Oppo

[speakerman1]

Well haven't checked the settings yet. I wanted a less sterile sound and I got it. Watching BOC DVD The last owner left a Yes DVD in it. LOL

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

Let me give you the low down. Haveta go take my cough meds. LOL Ok my opinion which isn't worth much I know. Some very good older bands. OK about the Oppo. Now I know what I was missing. The mids weren't there. Sounds better than the HK that is for sure. Don't have to change anything in the speakers. Will put DP on next.Sounds very different that is for sure. For me to want to start putting different woofers in. It is lacking something big time. Dum fans. LOL They start cheering in a pause on Don't Fear The Reaper. LOL Some great bands came out during that time. I was just starting to feel my oats of my youth. AH The return of BOC to the stage. I do like this band. The Oppo delivers. Nice tweak for less than 100.00.

Larry

 

[laatsch55]

YOU PAID LESS THAN 100.00 for the Oppo??????????

 

[speakerman1]

Yes It is just DVD not Blu Ray. You can get them all day long for less than 100.00. Mine is the DV-981HD. For it to upscale you have to hook up with a HDMI cord.

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

This DVD does have a variable output. Here is a new one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... NA:US:1123

Larry

 

[Fairchild]

I just 'won' an Oppo 83, it should get here later in the week. I am looking forward to it.

Jim

 

[speakerman1]

I just 'won' an Oppo 83, it should get here later in the week. I am looking forward to it.

Jim

LOL I got excited also. Been a long time since I paid so little for a major difference.

Larry

 

[ksrigg]

I found this review of the Oppo player being discussed here, and don't know how accurate it might be, but thought it interesting. Would it be plausible to replace the opamps and caps in one of these and have a really good CDP? It looks as though the average selling price is around $66.00 and for a player that will play vertually anyformat, and can be "fixed" to play DVD's from any region, it may well be worth looking into. Has anyone takend one of these dwon and done any work on one? What do you think, and would it be worth the trouble?

This Oppo player is a non-Blu-Ray, but just about everything else player it does SACD's which most other DVD and other stuff players won't do. It also effectively doubles your on screen resolution through the use of: upscaling. One problem with the Oppo players in general is they are built to a price-point. In other words, they have a fixed cost for the "expensive" chips used in the circuitry, and to comply with the penny-pinching middle-management types as they tend to skimp on anything which doesn't show.

If you compare the DV-981HD (list price $229.) inside with the Oppo BDP-83 (list price $500.) the DV-981HD power supply is much simpler. The DV-981HD uses one 3-terminal regulator and several cheap under-rated zener diodes, while the BDP-83 is chock full of 3 terminal regulators, five or six of them mounted on heat sinks.

Another place where Oppo tends to go cheap is the Capacitors and Op-Amps in both the Power Supply, and in the audio section. This means that the DV-981HD and other similar older Oppo products (DV-970, DV-980, etc.) will start to fail after about one, or two years past the warranty period.

In the Audio section, I noted that the input and output caps for the six audio channels were all capacitors of the same value, voltage and type. I thought this extremely odd, as usually a typical value for the input cap of an IC Op-Amp would be between 1uF. and 10uF. and the output cap going to the outside world, typically would be: 100uF or maybe 220uF. Well Oppo uses 12 caps of 47uF./16 Volts for all the audio sections, which I'm sure compromises the Bass Response in both of the Stereo Channels and the Subwoofer on the 5.1 channel outputs. The same thing is seen in the Power Supply, not the best caps, but some cheap caps - seen in several places. So Oppo saved a few pennies on caps for sure!

All the Output dual Op Amps in the DV-981HD are Fairchild 4558's, a decent but rather cheap Op Amp, used on cheap consumer equipment, and costing well under 20 cents each in large quantities. Since the near-best of the best dual Op Amps are around $1.20 in production quantities, even with mediocre caps, the sound could have been the best it could be -- if Oppo had spent another two dollars, making those two of the three parts used top-notch.

There are also mechanical shortcuts, the three motors used in the disc loader and DVD mechanism, seem to be similar and from the same supplier. That might be fine for the disc load and slide motors which get relatively little use, but the spindle motor which likely approaches spinning a half a million times a day - tends to wear out, according to Oppo Technical Support.

So, the DV-981HD is a nice sounding, above average video-wise all disc player (except Blu-ray) but which won't sound quite as good as the higher priced Oppo's or anything not made to a stingy price point. Bearing in mind that the DV-970HD, DV-980HD, and DV-981HD tend to wear out after about 3 years use, those who know are currently selling them before the sets start to exhibit symptoms. Considering that these were primarily manufactured in 2006 and 2007, around 100% of sets soon will be dying, either now, or later in 2011 from both electrical and mechanical problems.

Definitely worth considering at prices UNDER fifty bucks, as Oppo will repair it for a flat fee of $50. plus bothways shipping (figure ~$90. total) and then you have an above average DVD/SACD/CD player which should be running good for another three or four years.

 

[speakerman1]

LMBO Sounds good to me.

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

I found this review of the Oppo player being discussed here, and don't know how accurate it might be, but thought it interesting. Would it be plausible to replace the opamps and caps in one of these and have a really good CDP? It looks as though the average selling price is around $66.00 and for a player that will play vertually anyformat, and can be "fixed" to play DVD's from any region, it may well be worth looking into. Has anyone takend one of these dwon and done any work on one? What do you think, and would it be worth the trouble?

This Oppo player is a non-Blu-Ray, but just about everything else player it does SACD's which most other DVD and other stuff players won't do. It also effectively doubles your on screen resolution through the use of: upscaling. One problem with the Oppo players in general is they are built to a price-point. In other words, they have a fixed cost for the "expensive" chips used in the circuitry, and to comply with the penny-pinching middle-management types as they tend to skimp on anything which doesn't show.

If you compare the DV-981HD (list price $229.) inside with the Oppo BDP-83 (list price $500.) the DV-981HD power supply is much simpler. The DV-981HD uses one 3-terminal regulator and several cheap under-rated zener diodes, while the BDP-83 is chock full of 3 terminal regulators, five or six of them mounted on heat sinks.

Another place where Oppo tends to go cheap is the Capacitors and Op-Amps in both the Power Supply, and in the audio section. This means that the DV-981HD and other similar older Oppo products (DV-970, DV-980, etc.) will start to fail after about one, or two years past the warranty period.

In the Audio section, I noted that the input and output caps for the six audio channels were all capacitors of the same value, voltage and type. I thought this extremely odd, as usually a typical value for the input cap of an IC Op-Amp would be between 1uF. and 10uF. and the output cap going to the outside world, typically would be: 100uF or maybe 220uF. Well Oppo uses 12 caps of 47uF./16 Volts for all the audio sections, which I'm sure compromises the Bass Response in both of the Stereo Channels and the Subwoofer on the 5.1 channel outputs. The same thing is seen in the Power Supply, not the best caps, but some cheap caps - seen in several places. So Oppo saved a few pennies on caps for sure!

All the Output dual Op Amps in the DV-981HD are Fairchild 4558's, a decent but rather cheap Op Amp, used on cheap consumer equipment, and costing well under 20 cents each in large quantities. Since the near-best of the best dual Op Amps are around $1.20 in production quantities, even with mediocre caps, the sound could have been the best it could be -- if Oppo had spent another two dollars, making those two of the three parts used top-notch.

There are also mechanical shortcuts, the three motors used in the disc loader and DVD mechanism, seem to be similar and from the same supplier. That might be fine for the disc load and slide motors which get relatively little use, but the spindle motor which likely approaches spinning a half a million times a day - tends to wear out, according to Oppo Technical Support.

So, the DV-981HD is a nice sounding, above average video-wise all disc player (except Blu-ray) but which won't sound quite as good as the higher priced Oppo's or anything not made to a stingy price point. Bearing in mind that the DV-970HD, DV-980HD, and DV-981HD tend to wear out after about 3 years use, those who know are currently selling them before the sets start to exhibit symptoms. Considering that these were primarily manufactured in 2006 and 2007, around 100% of sets soon will be dying, either now, or later in 2011 from both electrical and mechanical problems.

Definitely worth considering at prices UNDER fifty bucks, as Oppo will repair it for a flat fee of $50. plus bothways shipping (figure ~$90. total) and then you have an above average DVD/SACD/CD player which should be running good for another three or four years.

I have been thinking about what this guy said. Do you have a link? I would like to converse with him. LOL It is now 2012 and mine is still going. 1 year after 100% would fail. LOL

Now the motors. How does he know they didn't go with the motor for the disc with the transport motors? Thus over engineering. For him to know these things I wonder if Oppo sent him a schematic? The guy was a fortune teller. LOL I read about the DACs and opamps. I wonder if the OA is correct. Really I don't care. I like it. For me to pay less than 100.00 for something that has given me pleasure if it breaks I will buy another.

Larry

 

[ksrigg]

It is from the reviews on eBAy where I BOUGHT MINE. I have one coming too Larry, damn it. Anytime you all get all serious about a piece of equipment, I have to have one if it's an affordable piece, and I think this one was like 62 dollars or something, so we'll see. I can always use another CD player, and that is what this one will be used for. I'll give you my take when it arrives, but an Oxix slayer I think it will NOT be.

 

[speakerman1]

Why would you think it can't sound better than an Onix?You may not be wrong. I'm just asking the reasoning behind it. Ebay reviews. I read one time. I PM the writer and told him he was an idiot. He messaged me back complaining about my sentence structure. So I told him he was still an idiot. LOL

Larry

 

[ksrigg]

I don't know how it sound Larry. I haven't heard the Oppo. It just SEEMS to me that a player, designed to be a CD Player and nothing else, (and at a higher initial price point) would stand a better chance of sounding better than a Universal Player, which will play video and audio (and all the formats except Blu Ray at that) at a lower price point. I may be wrong, and we shall see. But just based on logic, I thought the Onix would beat the socks off the Oppo, but that is just a guess..

 

[speakerman1]

I understand. I was just wondering? Never thought of it that way.

Larry

 

[speakerman1]

No matter what DVD you put in if you run HDMI you can upsample to 1080p. Very nice pic. I would try it in a home theater system. Best DVD player I have and I have a Sony the goes up to 3D. The Oppo is better for what I want done.

Larry

 

[Hugh]

What model are you getting?

It is from the reviews on eBAy where I BOUGHT MINE. I have one coming too Larry, damn it. Anytime you all get all serious about a piece of equipment, I have to have one if it's an affordable piece, and I think this one was like 62 dollars or something, so we'll see. I can always use another CD player, and that is what this one will be used for. I'll give you my take when it arrives, but an Oxix slayer I think it will NOT be.

 

[Hugh]

Oppo player is definitely an excellent unit.

Otherwise, why would other 'big name' companies use them in rebranding.

We've been using an Oppo 83SE at various shows in our HT setup but when it comes to pure 2ch, the Onix XCD-50 is truly hard to beat.

 

[Gepetto]

Rule #1, old digital is just old digital.
Rule #2, refer to Rule #1

D/A technology has come a long way in a short period of time, like the rest of the computer industry.

 

[laatsch55]

Sticking to your guns ain't ya???

 

[speakerman1]

You can have the newest chip and best sounding. But if your design is flawed you not be using the chip to its potential. I haven't bought a new CDP in a long time. I understand where Joe is coming from. In my aspect of it though is this. If it sounds good then it sounds good. New or old.

Larry