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Oppo 970 sounds better than HDDVD player on DVDs?

Hi all,

I have both an Oppo 970 and RCA HDV5000 HDDVD. I had been using the RCA in the main system to watch both DVDs and HDDVDs, using the digital output into my Sony DA4ES receiver. I was at that time using the Oppo in the bedroom to watch some DVDs on a TV we have back there.

I decided I wanted to put the Oppo in the main system so as to be able to get into some DVD-Audio and SACD listening.

But since I had the Oppo and the HDDVD player connected via component to my Mits TV, I thought I would compare the picture quality on regular DVDs at 480p(the Mits has no HDMI input). It turned out that, at least to my eye, the image quality was a bit better with the Oppo.

But what astounded me was that reciever-decoded 5.1 movie tracks seem clearly superior with the Oppo. The sound is clearer, dialog is more intelligible, musical instruments sound more real, the surround channels are more active, there is more dynamic impact to transients. The movie experience is definitely better with the Oppo.

How can this be? I would have thought both players would be sending the exact same digital stream to the receiver. The only difference is that the Oppo is connected via coaxial cable, while the RCA is connected via glass optical cable. Could the cable differences explain this difference? I have been told that for movie 5.1 audio, it wouldn't matter whether I connect with coaxial or optical.

Any ideas? One thing is for sure. That Oppo is a bargain.
mtrot
reubent
7,044 posts
 
Disclaimer: I'm not a Videophile, so to a certain degree I'm speculating based on the bit of reading I've done.

That said, I'm guessing that since you are using component video for both video connections that you have yet to actually see HD-DVD. I think the HD players (and upsampling players) only display the higher resolution via HDMI. There were a few first generation upsampling players that did output upsampled 1080i output over component, but those were quickly killed off by the digital security police. So, for video, I'm not surprised that the Oppo is better considering 480p is its forte.

About the audio portion, it could be that the Oppo is simply a better transport or it could be that the different cable connection is responsible for the difference. There's lots of post on all of the audio and video web forums that say coax is better than optical. If you want to try to improve the optical connection, you may want to try a glass optical cable if you are currently using a cheap plastic optical cable now.

It is well documented that all of the Oppo players are great bargains and compete with units that are much more expensive.

Enjoy,

TIC
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
For what it is worth by far the worst sound I ever heard from a player was an RCA unit I owned. Are you sure the Optical is glass, many think it is but they are Plastic.
Coax is usually better than any Toslink but I dont know if it is why the Oppo sounds better.
pe3046
120 posts
 
You are correct in not seeing the full potential of the hd-dvd player when using component outputs. The ICT flag prohibits it from upsampling to 1080/720 and outputting over the component inputs. Some players do not honor this flag (samsung early hd series) but the RCA does so you are not seeing it's upsampled output which is very good. Also, make sure you have the same settings enabled for both inputs (dynamic range compression, audio output mode) and the correct settings on the hd-dvd (downmix settings-it can output a lot of different ways) player. You could always try reversing your digital cables to see if that makes a difference if the oppo has optical out.
mtrot OP
804 posts
 
Thanks for the replies. I am going to connect the RCA HDDVD player via coaxial as well, then compare the audio to the Oppo. But I had the RCA connected via coaxial for months after purchase, and I don't think it ever sounded as good as the Oppo.

Don't get too hung up on the RCA thing. The RCA HDV5000 is simply a re-badged Toshiba HD-A1 HDDVD player.

Reuben, the RCA outputs HD 1080i or 720p very beautifully over component video.
pe3046
120 posts
 
that is correct, it will output hd-dvd's at 1080i/720p over the component but it will not output upsampled sd-dvd at anything above 480p on compenent. You need hdmi to output upsampled sd-dvd.
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