Customer Reviews

Neodigits Helios X3000 HD Network DVD/Media Player

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I bought this after researching all the region free players on the market. This player does a fantastic job of upscaling and outputting HD video via component or HDMI (a rare feat for most players out there). It is region free out of the box with no modifications.

I've tested it playing a variety of avi's and mpegs with excellent results, both off of burned DVDs, CDs and streaming over the network (displayed to a 61" DLP).

The computer setup process is about as easy as it gets, just install it and the player will see your computer on the network that is running the software. No configuration necessary. You can fine tune what gets shared and also use as many servers as you want, streaming content from all the computers in your home.

The player's actual internal setup UI is a bit rough around the edges but once you get it set up, there is no real need to ever go back into it again. It offers a ton of configuration features and gives you every possible option you could want in terms of how your video is displayed (full screen, stretched, acutal size, 4:3, 16:9, etc.)

Audio is fantastic as you would expect from any digital audio source.

One downside is the included remote seems to have a weak IR light. So you have to be pointing the remote right at the player for it to work. If you use a universal remote however that will take care of those issues as most universal remotes have a very bright IR light.

Long story short, I have yet to find a network DVD player that is as flexible or capable as the X3000. Region-Free, Upscaling to HD, and Streaming and playing back common video filetypes via component or HDMI all at the same time are huge selling points.

Despite the few negatives I 5'd this player because it just plain rocks, and there is nothing on the market short of building an HTPC that can do what it can do. And even then an HTPC will be bigger and louder than this quiet little player.

I bought this player for watching movies (both xvid/divx avi and DVD formats) on an HDTV. The idea was to put all of my movies on a usb drive. Sadly, the functionality of this player is incomplete for what I want. While xvid/divx playback is impressive, DVD movies can only be played via the DVD drive. It can't read .iso files (or any other image file for that matter) or .ifo/.bup (DVD file formats). Its .vob (DVD audio/video format) reading is problematic. It seems to read .vob files individually instead of sequentially (like a DVD player should). Most movies have more than one .vob file, so the movie would stop. At this point you would have to play the next .vob file (like individual chapters).

The problem with this is that the only practical way to play a DVD is with the DVD drive. In order to put the DVD on the usb drive (and have it play correctly) is to convert it (i.e. xvid/divx). The problem with that is two-fold. You sacrifice image quality (which may not be a problem for some). Also, the conversion process can be both tedious and time consuming (tying up your computer for quite some time).

I emailed neodigits about iso compatibility. This is their reply (quick turn around by the way):
*****
Thanks for your interest in our products.

Current NeoLink software will not be working with ISO video format, although this format is being logged and will be addressed in future firmware.

As a temporary solution we recommend customers to try using the Wizd media server. This is a third party media server and is available via free download:
[...]

Hope this helps.
*****

Anyway, from what I can tell (from reading online forums), this has been a problem for some time.

Good points:
- Plays many video formats. Including HD.
- Up scaling up to 1080P. (Great for watching on big screen TVs)
- Wireless networking.
- NTFS USB 2.0 port for Hard Drive Storage. (Many players only have FAT or USB 1.0 or nothing) Don't get a player with USB 1.0, it's too slow for high quality encodes like HD.
- Online Firmware Upgradeable. (A must, unless you are looking for an expensive paperweight in the future. Online makes it a snap too)
- Wide range of video outputs. (Component 1080I works great for me)
- Fast turnaround on email.
- HDMI

Bad points:
- No disc image support. (Kind of defeats the purpose of storing all your DVD's on the hard drive.)
- No .ifo/.bup support. (Fix this, or disc image support. Either is a workable solution)
- Remote is really bad. Needs stronger IR. (Not sure if a Universal Remote works here, never tried it.)
- Weak external subtitle support. (As long as the subtitles are embedded, you should be fine; however, it doesn't support many external sub files - only one that I am aware of. DVD movies with subs should be fine.)
- On screen menu could use work. (Not important enough to be a purchase factor)
- Only displays 32 movies per screen. (Just use sub-folders.)
- Only 100 baseT wired network. (Well, I'm spoiled with gigabit. Not really a factor)
- No Disk Drive included. External connection only. (Most players that have them don't include one that is big enough anyway.)

If they ever fix the DVD problem, this would rate a 5/5.

I bought the device after reading "Rave" reviews on reputable tech sites.

With WiFi, ethernet, DVD, and HDMI, it sounds like the perfect multimedia device. Unfortunately, the unit fails in so many places.
1. The remote is cheap and misfires. Best to use a universal remote like the Harmony.
2. The DVD playback is good when it works, but there are skipping and sound issues on a number of DVDs (i.e. Howles moving castle, variety of PAL discs.) The X3000 doesn't quite get being a DVD player right.
3. The menus for UPnP is basic at best. No album images or icon display support. Pure text and limited navigation capabilities.
4. Setup menu is horribly ugly and awkward to work with. Including rogue buttons labeled "#CCCCCC" which are color hex codes. I pushed it and it reset my unit to factory defaults.
5. Support will not answer your questions either via email or in the community forums. There has not been any software updates since April of 2007.
6. Streaming playback fast-forwarding and rewinding can be extremely confusing as it jumps forwards and backwards and will not stop where you want it to.
7. The construction of the unit is made with cheap materials. The front buttons have a flimsy feel to it and at times do not even work. You have to reboot the unit for them to work again if they do stop.
8. Sometimes the 'play DVD' menu option disappears and you will have to power cycle the unit to be able to play a DVD.

There are many bugs and unresolved issues in this player. I do still own it and I put up with the problems as I have no other choice. The only plus I can give is that the picture quality is great when you do not need to interact with it.

I would say this is a NO BUY and wish I could personally return this device.

For the price they are asking. You would think that the developers would put some effort into making the unit as flawless as possible and giving a little customer service.

The company has lost interest in their own products.

Hi, just bought it 2 days ago, configuration was easy, but follow the manual, default mode is composite/S-Video.

The reason I bought this was

1)I had a VGA High def Projector, which needs a component to VGA input, Component need to be 1080i, I could not find players which supported "Component O/P" with 1080i/p format, all had HDMI support upto 1080p but no Component, always felt like missing something. X3000 gave me 1080i & p on Component O/P

2) Always felt a need to play Video/Audio/Picture files on my PC, SO used to burn CD/DVD to bring it to my DVD player and then see it. Now with this X3000 it's all breeze. My 7.1 MB pictures are native 1080p format

DVD play back is really good, it rememberes the bookmark or where you stopped your DVD last time and then plays from that point onwards. I had a little issue of choppy voice & freezing up the DVD a couple of times, but I guess the DVD was scratched. Need to test some more.(update 02-feb-2007, No DVD freeze issues, tested 2 more DVDs)

You can be up-to-date with the Firmware, it can be wirelessly downloaded and installed.

Internet surfing is fun, all favorites (URLS) can be imported on your PC and then can be surfed here.

High-Def over my BenQ 6100 Projector is Excellent and I could not imagine much more clarity than this, even if Blue-Ray/HDDVD comes in, there'll be a very little difference be there for me.

Streaming is really good, all you have to make sure that your Wi-Fi connection is not breaking up.

Overall I am very happy, but if I have continuing DVD freeze problems I guess I'ld replace the unit with the same unit. (Update 02-Feb-2007 TESTED, NO DVD FREEZE ISSUES)

Love it!

Thank you!

The software supplied with the X3000 is very, very poor - practically unusable. I have my music and photos stored on an external drive and there is nothing that I can do to get the X3000 to recognise it through a shared windows media player connection. It looks like the X3000 will always look for media on the default windows directories only (c:\documents\user\my music etc). I've tried on an XP box and Vista premium with the same results. Even setting the location of "My documents\music" in windows to the network drives is ignored by the X3000. Windows media player works perfectly but the X3000 doesn't care. Even if it mamaged to find the media the interface is much closer to windows explorer than windows media center or windows media player; looks like it was written in 10 minutes as an after thought. It's possible to browse through a Neolink server connection to the media, but the software keeps locking up and is just too cumbersome and ugly too use anyway. Terrible. Can't believe it was released in this state, or that there isn't a new version that fixes the problems. You'd be much better off spending your money on a PC with windows vista.

This system fulfills about all the functions which I hoped for. except for the reading of video dvd ripped on hard disk; but it allows NTFS format thus one can re-code the DVD in an MPEG-2 format. Otherwise, the remote control is of bad quality and the keys are often blocked; there are sometimes premature and a little brutal transitions between the tracks.

I bought a used Helios X3000 at Amazon. The purchase went well and the item does what I needed, to Upscale regular movies to 1080i via a Component output (I own an older HD ready TV with no better connection than Component). It does other things such as accessing your songs, photos, and videos in your computer and showcasing them on your TV or playing them via your home stereo. It also access the internet, but in a very akward and slow way. I would stick to your PC for this last item. The drive is very noisy, and the Helios is very slow in responding to most commands from your remote, even typical movie commands such as pause and step. Being a mini pc that it is, it will behave just like one. Crashing every now and then, freezing, act crazy, etc. Nothing that a reboot will not fix. There are no updates for the software. Overall, a good item for the price I paid.

This product has several critical flaws. The disc drive is extremely loud and is a distraction. It sounds like a computer CD-ROM spinning at 52x. PAL discs play with severe stutter. The menu for playing media files is clumsy to the point of being unusable. I was never able to get audio output from any remote media files, even though DVD/CD audio played OK and the screen output seemed to think it was playing. The construction is poor and looks like a hobbyist put it together with poor fit and finish. Bottom line: poor construction and does not do what is advertised.