Heres hoping that it performs as advertised.
skipuppy

I've read through the thread and i'm in some what in a newbie confusion.

In idiot terms is there much difference for the end user that just wants to watch HD media between this and the Popcorn Hour C-200 as the whole discussion about the chip is confusing.

Thanks

Here is some chip information. The dune has the Sigma 8642.



1. 8642 chip
Our 3.0 solutions are based on Sigma Designs 8642 chip, not on the 8643 one. We'd like to remind that every odd version of Sigma chips is a functionally reduced variant of the chip with the _previous_ even number (i.e. 8643-8642. 8635-8634, ...). Odd versions inc. 8643 and 8635 are never meant for playing any copyright-protected materials (like Blu-ray and DVD) and are mostly meant for cheap IPTV/VoD set-top-boxes. For example, Macrovision support is enabled in 8642 chips and disabled in 8643 ones. So only Dune players on 8642 chip have no limitations with output of protected video through analog video interfaces. Also 8643-based players can not be legally sold in any AV-stores as Blu-ray players (for example, with some preinstalled Blu-ray drive), for Dune BD players there is no such limitation and you'll be able to find them not only in Internet.

Thanks Opentoe that makes sense now :)

I had it around the wrong way and thought the 8642 was a lesser chip than the 8643 which is why i couldn't understand why Dune had used it and why everybody was saying that the Dune will be the new king of mediplayers.

In the UK it makes no sense now to buy the Popcorn Hour C-200 as the Dune 3.0 looks to be the same price.

With that information i now feel like avoiding the the WDTV Live but it makes me wonder why they used the Sigma 8655 if it's ment for cheap IPTV/VoD set-top-boxes ?


.

Thanks Opentoe that makes sense now :)

I had it around the wrong way and thought the 8642 was a lesser chip than the 8643 which is why i couldn't understand why Dune had used it and why everybody was saying that the Dune will be the new king of mediplayers.

In the UK it makes no sense now to buy the Popcorn Hour C-200 as the Dune 3.0 looks to be the same price.

With that information i now feel like avoiding the the WDTV Live but it makes me wonder why they used the Sigma 8655 if it's ment for cheap IPTV/VoD set-top-boxes ?


.


Once the Dune 3.0 comes out in mass the Popcorn 200 will essentially be left behind because of the chipset. For some reason Popcorm chose to use the other chip that is probably least expensive of the two. Really just guessing, but I can't wait until I get my hands on my Dune 3.0.

Yeah, Dune has "more expensive" chip, but this higher price is for Macrovision only, so you don't be able to copy Blu-Ray disc on your old good VHS recorder! And also, without Macrovision you don't be able to watch hi-def BR discs on your good old 14" CRT, connected via composite video cable.

OMG, what a waste!!! :D :D :D :p

Just look at the specs of the chip (s):
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/Products/SMP8640/pdf_files/SMP8640_br.pdf

As of today, these are some of the differences between a Prime 3 and C200. Note that if you don't care about Blu-Ray playback, most of these aren't relevant. This is preliminary, anecdotal, and perhaps temporary, info as Prime 3 has not been officially released:
1. Prime 3 plays all Blu-Ray titles.
2. Prime 3 doesn't stutter over the network.
3. Prime 3 has 7.1 analog out.
4. [Withdrawn -- Thanks to dbone1026's for correction] Prime 3 has either a Blu-Ray loader or HDD. C200 has neither.
5. Prime 3 bitstreams Blu-Ray codecs without issues.
6. Both play Blu-Ray from folder or ISO over network(?)
7. C200 has Internet video.

Prime 3 appears to be the only mature Blu-Ray solution and the only completely featured Blu-Ray solution.

I'm guessing Prime 3 will rule for just a few months. I'm anticipating that in January we will have improved HTPC options that finally do everything:
1. Mini-ITX motherboards that will support Blu-Ray codec bitstreaming and LPCM
2. Blu-Ray playing commercial software that supports the new PAP motherboards.
3. Open source software that enables Blu-Ray codecs and bitstreaming of legacy hw.
4. Flash with hardware decoding making 1080p smooth.
5. Growing selection of cablecard devices.
6. DVDFab might actually get their Blu-Ray to DVD9 shrink software working for most titles.
7. SlyPlayer will still not be released. People will still not call it vaporware.

By the end of 2010, we'll have cigarette-sized HTPCs that do all of above. HTPCs will be so small and so powerful that people will prefer them over dedicated devices. We'll see HTPC distro images for easy and robust consumer installs.

I do not see any end to incompatibilites caused by DRM. DRM will continue to push the envelope creating new outrages in consumer electronics. That will continue until video business models change, due to political outrage, as has happened with audio.

Thanks for the explanation :)

Hey im looking at the specs of the Dune Hd Base 3.0 and it says for file format that NTFS is read only. The fat 16/32 and ext2/3 will read and write. Does this mean that if i put a hard drive inside and use NTFS that i can't copy my videos from a thumb drive to the hard drive attached. I would have to take the drive out and attach it to a docking station to copy then put it back in? I know the file size limit for fat is either 2 or 4 gigs. im not sure about ext2 but it 2tb right?

Hey im looking at the specs of the Dune Hd Base 3.0 and it says for file format that NTFS is read only. The fat 16/32 and ext2/3 will read and write. Does this mean that if i put a hard drive inside and use NTFS that i can't copy my videos from a thumb drive to the hard drive attached. I would have to take the drive out and attach it to a docking station to copy then put it back in? I know the file size limit for fat is either 2 or 4 gigs. im not sure about ext2 but it 2tb right?

Yes its correct NTFS is read only-You can vote for option write on HDI site.

Look at the mpcclub links, Dune has many bugs, and they used low quality bluray drives again like in their previous models, with high failure rates. For the price they are asking, you 'd think they should at least include a decent bluray drive.
They rushed to production just like popcornhour did with the C-200.

Look at the mpcclub links, Dune has many bugs, and they used low quality bluray drives again like in their previous models, with high failure rates. For the price they are asking, you 'd think they should at least include a decent bluray drive.
They rushed to production just like popcornhour did with the C-200.

C-200 has mach more bags on first batch-you can check on their website.

1. Prime 3 plays all Blu-Ray titles.
2. Prime 3 doesn't stutter over the network.
3. Prime 3 has 7.1 analog out.
4. Prime 3 has either a Blu-Ray loader or HDD. C200 has neither.
5. Prime 3 bitstreams Blu-Ray codecs without issues.
6. Both play Blu-Ray from folder or ISO over network(?)
7. C200 has Internet video.


#1 is a bit of a bold statement as I highly doubt every Blu Ray title was tested.

#2 - stuttering with the C-200 only applies to smb, but with the beta FW I am running this is no longer an issue.

As for #4 although technically true it is a little misleading. You can add a BR player or HDD to the C-200. The C-200 does not come with, but that is also reflected in the price (just want to make sure someone understands this, as it is not exactly comparing apples to apples)

#5 - C-200 bitstreams from a BR Disc (or blu ray structure). It currently does not bitstream from an individual file (m2ts/ts/mkv)

#6 I have confirmed that the C-200 can play ISO/BR Structure over the network

I am hoping to somehow get my hands on a Dune so I can do a little Dune vs C-200 shootout :D

NTFS read/write support was added with a user-contributed addon, and the same could probably be done for 3.0.

I have a Pioneer Pro 111 Kuro.
I have a Pioneer BDP-51 Blu-ray player.
The 51 does a excellent job of up rez on SD dvd's- but
I have recently been trying to clear the shelves and love
the idea of having all my dvd's on a Hard drive.
I started burning the DVD ISO files with Mac the Ripper.
I want to have full access to all the menus and this does a great job.
They play and look good on my Hp dreamcolor monitor- but
I want to be able to play them on the 50 inch Pioneer.
I have Apple TV- but that will not play ISO files.
I tried a hack and that did not work as claimed.

I came here to get the details on the WDlive- but noticed this Dune media player. The Dune sounds like the best Media player to get. Yes?
What is the quality of the files as they back n a 50inch?

I want to store the ISO files on the internal drive of the Dune. No streaming. Can I send, capture and save the ISO files to the Dune via a wireless connection? Or do I have to transfer via pluging in an external?

Thanks

It will play dvd-iso files beautifully on your 50" plasma, I'm sure. I play iso flawlessly thru pch-a110 on my panny 50", and Dune is based on new and improved sigma chip, so it should only perform better. As for ripping to dvd/BR-.iso directly from the drive in the Dune... no way. That would just be too good to be true!!! In most cases, those iso's are being condensed during rip, anyway.

If you knew what you were doing you could certainly rip the non-BD+ disks on the unit itself, but you'd have to wait for better (open) BD+ support before you could do all of them, or somehow patch into the firmware BD+ code. Which would be complicated and tedious.

But not impossible.

Look at the mpcclub links, Dune has many bugs, and they used low quality bluray drives again like in their previous models, with high failure rates. For the price they are asking, you 'd think they should at least include a decent bluray drive.
They rushed to production just like popcornhour did with the C-200.

I was told the drives are panasonic drives. Maybe they're just that new and some have bugs and need a flash already. Happens to be the norm in this whole industry.

I was told the drives are panasonic drives. Maybe they're just that new and some have bugs and need a flash already. Happens to be the norm in this whole industry.

HDi, on MPC Club, said that they were generic BD loaders with Sony laser/optics/electronics.

HDi, on MPC Club, said that they were generic BD loaders with Sony laser/optics/electronics.

Ok then, a Sony player.

Ok then, a Sony player.

My mistake... HDi was careful about the wording of what the BD drives actually were so here is his quote:

So far, during new product development/testing, we did not notice the problem with too big noise level. Yes, it is more noticeable than on old 1.0 units which did have 100% Sony-manufactured BD loader (BTW, very costly one). Unfortunately, Sony has stopped manufacturing BD loaders, and the new BD loader is not 100% Sony, it only uses the optical system from Sony, and the rest of electronics is made/assembled by other companies (and btw the much cheaper new BD drive is one of the reasons why 3.0 units are cheaper than 1.0 units).

My mistake... HDi was careful about the wording of what the BD drives actually were so here is his quote:

Oh...gotcha now. Too bad, I hope the internal drives don't start dropping out after 30-90 days. Time will tell...being optimistic.

First, thank you Cimerr@ for your emails with questions regarding FLAC playback. Since I am also an audiophile I realized you brought up a very good question that I had to know the answer to as well. Here are my findings:

I brought the Prime 3.0 sample unit to a recording studio to test its audio capabilities. We tried 16-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/96k, & 24-bit/192k files, both WAV & FLAC. I had a choice of two digital converters. SSL (http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/Xlogic%20Alpha-Link/index.asp) and Apogee (http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/rosetta-series.php). Since the SSL only went up to 24/96 I opted to connect the Dune Player to the Apogee converters that support up to 24/192. We used the coax spdif output for all tests.

Every file tested played perfectly. The Dune absolutely outputs 24-bit/96k from the coax spdif digital output when playing stereo 24-bit/96k WAV or FLAC files! It also played 24-bit/192k files fine but, the word clock on the Apogee Rosetta only read 96k. It would seem 192k files are down sampled to 96k through the spdif outputs. HDMI will pass 24-bit/192k x 8 channels no problem. Technically it's possible to pass 24-bit/192k out a spdif connection in stereo (coax or optical) but, there is not a lot of gear out there capable of handling this. Since the Dune Player is not an audiophile or videophile grade piece of equipment I am surprised by the results of our tests. The fact that it passes stereo 24-bit/96k FLAC through the spdif is pretty impressive. No down sampling to 48k or 44.1k like some other media players on the market

Notes: All files were played back from both a data CD and a USB thumb drive with no issues. The CD however did take a little longer to start playing the higher bit rate files since it had to spool up and cache the data.

So a Dune Player and a high end external DAC equals a nice music storage system for you audiophiles out there.

http://arthurpower.com/flac_test.jpg


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Ok then, a Sony player.

Generic low price low quality drives are not Sony drives...

First, thank you Cimerr@ for your emails with questions regarding FLAC playback. Since I am also an audiophile I realized you brought up a very good question that I had to know the answer to as well. Here are my findings:

I brought the Prime 3.0 sample unit to a recording studio to test its audio capabilities. We tried 16-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/96k, & 24-bit/192k files, both WAV & FLAC. I had a choice of two digital converters. SSL (http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/Xlogic%20Alpha-Link/index.asp) and Apogee (http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/rosetta-series.php). Since the SSL only went up to 24/96 I opted to connect the Dune Player to the Apogee converters that support up to 24/192. We used the coax spdif output for all tests.

Every file tested played perfectly. The Dune absolutely outputs 24-bit/96k from the coax spdif digital output when playing stereo 24-bit/96k WAV or FLAC files! It also played 24-bit/192k files fine but, the word clock on the Apogee Rosetta only read 96k. It would seem 192k files are down sampled to 96k through the spdif outputs. HDMI will pass 24-bit/192k x 8 channels no problem. Technically it's possible to pass 24-bit/192k out a spdif connection in stereo (coax or optical) but, there is not a lot of gear out there capable of handling this. Since the Dune Player is not an audiophile or videophile grade piece of equipment I am surprised by the results of our tests. The fact that it passes stereo 24-bit/96k FLAC through the spdif is pretty impressive. No down sampling to 48k or 44.1k like some other media players on the market

Notes: All files were played back from both a data CD and a USB thumb drive with no issues. The CD however did take a little longer to start playing the higher bit rate files since it had to spool up and cache the data.

So a Dune Player and a high end external DAC equals a nice music storage system for you audiophiles out there.

http://arthurpower.com/flac_test.jpg


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Hi Arthur,

Thanks for taking the time to do this. In the future would you be able to test pcm files that are 96khz/24 bit 6 channel over HDMI? You can get them from

itrax.com, HDtracks.com, or linnrecords.com.

All 3 have excellent audiophile recordings. I have used a Logitech Transporter as my audiophile digital streamer in the past with these types of recordings and wanted to see if similar results were possible. Thanks in advance.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/wireless_music_systems/devices/3163&cl=us,en

Yeah, Dune has "more expensive" chip, but this higher price is for Macrovision only, so you don't be able to copy Blu-Ray disc on your old good VHS recorder! And also, without Macrovision you don't be able to watch hi-def BR discs on your good old 14" CRT, connected via composite video cable.

OMG, what a waste!!! :D :D :D :p

Just look at the specs of the chip (s):
http://www.sigmadesigns.com/Products/SMP8640/pdf_files/SMP8640_br.pdf

Unfortunately, due to the DMCA, such devices are no longer legal. On April 26, 2002, under section 1201k of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, no analog video recording devices may be manufactured that do not contain Automatic Gain Control circuitry. Additionally, on October 26 of this year, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that disables Macrovision copy protection will be illegal under section 1201a of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

First, thank you Cimerr@ for your emails with questions regarding FLAC playback. Since I am also an audiophile I realized you brought up a very good question that I had to know the answer to as well. Here are my findings:

I brought the Prime 3.0 sample unit to a recording studio to test its audio capabilities. We tried 16-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/44.1k, 24-bit/96k, & 24-bit/192k files, both WAV & FLAC. I had a choice of two digital converters. SSL (http://www.solid-state-logic.com/music/Xlogic%20Alpha-Link/index.asp) and Apogee (http://www.apogeedigital.com/products/rosetta-series.php). Since the SSL only went up to 24/96 I opted to connect the Dune Player to the Apogee converters that support up to 24/192. We used the coax spdif output for all tests.

Every file tested played perfectly. The Dune absolutely outputs 24-bit/96k from the coax spdif digital output when playing stereo 24-bit/96k WAV or FLAC files! It also played 24-bit/192k files fine but, the word clock on the Apogee Rosetta only read 96k. It would seem 192k files are down sampled to 96k through the spdif outputs. HDMI will pass 24-bit/192k x 8 channels no problem. Technically it's possible to pass 24-bit/192k out a spdif connection in stereo (coax or optical) but, there is not a lot of gear out there capable of handling this. Since the Dune Player is not an audiophile or videophile grade piece of equipment I am surprised by the results of our tests. The fact that it passes stereo 24-bit/96k FLAC through the spdif is pretty impressive. No down sampling to 48k or 44.1k like some other media players on the market

Notes: All files were played back from both a data CD and a USB thumb drive with no issues. The CD however did take a little longer to start playing the higher bit rate files since it had to spool up and cache the data.

So a Dune Player and a high end external DAC equals a nice music storage system for you audiophiles out there.

http://arthurpower.com/flac_test.jpg


Arthur
DunePlayer.com


Arthur, ok no more teasing. :)
Seriously though, thanks for taking the time to test all this out. Will make a Dune owner even happier!

Unfortunately, due to the DMCA, such devices are no longer legal. On April 26, 2002, under section 1201k of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, no analog video recording devices may be manufactured that do not contain Automatic Gain Control circuitry. Additionally, on October 26 of this year, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that disables Macrovision copy protection will be illegal under section 1201a of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act.

That is correct. This is why the C200 (with the cheaper chip) will not let you watch retail DVD or blurays on composite analogue outputs (480p or less). Thereby complying. Why you'd want to is irrelevant.

HDMI/Component is all ok.

Hi Arthur,

Thanks for taking the time to do this. In the future would you be able to test pcm files that are 96khz/24 bit 6 channel over HDMI? You can get them from

itrax.com, HDtracks.com, or linnrecords.com.

All 3 have excellent audiophile recordings. I have used a Logitech Transporter as my audiophile digital streamer in the past with these types of recordings and wanted to see if similar results were possible. Thanks in advance.

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/speakers_audio/wireless_music_systems/devices/3163&cl=us,en

mlknez, I am currently listening to Jeff Beck - Live At Ronnie Scott's in DTS 5.1 surround 24-bit/44.1k from a WAV file through HDMI. I also tried a uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround WAV file through HDMI. Plays fine. I don't have any albums in PCM 5.1 @ 24-bit/96k to test at the moment however, the Dune will recognize and play a 6 channel 24-bit WAV or FLAC file and we know it is capable of 24-bit/192k from the HDMI output. So I think it's safe to say 5.1 channel 24-bit/96k PCM files should play fine as well through the HDMI output. If you have a sample file you can send me or post a link to, I will gladly test it for you.

I sell Logitech Squeezebox products and the Transporter is a really nice piece. Only stereo though as I'm sure you already know. I run Squeezebox Server on a Linux machine with my music collection and control it from my iPod Touch using the iPeng App. It's a pretty slick system.

If someone could make an App to control a Dune Player using an iPod Touch or iPhone as your remote control that would really be spectacular! I'm looking forward to native Z-Wave control enabled in a future firmware update for the Dune so I can at least use my Nevo S70 to control it.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

That is correct. This is why the C200 (with the cheaper chip) will not let you watch retail DVD or blurays on composite analogue outputs (480p or less). Thereby complying. Why you'd want to is irrelevant.

HDMI/Component is all ok.

You cant sell this legal in USA-this a problem?

Is it possible to output all audio through HDMI while outputting video over the component outputs?

Is the prime capable of handling MLP such as DVD-Audio disks or DSD via SACD?

Thanks.

Looking at the specifications of Dune Base 3.0 I see no USB slave port.

Does it mean that I can't transfer files to internal HDD directly from PC using USB cable? Only via LAN or external USB/eSata device is possible?



Thank you

mlknez, I am currently listening to Jeff Beck - Live At Ronnie Scott's in DTS 5.1 surround 24-bit/44.1k from a WAV file through HDMI. I also tried a uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround WAV file through HDMI. Plays fine. I don't have any albums in PCM 5.1 @ 24-bit/96k to test at the moment however, the Dune will recognize and play a 6 channel 24-bit WAV or FLAC file and we know it is capable of 24-bit/192k from the HDMI output. So I think it's safe to say 5.1 channel 24-bit/96k PCM files should play fine as well through the HDMI output. If you have a sample file you can send me or post a link to, I will gladly test it for you.

I sell Logitech Squeezebox products and the Transporter is a really nice piece. Only stereo though as I'm sure you already know. I run Squeezebox Server on a Linux machine with my music collection and control it from my iPod Touch using the iPeng App. It's a pretty slick system.

If someone could make an App to control a Dune Player using an iPod Touch or iPhone as your remote control that would really be spectacular! I'm looking forward to native Z-Wave control enabled in a future firmware update for the Dune so I can at least use my Nevo S70 to control it.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com


Arthur can you hook up an Esata drive to it and see if you can see it from your computer and copy/delete files from it? Also try USB? Ya know, since you have the player! :)


Thanks

Opentoe & Alnov2002 Yes, you can access files from any drive connected to the Dune Player. This must be done over a network connection. The Dune Player's do NOT have a host USB port. So you can NOT connect a Dune Player directly to your PC using a USB cable. The USB ports are only for connecting external drives and a wifi adapter.

I have several drives connected to my Dune Player setup as network shares on my PC. You can access all the drives attached (both internal and external). I can read, write, and delete anything from the mapped share. You can also access all the drives by login into the anonymous FTP built into the Dune Player.

While testing all the network capabilities I discovered something very interesting. If a data disk (CD-R or DVD-R) is present in the optical drive on the Prime 3.0 you can access that as well over the network! You can even set it up as a network share on your PC! However, if an Audio CD, DVD Movie, or Blu-ray Movie is in the optical drive the share disappears (also disappears in the FTP as well). :( This does show however, that access to the internal Blu-ray drive in the Prime 3.0 is possible over a network but, again only if a data disk (not a commercial disk) is in the optical drive. From the opposite end, if you have a Blu-ray drive in your PC you can share that and then access it from the Dune Player's home page. Any disk type will be recognized, even commercial copy protected disks. This enables someone with a Base 3.0 to instantly watch a movie without having to copy it to a hard drive first.

Correction: Commercial CD's and DVD's can be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC without AnyDVD. Commercial Blu-ray disks can also be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC but, AnyDVD must be running. You can then browse the Blu-ray disk from the Dune Player and select the M2TS file and play it but, you can not access the main menu of the Blu-ray movie. This applies to the 3.0 models.

Keep in mind, the fastest way (by far) to transfer files to a drive connected to the Dune Player is to pull it out or disconnect it and plug it directly into your PC. I personally prefer to store my collections on a NAS or my PC and then stream everything over the network to the Dune Player.

mlknez Dune Players do not support SACD disks. Most DVD-A disks will and should play fine however. The file types vary on DVD-A disks, so I can not guarantee that they are all supported. There can be a combination of DTS and PCM tracks to choose from in both stereo and surround at various sample rates depending on the release. Since we have already affirmed the Dune Player will support just about any audio file type, I would conclude that most DVD-A disks should be supported. Please note though that HDI does not officially list DVD-A disk support.

I am still performing more tests and will report my findings soon. Thank you everyone for your intriguing and insightful questions.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Arthur, many thanks for that last post. The info about being able to play a commercial BD in a PC BD drive is icing on the cake.

...From the opposite end, if you have a Blu-ray drive in your PC you can share that and then access it from the Dune Player's home page. Any disk type will be recognized, even commercial copy protected disks. This enables someone with a Base 3.0 to instantly watch a movie without having to copy it to a hard drive first...
Have you install on that PC (connected with Dune) AnyDVD? Or you can share via network BD/DVD discs without this software, only by capabilities of Dune?

Cristal clear.

My appreciation!

mlknez, I am currently listening to Jeff Beck - Live At Ronnie Scott's in DTS 5.1 surround 24-bit/44.1k from a WAV file through HDMI. I also tried a uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround WAV file through HDMI. Plays fine. I don't have any albums in PCM 5.1 @ 24-bit/96k to test at the moment however, the Dune will recognize and play a 6 channel 24-bit WAV or FLAC file and we know it is capable of 24-bit/192k from the HDMI output. So I think it's safe to say 5.1 channel 24-bit/96k PCM files should play fine as well through the HDMI output. If you have a sample file you can send me or post a link to, I will gladly test it for you.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

hi arthur,
isn't it still a problem that sigma chipsets don't do gapless playback?
therefore, there will be gaps in playing back many recordings that really shouldn't be there.

if i'm not mistaken, the logitech stuff plays gaplessly (is that correct?)
but none of the network media players i've used (so far) can do so.
i can play 24/96, both stereo and 5.1, on my 863x based network media player though, with digital out 5.1 via hdmi and 24/96 stereo via spdif.

can the hdi do gapless audio playback? this is really the audio showstopper for me.

How about the Blu-ray/"loader" drive noise (meaning accoustical buzzing noise) on Dune HD Prime 3.0, is it quite enough vs stand alone BD players such Oppo and etc? What is the brand fo BD drive on it?

How about the Blu-ray/"loader" drive noise (meaning accoustical buzzing noise) on Dune HD Prime 3.0, is it quite enough vs stand alone BD players such Oppo and etc? What is the brand fo BD drive on it?

Its will be fixed soon with software.

At least this is what all hope, but it is not clear yet whether it will be possible to do it by SW - they are still investigating.

cat6man An audio CD plays gapless in the Prime, as it should in any CD player. When playing 24bit FLAC off a data CD or hard drive, about 2.5 seconds of silence occurs between songs (between FLAC files). No pop or any noise just a stream of zero's until the next song starts playing. There are no media players that support gapless audio playback that I know of. Yes, Squeezebox devices do support gapless playback. Many dedicated audio devices do.

A little primer for those unfamiliar with Gapless audio playback: Gapless playback is possible with a CD because it's designed to be contiguous. When you rip music everything is broken up into individual data files. One for each track. The only way to accomplish gapless playback is to either rip one huge single file for the whole CD or have auto detection software on playback that removes silence and/or buffers the next file so it's ready to start playing right away (when the previous song ends). This is desirable when listing to live recordings or some orchestral music because you do not want to hear a brake of silence essentially inserted between your music. However, removal of all silence is sometimes not desirable either. Many albums add some silence between songs (actually most albums do). Software and plugins used to enable Gapless playback sometimes remove the intentional silence.

Dune Players like all video media players on the market do not support any methods to achieve Gapless playback of audio files. Individual audio files are seen as data files, so there is a slight delay when one file ends and the next one begins. Most people would never even notice or care. As an audiophile I do appreciate the desire for continuous uninterpreted audio playback for some albums. If this is important to you then I would suggest buying a Squeezebox device for your music needs.

wiatrak No copy protection removal software is required on a PC sharing its optical drive on your network. At lest when using a Dune Player. Since the Base and Prime have DVD & Blu-ray licenses and decoding hardware built in, copy protection can be kept in tact without inhibiting playback.

Correction: Commercial CD's and DVD's can be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC without AnyDVD. Commercial Blu-ray disks can also be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC but, AnyDVD must be running. You can then browse the Blu-ray disk from the Dune Player and select the M2TS file and play it but, you can not access the main menu of the Blu-ray movie. This applies to the 3.0 models.

bordo32 I'm not sure if we just got lucky with our Pre-production sample but, our unit is really quite. Noise is not an issue at all. I can only detect that a Blu-ray is spinning if my ear is 6" inches or closer to the player. When playing CD's I can't even feel a vibration at all with my hand on the unit let a lone hear anything. So there must of just been a bad batch of optical drives with a physical assembly problem in some of the Pre-production players. Firmware will only address the issue of the drive continuing to spin after you have hit stop and perhaps the speed at which the drive spins. Final production players have not shipped yet. HDI is on top of the issues that some early adopters have experienced and I am sure they will be fixed before we receive them. As stated in an earlier post, we intend to test every unit before we ship them to our customers. That has been our intention from the very beginning. It's less headaches for us later and for You the customer as well.

I'm about to perform some more networking tests. Will report my findings later.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

The Network Browser feature on the Dune Player works great. Just click on the Network Browser icon on the home page and any share on your network is visible and accessible. Keep in mind for high bit rate Blu-ray streaming you really want to setup NFS on your PC for the best performance. On the PC side simply click on My Network and any drive connected to, or installed in the Dune Player is visible and fully accessible.

I also discovered Read, Write, & Delete is currently only supported with hard drives formated EXT3 or FAT32. NTFS formated drives are read only with the current firmware. This limitation is only a problem when trying to write files over a network to a hard drive connected to the Dune Player that is formated NTFS. You can read and play any file on a NTFS drive plugged into or mounted in the player. Like most NAS devices EXT3 is the best choice if you plan on keeping a hard drive installed in or connected to your Dune Player all the time and you plan on transferring files to those drives over your network. Full NTFS support has been requested by many who voted on the features they would like to see added in future firmware updates.

What has impressed me the most is just how stable the unit is. No flaky behavior at all. No re-booting or lockups. It just works as advertised. There are still a handful of features that we want to see however. Like write support on NTFS drives, the ability to listen to music while viewing pictures and, of course the promised Netfix support.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

...No copy protection removal software is required on a PC sharing its optical drive on your network. At lest when using a Dune Player. Since the Base and Prime have DVD & Blu-ray licenses and decoding hardware built in, copy protection can be kept in tact without inhibiting playback...Thanks for info! Altough I have one, very little doubt. Is this trick will work with BD Base? I know it plays commercial DVD's from USB optical drive; but commercial BD's is (AFAIK) another story?

Final production players have not shipped yet. HDI is on top of the issues that some early adopters have experienced and I am sure they will be fixed before we receive them. As stated in an earlier post, we intend to test every unit before we ship them to our customers. That has been our intention from the very beginning. It's less headaches for us later and for You the customer as well.

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Doh! I guess Digital Connection estimate of 11/20 is going to be missed (again). Any ETA on when the Dune will be shipped to distributors (and then eventually us)?

Quality control is of course the most important thing, so take your time (but not too long please)

We received a sample BD Prime 3.0 yesterday! It's everything we hoped for. A quality built media player that will play anything you throw at it. The current firmware seems completely stable. It's very responsive, fast loading, and looks great.

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

http://www.duneplayer.com/images/Prime_Sample.jpg


Arthur,

Will it play FLV files and/or codecs?

Thanks

Arthur - would you know if the Dune Prime can decode and play iTunes Store mp3's/DRM content?

Also, do you see a different pricing structure after these pre-production units run their course and the factory ramps up to full production?

Thanks.

Does anyone have any idea as to when these things will ship? At this point I would imagine Digital Connection should be able to give a yay or nay for tomorrow.

Thanks,
Tony

Will it play FLV files and/or codecs?

Thanks

Not so far, hopefully that will be added.

Does anyone have any idea as to when these things will ship? At this point I would imagine Digital Connection should be able to give a yay or nay for tomorrow.

Thanks,
Tony

We're waiting for confirmation that the shipment is ready to be transported so that we can notify everyone and start the order process.

Does anyone have any idea as to when these things will ship? At this point I would imagine Digital Connection should be able to give a yay or nay for tomorrow.

Thanks,
Tony

LOL, RedSoxInHD I was able to get on the pre-order with Digital Connection very early on. Probably safe to say that you will get yours sometime after I get mine :)

Actually I preordered mine some time ago as well. I was referring to the ETA 11/20 they have posted on their website.

Actually I preordered mine some time ago as well. I was referring to the ETA 11/20 they have posted on their website.

I seriously doubt we'll see anything until next month, if even then. Call me a pessimist if you'd like but I've been waiting on HDI to ship their units (1.0, then 2.0, now 3.0) to the USA for way over a year now...

arthur,
thanks for the reply..............as a fellow audiophile, listening to live concerts on CD makes gapless playback essential for me..............i understand that an audio CD plays when put in the drive............i could even live with going to an audio CD ISO if that would play gapless when streamed, but i don't think the hdi (or any other player) supports streaming audio ISO (yet).

i'd be ok also with something like a upnp server (twonky, tversity, etc) if they
could manage the gapless part for me..............does logitech do it via a pc server? or do they have some other trick?

vlc is no help here but interestingly, smplayer does seem to support gapless playback of individual audio WAV files on my pc so smplayer is now my default pc audio player.

cheers

I also discovered Read, Write, & Delete is currently only supported with hard drives formated EXT3 or FAT32. NTFS formated drives are read only with the current firmware. This limitation is only a problem when trying to write files over a network to a hard drive connected to the Dune Player that is formated NTFS.

One of the reasons I added NTFS/3G (http://lundman.net/wiki/index.php/Dune:NTFS) to Dune 1.0 players, which at least worked, just not very fast. (Mostly CPU speed issues, and no optimization in the code yet.)

However, the 3.0 players are all new CPU, kernel, and toolchain so it will not work on 3.0. I have no funds to purchase a 3.0 right now, but maybe later. It would be far too difficult to attempt "blind" at this point.

I am fairly confident they will look at adding NTFS read/write later on though (even if NTFS is a poor filesystem type in an embedded player).

The Network Browser feature on the Dune Player works great. Just click on the Network Browser icon on the home page and any share on your network is visible and accessible. Keep in mind for high bit rate Blu-ray streaming you really want to setup NFS on your PC for the best performance. On the PC side simply click on My Network and any drive connected to, or installed in the Dune Player is visible and fully accessible.

I also discovered Read, Write, & Delete is currently only supported with hard drives formated EXT3 or FAT32. NTFS formated drives are read only with the current firmware. This limitation is only a problem when trying to write files over a network to a hard drive connected to the Dune Player that is formated NTFS. You can read and play any file on a NTFS drive plugged into or mounted in the player. Like most NAS devices EXT3 is the best choice if you plan on keeping a hard drive installed in or connected to your Dune Player all the time and you plan on transferring files to those drives over your network. Full NTFS support has been requested by many who voted on the features they would like to see added in future firmware updates.

What has impressed me the most is just how stable the unit is. No flaky behavior at all. No re-booting or lockups. It just works as advertised. There are still a handful of features that we want to see however. Like write support on NTFS drives, the ability to listen to music while viewing pictures and, of course the promised Netfix support.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com



NTFS is what most user's have in the "Windows" world. To confirm if you hook up an external drive with the eSATA or USB connections if it already formatted NTFS you can only read from it via your network? Even using the eSATA? I can always move my external drives to USB or eSATA on one of my servers if I need to. I'm getting eager to check this thing out! Once again, thanks for the detailed info, please stay in touch here.

Michael DeLigny

The old Roku HD1000, the very first hi-def streamer from 2001, is able to do gapless audio because it uses an ATI Xillion chipset, not the bug-laden Sigma. It also has a much better user interface than the current c-200 and Netgear EVA9150.

The Netgear EVA9150 gets around the Sigma audio gap bug by pre-buffering the music to a local hard drive.

One of the biggest things missing on the Dune units is a good photo viewing user interface. One should be able to view the photos as thumnails rather than just file names!!! This would be simple as the internal hard disk could be used to build thumbnails and cache them for later use.

is there anyway to connect to a logitech squeezecenter as music server? that provides gapless playback, i believe..............protocol is probably proprietary but i believe linn (audiophile equipment maker) interworks with squeezecenter, so it is possible

wiatrak Yes, sharing a Blu-ray drive over a network will also work with a Base. The Base is just a Prime with the optical drive removed and a hard drive slot in its place. The internal hardware is the same for both models. So if you already have a Blu-ray drive in your computer you can save yourself $100 bucks and just buy a Base.

Correction: Commercial CD's and DVD's can be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC without AnyDVD. Commercial Blu-ray disks can also be played (streamed) from a networked optical drive in a PC but, AnyDVD must be running. You can then browse the Blu-ray disk from the Dune Player and select the M2TS file and play it but, you can not access the main menu of the Blu-ray movie. This applies to the 3.0 models.

GotHDTV? No one has received a firm ETA from HDI as of yet. The optical drive issue has no doubt caused a delay. As you stated quality control is the most important issue at hand. No one wants to receive a player tomorrow if it doesn't work. I will post an update as soon as I receive one from HDI.

elove No FLV playback with the current firmware. That is one of the first things I tried when I received my sample Prime 3.0

reticentwookiee No iTunes DRM support. :(

The pricing structure has been set by HDI and will not change for the 3.0 models. This pricing is for mass production.

cat6man Playback of audio CD ISO's? That's a great question. I never even thought to try that. I'll test that tomorrow and report my findings.

UPnP is supported on the new 3.0 models. So any software running on your PC could handle the gapless playback. Logitech has there own server software (SqueezeBox Server) that you have to run on your PC. That handles all the processing and gapless playback capabilities.

No, you can not network a Dune Player to a SqueezeBox Server. Support could be added to the firmware but, I believe that would require a licensing agreement with Logitech.

I use SMPlayer myself. It's really just a front end for MPlayer however, it opens up a lot more options and settings. Definitely one of the best software players available.

lundman NTFS-3G for the Dune Player 1.0 was much appreciated. HDI knows NTFS support is something people want and I agree it should be added for convenience.

Opentoe Yes, you can only Read NTFS formated drives over the network (USB or eSATA). Agreed most drives in the world are formated NTFS.

mlknez That would be a great way to support thumb nail view of pictures. I like that idea. The thumb nails would only have to be generated once and saved to the drive along with the original picture. Definitely possible, just a matter of HDI considering this as a feature in a future firmware.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

ARGH!! Looks like the waiting game again. Why is it so hard for a company, any company, to come out with a player that plays Blu-Ray ISOs with menu support??

did a little research and it seems like upnp cannot support gapless..........it is a fundamental protocol design issue, so that looks like a dead end for gapless

ARGH!! Looks like the waiting game again. Why is it so hard for a company, any company, to come out with a player that plays Blu-Ray ISOs with menu support??

I will have to go back and test again to confirm but I m pretty sure I had full menu support playing a BD ISO with the PCH C-200

I will have to go back and test again to confirm but I m pretty sure I had full menu support playing a BD ISO with the PCH C-200

That would be great if it did. I'm almost thinking it would be quicker for me to just build one myself otherwise ;)

That would be great if it did. I'm almost thinking it would be quicker for me to just build one myself otherwise ;)

I actually did test BR ISOs, see my review of the PCH C-200, if you go towards the bottom of the comments section you will see someone reqested that i try it out and it did work:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009/09/22/popcorn-hour-c-200-review/

I actually did test BR ISOs, see my review of the PCH C-200, if you go towards the bottom of the comments section you will see someone reqested that i try it out and it did work:

http://www.mediasmartserver.net/2009/09/22/popcorn-hour-c-200-review/

Very informative review. Thanks!!

You might correct me, but the C-200 is not available in terms of "order now. get it this week"
Ordering now - maybe you get one till christmas - but I would not bet on that.

So there is not the much difference with the Primes delaying now because of BD-loader.

You might correct me, but the C-200 is not available in terms of "order now. get it this week"
Ordering now - maybe you get one till christmas - but I would not bet on that.

So there is not the much difference with the Primes delaying now because of BD-loader.

I don't keep tabs on how the ordering is going for the PCH C-200 since I already have one but I would guess you are correct

looks like the loader issues is identified and a fix should be out next Monday (a bootable DVD image to reflash the loader FW).

Now they just need to address the other items (like drive still spinning, and everything else non-loader related that was identified)

Since they know what is wrong and have a plan in place to address it, I wonder if they will still hold up the orders heading to the eTailers ?

Oh, and the issue w/ the drives not playing anything was also IDed as being an unplugged cable (can anyone say QNap ?). To resolve that it looks like the unit will need to be sent back though, which is odd since I thought these could be opened for swapping internal add-on cards w/o voiding the warranty.. but maybe I am thinking of another player.

But no solution for the issue "noisy drives"
HDI claims them to be normal -the easiest way to go.

My ears speak different to me.

yea, that was a bit of a cop out

yea, that was a bit of a cop out

Well in my opinion its little more than a bit http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=21922

All very confusing hearing many different things. Dune will play BluRay ISO/MKV with chapter support, right?

No chapter support in MKV yet.

Does the Dune have the following zoom capability: 1//2; 1/3; and 1/4 for non commerical DVD's (i.e., burned media - DVD-R, DVD +R, etc.)?

Also will firmware updates be available by connecting to the internet via the ethernet port.

wiatrak Yes, sharing a Blu-ray drive over a network will also work with a Base. The Base is just a Prime with the optical drive removed and a hard drive slot in its place. The internal hardware is the same for both models. So if you already have a Blu-ray drive in your computer you can save yourself $100 bucks and just buy a Base.

GotHDTV? No one has received a firm ETA from HDI as of yet. The optical drive issue has no doubt caused a delay. As you stated quality control is the most important issue at hand. No one wants to receive a player tomorrow if it doesn't work. I will post an update as soon as I receive one from HDI.

elove No FLV playback with the current firmware. That is one of the first things I tried when I received my sample Prime 3.0

reticentwookiee No iTunes DRM support. :(

The pricing structure has been set by HDI and will not change for the 3.0 models. This pricing is for mass production.

cat6man Playback of audio CD ISO's? That's a great question. I never even thought to try that. I'll test that tomorrow and report my findings.

UPnP is supported on the new 3.0 models. So any software running on your PC could handle the gapless playback. Logitech has there own server software (SqueezeBox Server) that you have to run on your PC. That handles all the processing and gapless playback capabilities.

No, you can not network a Dune Player to a SqueezeBox Server. Support could be added to the firmware but, I believe that would require a licensing agreement with Logitech.

I use SMPlayer myself. It's really just a front end for MPlayer however, it opens up a lot more options and settings. Definitely one of the best software players available.

lundman NTFS-3G for the Dune Player 1.0 was much appreciated. HDI knows NTFS support is something people want and I agree it should be added for convenience.

Opentoe Yes, you can only Read NTFS formated drives over the network (USB or eSATA). Agreed most drives in the world are formated NTFS.

mlknez That would be a great way to support thumb nail view of pictures. I like that idea. The thumb nails would only have to be generated once and saved to the drive along with the original picture. Definitely possible, just a matter of HDI considering this as a feature in a future firmware.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com


I'll manage the external NTFS shares via my computer so it won't be that bad. Although eventually I'm sure with a firmware upgrade they'll come out with it.

cat6man I have never attempted to create an ISO image from an audio CD until today. After trying several programs with no success and doing some research I discovered its not possible. ISO specification mandates a single contiguous file. Audio CD's can only be imaged as BIN, CUE, or Nero NRG files.

elove I am watching a movie on a single layer DVD-R right now. When you hit the zoom button you get the following options: Zoom Factor, Aspect ratio correction, Margins, & Shift. Under 'Zoom Factor' you have the choices 1:00, 1:05, 1:11, 1:18, 1:25, 1:34, 1:44, 1:55, 1:69, 1:85, 2.05, 2:29, & 2:59.

Firmware updates via the Ethernet port will be added in a future firmware. That is a must have as far as I am concerned.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Some sound of the drive:

http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/showpost.php?p=168806&postcount=73

cat6man I have never attempted to create an ISO image from an audio CD until today. After trying several programs with no success and doing some research I discovered its not possible. ISO specification mandates a single contiguous file. Audio CD's can only be imaged as BIN, CUE, or Nero NRG files.

elove I am watching a movie on a single layer DVD-R right now. When you hit the zoom button you get the following options: Zoom Factor, Aspect ratio correction, Margins, & Shift. Under 'Zoom Factor' you have the choices 1:00, 1:05, 1:11, 1:18, 1:25, 1:34, 1:44, 1:55, 1:69, 1:85, 2.05, 2:29, & 2:59.

Firmware updates via the Ethernet port will be added in a future firmware. That is a must have as far as I am concerned.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com



The internal player is just a regular SATA drive? Couldn't Dune just get a batch of good quality players and ship them out so user's can replace them and not hold up things? Is the internal player drive permanently installed in the device?

Firmwares both drive and chipset are paired, its DRM issue.

cat6man I have never attempted to create an ISO image from an audio CD until today. After trying several programs with no success and doing some research I discovered its not possible. ISO specification mandates a single contiguous file. Audio CD's can only be imaged as BIN, CUE, or Nero NRG files.

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

try this:

http://club.myce.com/f57/newbie-help-how-do-i-make-iso-audio-cd-doesnt-seem-work-134889/

put WAV files on hard drive, create ISO with ImageBurn (using save as ISO mode)

try this:

http://club.myce.com/f57/newbie-help-how-do-i-make-iso-audio-cd-doesnt-seem-work-134889/

put WAV files on hard drive, create ISO with ImageBurn (using save as ISO mode)

Another option is to just rename the NRG extension into ISO : as far as I could tell they're seen as being the same thing by every software I have ever used, so it's probably the same format with a different extension.

Really can't let this thread go away....lots of people are waiting for their players and need a thread to go to. December, right around the corner!

Opentoe like wiatrak said it's a DRM issue but, also it's a different form factor drive then a computer drive.

I would like to take a moment to remind everyone that the Prime's out there with issues are Pre-production sample units. HDI will correct any optical drive problems whether it be firmware, hardware, or both before the production units ship. I understand the concern but, this is a new model optical drive and like anything new, it requires some fine tuning in production. Although this drive is less expensive then the BD loader used in the Prime 1.0 it is not a 'cheap' drive. It is currently the best quality drive available on the market that is compatible with the Sigma Designs chip. This model optical drive will be used in the next generation of Panasonic Blu-ray players (and several other brands as well).

cat6man If you rip an Audio CD to WAV files then create a new ISO containing those WAV files, you haven't actually made an Audio ISO. You have made a DATA ISO containing WAV files. That said, it's still a nice way to store your music.

Opentoe I agree we need to keep this thread going! The players are just around the corner. Don't lose your enthusiasm, they're almost here!

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

If it is I'm not buying a Panasonic BD player :D

I would like to take a moment to remind everyone that the Prime's out there with issues are Pre-production sample units. HDI will correct any optical drive problems whether it be firmware, hardware, or both before the production units ship. I understand the concern but, this is a new model optical drive and like anything new, it requires some fine tuning in production. Although this drive is less expensive then the BD loader used in the Prime 1.0 it is not a 'cheap' drive. It is currently the best quality drive available on the market that is compatible with the Sigma Designs chip. This model optical drive will be used in the next generation of Panasonic Blu-ray players (and several other brands as well).

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Finally the voice of reason, thank you. I for one am looking forward to getting the Dune player and retiring a truly noisy PS3 player :)

You might correct me, but the C-200 is not available in terms of "order now. get it this week"
Ordering now - maybe you get one till christmas - but I would not bet on that.

So there is not the much difference with the Primes delaying now because of BD-loader.

The PCH-200 that shipped on Nov. 20th were from "Orders taken from Sep 28, 2009 12:35:35 AM GMT+08:00
to Nov 2, 2009 11:54:55 PM GMT+08:00 will fall into this batch", so it looks like they are getting caught up. The next batch to be shipped is scheduled for Nov. 30th.

The PCH-200 that shipped on Nov. 20th were from "Orders taken from Sep 28, 2009 12:35:35 AM GMT+08:00
to Nov 2, 2009 11:54:55 PM GMT+08:00 will fall into this batch", so it looks like they are getting caught up. The next batch to be shipped is scheduled for Nov. 30th.

That's nice, but as an owner of a Prime 1.0 and a C200, even the Prime 1.0 runs circles around the C200 in its current state... On top of that, the last firmware for the C200 actually made things worse with the network connection. It wasn't very good before, now it's become useless to me. Yeah, that gives me a lot of hope in Syabas...

That's nice, but as an owner of a Prime 1.0 and a C200, even the Prime 1.0 runs circles around the C200 in its current state... On top of that, the last firmware for the C200 actually made things worse with the network connection. It wasn't very good before, now it's become useless to me. Yeah, that gives me a lot of hope in Syabas...

I guess everyone is having different experiences with the network connection, the latest firmware cleared up any issues I had with network performance on the C-200, I have no issues playing my HD content via smb, nfs, or http

I guess everyone is having different experiences with the network connection, the latest firmware cleared up any issues I had with network performance on the C-200, I have no issues playing my HD content via smb, nfs, or http

+1

The latest firmware fixed virtually all my issues with the unit. I have no issues playing Blu-Rays over the network via nfs or http. The only complaints I have are with the interface and the complexity of updating data generated with YAMJ.

Okay, seriously, when are we gonna hear something, anything, about the status of these.

That's nice, but as an owner of a Prime 1.0 and a C200, even the Prime 1.0 runs circles around the C200 in its current state... On top of that, the last firmware for the C200 actually made things worse with the network connection. It wasn't very good before, now it's become useless to me. Yeah, that gives me a lot of hope in Syabas...

+1

Me too.

As an A110 owner, evaluating the progress on the C200, I am really liking the look of these Dune boxes... and I mean look as in aesthetics - they are very attractive looking compared to the C200 - and their feature set is very strong.

I will say that YAMJ and the Aeon skin on the A110 is a *very* nice solution, but I need BD ISO support, so the C200 or the Dune 3 boxes are something I will keep an eye on.

While a gimmick for some folks, the RF / ZWave remote option Dune has spoken about is very attractive to me as I have some ZWave devices and a ZWave remote control.

Also I notice that MyMovies will prepare meta data for Dune boxes, which is very nice (tho definitely the Aeon skin on the PCH is more attractive than the Dun skins).

I look forward to hearing about people's experiences with the Dun boxes.

egg

As an A110 owner, evaluating the progress on the C200, I am really liking the look of these Dune boxes... and I mean look as in aesthetics - they are very attractive looking compared to the C200 - and their feature set is very strong.

I will say that YAMJ and the Aeon skin on the A110 is a *very* nice solution, but I need BD ISO support, so the C200 or the Dune 3 boxes are something I will keep an eye on.

While a gimmick for some folks, the RF / ZWave remote option Dune has spoken about is very attractive to me as I have some ZWave devices and a ZWave remote control.

Also I notice that MyMovies will prepare meta data for Dune boxes, which is very nice (tho definitely the Aeon skin on the PCH is more attractive than the Dun skins).

I look forward to hearing about people's experiences with the Dun boxes.

egg


I use my MX-880 Universal Remote with all my media devices and home systems. I have about 15 devices in it now. Controls everything from my DVD player to my ceiling fan.

Does anyone know if there is another player similar to the Dune Prime 3.0. I am looking for something with a DVD drive that can play DVD files burned in 720 or 1080P (i.e., MKV, VC1, WM9HD, etc.). I don't need blu ray playback capability, I already have a blu ray player.

I am getting the feeling based on the issues reported at MPC, the Dune Prime 3.0 is never going to make it to production. I preorded back in June.

Thanks

Does anyone know if there is another player similar to the Dune Prime 3.0. I am looking for something with a DVD drive that can play DVD files burned in 720 or 1080P (i.e., MKV, VC1, WM9HD, etc.). I don't need blu ray playback capability, I already have a blu ray player.

I am getting the feeling based on the issues reported at MPC, the Dune Prime 3.0 is never going to make it to production. I preorded back in June.

Thanks

Well,how about this player http://dune-hd.com/hd_players/110-dune-hd-base-3.0.html

And about- never going to make it to production-a think you wrong its only sum bugs exist-like in every new product.

Does anyone know if there is another player similar to the Dune Prime 3.0. I am looking for something with a DVD drive that can play DVD files burned in 720 or 1080P (i.e., MKV, VC1, WM9HD, etc.). I don't need blu ray playback capability, I already have a blu ray player.

I am getting the feeling based on the issues reported at MPC, the Dune Prime 3.0 is never going to make it to production. I preorded back in June.

Thanks

I haven't heard any ETAs prior to the November ones that have been bandied about, so they haven't exactly "slipped" their Prod dates that much, and definitely not enough to warrant a "never going to make it to production" comment. Despite when you pre-ordered it, the guage of retail release viability is when they actually stated it would be ready, which was not 6 months ago. I am waiting on one also, and am also very ticked at their lack of QC with the loaders and other FW issues. I too pre-ordered a while back, but did so knowing full well that they would not be ready until EOY. If you really want something else look at the C-200 or TviX 6600. I own a Prime 1.0 and TviX 6500a and am waiting on the Prime 3.0 to finally ship. But if there are any more major delays I may look to the C-200 myself.

Well,how about this player http://dune-hd.com/hd_players/110-dune-hd-base-3.0.html

And about- never going to make it to production-a think you wrong its only sum bugs exist-like in every new product.

The Base 3.0 is even further behind the Primes production wise, from what I have read. The buy-in over at MPC doesn't even have a date for them (and we all know that the Prime 3.0 buy-in already happened).

The Base 3.0 is even further behind the Primes production wise, from what I have read. The buy-in over at MPC doesn't even have a date for them (and we all know that the Prime 3.0 buy-in already happened).

I only hope you wrong, and i don't think MPC is place to look for answer,I am waiting on one,maybe Ms.Kei from DC update ITA,please.

And about buy-in:

Guys, sorry. We will stop facilitating the buy-ins for now. I hope you will understand why. Seems that when a buy-in is started, a lot of people accept the terms of the buy-in, and in most cases do not even read them. But when something is wrong from their point of view, a lot of people seems to “forget” their part of the deal, and just say: “We have nothing to do with the "rules" we have our consumer rights.” So, maybe another reseller will do this buy-in, (I doubt) But I have had it for now with buy-ins. I am glad a lot of people thank us, but always there are people posting bad stuff all over the internet about us, but leaving out info, so others get a wrong idea... For a non-profit deal were is the “win” situation for us?

Answer from DivXplayer NL-They will have in stock about December 7- http://www.divxplayer.nl/product_info.php?manufacturers_id=93&products_id=1958

We have just been informed the Dune Players are ready to ship to USA. The preliminary information as we received it:

"Sorry to keep you waiting but we've finally managed to resolve all problems from the production here in China. Now the goods are ready to go!!"

We are arranging shipping with our forwarder and customs agency. More details to follow...


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Is that with all the firmware issues resolved or just the hardware issues?

Seems kind of timely...

Dear Customer,

Thank you for placing your order for the HDi Dune Prime 3.0 with Digital Connection. We regret the long wait for this product and happy to report that the shipment to our store is estimated to start in a few days.

We will start order processing a few days before the shipment arrives, so we would request an e-mail if you have any changes to your order or if you have any special handling instructions by simply replying to this e-mail.

We estimate actual product will ship between Dec. 4 and 8, 2009. Thank you again for your patience during the wait time, please contact us if you should have any questions.

Best Regards,
Customer Support
Digital Connection

I got the same message too from DC. Awesome, I was going to buy another NMT to hold me over (was thinking about the Egreat EG-R1).

Thanks Arthur for all the updates. If I like it and if some friends want it too, I may send them your way. I have to be fair right?

Don't worry Kei, it will be back and forth thing (but I do have more loyalities to DC since I got such a great preorder price and I have bought from them before). :)

We have been notified that our production order of Primes has in fact been completed, and air freight shipping arrangements are currently being finalized. We have been assured all possible issues with the optical drive have been corrected in this production run. While we received no specific details on the production run changes, we are confident that HDI took all the reported issues seriously. In fact, HDI halted manufacturing until all the issues were resolved. We still intend to test each and every unit before shipment to ensure every customer receives a quality, functioning product. If you prefer a factory sealed unit, please let us know in advance.

Good news! We were able to increase our first batch order yet again, so every pre-order will be filled from this first batch. A limited quantity of additional Primes is now available. This will be the last chance to order, and receive, a BD prime in time for the holidays.

We have been informed the first production run of Bases will be shipping approximately a week after the Primes arrive.

We have made the decision too extended our tech support hours to assist all HDI Dune customers. Our new hours will become effective when the units start shipping in the USA. Assistance will be available for Dune configuration, server setup, and My Movies integration. New hours: 8:00 am EST to 1:00 am EST

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Makes me little wonder to read "all problems solved" and on the other hand I can read at MPC-Club the units now sent are identical to those sent out for Buy-in. "The new units are 100% identical to the units you already have and no hardware changes have been applied."

So the only difference can be these now sent units all have the Loader-patch already applied, what was not possbile for several of the Buy-in.

And even from those who were able to load the patch there were many reports it didn`t change a thing (for others it dit)

So this makes my head go round......

Makes me little wonder to read "all problems solved" and on the other hand I can read at MPC-Club the units now sent are identical to those sent out for Buy-in. "The new units are 100% identical to the units you already have and no hardware changes have been applied."

So the only difference can be these now sent units all have the Loader-patch already applied, what was not possbile for several of the Buy-in.

And even from those who were able to load the patch there were many reports it didn`t change a thing (for others it dit)

So this makes my head go round......


Mysticc, any unit that was not fixed by the BD loader patch most likely has a defective drive and will need to be returned. So there could of been some QC issues with a small number of assembled optical drives. QC may have needed improvement to ensure all drives were manufactured correctly. Most of the pre-production units did not have any serous issues. They were quite and only needed a patch to improve compatibility while playing some disk types.

In any case we will be testing each and every player we receive to ensure no faulty drives slipped through.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

We will see how the "100 % identical units" will perform as the patch definitely was not the solution, it improved things only for a few.

There are many possible causes for a newly designed optical drive going into production for the first time to have some QC issues that need to be refined. A single employee out of 10 could of made a simple mistake assembling some of the drive mechanisms incorrectly. 1 of 5 identical machines in a factory used to form or press parts could of had a tolerance error. Many variables exist that could explain the variations of success or failures experienced by those with BD loader issues. Some firmware, some hardware, and some maybe both. The point to realize is some pre-production units had problems but, also many of them did not. Both Hijack, Divxplayer.nl, and myself have perfectly working quite units. So this proves this drive design can work just fine. HDI simply needed to find out and fix QC issues somewhere in the production line of these BD loaders, so consistent quality parts are the end result.

Thankfully you and others like you who purchased pre-production units forced HDI to realize there was a problem before going into mass production with this new model.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Glad to hear, but leaves my as one as you stated who helped to find this poblem with a broken machine and no spare on stock to replace.
This is not worth any Buy-in as we did not get the devices for free but with some bucks less, good bucks less, nevertheless high-priced mediaplayers still.

Seems there were no spares left for Buyiners, seems HDI was too selfconfident to not provide any but give all available to Buy-in.
Maybe a lesson to learn for next Buy-in.

But this is OT here at AVS

Kei,

How will DC handle loader and/or noise issues for customers. It appears HDI is rushing these units to production without addressing the noise issue.

Kei,

How will DC handle loader and/or noise issues for customers. It appears HDI is rushing these units to production without addressing the noise issue.

elove,

It really depends on the problem. I have a sample and I didn't find the unit too noisy, but others may have a different take on that as it does spin often even when the drive is not used. For those who are concerned, it maybe better for them to hold their order until more users have had the opportunity to report their results. The spin issue is likely fixable by firmware, but if it doesn't come before the shipment is ready to go, it maybe better just to hold off until it is. Fact is, I make no promises about the state of the firmware.

If the drive is deemed defective in any unit that the customer receives, we will offer advance replacement with return freight.

Seems there were no spares left for Buyiners, seems HDI was too selfconfident to not provide any but give all available to Buy-in.

But this is OT here at AVS

Just so people understand the scenarios possible with products built in China, documentation of in/out going products are strict and it's not easy and often impossible for them to send parts in the same shipment......unfinished assemblies depending on the item can be prohibited from export.

I've ran into this issue in the past, it is impossible to get spare parts like circuit boards to use for repairs when it originates in China. The cost of repair/exchange can get very expensive so it would behoove any manufacturer to consider that fact.

elove,

If the drive is deemed defective in any unit that the customer receives, we will offer advance replacement with return freight.

In a perfect world all manufactured items would be perfectly produced so we poor consumers would have no worries. But we instead live in a world where recalls are common and involve staggering numbers. Everything from baby cribs, kids toys, and gas pedals.

Anytime we order something sight unseen we take a risk of what the final product is. The best any of us can do to protect ourselves is to deal with someone we trust.

As a consumer I feel I can ask for no more and this is in fact, better than most. :)

Does anyone know how the video quality of the Sigma Designs 8642 compares to the VRS by Anchor Bay found in the Oppo BDP-83?

I am interested in the upscaling of SD DVDs materials stored in original DVD resolution (480i) on hard drives. I am just wondering how the Dune HD 3.0 video quality compares to the Anchor Bay in the Oppo BDP-83 and Faroudja in my current Denon 3808ci receiver.

Any third party reviews regarding the video quality of the Signam Designs 8642?

Does anyone know how the video quality of the Sigma Designs 8642 compares to the VRS by Anchor Bay found in the Oppo BDP-83?

I am interested in the upscaling of SD DVDs materials stored in original DVD resolution (480i) on hard drives. I am just wondering how the Dune HD 3.0 video quality compares to the Anchor Bay in the Oppo BDP-83 and Faroudja in my current Denon 3808ci receiver.

Any third party reviews regarding the video quality of the Signam Designs 8642?

mifronte,

The upscale quality is probably the same as players based on the SMP8634/5 chips from Sigma which has been more widely used and discussed. I'm guessing that SD video upscaling would not be as good as the Oppo.

Anyone that has a unit, have you been able to view video feeds from sites like HULU (http://www.hulu.com/) ?

Thanks

If anyone is bored go pull up a sigma stock chart, they missed analyst estimates by 53% today

If anyone is bored go pull up a sigma stock chart, they missed analyst estimates by 53% today

8% drop in one day is not that catastrophic. They've been in a downward slide for some time, not so surprising in a discretionary consumer electronics stock.

Looks like a lot of folks agree with you Ms. Clark. Pretty high volume buying and pushing the price upwards a little after the gap down on the announcement.

8% drop in one day is not that catastrophic. They've been in a downward slide for some time, not so surprising in a discretionary consumer electronics stock.

8% is certainly not catastrophic, but pull up MU, AMD, STX

very few consumer electronic charts look broken like sigma, they have dissapointed by missing guidance by 3 quarters in a row now and sadly losing credibility.

mifronte DVD upsampling on the Prime 3.0 (Sigma 8642) is noticeably better then the Prime 1.0 (Sigma 8634) and the TivX M6500 (Sigma 8635). I do not own an Anchor Bay based player, so I can not compare the quality. The latest Sigma chips are definitely better then the previous generation though.

jrolmstd You can view Hulu, YouTube, and many other websites with streamed video, with the help of PlayOn (http://www.playon.tv/index.php) software, using the UPnP feature.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Maybe this is a stupid question, but with AnyDvdHD, can I rip BDs without removing the copy protection and play the resulting ISO on this player? I only ask because it seems the reliability of disc extraction without removing copy protection is higher than do so trying to remove it. I would think that since the player can decrypt BD discs via its internal drive, it obviously has the keys to do so on an ISO too.

Does MyMovies work on this device just as it does through WMC?

DreamWarrior That is actually a great question. Out of curiosity we have ripped Blu-ray ISO's in the past, keeping all the copy protection intact using AnyDVD, and they did playback perfect on the Prime 1.0

I currently do not have any Blu-ray ISO's with copy protection to test on the Prime 3.0, so I'll have to rip some again and report back on that. Keeping the copy protection intact is actually a great idea, as you pointed out it helps with the reliability of disc extraction and playback compatibility.

bstephenson Yes, My Movies works on the Dune Player just the same as it does on Windows Media Center.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

DreamWarrior ... Out of curiosity we have ripped Blu-ray ISO's in the past, keeping all the copy protection intact using AnyDVD, and they did playback perfect on the Prime 1.0


James (dev) over at Slysoft is dubious about the claim that Prime 1.0 plays back encrypted Blu-ray ISOs.

http://forum.slysoft.com/showpost.php?p=232970&postcount=24

Looking forward to your test results.

BobSalita We HAVE to know the answer to this question now! So Mike my business partner is driving an hour down to my beach house at 1:00am, so we can test Blu-ray ISO's with copy protection intact. We'll report back later tonight.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Does MyMovies work on this device just as it does through WMC?

It does not, no.

My Movies for Windows Media Center is a program written specifically for Windows Media Center.

My Movies stores meta-data for the Dune's in a structure that allows collection browsing.

While the Dune have the best meta-data storage option of these video players, it cannot be compared to a Windows Media Center in terms of interface.

Hey can the Prime format and internal hard drive? I am thinking of getting the Base model and installing a 2tb hard drive. At first i was going to pass on the Dune device because it can't write to the drive using NTFS. If using and ext2 or ext3(someone told me the max file size is 256 gigs) formatted drive then it will write. All i would use this for would be to put my dvd and blu ray rips on the hard drive. I wouldn't do any streaming just play straight from the hard drive and add new movies i buy thru my network.

...You can view Hulu, YouTube, and many other websites with streamed video, with the help of PlayOn (http://www.playon.tv/index.php) software, using the UPnP feature.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Does Playon actually work very well with the Dunes??? It really sucks to use on PCH, so I've wondered what, if any, difference there would be with Dune... especially given the newer Sigma chips.

I'm very intrested in the Base 3.0
Has anybody received theirs yet?
How is NTFS 1-2 TB HDD suport?
Is hot swapping internal HDD supported.

What about BD-Java intense loading times?

I've been a CE "Beta" tester before with unfulfilled promises - no more for me!
(I'll leave that to the ritch folks who can afford CE's running off with the money & releasing a new product after stopping development on the old)

First, I would like to say, James from the Slysoft forum forced us to think back and try to retrace our steps and recall how we were able to playback encrypted Blu-ray ISO's on the 1.0 Prime. It was quite some time ago and we can not recall what movies we had used nor how we had our system configured.

Since we do not have a 1.0 model handy we will have to revisit this later in the week. Fortunately our sales rep still has a 1.0 model. We will pick it up from him in the next couple days to compare the functionality differences between the old and the new models.

So here are the results of our tests on the 3.0 model:

We have a Blu-ray drive shared on a Vista PC over our network.

-We can play a DVD movie disk from the shared optical drive in the PC on the Dune 3.0 with full menu's (AnyDVD NOT running).

-We can browse a Blu-ray movie disk from the shared optical drive in the PC on the Dune 3.0 but can NOT play the movie (AnyDVD NOT running).

-With AnyDVD running we can browse a Blu-ray movie disk from the shared optical drive in the PC on the Dune 3.0 and select and play the M2TS file. However we can not access the main menu of the Blu-ray movie. It seems the playlist file is not recognized.

-A Blu-ray ISO with encryption intact will not play on the 3.0 models. Not from a hard drive connected directly to the player, not from a share over the network, and not from the ISO mounted in a shared virtual drive on a PC running AnyDVD.

It will be interesting to see if we can achieve playback of Blu-ray ISO's with encryption intact on the old 1.0 model, as we recall being able to do so.

Keep in mind a Dune Player is a Blu-ray player first, with add streaming and hard drive playback features enabled via firmware and hardware. Naturally it can play any Blu-ray disk (with copy protection). All the decryption keys are available to allow this. Could the Dune Player 3.0 firmware be patched to allow playing Blu-ray ISO's with encryption? We're not sure. Perhaps James from Slysoft could shed some light on how the encryption keys work?

To be clear the Dune Players will play anything after AnyDVD has removed the copy protection including Blu-ray ISOs.

All this testing made us realize, we tend to forget and take for granted that we would not be having this conversation, if AnyDVD did not exist. I think I speak for everyone on this forum when I say, thank you Slysoft for making the media player market possible.

We will follow up with more tests of the 3.0 model including the performance of PlayOn using UPnP.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

The difference between using a Dune Player with or without My Movies is HUGE. It completely transforms the interface with cover art for movie selection and with movie descriptions. No, it does not have all the functionality of Media Center. We didn't mean to imply that. We thought bstephenson was asking a simple GUI question. The user experience with collection management browsing, made possible with meta-data provided by My Movies, is night and day. After using My Movies with a Dune Player you will never want to be without it.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

bluewhale1 The current firmware can not format a drive. You will need to use a PC or Mac to format it. EXT3 (with a standard 4kb block size) supports a maximum file size of 2TB! Older EXT2 or EXT3 with a block size of 2kb had a 256gb file size limitation. That is no longer used. So you can have a single file 2tb in size with EXT3. If you plan on keeping a hard drive mounted in the Dune Base, and wish to transfer files (write) to this drive over your network, then EXT3 is the way to go. Hopefully write support for NTFS will be added in a future firmware.

Keep in mind maximum file size and maximum partition size are too different things. Even if there was a file size limitation of 256gb that would never be an issue since a dual layer Blu-ray can only hold a maximum of 50gb.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Thanks for the info. Someone correct me if i'm wrong but it seems the picture quality on the Dune would be better than my Xtreamer with dvd iso's. Looks like i'm gonna have to eventually get the Dune 3.0 Base(from Digital Connection).

To be clear the Dune Players will play anything after AnyDVD has removed the copy protection including Blu-ray ISOs.

Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Arthur, just to be clear, will the Dune Players play the Blu-Ray menus too (after copy protection is removed)?

Is dune 3.0 BD prime capable of decoding Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA as PCM like my playstation3?

I'm very interested in this question. Because I have a receiver hdmi1.2 and I can hear these high resolution formats decoding as PCM and passing to receiver.

Anyone know what the latest status in on shipment for the Primes?

I'm guessing they are shipping this week from Digital Connections, based on previous posts, and since my card was charged on Friday. ;)

Arthur, just to be clear, will the Dune Players play the Blu-Ray menus too (after copy protection is removed)?

As I had a Prime 3.0 @home for 3 weeks I can tell - Yes, it will.

...The current firmware can not format a drive. You will need to use a PC or Mac to format it.

Would this suggest that, when I eventually upgrade the HDD on my Synology NAS, which I believe uses EXT3, I could simply put the old drive with the existing music/video library into a Prime and it will read the HDD natively??? That would be pretty convenient!

Hey ArthurPower. Can i hook a external NTFS hard drive and copy files from the NTFS to the hard drive inside a Dune 3.0 via usb connection? Reason i ask is im not familiar with the ext3. I have Partition Manager which will format to ext3 but on my Windows 7 pc after its formatted (usb thumb drive i tested) i cant copy any file to it. Basically trying to see how to add my videos to the internal hard drive when i get it.

I'm guessing they are shipping this week from Digital Connections, based on previous posts, and since my card was charged on Friday. ;)

I contacted them this morning and the shipment hasn't yet cleared customs, so we have a little more of a wait still :(

BTW, I do agree that icon browsing is the only way to use the Prime (or Base), but I want to be clear that you do NOT need MyMovies to use that. There are many tools to setup icons and icon browsing as a concept is nothing new (TviX has used it for the last couple of models going back years). It is very different from Yamb (if I spelled that right), but it is easier to add/change media (IMO). For the Dunes there is an HDI Artwork forum over on MPC that was setup back in the 1.0 days, but it is still relevant for the 3.0s. There was also a great Tvix background/icon thread (I think on MPC also) that had lots of wonderful content for icon browsing and meta data. The TviX background/icon tools work just fine for the Dunes, with an additional step of running the HDI aai converter against the output from those tools (I used to use MGB). The one that several of us prime users have used for the last year is the Tvix plugin for DVD Profiler. I worked with the author and he added a check box to his great plugin to output aai files for the Dune. While the plugin is free, unfortunately though DVDP is not, so do not take this as an advertisement for DVDP :).

Thanks Arthur for testing and responding to my question! I'm especially glad that it tweaked your curiosity. I would be very interested in a rationalle for why the copy protected discs won't play, given that I presume the Dune needs to have "all the keys" available to play BD discs via the internal drive.

The only thing I can think of is that key negotiation is done between the drive and the software/hardware. Possibly when the disc is ripped to an ISO, the key negotiation stage can't actually happen because there is no more drive to negotiate with, just a file. Indeed, it would be interesting to see if there is a way around this. However, if the data required for the negotiation is lost in the ISO, it won't happen.

Thanks again!

IIRC I read about BD licenses being associated with the drive/loader, not the player, which is why HDI says that a loader is better than using a 3rd party drive. Something about needing to renew the license for the PCH after 3 years (or something like that) that isn't required for a built-in loader. That is most likely the reason for what you are seeing with trying to play a protected disc across the nework. Just buy AnyDVD-HD, it is well worth it IMO. :)

-With AnyDVD running we can browse a Blu-ray movie disk from the shared optical drive in the PC on the Dune 3.0 and select and play the M2TS file. However we can not access the main menu of the Blu-ray movie. It seems the playlist file is not recognized.


That makes no sense, since a ripped disc (using AnyDVD) can be played/streamed over the network, menus and all. It must have to do with how it is being shared from the Windows server. Did you have the Dune set to auto play or ask when it encounters a BDMV folder ? The Dune checks when entering a folder to see if the structure exists, but sounds like it doesn't perform that check when entering into a network share at the top level. If that is the case then there is no way to overcome it w/o ripping the disc (which is a bother). Sounds like a case for HDI to address in their firmware, although that can add time to the already occassionally slow network spin up time (depending on if the target share is asleep, etc).

Playing ripped on HD BD and "browse a Blu-ray movie disk from the shared optical drive" are two different things. Ripped BD has stripped protection.

Playing ripped on HD BD and "browse a Blu-ray movie disk from the shared optical drive" are two different things. Ripped BD has stripped protection.

Not if you are running AnyDVD, as he noted that they were, then it should be the exact same

Kei,

When are you expecting to receive your shipment of players? Will it be time for you to ship to customers for Christmas :)?

elove No FLV playback with the current firmware. That is one of the first things I tried when I received my sample Prime 3.0

Arthur
DunePlayer.com[/QUOTE]


Hi Arthur,

Can you get word to HDI that FLV playback needs to be added to their list of things to be updated via firmware, along with updating firmware via the ethernet.

Kei,

When are you expecting to receive your shipment of players? Will it be time for you to ship to customers for Christmas :)?

elove,

We received it and we are currently going through a full test with each unit. The orders will start shipping out tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Kei Clark
Digital Connection

elove,

We received it and we are currently going through a full test with each unit. The orders will start shipping out tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Kei Clark
Digital Connection

Kei,

Great news. Thanks for testing the players, I don't mind, I rather have a player that works then dealing with the hassle of shipping it back.

● Filesystems: FAT16/FAT32 (read-write), EXT2/EXT3 (read-write), NTFS (readonly)


Hm, readonly...

elove,

We received it and we are currently going through a full test with each unit. The orders will start shipping out tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Kei Clark
Digital Connection

Awesome news Kei. Better than the status as of 9 AM this morning :). This means we will actually get ours in time for the weekend.. :D

elove No FLV playback with the current firmware. That is one of the first things I tried when I received my sample Prime 3.0

Arthur
DunePlayer.com


Hi Arthur,

Can you get word to HDI that FLV playback needs to be added to their list of things to be updated via firmware, along with updating firmware via the ethernet.

Post it over in the wish list thread on MPC, or wait until HDI posts the new features voting list on their web site (which they may have already, I haven't checked lately - the last one I saw was for the 1.0s)

EDIT : It is already on the wish list

- W-COD-002 - Add FLV codec

if they follow history HDI will put up a features voting list and prioritize working on the ones with the most votes.

Kei,

I am going to order the Dune Base 3.0 on Friday. Will I be able to get it before Christmas?

Duneplayer.com did yours come in like Digital Connections? I hope, can't wait to ditch my little players.

Kei,

I am going to order the Dune Base 3.0 on Friday. Will I be able to get it before Christmas?
Pretty sure Base is not even in the USA yet..
Best,
Chris

elove,

We received it and we are currently going through a full test with each unit. The orders will start shipping out tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Kei Clark
Digital Connection

Are the Dune Base 3.0 on time for the ETA?


I think it was slated for the 15th......:)

We received it and we are currently going through a full test with each unit. The orders will start shipping out tomorrow.

Best Regards,
Kei Clark
Digital Connection

Kei,

I hope you all didn't eat anything greasy and touching the players...hope you all are wearing gloves. Just kidding, it's good that your testing them :)

It's great news that this are going out soon too.

Kei,

I am going to order the Dune Base 3.0 on Friday. Will I be able to get it before Christmas?

Wow! This is the 2nd in post in the last page or so that they said they are ordering from DC instead of Duneplayer. No love for Arthur since he has been so helpful in this thread (since they have comparable prices)?

(Okay, I'm ordering from DC too since I'm a longtime customer and got the early fantastic pre-order price [initially for Prime 2.0], but I'm going to point some people to duneplayer.com)

Is My Movies still Windows only, and installs that giant MS/DB first?

Is My Movies still Windows only, and installs that giant MS/DB first?

Yes and yes.

Wow! This is the 2nd in post in the last page or so that they said they are ordering from DC instead of Duneplayer. No love for Arthur since he has been so helpful in this thread (since they have comparable prices)?

(Okay, I'm ordering from DC too since I'm a longtime customer and got the early fantastic pre-order price [initially for Prime 2.0], but I'm going to point some people to duneplayer.com)


lol I just realized that duneplayer.com was a store and not the link to the dune website itself. This is great since i live in Philly and he is in Jersey.

GotHDTV? Yes, as mysticc stated it will playback any Blu-ray ISO or Blu-ray folder structure with menu's after the copy protection is removed. Thank you Slysoft!

makelegs Yes, just plug the EXT3 drive from your NAS into the player! Just remember the Prime only accepts a 2.5" internal drive so you need an external dock. We use a Thermaltake (http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/Product.aspx?S=1268&ID=1731). By the way the 3.0 supports Hot Swapping on the native eSATA connector! We pop drives in and out no problem. No rebooting needed!

bluewhale1 Yes, you can plug in a NTFS drive (eSATA or USB) and copy and paste files to the internal EXT3 drive. I already tested this. Select the file or folder you want to move and press the Popup menu button on the remote. Select copy then navigate to the internal drive and press the Popup menu button again and select paste. Then just wait a little while for it to copy over. You can also of course copy anything to the internal drive from a network share as well.

DreamWarrior No problem. We have fun testing all these things. I think you hit the nail on the head. No key to match since the Sigma chip is no longer talking to the optical drive. Or perhaps a DRM issue between the two. I wish someone from Slysoft would pop over here and give us some incite on how this works. I made a post a couple days ago asking James if he could pop on this thread and shed some light on how the encryption keys work.

Sparkss That seems to be the case. It's not performing a top level check when entering into a network shared Blu-ray drive. There is no reason it shouldn't be able to access the menu. Hopefully this can be addressed in a future firmware. I guess no one really thought about sharing a Blu-ray drive over a network before. It would be a nice feature for Base owners.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Opentoe Both the Prime and Base model should be in our warehouse later this week. This is great news for all those who purchased Base models from us. We were able to arrange getting them early along with our Primes. It delayed the Primes a couple days but, now everyone is assured to get there Dune Player before the Holidays!


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

GotHDTV? Thanks for the love man! lol

bluewhale1 Philly, I love going up to Philly for a Cheese Steak! I have a few friends up there.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Wow! This is the 2nd in post in the last page or so that they said they are ordering from DC instead of Duneplayer. No love for Arthur since he has been so helpful in this thread (since they have comparable prices)?

(Okay, I'm ordering from DC too since I'm a longtime customer and got the early fantastic pre-order price [initially for Prime 2.0], but I'm going to point some people to duneplayer.com)

Sorry, to be honest I thought Arthur was some software engineer for dune. I guess I jumped to that conclusion looking at his link in his sig. Since duneplayer.com is in Jersey, (my old home state, I live in Delaware now) I will order from him.

Arthur - Is the Dune Base 3.0 ready now for delivery?

I for one ordered from Duneplayer.com and Mike and Arthur are the best. I have had emails answered promptly and telephone questions answered immediately. And now with that latest post about the bases being included with this shipment I am on cloud nine.
Thanks a bunch

Edit Yes I should ve thanked both DC and DP for answering questions and doing a lot of early testing here this is my first go with HDI so it is very helpful to have Kei and Arthur in here and over at MPCclub.com forums. Also there is an HDI artwork thread over at MPC if anyone needs more info on the Artwork side.

Skipuppy
1st batch base ordered!!

Uh oh. I don't want to cause an avalanche the other way and not have Kei and Digital Connection not get their business too. :) We need both to sell well that way we can get HDI (the Dune maker) to do the updates/features that we all probably need.

I'm going back to being neutral. I just thought that I'd mention both companies that are selling the Dunes and should get the same amount of business (at least for me, I'm going to recommend back and forth).

Is dune 3.0 BD prime capable of decoding Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA as PCM like my playstation3?

I'm very interested in this question. Because I have a receiver hdmi1.2 and I can hear these high resolution formats decoding as PCM and passing to receiver.

Arthurpower or anybody can help me?

Dune might be (is?) capable to on-board decoding DTS HD MA or DD Tr HD to LPCM 7.1 (just like some other BD players do. For example Playstation3).

Arthurpower or anybody can help me?

Dune might be (is?) capable to on-board decoding DTS HD MA or DD Tr HD to LPCM 7.1 (just like some other BD players do. For example Playstation3).

the 1.0s were able to, so I don't see why the 3.0s shouldn't too.

Well I should find out what this thing will do as I just got a tracking number from Digital Connections!

Ordered my Base from Duneplayer, and also finally ponied up for anydvdhd from slysoft. Been using dvdfab and anydvdhd free trials. Those who do not own anydvdhd, I recommend you go to their slysoft website, they are having the best deal I've seen in a long time. Normally, lifetime runs you about $160, right now, it's about $93.

Is it possible to output component video at 1080i while outputting audio via HDMI?

I have an older HD TV (Pioneer Elite PRO 650HD) that still has a great picture but only has analog input. My processor, meanwhile, can input HDMI audio and decode all of the HD audio formats. This is a stopgap until I can get my hands on the TV I want after CES.

Thanks for your help.

Well I should find out what this thing will do as I just got a tracking number from Digital Connections!

CCONKLIN1, just curious when did you order it?

I ordered mine back in August and I'm wondering where I might be in line.

Thanks in advance

got my tracking # also. Since I am just North of DC I should have it in time for the weekend :).

@mlknez

I used to be able to do that w/ our 1.0. You just enable HDMI audio, set your video out to 1080i and plug in your component. (I think on the 1.0s we also had to set it to HDMI video, but it still output over component at the same time)

Awww, man!

I don't see .trp as a compatible file format. I have hundreds of .trp files I created with my Sonicview HD 8000 FTA box I want to watch on the Dune Prime.

Can anyone tell me it the Dune Prime/Base can play .trp files?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Hi, Kei and Arthur.

Can you tell us (or keep us abreast) of the number of Prime units you run across with BluRay units that are not working?

I read that HDI supposedly corrected the issue, so I am curious.

Thanks.

Awww, man!

I don't see .trp as a compatible file format. I have hundreds of .trp files I created with my Sonicview HD 8000 FTA box I want to watch on the Dune Prime.

Can anyone tell me it the Dune Prime/Base can play .trp files?

Thanks in advance for your responses.


You should be able to convert the files using freeware like tsremux.

Thanks, I am aware of a few way to convert the files, but I have over 200 movies and I really hope the player can play them as is.

Has anyone with the unit tried to play .trp files?

the 1.0s were able to, so I don't see why the 3.0s shouldn't too.

Without downmixing? Decoding as exactly are Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA to PCM?

Without downmixing? Decoding as exactly are Dolby True HD and DTS HD MA to PCM?

They Primes have 7.1 analog out. For the first 6 months or so that was what we used to play HD Audio out on our stereo until we upgraded our AVR to an HDMI one. I had asked this question back then and was told that it does not downmix (except in certain circumstances, IIRC).

But I see that you already posted over on MPC, and were answered in this thread : http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22151

Thanks, I am aware of a few way to convert the files, but I have over 200 movies and I really hope the player can play them as is.

Has anyone with the unit tried to play .trp files?

Dawgneck,

I thought .trp was basically a transport stream file, but I could be wrong. You can upload me a short clip somewhere if you like and I'll test it.

Thanks, Kei.

I will PM you when I get a small clip uploaded.

Thanks for the offer.

Dawgneck,

I thought .trp was basically a transport stream file, but I could be wrong. You can upload me a short clip somewhere if you like and I'll test it.

OK, Kei, I decided to share the file with everyone, just in case there are others here in the same boat.

I compressed the folder containing the files to a .rar file. These transports will only have one .trp file, but the supporting files (ending with a 001, 002, 003, etc) can be multiple, depending on how large and long the movie clip is. This movie only has one supporting file.

The file can be downloaded from Rapidshare here: http://rapidshare.com/files/319093458/The_Obama_Express.rar

Thanks in advance for your help.

Is it possible to output component video at 1080i while outputting audio via HDMI?

I have an older HD TV (Pioneer Elite PRO 650HD) that still has a great picture but only has analog input. My processor, meanwhile, can input HDMI audio and decode all of the HD audio formats. This is a stopgap until I can get my hands on the TV I want after CES.

Thanks for your help.
I would like to know this as well...actually I'm more curious so I can use the unit to both output to a component video matrix (via component and stereo RCA) and my main AV system (via HDMI). As such, the audio outputs can be set to downmix to stereo, right? And do so while outputting the beafier multichannel stuff over HDMI?

Thanks!

Any chance someone can provide the IR codes for the dune prime?

Hi, Kei.

A member on another site tested the file and found the Dune does not recognize the .trp extension, but it will play if you rename the .trp extension to .ts.

This is both good and bad news....

The majority of the movies I have have the single .trp file which appears to access the separate .00* files. The file you downloaded was the smallest I had. Almost all my other movies have 4 or more .00* files that the .trp file/Sonicview box seem to play smoothly without any kind of hesitation when the next file is accessed.

I hope renaming the .trp will enable the Dune box to play the movies smoothly, but the member stated there will be a 2-3 second hesitation as the box resets after each file. If this is the case, I may have to recode the .trp / .00* files to a single .ts.

I am currently checking to see if I have any movies with 2 .00* files small enough to upload. I will ask the other member if it transitions smoothly and post the results.

Thanks again for your help.



Thanks for your help.

Okay. Getting REALLY irritated right now. Talked to someone at Digital Connection. He told me that some 'USB key' that was supposed to be included with the unit didn't come with it. He told me that the units that have been shipped out didn't include the key and were shipped out erroneously (mine hasn't shipped yet). I would like some clarification on what's going on. They were supposed to be here last week, then this week, now people are reporting they are getting tracking numbers and the distributor is saying they are waiting on some shipment from HDI. Personally, I'm getting tired of being strung along and would like to know just what is going on!!!

Okay. Getting REALLY irritated right now. Talked to someone at Digital Connection. He told me that some 'USB key' that was supposed to be included with the unit didn't come with it. He told me that the units that have been shipped out didn't include the key and were shipped out erroneously (mine hasn't shipped yet). I would like some clarification on what's going on. They were supposed to be here last week, then this week, now people are reporting they are getting tracking numbers and the distributor is saying they are waiting on some shipment from HDI. Personally, I'm getting tired of being strung along and would like to know just what is going on!!!

RedSox,

It's true, we have a few units that went out yesterday and there is a possibility that they need to be called back already.....they work fine but they don't have proper 2GB "system drive" setup. Without going into too much detail, there is a good possibility that we will need parts sent to us before we can resume shipping. Hang tight as I hope we will get more information in the next few hours to determine how best to handle this.

For those who had units shipped to them, again hang tight until we get confirmation, but we may have to send out call tags for these to be returned.

Talked to someone at Digital Connection. He told me that some 'USB key' that was supposed to be included with the unit didn't come with it. He told me that the units that have been shipped out didn't include the key and were shipped out erroneously (mine hasn't shipped yet).

Do you know or did they say what this "USB Key" does?.....


Never mind, I think Kei answered in the post above after I wrote my post

Do you know or did they say what this "USB Key" does?

No, but from Kei's post it sounds like a memory stick. I had asked it I could just get one from the store and install it myself, but the person I spoke to stated it had a nonstandard interface. Basically, he said they had to wait for HDI to send a shipment of these usb devices.

got my tracking # also. Since I am just North of DC I should have it in time for the weekend :).

Sparkss, did you order from Duneplayer or Digital Connection? Just curious when you ordered yours.

Well, I was all excited because my package had been shipped and it was suppose to arrive on Tuesday, oh well, I guess it will have to be recalled. I have waited this long for it. I'd rather they call it back and include everything with it.

RedSox,

It's true, we have a few units that went out yesterday and there is a possibility that they need to be called back already.....they work fine but they don't have proper 2GB "system drive" setup. Without going into too much detail, there is a good possibility that we will need parts sent to us before we can resume shipping. Hang tight as I hope we will get more information in the next few hours to determine how best to handle this.

For those who had units shipped to them, again hang tight until we get confirmation, but we may have to send out call tags for these to be returned.

Do you know if it's a standard memory stick? I was originally told 'no', but just wanted to be sure. I wouldn't mind just picking one up and doing it myself as a 2Gb usb stick is fairly cheap.

Do you know if it's a standard memory stick? I was originally told 'no', but just wanted to be sure. I wouldn't mind just picking one up and doing it myself as a 2Gb usb stick is fairly cheap.

Believe me, we've mulled it over and we've already went over all the options you maybe thinking. :( Hopefully, this will be resolved in a few hours with certainty as to whether this can be corrected easily by the user, or we have to get it recalled back to fix.

Personally, I'm getting tired of being strung along and would like to know just what is going on!!!

I guess you didn't wait around for the Oppo BDP-83. That's pissed me off and that took like 8 months before I got mine. That was the real hype machine going on that one. I guess you can say that the Dunes are taking that long, but their clock got reset when they went from about to release the 2.0 to releasing the 3.0, so in reality maybe 3 months?

You have been posted alot about your frustrations. Come on, you're a Red Sox fan? You guys waited 86 years to get another WS championship, so you should have more patience (or are you really young and got spoiled by them winning again in 2007). I would think it would be here at least by Christmas. I still have not gotten my notice and I preordered back in August.

Oh, thanks for the answer above and you can laugh about my lowly O's, but they'll compete soon (hopefully...at least I got to see them win when I was 9)

You have been posted alot about your frustrations. Come on, you're a Red Sox fan? You guys waited 86 years to get another WS championship, so you should have more patience (or are you really young and got spoiled by them winning again in 2007).


Ouch. :D

I feel all of your pain.....then some.

.....they work fine but they don't have proper 2GB "system drive" setup.

Just an FYI that this sounds alot like what we went through w/ the first batch of 1.0s last year. And as for the statement that "they work fine", those of us from the orig batch of Prime 1.0s know full well that they do not work fine w/o the system drive. Several BD playback problems were reported (and we were told to just plug in our own USB, which may or may not be possible here since I thought they were supposed to be internal on the new units ?). Although aside from not having any of hte added "applicaitons" and BD playback (mainly BD-J) everything else did work w/o the system drive (at least on the 1.0s). The 1.0s had FW that could use an external drive for the system drive, so we all went out and bought our own. I suppose that would work here, but I personally was happy to be getting a unit w/o a permanent USB stick sticking out the back. *sigh*.

Kei, please do NOT take my frustration as being directed at you or DC. It is directed squarely at HDI, where it should be. Hopefully it will all work itself out soon enough.

Just an FYI that this sounds alot like what we went through w/ the first batch of 1.0s last year. And as for the statement that "they work fine", those of us from the orig batch of Prime 1.0s know full well that they do not work fine w/o the system drive. Several BD playback problems were reported (and we were told to just plug in our own USB, which may or may not be possible here since I thought they were supposed to be internal on the new units ?). Although aside from not having any of hte added "applicaitons" and BD playback (mainly BD-J) everything else did work w/o the system drive (at least on the 1.0s). The 1.0s had FW that could use an external drive for the system drive, so we all went out and bought our own. I suppose that would work here, but I personally was happy to be getting a unit w/o a permanent USB stick sticking out the back. *sigh*.

Sparkss.

You are correct, this is to make sure that addtional functions work for certain Blu-Rays. The drive is installed internally, no need to use one outside the box. It's just a matter of how to set it to "system storage", which will likely require a firmware update.

Kei, please do NOT take my frustration as being directed at you or DC. It is directed squarely at HDI, where it should be. Hopefully it will all work itself out soon enough.

No worries, I put my flamesuit on before I popped in here. ;) But don't blame HDI, it's been a learning experience for us all, and this was just a result of miscommunication.

There have been many new questions I still need to address but, the most pertinent is the USB system flash drive.

HDI informed us about the need for a flash drive last week. We received the flash initialization DSF file earlier today.

We are happy to report that we have successfully added a new flash drive in place of the factory internal flash drive that came with our sample unit. Please note not all flash drives are compatible.

Kei, if you need this file or any assistance please feel free to contact us via phone or PM. We all need to work together on this to ensure the success of these products.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

There have been many new questions I still need to address but, the most pertinent is the USB system flash drive.

HDI informed us about the need for a flash drive last week. We received the flash initialization DSF file earlier today.

We are happy to report that we have successfully added a new flash drive in place of the factory internal flash drive that came with our sample unit. Please note not all flash drives are compatible.

Kei, if you need this file or any assistance please feel free to contact us via phone or PM. We all need to work together on this to ensure the success of these products.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Thanks Arthur, unfortuantely we did not get our notice last week, that would have been great. We now have all the necesary documents, something we could not get earlier today when the site was down.

System memory? Why producers of BD players (including Sony f.e.) not use some I.C. on P.C.B., instead of USB siticks? :confused:

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9654/dscn2486.jpg


Photo above is from last IFA, and photo below was shot in november; it is production model.


http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/3566/dune6.jpg

Please note not all flash drives are compatible.


I had the same issue with finding one for our prime 1.0. Some flash drives also aren't really rated for 24/7 usage (even though the unit isn't on that much, I still had overheating problems with some brands flash drives... but that was many moons ago and I don't remember which ones didn't work now).

The HDI FW devs can whip up a .dsf for just about anything, can't they ? :)



As a general note, it is not uncommon for BD players to require external storage to play a BD. There were reports of a Panasonic or maybe a Sony that wouldn't play certain BDs w/o at least a 1 GB flash drive plugged into the USB slot on the back. If you called into their tech support and complained about playback of a BD one of the first things they asked was if you had a flash drive plugged in or not. So HDI is not the odd man out when it comes to using USB flash drives, but they have a history of not quite getting it right the first time out the factory door (for each model now it seems).

BTW, thanks for the picts wiatrak :)

Hey does the Dune 3.0 take 3.5 inch internal sata hard drives? Reason i ask is i'm looking at the manual(pdf) and it only mentions 2.5 inch(laptop) hard drives and not 3.5 desktop hard drives

2,5". Not enough space, I assume. Enclosure is too compact.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7797/dune5.jpg
http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/8548/dune7.jpg

BTW. This is not mine Dune, unfortunately...
Pictures was posted on: http://hdtvpolska.com/index.php?showtopic=17684&st=20

That looks like the Prime with the drive. What about the Base version which is the one i am going to buy? At duneplayer.com there is an option for a 2tb internal hard drive.

Base is another story, it has a 3,5" SATA bay.

Base is another story, it has a 3,5" SATA bay.

Ahhh thank you wiatrak

CCONKLIN1, just curious when did you order it?

I ordered mine back in August and I'm wondering where I might be in line.

Thanks in advance
Golly, It has been forever. I could not even tell you. I originally ordered the 2.0 and they just changed it to a 3.0...

Golly, It has been forever. I could not even tell you. I originally ordered the 2.0 and they just changed it to a 3.0...

Guess you ordered with DC then? Like I said before, I ordered back when it was 2.0 too. I guess if you were so inclined you could log into your account at DC and see the order date.....


Thanks in advance if you do (and post).

Believe me, we've mulled it over and we've already went over all the options you maybe thinking. :( Hopefully, this will be resolved in a few hours with certainty as to whether this can be corrected easily by the user, or we have to get it recalled back to fix.


Kei,

Has DC made a decision on whether or not to recall. My unit shipped on 12/9 and is scheduled to arrive on 12/15. I would rather you recall my unit and install the system drive.

Thanks

Guess you ordered with DC then? Like I said before, I ordered back when it was 2.0 too. I guess if you were so inclined you could log into your account at DC and see the order date.....


Thanks in advance if you do (and post).
did not think about that so I did. July 14th was when I ordered. I also have a Base on order as well.
scheduled for delivery on 12/15. Hope it does not have to go back...

I just learned that HDI will enable .trp file playback in the next firmware update :)

Hopefully this will help others with their purchase decision.

Thanks to Kei, Arthur, Mike and everyone else who helped me with this matter!

RedSox,

It's true, we have a few units that went out yesterday and there is a possibility that they need to be called back already.....they work fine but they don't have proper 2GB "system drive" setup. Without going into too much detail, there is a good possibility that we will need parts sent to us before we can resume shipping. Hang tight as I hope we will get more information in the next few hours to determine how best to handle this.

For those who had units shipped to them, again hang tight until we get confirmation, but we may have to send out call tags for these to be returned.


Kei,

Does this mean the unit will require a permanent USB Flash Drive in order to play certain Blu Ray Disks or is this some type of mini firm ware update needed but you need to us a Flash Drive to do it.

Thanks

Kei,

Does this mean the unit will require a permanent USB Flash Drive in order to play certain Blu Ray Disks or is this some type of mini firm ware update needed but you need to us a Flash Drive to do it.

Thanks

Yes, it needs the USB flash drive which is already installed in the units that were shipped. The drive needs to be configured as "system storage" which is used for primarily for BD Live functions.

Kei,
When can customers who ordered a Base 3.0 in early October expect to receive their units?

Thanks.

The USB flash drive is primarily required for Blu-ray live support, and Bit Torrent support. It provides the cache needed for both. If you do not care about bonus online Blu-ray content, or Bit Torrent, then the USB drive is not required. However, it might also be needed to enable future add-ons like Netflix.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Kei,
When can customers who ordered a Base 3.0 in early October expect to receive their units?

Thanks.

Next week. :)

Next week. :)

Thanks Kei,for good news.:)

We finally received an update today that the players are scheduled for delivery to our warehouse Monday. There have been a lot of delays caused by the huge amount of goods coming in from China, into JFK air port, and then having to go through customs this year. It looks like people are really spending there money this season for gifts!

Unfortunately, everything is closed Saturday and Sunday. So the Primes & Bases are just sitting in NY till Monday. It's killing us we want them NOW just as bad as you!

If they arrive Monday as scheduled, we will be testing and boxing them up all night, so they're ready to start shipping out Tuesday (to all of our very patient customers).


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

We are currently testing the beta firmware just released for the Prime 3.0
Many new features have been added. Take a look HERE (http://dune-hd.com/firmware/bdprime3/). If there is anything anyone wants us to test please let us know.

We will NOT be shipping the units with this Beta firmware. It is recommend that you wait for a production release to ensure stability.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

I am looking at Prime 3.0 to use with my legacy receiver with multichannel analog inputs. Does the player decode HD codecs & output it via MCH analog? Looked at the manual but it doesn't tell you anything about the speaker setup. I am wondering if this player has any speaker setup options such as crossover, levels & delay for 7.1 analog out.

http://dune-hd.com/uploads/posts/2009-10/1256300273_dune_hd_base_30_front_right.jpg


Can the front mount slide in caddy for Hardrives be bought in a PC bay version as i could do with one for a Mitx build.

:)


.

vinodk Yes, the 3.0 Dune Players decode and output all HD audio formats via the 8 RCA analog output jacks. They are line level with no menu options of any type. All level adjustments must be handled by your receiver amplifier.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Digz The removable drive bay does not require a caddy or tray. A bare hard drive just slides in and out. You can purchase one of these for your PC. Like THIS (http://kingwin.com/products/cate/mobile/racks/kf_1000_bk.asp) one. I love these things. I have them in all my computers.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

OMG :D ArthurPower i love you :D :p :)

I've been after something like that for ages but only ever seen them for 2.5" drives and have just wasted loads of money on 3.5" external HDD docks.

I will now sell them and buy the removable drive bays for my computers :)

Thanks Arthur and sorry for going off topic .

OMG :D ArthurPower i love you :D :p :)

I've been after something like that for ages but only ever seen them for 2.5" drives and have just wasted loads of money on 3.5" external HDD docks.

I will now sell them and buy the removable drive bays for my computers :)

Thanks Arthur and sorry for going off topic .

Digz Glad I could help. No need to apologize, it's all related. There are always several topics going on at the same time on this thread.

These drive bays are so simple yet so cool, you have to ask why didn't someone think of this sooner!


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Got my tracking number from UPS, can hardly wait!!!

Will the Dune support playback of MKVs with H.264 profiles above 4.1... 5.0/5.1 range?

Didn't see it in the most recent FW beta. Any rough guesses?

Digz The removable drive bay does not require a caddy or tray. A bare hard drive just slides in and out. You can purchase one of these for your PC. Like THIS (http://kingwin.com/products/cate/mobile/racks/kf_1000_bk.asp) one. I love these things. I have them in all my computers.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

Thanks. I just ordered one myself.

Next week. :)

Sweeeet..:)

What about orders that were made late November...:)

Thanks... Very excited...

I have been trying to find a device that will allow me to play a ISO or VOB type folder of a Blue Ray Disc and via HDMI output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams to my compatible AV receiver so I will be able to experience the same viewing and listening pleasure as when I play an actual Blue Ray disc. Is this the device?

I have researched and found wording that says something to the effect that HD Audio is available via analog and I'm confused.

Many thanks in advance for this novice question.

I have been trying to find a device that will allow me to play a ISO or VOB type folder of a Blue Ray Disc and via HDMI output Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio streams to my compatible AV receiver so I will be able to experience the same viewing and listening pleasure as when I play an actual Blue Ray disc. Is this the device?

I have researched and found wording that says something to the effect that HD Audio is available via analog and I'm confused.

Many thanks in advance for this novice question.

Yes this device allow you output via HDMI1.3 or for older model receiver via analog.

Before i order 3 of these, can someone please answer this question...im 99% sure i know the answer after reading all these messages, etc... but i want to ask the question straight up.

If i use ANYDVDHD to archive my blueray and standard DVD's to ISO files, copy them to my NAS can i stream them straight from the NAS to either the prime or the base 3.0 unit?

I just want to make certain that i dont have to copy them to the internal hard drive, or mount the ISO on a media center PC or anything like that...I just want something simple enough that the kids can use it.

Before i order 3 of these, can someone please answer this question...im 99% sure i know the answer after reading all these messages, etc... but i want to ask the question straight up.

If i use ANYDVDHD to archive my blueray and standard DVD's to ISO files, copy them to my NAS can i stream them straight from the NAS to either the prime or the base 3.0 unit?

I just want to make certain that i dont have to copy them to the internal hard drive, or mount the ISO on a media center PC or anything like that...I just want something simple enough that the kids can use it.

If Dune1.0 can do this-i can't see why 3.0 can't do same.

I'm happy to see HDI hard at work, enabling options that should make the Dune players the #1 choice for media playback.

Come on .trp playback!

I hope the Primes shipped to the US come with the 2.5" HDD brackets inside.

We are currently testing the beta firmware just released for the Prime 3.0
Many new features have been added. Take a look HERE (http://dune-hd.com/firmware/bdprime3/). If there is anything anyone wants us to test please let us know.

We will NOT be shipping the units with this Beta firmware. It is recommend that you wait for a production release to ensure stability.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

I hope the Primes shipped to the US come with the 2.5" HDD brackets inside.

If you install HDD itself-you will lose warranty,must install by dealer,or service ,so be careful.

OMG :D ArthurPower i love you :D :p :)

I've been after something like that for ages but only ever seen them for 2.5" drives and have just wasted loads of money on 3.5" external HDD docks.

I will now sell them and buy the removable drive bays for my computers :)

Thanks Arthur and sorry for going off topic .

Yeah me too. I started with the caddy style, then found out they are not standardized and ditched caddys for the trayless style. Good to see the Dune Base offering a trayless option-just what I've been looking for.

Now, after you guys alpha/beta test for me I'll plunk down the cash and order one from DC.:D

Taken from my Iphone so they are not perfect. MyMovies for those who were requesting the interface on the 3.0 models.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=160694&d=1260688613

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=160695&d=1260688613

Hey 468LS1Vette, thanks for the images. Have you played any dvd iso's yet? If so how is the picture quality (upscaled)?

But I will try. I have a Mitsubishi 57" dlp projection tv, and with standard DVDs in a "cheap" up sampling DVD player, they are a little hard on they eyes. The dune player does a MUCH better job of up sampling than the "cheap" player. I am sure once some people have them we will hear from someone who can give a better comparison.

This player looks really promessing.

First units have been delivered to .eu customers 1 week ago and the first feedback is pretty good.

There are things to be improved like you would expect on the first version of any product but nothing too bad.

The point which seems more concerning and which has been reported by a lot of people is teh BD drive noise. Some comparative measurements have been made by some folks bewteen an Oppo drive and Dune Prime 3.0 drive and Prime is 4dB above the OPPO drive (for the record, +3dB is twice more noise). The noise level seems really annoying and disturbing during playback which is really sad for a playback device :(

Many people seem to complain about this, and so far HDI position is that "the noise is acceptable". Kinda sad because otherwise seems to be a really cool box :)

Believe me, we've mulled it over and we've already went over all the options you maybe thinking. :( Hopefully, this will be resolved in a few hours with certainty as to whether this can be corrected easily by the user, or we have to get it recalled back to fix.

Kei, I guess you all got the flash drive thing resolved? I got a shipping notice email the next day (on the 11th) this quoted post.

Thanks

Kei, I guess you all got the flash drive thing resolved? I got a shipping notice email the next day (on the 11th) this quoted post.

Thanks

Yes, only the customers from the first day, all of whom were e-mailed and given an option on how they wanted the problem resolved will have to go through the step to configure their flash drives into system storage.

For those customers, It's a pretty simple process but requires you have a flash drive (which is highly recommended anyway for future firmware updates). Basically, the options are:

1. Ask to cancel or refuse the delivery when it arrives and another will be sent.
2. Use your own flash drive and call or e-mail for instructions (takes about 5 minutes tops).
3. Wait for us to send you a flash drive with the required file to perform the update.

What is the process for getting the images and descriptions in there? Does it just update from the MyMovies database or is it a manual process? Just curious. That's pretty awesome though, im looking forward to receiving mine.


Taken from my Iphone so they are not perfect. MyMovies for those who were requesting the interface on the 3.0 models.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=160694&d=1260688613

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=160695&d=1260688613

dseliger My Movies is fully automatic. Copy the movie to your library and it automatically downloads the cover art and meta data, which is then viewable on the Dune Player.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

how similar is the my movies format to XBMC. I have already organized my whole collection using emberset. I don't mind re-doing it but not if I don't have to.

Also, when you use mymovies do you just get the collection management software or do you need the whole media center download.

K

how similar is the my movies format to XBMC. I have already organized my whole collection using emberset. I don't mind re-doing it but not if I don't have to.

Also, when you use mymovies do you just get the collection management software or do you need the whole media center download.

K

kupermanp You would only need the collection management software. I honestly have no first hand experience with XBMC formats. I can tell you though that the Dune Players need there own unique images and meta data which My Movies provides. As long as each of your movies is in a separate folder, re-indexing your whole collection shouldn't be to painful since My Movies does all the work.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com

thanks. Unfortunately I have all my movies in .iso format in one big folder. How does Dune save things. is the metadata all in the dune txt file (and therefore you need each movie to have its own folder so that each movie can have its own text file)

thanks. Unfortunately I have all my movies in .iso format in one big folder. How does Dune save things. is the metadata all in the dune txt file (and therefore you need each movie to have its own folder so that each movie can have its own text file)

kupermanp Exactly, each movie needs to have its own folder so that each movie can have its own dune text file and cover image.


Arthur
DunePlayer.com