Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion HiFi & HT Chat Best Movie Streaming Player box

Hello All

I have currently a Dune HD1 connected to my Synology NAS to stream movies that I rip in either ISO, AVI, MKV (depending on film quality, interest in the movie etc..). I also use a cable TV box to stream movies in 1080P.

Knowing that the statement "bits in" are the same as "bits out" is true for some and untrue for others, this means that the player can influence the quality (or not).

We have super speakers, super processors but overall quality is always limited but the weakest link in a system, and I am wondering if there are Sooloos equivalent for movies (capable to transport the best from movies in terms of image and sound) or any basic box (Dune, Apple TV etc..) is enough (bits are bits).

Would a HD621 help to improve the image and sound?

Thanks for your help.

An HD621 will do nothing for the image. You'd need a scaler for that.

I'd always used a DVDO (masquerading as a Meridian 2351) but I sense that they've been left behind and certainly the Lumagen video scalers appear to have more than surpassed the DVDO range.

For audio the HD621 will allow you to access higher resolution audio. This can only be accessed from the HDMI (or modded 3x SPDIF out players) due to bandwidth issues. This will improve significantly your audio over and above the standard output from your Dune.

For video players the Oppo products generally win the best plaudits for spinners (and value for money) but have more limited streaming capabilities. The Kaleidescape players spin and stream well.

Thank you dpstjp, I meant more on the sound side

Again, if bits are bits any streamer should do the same job and the processor should highlight/improve the sound, then apple TV, dune HD or any should be "sufficient".

the Oppo I have never looked at it, but I want to use Plex or XMBC to have a nice user experience, need to check if this is possible

I use XBMC on a passively cooled HTPC. The sound is configured to use WASAPI mode in Windows and overall I�m pleasantly surprised by the sound quality of 5.1 FLAC (from DVD Audio) and HD film sound tracks