![]() Dune HD Max Blu- ray/Media Streaming Player Reviewed. Despite what a few audiophiles will tell you, vinyl at any meaningful level outside of kitsch is dead and CDs aren't far behind. Sure, there may be a resurgence in physical media sales here and there, but the vast majority of the population, the ones not altogether interested in such things as high- end audio/video, have made the jump to digital music files - quality be damned. The truth is movies aren't far behind, and while we may find ourselves at the precipice of a new consumer format in 4. K, it's streaming and downloads that are gaining momentum. ![]() For a lot of folks, it's the convenience that many of these streaming services and/or their lower- resolution files provide. They're easily indexed, stored, accessed and enjoyed on the go, attributes that physical formats largely lack. Ignoring the portability factor for the purposes of this discussion, one must take a good long look at the convenience that services like i. Tunes, Pandora, Amazon. VOD, Netflix and Cinema. Shop for portable blu ray player online on Target.com. Find portable blu ray player at Target. Shop Best Buy for a great selection of Blu-ray disc players, including WiFi streaming & 4K upscaling models. ![]() ![]() Now provide; an endless library from which to choose and enjoy at the touch of a button. No longer do we necessarily have to acquire our media libraries. Now, it seems, we need only pay for a subscription. Additional Resources? Can't they somehow be stored and enjoyed with the same ease and convenience described above? Of course they can, and while the topic may tread through the murky waters of legality, there's no getting around the fact that people are ripping their own content to their various computers, hard drives and/or portable devices. While the practice may be frowned upon, depending on the context, there are no laws against hardware that is capable of playing back such content. ![]() With all of the above covered, say hello to the Dune HD Max Blu- ray/Media Streaming player. The Dune HD Max retails direct for $5. Dune's flagship effort. If the Dune HD Max is too rich or too much in terms of features for your needs, you can easily pick up one of Dune HD's lesser players like the Smart H1, which retails for $3. At first glance, the Dune HD Max looks like your run of the mill DVD or Blu- ray player, as it's roughly the same size and shape as most disc spinners and is clad in an all- black aluminum housing. But appearances can be deceiving for the Dune HD Max endeavors to be the centerpiece of your home entertainment system and digital lifestyle, but I'm getting ahead of myself. The front panel of the Dune HD Max is broken into three distinct sections. Moving from left to right, you'll find its Blu- ray drive, followed by its center- mounted display and ending with its 3. SATA hot swappable hard drive bay. Resting along the bottom are the Dune HD Max's manual controls, which are mostly suited for optical disc playback. There's also an SD card slot, as well as a USB input located on the front panel. Llll Today's best Blu Ray Player deals The HotUKDeals community hunts down the cheapest price for Blu Ray Player Best price & sales discounts hotukdeals.com. Shop 4K Upscaling Blu-ray Players and DVD Players at Electronic Express. Fast shipping and friendly service. Trusted since 1983. Blu-ray Player DVD Player 4K UHD Blu-ray Player 3D Blu-ray Player 3D Blu-ray Player/Hard Drive Recorder. Llll Today's best Blu-Ray deals The HotUKDeals community hunts down the cheapest price for Blu-Ray Best price & sales discounts hotukdeals.com. The Samsung Blu-ray Player BD-JM57/ZA features built-in Wi-Fi so you can sync and stream all of your favorite TV shows, games, apps and more. With innovative. Buy today with free delivery. Find your Blu-ray and DVD players. All the latest models and great deals on Blu-ray and DVD players are on Currys. Free delivery or. Around back, you'll find a host of connection options, starting with the Dune HD Max's Ethernet input, followed by two more USB inputs. To the right of those inputs are the video outputs, which include HDMI (1. S and component video outs. Next to them rest a pair of digital audio outputs, one coaxial, the other optical, both flanked by a pair of analog audio outs. Across what I'll refer to as the great divide (more on that in a moment), you'll find the Dune HD Max's 7. Dolby True. HD and DTS- HD Master Audio, even if your current AV preamp or receiver doesn't support them. Another nice feature that compliments the Dune HD Max's analog audio outs is its digital volume control capability, which makes items like AV preamps superfluous in certain installations. Next to its 7. 1 analog outs is the Dune HD Max's AC power receptacle and master power switch. This is an awful lot of physical connections and features for a player that measures just under 1. Even its weight out of the box is manageable, at a touch over nine pounds. What makes the Dune HD Max special, however, isn't what it possesses on the outside. Instead, the Dune HD Max is all about what's on the inside. At its core, the Dune HD Max gets its strength from its Sigma Designs SMP8. Blu- ray drive, gives it the ability to play back virtually every video format known to man. Supported video codecs are MPEG2, MPEG4, XVID, WMV9, VC1, H. MKV, MPEG- TS, MPEG- PS, M2. TS, VOB, AVI, MOV, MP4, QT, ASF, WMV, Blu- ray ISO, BDMV, DVD- ISO and VIDEO. The included optical drive supports CD, DVD and Blu- ray data discs, as well as MP3, JPEG and other image discs. Obviously, it also supports retail and consumer- created CD, DVD and Blu- ray discs. Regardless of which video format you choose, you'll have the flexibility to enjoy it either natively or upscaled to 1. The Dune HD Max even supports 3. D video content. Additionally, the Dune HD Max will support the brand new THX Media Director Technology, which will make it the first media server and Blu- ray player in the world to support the technology. Supported audio codecs include AC3 (Dolby Digital), DTS, MPEG, AAC, LPCM, WMA, WMAPro, EAC3 (Dolby Digital Plus), Dolby True. HD, DTS- HD Master Audio, FLAC, multichannel FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, MP3, MPA and M4. A - I think that's all of them. Along with accommodating all of the supported audio formats, the Dune HD Max is capable of playing them back in resolutions up to 1. Hz/2. 4- bit. As impressive as the Dune HD Max's format support is, the way in which it accesses that content is equally impressive. Beyond its optical drive and USB inputs, the Dune HD Max can access content via its 3. SATA hard drive bay, which can house any 3. HDD of your choosing, as well as 3. This means you can essentially turn the Dune HD Max into a multi- terabyte media juggernaut for not a lot of money. A quick search online revealed that three- terabyte hard drives sell for less than $2. SSD drives will run you a bit more. While three terabytes may not sound like enough for those with large HD video collections, it's plenty for even the most vast music collection. Furthermore, there is space inside the player for more hard drive expansion, evident in the placement of two removable panels that I referred to earlier as the great divide. The Dune HD Max can access content via its SD card slot as well, but its real party piece is its ability to be the front man to a whole- home, network- attached storage (NAS) setup. NAS setups allow for you to store all your content in a central location, say, a hard drive array in an office or closet, which then sends content throughout your home via Ethernet connections. Speaking of Ethernet, the Dune HD Max is currently a 1. Mbit device, which is good enough for HD video streaming, but isn't as fast as today's best routers, which are capable of Gigabit speeds. While the Dune HD Max does not feature any sort of Wi. Fi built- in capability, it is possible to convert it to a Wi. Fi- enabled device by sacrificing one of its USB ports to add an external Wi. Fi stick. Regardless of how you choose to connect the Dune HD Max to your network for the purposes of streaming content, connecting it to the Internet will allow you to access many of its Internet browsing, IPTV, Bit. Torrent and radio applications. Sorry, but there is currently no support for services like Netflix, Pandora, Cinema. Now etc., although rumor has it that this isn't the fault of the Dune HD Max or the folks at Dune HD. However, VUDU has been confirmed to be making its way onto the Dune HD Max in a future firmware update. For more on the Dune HD Max's vast array of features and specifications, please visit Dune HD's website. This brings me to the Dune HD Max's remote. Like the Dune HD Max itself, the remote is a full- featured affair. Surprisingly enough, it's easy to use, navigate and even operate from memory after a few minutes of use. Despite having zero backlighting, I still found it functional even in the dark, thanks to its intuitive and straightforward layout. Most commands can be carried out via the remote's centrally located directional buttons and large enter button. Power users will undoubtedly clamor for a QWERTY keyboard, but those with old- school text messaging skills should have little problem should they have to rename and/or move files around via the Dune HD Max's interface. The Hookup - Part 1: Connecting the Dune HD Max to Your System. Simply taking the Dune HD Max out of the box and connecting it to your system is simple enough. In fact, if you've installed a DVD or Blu- ray player at any point, you're more than capable of connecting the Dune to your system. For my system, this meant connecting the Dune HD Max to my Integra DHC 3. AV preamp via HDMI, courtesy of a one- meter Planet Waves HDMI cable. I also ran a generic optical cable from the Dune HD Max to my Integra for music playback, due in part to the Integra's HDMI handshake quirks. I also connected the Dune HD Max to my Napa Acoustic's MT- 3. Dune's performance via my Integra AV preamp. Out of the box, the Dune HD Max's picture settings are pretty much dead accurate for a disc spinner, meaning no additional calibration should be required - on the Dune, that is. If the Dune HD Max were merely another Blu- ray player, you'd be done, but it's not. I requested the Dune HD Max for review because I was looking for a solution that would allow me to stream all my content easily in its true native form. I'm no stranger to media archiving and streaming, having employed a fairly robust network of Apple. TVs throughout my home. However, I have become increasingly unhappy with the Apple. TV's lagging quality and constant updates - updates that have taken it further away from being a media extender and made it more of a streamer for services like Netflix and You. Tube. Also, any fan of Apple or the Apple. TV will note that its video capabilities leave a lot to be desired. Furthermore, no Apple product (out of the box) has support for the Blu- ray format, which is a non- starter in my book. So, while my Apple. TV setup had gotten pretty trick over the years, I was ready for a change. I could've flexed a bit of my .
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
November 2017
Categories |