detail information

Playing back content through the browser:

For the playback of audio CDs, video CDs and DVDs, this player functions pretty much like any other DVD player.  However, for pictures, MP3 & WMA audio files, this player has its own browser to allow the user to navigate about the disc.  The browser will only show playable content, which includes JPEG images and MP3 & WMA music.  If a data CD is loaded without any suitable playable content, the player will automatically eject the disc.

Playing MP3 and WMA tracks

When a data disc containing MP3 and/or WMA tracks is loaded, the browser is automatically shown.  The following screenshot shows an example of the browser for a disc containing various MP3s and images:

It took us a short while to figure out how to play songs.  With standard Audio CDs and DVDs, it is simply a matter of popping one in and playback starts automatically.  However, in order to play a track on a data CD, first we need to navigate to the folder, highlight the track to begin playing from, press 'Enter' to select this track and finally press 'Play' to begin playback.  Like the Setup menu, sub-folders can be opened by pressing the right arrow or the 'Enter' button and the parent folder can be opened by pressing the left arrow button.  Unfortunately, it is not possible to open images while music is being played.  Also, if the left arrow is pressed at the top level menu, the player returns to the stop mode as if the Stop button was pressed.

When a track begins playing, the following screen shows for a couple of seconds before the player returns to the browser:

In above screen, the player gives the choice of Standard, Disc Repeat, Folder Repeat, Track Repeat, Random and Program.  In the 'Program' mode, it is possible to playback a custom play-list.  This can be built by either pressing the 'Program' button on the remote or via the 'Play Mode' sub-menu in the setup menu.  When the player returns to the browser menu, the above playback screen can be shown again by pressing the 'Display' button.  Unfortunately, it is not possible to have the playback screen showing continuously.  The following screenshot shows the playlist builder, with a couple of tracks selected as an example:

Playing back JPEG images

The playback of images is performed in the same way as playback back audio files; however it takes around 25 seconds to display a 1024 x 768 picture from the time we press 'Play' and higher resolution images take much longer again.  Due to the length of time it takes to display a given picture, this player is not really suitable for browsing various pictures from a collection except as a slideshow.  It even takes at least 20 seconds just to navigate from picture to picture.  On the other hand, when connected to a high definition TV, the player will show pictures in high definition, unlike regular DVD players that support JPEG playback.

After a picture is chosen and the play button is pressed, the following screen is shown for about 20 seconds:

When we first saw this screen, we tried pressing 'Play', 'Enter' and other buttons in belief that we had to press something in order to get the picture to show.  However, it was not until we decided to wait a short while before the first picture comes up.  First, the info part at the top disappears; leaving the 'NeuNeo' logo behind and then a few seconds later the picture finally shows up, such as the example shown below:

Unlike audio playback, it is not possible to have a programmed slideshow or present the pictures in any other order besides from the first picture chosen.  As shown above, the image is also shown with a black boarder.  When presented in 16:9 made, the left and right boarders become much wider to show the picture in its native 4:3 mode.  The slideshow can be paused and the current picture can be zoomed into.  Pressing the Zoom button zooms in by 1x each time up to 5x and then returns to its zoomed out state.  The following shows an example of the zoom feature:

In order to navigate about the zoomed-in image, the 'Display' button must be pushed first and then the navigation keys can be used to navigate about the image.  Unfortunately, the instructions provided in the manual specify some other method of zooming, which does not work if we follow the steps.  

According to the manual, the player also supports the ability to display a 9-picture mode where pictures are in a 3 x 3 format.  However so far we have been unable to find a way of showing the 9-picture mode.  According to the steps in the manual, the user needs to press the 'Title' while a JPEG image is being played, however if we press this button has no effect and the slideshow continues as if no button had been pressed.

Unfortunately, it is not possible to playback photos while audio tracks are being played.

Playback features:

Like pretty much any other DVD player, during the playback of music or video content, this player has some user features to control playback or show extra information.  For example, it is possible to navigate individually frame by frame, zoom in, jump to a given time spot and so on.  As the playback features depend on the type of disc being played back, this section in broken down into Audio CD, Video CD and DVD sub-sections.  Most playback controls which are not available as individual buttons on the remote can be accessed on screen by pressing the 'Display Button'.

DVD Video Control

When playing back DVDs, most of the navigation features are available on the remote itself, including fast forward / rewind, slow play, frame step, next / previous track, Title menu, DVD menu, Audio track, Subtitle and Angle.  As these features are present on the majority of DVD players, we will not discuss about these.

The navigation menu can be shown up by pressing the Display button, as shown in the following screen during the playback of a DVD:

The left-most icon gives the ability to change to another title and the second icon gives the choice of chapter.  The third icon gives the choice of subtitles as well as to turn them on or off.  The forth icon gives the choice of soundtrack, such as for a DVD with different languages or audio channels (PCM, Dolby Digital, DTS, etc.). 

The fifth icon in from the left gives a choice of play-mode, much like when playing back an audio CD.  Here, the user can choose between standard, A-B, Chapter Repeat, Title Repeat, Random and Program.  As movies are generally watched from start to finish, most of these features such as the Random and Program options are likely intended for music DVDs.  For example, it would seem odd to play the chapters in a random order when playing a movie DVD!  The Program option works just like with an audio CD, with the exception that the user chooses which titles and chapters to put into the play-list.

For those who wish to bookmark one or more points on a DVD, the sixth icon allows the user to set a bookmark.  This is a very useful feature as it allows one to resume the playback of a DVD at a later stage, even if someone plays something else in the player in-between that period.  The player can store up to 6 bookmarks.  Finally, the last icon allows the choice of camera angle for DVDs with multi-angled playback, such as a sports match recording, selecting between commentator and movie with certain DVDs, etc. 

To jump to a given point within the chapter, the playtime itself can be selected to enter a point of time to jump to.  This can be useful when playing back holiday camcorder footage on DVD where the user has a list of timestamps of different scenes or for navigating through a DVD with few or no chapter points. 

The zoom feature on the remote is quite useful to zoom into a particular section of the picture.  The play can zoom in steps of 1x all the way to 5X zoom.  While zoomed in, it is possible to navigate to particular section of the image using the navigation keys.  It is possible to use the zoom feature while the DVD is playing also.  The following image shows the zoom feature in use:

Unfortunately, there is no information screen that shows details such as the audio and video bit-rate, which some DVD players offer.

Video CD Video Control

The features for (Super) Video CD playback is like a very cut down version of DVD playback, since Video CDs only have chapters and don't have subtitles or angles. 

Like DVD playback, the navigation menu can be shown by pressing the Display button, as shown below:

The Video CD menu gives a choice of Track, Playback Control, Audio and play mode.  When the Playback Control is on, the disc is played according to its VCD 2.0 configuration, where as when it is off, it is possible to customise the playback using the play mode option, such as repeat chapter, random chapter play, programmed play, etc.  The Audio selection gives a choice of Stereo, Mono, Left channel and Right channel.
 

Audio CD Control

As Audio CDs only have an audio track, the features for these are pretty much like the typical features one finds on a standalone CD player.  When an Audio CD is playing, the player only shows the NeuNeo logo.  The track information can be brought up by pressing the Display button, however this disappears again after a couple of seconds.  The track number and playback time remain shown on the player's internal display as shown below:

While it may appear like the camera has difficulty picking up the red track number and 'CD' symbol, apparently this is actually how dim this digit is on our player, which makes it difficult to read the track number except in a dark or dimly lit room.  It could also be a fault with the display in our review player.

As the display shows the track and time information, it is also possible to use the player as a standalone CD player without the TV powered on.  The player's own controls are also sufficient for loading the disc and navigating between tracks, however it is not possible to create a programmed playback or select play modes without using the TV's on-screen display.  As a static NeoNeu logo is constantly displayed during the playback of audio CDs, including MP3/WMA CDs, we strongly recommend switching off the TV while playing audio-only content to prevent screen burn-in. 

The following screen shows the navigation and information menu when the Display button is pressed with an Audio CD loaded:

One real nice feature with this player is the ability to support HDCD Audio CDs.  These CDs are just like regular Audio CDs with the exception that they use an encoding method to carry an additional 4 bits of audio information when played back with a suitable HDCD player.  As a result, these discs can deliver 20-bit audio playback as opposed to 16-bit audio with regular CDs, which deliver a richer sound such as more natural sound to vocals and stringed instruments and improved signal to noise ratio. 

The display menu gives the choice of track, play mode as well as the ability to jump to a given point of time within the current track.  The play modes consist of Standard, A-B, Track Repeat, Disc Repeat, Random and Program.  The program play mode plays the disc according to a user chosen playlist.  This can be edited by pressing the 'Program' button as with playing back DVDs, VCDs and MP3/WMA CDs:

The above screenshot shows an example of the program menu with a couple of tracks chosen.