Home : Hardware : Reviews : OPPO DV-981 DVD Player
OPPO's latest up-converting DVD player proved to be a high-performance, quality piece of hardware, despite having a price tag significantly lower than competitors.
Unless you're an audio visual junkie, you may not have heard of the OPPO Digital brand. Unlike some DVD player manufacturers, OPPO are not some fly-by-the-night outlet selling second-rate products. OPPO are based in Silicon Valley and target savvy enthusiasts much like ourselves, with much of their attention focused on core product performance - and it shows. Their latest effort comes in the form of the DV-981 DVD player. The attractive black unit is based on the highly regarded OPDV971H player - extending it's capabilities with full 1080p up-conversion for any 480p/720p/1080i source. 
Before we get our review under way, let's take a look at some of the features the DV-981 offers for $229:
- DivX playback (all versions, including DivX 6)
- XviD playback
- DVD playback and DVD-Audio, SACD, WMA, Kodak Picture CD and other formats
- 1080p up-conversion of standard DVDs
- DCDi video processing (progressive scan, film mode detection, TrueLife enhancement and motion adaptive noise reduction
- HDMI output
- PAL / NTSC and 4:3 / 16:9 support
- Composite and S-Video outputs for older displays
- Optical and coaxial DD5.1, DTS, DPLII output
- Individual analog RCA 5.1-channel output
- Compatible with CD-R/RW, DVD-+R/RW and DVD+R DL
- Dual laser pickup with error correction
Yes, that's right. The DV-981 will scale your old standard definition DVD collection up to full 1080p res. Now, at this point we should point out that anything that goes through an up-conversion process will never look as good as a source that is originally shot in a higher resolution.
For example, if you bought a copy of Casino Royale on DVD (480p), and a copy on Blu-ray (1080p), and played them both side by side with the DVD copy being upconverted to "match" the 1080p of the Blu-ray disc, there would be no question that the Blu-ray disc is still far superior.
Up-conversion is an attempt to remove pixelation commonly caused when watching low-res content on high-res screens. You cannot add new detail or information, you can only enhance what is already there. Fortunately for OPPO, their DV-981 is fairly successful on this front. Those wanting true HD will still need to spend big bucks on a Blu-ray or HD-DVD drive, but for your old DVD collection this is the next best thing!
The player performed on par with some of the more expensive up-converting players on the market from well known manufacturers, and we were very impressed by the user-friendly interface. OPPO have obviously spent a good deal of time working on their firmware, and owners of their players will thank them for it. Menus were easy to navigate, options were easy to configure and the player read any disc we threw at it.
