OPPO: One of the Best DVD Players at a Price You Will Not Believe!

The idea of an improving DVDs has always piqued my interest. When I first saw the improvement over VHS I was amazed. I soon read that the very wealthy could buy processors from pro video companies like Faroudja for about $25,000 (in 1990 dollars) that could make a DVD look almost as good as a motion picture, especially when projected with a $65,000 three-gun CRT projector. Out of my league, but it’s nice to dream!

Now we have HD DVDs and Blu-ray players that do deliver high definition. But what about your library of regular old DVDs? OPPO is one of a new breed of DVD players that claims to deliver near-high-definition quality—sharp, crisp images; true-to-life colors; and clear details even on the big screen. Technically, it is an “upconverting” DVD player which takes a standard DVD’s 480 horizontal lines of resolution and bumps it up to 720 or 1,080 before sending it to a HD set, using advanced technology to enhance the picture in many other ways in the process. In short the result is a sharper, richer picture.

Most of the early upconverting DVD players cost a lot and did a pretty good job. Lately, some have come to market that are much less expensive, but do a mediocre job. Enter the OPPO OPDV971H. Oppo Digital is the North American offshoot of China’s consumer electronics giant, BBK. I first began to notice OPPO when I heard many glowing comments about the quality of this little machine. The OPDV971H had received excellent reviews and better yet, retailed for just $199. So I decided to test one to see if the raves were true.

The OPDV971H is very attractive—sporting a silver-gray chassis, blue lighting, and a simple, half-height design. With a slim profile (16.5" W X 10.5" D X 1.8" H); it will fit into just about any home theatre shelf or rack.

The OPPO was carefully packed in a handy black cloth bag and looked like a lot more than $199 worth of machinery. I was then really amazed to see that both DVI and DVI-HDMI cables were included in the box. These cables are expensive folks, and few companies offer them, especially in this price category. I tested the OPDV971H using its HDMI connection and a 1080i resolution setting on a brand new Panasonic 50” plasma, which is one great set, but that’s another story. The OPPO offers a number of settings, but on this particular set, 1080i looked best. The picture quality was substantially better than the big name-brand conventional DVD player I have been using and when using well-mastered DVDs, even rivaled HD movies from cable and satellite. Images were indeed crisp and sharp, as were fine details, like hair. Colors were true to life and free of any bleeding. Even actors’ skin tones were remarkably natural.

Action shots can be problematic for scaling chips resulting in motion artifacts, choppy movement, or jagged edges. None were present in the OPPO thanks to its powerful video-processing chip from guess who: the above-mentioned Faroudja. Fast forward form 1990 to 2006 and you have gone from $25,000 to $199 with a DVD player thrown in the deal for free.

The OPDV971H features Faroudja’s acclaimed Genesis FLI2310 chip that’s primarily found in high-end players. Faroudja’s Directional Correlation Deinterlacing (DCDi) detects, adapts to, and compensates for motion—resulting in smooth, stable pictures even during fast scenes. And its True Life Enhancement technology is responsible for the OPPO’s natural skin texture and other details, while Cross Color Suppression combats artifacts and smoothes the edges of saturated color fields.

All in all, the OPPO OPDV971H delivered quite a bang for $199 bucks. At this price it is a steal. I would Google the net for pricing, and you may even find one for less, and that would be more than a steal, it would almost be grand larceny!

John Lentz