detail information

• Several improvements over the NeuNeo model, including a HDMI cable as standard, more stable VGA video, no issues loading DVD+R media, redesigned glow-in-the-dark remote and various other hardware improvements.
• Supports virtually all standard and high definition TV formats and standards, including progressive and interlaced scanning. 
• Very wide range of audio and video outputs to cater for virtually every speaker setup and display, including VGA output for projectors.
• Features Smart Play, which plays straight from the beginning of the main title upon loading, without the need to wade through control-locked copyright warnings and ads on some discs.
• Plays NTSC DVDs on PAL displays and vice versa.
• HDMI high definition output is not restricted to HDCP compliant displays, unlike many other HD upscaling DVD players.
• Handles fine detail very well including detail that our HD display has difficulty with.
• Excellent handling of recordable DVDs, including discs that gave us readability issues in other DVD players.
• Plays CD-R/RW discs including Video CDs, Super Video CDs as well as Audio CDs.
• Plays all common MP3 audio formats, ranging from 8kbps to 320kpbs, including VBR. 
• Multiregional out of the box with support for regions 1 to 6.
• Plays High Definition Compatible Digital (HDCD) audio discs.
• Remembers the last point of playback even after ejecting the disc or unplugging the player.
• Plays High-Definition Versatile Discs (HVDs)

• Various issues with JPEG images, such as no support for pictures of 6 Megapixels or higher, very lengthy loading times and taking up to a few minutes just to display the 3x3 thumbnail grid.
• No support for MPEG4, XviD or DivX content.
• Like the NeuNeo, this player has difficulty upscaling certain scenes, such as gravel in which our HD display's own upscaling shows an improvement over the player. 
• Slight signalling issue with SXGA mode output over its VGA output, resulting in our TFT monitor occasionally incorrectly syncing the image; however still a significant improvement over the NeuNeo.
• Some of the menus are tricky to navigate through, particularly for a novice user.
• Brightness level of HDMI-output is too high, as we had to reduce the brightness level on our displays in order to stop the blacks from looking washed out.
• Not possible to display images during the playback of MP3 or WMA tracks.
• No screensaver to protect the screen from \'burn-in' during the playback of Audio CDs or MP3 & WMA tracks.
• Fails most of the HQV tests, particularly the jaggies, film detail and all eight cadence tests, including the widely used 3:2 cadence.
• Smart Play has no effect on certain titles.

When compared with our last review of the NeuNeo, we have seen several improvements in this model, more to do with its features than the picture quality.  To start with, the price has been reduced to $199 and now includes a HDMI cable as standard, making this more competitive to other HD upscaling players, not to mention HVD disc support.

The main positive points:  Unlike most upscaling DVD players and set-top boxes, which typically have a limited number of outputs, this player is designed to work with pretty much every standard and high definition TV and projector on the market, not to mention HDTV sets that lack HDCP support.  Like the NeuNeo, when it comes to picture quality, we were really impressed with how well it handles scenes that turn out to be a difficulty for our HD projector's own HD upscaling capabilities.  Finally, when it comes to speaker configuration, like the NeuNeo, this player will also cater for pretty much any speaker configuration one may encounter also, including the earlier surround sound systems where large speakers were commonly used instead of a subwoofer.

The main negative points:  Despite the wide range of features on this player, unfortunately it lacks a few features which the majority of standard DVD players include, such as MPEG4, XviD and DivX playback support.  We also had issues with JPEG image support with the player taking over 15 seconds to load images larger than 1 Megapixel.  When it came to HQV testing, the player failed the jaggies and cadence tests, including the 3:2 cadence which a vast majority of NTSC movies use. 

To sum it all up, like the NeuNeo, this player looks like it will easily compete against other HD upscaling players, particularly with its wide range of features and outputs, however the lack of MPEG4, XviD and DivX will be a setback for some consumers.  We would recommend this to consumers who are looking for a decent high definition region-free HD upscaling player to watch their DVDS on their High Definition display, but would prefer to wait another while yet before looking into the next generation of DVD formats. 

You may discuss/comment this review below or in this forum thread. This forum thread may also be used to ask questions around this drive or request additional tests.

Thanks to:

E-Net Distribution - United Kingdom for providing the RiDisc DVD-R,  Datawrite Blue DVD-R and Datawrite Titanium DVD-R media used in this review.

MMORE International B.V. - The Netherlands for providing the DVD-R media used in this review. 

 Daxon Technology Inc - Taiwan for providing the BenQ media used in this article.

Medea International - United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Sky Media Manufacturing sa - Switzerland for providing the CD-R 52x media used in this review.

Introduction