Chad:
I just purchased the 970HD and have had a little time to play with it. Most of the buzz has been video oriented. With so much worry over the chroma bug, jaggies, 3-2 pulldown and anything with the word Hi-def in it, this player address a lot of "wish list" items everyone uses as the benchmark to evaluate universal players. And it does a great job of playback as a "one box" solution. Sell it for 149 and a lot of people are experiencing Christmas early this year. I plugged it into my Lexicon MC12 and compared it to my Sony DVD7000, a first generaation dvd player that I use as a transport. I thought the Sony sounded a little better.
However, I needed a universal player that plays all the formats including the burned dvd's and cd's, which of course the sony cannot play. The oppo doesn't have the cladding and the antijitter that more substantial transports have. I think a used Denon3900 or a Meridian 596 would be a better choice. While realative bargains used, how can you compete with 149$. It's strengths are upconversion, good cadence correction, and the ability to play almost all the formats. And it's very good with DVD+R as well. No skips, it's fast in it's operation and has fair layer change speed. I have to agree with reviews like the Secrets of Home Theater site.
www.hometheaterhifi.com
Every year they have a "shoot out" comparing makes and head to head performance. It is a good transport, but not a great one. If audio is your primary concern, you might consider the predecessor. While still current, last years model specs out with better audio.
I just purchased the 970HD and have had a little time to play with it. Most of the buzz has been video oriented. With so much worry over the chroma bug, jaggies, 3-2 pulldown and anything with the word Hi-def in it, this player address a lot of "wish list" items everyone uses as the benchmark to evaluate universal players. And it does a great job of playback as a "one box" solution. Sell it for 149 and a lot of people are experiencing Christmas early this year. I plugged it into my Lexicon MC12 and compared it to my Sony DVD7000, a first generaation dvd player that I use as a transport. I thought the Sony sounded a little better.
However, I needed a universal player that plays all the formats including the burned dvd's and cd's, which of course the sony cannot play. The oppo doesn't have the cladding and the antijitter that more substantial transports have. I think a used Denon3900 or a Meridian 596 would be a better choice. While realative bargains used, how can you compete with 149$. It's strengths are upconversion, good cadence correction, and the ability to play almost all the formats. And it's very good with DVD+R as well. No skips, it's fast in it's operation and has fair layer change speed. I have to agree with reviews like the Secrets of Home Theater site.
www.hometheaterhifi.com
Every year they have a "shoot out" comparing makes and head to head performance. It is a good transport, but not a great one. If audio is your primary concern, you might consider the predecessor. While still current, last years model specs out with better audio.