Worth the Price
Pros:
Does audio/video very well, sweet looking and well designed.
Cons:
Virtually no front panel controls. Remote MUST be used. No big deal.
The Bottom Line:
A great addition to your blu-ray/HD-DVD system and a good starter player for audiophiles.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
Sure, I have Blu-ray and HD-DVD and I have a hi def projector with a 120 inch screen in a dedicated home theater/Audio room...BUT, MOST of the DVDs around are still in 480P standard Def format and that's a fact of life.
What is it?
The Oppo is a VERY thin DVD/CD player that handles virtually all formats including SACD and DVD Audio, making it a fine player for many systems. It's priced higher than many well known brands, but it's also better.
What will it do?
This player will take standard DVDs and upscale them to 1080P. It DOES NOT ADD DETAIL. There is no substitute for HD material, but the Oppo extracts all the detail that is there and then adds lines of info to create a simulation of HD that is quite pleasing. In some cases you will find the up-conversion is good enough to trick the eye into seeing more than there really is. Watching standard and Blu-Ray versions of Spiderman 3 proved that Blu-ray has quite a bit more detail, BUT the upscaled version on the Oppo still looked VERY good. On less modern films, such as Sparticus, the Oppo has a harder time and the image on my 120 inch screen lacks very fine detail. In some cases digital artifacts are exaggerated to some degree. Overall the Oppo is probably the best upscaling player I've seen.
What about the audio?
Many audiophiles are enjoying this player for it's ability to handle multiple CD formats as well as play back DVD audio discs. The sound of the player through my Magnepan 1.6QR's is VERY good with only a hint of sheen and harshness evident. Some will do better by adding an outboard DAC turning the Oppo in a reference quality machine.
What do I get?
Oppo is simply a great company. Open the box and you'll find the well packed player in it's own fabric case (keeps dust out while shipping) and a HDMI and Component cable! WOW!
The remote?
It's a bit on the clunky side, but perfectly fine. It glows in the dark, but many of the buttons are two small and alike to be very intuitive. My Harmony remote handled the functions easily.
What else?
For those of you with high end systems like me, you might like to know that the Oppo has it's own volume control. This is good for folks with pricey tube amps with no remote control as you can now adjust volume from the player.
Summary
Almost too good to be true for the price (assuming it keeps working) and an attractive unit as well. This is a great system addition for DVD as well as a very nice sounding CD player that has a good upgrade path. 3.5 stars in my real rating, but I swung to 4! Cheers.
Capt RB
