“D-VHS in the age of idiots”

September 25, 2008

To Wes Marshall,

I just read your review on the HM-DH30000U D-VHS player.

I just wanted to say "Amen, brother" in response to your sidebar about MPAA and other piracy paranoia. I've been so fed up trying for one year to figure out a good, comprehensive, simple solution to piece together a house-wide system based around streaming HD video and getting absolutely nowhere, and struggling with the enormous hurdles the industry, both hardware and software, have put in place for the average consumer to use his own media. It’s unbelievably maddening and has led me to totally give up on trying to stitch together a more “elegant” system based around digital recording and playback via PC or DVR. Instead I'm going back to the old reliable VCR and will be buying the above mentioned D-VHS and waiting on the sidelines until hopefully these boneheads have figured out how to not totally offend their market with this nonsense. Just my two cents and thank for your review!

E.W.

Thanks for the kind words. Don’t desert the barricades. The fight continues and we may yet win. There’s a whole new generation of receivers and processors hitting the market with built-in network access and enough bandwidth to do 1080i, so a solution may happen within the next year. . . . Wes Marshall

Oppo question

September 19, 2008

To Wes Marshall,

I read your article on the Oppo Digital DV-983H. For some reason, I’ve read many articles, but not one -- even on the manufacturer’s website -- describes this player's bass-management feature set.

Does it have bass management? If so what are the crossover points for low pass? What are the speaker-distance increments? That sort of info is what I was looking for.

Michael

It doesn’t need bass management if you use the HDMI output because it does nothing to the crossover. That’s done by the receiver or processor. If you should decide to use an analog audio connection (I wouldn’t recommend this because it adds an extra A-to-D, D-to-A step), the crossover is determined by how you set the speaker size. Any speaker whose size you set to Small will have an 80Hz crossover. Set it to Large and that speaker gets the full signal. . . . Wes Marshall

Oppo vs. Oppo, part two

September 12, 2008

To Wes Marshall,

I am confused. Why would I set the DV-980H resolution to 480i? The picture looks better at 720p and better still at 1080p. I know my Panasonic does not display 1080p, but I assume since it reads the source as 1080p it downscales it to 720p (native resolution).

Michael Mazor

The Oppo DV-980H became popular with one and only one group of people: those using outboard video processors. It was the only Oppo player that could output a plain 480i signal, which was the level it was best at and the level that processors preferred. Its upscaling circuitry is the weakest in Oppo’s line, so I assume the TV would do a better job at it, which means setting the Oppo at 480i and letting the TV upscale it to its native resolution, which is 720p. And by setting the Oppo at 1080 (where it’s weak) and then having your TV have to scale it still down again to 720, you’ve gone through two processes, each of which adds distortion, albeit mild, to your signal. If you set the Oppo at anything other than 480i, it would be 720p, so the TV is relieved of any scaling duties. Of course, your eyes are all that matter, so watch any way you please!...Wes Marshall

Oppo vs. Oppo

September 5, 2008

To Wes Marshall,

I read your article and decided to buy the Oppo DV-983H. I also bought the DV-980H and did a head-to-head comparison. I can see very little difference between the two units performance-wise. While I may prefer the '983 for style reasons, I am having a hard time justifying the cost difference. Am I missing something?

I have both units hooked up (HDMI) to a Panasonic 50” 1080i and an Onkyo TS-DX601 receiver. The third piece is a Benchmark DAC1 headphone amp and Grado SR125 headphones. Again I have to ask, am I missing something?

Michael Mazor

First of all, you have outstanding equipment and the fact that you see “very little difference” means that you probably should return the DVD player. The difference between Anchor Bay’s and Mediatek’s technologies is pretty dramatic, but might be hard to see on a display your size. BTW, if you are using the '980, be sure to set the resolution at 480i so your Panasonic’s superior electronics can handle the picture. My screen is 4.8 times the size of your screen, and at that larger picture, the difference is worth the extra $200 or so that the upgrade costs. Since you see no difference, I’d go with the cheaper player. Just be sure to set it on 480i....Wes Marshall

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