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Ordered a Dune HD Smart D1

gadgtfreek

SatelliteGuys Master
Original poster
May 29, 2006
22,105
865
Lower Alabama
Ok, so I had ordered the EP950, but I also researched some more on the more expensive option I avoided the first time, the Dune HD.

After some thought, Im gonna go with the Dune HD D1, I may not even open the Micca when it arrives, just ship it back to Amazon for refund. I dont find it fair to open something Im not gonna keep just to experiment with it.


Dune HD Media Player - Dune HD Smart D1 | Dune HD





Will post info after I can mess with it a bit.
 
Just got notification from Amazon (bought directly from Dune USA), it's shipping from NJ (I think) today via UPS. SHould have it early next week.

You can expand it's limited built in memory, which Ive heard speeds up functions. It'll use up to 2gigs, so I ordered an SD card to plug in and do this. You can use USB flash drives as well, but SD looks cleaner to me. There is an internal USB port for a flash drive, but you void the warranty AFAIK to open it.
 
I've had a smart b1 now for about 15 months. i love it, except i was kicking myself for not having done it sooner.

i liked it so much i bought 2 more ;-)

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2
 
Thats pretty much what everyone else says. They have been out awhile, which is a good thing, but the common comment is "reliable". Should be that way though, they are the most costly.
 
Picking up Dune from UPS today, will go home and install along with wifi adapter. Report back later on some info and pics.
 
So far, just menu options, setup and video processing it surpasses the PCH A-300 easy. Also seems more polished navigating blu-ray ISO with full menu's. My two complaints would be that the two USB connectors are on back are too close together (if trying to use a USB wifi stick and say a USB external HDD), and the long rectangular form factor. I do like how the front panel will show the current time when off, but I'll be using lightdims to dim it down a bit.

It comes with 16mb's of flash storage for some things, but you can upgrade with an SD card or USB stick to 2gb's. I used an SD card because it hides nicely in the front and does not use up a USB port. It worked just fine for me. I hooked it up via ethernet and upgraded to the latest beta, which is 6/8/12. For some reason Dune is way behind on their website so doing a FW search thru the player is the best method for new goodies.

I watched some Fast Five real quick, PQ looked great and lossless audio bitstreamed just fine. I then used DVE and Spears and Munsil to test video output, and it passed with flying colors. Thats a lot more than you can say for the 300 series PCH models.

As it stands right now, it may be using an older Sigma chip and is also more expensive, but I recommend the Dune over a 300 series PCH.





 
Last edited:
Hey John, what video mode settings are you using?

Im pretty sure auto framerate should be 24/60hz so I would get 24hz playback on Blu iso's, but video mode is a little confusing. There is either 1080p/60 or 1080p/59.94. Isnt 1080p/59.94 technically the correct setting? Reason I say that is because 24hz is actually 23.976.

Or should I be using 1080p/60 and then auto frame rate 24/60hz for blu-ray?
 
I did some reading at AVForums, and it appears this would be the correct setting for me:

Video mode: 1080p/60 (menus and such)
Auto Framerate: 24/60hz (when blu-ray Iso is played this takes over and changes output to the native 1080p/23.976hz)
 
Here some more shots:

This is player output while its just sitting in it's menu mode


Player output during blu-ray file playback


Player data after info button press


My setup options






Bouncing screen saver


Standby mode after I added lightdims (looks better)



Some pics turned out shaky because I was one handing the iphone I reckon.
 
that looks right.

one thing i really like is that my marantz processor has an abt chip and it recognizes film cadence converting my dvds to 24hz when appropriate for the source material.

Sent from my MB855 using Tapatalk 2
 
Thanks, from my reading the Video format is not as big a deal for blu play back if you have auto framerate one. 1080p/59.94 or 60 and Auto 24/60 seem to be giving me what I want. Playback is smooth and it's sending 1080p 23.976 to my display.
 
No problem. Ever since Oppo removed Iso support Ive kinda been looking, I like just keeping the stuff loaded on an external drive until I can get to it. Problem is, these media players are the wild wild west. They have all kinds of brands that play all kinds of formats, but not all of them do it reliably or accurately. These Dune's have been out awhile which is why they are probably so reliable, like the 200 series Popcorn Hour, and Dune seems to be pretty good about pushing out FW updates too. It'll be interesting to see where the media players head into next year. The Realtek chip which is used in units like the Micca is supposedly stopping production, so the Sigma chip in the Dune and the PCH may be one of the last around unless something new comes along.

Im sure Hollywood would love to see media players die.
 
One more note. Fast Five is a seamless branching title, which is known to give some units grief in Iso, especially the 300 series PCH. What I found is that the Dune did have a hiccup loading the title with BD Full menu, but when I stopped, then played again with BD Lite, the movie fired right up without issue.

I watched Lockout with the full BD menu and it was a little laggy, like an older Blu player, but it did just fine.
 
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