Oppo Scales Up With DV-981HD DVD Player

Oppo Digital's new DV-981HD DVD player will upscale standard DVDs to high-definition output, boasts HDMI connectivity, and costs just $229.

Oppo Digital has unveiled the DV-981HD, its new upscaling DVD player with HDMI connectivity connectivity and an attractive price tag. The DV-981HD ca, take standard-resolution video content on DVD and up-convert it to 480p/576p, 720p, 1080i, and even 1080p using DCDi by Faroudja video processing, which offers progressive scan technology, film mode detection, TrueLife enhancement, and adaptive noise reduction. Incoming video is analyzed on a pixel-by-pixel basis to detect angles lines and edges, which are then processed into smooth images without visible artifacts or “jaggies.”

“With the incredible success of the OPDV971H, our first and highly rated up-converting player, we are very excited to introduce the even more powerful and high performing DV-981HD,” said Nathaniel Plain, Oppo Digital’s Technical Service Manager, in a statement. “Users can enjoy HD-quality DVD movies without having to become an early adopter of expensive and undecided HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players.”

In addition to HDMI output, the DV-981HD offers composite and S-Video output (sorry, no component out) at standard resolution, analog stereo and 5.1 surround output, plus coax and optical S/PDIF audio output. The DV-981HD is DivX certified, and can handle a variety of video and audio disc formats, including DVD-Audio, Super Audio CD (SACD), Kodak Picture CDs, and WMA on CD-R/RW, DVD±R/RW, and DVD+R media—and it’ll deal with either PAL or NTSC. The unit will also play XviD and .SRT, .SMI, .IDX and .SUB formats. On the audio front, the unit spots 24-bit, 192KHz D-to-A converters, and support for DTS, Dolby Digital, BDolby Pro-Logic II, and Linear PCM. The system also sports a built-in equalizer and trim and delay controls for individual channels.

The DV-981HD is available today from Oppo Digital or from authorized resellers at a suggested price of $229.