Seems like i got a good deal on OPPO DV-981HD direct from the states.

[Tonyturbo1978]

The last few days i haven't really been able to decide what route to go in regards to HD DVD Drive/ Blu Ray Drive/ XBOX360 HD Add on drive or decent DVD Player. Read lots of peoples reviews and opinions on here about various different ways to do it as im fairly new to the Home Cinema scene. I wasn't prepared to pay huge amounts for latest technology quite yet as HD DVD`s or Blu Ray DVD`s seem a little sparce at mo. Plus I really dont want to buy one and have a kinda Beetamax and VHS thing happen to me like we had here in the Uk in the 80's. So been looking for a stop gap and decided to look at a few players, one from Sony, one from Phillips and another from OPPO. You will have to excuse me on the model numbers, cant remember and im at work and a little rushed but they are the three main ones that score well with you guys. Anyway getting to the point, looked at buying one from CRTProjectors but out of stock and nearly £200 plus Delievery. So looked up OPPO stateside and managed to get one for the eqivalent of £143 including 6 foot HDMI cable and USPS Delivery. It shipped with an hour of placing the order yesterday so a big thumbs up on that behalf. Very impressed with the quick turnaround and shipment..

Anyway next question is, will it be a case of playing straight out of the box? or will i have to change a few things seeing as it`s an American player?

Also anyone else have one? I have a 32" Sony Bravia KDLV2000 and was wondering what it looks like at both 720p and 1080i.

Thanks guys. Anyway anyone thats thinking of getting one, i couldnt be happier with the service i have had.......so far lol....lets hope the Customs do not put extra charges on it and it arrives quick and undamaged.

[richiec77]

Originally Posted by Tonyturbo1978

The last few days i haven't really been able to decide what route to go in regards to HD DVD Drive/ Blu Ray Drive/ XBOX360 HD Add on drive or decent DVD Player. Read lots of peoples reviews and opinions on here about various different ways to do it as im fairly new to the Home Cinema scene. I wasn't prepared to pay huge amounts for latest technology quite yet as HD DVD`s or Blu Ray DVD`s seem a little sparce at mo. Plus I really dont want to buy one and have a kinda Beetamax and VHS thing happen to me like we had here in the Uk in the 80's. So been looking for a stop gap and decided to look at a few players, one from Sony, one from Phillips and another from OPPO. You will have to excuse me on the model numbers, cant remember and im at work and a little rushed but they are the three main ones that score well with you guys. Anyway getting to the point, looked at buying one from CRTProjectors but out of stock and nearly £200 plus Delievery. So looked up OPPO stateside and managed to get one for the eqivalent of £143 including 6 foot HDMI cable and USPS Delivery. It shipped with an hour of placing the order yesterday so a big thumbs up on that behalf. Very impressed with the quick turnaround and shipment..

Anyway next question is, will it be a case of playing straight out of the box? or will i have to change a few things seeing as it`s an American player?

Also anyone else have one? I have a 32" Sony Bravia KDLV2000 and was wondering what it looks like at both 720p and 1080i.

Thanks guys. Anyway anyone thats thinking of getting one, i couldnt be happier with the service i have had.......so far lol....lets hope the Customs do not put extra charges on it and it arrives quick and undamaged.

I was thinking of doing the same thing. Let me know how much import duty you have to pay as I am really interested in this player straight from the states. Cheers

[Timbo21]

You may have to get a step down transformer, and once you've payed duty & tax... Personally, I would have waited for crt to get some in stock. For the saving you're making, that's if you do make any in the end, it seems hardly worth it, especially if anything goes amiss and you have to ship it back to the states!

Anyway, just my thoughts. Hope you enjoy it .

[sandstheman]

Originally Posted by Timbo21

You may have to get a step down transformer, and once you've payed duty & tax... Personally, I would have waited for crt to get some in stock. For the saving you're making, that's if you do make any in the end, it seems hardly worth it, especially if anything goes amiss and you have to ship it back to the states!

Anyway, just my thoughts. Hope you enjoy it .

Shouldn't think a step-down transformer would be needed - i have the 971 and it has a universal power supply anyway, so sufficed with just a plug adapter

[micks_address]

i've ordered one as well... step down shouldnt be required.... manual says acceptable voltage is 111-240 volts..

customs charge is probably a dead cert but even still will probably work out cheaper than crt... dvd players are such established tech now that its unlikely their will be a problem... (fingers crossed)

[Deano@Dublin]

It plays straight out of the box without any problems. You don't even need to set it to PAL or NTSC - just leave it to AUTO and this will work fine for Region 1 & 2 disks. The power supply is universal.

Haven't heard of anyone having to pay import duty on them. As the rumour goes, customs only check 1% of imports!!

[micks_address]

Thats re assuring Deano.. any time i've ever got stuff delivered by fed ex or dhl there's been a customs charge.. never had a ups delivery so fingers crossed.. maybe they mark the package down in value or as Gift to avoid customs interest

[loz]

If it is shipped by a recognized courier most likely will have to pay customs charges. The courier company will do all the customs work by default. Nothing to do with whether customs decide to inspect it or not. (though the courier company can only go by what the shipper declared the contents as)

It is only when sent in regular post then customs might only inspect a percentage.

You should be looking at 13.9% duty, then + 17.5% Vat

So, about £190 plus whatever the courier charges you for doing the customs paper work

[micks_address]

crt quoted me 45 quid for courier delivery to dublin so even with the customs charge - will probably work out cheapest from oppo direct.. i emailed oppo to ask if they would mark down the value of the package - havent heard back yet, but they are probably still in bed in the US yet

Cheers,
Mick

[Deano@Dublin]

I bought mine from this website - http://www.hkflix.com/home.asp. It arrived (to my mate in Washington) 3 days later! He then sent it using his works DHL to my work address.

Bit of a round-house way of doing it but I managed to save a few quid

[Smurkenstein]

I got mine from crt. It wasn't quite ready to play out of the box.

I had to change from region 1 (US) to region 0 using the handset. Also, I found NTSC/PAL auto would not work....forced me in to NTSC ...I had to set it to PAL and only then could I pull up the correct frequency. DVD playback in NTSC was pretty poor.

Now I have it set to 1080p into my bravia X. Excellent results. 1080p>1080i>760.

[micks_address]

Just got an email from Oppo in relation to declared value on shipments.. they mark them as 99 dollars value and mark them as Gift so hopefully will avoid customs charges.... very fast email response... looking forward to the player arriving now

Cheers,
Mick

[nwgarratt]

Originally Posted by micks_address

Just got an email from Oppo in relation to declared value on shipments.. they mark them as 99 dollars value and mark them as Gift so hopefully will avoid customs charges.... very fast email response... looking forward to the player arriving now

Cheers,
Mick

Gift only goes up to £36. If they take it at about £50 value. It will be around £11 tax.

[Tonyturbo1978]

excellent news all round. Cant wait now, been very impressed with them so far. Lets hope im even more impressed when it arrives in good working order

[micks_address]

mines just been delivered in the door.. charged 29 euro customs charge.. about 20 sterling i guess.

brought the price of the player to 248 euro for me... which is about 166 pounds.. crt could only DHL over to me so i saved about 60 quid on the player.. so happy so far.. now to un box and see if it works!