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REVIEW: Oppo DV980H

Category: Home Theater

I am now three years into a long and twisting road toward assembling a "permanent" home entertainment system including decent H/T as well as 2-channel audio. And along that road I've had pleasant surprises and I've had unpleasant surprises -- but I've never been as shocked and stupefied by the disconnect between what other people are saying, and the experience I had, as with the Oppo DV980H. The player (and the company) for which nearly everyone has only praise and nary a whimper of complaint was, in my experience, just about the most single overrated piece of consumer tripe, this side of the New Coke.

To begin with, the Oppo doesn't work properly even by its own standards without a dizzying assembly-line of firmware upgrades. (Note to self: Never again buy a piece of electronics that touts how easy it is to upgrade with a front-end USB port. If it didn't work when it left the factory, don't buy it.) Break point insertions either do- or do not happen from disc to disc, with the same set of keystrokes, audio decoding either works or it doesn't with no apparent rhyme or reason, and most personal DVD backups of old VHS tapes either don't spin up at all, or return perhaps one frame in every twelve to the screen, making every old recording in your collection look like it was made with clay-mation.

Picture quality is lackluster at best, with lots and lots and lots of false contouring, and the audio is peppered with so much midrange breakup at even moderate output levels that for weeks I thought I'd somehow managed to blow up both of my front-channel speakers. It took me three solid days of experimentation to figure out how to make DTS content play to all six channels including the subwoofer, and then when I changed to a second DTS-encoded disc the same switch-settings no longer worked.

Along the way I also learned that the company apparently staffs a team of thinly disguised schills, trolling the discussion forums under the guise of helpful enthusiasts who immediately close down all discussions of their products that aren't favorable. As soon as it became apparent in a different forum that the helpful suggestions I was getting were self-contradictory and ignored my previous posts, my ostensible hobbyist friend posted one more time to say that next time I should read my manual, and then had the thread closed.

Finally I just threw up my hands and bought a Marantz DV7001 and -- WOW! -- it's so much better, from picture quality to audio reproduction to user interface to support, that I just can't see how anyone on earth should patronize Oppo and their second-rate products, whatsoever. Granted, the Marantz will cost a bit more money, but these days it's not really that much more, and besides: in the words of one famous movie character, you *WILL* know where that extra money went.

Send an e-mail to author "at" escapeclause "dot" net, if you'd like more details.
dog_or_man
ponnie
233 posts
 
Kudos TIC I could not have said it any better. I also bet
Oppo would have satisfied the customer regardless of the window. They appear to be pretty understanding and have good tech support.
ponnie
233 posts
 
Tgrisham I agree that they need to implement stiffer power supplies. Heck, to be honest every company out there including most exotic makers should invest in stiffer power supplies. Yes, I know it will increase the price of the product but a properly designed power supply will not only make that unit quieter but should actually make it produce a better soundstage too. To add to that it will make the product more reliable as well. You wonder why so many tube amps from the 50's and 60's are still on the market and still playing sounds. That's only part of the reason. IMO they used sound enginering in their power supplies then. Even though parts are superior today compared to 40+ years ago those parts still lasted over 40 and in some cases 50 plus years and still running.
Look at the Dynaco ST 70, Marantz 8B, McIntosh 275, 225, and the Eico amps. Don't forget the many other brands out there like Western Electric and Altec. If you are ever in the Destin, Fl or Pensacola, FL area look up Tom Tutay in the phone book. You will be surprised whatgood power supply design will do for the sound. Better yet Check out
Arthur Salvatore site (search for it on google) and look under modifications.
dog_or_man OP
68 posts
 
Can Tom upgrade the stock power supplies in my gear, after the fact?
dog_or_man OP
68 posts
 
This morning I received a very gracious communication from Jason in Oppo technical support, offering to go over every last detail of my problems and address them one by one, despite the blistering tone of my initial review.

If nothing else, this is an extremely classy gesture and speaks volumes about the company.
blindjim
3,092 posts
 

Calling and talking to the support team of ANY product,
regardless the price, regardless the ambition, decided or not, is key to finding those makers who are customer oriented and not just resting on their reps and previous editions.

With very, very, few exceptions I've not spent my money on those products where I have little or no communication with the makers support squad.

the way I see it is if they aren't accessible prior to point of sale, or for some possible detail oriented issue, just how will it be if, or when, some real trouble arises?

No talky? No money.

Then there are those upstanding, consumer/people sorts which go beyond the call of duty and are personable, considerate, and concerned with the individual... I had hoped Oppo would offfer some aid here. I got a very good feeling from during them the brief talks I had with their service dept. prior to my purchase of my 980h.

Do let everyone know how things turn out.
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