You're going to find just about every connection you could want on the DV-983H's back panel. The main connection is the HDMI output, which is capable of upconverting video to 1080p and carrying multichannel audio signals. For analog video there is a component-video output (limited to 480p, as usual), an S-Video output and a composite-video output. On the audio side, there are both optical and coaxial digital audio outputs, plus 7.1 multichannel analog outputs. For advanced remote control schemes, there is an IR input and output, plus an RS-232 port for the custom-installer crowd. Lastly, there's a USB port around back, which can handle media files such as DivX and MP3s. One minor quibble is that the USB port is located on the rear panel, whereas we preferred the front panel location found on the DV-980H.
Although the DV-983H touts its "HD upconversion," that doesn't mean it can play either of the high-definition disc formats, HD DVD and Blu-ray. Despite what you may have read elsewhere, upscaling generally only yields relatively minor increases in picture quality, and the degree of those increases depends on your HDTV. Every HDTV already has upscaling processing built in, so the improvement in quality can occur only if the DVD player does a better job than your TV.
Performance
As we've come to expect from Oppo, the image quality of the DV-983H is excellent for a standard-definition player. We kicked off our image quality testing with Silicon Image's HQV test suite with the DV-983H in 1080p mode. The initial resolution test was rock solid, with the DV-983H displaying the full resolution of DVDs with absolutely none of the image instability that we often see on this test. The next two jaggies tests were also impressive, with almost no jaggies showing up on a rotating white line and solid performance on three pivoting lines. The DV-983H didn't skip a beat on the difficult 2:3 pull-down test, snapping into film mode in an instant. It also did a solid job with scrolling text, although we saw a little bit of stuttering on horizontal-CNN-style scrolling. Overall, the DV-983H's performance on the test material is excellent.
We switched over to actual program material, and the DV-983H backed up its performance on the test patterns. The introduction of Star Trek: Insurrection is a torture test for 2:3 pull-down that the DV-983H passed with flying colors, handling the opening sequence as well as any other player we've tested. We switched over to Seabiscuit and looked at the difficult opening sequence, comprised of panning shots over black-and-white photographs. We also took a long look at Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and were reminded that even in a high-def world, DVDs can look pretty good.
In case you're wondering, we did a side-by-side comparison of the DV-983H with the same movie on Blu-ray, and upconverted DVD--no matter how well done--does not compare with the image quality of Blu-ray. The superior resolution and colors of Pirates on Blu-ray were easily noticeable in almost every scene, when watching on a 50-inch screen from about 6 feet away. The DV-983H will get the most out of your existing standard DVD collection, but for the ultimate home theater image quality, you have to go Blu.
We also put the DV-983H up against the DV-981HD, which costs $229. Watching Seabiscuit again, and switching between the two players, we could notice subtle differences. The DV-981HD had just a few minor jaggies in the background that we didn't see on the DV-983H, and as the camera panned some of the old black-and-white photos, the DV-983H looked just a smidgen smoother. You'll have to have a pretty sharp eye for details to see differences such as this--and we may even miss them if we're caught up in a movie--but the DV-983H definitely gets our nod for image quality.
As we said before, how much better the DV-983H looks than a less-expensive DVD player largely depends on your TV. If you've dished out a lot of money on a Sony KDL-46XBR4, it already has excellent video processing built-in and you're not likely to see a dramatic difference. However, if your HDTV's processing is on the low-end of the scale, the difference is noticeable--whether it's worth the extra money depends on how important image quality is to you.
What You'll Pay
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