Just wanted to give you guys a heads up about the new Dune BD Prime, which I believe will be being previewed at CES.

I've only recently started playing with it, so the jury is still out (full review when I feel I've tested everything to the fullest extent). I think this product has a lot of potential right off the bat. I am using it in parallel with the TVIX 6500.

Picture and audio quality wise, they are both equivalent, but the unit has a built in Blu-ray player and can also stream bluray rips from the network (NFS and SMB, just like the TVIX).

The quality of the unit's outer finish is pretty good, although you have to pay attention to take the nearly-invisible sticky nylons off the front panel, or it looks pretty bad (took me a few minutes to figure that out, I'm sure not everyone will catch that). When closed, it has a shiny black panel black with the time counter running in blue- which works well with people who like a low key design (myself included).

I really like the GUI so far. Bluray functionality seems quite good - I was able to play regular bluray disks without a problem and rips worked better than they did on my TVIX unit. What's nicer is that the menus (animated popups and all), subtitles and audio tracks were all active and working effortlessly over my home network! That includes pretty tough rips such as SIN CITY japanese edition, which goes up to 61Mbps at certain key points in the movie.

My TVIX choked with this content, unfortunately.

There's still functionality missing if we compare it with the TVIX or NMT units (stuff like bookmarks and 50/60Hz auto switch) but this looks like something that can definitely be addressed in the future.

There's still some ways to go and some improvements with the product's finish could be worth it, but the unit was quite stabile and I think we have an interesting contender here that could potentially take the lead if they continue to do things right.

couple of things to add:

1. BD Prime is not the only new model there: it's a kind of "lower end" model w/o internal hard disc. check the manufacturer:
http://www.hdi.co.il/fullhd_players/72-dune-bd-prime.html

There is also another model: Dune HD Center
http://www.hdi.co.il/fullhd_players/67-dune_hd_center.html
it has the same f/w but also internal HDD, insertable from outside like in mobile rack for a PC (indeed, the mobile rack for a PC is bundled together with the device, so that it's possible to move HDD easily between a computer and this player (no need to carry the entire player to a PC and use slower USB connection).

2. Concerning CES: according to the site hdi.co.il the booth is Sands 73031. I'm pretty sure there will be something to check out there...

check also this:
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=19872#150930

it seems this Dune f/w is already hacked by somebody: Hi-Jack is providing some kind of a f/w patch (download small file and just press "Enter" on it in player's file browser) making this player multi-regional for both DVD and Blu-ray! For Blu-ray it's possible to change the region with rather simple combination of remote keys. Seems can be more useful exactly this way, because BD+ protection often checks the region directly, anything like Region 0 for such BD discs wouldn't even work...

new firmware came out recently - adding a web browser to the mix.

How would one go about getting one of these in the USA? There are two links from the manufacturer's website to US distributors; one of them is no longer a working website address, and the other points to a static page that says "Coming soon..."

That is one sleek-looking device. I love my new PCH A-110, but it looks like it was built in somebody's garage out of spare parts.

I'll be following the progress of Dune streamers, see how their FW updates and support are, and what kind of community grows up around them.

How would one go about getting one of these in the USA? There are two links from the manufacturer's website to US distributors; one of them is no longer a working website address, and the other points to a static page that says "Coming soon..."

duneplayer.com has some on order, expected in january........give them a phone call to discuss

That is one sleek-looking device. I love my new PCH A-110, but it looks like it was built in somebody's garage out of spare parts.

I'll be following the progress of Dune streamers, see how their FW updates and support are, and what kind of community grows up around them.

You can be checking this at MPC Club, if you want. It's already quite recognized there...

Hi Oferlor,

thanks for the info, can you please advice on whether it can play Bd ISO Rips

I think this is exactly what I've been looking for.

So let me get this straight. Provided that all firmware updates are applied and available to fix and make every option that these players are suppose to be able to do, one can take a Bluray, rip it to there computer as either an .ISO or VOB files (or bluray equal), and be able to play these through a home network from said server WITHOUT:

-studdering
-loss of DTS-MA Dolby TrueHD
-loss off 1080p quality

So I guess esentially, this is exactly like playing a blue ray on a set top box, only you are playing through a network from a file?

Sorry for the ingnorance, but this is a concern. And you have to understand that when ripping DVDs first became popular I still new little about it. Now with MUXing disc and containers and whatnot, its all kind of confusing. Not only that the time involved in encoded disc is just insane. I just want to be able to pull the files off, organize, and be done.

Hi Oferlor,

thanks for the info, can you please advice on whether it can play Bd ISO Rips

according to the developers, it's already possible to play a copy saved to a directory. also the mechanism for playing from ISO is ready and will be available in the next ver. of the f/w

I think this is exactly what I've been looking for.

So let me get this straight. Provided that all firmware updates are applied and available to fix and make every option that these players are suppose to be able to do, one can take a Bluray, rip it to there computer as either an .ISO or VOB files (or bluray equal), and be able to play these through a home network from said server WITHOUT:

-studdering
-loss of DTS-MA Dolby TrueHD
-loss off 1080p quality

So I guess esentially, this is exactly like playing a blue ray on a set top box, only you are playing through a network from a file?

Sorry for the ingnorance, but this is a concern. And you have to understand that when ripping DVDs first became popular I still new little about it. Now with MUXing disc and containers and whatnot, its all kind of confusing. Not only that the time involved in encoded disc is just insane. I just want to be able to pull the files off, organize, and be done.

yes. it's already that simple: make a full copy to ISO or to directory and then play it back with full functionality like from the original BD disc...

I was close to purchasing a nmt, glad I looked around a bit more. I will definitely be watching this thread.

yes. it's already that simple: make a full copy to ISO or to directory and then play it back with full functionality like from the original BD disc...

Im sorry but this just has to be the product of the year and its the first week of Jan.

Ive been waiting for a solution like this.

Do you need to select resolution manually or is it auto-detected?

The Prime seems to be a slightly scaled down model from the Dune HD Center. The Dune HD Center model has 512M of RAM and more network functionality, according to their web site. The Prime is said to have 384M.

Do all of these have the Blu-ray player? I don't really need one. (You need one for your computer to copy the discs anyway, as I understand it, so it's just redundant for me.)

Hi,
I have a Dune BD-Prime + Gigabit module and I can say to you that it plays DB-Rom from a network/Nas Just fine.
There are some slight problems with DB-J (not all BD-J play 100%)
I have sold my tvix A6500 because the Prime is mutch better then the tvix 6500.
The first firmware of the BD Prime is mutch more stable than the tvix6500 (also i think it is).
I have plenty of files that not play on the tvix or stutter but plays without hickups on the bd prime.
For me this is the best mediaplayer I ever seen and i'm very happy with it.

There is still a lot to do but all the basics are there, future firmware updates will improve this nice player even more.

P.S
Prime = Blu-ray player onboard
Center = Blu-ray Player onboard also a internal HD (internal USB)

Do you need to select resolution manually or is it auto-detected?


yes, currently it is manual.
this feature seems to be called "Setup option to automatically adjust video output framerate" in their voting for new features here: http://hdi.co.il/features/
you can vote there, if you want. everybody can.


The Prime seems to be a slightly scaled down model from the Dune HD Center. The Dune HD Center model has 512M of RAM and more network functionality, according to their web site. The Prime is said to have 384M.

yes, the Prime is just a simpler and cheaper model. But it seems the only real difference is the design (and here the difference is very significant, obviuosly) and that HD Center has HDD inside (it's insertable with hot swap).
To BD Prime you need to connect HDDs via USB. Though it's claimed that there is no real difference in functionality for HDD inside of HD Center and HDD connected to BD Prime via USB... (so the approach is totally different to the NMT one)

Do all of these have the Blu-ray player? I don't really need one. (You need one for your computer to copy the discs anyway, as I understand it, so it's just redundant for me.)

I talked with these guys (HDI) a few days ago on this. They told they are going to show such a model (even more scaled down than BD Prime, w/o the Blu-ray drive but with insertable HDD (hot plug) like in HD Center) during CES. Let's see...

I talked with these guys (HDI) a few days ago on this. They told they are going to show such a model (even more scaled down than BD Prime, w/o the Blu-ray drive but with insertable HDD (hot plug) like in HD Center) during CES. Let's see...Sounds perfect. I shall wait and see, indeed. Thanks.

This is also interesting because I would think it should bring the price down a good bit.

How do these handle subs? On my PCH I can move them anywhere onscreen, adjust the timing, the color, and the size.

How do these handle subs? On my PCH I can move them anywhere onscreen, adjust the timing, the color, and the size.

moving onsceen is definitely possible. about the rest I'm not sure

Ever since we got our Prime we haven't even turned on our Tvix (2+ weeks now ?) The Dune is much more stable, although there is still room for improvement (icon mode, bookmarks, etc), but most all are pretty minor in comparison to the core functionality that it already has.

About playing BR backup ISOs, I have read where others have played ISO BRs, but bear in mind that playing an ISO takes more resources (Adn the Sigma chip is not an unlimited power chip). There was at least one who reported that playing a "demanding" BR ISO had stutter issues (also tested over SMB). Extracting and streaming the BDMV folder helped significantly, as did switching to NFS (less processor overhead than SMB). After that he was able to play it flawlessly, menus and all.

I just got back from CES and got a chance to speak with the HDI reps and saw the new DVD only player. They were not showing any content on it though because they wanted to show off the BD units. No price and time frame was mentioned but all of their products will be available in the US in the next few months. I am excited to get my hands on a BD Prime.

Sorry for not being articulate enough...it was called the Dune HD Base. I am lucky to be able to type still after four days in Las Vegas. :D
BTW on another site I saw a $270 retail price mentioned.

Does the Dune player output the original YPbPr video to HDMI from the Blu-ray discs?

Sorry for not being articulate enough...it was called the Dune HD Base. I am lucky to be able to type still after four days in Las Vegas. :D
BTW on another site I saw a $270 retail price mentioned.

I am very interested in this :cool:

I did a quick google and it did not turn up anything. Is there more information on this out there?

I am very interested in this :cool:

I did a quick google and it did not turn up anything. Is there more information on this out there?



http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=713

This is all I can find. The article says they will post more info as it becomes available.

Another link:

http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=20072

http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=713

This is all I can find. The article says they will post more info as it becomes available.

Another link:

http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=20072

thanks for the links. No ripped blu ray playback really hurts the Base model IMO.

Any mention of embedded FLAC decoding from within mkv files? If so I'm all over it.

for which model ?

Prime/Center Yes, it is reported to play multi-channel FLAC
Base Don't know, but since it has nothing to do w/ Blu-ray licensing I would guess that it would also.

Can anyone elaborate a bit on 'internet radio support'.


Is there a list of predetermined channels, can you add your own?

Is Pandora supported?

Is Pandora supported?

+1

I would also like to know if Pandora is supported.

no pandora..............web radio and iptv are minimal so far as they are focused on video streaming.........i'm sure more capabilities are coming but they are prioritizing new features and even have a poll online for users to prioritize which
features they most want

most info on this product seems to be the forum at mpcclub.com

http://www.hdplex.net/HDi-Dune-Bluray-Player-558-USD.html

Does "(HD-formats for Blu-Ray playback only)" under "Audio codecs:" mean that this support is only for Blu-Ray disks or does it extend to Blu-Ray ripped files also?

Does "(HD-formats for Blu-Ray playback only)" under "Audio codecs:" mean that this support is only for Blu-Ray disks or does it extend to Blu-Ray ripped files also?

playing backups also, in file format.
iso supposedly coming soon.

playing backups also, in file format.
iso supposedly coming soon.

It can do iso now and there is a beta firmware (HDI is still working on it) that will allow HD audio tracks via iso/folder structure.

Who would be willing to sell me a Dune Prime, shipping to Japan at a decent price? hdi had HongKong listed for a bit, but its gone now.

Anyone has one? I need to ask a few specific questions before ordering one.

I have one, if you have questions let me know.

some pictures of the GUI:
http://www.hometheater.co.il/images/articles/TMCE/ofer/dune_bd_prime/dune_prime_008_490.jpg

http://www.hometheater.co.il/images/articles/TMCE/ofer/dune_bd_prime/dune_prime_010_490.jpg

Great oferlaor, thanks for offer and pics as well.

Video:

Resolution and refresh rate autoswitching. What are the options here? Can I play ntsc dvds at 480i and pal dvds upscaled to 1080p without changing the settings? Will it autoswitch refresh rates between 23.976/25/29.97Hz? Will it play an mkv 720p 23.976Hz at 720p or will it upscale to 1080p? If I'm in the middle of a blu-ray movie and switch to features, if these are in a different res/refresh rate will it autoswitch? What I'm trying to say is there one setting for all like 1080p or Auto or do you get to choose if you want to upscale or play at native refresh rate?

Audio:

Can I get dd/dts as bitstream and dts hd ma/truehd decoded to mlpcm at the same time? My receiver doesn't bitstream the hd codecs but decodes dd/dts so is this possible without having to change the setting everytime. I will be using hdmi but if I need to connect spdif to make this work that's ok too. I know you can have everything send as pcm or everything send as bitstream but can you have dd/dts tracks as bitsream and everything else as pcm?

If the questions are not clear I'll rephraze.

video: there is no resolution/refresh rate pass through, only a single output setting right now.............it is a high priority item on their things to do list
(go to hdi's website and vote for the features)

if this thing ever gets the hd audio passthrough, it could become a big player. I like to see the "TrueHD" light up on my receiver :)

Additionally, I have not been able to get one person from HDi or any of ther resellers to answer my sales related questions. I dont know about the rest of you, but I'm not going to pay $600 to find out if it does what i want.

720p,

Your questions are quite clear, no worries.

there's currently no resolution or refresh rate autoswitching. This is high on my list as well and it's on their todo list (which is public by the way on their site and subject to user voting). My main thing is autoswitching refresh rates (24, 50 and 60). I would also like autoswitching source based resolutions (NTSC dvd playing at 480i and 720P playing natively at 720P), not really what sense anyone would have in wanting PAL to play at 1080P and NTSC at 480i (beyond the idea of flexibility), but native resolution playback is useful if you have an outboard scaler that you want to process the original video with no impact from the unit.

Right now you choose resolution + refresh rate and it will convert everything to that (from DVDs, MKVs to bluray disks).

About audio, if the movie is set right now to DD or DTS, the unit will play that back to you via analog/digital/hdmi audio outputs. I haven't played too much with Multichannel PCM decoding, and the analog outputs were only enabled in the latest beta, so I haven't had a chance to check it out.

Bluray does passthrough Dolby True HD, PCM and DTS HD MSTR and it also decodes these to PCM. I haven't checked the coax/s-pdif outputs in those cases to see if they send out regular DD or DTS core respectively.

If your receiver decodes PCM, then it will work for sure (many receivers supported multi channel PCM before DTS HD and TRUE HD became a standard AVR feature. There's basically no reason not to use PCM on all the content, this does not have any impact on audio quality regardless of the source format.

Lunchwagon,

I guess you missed that point. If the source is a bluray rip or an actual bluray, it has full HD Audio passthrough. In the previous version I tested, M2TS didn't get support for DTS HD MSTR or DOLBY TRUE HD (i.e., if you killed the rest of the rip but left just the M2TS files, you would have lost not only the menus but also the ability to playback the HD audio soundtracks). This was supposed to be fixed a while back, but given that I only use full BD rips now, I don't really see the point of that feature being as important as it was when I was only keeping the single M2TS file as before...

What were your sales related questions? I know they're dealing with the move to mass production, so they're not really focused on single customers at this point, but it looks like they're just trying to meet the demand on this thing (and rightfully so, IMHO).

There's still quite a few items I'm missing on my wishlist. Not all DVDs play on the unit (they told me they hope the next version might fix the majority of DVD related issues) and there's no bookmark system (I live and die by bookmarks on my TVIX6500) and the auto frame rate switch is crucial for my mental well being... Still, there's quite a lot of progress that I see in the latest firmware releases and the unit is really maturing quite fast and that's a great thing to see. I also wish that their jukebox system was similar to how tvix handles theirs (automatically loading backgrounds and thumbnails).

oferlaor,

thanks for the thorough & helpful reply.
Video:
My kuro when fed 480i in Advance mode performs ivtc and displays ntsc dvds at 72Hz instead of 60Hz (no judder) hence my question. Pal dvds play at 100Hz so not need for ivtc to achieve smooth motion. (they are sped up by 4% to 25hz - hello chipmunk voices). Selecting 1080p instead of 576i/p for pal on my dvd player picture looks better. This is why I asked about 480i for ntsc and 1080p for pal.
Audio:
Audio wise my receiver is only hdmi 1.1 so all the hd codecs must be decoded to mlcpm first. dd/dts sounds alot better when decoded in my receiver rather in my htpc (do not ask I don't know why) that's why I wanted to make sure this setup works. My htpc is set to HDMI Bitstream and sends dd/dts but sends pcm for pcm/hd codecs automatically because it cannot send as bitstream (software limitation).

I will now vote for the features I need the most. This is the first time I have seen a company asking for opinion on what features actual USERS want. Very strange and very encouraging. For htpc software we beg and beg for simple features a $30 player has but are kindly told to piss off:D

oferlaor-
I do appreciate your response. I have finally gotten some responses directly from HDi. Given that the major items are covered here, I think I'm ready to pull the trigger. I've been to the websites of the U.S. distributors, but I cant seem to anyone who has any in stock. Does anyone know where I can get one?

I don't know if this was already posted but here is a lengthy review: http://www.mpcclub.com/modules/Reviews/reviews/review_hdi_bd_prime.pdf
I was about to pull the trigger but after reading it I'm not so sure. It looks as if it is more feature than performance oriented, it clearly states that its purpose is not standalone levels of video & audio quality which is exactly what I want. I already have an htpc which is not as responsive, locks up, etc. has inferior video/audio quality to a standalone, I am looking for a device that is standalone like in performance but htpc like in features, I guess that's too much to ask at this stage. Bare in mind I haven't even seen one so this is all academic. Only owners can answer this.

If I'm not mistaken, that's an old review (11/2008) using a early pre-release version.

Can you access more than one NAS device like the TVIX? That's the one reason I kept with TVIX, I have four (4) NAS devices, and like being able to switch between them (without having to type in an IP addy).

Can you access more than one NAS device like the TVIX? That's the one reason I kept with TVIX, I have four (4) NAS devices, and like being able to switch between them (without having to type in an IP addy).

Hi!

Yes, you can access any number of shares.

Does anyone have any sentiments on the PQ of this unit? If I can get my hands on one, I'll be happy to post a bunch of pics. I am really wanting to like this unit. Looks like March delivery for US.

Does anyone have any sentiments on the PQ of this unit? If I can get my hands on one, I'll be happy to post a bunch of pics. I am really wanting to like this unit. Looks like March delivery for US.

I compared the PQ to a PS3 playing a blu-ray disk, and to a Tvix playing HDTV caps, and all 3 give identical results.

I compared the PQ to a PS3 playing a blu-ray disk, and to a Tvix playing HDTV caps, and all 3 give identical results.
Robert;
What is your display type and size?

TIA!
____
Axel

.... If the source is a bluray rip or an actual bluray, it has full HD Audio passthrough. In the previous version I tested, M2TS didn't get support for DTS HD MSTR or DOLBY TRUE HD (i.e., if you killed the rest of the rip but left just the M2TS files, you would have lost not only the menus but also the ability to playback the HD audio soundtracks). This was supposed to be fixed a while back, but given that I only use full BD rips now, I don't really see the point of that feature being as important as it was when I was only keeping the single M2TS file as before...

....

Ofer;
Just to make sure I correctly understand:

Does this unit:
- bitstream high def audio formats, e.g. DTS HD MSTR or DOLBY TRUE HD?
- play blu ray isos over the network, like it was a disk, i.e. maintaining full menu structure and navigation?

TIA!
____
Axel

Robert;
What is your display type and size?


3DLP projector on a 4.5m wide screen.

1. Flac works, no problem. So does mp3 and shoutcast mp3 pls files.

2. There's no visible difference between other bluray players, this unit or the TVIX unit, in terms of PQ.

Axel,

1. Yes

2. Yes.

this unit sounds very impressive for BD playback. I think I may try this approach instead of fighting the issues on the HTPC with the software issues. can the gui display cover art or is it all browsing by name of the files.

this unit sounds very impressive for BD playback. I think I may try this approach instead of fighting the issues on the HTPC with the software issues. can the gui display cover art or is it all browsing by name of the files.

Itai;
I agree, this device looks very promising. GUI is also important. I would like to see something that is currently available with mymovies on the HTPC front.

In any case, once you got your unit, please make sure you share your findings :).
____
Axel

"this unit sounds very impressive for BD playback. I think I may try this approach instead of fighting the issues on the HTPC with the software issues. can the gui display cover art or is it all browsing by name of the files."

I would plan on using HTPC frontend software, like Xlobby, to act as a touchscreen remote/DVD browser GUI that will select the movie that is loaded on the server for the prime to play. The same touchscreen remote can then control the Prime. With the correct macro, the Prime would be able to load and play the ISO rip from the server with one button press. I currently do this now with Xlobby with a PC touchscreen remote and HTPC player, but would like to try the same setup with the Prime acting as the HTPC player. This way, the GUI of the Prime would be irrelevant.

hjackson

I still have xlobby running my theater and audio in a couple of other rooms, although I am migrating to a new system.

I hope this device has a good GUI, it can really help make it a more appealing option.

If anyone can post more screen shots of the latest interface (to be honest, I really only care about BD playback) I would greatly appreciate it.

I am now a Dune HD center owner, very nice. However the lack of UPNP streaming and unrar streaming is no good, so that is first on my list to fix. Which forum do most Dune people hang out?

I am now a Dune HD center owner, very nice. However the lack of UPNP streaming and unrar streaming is no good, so that is first on my list to fix. Which forum do most Dune people hang out?
Congrats and Thanks Lundman, Anything else you can share thoughts, stability, ease of use, etc.

I need the ability to select movie covers to launch movies all currently saved as Jpeg, in the movie folder, is this supported with the HDprime unit....I've seen some posts on mpc that folks are doing this as a manipulation of the ICON badging...but can anyone validate that they are doing thisor can do this. Thoughts?

I need to make this as user friendly for the family as possible and the PC method to date is not user friendly, my 7 year old rips right through media center everytime.
Cheers,

requis

requis if you can install yamj on the dune it offers a gui with cover art/metadata. I know this works on the popcornhour/hdx-1000 but not sure on the dune. Someone confirm please.

Any update on US resellers? Last I heard, we were looking at a March arrival as these units are going to be "mass produced" rather than "batch produced" If anyone knows where one can be purchsed or has a recommendation for the US resellers, I would appreciate it. Thanks

Any update on US resellers? Last I heard, we were looking at a March arrival as these units are going to be "mass produced" rather than "batch produced" If anyone knows where one can be purchsed or has a recommendation for the US resellers, I would appreciate it. Thanks

bump!
____
Axel

I'd like to throw a 1.5TB drive in it and put my whole collection of movies and music on it. Any info on DVD ISO support? Also any updates to add the thumbnail catalog feature?...One more question the OS looks to be a Linux dirivative so i'm sure this isn't a problem but what is the largest size drive it will read? will it read any drive larger than 1TB?? They are starting to show up on the market......

Really interested in this one... anyone know how it handles .mkv rips with FLAC? If at all :)

Really interested in this one... anyone know how it handles .mkv rips with FLAC? If at all :)

From all reports, yes it does.

The MPCClub review said in the addendum that it did NOT play FLAC. Has that been fixed?

The MPCClub review said in the addendum that it did NOT play FLAC. Has that been fixed?

That was a very old review (Nov 08 IIRC). Current reports clearly state that multi-channel FLAC is working fine.

Thank you... I haven't really found much that is more recent.

For those that care, I have enabled RAR support in my Dune, relatively easy to do if you have telnet access.

http://www.lundman.net/wiki/index.php/Librarchy

There's no internal drive on the unit (the BD CENTER does).

FLAC works no problem. So does DVD ISO support (I use it through the network from my NAS).

Still no jukebox view (thumbnails).

If only I could find one at a reasonable price in the US :)

I have finished adding unrar streaming support, if people would like to try it:

http://lundman.net/wiki/index.php/Librarchy#Dune_binaries

I have finished adding unrar streaming support, if people would like to try it:

http://lundman.net/wiki/index.php/Librarchy#Dune_binaries

what other functionality do you have via telnet? Can you control the device via the telnet connection?

Soooo here is the 236 dollar question!

IF....the only difference between the Dune HD Center and the Dune BD Prime are that you can use internal storage drive... is it worth paying the extra money?

IF you can attach an e-sata drive to the Prime and get all the same functionality then that should be a better option...right??

Does anyone out there know if these two both have the same functionality as far as applications and playback capabilities?

I'm looking to purchase very soon but this is a dilema I'm currently having. I'm not broke by any means but I try to be cautious(spelling) with my money.

Thanks in Advance!

Soooo here is the 236 dollar question!

IF....the only difference between the Dune HD Center and the Dune BD Prime are that you can use internal storage drive... is it worth paying the extra money?

IF you can attach an e-sata drive to the Prime and get all the same functionality then that should be a better option...right??

Does anyone out there know if these two both have the same functionality as far as applications and playback capabilities?

I'm looking to purchase very soon but this is a dilema I'm currently having. I'm not broke by any means but I try to be cautious(spelling) with my money.

Thanks in Advance!

RawDawg-
I think its really just a matter of preference. Most people dont have a massive NAS ready to stream to. They might just want to move a couple movies locally. The "center" might be a better option for them. Quite frankly, I'm seriously debating the center over the prime on aesthetics alone. The slanted front of the "prime" would look HORRIBLE in my MA rackmount. I would like to preorder one of these, but I dont like to pre-pay and get pre-screwed if it doesnt get released on time or ever. Not to mention, every one of the US retailers that I've talked to is a total jackhole. All that said, I am seriously looking forward to getting one and have it deliver what it promises.

what other functionality do you have via telnet? Can you control the device via the telnet connection?

I've been told by HDi support, that there is no telnet, ip, serial or anyother control of the unit. Looks like IR is it.

telnet is fine, it is very similar to a NMT inside, but instead of mono, it is file_player, instead of amp_test, it is dvd_player etc. No real surprises. They prefer /tmp/mnt/storage/0/ style mount points, which is cleaner imho. I've not needed to recompile any of my NMT binaries yet, as they really are the same hardware.

RawDawg: I picked center over prime with the thinking that I need the internal storage to make my development easier, somewhere to store my programs like llink, unrar and all that.(that was the plan). But since it comes with a 2GB permanently plugged in USB stick (for bluray data among other things), I could probably not have bothered, and just used that.

I don't store any content on the internal HDD after all, I use a NAS.

HDi asked me not to reveal my telnetd ways, as they wanted to be in-charge of that, and control when that feature is unlocked. I see no reason not to comply with that.

If only I could find one reasonably priced in the US ;)

If only I could find one reasonably priced in the US ;)

or at least someone that has them in stock would be a better statement.

Is there anybody in this post that is from HDi or has contact with them that can speak to availability of these products?? I'm in the states too and I've only found 1 site that offers their products and they are on pre-order only.

i got mine from best rated Canada, but no longer listed so i guess no more

RawDawg,

AFAIK, there's no real difference between the PRIME and CENTER. Their focus is a bit different - the CENTER has a larger aluminum case (not my cup of tea, personally) and it contains the harddrive housing internally (the drives can be pulled out, similar to how they're stored in a NAS box).

The PRIME is more consumer oriented (reflective plastic front, etc.) and no internal harddrive. Both are supposed to get the internal memory system storage (mine didn't come with it, so I use one of the back ports with a USB thumb drive instead). The only requirement is that when you firmware update, you have the storage in place (it has to be an empty USB drive) so that the unit formats it to be the system storage.

The unit does very well streaming from ESATA and over the ethernet (10/100), including very speedy BD titles. Haven't checked USB (no longer of interest for me, I stream everything over the network), but I will try to do check that out as well soon in terms of performance.

Regarding availability in the US. Not sure who carries them at this point yet. It's early days, though.

Ofer LaOr,

Thanks for the info! Now if we could just get the fine folks at HDi to come by this forum and answer some availability questions I think we'd all be good to go! ;)

I've seen the HDI dev guys on the mpcclub forum

Hey guys...just got this email today...thought I would share.



Please note that we published the new beta version of our f/w for Dune players.
It can be downloaded from hxxp://hdi.co.il/firmware, as usual.

The most important changes are done for photo and audio playback.
According to our understanding now we have also the best photo viewer
(Slideshow viewer) over all our competitors.

In details, the new features of the f/w include the following:

- Photo viewer improvements:
- Added settings menu (Setup / Applications / Photo Viewer):
- Slideshow delay.
- Range: 1 second to 1 day.
- Slideshow effect. Supported effects:
- Random
- Smooth appearance
- Small squares
- From center to edges
- From center horizontally
- From center vertically
- From edges to center
- From edges horizontally
- From edges vertically
- From l! eft to right
- From right to left
- From top to bottom
- From bottom to top
- Moving halfs
- Moving quarters
- "0" remote button allows to change slideshow effect directly during
photo viewing.
- Changed the way PLAY / PAUSE / STOP buttons are handled:
- PAUSE: pauses the playback (i.e. toggles slide show off).
- PLAY: resumes/pauses the playback (i.e. toggles slide show
on/off).
- STOP: exits photo viewer (the same way as RETURN).
- Added repeat and random playback features (see below for info on
usage).
- Added possibility to enter player setup menu and change various
settings (photo viewer settings, video mode settings) directly from
photo viewer.
- Added possibility to show the information about the current photo.
- INFO remote button toggles showing of the INFO block.
- INFO block s! hows file name and picture resolution.
- When the INFO block is shown, slideshow is paused.

- Added random playback possibility to file player (see below for info
on usage).

- New remote buttons for controlling random/repeat functions in file player
and photo viewer:
- Press MENU to show the playlist browser, then:
- Press 7 (or REPEAT on silver remote, or ROTATE on black remote)
to toggle repeat.
- Press 8 (or SHUFFLE on silver remote) to toggle random.
- When not in the playlist browser:
- Press 7 (or REPEAT on silver remote) to toggle repeat.
- Press 8 (or SHUFFLE on silver remote) to toggle random.

- Added spindown/spinup of all attached USB/e-SATA HDDs on entering/exiting
standby.
- NOTE: Spinup of USB HDDs may not work, depending on a particular
USB HDD model. In this case, the spinup is performed not
immediately on exiting standby, but when the HDD is accessed.

- Added spindown of disks in all connected o! ptical drives (internal,
USB, e-SATA) on entering standby.

- Added support for MPEG2-TS files with ".m2t" extension (previously it was
neeeded to rename these files to e.g. ".m2ts").

- Added possibilities to workaround DVD-Video navigation problems:
- SELECT remote button allows to explicitly trigger between MENU and
PLAYBACK modes.
- In MENU mode: LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN buttons allow to control the DVD
menu.
- In PLAYBACK mode: LEFT/RIGHT/UP/DOWN buttons allow to seek.

- Added full support for DTS audio files.
- Proper detection and handling of DTS audio stream (in particular, both
".wav" and ".dts" files are supported).
- No more dependency on volume = 0.
- Output to all audio outputs which support DTS output (previously only
S/PDIF worked, and noise could be present on other outputs).

- Added support for DTS CD-Audio disks.

- Added correct support for big custom icon! s in the right panel ("extended
list view" used for the parent folder, with big custom folder icons
assigned to the child folders via dune_folder.txt). Previously, the usage
of big icons could corrupt the screen content.

- Added dune_folder.txt support for custom background images.
- Supported image format: .AAI.
- Background image can be of any size.
- Background image can have transparency and alphachannel.
- Background image position and scale factor can be adjusted.

- Added dune_folder.txt support for reloading custom icons/images.
- Press ROTATE button or perform "Refresh" menu action to reload
icons/images loaded via dune_folder.txt.

- Added support for dune_folder.txt/media_url referencing DVD ISO files,
Bluray ISO files, DVD folders, Bluray folders.

- Changed the way DVD/Bluray ISO-files/folders handled when building a
playlist: now these items are skipped (unless there is only one such item
in the playlist).

- Torrent client settings made more f! lexible: the allowed range of
"max.number of peers" and "max.number of uploads" settings extended from
1..10 to 1..300.

- Added support for confirming CD-Audio/DVD-Video/Bluray disk playback w/o
using the remote, and using FIP keys in dialogs in general. Usage:
- STOP = cancel the dialog.
- PLAY = press the selected button.

- Bugfix: Bluray folders and ISO images with " ' " character in file path
could not be played.

- Bugfix: Bluray ISO images with ".ISO" extension written in upper case
could not be played.

- Bugfix: playback of unavailable IPTV channel could lead to playback crash
in some cases.

- Bugfix: detection of DTS audiostreams in TS files could work wrongly in
some cases.

- Bugfix: audio could disappear in specific AVI files in some cases (file
containing multiple CBR audiostreams and non-first audiostream used).

- Bugfix: specific DVD-Video disks (with specific DVD-Menu fea! tures) did
not play properly.

- Bugfix: specific FLAC audio files (with specific tags) could not be
played.

- Bugfix: specific MKV/VC1 files could not be played and led to player
hangup.

- Bugfix: specific audiostreams (marked as A_MS) in MKV files could not be
played.

- Bugfix: FTP access to NTFS-formatted disk did not work at all (now
read-only FTP access works as expected).

- Other minor fixes/improvements.
---------

Thanks and best regards
HDI team

Grrr... so want one of these...

oferlaor or anyone else, I have recently seen the popcorn hour A100 at my friends place and really though of buying the A-110, but I was also looking for something that can play a BR disc. If I am not mistaken the Dune can play BR disc along with BR rips right?
Does it also have the same functionality as the Popcorn hour?

Hey guys...just got this email today...thought I would share.

Hello and welcome, nice to have you here:)

I'm about to order a Dune BD Prime but have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

1) Is the remote the same for both Dune BD Prime & HD Center? There are no coloured buttons on the BD Prime like shown on the HD Center remote.

2) Do any of the units have a fan?

3) I will only be using ethernet for my content. Will I benefit from the GbE option in real life?

4) If I am only using ethernet for my content apart from the build quality and good looks (and maybe remote?) is there any benefit going for the more expensive HD Center?

5) Can I play dvds/blu-ray movies from folders (1:1 rip by AnyDVD HD) with full menu support?

6) Do the units autoswitch between 23.976/25/29.97Hz and 480/576/720/1080 i/p based on content?

Thanks!

1) Is the remote the same for both Dune BD Prime & HD Center? There are no coloured buttons on the BD Prime like shown on the HD Center remote.


Couldn't tell you for sure, but it works with NMT silver remote too, which can be annoying if you have both devices.


3) I will only be using ethernet for my content. Will I benefit from the GbE option in real life?


I only use ethernet, 100MB. You will not directly benefit from GbE, and may even have issues if you try to enable jumbo-frames (but probably wont). There is nothing wrong with GbE, if you want to keep your network pure.


4) If I am only using ethernet for my content apart from the build quality and good looks (and maybe remote?) is there any benefit going for the more expensive HD Center?


Tricky one to answer. I wanted HDD so I could store my apps, telentd etc etc like I do on NMT. But it turns out these devices have/expect a permanently attached 2GB flash memory, for BD data etc. So I just use that storage. HDD for me is not needed.


5) Can I play dvds/blu-ray movies from folders (1:1 rip by AnyDVD HD) with full menu support?


Yes! Very nice feature this one.


6) Do the units autoswitch between 23.976/25/29.97Hz and 480/576/720/1080 i/p based on content?


No, not yet. It is being discussed. But I am not paying attention to that since I would not use said feature.

Thanks lundman,

before you replied I was reading another of your posts where you mentioned that hdi devs post on the mpcclub forum. I headed over there and found answers to all by questions. It is strange that this forum is so quiet compared to mpcclub.

Reading through the different posts the hdi devs are VERY actively participating with users:eek: I have never seen this level of commitment before:confused: This point alone would make me buy their product blindly.

Unfortunately reading I also found about a limitation of this device which matters to me most. The sigma chip used is the old slow one smp8634, instead of the new smp8644 which is ps3 speed like. I only have experience with ps3 and my htpc which load blu-rays in a matter of seconds. My htpc is faster than ps3. On mpcclub users are seeing load times of 45s, 1m or 2m all consequences of the sigma chip, nothing to do with hdi. I have witnessed slow speeds like these on 2 "top of the range" pioneer blu-ray players ($$$$) at the dealer. At first I thought these were broken:D During the agonizing seconds I was thinking my htpc would smoke this (speedwise only - video/sound on htpc is very poor compared to proper player).

I'm sure hdi will eventually release a player with the new chip. Having witnessed their level of support I will buy one even before the first reviews come out as long as it still has the build quality and looks of the Center, having carefully examined the high resolution Prime pictures I'd rather pay the difference.

You wont find a single player using smp8644 for a while yet, and essentially you will always be waiting for the next one. Having said that, I liked that HDi got around the appalling PATA controller in smp8634 by using USB->SATA instead, which is why my own speed tests I could read at 117MB/s of the HDD (Not cached).

Not entirely sure what you mean by load time? boot time, start to play a video, or setting up a BD disk to play?

boot time: strangely long on HDi and having checked what they do they can speed this up quite easily (hell, the kernel tests all ciphers before booting!). But compared to NMT, you don't boot very often. (More stable).

play video: much faster than NMT. They don't mess around as much and it starts to play after 2s delay or so.

bd disk: seem on par with most commercial BD players (not really the h/w's fault) but rather the loading of java, bd+ checks and running bdj. At least the BD+ code is in C on this player so it isn't too bad. This is all entirely run on the MIPS 200mhz chip, not the sigma chip.

trust me I'll buy the first smp8644 I can get my hands on that plays blu-ray from folders, I hope this will be hdi as I like them even if I haven't owned any of their products. How can you get 117MB/s on a usb2 controller (480/8=60MB/s theoretical)? I'm not saying you can't I'm interested in the theory.

By load time I meant player off, you approach player with blu-ray movie. Load time starts from when you press the power button and ends when the movie starts playing (logos/warnings/trailers whatever comes first). My htpc always sleeps (everything off except volatge to memory) and takes under 5s to wake up (including hdmi handshake) and I can load the movie in probably another 5-10s depending on movie. I'll time it and let you know. I don't use discs only folders much quicker.

I would boot everytime. I am a power/noise freak, when a device is not in use it must be off. ps3 has decent start speed so I hope the hdi will too.

2s delay for the video is perfectly fine no problems.

I know the hdi is easily on par with commercial BD players. It is that commercial players are not in par with ps3 or htpc. If you have owned a ps3 you would notice the difference. It is the quickest standalone out there by far even if it was the first.

Fair enough. It be at least a year before you can readily buy smp8644 devices, that it all. And the speed up you are talking about, has nothing to do with the smp8644 chip anyway.

Dune in standby come on in 1s. Which is what you can do from remote. If you want it off, you need to use the switch on the Unit, but who would do that (apart from you obviously). So in that sense it is fast enough as it is. :)

They really could make it faster, I think 10s boot is feasible, but I'd rather have them add more useful features that I consider essential. One of the biggest missing features in ALL smp players is you can not play music, and stay in the GUI. (and queue more music). Tsk.

Disk speed I measured with:


-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 183475156 Mar 8 16:23 the.simpsons.s20e11.hdtv.xvid.avi
910_E1[0]$ time dd if=the.simpsons.s20e11.hdtv.xvid.avi of=/dev/null bs=65536
2799+1 records in
2799+1 records out

real 0m17.129s
calc 183475156 / 17
= 10792656.


(more like 80MB although its playing at the moment, not idle like before. Guess thats me using B for bits and b for bytes, we really need to stop using one of them, pick one..)

When are these going to be "officially" available in the U.S.? Looks like only 1 place is selling them (in stock). Not exactly what I would describe as price advantaged for the consumer. Is it really that "NEW"?

Has anybody measured the singal from the HDi Dune player?

How about lineraty when calibrating? (does the x,y,Y stays linear when calibrating the colors with a colorimeter and software) I have seen players that are not linear in terms of color lightness, and CMY x,y coordinates, in 75%-100% stim.

Hopefully someone can comment on this! :)

Was wondering if any of these player have a gui interface with movie cover thumbnails? Similiar to Windows Media Center.

Was wondering if any of these player have a gui interface with movie cover thumbnails? Similiar to Windows Media Center.

MyMovies is working on a HDi solution so that their database will show up on the Prime and HD Center. I saw a mention of it on their forum.

Yeah, its working, "MyMovies", that is.

Lundman do you know if playing Blu Ray ISO's are supported today?

Cheers,

Requis

I have tested bluray folders and actual legal disks, not ISO. But I can if you want, I think I have an ISO around somewhere

-rw-rw-rw- 1 owner group 4693032960 Apr 13 14:38 grp-highlander-bd5.iso

Plays without issues. Didn't seem to have a BD menu, but it sure launched the BDplayer and started playing.

Is it safe to assume that the picture quality is identical to a BD player from Pioneer, etc, when no scaling is taking place?
I would love to output 1080p/24 for BD discs and 576i/50Hz for SD discs, straight into my Lumagen. If that is the case, I will order one right away!

Yeah, its working, "MyMovies", that is.

Does one need the optional 2GB flash drive in order to do that?

Looks like the Dune Base is coming soon. No BD-ROM but the middle slot holds a hard drive (SATA). A lot cheaper too.

http://www.hantzundpartner.com/hdi/dune_base_e.html

The 2GB flash is to store the BD+ data. So if you are to watch legal BD disks you'd want it. It plugs into the USB at the back, so it is hardly a big deal. I use the 2 USBs at the front for my USB things.

The Base has no BD-ROM, so it will not have BD license. But it should play pre-ripped disks/folders/isos.

mkvplayers had dune "on stock" last I checked, whatever that means.

hi lundman. appreciate your work. is it possible to implement a workaround for blu-ray disk backup to external hdd or nas (similar to ps3 sak)? maybe with telnet?

Bluray backup0, use AnyDVD HD. You can probably use libbluray or "debugger" mentioned on some forum I came across. As for using Dune's own player to do a backup, I'm not sure, it just isn't designed to do that. Especially the BD+ disks.

i didn't mean decrypting with dune, i mean something like this: dd if=/dev/cdrom of=/out.iso and then mount/decrypt on pc. with ps3 and swiss army knife this was possible.

On surface, yes, you could do that, or even NFS exporting the BDrom. However, with BD+, it does do a whole lot of checks and tricks. But in general, AnyDVD will do the right thing. probably :)

Ok. I thought so.
I am an ex-owner of pch a100, wdtv, a110 (clone version), hdx1000... I was playing with egreat's 31a, 31b, looking forward to 34a... but now i have a dune bd prime.
With NMT's it was pretty simple to run telnet. But with Dune... Seems like only lundman-the-greatest know how to do it. :)
Can we wait for telnet.dsf from lundman?

Has any one taken time to meassure the levels out from a HDi Dune xxxx?

I have measured a Tvix 6500 and a WD TV. With video material, these players have a uniformity in lightness (Y).

You can see this for your self by comparing results from 100% color patterns, and 75% colorpatterns.

I wonder if this is the case with the HDi players as well?

Is BD prime able to stream Netflix, Hulu, etc...??

Not yet.

Not yet.

What's the missing link? (Hulu/Netflix)
I'm wracking my brain over here trying to figure out which media streamer to bite on. BD prime seems pretty cool, but PCH + standalone bluray seems to still amount to just a little more function for less $$$. Plus... what's the deal with having 4 different options??? I can live w/out eSata, but why make 100 or 1000 ethernet port an option? I'd like the wireless AND the gig-e port! Why not make it gig-e across the board??? In fact.... this whole process is making me a little whiny, quite frankly....(sorry)

wifi is just for those people who thinks wifi will work.
1gige is for those who already have gige network, and want to transfer with a little more speed. Streaming makes no difference if its 100/1000.
I believe no PCH does hulu/netflix yet. They are US only subscriptions, and of no interest to the manufactors so far.
Just my opinion, I am not connected to HDi/Syabas.

wifi is just for those people who thinks wifi will work.
1gige is for those who already have gige network, and want to transfer with a little more speed. Streaming makes no difference if its 100/1000.
I believe no PCH does hulu/netflix yet. They are US only subscriptions, and of no interest to the manufactors so far.
Just my opinion, I am not connected to HDi/Syabas.

I take that to mean that if my wireless bridge can provide 100+ speed, then it should be adequate for whatever I might need to stream on a 100 port Dune. Haven't dug into Bluray "quality" streams, yet, but anticipate that it should come. As for NetFlix/Hulu, I understand that PCH has a pc workaround to make them function, so I'm just trying to figure out why a similar workaround couldn't exist for Dune. Truth is ...(collective eye-roll coming)... none of the options seem quite perfect for me. Functional and physical consolidation of BD prime is just about 98% there, though...
One more stupid rookie question... what about using a pc to rip bluray iso (or some other format if necessary) from Dune directly onto my server??? Is that just out of the question??? The Dune would actually be my only bluray drive, if purchased...
Thanks for the advice, everybody...

You could certainly make Dune areas with nice icon view etc, that point to URL content elsewhere, like I plan to do for apple trailers. Which could include a PC software side port that translates NetFlix/Hulu to it. So sense, PCH and Dune are the same. The h/w is the same, the RMUA (SDK) is the same (well, not identical). Just the software GUI that differs.

For me, Dune was closest yes, but not 100%. I can just put in DVD and BD retail disks and hit play, that was rather important in the end.

You COULD possible coax Dune into ripping movies for you, if you are really good at what you do. The building blocks are there after all, libraries for AACS, BD+ and BDJ. But to be honest, much easier to just use AnyHD. In theory anyway, nobody has looked at doing that.

That's what I love about AVSForum... at any given time, somebody has usually thought more clearly about things than I have. Sorry for the streamer 101 caliber questions. Thanks for your patience. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on a PCH. I think I'll cut my teeth on it, and wait until HDI broadens their distributorship and empirical base. Something tells me that I will be able to figure out everything that I would like a BD Prime to do for me by experimenting with the PCH. And when the time comes to pull the trigger on Dune... I'll just put the PCH in the bedroom... and hopefully Dune will be a bit cheaper by then. Will certainly keep following the thread, here.

Then, Welcome to the club! I have both, well, 3 SMP8634 players, and one dev-board.

i am also interested in a Dune.
I will use it i combination with a NAS, does anybody knows what connection
i should choose, eSATA or the GigaBit Lan version?

NAS don't have anything to do with eSATA? gige version has had issues, and personally, I've been just fine with 100Mb. But that's just me.

Then, Welcome to the club! I have both, well, 3 SMP8634 players, and one dev-board.

Well.... we'll see how quickly it ships for the $20 charge. It's hard to imagine that I'll be disappointed with the PCH. I frequently find that, in reality, I'm not as hard to impress as I might sometimes like to think. A part of me already wishes I had popped for the Dune.... (gotta love cognitive dissonance!). It's always fun starting a new geek-project. I know my Synology NAS is solid. Hopefully my wireless network is up to snuff. Will try out the wireless adapter that comes with. Hopefully it doesn't suck. It's just hard to ignore the attraction of bluray/all-in-one, though. Alas...maybe next time.

makelegs,

Where you ever able to find a Dune for US market?

k

makelegs,

Where you ever able to find a Dune for US market?

k

duneplayer.com

Although... I admit that I was merely assuming that they had them to ship. As opposed to jvb charging $170 to ship direct from the Netherlands.

As far as I know, JVB has a US office as well and should be able to arrange shipping from US location.

About the base... it's a streamer with internal drive, likely sold in EU for about €350 which is not that cheap (us price will usually be the same in dollars or more, like $399)

The concept is a bit conflicting though. The unit is supposed to come with the BD license and will play BD backups from HDD or network source with no problems. You can attach a DVD drive or BD drive over USB and then even play BD and DVD disks but not commercial ones...

To achieve that kind of playback of commercial disks, one has to acquire the add on module holiding a BD Drive and dual HDD. What this will cost is unknown as it is not ready yet however the price of the Base + the module will likely be higher than the BD Center.

Conflicts a bit... If you don't need disk playback, the BASE would be a good option. If you do need disk playback, It feels like a better and more affordable choice to buy the BD Prime directly and expand data storage with NAS or attached HDD via USB.

Modules:
In general we recommend GBIT for the playback of BD and such. Best for network use. eSata is sufficient as well (best performance) but requires local content attached to the player while Wireless is simply insufficient to support all content the unit can handle.

As far as I know, JVB has a US office as well and should be able to arrange shipping from US location.

About the base... it's a streamer with internal drive, likely sold in EU for about €350 which is not that cheap (us price will usually be the same in dollars or more, like $399)

The concept is a bit conflicting though. The unit is supposed to come with the BD license and will play BD backups from HDD or network source with no problems. You can attach a DVD drive or BD drive over USB and then even play BD and DVD disks but not commercial ones...

To achieve that kind of playback of commercial disks, one has to acquire the add on module holiding a BD Drive and dual HDD. What this will cost is unknown as it is not ready yet however the price of the Base + the module will likely be higher than the BD Center.

Conflicts a bit... If you don't need disk playback, the BASE would be a good option. If you do need disk playback, It feels like a better and more affordable choice to buy the BD Prime directly and expand data storage with NAS or attached HDD via USB.

Modules:
In general we recommend GBIT for the playback of BD and such. Best for network use. eSata is sufficient as well (best performance) but requires local content attached to the player while Wireless is simply insufficient to support all content the unit can handle.

It would seem that JVB ships plenty of things from the US, but pretty much all of the HDI stuff on there was said to ship from the Netherlands, and not JUST HDI stuff. Although... I NOW realize that my PCH is likely shipping from China, and God knows when that will arrive, but the charge of $20 from China vs. $170 from Netherlands is not a hard choice.

As far as Prime--->Center--->Base... The Center clearly seems most optimal. As for the notion of wireless being insufficient to stream bluray, I suppose you could just direct transfer a rip from NAS to Center HDD and play locally. Probably wouldn't be that much of a hassle.

duneplayer.com

Although... I admit that I was merely assuming that they had them to ship. As opposed to jvb charging $170 to ship direct from the Netherlands.


Thanks. I'm waiting on support to see if they have them in stock.

Any update on US resellers? Last I heard, we were looking at a March arrival as these units are going to be "mass produced" rather than "batch produced" If anyone knows where one can be purchsed or has a recommendation for the US resellers, I would appreciate it. Thanks

Any update on availability in the US? I'd be particularly interested in the Dune Base version, but I don't see anything at all for sale in the US.

No firm arrival date. Duneplayer.com is taking preorders but they had no idea when the player would be comming. I'll still probably order, but I'm not holding my breath

Paul

hi,
I've just got my BD Prime 2 days back.
Downloaded the latest firmware from HDI website but when trying to install, it says invalid firmware file, what when wrong?
What are the proper procedure to install firmware?
My current firmware is 081226_1216 (dunno if it's update1 or 2)
I've downloaded the 1216 update2 to test but came with the same message..
The download site says the file size is 49M but my download only show 28MB for the 1216 update 2 & 36.4MB for the latest 0218 firmware, did I miss anything?

You have to go back to the firmware version that has 2 files, put both of them on USB, and run/install it.

After that, you can install the latest firmware.

Any update on availability in the US? I'd be particularly interested in the Dune Base version, but I don't see anything at all for sale in the US.


According to HDi, the production of 2.0 will be completed at the end of July (around the 25th), so availability will depend on the freight time to the US.

According to HDi, the production of 2.0 will be completed at the end of July (around the 25th), so availability will depend on the freight time to the US.

Kei,

Will Digital Connection carry the new HDi 2.0 products? I much rather buy from you guys than the other unknown seller on the East Coast (They don't even have a physical address that I know of).

Mickey,

Why, yes, we are. :) It was just added as a pre-order item.

Mickey,

Why, yes, we are. :) It was just added as a pre-order item.

Very cool... I see it now. Do you guys charge right away or wait till shipment?

No, we do not. We charge only when the item is ready to ship.

We don't plan to carry the Base unless there is enough requests, and there is a limited number coming in the first shipment.

No, we do not. We charge only when the item is ready to ship.

We don't plan to carry the Base unless there is enough requests, and there is a limited number coming in the first shipment.

Cool. I like that in a retailer.

I am not interested in the Base since I need a BD-Rom drive so I will put my order in for the Prime.

Thanks.

i really really wanted one of these last year but i think it has missed its window with the announced july availability of the popcorn hour c-200 using the much more powerful 8643 sigma chip which is designed specifically to support BD

Kei, is it possible for Digital Connections to ship to Canada? Is it also possible to use a different delivery service besides UPS? UPS always charges up to $100 USD for items delivered from the US to Canada, even if it costs the shipper much less.

UPS sucks.

Kei, is it possible for Digital Connections to ship to Canada? Is it also possible to use a different delivery service besides UPS? UPS always charges up to $100 USD for items delivered from the US to Canada, even if it costs the shipper much less.

UPS sucks.

Max,

Yes, we do ship to Canada and we are converting most international shipments to US Postal Service, especially if the item fits the Flat Rate that they offer. Unfortunately, I doubt that will be the case with the Prime and their prices go progressively higher and exceed UPS pricing at a certain weight. Right now, I do not yet know the actual weight/dimensions so I am unable to quote the freight cost, but we should be receiving that information soon.

Thanks for looking into it Kei!

cat6man,

Most BD players use 8634 today and not 864X.

The C200 is really a different niche product - it is more for the DIY enthusiasts as it will require you to build your own player by putting in the BD drive yourself. The C200 is still a few weeks away, while the Dune is stabile and now in its second hardware iteration. PH announced they will also have a dedicated BD player, which is much more of an interesting product for the masses, but still no schedule on when it will arrive.

Given Sigma's stability track record, it takes months before they stabilize an SDK for any new chip. Officially, they only recently started shipping 864X SDKs, so if you're willing to wait a few months it will probably be much more stable then (nothing to do with PH).

There are still some bugs in the 8635 (which A110 and TVIX 6500 use) which Sigma is working on, and when was that chip released?

BTW, what specific functionality are you expecting the 864X to have that the 863X doesn't? Both will play blu-ray titles (and stream them over the network)... The only functionality that 864X is supposed to gain is some improved graphics (menus will be displayed faster and smoother) and boot time. PH believes it may be able to run flash (or flash like) menus on the unit itself, but that is quite a few months away still.

Greetings, I am one of the owners of DunePlayer.com
We have placed an order with HDI for both the BD Prime 2.0 & HD Base 2.0.
HDI has worked out their availability issues and we will finally be able to offer these new products throughout the USA. We (Power Holdings Inc) will be the main importer and distributor for HDI products in America. DunePlayer.com has been setup to make these players available direct to help get things moving. Our rep has been demonstrating sample units to numerous retail stores. The response has been fantastic! There will be many stores carrying these products in the near future and all the distribution channels are now in place.

Arthur

Power Holdings Inc

has the dune solved the problem of wacky skip ahead/skip back behavior that most of us have experienced with other media streamers, such as ziova and dvico units, in the past? at times, skip ahead on certain files would actually take you backwards!

i recently got a sage hd200 and the skip ahead/back works perfectly (which was a revelation), the first time i've personally ever seen this (and i've had 5 different media streamers over the years of the 862x and 863x variety)

can anyone confirm how this behaves on the dune players?

can anyone confirm how this behaves on the dune players?

MPEG2 TS files that have been edited with VideoRedo behave perfectly with the Dune, trick play is dead accurate.

MPEG2 TS files that have been edited with VideoRedo behave perfectly with the Dune, trick play is dead accurate.

exactly to my point!

but does it work without editing in videoredo, or is it still screwy?
if the dune cannot do 'trick play' perfectly without re-editing, it
is a showstopper for me

what amazed me was that the sage hd200 is dead accurate on the
orginal TS files i get from recording with HDHR and HD-PVR tuners........
so there is an existence proof that it can be done right, yet most
network streamers seem to be incapable of this for some reason
(and i've never thought trick play was a fair name, since basic navigation
should be a given, not a 'tricky' advanced feature)

'trick play' on most sigma chip machines is so bad that my family would yell at me to just play through the commercial rather that the torture of uncontrolled jumping around in the wrong direction................now that we have the sage hd200 in our main home theater, it works perfectly and they will never let me go backwards to a machine that can't do basic navigation.

if sage can do it right, why they heck can't the other companies?
it may be sigma's fault for the lousy sdk but if sage can figure out how to get it right even with the sigma sdk issues, the other companies no longer have
the sigma fig leaf to hide behind.

deleted......duped somehow

but does it work without editing in videoredo, or is it still screwy?
if the dune cannot do 'trick play' perfectly without re-editing, it

Don't know, all my files go though VideoRedo for commercial removal, or just to clean them up.

But, for example, a TVIX does not trick play well with such files, so the Dune is much much better.

i was so used to trick play failing, i got used to it........then the hd200 blew me away.

not only is it perfect for "skip ahead"/"skip back" (i set to +45/-30 seconds) but there is a 2nd set called "skip head2"/"skip back2" that i set to +300/-200 which is great for jumping around more quickly............dead-on accurate all the time on raw untouched TS files

once you use a machine where this actually works, there is no going back (at least in my house........that was the number one peeve in my household---
as in, 'dad, if a cheap dvd player can do this, why can't these?')

anyone else out there able to comment on trick play on unprocessed TS files with the HDI unit?

ofer: you've gotten to play with lots of units, is anything besides the hd200 able to do trick play correctly (on raw TS files,
without postprocessing)?

it works pretty stable for me.

The technique is a bit different than with other players, you use the arrows to skip ahead or back in 10 seconds, 1 minute or 10 minute intevals.

I have not had significant issues there (definitely not as much as in the DVICO players), but it does lack the convenience of bookmarks and a GOTO button.

BTW, they just released a new firmware version dated June 19. Haven't had a chance to try it out yet.

so how can I get cover art with this unit? do i have to make a file for every movie i have? or does it have a feature that once it reconize my movie files it will get the cover art and descripition for it.

Will the 100Mb networked Dune Prime be fast enough to stream HD TS and M2TS files from the network? Or is the 1Gb unit needed?

Will the 100Mb networked Dune Prime be fast enough to stream HD TS and M2TS files from the network? Or is the 1Gb unit needed?

For BRs, even the 1GB is not fast enough, it's not really smooth unless you read from an USB drive. The 1GB is ok for regular HD TS files, but I haven't tried the 100Mb connection.

Will the 100Mb networked Dune Prime be fast enough to stream HD TS and M2TS files from the network? Or is the 1Gb unit needed?

There is currently no audio or video standard that a 100Mb wired connection can’t handle.

In fact, a 100Mb wired connection can pass 2 concurrent streams of even the most demanding video standards. For broadcast ATSC HD, it can pass up to 5 streams.

-Suntan

I agree that 100Mb can handle Blu-ray streaming just fine but you better have all your hardware running in top shape. If any of your switches/routers and cables have a bottle neck you will have issues. A perfect running running 100Mb wired connection should top off at about 11-12MB/sec which is about 88-96Mb/sec. If you get a bottle neck you may top off only at 7-8MB/sec.

I have a unit with the 1Gb network. It's not really necessary for me.

The 100Mbps connection works fine when streaming even very heavy (topping at 71Mbps) streams. I'm using a Netgear NV+ as my source. both are connected via 2 Gigabit switches (so the Netgear NAS is connected through a giga cable to a switch, which in turn connects to my downstairs switch, which connects to the Dune through a 100Mbps connection).

I found that the bottleneck for blurays is usually the disk where the content is sitting. It has to be fast enough to provide the data on demand (and bluray is quite demanding). My regular home server doesn't handle these data rates (it's a quadcore CPU with 4GB of RAM, but it does other stuff too in the background).

So, it really depends on the content and the source. The Dune seems to work fine on its end, whereas the TVIX 6500A needs a 1Gbps connection to work in the same environment.

As someone has said here a Gigabit network is capable of streaming quite a few concurrent bluray streams without a problem. I wouldn't stream more than one bluray stream concurrently on a 100Mbps network because some content can get quite high (e.g., Sin City can reach 61Mbps in some peek spots, there's content like ED24 that can even reach 70+ Mbps).

The Dune seems to work fine on its end, whereas the TVIX 6500A needs a 1Gbps connection to work in the same environment.


I had no trouble streaming BD streams over 100Mbs connection with my Tvix and my ReadyNAS system. I do have Gigabit switches, etc., but only recently did I enable the Gigabit connection on my Tvix.

In the end, it all comes down to your set up, cables, etc.

Robert, I'm surprised you can't stream BD over Gigabit with the Dune?

Hi!


Robert, I'm surprised you can't stream BD over Gigabit with the Dune?

It works 99.9% of the duration of the movie, but from time to time, they are some glitches, stutter or audio drops.

Maybe because it goes through 2 switches. The test speed you can do with the Dune shows more than enough speed during a short time, but sometimes there is just some hang-up.

Hi!



It works 99.9% of the duration of the movie, but from time to time, they are some glitches, stutter or audio drops.

Maybe because it goes through 2 switches. The test speed you can do with the Dune shows more than enough speed during a short time, but sometimes there is just some hang-up.

I've found on occasion that if I need to jump to a part of the movie (either fast forward or putting in the time) that I get stuttering, etc. But if I just load the movie from the beginning and let it play, all is good.

According to HDi, the production of 2.0 will be completed at the end of July (around the 25th), so availability will depend on the freight time to the US.

Hi,Kei.

Will Digital Connection carry Dune HD Base 2.0-or only Dune BD Prime 2.0?

HDI would like to inform all the enthusiasts of HD that it prepared new versions of its Dune players especially for European and US markets. First of all the new version of players named Dune HD Base 2.0 and Dune BD Prime 2.0 are coming to market in the middle of July 2009. For the moment no concrete information on HD Center 2.0 is provided. This new version of the 2 most affordable player models is made possible because HDI managed to come to agreement to make these players on the one of the biggest factories in China specialized on high quality audio-video equipment. The factory belongs to Panasonic Corporation and is managed by Japanese people. All Panasonic Blu-ray players are manufactured on the same factory. The manufacturer ensures not less quality standards than the own Israeli factory of HDI.

Hi,Kei.

Will Digital Connection carry Dune HD Base 2.0-or only Dune BD Prime 2.0?

I emailed and asked.

Thank you for your inquiry. We currently do not carry the Base model as the price differential minimal, but may reconsider at a later date if there is a demand. We do not plan to carry the Gigabit module as we find it provide very little performance improvement for video.

Best Regards,
Customer Support
Digital Connection

I thought the GB connection would see some difference in network speed stuttering.

I don't see FLAC in the 2.0's supported file formats. Is this an oversight of documentation? Or does it not play FLAC? :(

It has never listed it but it does as does the v1.0 version.

I emailed and asked.

Thank you for your inquiry. We currently do not carry the Base model as the price differential minimal, but may reconsider at a later date if there is a demand. We do not plan to carry the Gigabit module as we find it provide very little performance improvement for video.

Best Regards,
Customer Support
Digital Connection

I thought the GB connection would see some difference in network speed stuttering.

Thanks.

NAS function: FTP and SMB servers for accessing player's attached storage from local network.


It says that the attached storage is viewable from the network.
My question is if I have an external drive connected to the Dune player, can I copy and remove files from that drive while on my PC that is on the same network the Dune player will be on?
If so, a GB network connection will be necessary.

Jeff--

With the relatively slow clocks and therefore limited general-purpose CPU power of these streamers, you'd find that file copying via the streamer is not at full GB LAN speeds even with the GB connection. I.e., they don't make good NAS boxes for HD media files. ;)

I don't see FLAC in the 2.0's supported file formats. Is this an oversight of documentation? Or does it not play FLAC? :(

Will the 2.0 support multi-channel FLAC inside an MKV container?? This is quite important to me.

Will the 2.0 support multi-channel FLAC inside an MKV container?? This is quite important to me.

Version 1.0 supports it so I cannot see why the v.2 will not support it.

Version 1.0 supports it so I cannot see why the v.2 will not support it.

Thx for the reply! This is great news to me :) I currently have a Popcorn Hour A-110 and it does NOT support multi-channel FLAC which is ridiculous. And as of right now, there has been no confirmation that the new Popcorn Hour C-200 will support multi-channel FLAC. I might just have to jump on the Dune Prime 2.0 bandwagon!

I hope that the 2.0 comes fast:)

Wow, just joined this thread and ordered a prime 2.0 (well pre-ordered).
My main priority is that I have a large number of blu ray rips in ISO form sitting on large hard drives that I would like to play and this looks like the ticket! Thanks for all the comments and questions posted here. I found most of them very helpful and useful!
Best,
Chris

The PCH C-200 has been pushed back to late Aug or early Sept. so here's to hoping that the Dune's come out on schedule in late July to Mid Aug.

Do we "know" for sure, yet, that 2.0 will play blu-iso's?

Do we "know" for sure, yet, that 2.0 will play blu-iso's?

Doesn't the v1.0 play them fine? I think I tried it once but since I don't usually do ISO's so I can't be sure.

v2.0 and v1.0 should be identical when it comes to software so anything that the v1.0 can do, the v2.0 will be able to do.

Doesn't the v1.0 play them fine? I think I tried it once but since I don't usually do ISO's so I can't be sure.

v2.0 and v1.0 should be identical when it comes to software so anything that the v1.0 can do, the v2.0 will be able to do.

It was never clear to me that 1.0 played blu-iso either. I'm stuck in the "Dune 2.0 vs C-200" conundrum, and neither seems to be a known quantity on this issue.

The C-200 WILL play BD-ISO's, that has been confirmed over a week ago and the v1.0 DOES play ISO according to MPC Club.

The C-200 WILL play BD-ISO's, that has been confirmed over a week ago and the v1.0 DOES play ISO according to MPC Club.

That's what I love about this place.

I guess I missed the C-200 announcement.

According to HDi, the production of 2.0 will be completed at the end of July (around the 25th), so availability will depend on the freight time to the US.

Kei, have you heard any news if the ETA is still 8/14? We are less than 3 weeks away.

Kei, have you heard any news if the ETA is still 8/14? We are less than 3 weeks away.

Mikey,

I haven't gotten a definitive ETA, but I'm hearing that the Sigma chips are in shortage so we are already expecting a delay in delivery. Will keep you updated when I hear more.

Mikey,

I haven't gotten a definitive ETA, but I'm hearing that the Sigma chips are in shortage so we are already expecting a delay in delivery. Will keep you updated when I hear more.

:(

Hi Kei, did any chance You can preordered for me HD Base 2.0?

Thank you for answer.

Hi Kei, did any chance You can preordered for me HD Base 2.0?

Thank you for answer.

Governor Palin, is that you?

Hi Kei, did any chance You can preordered for me HD Base 2.0?

Thank you for answer.


Mike,

I probably could but it would not be delivered until the next production which may run into Sep/Oct as there is a rather long lead time. Bear in mind that the price differential is minimal, which is the reason why we decided just to offer the Prime.

Governor Palin, is that you?

I'm sure there's a joke here and I like jokes, especially at Palin's expense. But I'm afraid it'll have to be explained for me to get it.

I'm sure there's a joke here and I like jokes, especially at Palin's expense. But I'm afraid it'll have to be explained for me to get it.

Have you heard her speeches? Read the posted quote above and you will get the joke.

Sorry, back OT.

Kei, how many people are in the first batch of pre-orders? I placed my order on 6-17-2009. Trying to figure out if I will be on that first batch or not.

Mike,

I probably could but it would not be delivered until the next production which may run into Sep/Oct as there is a rather long lead time. Bear in mind that the price differential is minimal, which is the reason why we decided just to offer the Prime.

Thank you for answer Kei.

I will wait for, if You preordered Dune HD Base 2.0 + Ethernet 1000 Mb/s-its not about price differential its how unit make.

Mobile rack with SATA Direct Link for fast and easy HDD exchange to support any audio and video collection on any number of hard discs w/o need to create expensive multi-disc NAS solutions. Any 3.5" SATA HDDs can be used.

Governor Palin, is that you?

No, its president Bush.

It was never clear to me that 1.0 played blu-iso either. I'm stuck in the "Dune 2.0 vs C-200" conundrum, and neither seems to be a known quantity on this issue.

I have a v1.0 BD prime and can confirmed that it play bd.iso flawlessly. I've so far ripped most of my BD collection into HDD so my kids won't scratch the original BD.

I have a v1.0 BD prime and can confirmed that it play bd.iso flawlessly. I've so far ripped most of my BD collection into HDD so my kids won't scratch the original BD.

Thanks for the clarification.

The Prime 2.0 seems suddenly to be more price competitive with PCH.

Thanks for the clarification.

The Prime 2.0 seems suddenly to be more price competitive with PCH.

If you don't need the BD-ROM (playback of retail discs) and all you need is file playback, then the C-200 is a better choice due to being $100 cheaper. Although no one has answered whether it (C-200) will playback multi-channel flac yet. The Dunes will.

I have a v1.0 BD prime and can confirmed that it play bd.iso flawlessly. I've so far ripped most of my BD collection into HDD so my kids won't scratch the original BD.

Is that a 1 step process? Anydvdhd to ISO and done?

What if you want main movie only?

thx

bob

Is that a 1 step process? Anydvdhd to ISO and done?

What if you want main movie only?

thx

bob

You can create your own ISO using tsMuxeR and keep just the main movie and main audio track or any combination that you want. But that will involve an extra step.

You can create your own ISO using tsMuxeR and keep just the main movie and main audio track or any combination that you want. But that will involve an extra step.

So, anydvdhd doesn't create iso's?

2 steps is cool as long as it doen't take hours and hours to process?

thx

bob

So, anydvdhd doesn't create iso's?

2 steps is cool as long as it doen't take hours and hours to process?

thx

bob

It does. But its a 1:1 of the disk. If you want just the movie and none of the extra stuff you will need to first rip it to drive and then use tsMuxeR to created a BD folder of just what you want, then create the ISO using ImgBurn or any other ISO uitlity you want.

I just preordered the Dune BD 2.0 Prime player from Digital Connection. I have a couple of questions.

1. Is this player 2.0 profile compliant. The specs say profile (1.1/2.0), not sure what that means.

2. Can you do firmware updates via the internet using the LAN connection on the back of the player.

3. Will this player play FLV files? I didn't see it listed on the specs.

Thanks.

I just preordered the Dune BD 2.0 Prime player from Digital Connection. I have a couple of questions.

1. Is this player 2.0 profile compliant. The specs say profile (1.1/2.0), not sure what that means.

2. Can you do firmware updates via the internet using the LAN connection on the back of the player.

3. Will this player play FLV files? I didn't see it listed on the specs.

Thanks.

1) yes. its profile 1.0 & 2.0 complaint. Some of the Java discs will give the player headaches with the current firmware though. Hopefully they will fix that in the new(er) ones.

2)Don't think so. So far all firmware updates have been done via USB stick. Maybe the new player is different.

3)Current player does not so I doubt the new one will but you never know.

1) yes. its profile 1.0 & 2.0 complaint. Some of the Java discs will give the player headaches with the current firmware though. Hopefully they will fix that in the new(er) ones.

2)Don't think so. So far all firmware updates have been done via USB stick. Maybe the new player is different.

3)Current player does not so I doubt the new one will but you never know.


Thanks!

Forgive my ignorance, but on the firmware updates, can you explain the USB stick? How does it work?

Also, I see new firmware has been released, do you know if this player will ship with the latest firmware update. It is suppose to fix blu-ray compatibility problems.

Thanks!

Forgive my ignorance, but on the firmware updates, can you explain the USB stick? How does it work?

Also, I see new firmware has been released, do you know if this player will ship with the latest firmware update. It is suppose to fix blu-ray compatibility problems.

Quick and dirty: Load the firmware onto the USB stick, remove all discs (USB/network/whatever), turn off unit, plug USB stick, turn on machine, browse to the firmware folder, run firmware. Wait. Pray. (last two are very important)

Quick and dirty: Load the firmware onto the USB stick, remove all discs (USB/network/whatever), turn off unit, plug USB stick, turn on machine, browse to the firmware folder, run firmware. Wait. Pray. (last two are very important)

And very important-do not turn of unit until you finish update.

If you don't need the BD-ROM (playback of retail discs) and all you need is file playback, then the C-200 is a better choice due to being $100 cheaper. Although no one has answered whether it (C-200) will playback multi-channel flac yet. The Dunes will.

It seems like blu-drives are cheap enough that the 2 are pretty even all the way around. There's a lot to be said for "ready to go out-of-the-box" with Dune. But... the A-110 has been slick enough for me, that anything short of the same user friendliness would be an immediate downfall. I don't own a blu-drive of any sort, so I'd like to get max function there, too. Is it possible to rip a BD-ISO from a Dune or C-200, with a networked computer???

At the risk of causing further laughter... what's the big deal with flac? Can't say that I've ever felt the need for it. Is it somehow Blu oriented?...and I just haven't made it there due to lack of any blu-drive? ?

Is it possible to rip a BD-ISO from a Dune or C-200, with a networked computer???

Nope. That would be awesome but that would involve having AnyDVD HD working on the background and that would be a major can of worms that I don't anyone wants to open.

At the risk of causing further laughter... what's the big deal with flac? Can't say that I've ever felt the need for it. Is it somehow Blu oriented?...and I just haven't made it there due to lack of any blu-drive? ?

When using a HTPC and Blu-ray software (TMT, PowerDVD, WinDVD) any HD audio that is above 16/48 will be downsampled back to 16/48 due to PAP limitations. You can buy a Xonar HDAV card and it will then bitstream the full HD audio to a receiver (AVR) that is capable of decoding the HD audio.

When you remux the audio to multi-channel flac, you preserve a bit-perfect replica of the HD audio which will be decoded by madflac and passed to almost any receiver that can accept LPCM via HDMI or analog. You keep the full HD audio (no downsampling) and save a bit of hard drive space since the flac file uses a bit less overhead than the lossless track on the original track (not all tracks are smaller but most are).

By AnyDVD "working in the background".... do you mean on the Dune or C-200???

On the issue of FLAC... that seems to suggest that it's only really an issue when involving HTPC software. If one is merely streaming from a server to Prime/C-200, why would there ever be a need for FLAC? In fact... I'm not sure how software on a HTPC is even relevant to either device. Am I still missing something??? I thought the whole point of using Dune or PCH was to avoid HTPC altogether.

By AnyDVD "working in the background".... do you mean on the Dune or C-200???

On the issue of FLAC... that seems to suggest that it's only really an issue when involving HTPC software. If one is merely streaming from a server to Prime/C-200, why would there ever be a need for FLAC? In fact... I'm not sure how software on a HTPC is even relevant to either device. Am I still missing something??? I thought the whole point of using Dune or PCH was to avoid HTPC altogether.

You asked if you could rip a BD from a Dune/C-200 to a networked PC. A networked PC would not be able able to see the Blu-ray disk that is on the Dune/C-200 so it would be impossible to rip it going in that direction.

People that had a HTPC before they had a Dune/PCH had to do something to play the HD audio so they had FLAC. You would either have to re-rip all those discs again to extract the full HD audio or just keep the ones you already have and stream those.

You asked if you could rip a BD from a Dune/C-200 to a networked PC. A networked PC would not be able able to see the Blu-ray disk that is on the Dune/C-200 so it would be impossible to rip it going in that direction.

People that had a HTPC before they had a Dune/PCH had to do something to play the HD audio so they had FLAC. You would either have to re-rip all those discs again to extract the full HD audio or just keep the ones you already have and stream those.

That's what I thought about AnyDVD... which sucks for me, b/c that means, in either case, I will also need a blu-drive upgrade on one of my puters, since I own no such blu device, at all. (silver lining.... may be the excuse to buy a NEW puter!)

Your explanation of FLAC makes perfect sense to me, now. I realize why it's a non-issue for me. I appreciate ur patience on the matter.

Couple of questions about this device.

1. Can it internally decode and send via bitstream TrueHD and dts HD MA?

2. Does this device have internal wireless N?

~Josh

beatboy77--http://dune-hd.com/fullhd_players/72-dune-bd-prime.html

1. Can it internally decode and send via bitstream TrueHD and dts HD MA?

No, only pass-true,no internal decoder.



2. Does this device have internal wireless N?

You have too buy unit what have :

Wi-Fi 802.11n or Ethernet 1000 Mb/s

beatboy77--http://dune-hd.com/fullhd_players/72-dune-bd-prime.html

1. Can it internally decode and send via bitstream TrueHD and dts HD MA?

No, only pass-true,no internal decoder.



2. Does this device have internal wireless N?

You have too bi unit what have :

Wi-Fi 802.11n or Ethernet 1000 Mb/s


Where can I buy the unit which has Wi-Fi 802.11n?

~Josh

Where can I buy the unit which has Wi-Fi 802.11n?

~Josh

You can't buy it in the US. You will have to figure out which European merchant will ship to the US and how much the shipping will cost you. Not cheap.

Google is your friend.

Where can I buy the unit which has Wi-Fi 802.11n?

~Josh


http://dune-hd.com/index.php?do=resellerlist

On the bottom USA.

August 31 HDI release new firmware updates wish lot of improvements.

This is for prime http://dune-hd.com/firmware/bdprime/

I don't see anything on the list about fixing the color decoding problems (same problem as NMTs and WDTV). Has that been fixed yet?

I don't see anything on the list about fixing the color decoding problems (same problem as NMTs and WDTV). Has that been fixed yet?

NMTs and WDTV base on the 8635 chip, Dune on the 8634-and this is big difference.

NMTs and WDTV base on the 8635 chip, Dune on the 8634-and this is big difference.

Could you tell me what you believe the big difference is regarding color matrix decoding? To quote from another forum:

http://www.cypheros.de/dvb_e.html

"Test screen 1920x1080 with alternating colour_description" is just that, it alternates between no decriptor at all and a BT709 descriptor. There is a very obvious change in color decoding every time the descriptor toggles, which finally proves that the Dune will incorrectly use the 601 matrix on HD material in file playback mode when the mpeg headers do not contain a color descriptor.


If someone could test the above file with the new firmware, I would appreciate it.

Could you tell me what you believe the big difference is regarding color matrix decoding? To quote from another forum:



If someone could test the above file with the new firmware, I would appreciate it.

I think you need to quote all of his findings before you pass judgement:

Only BD mode will cause the Dune to output BT709 YCbCr. File mode always outputs BT601 YCbCr, however, if the file is flagged as BT709 the Dune correctly applies an internal transformation from BT709 to BT601 so the result is still OK.
If the file has no colorimetry header, then the Dune will not apply the necessary trasnformation giving color errors.

BD mode: source BT709 -> output BT709, correct
File mode, file flagged BT709: Source BT709 ->transform to BT601-> output BT601, correct although unneccesarily complicated, could just output BT709
File mode, no flag present: Source BT709 -> output BT601 without transform, color errors.

and

Final confirmation of the issue:

You can get the older 1.2 version of the AVS test patterns here (http://www.spectracal.com/downloads.html), get the HDMV version.

Turns out that on this version there are no mpeg colorimetry headers. And sure enough, in BD mode I get correct playback (flashing bars at the same places in R G and B) whereas playing back the corresponding 0005.m2ts in file mode gives me incorrect colors (no flashing bars on green).

The current 1.3 version of the test cards DO have bt709 indicated in their headers, and they play back correctly both in BD and file mode.

HD in file mode, no BT709 indicated in file -> Colors are off
HD in file mode, BT709 indicated in file -> Colors are OK

As it turns out, if the BD or the file has the BT709 indicated in the header then it will playback correctly. So its more of an error in disk authoring than hardware decoding/playback.

...So its more of an error in disk authoring than hardware decoding/playback.
If you think that not having the color matrix decoding flagged is an authoring error, then you've condemned about two-thirds of the authors out there by my count. Of 60 HD discs checked, only 20 are flagged. It's even worse when you look at off-air HDTV recordings (at least in my area). The ATSC decoding standards clearly state that unflagged HD should be decoded using 709.

Flagging has its place, but in its current state it's an exception, not the rule.

If you could point out to me why anyone would by default decode HD using 601 and not consider it a mistake, I would like to know.

If you think that not having the color matrix decoding flagged is an authoring error, then you've condemned about two-thirds of the authors out there by my count. Of 60 HD discs checked, only 20 are flagged. It's even worse when you look at off-air HDTV recordings (at least in my area). The ATSC decoding standards clearly state that unflagged HD should be decoded using 709.

Flagging has its place, but in its current state it's an exception, not the rule.

If you could point out to me why anyone would by default decode HD using 601 and not consider it a mistake, I would like to know.

The issue that the Dune and the PCH have is the fact that they do not allow full-time BT709 selection as one of their options. If they add this option to the menu then the problem could be solved for all. But in reality, if the disk or file were properly flagged then this would not be an issue.

So whom to blame? the disk creators for being too freaking lazy to properly flag their discs with BT709 or the hardware maker for not allowing an option to switch between BT601 & BT709? Anyone using an HTPC with NVidia or ATI will have the same issues as neither one of them can playback the file if not properly flagged.

Still, my point stands. You should never decode HD using 601 (at least as a default). Almost all Blu-ray players work correctly in this manner, including those with Sigma chips inside. It's only the "media players" that do this wrong.

Regarding blaming people, it's really irrelevant if you want to play existing content. The only solution is to fix it in the playback device. Besides, you'd end up blaming people like Joe Kane and Stacy Spears (both of their discs are unflagged), and I certainly don't want to get on their bad side.

So if I buy the Dune Prime 2.0 BD and hook it by ethernet to my router, then streaming BD's should be good?

~Josh

Is this Dune BD Media Center truly wireless N?

http://www.onlybestrated.com/dune-center-blue-media-player-with-wifi-80211n-p-223.html?gad=CIr96_CNLi54ADEghNIK4GRT-vxRjctt_-AyCCstMp

Would I be able to stream (in theory) iso BD's from my HTPC to this device over my wireless N network?

~Josh

Is this Dune BD Media Center truly wireless N?

http://www.onlybestrated.com/dune-center-blue-media-player-with-wifi-80211n-p-223.html?gad=CIr96_CNLi54ADEghNIK4GRT-vxRjctt_-AyCCstMp

Would I be able to stream (in theory) iso BD's from my HTPC to this device over my wireless N network?

~Josh

It's true Wifi N but you may want to check the MPC Club forums to see what others have experienced with it. I would doubt that you will get good results on the high end BD discs with Wifi.

Is this Dune BD Media Center truly wireless N?

http://www.onlybestrated.com/dune-center-blue-media-player-with-wifi-80211n-p-223.html?gad=CIr96_CNLi54ADEghNIK4GRT-vxRjctt_-AyCCstMp

Would I be able to stream (in theory) iso BD's from my HTPC to this device over my wireless N network?

~Josh

Only depends on bitrate of movie.Low yes,Hi no.

Playback of very high bitrate content is supported (may depend on a
particular UPnP server and network conditions). UPnP uses HTTP for
content playback, and HTTP playback has been optimized signficantly to
allow playback of very high bitrate content, such as TS and MKV files
with 40-50+ Mbit/s bitrate (see below for more details). In some
cases, when a file server can not ensure stutter-free playback via SMB
and NFS protocols (e.g. when a NAS with a slow CPU is used), UPnP can
be tried as a potentially more performant alternative.
- National characters in file names are supported (may depend on a
particular UPnP server).

It does. But its a 1:1 of the disk. If you want just the movie and none of the extra stuff you will need to first rip it to drive and then use tsMuxeR to created a BD folder of just what you want, then create the ISO using ImgBurn or any other ISO uitlity you want.

So the only way to get the Dune Prime to play like as BD you have to have it in an ISO format (or another container)?

I was hoping that I could use play the existing folder structure on the Hard Drive after a rip. Is this not the case?

So the only way to get the Dune Prime to play like as BD you have to have it in an ISO format (or another container)?

I was hoping that I could use play the existing folder structure on the Hard Drive after a rip. Is this not the case?

Did not make myself clear... it will play folder structure as well.

beatboy77--http://dune-hd.com/fullhd_players/72-dune-bd-prime.html

1. Can it internally decode and send via bitstream TrueHD and dts HD MA?

No, only pass-true,no internal decoder.



Are you saying the analog output will not output TrueHD or DTS HDMA because it will not decode internally?

Also, if it does decode, can you play TrueHD or DTS HDMA through files (that are in BD structure)? The specs say TrueHD or DTS HDMA through BD disc. I know Mickey said it will work through files (in another thread), but I want to make sure of the first piece first.


Thanks in advance

Did not make myself clear... it will play folder structure as well.

Thanks Mickey. I was doing a quick scan over the thread and did not see anything about it. I must have missed it.

I am getting so anxious about these getting shipped. The C-200 seems to be delayed once again so I fear that the Dune 2.0 will see another delay.

Are you saying the analog output will not output TrueHD or DTS HDMA because it will not decode internally?

Also, if it does decode, can you play TrueHD or DTS HDMA through files (that are in BD structure)? The specs say TrueHD or DTS HDMA through BD disc. I know Mickey said it will through files (in another thread), but I want to make of the first piece first.


Thanks in advance
Dolby TrueHD may be transported to AV receivers in 5.1 or 7.1 channels, at full uncompressed quality, in one of three ways depending on player and/or receiver support[1]:

Over 6 or 8 RCA connectors as analog audio, using the player's internal decoder.
Over HDMI 1.1 (or higher) connections as 6- or 8-channel Linear PCM, using the player's internal decoder.
Over HDMI 1.3 (or higher) connections as the original TrueHD bitstream, with decoding done by the AV receiver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TrueHD

DTS-HD Master Audio may be transported to AV receivers in 5.1, 6.1 or 7.1 channels, at full uncompressed quality, in one of three ways depending on player and/or receiver support[2]:

Over 6, 7 or 8 RCA connectors as analog audio, using the player's internal decoder.
Over HDMI 1.1 (or higher) connections as 6-, 7- or 8-channel Linear PCM, using the player's internal decoder.
Over HDMI 1.3 (or higher) connections as the original DTS-HD Master Audio bitstream, with decoding done by the AV receiver.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DTS-HD_Master_Audio

Mickey answered right- it will through files play TrueHD or DTS HDMA.

the unit has the ability to decode these formats (I believe both types, my last testing of this feature was a while back) to both PCM and analog 7.1

Ofer,

I'm looking at the pictures and I don't see place on the front panel that displays the audio codec (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HDMA, etc.) that is being used. Is it there?


Thanks in advance

the unit has the ability to decode these formats (I believe both types, my last testing of this feature was a while back) to both PCM and analog 7.1

I am not argue,but no HDI on the manual , non of the Forums said it have internal decoder, its will be very good if they wrong.

I am not argue,but no HDI on the manual , non of the Forums said it have internal decoder, its will be very good if they wrong.

So just to clarify, are you saying that it will do a software decode instead of having hardware do the decode?

Will this player output 1080p/24?

Thanks!

Can this player output 1080P/24?

Yes

A user posted this in the bluray player forum about the Dune Player:

"Occasional power off/on reboot required when attempting to skip forward a chapter from very near the beginning of the main movie, such as when restarting a disc.

One self-power-down-crash when playing a disc which had an "invisible" glitch. After repeating the error, moved the disc to a BD player equipped PC, saw the pixelation at the same point, which lasted less than a second, and the disc played on to the end without further flaws. Obviously Dune needs to address its error recovery logic.

Otherwise, to date, it plays Blu material very well, most non-Blu material poorly (blue sparkle drop outs referred to previously) on a constant 1080p/60 display".


Is anyone else that has the player experiencing similiar issues. I preordered the 2.0 unit and after reading this, I am little nervous. I mainly ordered the unit for non-Blu ray material (i.e., playing files encoded in 720/1080p, asf, mov, etc.,).

Thanks!

Yes

Thanks!

A user posted this in the bluray player forum about the Dune Player:

"Occasional power off/on reboot required when attempting to skip forward a chapter from very near the beginning of the main movie, such as when restarting a disc.

One self-power-down-crash when playing a disc which had an "invisible" glitch. After repeating the error, moved the disc to a BD player equipped PC, saw the pixelation at the same point, which lasted less than a second, and the disc played on to the end without further flaws. Obviously Dune needs to address its error recovery logic.

Otherwise, to date, it plays Blu material very well, most non-Blu material poorly (blue sparkle drop outs referred to previously) on a constant 1080p/60 display".


Is anyone else that has the player experiencing similiar issues. I preordered the 2.0 unit and after reading this, I am little nervous. I mainly ordered the unit for non-Blu ray material (i.e., playing files encoded in 720/1080p, asf, mov, etc.,).

Thanks!

Every single player out there has some problems with some titles. They are far and few between so don't worry about them.

Ofer,

I'm looking at the pictures and I don't see place on the front panel that displays the audio codec (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HDMA, etc.) that is being used. Is it there?


Thanks in advance

the on screen display is very minimalistic. It doesn't really show anything short of the timestamp of what you're watching. Not sure if it's that important - the important thing is that your AV receiver have the relevant lights turn on.

You can see the audio format by pressing the info button.

The internal decoding to PCM is useful to anyone without a new AVR. AVRs with LPCM decoding will work just fine and will get exactly the same audio quality. I have a Yamaha 3800 and I cannot distinguish between PCM decoding mode and the passthrough mode - both sound identical but the difference is who decodes the audio (the AVR or the player).

Does anyone have any info about the new players launching from HDi ?

Are there pictures of the GUI somewhere? Just wondered what the interface looked like. I have one on pre-order.

Are there pictures of the GUI somewhere? Just wondered what the interface looked like. I have one on pre-order.

seconded, also does this unit support coverart view?

seconded, also does this unit support coverart view?

you can see some screenshots in Hi-Jack's review:
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules/Reviews/reviews/review_hdi_bd_prime.pdf
though note that the review itself is more than half a year old and so it's significantly outdated (during this time the number of features maybe doubled)

also some screenshots here:
http://medialounge.ru/2008/08/dune-hd-ultra-setup/
also rather old and in Russian, but presentation of the screenshots is of a much better quality (though for Russian interface language)

---

And yes, the cover art view is supported:
http://www.mpcclub.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=19364
http://hdi.co.il/firmware/misc/
http://hdi.co.il/firmware/misc/dune_folder_howto.txt
http://img355.imageshack.us/img355/1046/p1020501hk1.jpg

So indeed this is much more than just about the cover art...

found one more useful link on the cover art and special folders visualizing in general:
http://www.mymovies.dk/documentation/wiki.aspx?Page=My%20Movies%20and%20HDI%20Dune

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/GetFile.aspx?File=Devices%2fDune%2fInterface%2fDune-02-Scaled.jpg

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/GetFile.aspx?File=Devices%2fDune%2fInterface%2fDune-08-Scaled.jpg

http://wiki.mymovies.dk/GetFile.aspx?File=Devices%2fDune%2fInterface%2fDune-01-Scaled.jpg

Great, thank you!

that's awesome, I'll probably order the Dune Hd Base 2.0 next week.

does this unit support ID3 tag for mp3s? with coverart?

hehe..... as you can see the visual is very important for me :P

I want it to be easy for my wife and my girl.

that's awesome, I'll probably order the Dune Hd Base 2.0 next week.

maybe you should wait a bit for HD Base 3.0 (for HDD) or BD Prime 3.0 (with Blu-ray). There are rumors on these models that they will be based on Sigma Designs 8642 chip. Software will be of course much more stable than on Popcorn (as this "combo" streamer+Blu-ray+ISOs approach is polished by Dune guys since December 2008, and for Popcorn it's a totally new direction. Some first reviews of C-200 show that Popcorn may need many months before it really starts working more or less properly...)


does this unit support ID3 tag for mp3s? with coverart?

ID3 not supported there yet. but I saw somewhere discussion with developers that they are going to include it in one of the future versions...


hehe..... as you can see the visual is very important for me :P

I want it to be easy for my wife and my girl.


yes, I heard from quite some people that Dune GUI is wife-friendly :) and even grandma-friendly :) :)
which may be true. my girlfriend has no problem with it...