You are going to see some common themes through my viewing evaluation with the Helios X5000. Understand that I noticed everything I mention in every one of the movies that I watched (unless I state otherwise). To reduce redundancy, I've split the issues/strengths up over the three movies I reviewed.

DVD: The Rundown
I remember when this movie first came out I had heard such good things about it that it just couldn't live up to the hype. Recently, I saw it showing on FX (or TNT or something) and thought, "I'll have to give that one another shot." So I called up my friend John King (owner and operator of Kingbuster video - a non-profit, no late fee, out of his home "borrowing" service) and checked it out. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the movie a lot more now that my expectations were much more realistic. Good action, good fights, good humor, and an absolutely priceless Schwarzenegger cameo made for an enjoyable couple of hours.

The Helios X5000 provided a vivid picture - as long as nothing moved. Background noise was very noticeable on this movie. It was odd to see the main subject of the scene (albeit a person or object) in such vivid detail with the surrounding background sort of hazy. This was noticeable (though not altogether distracting) in nearly every type of scene (dark, light, jungle, city, etc.). During The Rundown I did notice a bit of moiré that I didn't see in any of the other movies.

DVD: X-Men 3: The Last Stand
This movie is a travesty and should be bought back from consumers and placed underneath the next North Korean nuclear test site. I'm not one to buy into conspiracy theories but if someone said to me that X-Men 3 was a plot to destroy the X-Men franchise I'd believe that in a second. You wouldn't even have to provide any evidence. Do yourself a favor, don't see this movie. Don't do it. Just because you've seen the first two doesn't mean you have to see the third. Believe me. You're much better off.

As I stated, the Helios X5000 does provide a very vivid picture. I really am impressed that a unit that scored so abysmally low on the HQV test can provide such a nice picture. Of course, the importance of good de-interlacing becomes apparent with movement. While I didn't see the kind of blatant artifacts that I was expecting, everything basically became softer with movement. Very Glamour Shots-esc if you know what I mean. Once the movement slowed down, the crispness returned and I was again awed by the picture.

DVD: Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - Special Extended Version
My biggest problem with the extended versions of the LOTR movies is pressing play. It is such a commitment to block out 4+ hours of time for each of these movies. Now, once I start one and get into it, I kick myself for having reservations. They are just so darn good! My only real complaint is that I have to get up and switch discs. At least the trade off is a much better quality transfer.

One thing that at first I didn't realize I was missing was the layer change. I didn't notice a one. I absolutely love that. Layer changes can be an annoying break of the 4th wall that just really irks me. If I am really into a movie (especially a horror movie where building suspense is the key to the movie's success), a slow layer change will jar me just enough to break the mood. And I can't stand that. I did notice a tiny bit of banding during some of the darkest and lightest scenes, but it was very subtle. I noticed no macroblocking "enhancements" or major artifacts during any of my viewing tests. The color reproduction was very good overall though upon occasion, during the brightest scenes, the actor's faces would occasionally look washed out and plastic.

Problems

Once again, it is important to note that the picture of the Helios X5000 is pretty darn good. Even given some of the issues I mention in the Viewing Evaluation, I would still be pretty happy with the unit overall if it weren't for a couple of "deal breaker" issues that I discovered. First, the unit tended to crash on me from time to time. For the most part, this happened when I was setting up the unit. The biggest problem I had involved checking the different resolutions. I would hit the TV Mode button to select a different resolution and then hit "Play" on the DVD to see how it looked. Then I would hit "Stop" and select a different resolution. I could maybe do this twice before it would crash and I'd have to restart the unit. As the unit takes a good 30 seconds to completely reboot (and I'd have to get up to hit the "Power" button), this made what should have been a simple process, very long and frustrating. But that wasn't the end to the crashes. Once the screensaver engaged, I found that the X5000 would occasionally freeze up and have to be restarted. My guess is that the unit is trying to go into a hibernation mode which is causing a conflict. This would only happen after the screensaver was engaged for a quite a while.

I've also found that I've had a problem with certain DVD menus. I couldn't really lock down the exact cause, but occasionally a DVD menu wouldn't function properly. At first, I noticed it after the screensaver had been engaged. Then it happened after I had already started the movie and had returned to the menu screen to adjust the sound settings to enable DTS ES. And then it happened just out of the blue when I first inserted a disc. This would cause a variety of effects ranging from locking up the machine to freezing the graphics. One time, I could see the curser moving but the graphics didn't change. I knew how exactly the number and direction of keystrokes I needed to get to what I wanted so I was able to start the movie without a problem but it was sort of weird.

Now, if all this sounds pretty bad, don't worry, it gets worse. During DVD playback, upon occasion, the screen would black out for a second and then return to normal functioning. It was as if a few frames just fell off the disc. Rewinding confirmed that the unit was capable and playing back those frames but for some reason, it didn't. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what was causing the problem but to no avail. I thought it might be the screensaver trying to engage but changing the settings didn't cause the problem to happen any faster. It happened more often during The Rundown and X-Men 3 than LOTR: ROTK so it may be related to how the DVD is encoded. Whatever it is, it is just plain wrong. As annoying as I find long layer changes to be, this is far, far worse. And, as far as I'm concerned, completely unacceptable. You can't have a DVD player that drops frames. You just can't. According to NeoDigits, the black screen during DVD playback is because the IDE DVD ROM needs to be "forced" to search ahead when it hits a bad sector of data that the error handling can't clean up. A fix is apparently on the way.

Conclusions and Overall Perceptions

The Helios X5000 is a great concept. An upconverting DVD player / high end CD player with the ability to stream media from other sources in your (or your friend's) home. Unfortunately, the X5000 feels much more like a beta box than a finished product. Helios seems like it may have a good product on its hands... eventually. But until all these bugs are worked out, it just isn't ready for prime time.