Question about OPPO Dvd Players (1 Viewer)

I'm looking to purchase a 2nd player to go along with my Samsung BD1400 Blu-ray. My main reason is to be able to watch Region2 DVD's on my 52" 1080p Samsung LCD. My understanding is that both the OPPO DV-981HD & the DV-980H are region-free players, so my question is this: what are the main differences between the two, and will I see a noticeable difference in image quality by going for the more expensive DV-981HD? I have no experience with this brand, but have read several good reviews. Any thoughts and/or suggestions?
Thank you for your feedback.

You can see a side-by-side comparison of the features contained in both players on the Oppo web site.

They aren't region free out of the box. But they can be made region free with an easy hack. I don't have the info at hand, but it's in the long threads for each player at AVS.

The biggest difference between the 2 players is the Faroudja chip. The 981 has it, the 980 doesn't. There are a lot of displays, that when fed a signal processed by Fardoudja deinterlacing gives you macro-blocking, which can make the display dang near impossible to watch. Panasonic plasmas are one display that does not go well with Faroudja players.

Thanks for the info Kevin, can you tell me what "macro-blocking" means?

What is AVS?

AVS forum. A lot like here, but very different from here.

You can Google Macroblocking, but basically, instead of smooth gradations between colors (or different shades of blacks, where I've mostly seen it) you have very discrete transitions. At its worst, it can make a display/player combination near impossible to watch.