Product Support

OPPO DV-980H DVD Player

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Firmware Update Instructions

Version: MVer: 05.00.01.07 Batch: DV980-19-0722
Category: Minor Update
Release Date: July 25, 2008

Warning: Although DIY firmware upgrade is an easy and usually trouble-free process, an improper or failed firmware upgrade could render the DVD player unusable. Choose DIY only if you are aware of and accept the risks of performing DVD player firmware upgrade. Otherwise, you can contact OPPO at service@oppodigital.com or OPPO authorized resellers to send the player back for the upgrade.

Before You Start

  • Follow the instructions EXACTLY; Don't press the "Open/Close" key until the player reboots itself. The entire process takes between 2-3 minutes. Stay focused and be patient during this process.
  • Make sure the AC power connection is secured; use an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) from your PC if necessary (in areas where AC is not stable). Do not interrupt power on the DVD player during the update process.
  • The firmware will have factory default settings that may be different from the settings you currently have. You may want to note your current settings as you will have to reconfigure them after installing this firmware.

There are two ways to upgrade the DV-980H firmware - using a USB thumb drive or using a CD-R disc. USB upgrade is more convenient so we would recommend trying it first. However due to the variation of USB drive used, the upgrade is not always guaranteed to work. If USB upgrade does not work you can use the CD-R upgrade method.

USB Upgrade Instructions

  1. View the release note below.
  2. Download the firmware from http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/download/DV980H-19-0722/980.BIN
  3. Copy the downloaded file to a USB thumb drive (or a flash memory card if you have a compatible card reader). Make sure the file name is 980.BIN. It is important that you must use upper-case characters for the file name.
  4. Turn on your TV display and the OPPO player. Insert the USB thumb drive or flash memory card reader to the USB slot. Open the player tray, and then close the tray with no disc in it.
  5. The player will find the firmware file on the USB thumb drive or flash memory card. You will see "Press Play To Start" on your TV display. Press the PLAY key on the remote or the player once. The TV display shows "File Copying" and then "UPGRADING."
  6. When the front panel display of the OPPO player starts counting "01/32", "02/32" and so on, remove the USB thumb drive or flash memory card reader from the USB slot. DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE. What follows is the process when the player will reboot itself.
  7. DO NOT PRESS ANY BUTTONS NOR ATTEMPT TO CLOSE THE TRAY NOR UNPLUG THE POWER DURING THE REMAINING UPGRADE PROCESS.
  8. After approximately 1 - 2 minutes, the player reboots itself to complete the process. The update process is completed when the front panel of the DVD player shows "No Disc".
  9. Press the "OSD" button on the remote control to verify the new firmware version.
  10. The new firmware may affect your HDMI output resolution and setup menu settings. To ensure you have the correct settings, turn off and then turn on the player. Press the HDMI button on the remote control to set the desired output resolution. Adjust the setup menu settings if necessary.
  11. Congratulations! You have just completed the firmware upgrade.

CD-R Upgrade Instructions

  1. View the release note below.
  2. Download the firmware from http://www.oppodigital.com/dv980h/download/DV980H-19-0722/DV980H-19-0722.iso
  3. Burn a CD from the downloaded ISO image file. Be sure to burn the CD as an ISO image file, not a data file. The CD should contain a 980.BIN file if you burned it successfully. Please consult your CD burning software's help/instruction manual for more information on how to do this. Some general instruction for common CD burning software is listed below.
  4. Turn on your TV display and the OPPO player. Open the player tray and insert the firmware CD, and then close the tray.
  5. As soon as the CD is loaded, you will see "Press Play To Start" on your TV display. Press the PLAY key on the remote or the player once. The TV display shows "File Copying" and then "UPGRADING"
  6. In about 8 seconds, the CD will be ejected.  Remove the CD quickly; DO NOT DO ANYTHING ELSE. What follows is the process when the player will reboot itself.
  7. DO NOT PRESS ANY BUTTONS NOR ATTEMPT TO CLOSE THE TRAY NOR UNPLUG THE POWER DURING THE REMAINING UPGRADE PROCESS.
  8. After approximately 1 - 2 minutes, the player reboots itself and closes the tray automatically to complete the process. The update process is completed when the front panel of the DVD player shows "No Disc".
  9. Press the "OSD" button on the remote control to verify the new firmware version.
  10. The new firmware may affect your HDMI output resolution and setup menu settings. To ensure you have the correct settings, turn off and then turn on the player. Press the HDMI button on the remote control to set the desired output resolution. Adjust the setup menu settings if necessary.
  11. Congratulations! You have just completed the firmware upgrade.

General instructions on working with ISO image files

Note: These are general instructions on how to burn the firmware CD with common CD burning software. Please consult your CD burning software's help/instruction manual for more detail.

  • In Nero Burning Rom version 6 or 7 , go to the 'Recorder > Burn Image…' menu and select the ISO image you downloaded.
  • In Nero Burning ROM version 5 or earlier, just go to Nero Burning ROMs 'File > Burn Image' option and select the ISO image you downloaded.
  • In Nero Express select the option for 'Disc Image or Saved Project' to select the ISO image file you downloaded and burn to CD.
  • In Easy CD Creator , go to 'File > Record CD from CD Image' and select the ISO image you downloaded.

Release Note

The following new features and improvements are included in this version:

1. 2:2 Cadence Support

This version enhances the DV-980H's de-interlacing ability to add 2:2 cadence support. Both 2:2 PAL film cadence and 2:2 NTSC 30fps video cadence are supported. This is in addition to 3:2 NTSC film cadence already supported by the previous firmware releases.

2. User Selectable Forced De-interlacing Mode

This firmware version adds a setup menu item "De-interlacing Mode" in the "Video Setup Page". The default setting is "Auto", which is the recommended setting and the same as the previous firmware (plus 2:2 support). The new "Film" and "Video" settings can force the DV-980H to use "film" or "video" algorithm to perform de-interlacing. The "Film" option can be used when the you know that the source is high-quality 3:2 or 2:2 pull-down and want to avoid any loss of cadence lock while watching that source. The "Video" option can be used if you are certain the disc is made from footage originally shot with a video camera, not with a film camera.

3. User Selectable Pause Mode

This firmware version adds a setup menu item "Pause Mode" in the "Video Setup Page". The default setting is "Auto", which is the recommended setting and the same as the previous firmware. The new "Frame" and "Field" settings can force the DV-980H to show a static "frame" or "field" when paused. A static "frame" is assembled using two "fields". A static "field" is interpolated from a single field (half a frame). Depending on the encoding of the DVD, one mode may yield a clearer static picture than the other.

4. "Auto" Output Resolution

The player's default output resolution is now set to "Auto". With this setting, the player checks with the display device to determine the best output resolution over HDMI output. Experienced users, users who play both PAL and NTSC contents, and users who use the component output should still manually select an output resolution to ensure the best picture quality.

5. Stability Improvement

This firmware version addresses a problem of unable to resume playback after a movie is stopped in the "pre-stop" mode for a period of time. When a user presses the "STOP" button once during a movie to put it in the "pre-stop" mode, playback should resume if the user presses the "PLAY" button. With the previous firmware versions, occasionally playback will not resume upon pressing the "PLAY" button. Instead, the user needs to press the "EJECT" button twice to resume the movie. This version resolves the problem, and playback from "pre-stop" mode can be resumed reliably by pressing the "PLAY" button.

6. Bass Management for 96k Source

This firmware version optimizes the DSP (Digital Signal Processor) usage and adds bass management for audio sources that are encoded in 96kHz sample rate. When the front speakers are set to "Small" and subwoofer is set to "On", the DV-980H can redirect bass from the front channels to the LFE subwoofer channel. This improvement applies to DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs. It is in addition to bass management already supported in previous firmware releases for sources with less than 96k sample rate (CD, DVD-Audio/Video and SACD).

7. Improved Transition between Audio Tracks

This firmware version improves the transition between audio tracks. For CD, the improvement is noticeable on certain discs that have very tight transition between two tracks, and discs that start with a very strong note. For SACD, the improvement honors the gap flag inserted between two tracks (often found between two symphony pieces on a classical music SACD), while at the same time maintains a gapless transition if no such flag exists.

8. HDMI Output for X.0-Channel SACD and DVD-Audio Discs

This version changes the way DV-980H outputs audio over HDMI for X.0-Channel (3.0, 4.0, 5.0 etc.) SACD and DVD-Audio discs. The previous version outputs 2.0-Channel for these disc over HDMI. The new version outputs 5.1-Channel with the unused channel muted. Multi-channel analog output for such discs had no problem before and is not affected by this change.

9. Improvements Based on User Provided Materials

This firmware version includes improvements made to enhance compatibility with some user provided materials. Although the product specification disclaims "Compatibility with user-encoded contents or user-created discs is on a best effort basis with no guarantee due to the variation of media, software and techniques used," OPPO tries very hard to accommodate customers' reasonable compatibility requests. This firmware version enhances compatibility to some DVD+R and DVD-R media, large Xvid files on USB drives, visibility/color of SRT subtitles, and recorded DVD with MPEG2 audio. These improvements are based on materials submitted by users. Thanks to all who provided materials for testing.