Dune  HD seem pretty expensive.

 

I guess PCH-A or PCH-C is for me.

 

The Dunes typically get stellar video quality ratings, many codecs and containers, it may be one of the only streamers that does full menus from BD ISOs, the sage being another one. It also has a nice user community with many add-ons available. no XBMC, but does YAMJ and Zappiti for GUI.

 

Check out this thread over at AVS.

 

I just picked up a Smart D1 to play with my UnRAID server.

I may be interested in checking out the Dune players.  They look really sleek.  They use the same chip as the Popcorn Hours. 

 

ratmice: do you know the major differences between the Smart and the Lite?

The C200 and the Dune are the only ones that do full BD.iso menus when I looking into all this a few months ago. the A2xx does lite menus.

 

Haven't compared the Dunes as I couldn't get then here without paying a fortune.

 

I believe the AC Ryan playon (does lite bd menus) will also do YAMJ if you like that wall.

 

Josh

Just pick one up eh ? ratmice. nice.

 

So how much time did you have on it. Can you give us the first hand run down on the dune smart.

 

like

 

What the damages

how does it look and feel?

how well does it performs ?

is it quiet

how does the video reproduce look?

was it east to install and have it up and running?

Did you have YAMJ ?

 

what the WAF factor? from 1 to 10 (with 1 been "the look of: you're wasting our money on this piece of crap" to 10 being "honey, let's go up stair and collect my due.")

 

^^ LOL

Hey

 

Ratmice,

 

I just read the spec of Dune smart.

 

one importance piece of info is the upscaling.

 

How is the upscaling look.

 

can you compare the regular dvd player to the the Dune upscaling.

 

and you order it from where ?

 

When I read the title of this thread, I sing it like this:

Many questions for one so wise, obi_one. 

 

First, when I said just picked up, I meant still in the box in my car. I'm having some work done on the house at the moment, so my UnRAID server is under plastic at the moment. I will attempt to answer as many questions as I can.

 

Damages? They are only available for list, so 259.00 I bout mine from Mike at Duneplayer.com, and thet is where I would recommend you get yours. I think it's the only retailer in the states and Mike is very responsive and helpful.

 

Fit and finish are good, it does not look like it came out of a cereal box, like some of the other cheapies.

 

As for performance, I cannot speak from personal experience, yet. However I did a lot of reading about see players and reviews are great.

 

There are no fans in the unit so it is quiet.

 

As for WAF, this is a slick looking, minimalist unit. It will fit in any location and look right at home. That being said, it is not even in place so the real acid test is yet to come. I am not expecting any acceptance issues.

 

For real world performance, I will have to decline to comment until I actually get it in my system.

 

E one problem, not isolated to the Dune, mind you, is in music access. It plays MANY codecs, but the interface is not that great. The other downside is the lack of gapless playback, which is a problem with lots of other streamers. I am hoping that a firmware update will rectify that. Again, I cannot speak to actual music playback, but from my reading it seems excellent.

 

I will point you to a thread at AVS, which has tons of excellent info:

 

Dune thread at AVS forum

 

I've been using a Dune (Base 3.0) for over a year. It's not without it's problems but probably the best of a bad bunch. It plays just about everything I can throw at it but the GUI is pretty naf. I run Zapitti which is not bad for movies. For music you are stuck with a very clunky interface. IMO, the perfect media player is yet to be produced. Another source of useful information on all the Dune models (and many others) can be found here http://www.mpcclub.com/forum/forum.php

Also have a look at the SageTV HD300.  I migrated to SageTV after using an A200.  The Sage TV HD 300 is better in almost every respect when used in extender mode. 

 

However, running sageTV requires a bit more expertise but it is well worth it.  GL