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68.222.74.168
Lots of discussion, numbers/specs and Q&A on this new player can be found in the following thread on AVS Forum:http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=682896
Here's a link to the player:
Follow Ups:
and it is scheduled to be delivered tomorrow June 2, according to Fedex.
Nice packaging: double boxed, the player itself inside a black synthetic cloth envelope. Came with a hefty HDMI cable, gold-plated connectors, ferrite cores at both ends. Hooked it up to my 42-inch Panasonic plasma (TH-42PX60U) via HDMI. Played "Nine Lives" DVD. I only had a few minutes to watch during my lunch hour, and in that short time I could not tell which resolution (480i, 480p, 720p, or 1080i) was better. They all looked good! In the case of the lower resolutions, my TV was doing the scaling and de-interlacing. The sound was very good also (I am eager to hear how it does with SACD and DVD-Audio). Very happy with the Oppo so far!
Wading through the posts, this one seems a good consensus of what users are finding, "....The 970HD has features the 971H does not have while the 971H has performance the 970HD does not match.So there *is* a tradeoff.
Picturewise the 970HD (new model) doesn't quite have the finesse of the 971H (higher model number, but this is the *old/current* model). The 971H locks 3:2 faster and does better with jagged lines. That's the 971H's Faroudja in action and it does perform very, very well. However, the 970HD is no slouch -- in viewing and testing the MediaTek is admirable and I think most people will be very happy, if not thrilled, with the picture performance. It is a joy to use.
The testers did a great job and I think the 970HD reflects that effort -- which, in the tradition of the 970HD, is ongoing. Thanks to everyone for the feedback. Keep it up!" (quoted text from a AVS-Forum poster)
Seems many users like the access to unprocessed 480i to feed their video processors, hdmi, video upscaling over component (was over digital only before) and the addition of SACD (and the new price of $150,...I thought the 971 was a screaming deal at $200, especially with the nice bundle of decent cables included)
I believe the release date will be sometime in the fall. It will be based on the 971H, but will have an HDMI output to send the Faroudja processed signal through. That means a 10-bit YCbCr output (instead of DVI's 8-bit RGB) with no visible layer change.While it would be nice to see a 1080p output, I don't think Oppo has that in the cards. Maybe they'll get a new deck before the release...
As usual, it's hard to find anything that exactly says it does not convert SACD to PCM anywhere in the chain. I know it must for HDMI, but what about out of the analog?With that question answered, I may finally have a replacement for my (ahem) ancient Sony NS500V.
Like all the SACD players based on the Mediatek chipset (Pioneer 588a universal, etc) the DSD gets converted to PCM for bass management. Supposedly, the Oppo 970 passes SACD (PCM of course) over HDMI.I know people get worked up over the DSD to PCM conversion issue. I've owned players that don't convert (Sony) and do convert (Pioneer 588a) and I haven't heard any impact on the sound. Maybe I have cloth ears? I just think it's a non-issue.
I have an Oppo 970 arriving on 6/7. I guess I'm one of the 100 lucky people to get in on the first batch. I am quite excited to see how picture looks going into my Mitsubishi 52628 1080p DLP. I also watch a lot of DivX/xVid so this player covers it all. I like the way Oppo regularly issues firmware updates.
I run the CD redbook audio out to a Benchmark DAC so I don't expect any changes for that signal path.
-CB
CB,
Can you post some of your thoughts on the Oppo 970?
Especially the handling qualities for DiVX, Fansub anime bittorrent, and the SACD issue?
I think you are right about the SACD being converted to the PCM, one of the reasons I hold onto my Pioneer 563a, and might look at some close outs on the higher Pioneer Elite models that don't do the conversion.
I am also looking at the mods to the SACD done by Allen Wright.
What if we don't use the bass management and we use the audio direct mode to send it out the 2-channel analog? I only have 2-channel anyway.Like a lot of people, I'd like fewer devices in the rack and look forward to an affordable universal. I'm just not very good at compromising.
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