Oppo Digital - OPDV971H

MPEG Maker: Mediatek MPEG Model: MT1389FE Deinterlacer Maker: Genesis Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310     MSRP: $199.00 Website: http://www.oppodigital.com

THIS IS AN UPDATE FROM A BENCHMARK REVIEW PUBLISHED IN THE SPRING OF 2005, BECAUSE THE PLAYER NOW HAS NEW FIRMWARE.

The 971H is the premier DVD player from a brand new company here in the US: Oppo Digital. The company is a spring off from the electronics giant, BBK Electronics. BBK has been in the business for a long time and is a world leader in the electronics field with total manufacturing output matching Sony and Matsushita. If the 971H is any indication, we have a lot to look forward to from Oppo Digital.

As you can see from the Benchmark scores, the 971H is an outstanding budget DVD player. But I must advise you that the scores only pertain to the DVI output. This player’s component outputs do not support progressive playback, only 480i, so we were not able to plot a video frequency response curve. I was quite surprised, because I’ve never seen this before. The DVI video board in the player houses the Genesis FLI-2310 video processing chip, so the component video connections cannot take advantage of it.

This is the second union of the FLI-2310 and a Mediatek MPEG decoder. Ever since I first tested the Mediatek chips, I’ve been hoping for their fusion with a high line de-interlacing solution. The first player that I tested with this was the Toshiba 593 DVD/VCR combo. Unfortunately, that player had inconsistent performance from unit to unit, and the implementations of the chips were not what they should have been. I left feedback with Toshiba on this, but they didn’t take advantage of the suggestions. When Oppo originally sent me their player, I found some problems that needed to be addressed, so I let them know, and they fixed them. I must say I was extremely impressed with how Oppo handled the issues I brought up, as well as the issues that I’ve seen raised on some of the Internet A/V forums. In fact, Oppo has been consistently releasing firmware updates since our original testing, and they added some new features to the player that would normally demand a whole new model from most manufacturers. This includes support for DVD-Audio playback, full control of the True Life features of the Faroudja video processing, and a brand new remote!

This player offers the standard upscaling resolutions of 480p, 720p and 1080i. The Faroudja chip seems to be set up appropriately, and they have updated the player to include processing for 2-2 based cadences with their Video 2 setting. This is a feature that is already implemented on newer players or is available as a simple firmware update for existing players. The Genesis chip has the same limitations as every other player using it. This includes somewhat sluggish transitions between film and video material and the unfortunate macroblocking issue. When I used my standard A Bug's Life test, the player did show signs of the macroblocking bug, but it isn’t as bad as some other players such as the Teac Esoteric UX-1 or Samsung HD-1000. This is really the only drawback I am finding with this player on my reference playback system.

The Mediatek chip is utilized to its fullest potential here. The player breezed through our chroma tests with no signs of banding or jaggies at all. The chip is also extremely fast with menu navigation and supports a seamless layer change.

Oppo has addressed the issues I found with the cross color suppressor being defaulted to "On" and now has an available setting for control. We always recommend that this setting be left off for normal DVD playback. On top of that, the TrueLife features of the Faroudja processing are now included. This is a sharpening filter of sorts that also offers some noise reduction features as well. Personally, I am not a big fan of these features, but it is nice to see Oppo include this kind of tweak ability to the end user.

Some of the bonus features of this player include excellent PAL support with PAL to NTSC conversion. The player also supports DiVX and MPEG-4 files. On the audio side, you’ll find an internal Dolby Pro Logic II decoder that can be used with the analog audio outputs. There is now full DVD-Audio support with bass management and time alignment.

Conclusions

If you are in the market for a budget DVD player, with a DVI output, and which has exceptional video performance, the 971H definitely meets these criteria. This player passes below-black, has no pixel cropping, and there are no signs of Y/C delay. I personally can’t wait to see what Oppo has in store for us next. Congratulations to Oppo Digital on making a great player even better!

Yamaha - DVD-S2500 Universal DVD Player

MPEG Maker: LSI MPEG Model: Ziva5 Deinterlacer Maker: Faroudja Deinterlacer Model: FLI-2310 LF     MSRP: $749.00 Website: http://www.yamaha.com/yec/index1.htm

Yamaha has been slow to adopt a new flagship DVD player. The S2300 went through two iterations, both of which were very well received. We preferred the standard S2300, which was based on the also well received Panasonic RP-82, compared to the latter S2300 Mk II. The Mk II had some minor pixel cropping that we found a bit annoying.

The S2500 is pretty much a whole new beast though. It features some state of the art features and connections allowing the end user more flexibility in delivery and performance. This includes HDMI for video and movie soundtracks and Firewire for DVD-A and SACD digital delivery.

This player appears to be based on a Philips transport as opposed to the previous Panasonic one. It uses the Genesis/Faroudja FLI-2310 LF chip for its main video processing and a Ziva5 chip from LSI for its MPEG decoding duties. This is actually very similar to what is found in the high end Meridian DVD players that cost several times more than the Yamaha.

As expected, the Faroudja chip exhibits the Macroblocking issue in Faroudja-based DVD players. Using my old standby test sequence from A Bug’s Life showed the obvious patches of MPEG noise and random blotchiness associated with the problem. I had heard some time ago that Genesis/Faroudja had found a work around for this problem, but I have yet to see a single Faroudja player that doesn’t have it. As always, anyone with a display that shows the bug should probably avoid this player, as the severity is different from display to display. I’ve seen some plasma’s that show the problem so bad that the image is nearly unwatchable. If you are not sure if your display will have any issues with the player and you’re interested in picking this player up, I would highly recommend buying it from a vendor that has a good return policy just in case.

When testing the S2500, I noticed a pretty significant difference between the HDMI output and the component outputs. Obviously one of the main draws to this player would be the HDMI output which offers scaled resolutions of 720p and 1080i, as well as a direct digital video path. This is definitely the preferred delivery system to a digital display as it alleviates the need for transitions from digital to analog and back, along with the filtering involved in the process.

The only downside here is that the component outputs are actually better, since they don’t have the same issues that this player’s HDMI output is exhibiting. The component outputs also have an array of video adjustments that are not available with the HDMI output.

On the core side, the component outputs are just about flawless. The frequency response is rock solid, and I didn’t notice any artificial ringing in my subjective analysis. The Ziva 5 chip did fine in our chroma tests, especially since the Faroudja chip masks any issues associated with it. Pixel cropping was not an issue via component or HDMI.

The HDMI output had some definite issues on the core side though. For one, there was obvious Y/C delay that was easily over a full pixel. The player does offer an adjustment for Y/C delay in one pixel increments but it only affects the component video outputs (which didn’t have any Y/C delay issues!) The HDMI output is also set up for PC RGB levels, which means it has remapped black (digital 16) to digital 0 and white (digital 235) to digital 255 and truncated the head and toe room intended for video signal levels. The component outputs don’t have this problem either. I am not sure if this is being caused by the player’s processor or the Silicon Image HDMI transmitter chip, which has been a source of this issue with other HDMI players.

The S2500 does include set-up options for the Faroudja processing but does not include a separate video mode for sources with a 2-2 cadence. This is unfortunate since we know the FLI-23xx series of chips is capable of handling material with this cadence. I was also disappointed to see that Yamaha didn’t include video output modes for the HDMI output. I would have liked to have seen user options that included YCbCr and RGB. I like to keep the video signal in the digital component video space and have my projector do the color space conversions.

As far as the rest of our progressive tests, the S2500 delivered like most other Faroudja based players. The chip does an excellent job with film based cadences but can be a bit sluggish recovering from transitions between video based content and film based content. This is one of the advantages of some of the newer video processors on the market now, including the Silicon Optix and National Semiconducter chips.

The operability side of the player is a bit of a mixed bag. The transport is extremely slow to initially load a disc. This becomes a bit of a frustration over long time use. Once a disc is loaded though, navigation isn’t too bad. Not the fastest player I’ve used, but definitely not sluggish. The layer change was about a full second using our high bit rate test. The remote isn’t much to brag about and is missing a lot of the buttons that I think should always be included on a remote, such as a title menu button and audio selector for high resolution audio.

The on-screen menus and player set-up were easy to navigate and straightforward. My only real complaint here was the lack of support for the HDMI output and no indication that it wasn’t supported. If you are using the HDMI output, you can still adjust the parameters in the player’s set-up menus, but you are only adjusting the component outputs. Personally, I think that these parameters should be blacked out if they can’t be used for the current video output mode.

The audio side of the S2500 features the full compliment of support for all of today’s audio standards. This includes full support of DVD-A and SACD. On top of that, the S2500 features a Firewire output for digital delivery of high resolution content. Yamaha has several A/V receivers that will accept this input. This is a big plus for customers looking to keep their music in the digital domain while applying things like room correction, bass management, and time alignment. Just like video, transitions from digital to analog and back will cause issues with the signal at some point and should be avoided if at all possible.

Conclusions

The S2500 could use a bit more grooming. The HDMI output needs more attention on the core side, and the issues we found could be easily addressed with a firmware update from Yamaha. Fixing these issues would make the S2500 one of the better players out there. I know that Yamaha recently released a firmware fix for some audio issues associated with this player, so hopefully that means that they can address the video side as well.

Video Frequency Response
Yamaha

Lexicon - RT-20 Universal DVD Player

MPEG Maker: Mitsubishi MPEG Model: unknown Deinterlacer Maker: Pioneer Deinterlacer Model: Pure Cinema Progressive     MSRP: $4995.00 Website: www.lexicon.com

The Lexicon RT-20 is the follow-up to the previously tested RT-10. I wasn’t a big fan of the RT-10’s video performance, as it did not fare very well in our benchmark tests. The player was based on a Marantz platform that was itself based on a Pioneer video platform. This is actually fairly common, since Pioneer is one of the only companies offering an OEM universal transport solution.

The RT-20 is once again based on a Marantz platform (the DV-9500), but the video processing is substantially improved this time around because Pioneer’s processing is also improved (see the Pioneer DV-59AVi for example).

The RT-20 delivers a very satisfying image regardless of how picky you may be when it comes to video. Though it does still fail some of our tests, in day to day use, I really enjoyed the RT-20's picture quality. The Pioneer de-interlacer’s only real hiccup was with subtitles and synching them to the progressive frames. This was verified using a scene from The Abyss. If you don’t watch subtitled films very often or at all, then you have no worries here.

One improvement I noticed over the Marantz DV-9500 was the ability to lock onto a 2-2 cadence and keep it. Using a 2-2 sequence from the DVD Natural Splendors, I didn’t see any line twitter at all, which can be quite distracting. I also didn’t see any combing with our 2-2 based chroma tests. I don’t know why this player passes this test and the Marantz doesn’t, but I am glad that Lexicon tweaked this issue in their design.

Like the Marantz, the RT-20’s preferred video processing mode is Auto 2. The RT-20 has six different video modes, although it doesn’t really need them. Auto 2 fit the bill regardless of the material I watched. The RT-20 also has a lot of other options for tweaking the video, including sharpness controls, chroma delay, black levels, and more. As always, I recommend not using these video enhancements unless you really have to. There have been very few cases where the adjustment of these kinds of parameters actually improved the image on the bench.

The HDMI output can be set to several different color space options, including RGB, 4:2:2 YCbCr, and 4:4:4 YCbCr. The bit depths associated with these outputs are not listed anywhere, but I would imagine they are limited to 8 bit, as I don’t believe Pioneer is working at 10 bit yet. If you have an HDMI-based display, I would recommend the 4:2:2 YCbCr option, since this requires the least amount of color-based processing. The RGB setting should be used if you are converting the HDMI output to DVI at any point. There is nothing wrong with 4:4:4 YCbCr, but it requires more color processing within the player, and I don’t know if I would trust the MPEG decoder used in the RT-20 for this purpose. It already has CUE issues with 4:2:0, as well as 3-2 Alternating material.

The core performance of both the HDMI and component outputs is excellent. The RT-20 is not doing any pixel cropping at all (why can’t other manufacturers do this!!), and Y/C delay is not an issue. It is really too bad that the RT-20 doesn’t offer a 480i output resolution via HDMI. It would make a solid digital transport for a high end video processor. The component video’s white level is a tad high at 102 IRE, but it still is within our testing specification. The analog video frequency response is also excellent and nearly flat through the entire video spectrum.

The user interface and general operation of the RT-20 are excellent. The remote is easy to use, and the on-screen menus are straightforward. The plethora of different video processing options can be a bit daunting. It also offers an incredible amount of flexibility for audio.

This player is a universal transport and fully supports DVD-Audio and SACD through 5.1 analog output jacks. Its performance in this regard is excellent. The HDMI output conforms to the HDMI 1.0 specification, so high resolution audio is not supported via HDMI. You can still use it (HDMI output) for normal DVD soundtracks such as Dolby Digital or DTS and standard PCM playback. Surprisingly the RT-20 does not have a Firewire output.

Conclusions

The RT-20 is an excellent DVD player and definitely goes on my short list of player’s that I would recommend. I am really happy to see that some of the Pioneer-based players are starting to incorporate Pioneer’s latest video processing and not the old stuff that wasn’t very good. Look for a full report on the audio performance of the RT-20 later this month!

Video Frequency Response
Lexicon

Muse - Model Eleven Universal DVD Player

MPEG Maker: Omega DVD MPEG Model: STi5588CVB Deinterlacer Maker: Pioneer Deinterlacer Model: unknown     MSRP: $4300.00 Website: http://www.museelectronics.com/

There are some really elusive companies making DVD players out there. You wouldn’t believe how many emails I get all the time asking if I am going to measure or review a player from a company I’ve never even heard of. And since I work in this industry, it always strikes a chord with me when I don’t know what company or product someone is talking about.

Recently, Jason Serinus reviewed a universal DVD player from Muse here at Secrets. He only covered the audio, and not having much familiarity with Muse, I immediately was interested in seeing what they brought to the table from a video standpoint. While I understand that there is a market for consumers buying transports for strictly audio performance, I also believe that a universal DVD player should strike a performance balance with audio AND video, especially at that kind of price tag ($4,000).

I got the Muse a few weeks after Jason reviewed it. The overall construction of the player reminded me a bit of a PC. The back panel looks piece mealed a bit with some audio connections (single-ended RCA and XLR jacks) and some BNC outputs for component video. While it was nice to see support for BNC connections, I wasn’t impressed with the rather crude layout.

The front panel is clean, with a milled front face that reminds me a bit of the Lexicon RT series players. There are six buttons on the left side that control the basic functions of the player, along with a digital display. The remote is another story entirely. This thing is HUGE and looks to be just a literal block of aluminum with a bunch of tiny (and I mean tiny) buttons. The Muse definitely gets my award for biggest remote, but also one of the poorest remotes ever designed. And I’ve seen some REALLY bad remotes. From the get go this remote and the entire U/I scheme for this player completely turned me off. Rather than simply programming one of the infinite number of buttons on the remote for "Set-up", you have to enter a random sequence that makes no sense at all. You have to put the player into different modes to access different buttons on the remote, all of which are impossible to make out unless you are in a nice bright room (which I never am for music or movies). Without even looking at the video performance or hearing this player, I could never recommend it on these grounds alone. I don’t see the point in aggravating yourself just to get what may or may not be a minimal amount of improvement just because the designers didn’t take ergonomics into consideration. A universal remote probably would not improve things, since the same procedures have to be keyed in.

So, once I finally figured out how to access the player’s set-up, I was immediately underwhelmed to find that the player was an OEM of an older Pioneer design; and on top of that, not a good one. It is essentially a older budget Pioneer video solution that doesn’t even incorporate their Pure Cinema progressive functions. No set-up options at all other than progressive or interlaced. There are some rudimentary picture adjustments such as brightness, contrast, color, and so forth, but nothing to tweak the progressive performance (which needs LOTS of tweaking).

The Muse is a flag-reading DVD player, but unless the flags are perfect, it has a really hard time staying in film mode. The player’s video section failed the majority of our tests, with only the most basic tests being passed. This player is not even motion adaptive. As far as progressive performance goes, it is about as low as you can possibly get.

The core side is hit or miss as well. Since this is an audiophile-oriented unit, the power supply is excellent. The analog video frequency response got a hand from this. It is near ruler flat and extremely clean. The image overall looked very sharp and detailed subjectively. This is where higher priced players that use great power supplies shine when they have analog outputs.

The downfall of the core performance is again attributed to the Pioneer platform on which it is based. This player does not pass a below black PLUGE pattern and suffers from several CUE issues that were common with older Pioneer designs. I didn’t detect any Y/C delay problems though, and pixel cropping was very slight.

The transport was quick with access and remote commands but on the slower side with layer changes. Using our full bit rate layer change from the WHQL 3 disc, I measured almost a full 2 seconds for the layer change. That is pretty painful.

Conclusions

At over $4,000 I don’t see how I could ever recommend this player to anyone. The video performance could be bested by a lot of players that I’ve tested that are under $200 and it doesn’t have anywhere near the features of most players near its price point. The audio side may be very good, but for this price, you should really expect to have great video performance as well, and this player just does not have it.

Video Frequency Response
Muse