Digital Trends

NeoDigits Helios H4000 February 27th, 2007 | by Ian Bell

Features and Design

Each time we review a new DVD player, the features list keeps adding up to titanic proportions, and the H4000 continues this tradition. It’s almost expected that a DVD player upscale regular DVD movies to high-definition resolutions, and while the H4000 does in fact do so, it also has advanced features to let you change the frequency and resolution (depending on the output connection you use). For example, if you decide to hook up the VGA/RGB output to a monitor, you get to choose from 640 x 480, 800 x 600, 1024 x 768, and 1280 x 1024 resolutions. Most DVD players will only support 1080p upconversion using the HDMI connection, but the H4000 will let you do so using the component output.

As for video and audio compatibility, the H4000 supports DVD/SVCD/VCD/CD/HDCD/MP3/WMA in addition to MPEG 4(DivX, Xvid, MPEG 1/2/4) video and audio formats. Xvid is a compression that we are starting to see supported by a lot of small, foreign DVD player manufacturers. If you are a computer enthusiast, you should find the support for Xvid and DivX very appealing, especially in a player that costs a mere $169 U.S. dollars.

So, you may ask, “How is NeoDigits able to produce a DVD player this affordable and still include HDMI output?” Let’s just say that the cutbacks were made on the materials used on the H4000. At first glance, it looks like a sleek player with its piano-black finish and silver buttons, but upon closer inspection you will find that the case is made almost entirely out of plastic, including the silver buttons, which feel cheap to the touch.

The H4000 has all of the connections you would expect, including composite, S-Video, Component, and HDMI, in addition to digital optical and analog 5.1 channel output. Oddly enough, there is a separate amplifier power button on the back of the player.

Controls for powering the H4000, as well play/pause and forward/rewind, are located on the top of the player instead of the front. Now, some of you might realize that having the controls on the top is a bad choice, especially if you are putting the H4000 into a tight cabinet. NeoDigits did a couple of things wrong with this layout. First of all, there are no menu controls to be found on the player, so you are essentially forced to use the remote control anyways. Secondly, if you decide to stack anything on the H4000 (and you should not be stacking components on it) like DVD movies, etc., the controls become useless as well. The included infrared remote control has a relatively intuitive layout with glow-in-the-dark buttons (instead of being backlit). In comparison to the player, the remote is pretty lackluster in the looks department.

NeoDigits packs the H4000 with composite audio/video cables in addition to an HDMI cable (probably worth ¼ of the overall player price), batteries for the remote, and the instruction manual.

Images Courtesy of NeoDigits