Got in the Oppo DV981HD...

[desertheat 10+ year member]

I have to say first, thanks for the member that brought up oppo as I was searching for a replacement upconverting dvd player, second for the money this has to be the BEST DVD player I have EVER used period. And no I have not used the fancy $1K-$5K players, but according to the reviews, this baby matches most of the high doller units performance wise! Yeah I am excited, not often does budget gear = bliss.

Highlights are....

- Arrived in good time

- Packaging is amazing

- DVD players quality is amazing build wise, save the very flimsy dvd tray which is scary flimsy...

- Setup was CAKE and menus are very user friendly.

- Video quality is as perfect as I can ask for

- Music quality is steller, I am no golder ear but I love it. I am actually going to buy another one of these instead of the $500 scd-300 shanling as I am that pleased with it's overall performance.

- Has volume control so for a true simple hi-fi setup you do not need a pre-amp woohoo!

I was originally useing a toshiba upconverter player on my 65" HD and thought it was decent and did not realize what I was missing. "cannot find it in the house for the model number, think the girl already canned it haha"

Anyways first impressions of the oppo compared to the toshiba was OMFG. The skin colors, clarity, sharpness of the images on the big 65 was amazing. Even the audio output sounds WAY better than the toshiba, I mean difference is just WOW. When the girl can tell and say WOW and "what a step up the oppo is compared to the old player" that says a LOT. Watched all of season 2.0 of battlestar over the weekend and WOW. This player just so kicks the crap out of my old unit it is scary which for 1 says it was either really really bad and this unit is decent or the old unit was decent and this unit just rocks! I also compared it to my ps3's standard dvd ability and the oppo wins again //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif This thing ROCKS! But of course blue ray OWNS.

Anyways best $250 I have spent in a LONG time. Not to often that a new component blows me away totally / is a bargain. Here some shots of the ht rig and the new oppo.

Click to read more...

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

heheh you owe me a billion dollars now lol blu ray does own dvd but only certain titles and in the audio only if its truehd or uncompressed track. what does the rest of your system consist of?

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

For HT it is all budget JBL northridge E series.... I bought them uber cheap as I do not value HT as much as music but in all honesty, these JBL's really sound killer for the cash, did have a VERY long break in period before they sounded "ok". But all in all I am very very pleased with there performance and they work.... ok for music but definitly not somthing I would brag about hahaha.

2 E80 FRONT L/R

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=E80&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=NRE&ser=NRE

1 EC35 CENTER CHANNEL

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=EC35&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=NRE&ser=NRE

2 E10 SIDE SURROUNDS

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=E10&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=NRE&ser=NRE

2 E20 REAR SURROUNDS

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=E20&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=NRE&ser=NRE

1 E250P SUB

http://www.jbl.com/home/products/product_detail.aspx?prod=E250P&Language=ENG&Country=US&Region=USA&cat=NRE&ser=NRE

The receiver is an old HK AVR335 which works great in 7.1 but lacks inputs...

Oh and the toshiba that this oppo kicks the snot out of is model number sd-5980

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

It is a great value player...

I like my Pioneer Elite a little better over all, but it is an awesome player none the less....

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Exactly thanks man //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif Yeah it is budget but I cannot think of anything I like better than budget that rocks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif $250 is a steal.

 

[docutech 10+ year member]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/woot.gif.aaa6090e619a97b6090d16dd863c5a69.gif :woot:

Another satisfied Oppo owner! Congrats on your purchase.

 

[johnson 10+ year member]

I was thinking getting an Oppo but the Toshiba A2 is only $300 shipped and you get 5 free movies after rebate.

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

I was thinking getting an Oppo but the Toshiba A2 is only $300 shipped and you get 5 free movies after rebate.

the sale just recently started. and at costco their $249!

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

The HD-A2 doesn't even do 1080p according to the Toshiba site... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

The only one that looks like it is really worth snot is the HD-XA2... All $799 of it... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

Bah, I like my PS3, I am sticking with blue ray //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif $599 and I have a wicked video game machine, Mp3 player and also a blue ray player //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

Bah, I like my PS3, I am sticking with blue ray //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Shhhh.... Keep this on the DL, but I like Blue-Ray better too... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

Just waiting on those bastards at Pioneer to get there asses in gear...

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

The HD-A2 doesn't even do 1080p according to the Toshiba site... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

you dont even have a 1080p set fyi lol

i dont either mine accepts only 1080i which the a2 outputs and deinterlaces it to 1080p just like any 1080p tv would and it would look very very little different

btw

the a20 is $399 and its 1080p

and the xa2 is $566

all of them come with the 5 free movies

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=ZBv&q=toshiba+xa2+amazon&btnG=Search

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

Bah, I like my PS3, I am sticking with blue ray //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif $599 and I have a wicked video game machine, Mp3 player and also a blue ray player //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

i love my ps3 but only one thing ticks me off, its to dam loud!

i have 3 fans in my tv stand and even at the full 12 volts their not as loud as the ps3 fan is on its second step and on the third step its almost as loud as my window ac unit hahah

 

[LeX 10+ year member]

DLP's dont work well with 981 so they say get the 970 and you cant even tell the diff, looks great

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

You go ahead and buy it online, then when it blows up in your face I can laugh at you. As I do, a lot... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[1loudsuv 10+ year member]

You go ahead and buy it online, then when it blows up in your face I can laugh at you. As I do, a lot... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

warranty is super good with toshiba and amazon is an authorized dealer and if you dont like them get it here

http://www.valueelectronics.com/Toshiba%20HD-XA2%20HD%20DVD%20player.htm

with 7 movies free

toshiba is a++ with customer service

turnaround time is under a week with hd-dvd players

i bought mine at best buy but their retarted i bought the extended warranty and they tell me afterwards that every time they replace the player it will be $80 f that!

i didnt renew the warrranty i rather deal with toshiba if something happens

i have never seen anyone post negative things about the warranty service on hd-dvd players with toshiba.

so your safe as long as you buy through an authorized dealer.

retarted would be going to my usual dealer and paying retail when or if it brakes they will do the same thing i will and send it to toshiba.

 

[joetama 5,000+ posts]

I agree that buying somewhere unauthorized is a bad idea...

But, maybe it is my old fashionness, but I like to buy things from a store where they know my name when I walk in...

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

I have a toshiba HD Projection, I love it. Heard about DLP and the 981... not so hot. The ps3 fan does not bother me, my intertainment center has large curved glass doors and I have fans venting out of the rear & the one blower fan that circulates air just around the ps3 which you can see in the photos so it is silent //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[desertheat 10+ year member]

I have been very lucky, None of my toshiba products have ever failed or needed any service. Heck the old dvd player that just was retired was used to much the buttons were not square anymore, they were actually round and worn down *LOL* The remote you could not even tell what was what. Man got it's use for sure!