The latest generation HD DVD and Blu-ray players are all the rage right now, with an increasing number of consumers jumping on either the HD-DVD or Blu-ray bandwagon. The sales of both types of players have been steadily climbing through the first 9 months of 2007, but no clear winner of the high-def format war has emerged. For those people who are not quite ready to shell out a few hundred dollars for a true high-definition player and commit to either format, standard DVD players with upconversion still offer a low-cost alternative to obtaining near HD-quality playback of your DVD collection. Priced at $99 USD, the Helios H2000 Upscaling DVD player is the budget priced model of Helios Labs line of upconverting DVD players. It offers a region-free, near HD resolution alternative to investing in a much more expensive HD DVD or Blu-ray player – and it upscales MPEG-4, Xvid, DivX formats to boot. But does it make sense for you to invest in this upconverting DVD player for your next home theater purchase?

Design

Unpacking the H2000 reveals a slim and slender player with a black colored face and side panels. The front of the player is simple and straightforward, with only the essential controls laid out along the front panel along with a LED display that supplies the basic information about the disc currently being played. When compared with other DVD players, the H2000 is relatively light weight (1.5kg or about 3.3 lbs). The light weight materials do give me some concern about the build quality of the player. While the plastic covering will certainly not crack easily, it does not provide a whole lot of confidence that it would survive any mishaps such as a short drop to the ground or accidentally placing a heavier component on top of it.

For the top of the H2000, the designers decided to go with a less traditional coloring scheme and gave the player a white top cover. The white cover does not blend very well with silver and black styled components most commonly found in home theater components, but it does have a modern look that reminds me of iPod styling. In the middle of the cover is a silver badge touting the “HD” capabilities of the player, even though true high-def playback of HD DVD or Blu-Ray movies is not supported. To round out the available buttons - the power button is placed on the top of the player in the left-hand corner, and the open/close for the disc tray is located in the right-hand corner. This is an interesting design to minimizing the number of buttons without taking away functionality. The button can be nudged up, down, left and right to activate the stop, pause, chapter ahead and chapter back button functions. Initially I did not even realize that this functions were available, and I also did not find any explanation about this curious button when checking in the user manual.

The included remote control provides the standard selection of control options for operating the DVD player. The layout of the remote is straightforward and well thought out, with the most commonly used buttons (play, pause, stop, chapter skip) placed directly in the center for easy access. I do wish, however, that the buttons were either glow-in-the-dark or there was some backlight available. When the room is darkened for movie watching, the buttons are easy to find if you don’t know where to look for them.

Features

• Video Playback Formats: DVD, VCD, SVCD, MPEG4, MPEG2, MPEG1, DivX
• Video Outputs: Composite, S-video, Component, HDMI, DVI(via HDMI to DVI converter), VGA/RGB-HV
• Audio Outputs: Analog stereo, 5.1 channel audio, optical, coaxial
• Upconverted Resolutions: 480i/576i/480p/576p/720p/1080i via component, 480i/576i/480p/576p/720p/1080i via HDMI, 480p/576p/720p/1080i via VGA/RGB-HV

In the Box

• Helios H2000 HD Upscaling DVD player
• User Manual
• RCA Audio/ Video Cable
• Power Cable
• Remote Control
• 5-ft HDMI Cable