DV-983H Build Quality and Video Processing

We waited a bit to review the Oppo DV-983H DVD player. We had it just as early as everyone else, but we wanted to get our hands on what we felt is a potential competitor: the Sony Playstation 3. DVD players are undergoing a consumer and economic shift at present. With the rapidly dropping prices of existing upconverting players and the emergence of HDMI as a digital audio and video standard, DVD players are losing most of what differentiates them from each other. Audio used to be a major issue, but now it is really becoming difficult to "screw up" HDMI. In addition, video processing is becoming "old hat" and most players are doing a significantly better job than in years past. The real competition is with the emergence of Blu-ray and the decision of whether to purchase your, perhaps final, "high-end" universal DVD player or simply just to move on to the latest HD format. We already know that Oppo's many DVD players are a fantastic deal and offer stellar quality for the price, but with the introduction of a $399 model, the budgetary question becomes a real issue. This review will attempt to evaluate the flagship Oppo player in that light.

Unpacking & Build Quality

As with all Oppo players, this one came in a nice retail package and wrapped in a cloth garment. Unlike other Oppo players, the front face of the DV-983H is made of a piece of thick brushed aluminum and has the look of a minimalistic high-end piece of equipment. There are only 5 buttons on the front (Power, Eject, HDMI, Stop, Play/Pause), each of which have a backlight and are a nice metallic contrast to the black player. Lose the remote and you'll need to contact Oppo for a replacement if you want to continue to fully utilize the player. When each button on the front is pressed, the surrounding blue backlight lights up. In the case of the Power button it goes from having a red inset light (Standby) to Blue (On). The Play/Pause button's inset blue light only activates during use and then winks out after a couple seconds.

The player arrives with an extra-thick 14 ga. polarized power cord, HDMI cable, composite and analogue stereo RCA cables and a remote control with batteries. This is the same remote control that ships with all current Oppo DVD players. The HDMI cable is short enough to ensure that it will most assuredly work properly, but the presence of ferrite cores is not something that screams "quality".

There are four micro-LED lights which are used to indicate the HDMI output resolution (480/576/720p/1080i/1080p. If HDMI is disabled, the lights are all off. The main VFD (vacuum florescent display) screen is blue and sits back from the front panel to give the display some depth. The VFD has icons for what disc type is inserted (DVD, DVD-A, SACD, CD, HDCD, and A.Only) as well as visual cues for Mute, Track/Chapter, Title/Group, A-B Repeat and Random modes. There are also some icons which light up to show the presence of Dolby Digital, dts, EX modes, Play/Pause, Repeat (Single or All), and Angle. Oppo really crams a lot into the display, though given its size I don't think it will be used for much more than troubleshooting audio or video format issues.

Opening up the unit (my favorite part), I saw that Oppo had been careful to physically shield the power supply from the rest of the components. They also located the circuit boards to the back of the chassis, separating them as much as possible from the VFD. It was nice to see that Oppo didn't succumb to the forces of darkness and place its electronics into a chassis that was grossly oversized in order to make the unit appear more "elite". They simply packaged the DV-983H into the same sized box they have used for their other models but gave it a nicely upgraded thick aluminum face. It's honest and it works.

Video Processing

It takes two chipsets to make up the ABT-based system Oppo is using for the DV-983H. The Xilinx SPARTAN chip handles de-interlacing standard definition video, removing chroma artifacts and detecting the need for 2-3 pulldown. The ABT1018 chip handles video scaling up to 1080p, including frame rate conversion, aspect ratio control and adding video zooming features. Oppo did not, or could not, implement 24p output due to the methods they used to arrange the video processing on their board. ABT has long been highly regarded in its standard definition capabilities and is, in fact, one of several very competent processors available today. In fact, it's used by Denon, Yamaha, and a host of other manufacturers. For whatever reason (more detail is given below) Oppo opted to not successfully implement ABT's renowned Mosquito Noise Reduction circuitry in this player.

Should I Buy This Player?

We get asked this question a lot. In particular, the decision is often related to whether someone wants a solid upconverting DVD player or if they are ready to "go Blu". This decision is made difficult when the consumer looks at the $399 DV-983H, because it costs nearly as much as another nearly-universal DVD/BD player we are familiar with: Sony's Playstation 3 (80GB & 60GB models). Since these PS3 units also decode stereo and multi-channel SACD (though denying users access to DVD-Audio) it's an interesting comparison - and one we think everyone should engage in before making a final decision. We set up a short chart below to outline some of the major features of each:

It's not hard to see that DVD player reviews are changing. Whereas in the past we judged players without the presence of new Blu-ray technology, we are now forced to consider products like the PS3 which offer excellent upconversion in addition to other benefits. In the face of the PS3 the Oppo DV-983H looks less compelling, however compared to other high-end universal players it screams "value". It definitely has some very nice features and is certainly a solid dedicated player.