Review: DUNE BD Prime Blu-ray Reviewed by: Hi-Jack

Finally the moment has come that a new child is born and not being a boy or a girl, but being both.  That could have been the story but the story is a new player is born not being a DMA player or Blu-ray, but both.  The Hybrid player has seen the light and we will check if it is worth that light or not.  Strap on, as here comes the review you all have been longing for… the HDI’S DUNE BD Prime Blu-ray Media player.

Introduction

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HDI’S DUNE awaits a difficult task as mainly MPC staff and I in particular are “against” the hype created by Blu-ray which is created by the fact PS3 consoles incorporate them. That’s however not the discussion we want to have today.

We dislike Blu-ray partially because of the cost, being too expensive and then there’s the movies being released weeks after the DVD version for which you pay more as well. Times will change though and that requires pioneers like HDI’S DUNE. We all like the networked media players and we are hopeful and excited to sit in front of the first player combining both, the HDI’S DUNE BD Prime.

The difficult task that lies at hand for HDI’S DUNE is to convince me that the Blu-ray addition to DMA player abilities is worth the extra cost over the alternative single DMA players. We will start finding out exactly that in just about as many pages we need to fill in this review to come to a conclusion.

The Package

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We are not aware of what’s inside the package although expect to see the player, remote + batteries, a quick start / full manual and the standard AV cables. It is indicated there will be no cheap HDMI cable in the box but cables sold separately of good quality.

The BD Prime Hardware

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The BD Prime has a size like the usual A/V components being 43cm width, about 5.5cm height and 28cm deep. The unit is looking great and is crafted well. The front is a plastic bevel where the Blu-ray drive sits in the middle, joined left by the display and at the right by some buttons to operate the unit (Play, Stop and Eject). A power button is available at the left.

While in front of the unit, the right side of the player has a USB2 host to connect USB HDD or sticks which is usually easier to access than the rear side of the unit.

Covering the rear end now we found it strange seeing 2 USB2 ports. Well, not seeing two USB2 hosts was strange but finding these separated from each other.

We start off with finding the Ethernet RJ-45 port, HDMI 1.3, 1 USB at the left top rear end, S- Video and Composite, Component, Coaxial audio output, Optical audio output, Stereo L/R, another USB 2 host and finally the 7.1 Analog RCA.

Further do we find a hole covered with a plate which purposes adding the modules that can be purchased separately including Wireless N, Dual SATA and a GBIT RJ-45 which should deliver better network performance (untested). Notice only one of these can be attached and not all 3.

Inside, the player is based upon the SMP8634 chip from Sigma, 384MB RAM memory, 64MB flash chip and a 1GB NAND Flash in order to support JAVA fast in Blu-ray profile 2.0.

The BD drive inside the BD Prime is unknown (unmarked). The chip is cooled with a small fan mounted on an aluminum cooling plate. This cooler is audible (not totally silent) as is the DVD drive, making a light humming noise as well.

Remote Control

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The remote control is the same as we seen before with the HD DUNE media player, albeit in a different color (black). The buttons and features are well arranged but as with most remotes, due to the functionality of the player exceeding the available buttons on the remote, several functions have been assigned to buttons that are not directly reflecting the commands.

We will discuss these options briefly during the media tests later on. Overall the response is good although we find the player reacts slowly every once in a while.

The first time we can test the remote is when we power on the player. A selection is offered to select a “safe video mode” which should lead to an image on your TV.

The remote holds a “mod” button which toggles between PAL – NTSC and HDMI output but we feel HDI’S DUNE made an error here as each cycle will hold the player hostage until the setting is applied. It would be better to offer faster selection to toggle between “all” output modes and when stopped, the current setting is applied. I think of people using Component for projector and HDMI for TV and such.

As stated, several options are located under “unlabeled” options. GoTo is available in two ways, pressing up and down will increase / decrease by 1 minute while pressing left and right will increase / decrease by 10 seconds; This in combination with numeric buttons (1 = 10%, 2 = 20% and so on) form the GoTo functions. A Time Search function is available too.

We handle all the options available during the media playback. As far as response is concerned, the unit reacts quite well on the remote, but occasionally we find slow response due to the system being busy with something else… like switching TV mode for instance.

Hardware Conclusion

Dreaming can do me no harm. I would have liked seeing the front right side incorporate some video input for connecting video cameras or even have the USB which is located on the right side incorporated behind a front door panel for easier access in case the BD Prime is placed inside a cabinet.

More I dislike the fact that placing the unit in standby leaves everything operational which if we combine that with the fact the fan keeps running, USB remains powered (fan is audible too from close by), we have a “green” problem. The cooler remains running because the player remains running as only video outputs are cut off while the rest remains operational. To be green, one has to use the power button and shut the player off.

We are positive on the hardware as we see a nice looking player with options and well built. The modules that can be integrated have only minimal space available inside (see pictures) where we assume it is merely in the form of a plate holding the connection with only one or few cables to be connected internally. The add-ons are not a “slot-in design”.

Since one of the modules is Wireless N allowing 3 antennas to be connected, the rear has been “predesigned” with the holes these fit in. These should be closed with a cap or something to promote airflow inside the unit even though the cooler is only a small one.

PS: HDI’S DUNE will have a second Hybrid player called the HD Center. This model will mainly differ from the BD Prime due to the use of higher quality housing and internal hard drive whereas the BD Prime can only be used with external attached storage. All the rest is alike between both models including add-ons and functionality. The HD Center has a more “high– end” look and feel and is mainly based on the design of the earlier HD media player DuneHD.