Best £200 ish player for R2 pal films?

Paulie-W · 06-01-2007, 2:00 PM

As title. I`m looking for an upgrade (and shift around), but it seems that from reading stuff here, some of the favoured players have R2 pal issues.

All my stuff is R2 anyway, so i don`t even need M.R.

Paulie-W · 07-01-2007, 12:20 AM

53 views and no comments

Shame on you

Smurkenstein · 07-01-2007, 12:45 AM

well..the Oppo 981 is good...lots of posts on that player in these parts

Paulie-W · 07-01-2007, 9:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Smurkenstein

well..the Oppo 981 is good...lots of posts on that player in these parts

I`ve been looking at those threads, but thanks. Seems like a pretty good buy. I`m not sure if i could be updating the firmware every five minutes though

But i suppose at least Oppo is trying more than most.

Smurkenstein · 07-01-2007, 10:13 AM

I have a 981. I can't see any reason to change the firmware from out of the box. I beleive there is the odd fix for some minor settings glitches in the latest beta, but really, its all good. The only complaint I could make about my 981 is that the cd tray is quite flimsy...I have lil kids with heavy hands and this worries me.

For region 2, I did need a simple handset hack as my region was set to US.

I guess another problem with the Oppo is that there are very few UK stockists, so theres very little chance of a demo. But I can vouch for the PQ (excellent - upscalling visibly better than by bravia X panel), its easy to use, and it looks aesthetically very cool (even my wife said it was very stylish).

Of course, its early days and a new model. Who knows what will happen. The Denon 1930 seems to be very popular in these parts.

Paulie-W · 07-01-2007, 10:19 AM

Thanks for that. I will seriously take it into consideration (when i`ve paid off my Kef`s in a couple of weeks). As for the Denon, it seems from reading here that there are still some lip sync problems.

What colour is it? Looking at the oppo site pics, it seems to be a sort of dark grey to me.

ndroo · 07-01-2007, 11:01 AM

the 971 is cheaper i think.. it cant upscale to 1080p tho

Smurkenstein · 07-01-2007, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ndroo

the 971 is cheaper i think.. it cant upscale to 1080p tho

aye, the 971 has more connections options too. 981 is mostly hdmi. The 981 comes in black. Brushed black metal front plate. Slightly shiny (it may be a plastic). Bright blue display, led, customisable. I'll try to take a piccy if I have time later.

Paulie-W · 07-01-2007, 5:31 PM

An in situ pic would be great, thanks. From their site the colour sort of looks Nad grey.

Smurkenstein · 08-01-2007, 11:53 PM

ok, here you go. Not great photos (in fact they are awful), but it was dark. As you can see, there are a lot of biscuit crumbs on my kit.

kids

I need to move that Linn out and fill that space with a nice RAID array for my Sky HD...perhaps a ps3 or a pc...I'm open to suggestions

Paulie-W · 09-01-2007, 12:08 AM

Damn that thing is small

I had to squint to see it hiding in there

As for the impending space, i thingk a nice shuttle would fit well. I cant see the point of a raid array at the moment. Myself, i find it hard to find anything worth recording as it is, let alone fill up umpteen gb`s of disc

Thanks for the pics though. It`s always good to see something in situ.

PlexShaw · 09-01-2007, 12:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paulie-W

I`m not sure if i could be updating the firmware every five minutes though

But i suppose at least Oppo is trying more than most.

The very fact that Oppo release regular firmware updates means:

a) that they are constantly seeking to improve the products they release, rather than fixing the problem simply by releasing new hardware; and,

b) they don't treat their customers like idiots and allow them to make the choice as to whether they want to update the player or not.

I have the 971 (best player I've owned so far) and will get a 981 once CRT Projectors get more in stock.

jsync · 09-01-2007, 2:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlexShaw

I have the 971 (best player I've owned so far) and will get a 981 once CRT Projectors get more in stock.

Why get a 981 if you have the 971 already??

Paulie-W · 09-01-2007, 7:34 AM

Looks like i`ll be getting one of these then as soon as i get some more cash

Thanks for all the input guys

PlexShaw · 09-01-2007, 8:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsync

Why get a 981 if you have the 971 already??

HDMI.

In my current setup, and taking into account the new gear I'm getting this year (PS3 being the main thing), having a DVD player where the both video and audio are carried in the same cable via HDMI will ultimately make adding any new kit into the equation a lot simpler.

jsync · 09-01-2007, 6:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PlexShaw

HDMI.

In my current setup, and taking into account the new gear I'm getting this year (PS3 being the main thing), having a DVD player where the both video and audio are carried in the same cable via HDMI will ultimately make adding any new kit into the equation a lot simpler.

I see, I had assumed the 971 was HDMI too. Thanks.