Matt Burns has a
thorough review of the NeoDigits'
Helios
HVD2085 upscaling DVD player (also known as the
NeuNeo HVD2085) over at our sister
blog HDBeat, and not only does he train his own experienced eye on the unit's video performance, he actually goes so
far as to set up a single blind test at one of the big box retailers pitting the Helios against the store's top
traditional player. In his private testing, Matt finds that the component and HDMI-equipped Helios delivers a superior
picture quality compared to a standard Sony DVP-NS725P progressive scan unit (although, as he admits, it's not an
apples-to-apples comparison), most notably in how it is able to smooth the picture -- but it doesn't really live up its
advertised claim of improving a movie's resolution. He also digs the Hitachi-inspired remote, clean and intuitive menus,
and plethora of connectivity options, although the construction here sounds a bit flimsy. At least in terms of pure
picture quality, the big box customers were in total agreement with Matt; they overwhelmingly chose the $250 Helios
over the almost-$300 Harmon Kardon DVD 22 in the random sampling, citing both its superior color and sharpness.
posted April 12th 2006 8:23PM
I have to disagree. I received the player DOA. The disc tray rubbed against the player, which caused problems loading discs. And, after 1.5 months of use, it crapped out on me. It doesn't play anything now. I am giving it away to the salvation army, if they will take it.
Anyone have any ideas how this compares to the Oppo OPDV971H? I just ordered my Oppo and will have it in 4 days
The point?
I can say from experience that the OPPO is superior to any other upscaling DVD player in its price range. I even put it up against some of the $1000+ players at Best Buy and had a hard time telling the difference. The quality of OPPOs products, their customer care, and the picture are all outstanding. I seriously would take an OPPO over any other upscaling player on the market today without hesitation - I'm just about to order my 3rd, in fact.
My setups are:
1 - 40" Sony Bravia; Motorola DCT6412 DVR; NAD-T743 Reciever; Klipsch RF62 Floorstanders; Klipsch RC62 Center; Klipsch RS62 Surrounds; Klipsch RSW15 Sub; and OPPO OPDV971H - all controlled with Logitech Harmony 880
2 - 27" AKAI LCD; Motorola DCT6412 DVR; Logitech Z-5450 Speaker Set; Xbox 360; OPPO OPDV971H - controlled by Logitech Xbox 360 Harmony Remote
3 - 27" AKAI LCD; Motorola DCT6412 DVR; OPPO OPDV971H (coming soon) - controlled by Logitech Harmony 550
I have the Oppo (Well a Soken rebranded one, but its identical) and a NeoDigits player - I also prefer the Oppo, however when the Neodigits works it is IMO a better picture, also Chinese EVD disks look awesome - colours on "The migrating birds" has to be seen to be believed.
Ben Hobbs
Nice, Stylish but I am not sure that I would waste money on this as a blueray drive would be better, hang on what would I do with all my DVDs?
I have the all 3 of the last NeoDigits models. This is the best so far. The NeoDigits (Helios) uprez's in both the Analog outputs (Component, & VGA) as well as the Digital output (HDMI).
Most of the other units on the market only uprez through the digital outputs.
That is very important for those TV's or Monitors that have no digital in.
The 'feature' of improving resolution isn't a myth, I can show you two back to back examples of how an upscaling DVD player looks better than 480p, especially with 720p displays. In fact, grab an oppo with a 720p display and you can flick back and forth between them, unless the display has exceptional internal scaling then there will be an obvious increase in perceived picture quality.
the review wasn't particularly technical, IMO they should have used a superbit or equivelant DVD (LOTR Extended Edition is also good) and a rear projection set isn't the best for 1:1 pixel mapping or pixel sharpness.
Ben Hobbs
My modded Xbox with XBMC upscales DVDs to 720p, it also plays games and stores/plays various media files.
You can get an Xbox for $100 off of Fleabay, the nicest mod chip will cost about $55 add another $35 for a DVD remote and Component cables + whatever size HD you'd like to upgrade... you can come out much cheaper and get a lot more functionality than this unit offers.
You don't get HDMI...but component cables work just fine. I'd be interested in seeing an image comparison between XBMC and these upscaling retail units.
I had the same experience as the April 12 posting. The player worked for a couple of month and then crapped out on me. The imagestopped, jereked forward, pasued randomly, went out of sync with the audio, etc. All this within a couple of months. I love this unit for the variety of connector types, but I wonder about their quality and reliability!
Hello,
Does the Oppo DV-970HD DVD player or the Harmon Kardon DVD 47 DVD player give you the best sound on CD/SACD/DVD-Audio?
Thanks,
Burt
UPSCALING BUNCUM & THE HELIOS.
I have just bought a supposed HVD compatible upscaling DVD Player, namely the NEODIGITS HELIOS 2085. The Real issue for me is not HD CONTENT, I have lots of my own True HD content on my PC & on my website. http://www.visual-image.co.uk
I am able to encode my HD video's in many formats & at various data rates, All I wanted was a player that would enable me to put files on a standard DVD or DVD9, and play them out at the native resolution, no upscale needed just simple output.
Before purchasing this model I asked the company(Peter @ NeoDigits) my simple question. WOULD IT DO IT.
------------
My Question:
I have a cinema exhibition coming up and i am looking for a suitable HD player,
If I put a 1080i or 1080p MPEG2 file on a DVD (4.7 or DVD9), will the player access the file and play it?
This will not be authored, it is just an mpeg2 file in high definition so no upscale wanted.
it is my own file> http://www.liverpool-skyline.co.uk
Thanks John
The Response:
Hi John,
Glad to hear from you.
After chatting with our engineer, he told me that if the bit-rate is too high, let's say exceed 19-20M/bit, you may experience video "not fluid" issue due to the DVD-ROM reading speed. If they are 720P files or the files are encoded in MPEG4 format, then no problem playing them on DVD from our player.
Please feel free to let me know when you have any further questions.
Regards,
Peter
---------------------
So I was told it could handle a data rate of atleast 17 Mbs (my movies are encoded lower than that giving me some headroom), and that it would play MPEG4 back smoother than MPEG2, what does that tell me?
It tells me I can play MPEG2 & MPEG4, so far I have not managed to get the thing to play back anything but a standard DVD. Which is not what I wanted. So buyers beware. IT WONT PLAY MPEG2 FILES or MPEG4 files, or DIVX OR WMV.
I will keep you posted on my findings and anyone with any real information on Players that will do what i want please let me know. I am not interested in Blu-Ray, HD-DVD is interesting but at the moment i want to play back my own content from normal/affordable DVD disc's.
-----------------------------
Greek mythology
The best known story involving Helios is that of his son Phaeton, who attempted to drive his father's chariot but lost control and set the earth on fire.
Helios was sometimes referred to with the epithet Helios Panoptes ("the all-seeing").
Chinese mythology
The HELIOS DVD Player and the NEODIGITS line of products. Will not set the world on fire, and the chances of seeing your own HD footage from this machine are ZERO.
There is a new DVD player the Helios H4000.
I hope it works better.
Check out their site www.neodigits.com