Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Media player discussion (moved from 861v6 thread)

the guts of our expensive processors are also cheap chips..

Given HDMI output chips have their own clocks, I somehow doubt that changing anything prior to the HDMI output (which is all upgraders are able to do) will help.

I would only do old-school mods on it, screwing around with the clocks is not always the golden ticket. Changing PSU should be straightforward for people used to modding the Oppo BD83 for example as they have similar hardware layout in the chassi and probably need similar voltage. I've made two small mods on mine. Now, it sounded fine before these mods and it still sounds fine after so Success!

Now I wouldn't recommend these to anyone, it's probably better to keep your warranty! Now with that out of the way, this is the damage I did:

Dune mods:
Furutech FI-09 Rodium IEC inlet (Yes, sawing out the old one!)
Furutech Fuse 1,6A 5x20mm (just replacing the stock one on the PSU)

DIY Powercord:
Furutech FI-50 IEC
Furutech FI-E50 Schuko
Furutech FP-3TS762 Shielded powercord

If there was/is a difference I would probably tribute more of it to the shielded powercord than fiddling around in the Dune.

I still like the dune players very much. Used the 1.0 on my system (RadianceXE and JVC HD-750) now i have a 3.0 which i only used on a TV, but it seems the same only much faster reponse due newer GPU.
I only play 1:1 Bluray rips, and i still have to find one that does not work.

I only hear pople complain about it that play MKV's with cripled content inside etc. Take a decent ISP and download 1:1 rips..

w.r.t. Dune 3.0, can anyone confirm if the following is possible by design:-

1) 5.1 MLP DVDA files converted to 5.1 FLAC files (using something like DVDA Explorer)

Stream 5.1 FLAC to Dune 3.0 and

Output via HDMI to HD621 and into M processor

2) 16/44.1 FLAC to go via HDMI to the HD621 and get u/s and apodized etc.

3) 96/24 2 channel play either via HDMI or SPDIF (should be no difference)


If the answer to the above is "YES", then does the Dune 3.0

a) replace my SB+ (which we cannot get into a HD621 without another box)
b) replace my BD player (no major reason but don't need 2 BD devices in the rack)
c) allow me to treat all my DVDA including the 5.1 only files (which Squeeze cannot handle) in the same way that I treat the rest of my music collection....

i.e. disc-less and selected via the remote on the GUI listing on the main screen?


For �369 this seems a silly cost vs other network players (could mention a very expensive one here on HH) that don't do anything like as much as this one.

What have I missed ?

cheers

The interface.....:)

Dont know Nick, I just got the Dune and I am having a bear of a time in getting it to see my windows drive (via parallels running on a mac). Im going to take an external drive and just try plugging that in so I can see how it handles actual media. At some point I will see if I can do the DVDA stuff you are talking about.

1. Yes I have confirmed numerous times that it handles FLAC 5.1 channels 24/96 with no problem.

2. Yes 2ch 16bit-24bit 44.1/48KHZ gets apodized by the HD621.

3. Yep, 2 ch 24/96 is no problem via HDMI (I have not tested coax)

--

NO, IMHO it does not have an interface for music yet that would rival your SB/Sonos. It might come later, but right now, No. What it is so far is a file/directory based player and it needs your TV to show you that directory/playlist.

Yes it does indeed replace your BD player.

Yes it treats 5.1ch FLAC exactly the same as it treats other 2ch music files. The HD621 instantly knows it's 6ch and you get wonderful sound. You can make a playlist of your DVDA/FLAC5.1 and handle them exactly as you handle your MP3 collection. The interface is the file/directory interface. When you load a .M3U playlist you can go up/down in that list with menu button and arrows.

We scream atm for an iPad/iPod/iPhone control/app but we think that they will atleast do a HTTP control this year. But there is no guarantee.

And for those setting it up for the first time. Use NFS/TCP if you want the best speed and reliability. And load the newest firmware from the site as it has the latest fixes. Also it contains an auto update feature that you can enable later on.

+1 NFS setup.

The MyMovies interface is easy to set up, even on the mac.


If this helps anyone, I'm putting together a QNAP 905 Pro Turbo NAS with 8*WD RE4 2T drives via cat6 into the Dune/Popcorn/AppleTV.


EDIT: make sure when you buy your Dune player you ask Mike T (USA distributor) to ensure you have the silent new optical drive and that he loads the most recent beta fw -- he's a good guy and he supports his product personally.

JerryL: you need to put together a NAS box and get MyMovies running on Parallels. If you need some help with that feel free to PM me as I just went through this and make sure if you go this route you use Windows7.

Slightly off topic. But I bought a QNAP TS-809U 9 months ago for work. Oh my god what a piece of crap. One controller went belly up (loosing the whole RAID 6 Array) and getting support from these guys is a total nightmare. I had to go buy another one today because I think it will be weeks before they resolve it (which I believe they will but I know it will be slow). I could go on and on but it's a bit off topic.

If you go to: http://dune-hd.com/firmware/bdprime3/optical_drive_fw/
There are instructions on how to upgrade the optical drive firmware yourself.

Its simply a case of burning the update onto a DVD and inserting it into the drive to apply the update.

If you have version HJBQ, then its strongly recommended you upgrade to HJ95, as the latter version causes playback crashes and picture distortion. I had to upgrade mine.