NeoDigits Helios X5000 HD Network Media Player

Helios X5000 Build Quality and Setup

The Helios X5000 is, for the most part, an unconverting DVD player. Helios has added the ability to stream media from computers on your network over your wired or wireless network. The unit uses an internal 802.11g wireless adapter. All you need to do is connect the antenna on the back and you are good to go. So, in short, it is a DVD player that can stream media from the Internet and computers on your network.

Build Quality

The Helios X5000 came doubled boxed with foam endcaps and a foam piece protecting the front of the unit. The font of the unit is brushed aluminum that is a little larger than the box behind it. There are two USB ports (one on the side and one in the back). There is a detachable power cord and composite, s-video, and component outputs for video. Audio sports a pair of analogue connections, both coaxial and optical S/PDIF outputs and an HDMI output. There is also an Ethernet port and a connector for the wireless antenna if you choose to select either of these options. Above the power cord there is a 120/240v switch so people all over the world can use this unit. If you live in the States, don't assume the correct voltage will be selected - mine wasn't.

The front of the unit looked slapped on. I would have much rather seen the faceplate better tailored to the rest of the unit. The brushed aluminum is nice and thick but the rest of the unit is constructed out of regular aluminum. The buttons on the front are large and click audibly much like the first cassette player I ever owned. There is a small LCD readout on the front that really doesn't have enough characters to be considered very helpful. Mostly, it is used to display the time elapsed during DVD playback.

When I opened the Helios X5000 I was surprised at all the unused real estate. What I saw were a couple small boards to handle the audio, video and wireless networking functionality along with a small power supply and PC-style transport. The cover of the unit is held onto the chassis by nine screws - two on each side and five in the back. The side mounted USB port has a long enough cord to easily work on the unit without worrying about fear of damage. A word of warning - do NOT take this unit apart. You know who you are. The ones that just can't help but take apart every new piece of gear. Resist the urge. I take apart stuff for a living and this thing was a PAIN to get back together. The cover has a lip that must be sunk into the face in order for the holes to line up correctly to accept the screws. The probably is, once I removed the cover of the unit, it immediately deformed. I felt like the guys from OCC as I had to place the cover over my knee and bend it into place. Even after all that, I still had a screw that I couldn't fully replace. So, if you buy a b-stock unit that has a screw about half way out the side, you got mine.

Initial Setup

Setting up the Helios X5000 seems to be unnecessarily complicated until you realize that it is basically a scaled down computer. Once you understand that some sort of OS is at the core, some of the stranger behaviors start to make sense. First, you'll need to connect the unit to your display via Composite and whichever connection you'll eventually be using (hopefully HDMI). The reason is because the unit is preconfigured for a composite connection. Once you turn the unit on and get it up and running (about 30 seconds), you'll need to go to the setup menu and change the default output and resolution to match your monitor. Then you'll have to restart. Next, if you want to use the wireless adapter, you'll need to enable it from the setup menu. Don't worry that you don't see your network pop up on the dropdown menu, it won't... before you restart. Getting it yet? Restarting will be a major function of this setup process. You may also want to check out the firmware update (don't forget to restart - it should prompt you). As of now, there is no message that tells you that your firmware is up to date so it will let you re-update over and over to your heart's content (as of version 60-25-061020-01-HLO-230-000). Helios has indicated that they will be implementing a message to tell you that you are running the latest firmware but it will still let you re-install if you like. One irritant is that the unit defaults back to the composite out each time you upgrade the firmware. You may just want to keep a composite cable connected for just such an eventuality (I updated the firmware twice during the course of the review and I understand that another update will be out in a month or so). Though technically, you can hit the TV Modes button until you can see a picture and make your changes to the setup menu without the use of the composite cable though you risk locking up the machine (which happened to me on multiple occasions).

While you will be setting your output type and display resolution from the setup menu, you can also shuffle through them from the remote using the TV Modes button. You may need to do this in order to pick the best resolution for your display. For example, when I set the unit up, I selected 720p over HDMI. While this is the resolution of the Olevia 542i display I was using, I ended up with a black bar running down the left side of the screen. After running through the different options, I settled on 1280x768 (which filled the whole screen). Later, after a firmware update, I found the 720p resolution issue was resolved and I used that.

Helios X5000 Menu System and Using the Network

There are a number of different menus that you'll have to navigate on the setup screen. For the most part, once you set the unit up, you shouldn't have to fiddle with it too much. The thing to remember most of all is that there is a Save button on the bottom of each of these screens. If you don't hit save (and sometimes restart), your changes will not take place. There is also a "Restore Factory Settings" option under the save button. If you choose this, it will reset the menu you are currently viewing (not all your settings). I'll take you through some of the more salient options under each of the menus:

System

The system menu is where you'll be setting your output and resolution (under Video Setting) . Make sure you choose the right output and don't just choose the first resolution that looks right to you. You'll also want to the look at the Video Zoom. The default is "Fit to Screen" which seems to work pretty well for me overall. You may be tempted to check the "Enable HD Mode Browser" box. The basic idea is that this enables more of the menu to be show on the screen at a time. Personally, I found that much of the text (even on my 42" display) was illegible with this enabled. There is also a screensaver option which defaults at 10 minutes but can be changed to anything between 1 and 60 minutes in one minute intervals. You cannot disable the screensaver.

DVD
Under the DVD menu, there really isn't much to play with. You can enable a parental lockout for movie ratings you deem inappropriate for your kids. Unfortunately, instead of listing the ratings as G, PG, PG-13 and so one, it is listed as 1, 2, 3, 4... 8 (where 1=G). I'd like to say that you can look up in the manual (which is provided as a PDF on a disk) what the different numbers correspond to, but you can't. All they tell you is that 1=G. Kind of annoying. Under TV Type, you can select 4:3 Letter Box, 4:3 Pan Scan, or 16:9. Basically, if you want the unit to stretch 4:3 content, you'll need to select 4:3 Letter Box. If you'd rather have black bars on the sides of your screen for 4:3 content, select 16:9. This is askew of what it typically the case with most DVD player settings. The 16:9 setting typically stretches 4:3 content to fill the screen and properly fills the screen with anamorphic (widescreen) source material.

Wireless
As I mentioned previously, you'll need to select a Wireless Network under the Preferred menu and then restart before the unit will recognize any wireless networks in the area. Once you restart, you should be able to view any/all wireless networks. I use a WPA security key on my router so I had to input the code with the keypad (think text message). Not a huge deal and it worked perfectly.

Firmware
This is where you can update your firmware if you need too. If you are not sure, you can check your current firmware version on the menu, click to update, then hit return to back out of the update. Since there is no message to tell you that your firmware is currently up to date, you may want to do this occasionally to make sure you have the latest update. There is no option for automatic update.

Using the Network Media Player - DVDs

As I mentioned previously, there are two main uses for the Helios X5000 - DVD playback and Media Streaming. The DVD playback and upconversion is fairly seamless. Once you set the unit up, it upconverts every DVD to the specified resolution. DVD playback is pretty standard fare with all the usual buttons and functionalities. Two things I really liked was that you had a wide variety of fast forward and rewind options depending on the number of times you hit the button. 8x, 16x, 32x, and 48x for DVDs but only 8x for CDs. You can also access media you store on your computer. You can fast forward or rewind based on the percent of the total file size with the keypad. So, if you want to start half way through a movie/song, you hit the 5 (meaning 50%). While it may not really be all that useful overall, it is an easy way to shorten down your search rather than having to fast forward all the way to the end. One thing I don't quite understand is why the unit seems to have no memory of where you left off in a movie once you turn the unit off. Even if you leave the disc in, the bookmark (as Helios calls it) is erased. I know that I used to turn off my DVD player all the time and restart at the point I left off. It seems that the Helios should do the same, especially since the Helios HVD2085 functions in this manner.

Using the Network Media Player - Streaming Media

What makes the X5000 unique among upconverting DVD players is that it streams media from the Internet and from other computers on your network. First, I'll deal with Internet streaming and then I'll talk about sharing media with computers and devices on your network.

Helios Media Portal

The Helios Media Portal is the name for an online resource maintained by NeoDigits. It gives access to a number of different areas. For the most part, I found this to be of limited value as many of the links either didn't work or were nearly unusable. You can put in a URL yourself to surf the net but honestly - don't. Aside from having to plug in the URL via the keypad (can you say annoying?), all but the most basic sites will be too much for the remote control interface.

I went ahead and checked out everything on the Helios Media Portal and can say that for the most part, nothing really works. Under the Online TV menu, I got about ¼ of the stations to tune in and only one of them with usable audio (the rest were only video). About half the Podcasts worked, and none of the Online Music. The Tips and Tricks worked fine but that was just text and from what I could tell, was right out of the manual. The Online News took you to web pages that were impossible to navigate for all intents and purposes and I gave up on that section pretty quickly. So, while I think it is a great idea for Helios to provide an easy way for a new user to get used to streaming media, the Helios Media Portal needs a bit of work. In its current state, it is mostly a letdown.

Streaming Media from the Internet or other Computers

The Helios Media Portal is basically a site filled with content from Helios. When streaming from a computer on your network, you get a similar if slightly more refined interface. The first thing you'll want to do is install the NeoLink software on whatever computers you plan on streaming from. This should allow the X5000 to recognize the server. It will now show up on the main list (from the Player Home screen). If the server doesn't show up on the X5000, open the NeoLink software you just installed. Look under System for the computer name and IP address. You can enter those into the Helios under Add and it will immediately recognize the server.

Using the NeoLink software, you can specify which folders contain videos, music, and pictures. The default, of course, are the My folders ( My Pictures, My Music, etc.). If I were you, I'd create a folder in My Favorites (in your web browser of choice) with the websites you'd like to view on your Helios X5000. This will simplify your life considerably. If you put in the specific links so you don't have to enter anything manually, that would be best. If you use more than one web browser (say Internet Explorer and Firefox), you can specify which the Helios should look to for links.

When I first powered up the Helios X5000, I didn't have my Escient Fireball DVDM-300 on at the same time. Later, I noticed the Fireball on the Player Home screen after I had inadvertently left it on. Now, I know this is going to sound strange but I don't actually have any music ripped to the Escient. I had wiped the hard drive after the review. So, once I realized that the Helios could see the Escient, I quickly grabbed a CD and ripped it to the hard drive. Immediately, the Helios recognized the album and I could playback the music. Unfortunately, I ran into a couple of issues that are most likely related to the fact that the Escient doesn't have the NeoLink software installed on it. First, it would only let me play back one song at a time, I couldn't select an album. And second, it only recognized the album for as long as I had both of the units on. Once I shut one down (and restarted it), the Helios would remember the band and the album name but not the songs. I had to re-rip the songs while the Helios was on before the X5000 would play back the songs again. Not exactly the most efficient way of doing things. So I figured the Escient was a bust and I'd focus on my HTPC.

So, as crazy as not having any music ripped to my Escient is, I went about connecting up the Helios and my 2partsfusion DMS-701 HTPC (where all my music lives). The crazy part is that they are less than six inches apart. Both of them are connected to my network wirelessly to simulate the worst possible scenario. In my opinion, the most likely connection method for the Helios is wirelessly and the 2partsfusion HTPC is at least as fast wirelessly as the Helios so it shouldn't be slowing anything down.

While there are videos on the 2partsfusion unit, they are mostly High Def and I didn't think it would be fair to try and test that over a wireless connection (honestly, I'd be surprised if it worked over a wired one). I decided to grab an episode of Jericho that I had recently recorded to so see how it would handle that. Honestly, I didn't have much hope. Those files are pretty big. The Helios got about three seconds into episode before it froze up. Not a rousing start.

Next, I checked out my music collection. I was pleasantly surprised to see all my albums, playlists, and songs well organized and ready for playback. I could even playback a whole album at a time! Unfortunately, I ran into another glitch. It seems that the NeoLink software didn't like that I burned all my music in WMA Lossless. It was very unfortunate because I burned ALL my music in that format. I went ahead and downgraded one song to the highest quality MP3 (320kbs) and it worked just fine. I did notice that it would flash pictures up on the screen as a screen saver during playback that weren't part of the pictures on the computer. I couldn't find any information about these pictures on the PDF'ed Helios X5000 manual but you can change the screensaver to any folder you want.

Next, I checked out some of the Online Media that was available. Unlike the Helios Media Portal, this stuff mostly worked. I had the choice between:

• Newsweek On Air - Essentially a Podcast from Newsweek - Worked fine
• Podcast Alley - The 10 most popular and 10 most recent Podcasts - about ½ worked
• Rhapsody - Didn't work at all - Gave me a "Failed to Connect" error
• SHOUTcast Pop - List of seven online radio stations - most worked
• Web Bookmark - List of my Internet Explorer bookmarks
• Yahoo! News - Worked OK - About as well as the news under the Helios Portal. Just remember that you have to scroll waaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy down before you get to the actual story.

The Photo section worked fine except that I thought the slideshow went WAY too fast on the default 5 second setting. The picture had barely gotten put on the screen before it started fading again. This can be adjusted via the NeoLink interface or on the Helios X5000.

Remember how I told you to connect to your server if the Helios didn't recognize it? Well, that will work for your friend's computer as well! In one of the coolest functions of the Helios X5000, you and your friend can share content to your hearts content. All you need is to have the NeoLink software on each computer and you are good to go. Of course, both servers must have static IP address or have the same ISP so that they are on the same domain. If they're not on the same domain (ISP) then you can use dynamic domain name software which in effect lets your computer appear to others as the same IP every time you connect to the internet. The NeoLink software has two different security protocols you can choose from - Either password protection (you specify a password that others will have to know in order for them to stream content from your computer), or MAC address (every computer has one, you get your friend's and enter it into your computer and they get access). While the second is more labor intensive, it does seem to be a bit safer.

Streaming Media off a Flash Drive
>Streaming Media such as pictures and music off a USB drive was quick and painless. All you had to do was insert the card into the side (or back) USB ports and the Helios X5000 immediately recognized the drive. You could browse and play media to your hearts content. If you wanted to play an entire file (instead of one song/picture), you need to hit Play instead of OK. Remember to enter the actual file and hit play. It will start at the first picture/song. I found this to be a rather nice way to access your friend's content if they didn't have NeoLink on their computer. I can see people bringing pictures or a couple of favorite songs over to play. If you have HD content, this is also the best way to play it on your Helios X5000. Instead of using a flash drive, invest in a USB hard drive large enough to store the larger files. If it you have the Helios X5000 networked, you can even update the content over the network from your computer.

Helios X5000 Remote Control and Test Results

The Helios X5000 remote is small and lightweight. It fits well in your hand and is backlit. Your thumb falls easily on the OK button in the center of the directional keys. The remote stays lit for about five seconds which is just about the perfect amount of time as far as I'm concerned. Other than the OK and directional buttons, the buttons are all pretty small. Of particular concern were the playback control buttons that were among the smallest on the remote. There was nearly no way you could find those buttons without lighting up the remote and looking down. If they had included some sort of Braille dimple on the center of the playback key area, that would have helped. Overall, however, this remote worked well for me.

What doesn't work is the whole idea of having to enter a URL from the keypad. Now, since the Helios X5000 has a USB port on the side, you can plug in a USB keyboard if you have one. This makes the ability to enter a URL via the remote actually has a cool function - allowing you to enter in something in an emergency without having to grab the keyboard or hook one up. Unfortunately, I don't have a USB keyboard on hand to test that functionality. Luckily, you can access your bookmarks on your computer from the Helios making this functionality basically unnecessary.

One thing I liked was that you could change the display on the unit from displaying the time elapsed, to the time remaining, to the file/track/chapter number or disable the display all together. When you are watching a really long movie and you want to judge how much sleep you are going to get if you stay up until the end, it is nice to know how much time is left. Now, if someone can explain to me why they programmed this functionality into the Clear button instead of the Display button, maybe I could finally get some sleep at night.

Listening Evaluation

NeoDigits markets the Helios X5000 as "the ultimate digital media player built for absolute audio and video enthusiasts; designed to satisfy even the most critical of audiovisual connoisseurs." Well, taking a look at the supported audio formats, I only see one that is actually lossless. Currently only FLAC is supported while WMA Lossless (as I discovered) and Apple Lossless are completely unsupported. While this is not a mortal blow to the unit (FLAC support is very desirable), I'd still like to see support for some of the other lossless formate. Regardless, the unit does have Wolfson Op Amps and Burr-Brown DACs, so the unit is ready for high end playback. High end two-channel playback, that is. I'm not really sure why the Helios X5000 doesn't have 5.1 outs for SACD and DVD-A but it doesn't. As an audiophile grade player, I would guess this was in the running but apparently it didn't make the cut for whatever reasons. Still, there are plenty of members in the cult of the two-channel and the Helios will fit the bill just fine. 

CD: Euphoria - Precious Time

To test out the two-channel abilities of the Helios X5000, I played an Audio CD from the tray. I chose the Euphoria release, Precious Time. This album has an interesting mix of slide 12-string guitar and electronic music. Some if it is a bit repetitious, but for the most part it features the kind of mellow background music that you can feel safe playing at dinner parties while remaining interesting enough for some discriminating listening later on. There is a ton of bass on this album as well as some nice delicate guitar work. The Helios conveyed the album well. The soundstage was perfectly preserved in comparison to some other transports I've used. There was no audible noise floor.

CD: Jamiroquai - A Funk Odyssey

This album has the dubious honor of being one of my son's favorites. You put this on and he's guaranteed to be dancing by Track 3. While it took me a long time to "like" this album, it is fairly catchy and sounds like it would be one of my favorites if I was young enough to go to clubs. While it is mostly electronica, it does have a fairly high production value and a lot of very quick drum tracks. The Helios, over both the digital and analog outs, maintained the integrity of the album without coloring the music. If I had to make a comment about the differences between the DACs in the Helios and those in my Denon AVR-3805 , it seemed that the Helios DACs seemed to convey a bit fuller bass.

CD: Lorna Hunt - All in One Day 

After all that electronic music, I was ready for a change. Lorna Hunt's debut release is quickly becoming one of my favorites. Sure, the music is bare-bones and raw, but that is exactly what I like about it. No unnecessary processing, no sense that the music was overly produced... it gives you the feeling like you are listening to a bootleg - the highest quality bootleg ever! Once again, the Helios performed admirably. I once again felt the kind of envelopment into the musical experience that only a high quality recording can do. I could hear every little imperfection of the music - the kinds of imperfections that connoisseurs of music and art love to see. I think of them as the "brush strokes" of audio. An album that is perfectly produced just sounds sterile. This had character. And the Helios reproduced it all flawlessly. Yes, it reproduced the flaws flawlessly. I get the irony.

I was a bit disappointed to discover that the Helios didn't look up the disc information. I mean, it is connected to the Internet. It isn't like it is such a big stretch. What's more, apparently since the drive is active, the screensaver is disabled. This keeps the Helios logo on the screen for possibly hours at a time. I am using a LCD so it isn't much of a concern, but for our friends with plasmas, this could be an issue. Since nothing is being displayed, it seems like the screensaver should engage. One nice thing about the Helios X5000 is that the volume control is completely disabled except for the analogue outputs. This gives you direct control of the volume when you might need it and not at all when you know the receiver will do all the work. This also indicates that the "Raw" data sent via the digital out is not being processed by the Helios in any way - which is as it should be.

Calibrating the Helios X5000

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" says you. "Calibrate a DVD player?" Yep, the Helios X5000 has some rudimentary video calibration options. They are completely inaccessible from the Setup menu (inexplicably) but during playback, you can hit Setup and adjust the Brightness, Contrast, and Saturation of the picture. In my opinion, these are a bit too gross for serious calibration and should only be used as fine tuning for each movie. You can use them for calibration if you like as the player remembers the settings from movie to movie. If you do decide to use them to make adjustments, make sure you manually reset them afterwards. The adjustments take the form of percentages with 50% being the default for each of the three adjustments.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

Perfect Score is 130
Helios X5000 Benchmark Score: 20

Comments of HQV Testing

There are a couple of words to describe the results of the HQV testing. Disappointing is probably the least insulting. But understand that this unit does produce a stunningly vivid and detailed picture. See the Viewing Evaluation section for more details.

Helios X5000 Viewing Evaluation and Conclusion

You are going to see some common themes through my viewing evaluation with the Helios X5000. Understand that I noticed everything I mention in every one of the movies that I watched (unless I state otherwise). To reduce redundancy, I've split the issues/strengths up over the three movies I reviewed.

DVD: The Rundown
I remember when this movie first came out I had heard such good things about it that it just couldn't live up to the hype. Recently, I saw it showing on FX (or TNT or something) and thought, "I'll have to give that one another shot." So I called up my friend John King (owner and operator of Kingbuster video - a non-profit, no late fee, out of his home "borrowing" service) and checked it out. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the movie a lot more now that my expectations were much more realistic. Good action, good fights, good humor, and an absolutely priceless Schwarzenegger cameo made for an enjoyable couple of hours.

The Helios X5000 provided a vivid picture - as long as nothing moved. Background noise was very noticeable on this movie. It was odd to see the main subject of the scene (albeit a person or object) in such vivid detail with the surrounding background sort of hazy. This was noticeable (though not altogether distracting) in nearly every type of scene (dark, light, jungle, city, etc.). During The Rundown I did notice a bit of moiré that I didn't see in any of the other movies.

DVD: X-Men 3: The Last Stand
This movie is a travesty and should be bought back from consumers and placed underneath the next North Korean nuclear test site. I'm not one to buy into conspiracy theories but if someone said to me that X-Men 3 was a plot to destroy the X-Men franchise I'd believe that in a second. You wouldn't even have to provide any evidence. Do yourself a favor, don't see this movie. Don't do it. Just because you've seen the first two doesn't mean you have to see the third. Believe me. You're much better off.

As I stated, the Helios X5000 does provide a very vivid picture. I really am impressed that a unit that scored so abysmally low on the HQV test can provide such a nice picture. Of course, the importance of good de-interlacing becomes apparent with movement. While I didn't see the kind of blatant artifacts that I was expecting, everything basically became softer with movement. Very Glamour Shots-esc if you know what I mean. Once the movement slowed down, the crispness returned and I was again awed by the picture.

DVD: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Special Extended Version
My biggest problem with the extended versions of the LOTR movies is pressing play. It is such a commitment to block out 4+ hours of time for each of these movies. Now, once I start one and get into it, I kick myself for having reservations. They are just so darn good! My only real complaint is that I have to get up and switch discs. At least the trade off is a much better quality transfer.

One thing that at first I didn't realize I was missing was the layer change. I didn't notice a one. I absolutely love that. Layer changes can be an annoying break of the 4th wall that just really irks me. If I am really into a movie (especially a horror movie where building suspense is the key to the movie's success), a slow layer change will jar me just enough to break the mood. And I can't stand that. I did notice a tiny bit of banding during some of the darkest and lightest scenes, but it was very subtle. I noticed no macroblocking "enhancements" or major artifacts during any of my viewing tests. The color reproduction was very good overall though upon occasion, during the brightest scenes, the actor's faces would occasionally look washed out and plastic.

Problems

Once again, it is important to note that the picture of the Helios X5000 is pretty darn good. Even given some of the issues I mention in the Viewing Evaluation, I would still be pretty happy with the unit overall if it weren't for a couple of "deal breaker" issues that I discovered. First, the unit tended to crash on me from time to time. For the most part, this happened when I was setting up the unit. The biggest problem I had involved checking the different resolutions. I would hit the TV Mode button to select a different resolution and then hit "Play" on the DVD to see how it looked. Then I would hit "Stop" and select a different resolution. I could maybe do this twice before it would crash and I'd have to restart the unit. As the unit takes a good 30 seconds to completely reboot (and I'd have to get up to hit the "Power" button), this made what should have been a simple process, very long and frustrating. But that wasn't the end to the crashes. Once the screensaver engaged, I found that the X5000 would occasionally freeze up and have to be restarted. My guess is that the unit is trying to go into a hibernation mode which is causing a conflict. This would only happen after the screensaver was engaged for a quite a while.

I've also found that I've had a problem with certain DVD menus. I couldn't really lock down the exact cause, but occasionally a DVD menu wouldn't function properly. At first, I noticed it after the screensaver had been engaged. Then it happened after I had already started the movie and had returned to the menu screen to adjust the sound settings to enable DTS ES. And then it happened just out of the blue when I first inserted a disc. This would cause a variety of effects ranging from locking up the machine to freezing the graphics. One time, I could see the curser moving but the graphics didn't change. I knew how exactly the number and direction of keystrokes I needed to get to what I wanted so I was able to start the movie without a problem but it was sort of weird.

Now, if all this sounds pretty bad, don't worry, it gets worse. During DVD playback, upon occasion, the screen would black out for a second and then return to normal functioning. It was as if a few frames just fell off the disc. Rewinding confirmed that the unit was capable and playing back those frames but for some reason, it didn't. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what was causing the problem but to no avail. I thought it might be the screensaver trying to engage but changing the settings didn't cause the problem to happen any faster. It happened more often during The Rundown and X-Men 3 than LOTR: ROTK so it may be related to how the DVD is encoded. Whatever it is, it is just plain wrong. As annoying as I find long layer changes to be, this is far, far worse. And, as far as I'm concerned, completely unacceptable. You can't have a DVD player that drops frames. You just can't. According to NeoDigits, the black screen during DVD playback is because the IDE DVD ROM needs to be "forced" to search ahead when it hits a bad sector of data that the error handling can't clean up. A fix is apparently on the way.

Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

The Helios X5000 is a great concept. An upconverting DVD player / high end CD player with the ability to stream media from other sources in your (or your friend's) home. Unfortunately, the X5000 feels much more like a beta box than a finished product. Helios seems like it may have a good product on its hands... eventually. But until all these bugs are worked out, it just isn't ready for prime time.

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Standard Definition Video Performance
Analogue Audio Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup
Features
Remote Control
Network Features/Performance
Performance
Value