and most of my customers. Because we are following popular trends most if not all of the content we want to watch is available in widescreen on DVD and better yet Blu-ray. If not currently available there is hope that someday a highly popular movie will be released as such. For the movie fan the OPPO DV-983H is hardly the best choice and a Blu-ray player with decent to good DVD scaling should be at the top of your list for those seeking the best experience of sight and sound.

I thank you for your post and questions and hope this helps the new and the experienced in determining what benefit the DV-983H has to offer for them and their DVD library.