It’s time big screens. Whether they are LCD or LED, high diagonal TVs are gaining ground, slowly but surely, a habit. Home cinema moves because it is more convenient and cheaper in the long term. And if a few years ago I was unsure which technology will win out in the battle between Blu-ray and HD-DVD, now we can be sure: Blu-ray format is undoubtedly the new standard for optical disk storage, for decade follows.
Here comes Dune BD Prime 3.0. Dune is firm on her full name, apparently HDI Dune, the first is the model name, and BD stands for Blu-ray drive. 3.0 because, apparently, is the third revision of the same general product. Thus, customer feedback, the conclusions they have drawn people from HDI Dune helped to build the product.
Based on Sigma Designs hardware brand, a brand dedicated to multimedia and embedded solutions, the first is, in fact, very close to a computer. SMP8642 chip is a 667 MHz with 512 MB RAM and 128 MB flash memory for operating system, I suspect that a modified Linux. In addition they recommended a system memory as a USB stick of at least 2 GB. And no, this is not a particular stick, the owner, obviously more expensive, but everything you USB flash drive is handy.
Circuitry
Dune BD Prime 300×77 connecting 3.0 what brings us to the most interesting theme of the discussion: what you can do with it effectively. I said that it recommends to add a USB stick. But do not you worry that it would occupy a USB port, because the first has three in number. What I especially liked, besides the fact that USB drives have more than my laptop, is that they are placed in different places. You have two ports in the back from a great distance between them, to connect the device’s bulky however, that usually does not walk often, and one in the right front, ready to buddy who stick with six- pack of beer brought the last movie.
Now I do not know how you’ve played with great movies (or more), but I found that the USB transfer is slow, slow. Apparently agree with me, those of the dunes have added e-SATA port, for a better connection to external storage media. N / a stick, but very effective for an external hard drive, from your favorite brand. Or if you prefer the hard disk to sit inside, there is room for a laptop hard disk, all connected via SATA. Everything is to format or FAT16/FAT32 EXT2/EXT3. Indeed, premiums and read NTFS disks, but as most Linux systems, can not write to it.
As for connecting audio / video, it is impossible not to find a way, any TV or audio system you have. The solution is simple and modern HDMI’s, but if it is not found on your TV, you have to provide component video outputs (3 RCA’s) and composite video (one RCA). How about sound, in addition to HDMI SPDIF option of both optical and coaxial (RCA), stereo RCA’s just the 2 or 7.1 analog channels separately, through a set of eight RCA’s.
All of the above make extraordinary Prime 3.0 compatible player with other devices regardless of brand or date of manufacture.
Menu
3.0 Prime’s menu is simple and easy to use, intuitive categories that each consumer is already used. In addition, the menu can be found all the functions that make this device the most complete player on the market:
* Web browser
* IPTV
* Internet radio
* DVB-T
* Bittorrent client
* Network browser
As with any player like that, I thought the original navigation has some slight delays, but I soon got used to being patient.
Playback
Playback of Blu-ray is impressive, as seen on a HD screen is big enough. However, he is very different from what we used to see in DVD players. Note that adding flash drive is recommended that to ensure a smooth playback of all Blu-ray discs. Because of the protection functions supported by Prime 3.0, I was unable to make a screenshot of a Blu-ray playback, but I encountered problems. Occasionally one still stumbles on stage, but recovers quickly.
Playback on your disk is not, however, the only option. In addition to the obvious reading of the films on a hard drive attached, Prime is also a portable network that is able to play movies that are on network shared folders that are in both systems to Windows (via SMB ), as well as most distributions of Linux (NFS). Besides, the premiums can read a very long list of containers Audio / Video: MKV, Blu-ray ISO, BDMV, AVI, MOV, MP4, MPEG-TS, MPEG-PS, M2TS, VOB, QT, ASF, WMV DVD-ISO, VIDEO_TS, MP3, MPA, M4A, WMA, FLAC, WAV, DTS, WAV, DTS, AC3, AAC, compressed by any of the algorithms VC1, H.264, x264, MPEG2, MPEG4, XVID, WMV9, AC3 (Dolby Digital), DTS, MPEG, AAC, LPCM, WMA, WMAPro, EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby True HD, DTS HD High Resolution Audio, DTS HD Master Audio, FLAC, multichannel FLAC. In all this adds some image files and pretty much all subtitle formats that anyone can think of.
DVBT
Digital Video Broadcast – terrestrial, for who is not aware, is the digital version of “collective antenna” grandmother. Coverage is relatively small for most positions, which anyway are not many. Most interesting are PROTV HD TVR HD and HD Sport.ro, all broadcasting in 720p. Indeed, to take advantage of the DVBT, have attached a small USB adapter, which connects the antenna.
Internet Radio
Slightly harder to use, but not impossible, is the function of Internet Radio. The manufacturer’s website describes the whole setup procedure, which must be performed using a computer. Once these steps taken, all posts can be accessed easily. The video below provides a brief setup procedure:
Bittorrent client
Although the manufacturer admits it is a relatively new feature that might have bugs and not work as well as a computer, you receive comes with a bittorrent client installed. What is important to note, however, is that it is better to stop before we look at a movie, otherwise they might have problems with playback. A short demo torrent client below:
Internet Browser
The last feature I want to introduce is the web browser. It is an interesting concept, is useful for quick searches on Google or other things quickly, but complex sites do not even front, and the browsing experience becomes annoying. Extra points, however, because you can connect a USB keyboard and mouse, which browser to use.
Conclusion
Dune BD Prime 3.0 is the most complex and most modern devices of “living room entertainment that I’ve seen so far. Although based on very similar to a computer, it is much easier to use and fits much better in the context of “living room”. I recommend it with confidence and, despite the low price is not even a serious thinking to me and I buy it in the near future.