Digital Home Thoughts: Engadget Reviews the NeoDigits X5000 Network DVD Player

"DVD upscalers are a dime a dozen these days so NeoDigits had to do something to set themselves apart from the rest with their latest crop of players. You may remember our look at their first player, HVD2085, and we found it to be a worthy contender in the vast field of DVD players but the X5000 takes up to a whole new level. Sure, it still has all the upscaling goodness of its older brother but add a pinch of networking and a dash of high-end audio circuitry to create a slick home media device. We agree that it's $499 price tag is a tad harsh for just another upscaling DVD player when HD DVD players can be found for less but it does do a fine job at the whole networking thing. Oh and did we mention that this player can output 1080p over component and HDMI."



Engadget gives the X5000 a 6 out of 10, which usually isn't a good thing, but then they lessen the blow by saying "...all we can say is that the media streaming capabilities are slightly better then anything we have used before." Which would seem to suggest a score higher than 6. So let me ask you: Would you pay $500 for a media streaming box that also upscaled SD-DVDs? I sure wouldn't. For that price, it at the very least should include an HD-DVD drive. Though it sure is nice to see 1080p upscaling over component. 8)