Digital Trends

NeoDigits Helios X5000 December 12th, 2006 | by Ian Bell

Setup and Use Part 2

For our tests we used the following hardware:

Onkyo TX-SR702 receiver
Hitachi 42HDT51
Axiom Audio Epic 50 Speaker System

One of the biggest problems facing media streamers is codec compatibility. The kicker is finding a media streamer that supports the same codec you use to encode your movies or music on your PC. The X5000 seems to have that basis covered for the most part, at least on paper. As we mentioned before, the X5000 will not be able to stream DRM protected media from your PC, instead you will have to burn the music or movie to CD or DVD and then play it through the system directly as opposed to through the software side. Some people may have an issue with this.

Audio files streaming from our PC sounded great on the X5000 thanks in part to its Wolfson DAC. We did not experience any drop-outs or interference using the WiFi connection either. The X5000 was able to play back all promised audio file formats without a hitch. The NeoLink interface on the player will not necessarily display all of the song or tag information correctly, and it’s definitely not as pretty to look at as other streamers, but it gets the job done here. The X5000 does not support either SACD or DVD Audio, and we think that support for either one should be expected here, especially since the X5000 is directly targeting audiophiles.

We were able to stream most video files with the exception to a few scenarios’. Some DivX encoded movies would not stream to the player directly, but were able to be played off of a DVD or CD. This could be due in part to their large size. The X5000 would act like it was about to play the file, then simply stopped with an error message. We did not encounter this issue as often when connected to the Ethernet connection, so it appears to be a buffering issue with the WiFi.

Video playback from DVD is good and if you have a 1080p capable TV, it should look at its best. We are big fans of the DCDi chip from Faroudja, but the Sigma Design chip used in the X5000 does a decent job with minimal jaggies on some video content. This can be argued, but the video side of the X5000 is not the player’s strongest attribute. We are also currently reviewing the Oppo Digital DV-981HD DVD player and feel it produces a better picture. We would love to hear what you think about the X5000’s video capabilities in our user review section, or our message boards.

The remote control has some real issues to contend with. First of all we experienced very poor reception within acceptable distances (10-15 feet) in addition to a 2-3 second lag between when the button on the remote was pressed and the players response. This is something they will need to work on.