No "wow" factor when you will see it for the first time or open your X-Mas box. This, at least for me, is not a Danish-looking jewel; it looks, and feels cheap... and rather cheap it is -approx. £140. We are talking about the NeuNeo HVD2085 from NeoDigits, about which there has been a lot of gossip lately. But while Blu-ray and HD-DVD count their troops and adjust their weaponry for the XXIst century's first battle of formats... we can only wait. So why not go for an upconverting device after all? Some, and this is one of them, are quite cheap and they deliver good performance.
Besides, even if they are not true High-def devices, these "upconverters" offer a truly greater resolution to our old movies.
NeuNeo isn't a newcomer in such a game; The HVD2085's predecessor -the HVD208- could also accomodate up-scaling to 1080p, but the HVD2085 is "re-designed" in black instead of a not-classy silverish, has got a new remote and other innovations.
The HVD208 came before the 2085 X-mas gift
China has, since 2004, developed two HD formats: HVD and Enhanced Video Disc (EVD). The impact in the Western world hasn't been significant and they're not well-known here, although these players and discs are legally available, mostly online. There aren't quantities of HVD movies available, especially in English, since they are only beginning to find their way on our markets. NeuNeo's website distributes them, but they are mostly in Chinese with English subtitles. HVD formatted movies are recorded at a higher resolution than conventional DVDs, and you can see the diference.
Another trick with this device: it is a region-neutral player, so that one can enjoy any zone without having to proceed to the next hacker available.
The HVD2085 supports 1080p (progressive), that's one step ahead from the crowd that deal 720p and 1080i (for interlaced) only. The HVD2085 adds a 1080 playback capability through the HDMI connection -provided that your TV supports it too- when older devices would use Component. The HDMI connection has undoubtedly brought a plus in the display quality. Yet, should you own an older HDTV, that is to say without HDMI or DVI, the component video will handle the upconversion in 480i, 480p NTSC, 576i or 576p PAL, 720p, 1080i and even 1080p. On the HVD2085, the HDMI handles every of those, except 480i and 576i.
Playing HVD and up-converted DVDs makes a difference. DVDs are 720X480 resolution discs, while HVDs are natively set at 1280X720. If you watch at 720p, there's no up-conversion, since 720p is the native DVD resolution. Watching at 1080i will result in the player up-scaling and it will look quite good. You will know that, should you wish to use the 1080p up-conversion, you might need to apply a firmware upgrade (see below) in order to get 1080p through HDMI.
... This is the new, your next X-Mas gift maybe? The HVD2085...
As we said, NeuNeo also provides an interesting feature, which is the upgradeability of its firmware. The upside of this is, except the fact that NeuNeo is one of the only brands who proposes this, that you can fix glitches and bugs, as well as upgrade down the road. The dark side is more paranoid: why in hell would they provide such a neat function if they had no glitches and bugs. Time will tell but so far, no one seems to complain. The ease of use is great; simplly burn the upgrade on a CD when you're finished downloading, insert the disc in the device, the HVD2085 will take care of everything else.
Versatile, and flexible are keywords for this strange newcomer. It supports SVGA, SXVGA, and SXGA via Component, 720p, 1080p, 1080i, but also SVGA, XGA, and SXGA via HDMI.
A negative point to all this again -and obviously a question of personal taste- is the look, especially that of the remote control. First, it isn't back-lit, so you'll mess up in the dark. Then again it looks cheap and is not that convenient.
If you are willing to wait until we all know who's gonna win the battle royale in the format section of next generation discs (including Inphase/Hirachi-Maxell and their astounding Holographic disc) and you are already equipped with an HDTV, why not give it a go? Now if you haven't looked for your HDTV yet, see the article on Oppo digital...
Specs (source: Neodigits):
Supports 1080i/720P/480P/576P/640x480/800x600/1024x768/1280x1024. Built-in high end level scaler delivers astonishing high definition image. System contains one 32bit Risc CPU, one 24bit video processing CPU and one 24 bit RISC audio Processing CPU. Total power equal to 1Ghz Pentium CPU. Fast 16bit 149Mhz Video DAC and 192 kHz 24 Bit Audio DAC ( 32 bit/133Mhz Audio DSP). HDCP is not required for playing copyright DVD title in high definition mode. Brushed stainless steel front panel. Fast forward / back forward (up to 40X) and ZOOM ( up to 8X) Easy use full color navigation system. Format compatibilty: DVD, SVCD, VCD, CD, HDCD, MP3, WMA, Photo-CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW, DVD-RW. Built-in Dolby and DTS decoder. Progressive scan, PAL/NTSC TV system compatible, support 4:3 & 16:9 TV mode. Smart update function ( firmware upgradeable ). Component, S-Video, VGA, HDMI and Composite video output. Optical, Coaxial S/PDIF and RCA output. Support Dolby 5.1 and DTS digital output or 2 Channels analog Stereo output. Built-in Dolby 5.1 / DTS decoder, 5.1 channel output. Ultra slim and stylish design. Dimension: 17 x 10.5 x 1.7 inch (430 x 270 x 43 mm). Package includes 1 DVD Player, 1 Remote Control, 1 pair analog Video /Audio Cable and User manual.