Oppo DV-980H

Believe it or not at this late stage of the game I bought an Oppo DVD player. Yeah, I shelled out $169 instead of getting a Blu-Ray for my new 37" HDTV. I figured with that screen size and sitting 8' from it I wouldn't noticed that much difference, plus I have a huge library of DVDs. On top of that the vast majority of videos for rent are on DVD with Netflix or Blockbuster - plus they're still cheaper and more readily available in stores. With the fairly meager selection (still) of Blu-Ray titles it just doesn't seem quite worth it yet.

I may get a BR player in a year or so, but the Oppo DV-980H will most likely beat any of them (save for the new Oppo BDP-83) for upconverting SD DVDs. Basically, I'll wait for the price of the current $200-225 Blu-Ray players to drop to about $150 and get one of them for Blu-Ray's alone (leaving the DVD upscaling for the Oppo). Get very close to the combined performance of the BDP-083 while saving about $175.

The Oppo DV-980H does have stellar image quality for SD-DVD discs. The upscaling is much better than on a Pioneer DV-420V I tried - much more detail in dark scenes and more film-like fluidity in motion scenes. The sound is awesome as well, very clear and clean.

O.K., that's the end of the "rationalizing my odd decision" thread. I feel better.