Reading tests

The performance of a DVD player can be described in terms related to reading speed, reading accuracy, compatibility with various CD/DVD recordable/rewritable formats as well as data/audio playback support, stored on any common medium.

DVD support

• DVD-Video

The DV308, as it is also described on the NeuNeo website, is a Region Free drive, which means that the unit is able to decode (play) all the DVD-Video discs originating from any region.

The NeuNeo DV308 supports both PAL and NTSC TV signal transmission formats. It will also automatically convert a PAL encoded video to NTSC and vice versa, making it possible for the player to play and kind of DVD movie (PAL/NTSC) on any TV.

We connected the player through the S-Video connection and the corresponding cable (which is not included in the unit's package). As was expected, the DV308 supports the DVD-Video format.

We tried several DVD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW media, burned with several recorders and also some DVD+R9 (Dual layer recordable discs) of various brands. We recorded the DVD-Video discs with DVD-ROM booktype. Below we summarize the results:

All the DVD media discs were recognized and played successfully without problems, even Double Layer media. Although the discs written had their booktype set to DVD-ROM, the DV308 can read DVD+R, DVD+R DL media without bitsetting

• DVD-ROM

The HVD108 supports reading of DVD-ROM format.

• VCD/SVCD

Both formats are supported.

The NeuNeo DV308 supports reading of the JPEG file format. We tried several resolutions and qualities and all were "playable". Obviously, the larger the picture, the more time needed to load the file, but in general the display speed was good. Picture formats such as PNG or GIF were not recognized.

• CD support

The DVR-320-S works well with AudioCD, CD-R/-RW, VideoCD and Super-VideoCD playback. The tracks are recognized correctly, regardless of whether the disc is factory- pressed or a CD-R/RW. Please note, that when talking about data CD (CD-R/-RW), we refer to either compressed audio files (MP3, WMA.), pure *.wav files, or to VideoCD and Super VideoCD. The Ogg Vorbis format cannot be recognized by the player.

• AudioCD

In the case of pressed/recordable/rewritable AudioCDs, the player recognizes and plays all tracks. The device played audio files from CD-R, 10x HS-RW, 24x US-RW and 32x US-RW discs we inserted in the disc tray. Even those that were 90 or 99 minutes duration.

We also tried our Audio protected CDs, "Natalie Imbruglia - White Lilies island" protected with Macrovision' Key2Audio scheme, and "Celine Dion - A New Day Has Come", "Aiko" protected with Cactus Data Shield 2000. Both titles were recognized and played without any problems.

The DV108 does not support the Super AudioCD format nor DVD-Audio.

• MPEG4 Video

The NeuNeo DV308 can play back DivX/Xvid encoded video with subtitles support (.srt format)

In our tests, the device played back without problems DivX video encoded with DivX 3.11/4/5 and MP3/AC3 audio. Same goes for Xvid encoded videos. Bear in mind that the DV308's chipset responsible for MPEG4 playback is DivX Home Theater Certified, so this behavior was somewhat expected.

Where things are a little fuzzy with this device, is the support of the most advanced features for the DivX/Xvid codecs, such as GMC (Global Motion Compensation) and QPEL (Quarter Pixel). While the manufacturer claims that these features are supported, some movies we tested that were encoded with these advanced features did not playback properly. Image was blocky and distorted, expecially in high motion scenes.As we found out by further testing, videos encoded with QPEL in conjunction with the use of B-frames seem to be the source of most problems. This did not appear in all videos we encoded though.

Nevertheless, these features (GMC/QPEL) are fairly new, and there is a large debate going around about their effectiveness and gains from using them. And most probably, this behavior can be fixed with a future firmware update, as the chipset used on the DV308 is fairly new.