NeoDigits Helios HVD2085 DVD Player

Evaluation, Remote and Benchmark Tests

One thing I will not do is re-review this player in the way that I reviewed the NeuNeo HVD2085 version. If you want to know my complete thoughts on this player I suggest reading both reviews together... taking into account my revised viewing tests and the new features and remote. Speaking of new features, here they are:

• New remote control with improved layout and glow-in-the-dark buttons (not backlit)
• 5' HDMI cable included
• 480i/576i support via component and HDMI
• Blue LCD front screen color
• Improved high-end power board and audio capacitors
• Smart Play / UOP-Off function which lets you bypass copyright warnings & movie trailers located at the beginning of many DVDs

Taking a look at the internals, we didn't see too much of a difference, but you could see the new caps vs. the old and the HVD2085 still uses an AMLogic AML3428 chip to handle MPEG-2 decoding, digital to analogue audio conversion, and the deinterlacing and scaling for the component video and HDMI outputs.

NeuNeo HVD2085 (left) Helios HVD2085 (right)

As you can see above, the internal components are just about identical between the models. The Helios-branded product does feature some new audio capacitors as advertised in the product literature:

And a revised power supply board:

Responsiveness

Responsiveness is still an issue with this player. NeoDigits fixed the issue whereby the player would load, but not play a disc when the tray was open and you hit 'Play' on the remote control. It takes forever for a newly inserted disc to play on this machine. Ejecting a disc, however, now takes only 4 seconds. The other odd thing is that the unit will not power up out of standby unless the Power button is pressed. It would seem to make sense that the 'Play', or 'Open' buttons on the unit or remote would also wake up and power on the unit from Standby mode.

Chapter skip was slow, but responsive and I noted that the remote still did not have separate on and off commands. Since the 'Play' button will not turn on the player, working out any sort of discrete on and off macros in a universal remote control system continues to be nearly impossible.

For some reason, the player seemed to default to activating subtitles when playing many movies. This happened with three separate discs and I had not selected

Connections

The back panel is unchanged from the NeuNeo player. I would not recommend using the analogue audio outputs on this player simply because there should be no reason to unless you have a very old receiver that does not support Dolby Digital or DTS. The Helios HVD2085 does not support DVD-Audio or SACD discs, removing one of the main reasons for using analogue outputs. The bass management of the Helios is very basic and, in fact, does not support certain room configurations in terms of its delay adjustment parameters (such as rooms with the surrounds closer to the listening position than the main speakers). There are both coaxial and optical S/PDIF connections which will serve most users for all audio needs. In addition, the HDMI connection will send high resolution Dolby Digital and DTS audio to any receiver or display that is capable of receiving this information.

Editorial Note:
If you want a tour of the menu and setup system, simply check out our review of the NeuNeo HVD2085.

Remote Control

The Helios HVD2085 sports a brand new remote control. This remote is much improved over the last one, but there are still a few hang-ups (yes, as soon as manufacturers fix a few things we find more!) The MENU button was hidden at the bottom of the remote. This is a button I tend to use and it should be located near the navigation keys along with the TITLE button. The remote control is now made up of glow-in-the-dark keys. They are NOT "illuminated" or "backlit" as the website and certain literature states.

Video Performance: "It's the Resolution, Stupid."

This time we measured the performance of this system on our 1080p reference Westinghouse LVM-42w2 display. The difference in resolution and quality was impressive. While the Helios player bombs the HQV tests and a lot of unflagged deinterlacing, the resolution - for the most part - really overshadows the issues with jaggies.

All final test scores were derived using both the Helios HVD2085's HDMI and component outputs in 1080p mode unless otherwise specified.

Audioholics/HQV Bench Testing Summary of Test Results

Perfect Score is 130
Helios HVD2085 Benchmark total score: 30 (This player will do well on properly flagged material but watch out for jaggies during 2:3 pulldown)

Test	Max Points	Component Results	Pass/Fail	HDMI Results	Pass/Fail
Color Bar	10	10	Pass	10	Pass
Jaggies #1	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Jaggies #2	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Flag	10	0	Fail	0	Fail
Detail	10	10	Pass	10	Pass
Noise	10	0	Fail	0	Fail
Motion adaptive Noise Reduction	10	0	Fail	0	Fail
Film Detail	10	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 2:2 Video	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 2:2:2:4 DV Cam	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 2:3:3:2 DV Cam	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 3:2:3:2:2 Vari-speed	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 5:5 Animation	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 6:4 Animation	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 8:7 animation	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Cadence 24fps film	5	0	Fail	0	Fail
Scrolling Horizontal	10	5	Pass	5	Pass
Scrolling Rolling	10	5	Pass	5	Pass
Total Points	130	30		30

*All tests were done with the HDMI/component outputs set to 1080p. We found in subsequent testing that the Helios, inexplicably, only provides 2:3 pulldown during 480p mode, causing it to show jaggies on all other modes. As I think the purpose of this player is to be used at higher resolutions, we didn't post the test results here for 480p.

Comments on Audioholics DVD Torture Tests

Other than a slight increase in detail (and remember, this is a different display as well), the Helios HVD2085 player still fails most of the HQV tests. What users need to realize, however, is that these tests are purposely designed for standard definition, unflagged content relying on the video processor to catch bad cadences and edits. In the real world, many of the newer DVDs are mastered such that bad edits aren't as much of an issue. One major problem, and I observed this consistently with real-world movies - was the below average 24fps to 1080p/60fps 2:3 pulldown required to turn native DVD content into 1080p/60 output. On a high resolution monitor, this player looks fantastic, but you WILL see jaggies. This bothered the heck out of me, if only because the player looked so good otherwise.

Viewing Evaluation & Conclusion

OK, without any further delay I wanted to post the new round of pictures I took using the Helios player and the Westinghouse 1080p display. While taking pictures of flat panel displays with an LCD camera is a bit daunting and undersells the impact of a high resolution display, the results are quite stunning in person:

Chicken Little via DVD at 1080p

King Kong (2005) via DVD at 1080p

The facial and hair detail in The Fifth Element were exceptional

These scenes revealed the poor deinterlacing and lack of 2:3 pulldown of the Helios DVD player

As shown above, this player has a phenomenal ability to reveal detail and texture. The images from The Fifth Element were so good I had to remind myself I was watching a standard definition DVD. The poor deinterlacing ability of this player and lack of 2:3 pulldown is its downfall, however. Much like Rainbow effect in DLP projectors, once you start to see jaggies - you're pretty much ruined.

Editorial Note: On Jaggies and 2:3 Pulldown
What is happening is that the DVD is encoded with 24fps material. The Helios player reads that and needs to convert it to 60fps 1080p output. The way it should do it is through a process known as 2:3 pulldown whereby the image is split into fields and reassembled in a way that allows 4 film frames to be inserted into 10 digital video frames - The concept being that you need to find a common way to get 24fps evenly into 60fps without altering the speed of the presentation. 2:3 pulldown works by showing every second frame for three fields. Because the only way to do this is through busting up the frames into fields and re-assembling them to get to the desired outcome, you run into the potential of getting jaggies. Some players are excellent at reducing or virtually eliminating jaggies - the Helios, for a reason unknown to us, only provides 2:3 pulldown while in 480p mode. This means that if you are using it at 720p or 1080p you will see jaggies - and lots of them.

If NeoDigits can improve upon this important aspect of the player they will have developed a product that can begin to compete with much more expensive models on the market.

Listening Evaluation

The player continued to function well with audio. As it features HDMI and optical/coaxial S/PDIF outputs, there would be no reason to evaluate the unit's analogue outputs at this time. The only reason I could see wanting to use those would be if you lacked Dolby Digital and/or DTS decoding but had a multi-channel analogue input on your older Pro Logic receiver. Since I would be evaluating the receiver and loudspeaker system and not the DVD player, we'll just cut this listening evaluation short and note that we noticed no anomalies or lip sync issues.

Conclusion

When NeoDigits asked us to review their "new" HVD2085 player I smiled to myself. Taking a quick peek, I knew this to be a re-badged version of the NeuNeo player with a couple tweaks and a new remote control. After thinking about it, however, I realized that I should really try to see the output on a 1080p display - something I had not been able to do previously. After doing so I can now see the attraction for those looking to get the most out of their existing DVD collection. If you have a display that can take 1080p input, you owe it to yourself to experience the full potential of your movies. If however, you are going to be bothered by the presence of jaggies on horizontal lines and almost any hard-edge diagonal movement across the screen, then you may want to sit this one out. I know of no other player that gives you this level of resolution at this price. Let's hope NeoDigits continues to improve their product.

Helios HVD2085

MSRP: $199
http://www.neodigits.com

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
High Definition Audio Performance
Analogue Audio Performance
Bass Management
Build Quality
Ergonomics & Usability
Ease of Setup
Features
Remote Control
Performance
Value