Oppo DV-980H

Why should I spend 150 odd quid on a DVD player, I can hear you asking from across the internets. Well, like all things in life, you really do get what you pay for. Sure a £30 DVD player from Sainsbury's will certainly do the job of showing you movies, but it won't do so with the best quality, especially if it's using one of those hideous SCART connectors which were designed by the French to punish us for Agincourt. As you would expect for the money, the Oppo is a very study and well designed machine. It feels like it was built to last longer than a week and although this might not sound that important, build-quality is much overlooked these days, and frankly, we think that's a crying shame. And look, it comes in a cool dust jacket AND you get an HDMI cable included, and it's a good one too. At the back you'll find a generous selection of outputs, each gold plated for quality. Of course, this being an upscaling DVD player, there an HDMI socket which sits next to composite, s-video and component outputs. There are also coaxial and optical digital outputs too for sending audio to an AV receiver. Additionally, you get analogue 7.1 audio outputs too, which enables you to connect the player to virtually any AV receiver, if it's running short of digital inputs. Oh, and there's a SCART socket over here, but you can just stick chewing gum in there, because you aren't going to be using it. The remote control is also reasonably sturdy, with large and logically placed buttons, and a glow in the dark coating which should mean you can control the player when the lights are dimmed in anticipation of movie night. The rubber keys have a decent and positive feel when you push them. The front of the machine is as stylish as you'd expect, there isn't much in the way of controls here, but the basics are all covered, like power, opening and closing the disc tray and a button for selecting the HDMI output. Basic playback controls are available too, via this circular, multi-directional controller. There is also a little surprise located on the far right, namely a little piece of rubber which conceals a USB 2 socket, which can be used to play MP3s and watch XviD and DivX material. So what of the quality? Well, we have to say we love the picture and sound from this machine. The upscaled video from movies like Jurassic Park and X-Men remind us of why we fell in love with DVD in the first place, and also why Blu-ray has yet to make a significant dent in the market. Put simply, this player is fully featured, high quality and a brilliant alternative to HD if you aren't quite ready to make the swap to Blu-ray yet. This player really competes with products from the likes of Denon that has players that cost even more than this one. Against those machines, the DV-980H compares favourably, and while we appreciate not everyone will be prepared to spend this kind of money on a DVD player, those who do will be in for a treat. I'm Ian Morris for CNET UK and this is the Oppo DV-980H.