New Dune HD Max and HD Smart anticipation thread Q3 2010 - Page 317

That would be good! Hopefully, they'll fix the audio dropouts with 7.1 ch lossless audio as well.

In a perfect world where all color space conversions are done correctly, it makes no difference at all what a display is receiving, they should all look the same. Apparently your display is unable to handle its processing when 4:4:4 is input, but that's not the player's fault. Fact is that some of the best displays ever made have had issues with specific color space conversions, or with general processing with specific input. It's also true that 4:4:4 is pretty much the standard for player output, and if you set a player to output based on EDID handshake, (auto), chances are good your display will ask for 4:4:4.

is it true that dune players dont support forced subtitles in mkv?

True by default but my MKV forced subtitles fix takes care of it.

Why are you so sure it's the Display (Epson 6020) and not the player? I guess the best way to find out would be to find a display that didn't exhibit the behavior with a Dune. You also replied that the audio dropouts I was getting with 7.1 Dolby was a problem in the encoding, not the players fault. But when I played that file on a disc in a BR player, no audio dropouts. I'm not dissing you, just saying. BTW, when I put the BR player in auto, it also plays just fine. Also, Even when I do select 4:4:4 with the BR palyer, the banding is not nearly as severe as with the Dune. Perhaps it's just an incompatibility of some sort between the Epson and the Dune. Regardless, It's still a stupid design decision not to allow the signal to pass through the Dune unmolested.

I will test this on the TV303D. I know it worked for me on my Smarts

Could you please check if the TV303D support MKV muxed with DTSHDMA7.1 with audio bitstream/passthrough?

No audio dropout on HD audio?
Edited by Skylinestar - 1/26/13 at 4:41am

Yes on dtsma. Still need to test TrueHD. It will be interesting if it does since hd audio support isnt advertised.

Audio dropouts will take a little longer to confirm since i need to let it run a while (unless the dropouts show themselves early on)

Damian - I'm assuming it does NOT decode DTS-HD MA or TrueHD like the Base 3D is supposed to. Wonder if there is a semi secret patch floating around again.

I would not expect it to. There is the multi ch decode patch, not sure if it will work. If I can find a few minutes today I will test of few of these items mentioned. I wouldn't mind getting teh review done by Monday that that is probably unrealistic

Thanks for sharing everything Damian! The next few months are going to be exciting tines for sure, well for me anyway.

I'm sure everyone would agree that it would be nice if Dune had a pass through mode. It doesn't, and it really upset when I found about it. That fact alone delayed my purchase for many months. But then I said, "so what" and bought the Dune anyway. There is banding at times, but when I compare it to playing the same video via my Blu-Ray player, I see banding in the same spot. But I've seen hundreds of perfect sunsets, underwater scenes, or whatever type of scene where you might expect to see a stepped gradient, and there has not been a trace of banding on almost all of them.

You mentioned getting an Oppo. One thing you may wish to try is buying the new Oppo and use it as a video processor. It has an HDMI input that would allow you to process the Dune output through it. That might eliminate the incompatibility between your Epson and your Dune, if there is such an incompatibility exists.

I don't think any of the players based on the same chip-sets offers a pass through mode, so I am pretty sure it is not a design decision made by the Dune engineers. Others who know more about the chip set may wish to comment of this, again.

I've never had an audio dropout, by the way. Maybe I'm just lucky, or maybe my gear is more forgiving of the Dune. Of course, now that I've said this ... I'll get lots of banding and no audio at all! Video is a crazy hobby.

LOL! True dat!

I already have a Video processor in the chain, A DVDO Duo. Doesn't help or hurt the banding issue. Yeah, if it's a chip limitation then that's just life. If not, it's stupid. Either way I'm looking forward to the Intel based Max. Hopefully it fixes the issue.

For your BR player banding issues, try changing the color space to 4:2:2 or RGB. That eliminates the issue with my BR player.

The audio dropouts I get are with Dolby True HD 7.1 channel material. Definitely a Dune issue as I burned a BD-R from the same ISO the Dune was using and no dropouts on any of 3 BR players.

I'm hoping Dune includes an 2nd HDMI out on the new Max. I personally don't need it because of my Duo, but it's a big deal for AVRs that don't do HDMI 1.4. And just saying "Upgrade your AVR" doesn't fix it. Audio wise, I still prefer my AVR to anything on the market today. Unless you start going with separate amps, Most of today's AVRs just can't compete with a Yamaha RX-Z11. There is no substitute for a massive power supply. Lots of those still floating around.

Has anyone been able to play a grayscale gradient test pattern without banding on the Dune? You can download the following ISO for free and try. It's under "Basic Patterns". EasyCalHD

TV303D bitstreams TrueHD as well

One of my mkvs (Star Trek) the TV303D has a lot of issues playing, but I tested other mkvs (all lossless, TrueHD and DTSMA) and they played fine. Nothing special about the Star Trek mkv, will investigate

Also with new FW you can boot directly into your jukebox of choice

Well, that sounds good. This might be a replacement for my PCH-A210 then .

Forced subs don't work, but ScottJ's dsf file fixes it for mkvs

So just to confirm..even though the 303D is not advertised as supporting HD audio..it does bitstream/passthru to a suitable avr..at least in mkv format...what about 3d mkv/mvc??.ts or .m2ts files(movie and hd audio only)??
Thanks for testing dbone!
At this rate..the only difference between the base 3d and the 303d might be the 3.5" internal hdd vs 2.5" internal hdd??

I would still be careful as if is not listed in specs they could also remove it at anytime.

If they remove it via firmware you could always revert back. Dunes are not locked to the newest one.

A little more testing, seems consistent to what I was expecting. Autoswitch on 3D SBS / TB mkvs with proper naming (same as PCH and Mede8er). I haven't tested downmix yet. New UI, snappier then 8642 Dunes as expected.

Someone could confirm that version torrent client? Even btpd 0.13?

Such as old version does not support most private trackers.

Thanks in advanced!

According to this photo that I've found on the net, what's the REC button on the remote for?


Damian, could you post some photos of the GUI?

Every Dune remote has that button. At one point it was supposed to capture IPTV streams but I don't think the feature ever came to fruition.

Now we just need a way to move the subs up on-screen. I watched Davinci Code yesterday and it's subs are off-screen for 2.35 setups

Is anyone else having severe problems with audio dropouts on "Totall Recall" from this Summer? Dolby True HD, 5.1 track. I've had a couple of dropouts on other titles, especially 7.1 Dolby TrueHD. But Totall Recall has dozens and dozens of dropouts. BTW, I'm playing from local storage, so not a network problem. Not a rip problem, I burned the ISO to a BD-R and it plays fine... I've mentioned dropouts before, but this movie is far and away the worst. Even the 7.1 tracks only have a few dropouts, annoying to be sure. But not as bad as this. Dune H1.
Edited by Kirnak - 1/27/13 at 1:40pm

Well known issues with that title google it.

Here I did it for you.

Total Recall HD track has issues, as have a couple other True HD movies recently released. Brave is one, can't remember the other one.

I already confirmed that a few pages ago. In fact the disc itsel, played on my BE, has more drop outs than once it's ripped...

Strangely this movie includes cinavia. I don't know if it's related to the problem.

Thanks guys. I just assumed it was a Dune issue. Who would have thought they'd release something this screwed up. After reading this, i tried the original disc in my two other BR players. Big dropouts on those, though my Sony BR player worked fine. Well, off to Best Buy to demand a refund. Sony can keep this movie.
Edited by Kirnak - 1/27/13 at 2:41pm