12 HD Days of Christmas: Day 10

"On the tenth day of Christmas..."

So it's the end of 2005 and we still haven't resolved our DVD format wars. Heck the war seems to have just begun so we're not waiting around for the victor. A progressive scan DVD player is a must for any HDTV we have and what could be better than an upconverting DVD player? No, the quality might not be on par with an HD-DVD or a Blu-Ray disc, but at least we don't have to worry about which production studio is using one format or the other (or both!). The DVD upconverter we would most love to see under our your tree is....
...the NeuNeo HVD2085 from Neodigits. The HVD2085 has pushed the envelope since earlier this year on this unit as one of the first 1080i capable DVD
upconverters. Not only that, but back in September, the Neodigits team did it again with 1080p upconversion over HDMI.
That function requires a firmware update, but we say: so what? It's not like there are that many sets that can accept a 1080p signal just yet. Kudos to the Neodigits team for staying ahead of the curve.

The unit lists for $245 direct, which is higher than many upconverters on the market; we've seen some for $99 or less. The key difference is that so many of those DVD sets only do the upconversion via DVI or HDMI. How about those older sets (like mine) that were around long before either of those digital inputs? That's where the HVD2085 really shines because you can convert those inferior 480p DVDs to either 720p or 1080i via component cables. Rock on!

We'll have a more detailed review of the HVD2085 before you can say "Happy New Year!". The kind folks at Neodigits loaned us a review unit; we'll put it under our tree tomorrow, but we'll be sad to see it go back after the review.