I ordered my region free HVD108 from the NeuNeo site last Thursday. The player arrived on Tuesday from DHL with the package in excellent condition even though the packaging was minimal. It cost $206.50 shipped to New Jersey with a complimentary HVD called Winged Migration(The Traveling Birds).

For the most part I am pleased with this unit. It looks much better in person than it does on it's website for those who care. It is silver and extremely thin. It's remote is very functional but the unit itself doesn't need it to operate as the buttons on the player offer many options, including a NTSC/PAL, 720p or 1080i and VGA output controls. It's ability to up-convert via it's component or VGA outputs on DVDs even with Macrovison is a huge plus. It can also do 1024x768 via VGA which happens to be my PJ's native resolution. Like most owners of the V880, I find the 720p to produce the best image on this unit. It is clearly, although in most cases marginally, better than the images on my two 480p players. The audio from this player is just like it's described on their site, "decent". The HVD108 is hooked up via a 15 ft. VGA cable to my NEC LT240K front PJ. No adapters are needed as this player does not have a DVI output.

I must tell you that the image of the NeuNeo while playing the Migration HVD is the most stunning I have ever seen on my PJ. It has blown away anything my 240K has shown to date. From what I understand Blu Ray and HD DVD are even superior to this format which bodes well for us videophiles when HD DVD players come out.

Now for the knocks. The audio would benefit greatly from a "dialog" adjuster in the sound menu. It doesn't play DVD audio or SACD which is huge for some people. While I haven't noticed any lip-synce issues some users have reported this as being a big problem. One problem I've had thus far on my Alien Quadrilogy dvds is the the Special Edition logo apperas on screen during playback of the movie special editions. This is something you normally go into the dvd menu to activate but the player does it on it's own and I can't disable it. Not major but a pain. Also, the player is a little sluggish in it's commands(i.e chapter skip, resume play, etc.) but this wasn't a big issue for me.

In the end given this player's price, VGA/component upscaling and the HVD experience I'm glad I bought this unit. I feel that it will bridge the gap to my first HD DVD player quite nicely. I feels the cons of this unit shuld be given strong consideration by future buyers as you really don't want to be disapointed after spending a couple hundred dollars. Please post any findings/opinions of your own on this player as I'm sure people would like to hear them.

Thanks for the review.

I already have the Zenith DVB-318...but if it ever dies, and I need a player that upconverts via component...this sounds nice.

I wish one could compare the picture quality of both.

Also..does it have any special features for playing non-anamorphic/4:3 material? That is: pilarboxing it withing the HD frame? Or does it lock it in like the Zenith 318?

Hi John.

As I am aware of the DVB-318 through the posts on this site I have never seen one in person. Therefore I can't give a comparitive in PQ of the two units nor in their functions.

If I could just ask you to confirm for me that pillarbaoxing is the black bars on the sides of 4:3 material? If so, then I can tell you that this player doesn't have them. If my understanding of your question is wrong please clarify for me.

One pro and con of this unit I forgot to mention
Pro- It is firmware upgradable.
Con- The tray only opens 3/4 of the way out. This is not a problem for me but a post I saw said the same thing and I just wanted to confirm it.

Just thought I 'd reveal some information from an email from NeuNeo. They inform me that a firmware upgrade will be available in the next month to address some of the "bugs" the player might have.

Also, they are attempting to obtain more HVDs as to possibly make them available through their website. For owners of the NeuNeo or the Skyworth that is good news.

How does the NeuNeo's XGA output compare to Momitsu 720p output (or 1080i for that matter)? I'm just curious to see if the AMLogic chipset scales better than Sigma 8500 chipset. I read that the Momitsu (and any other Sigma chipset DVD players) has R sided EE via component and VGA (not via DVI) due to poor analog section (supposedly fixed in the Deluxe or DX edition of Momitsu but I have not seen confirmed reports on this R-sided EE issue). I have LiteON LVD-2001 (Sigma 8500) and it certainly does have R sided EE in 720p or 1080i component mode. I assume that the NeuNeo does not have this right sided EE issue (Roy who sells this said no). I also assume that your NEC LT240K can do the 16:9 vertical compression in VGA mode as my old NEC LT150 can't (Cinema mode only available via component input and not VGA input) so I can't use XGA output of this player for anamorphic DVDs as images will be vertically stretched. I currently use Zenith DVB318 to feed my LT150 1080i via component and I am very happy with this combo (though my HTPC still beats it easily with more fuss of course). Have you compared its XGA vs. 720p or 1080i output and if so which do you prefer? Thanks in advance.

Hi Huey.

Like I said in my review, 720p provides a better image than 1080i, at least for these eyes. As far as XGA(1024 x768) it seems to be virtually the same as 720p. If I had to pick one I guess the 720p looks a hair better.

I was a little disapointed in that respect as I can't understand why XGA's image doesn't surpass 720p's. I haven't given up on XGA yet, as I'm hoping some tweaking in the PJ options menu might still produce a better picture. Thankfully, as you suggested, I am able to view all movies in thier proper aspect ratios.

To answer your Momitsu comparison question, I thought the 720p and 1080i images were about the same for these players. The V880 is no longer here so I can't give a side by side. I can say with certainty however, that nothing on the V880 came close to matching the HVD image. One thing of note when I set the V880 to my custom resolution it negated my keystoning while the HVD108 did not.

Huey,
Have you observed MB with your 318 yet? I did this weekend in day after tomorrow. If my dreamx wasn't so fussy about playing discs (you have to power up, eject/insert (with the tray empty) twice, then load), I'd switch back.

Best,
jeff

JGDragov,

You've been a busy buyer....

Glad to hear you like the Neo player. I also have a XGA pj (BenQ 6200) and might give it a whirl if my Denon DVD-910 does not behave.

A bit off topic, but what are the specs for the HVD format? Resolution, bitrate? This might be a nice way to record HDTV and play it back on the Neo...

Marco,

Yeah, I've definitely bought a few players in the past several months. I'm really starting to adpot the "see for yourself" philosophy. This unit has more pros and cons for me and I'm holding out hope, although it's looking less likely, that some worthwhile movies will be released on HVD.

Unfortunately there appears to be little information on this format, including the specs, on the sites I've visited. The packaging the HVD disc came in was in chinese and told me absolutely nothing and the articles I've read have given it little chance to take off outside of China. A real shame. If you ever get a chance to view this disc you'll see why I'm so taken with it.

It would be interesting to compare the D-VHS version of Winged Migration to the HVD version.

Please let me know if this happens!



I have the Skyworth HVD-3050, which also uses the AMLogic scaling chip. I ran a lot of tests and did not detect any edge enhancement introduced during the scaling to 720p or 1080i.



The LT-240k has a pretty good scaler built in if you can feed it a progressive source signal. The projector's scaling from 720p to XGA is pretty seamless. I have an iScan-HD connected to my 240, and don't see much difference between feeding the projector a 720p signal or XGA native resolution.

It's really hard to get good information on the HVD format. From what I've been able to determine, the native resolution is 720p compressed with MPEG2. No idea about bitrate. Both the discs I have include Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtracks that sound pretty awful, so I suspect that the audio has a very low bit-rate to compensate for the extra disc space that the 720p video takes up.

I guess divx or xvid would give a better result then...at least the video compression is high enough you can fit some decent sound...

Too bad. If HVD was a better standard, I think it would be a major selling point.

BTW, can you play HVDs on a pc? If so, then maybe there would be a way to compress video enough (like in dvdshrink) to fit a decent sound track. Here I am talking about a HDTV broadcast that could be saved to a HVD file.

HVDs use a proprietary encryption codec, so they won't play on any machine without the necessary AMLogic decoder chip.

I just received an email from NeuNeo with a great offer that does me very little good. The offer is for 20% off a HVD108 with a free Hero HVD, which is the disc I originally requested.

This would have saved my an extra $15($191 shipped) and netted me a movie on HVD I would love to see, something I told them in my replying email. I'm hoping this will at least guilt them into sending my the HVD.

Hero was pressed on HVD? I have the EVD. Wasn't aware there was an HVD as well.

That's another one I'd love to have. When are they going to start selling the discs?

They said they were working on getting more HVD titles but didn't give a date when they would be available. I'm still waiting on a response from them to see how I can get my copy of Hero.

You say you have the EVD of Hero? How is the quality? Does your skyworth play EVDs? If not, how do you view them?

Any chance they are planning a networkable version?

The disc is the 108-minute extended cut and comes from the same transfer as the Guan Dog Face DVD (the EVD is also licensed from GDFace). The color transfer isn't as good as the theatrical cut DVD from Edko. Colors are dull and the picture is too bright overall. However, the EVD is definitely more detailed than either DVD. No English subtitles, unfortunately. Audio is a very poor 2-channel mix.

Quote:

Does your skyworth play EVDs? If not, how do you view them?

In addition to the Skyworth, I also have a Shinco EVD-8830 that I bought solely to compare the two formats (and for the copy of Hero). The player is basically a piece of junk and I don't recommend it at all. It has constant audio dropouts with both EVDs and DVDs.

I wrote a full review of both players here:

http://www.connectedhomemag.com/Hom...ArticleID=43123

anybody using this player with an x1. i've been thinking about getting it but didnt know if it was a good match for my projector. And JG u said you got a coupon. i was wondering if there was a way the rest of us could get ahold of that deal.

bootron,

I'm not sure if the coupon is available to anyone or just me. The promo code is YNNBACC3PC1 which you enter while ordering. It's worth a try. If it doesn't work you can just cancel the order before it's placed.

As far as this player being a good match for the X1, there are a couple things to consider.
Pros-
It upconverts via VGA which is the port on your PJ.
It would cost you under $200 shipped.
It is firmware upgradable with new firmware coming next month
Plays HVDs which have excellent PQ
Cons-
The audio is average
HVDs are minimally available right now and might never catch on

I think the the 720p/1080i through vga is huge for PJs without DVI inputs considering the relatively low price. Keep us posted on your situation as I would like to hear how the image is on your X1.

the vga is what i really like about the player. i have a vga->component cable right now, but the quality of the cable isnt the best. a great deal off e-bay though. i only paid $30 for the cable and its definitely a step above my s-video or composite cable. also, i've just been in the mood to find out how well the dvd player works. everybody has the zenith and i guess i just wanna be different and try the neuneo. heck im probably ordering it tonight before i get stupid and wait around for another few weeks and complain about my cheap dvd/vcr combo player. now that i have digital cable i no longer need the tv tuner from the player and i've just been lazy (as usual). i'll post soon and let everybody know how shipping and quality is

i can never leave well enough alone. i think its a fault of all us avs members. i came across this link

http://www.wmvhd.com/

and now im confused. i guess im going to mess around for a little bit longer and see if maybe a good htpc would be the way to go.

The reason Josh probably didn't know that Hero was released on HVD was because it wasn't. Turns out that I was mistaken as NeuNeo set me straight. The Hero they are offering is The Director's Cut DVD version.

Sorry about that.

Too bad. That DVD is crap.

Hi JGDragov,
How is the warranty of the product? the normal 90 days one?
have you had a chance to test out the VGA 1280x1024 output?

The warranty is the same 90 day/1 year one that you see with most players. I did try out the 1280x1024 but I encountered a small problem. The image was downsized and even when I used the overscan function on my PJ there were still black bars on the side. I think this is referred to as pillarboxing.

The image at this output didn't appear to offer better PQ. Keep in mind that this is the maximum resolution of my PJ and not the native.

It sounds like this may be a player that will work with my projector. My Lightware projector has VGA in (no composit or DVI) so my best picture should come from a VGA player. Native resolution is xga 1024x768. Is that what I'll get with the VGA connection? Is that a progressive image or do I need to connect via a composit to get that?

I'm using a momitsu now because of it's VGA connection but I'm getting tired of the remote control (lack of control) issues. It does have a great picture though. I assume the NeuNeo will be similar to the Momitsu.

Any thoughts? Thanks for the info.

BCat,

I had the V880 and the images from both that and the HVD108 seemed identical. I used a VGA/component cable for the Momitsu and I use a straight VGA cable for the NeuNeo.

The XGA resolution (1024x768) via the VGA connection is what I have and yes, the image is progressive.