I just received my new Helios X3000 yesterday (thanks to my dear wife - it was a birthday present!) Anyway after playing around a while last night and this morning before work I finally have it all hooked up and integrated (mostly) into my system and my Harmony 880 remote. But I've now discovered that when I'm streaming 5.1ch LC AAC Mpeg4 files (generated with Nero Recode 2) there's an always-present low frequency hum in my system. I haven't verified whether it's coming through the subwoofer or the other channels since I had to leave for work. But I have verified that streaming a 2ch LC AAC Mpeg4 file does NOT cause the hum. I have the X3000 connected to my Denon receiver's External In connection with 3 quality L/R RCA cables.

Has anyone else with this hardware seen this problem?

Thanks,

Kevin

Since nobody has replied as to having had the problem I described, has anyone succesfully played back Nero Digital MPEG4 with 5.1ch LC AAC???

Thanks,

Kevin

Update on my LFE channel hum. Apparently this is a problem with the Nero Digital encoding process. Here's the thread on doom9 if you're interested:

forumDOTdoom9DOTorgSLASHshowthreadDOTphp?t=125274 (couldn't use .'s or /'s since I'm new)

So I'll be waiting for Nero to release their fix (I sure hope it's true) and then I'll have to re-encode everything I have that has 5.1ch AAC.

KG

I am curious about the Helios media gear but they don't seem to be well known. How would you rate them in terms of build quality, sound and video quality, compatibility and overall user friendliness. Also how is their customer support? thanks.

I am curious about the Helios media gear but they don't seem to be well known. How would you rate them in terms of build quality, sound and video quality, compatibility and overall user friendliness. Also how is their customer support? thanks.

First of all to be fair I just dropped of my X3000 yesterday at FedEx to return it for credit. So I only played with it for 4 days before deciding to send it back. Having said that here's my 2 cents.

Build quality seemed OK. As I saw in reviews before buying it it's plastic and nothing fancy, but then that wasn't important to me. It weighs about 7-8 pounds. If you want something special it sounds like the X5000 would be the way to go since it's a more high-end piece of gear. As for the remote control however I'd say it's a piece of crap at best. Fortunately I have a Harmony 880 so I really didn't have to use the Helios remote much. They have a new remote out but it's not what shipped with my unit.

The video quality looked good considering the content I was streaming. I had it hooked up at 1080i over component video to my 3-1/2 year old Mitsubishi 48" rear projection set. I was streaming SD MPEG4 video encoded with Nero Recode2.

Audio handling is what ultimately made me decide to return the unit. Besides the fact that Nero Recode2 has a bug with respect to encoding the LFE channel in the 5.1ch AAC, the X3000 can only output the 5.1ch sound through it's discrete analog outputs. If it had the ability to transcode and send over SPDIF then I'd have kept it I think. Which leads me to comment on the X5000 - from the pictures I've seen it does not have 6 analog outputs - only L/R stereo and SPDIF. So unless it transcodes, and I don't know that it does, you wouldn't be able to get multi-channel sound from an AAC file.

The user interface was OK. Their streaming software running on my PC was fine, but you have to be logged into Windows with it running in the background as far as I could tell.

Their customer service is questionable I'd say. Well before I purchased the unit I contacted them regarding the X3000's ability to play the Nero Digital formats. Ultimately they suggested I provide some sample data for them to try. So I encoded the lobby shooting spree from The Matrix in 4 different formats with Nero Recode2 using Nero Digital Standard & Cinema with LC AAC, and Nero Digital Cinema AVC with HE AAC with and without QPEL and GMC. I put the files on a CDROM and mailed them to their factory in China as they'd asked. After a few weeks I contacted the customer support person I'd been talking with and he stated that the X3000 could play all 4 files. Based on what I saw over the 4 days of playing with it he basically lied to me. Harsh statement I suppose but given that the 4 clips did not all work for me I don't know how else I'd put it.

Ultimately I decided that the only way I'm going to get what I want for my home theater is to put together an HTPC. That'll let me stream anything I can encode and transcode 5.1ch AAC over SPDIF, or at least that's what I've read so far. :)

Sorry for the long-winded answer! Maybe that was 20 cents!

Kevin