INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Standalone hardware media players have been around for around 5 years (and some of you know that I’ve been putting them through rigorous tests right from the beginning) but they really started to make DVD and Blu-Ray players obsolete roughly a couple of years ago when people started to realize that they can have the basic functionality of an dedicated HTPC system (mainly media file playback, file sharing and web surfing) at just a fraction of the cost and in many cases with superior image quality. Now looking back a few months i really can't remember when was the last time we had a hardware/network media player on our test bench so when a courier arrived at our door just over a week ago holding the latest TV-303D Universal FullHD Network Media Player by Dune HD i felt somewhat relieved to be on the receiving end of a newly released device which is not directly related to PC and smartphones.

  

   Dune HD is recognized as a global leader in high-performance digital media players. Over the last five years Dune HD has received more awards than any other company in the category for delivering the very best in networked digital media devices. Dune HD products support the widest number of digital formats in use today, from Internet-based digital streaming and downloadable content, to disc based formats such as Blu-ray, DVD and CD. The Dune HD line of media players offers superior quality HD video and audio with support for IPTV, VOD, OTT, networked digital files and interactive services. Dune HD offers an array of high-quality digital media players for both consumer and commercial markets. The product line ranges from low-cost, compact set-top box (STB) designs to professional-grade universal media players with internal hard drive bays, optical drives and full internet and content connectivity. All products in the Dune HD line feature the powerful Sigma Designs chipset for extreme speed and performance. The Dune HD line allows for consumers or content operators to choose or customize a solution to best suit their unique requirements. Dune HD devices offer superior quality HD video and audio with support for IPTV, VOD, OTT, network files and interactive content services. This unique combination of home media player combined with an IPTV HD STB in a single unit allows operators to offer their customers the exact content, services and performance that will set them apart. Dune HD is headquartered in Taiwan, with engineering teams in Moscow, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine. The company also has offices in the United States, and a distribution network that covers more 60 countries. With well over half a million units sold to date, Dune HD is set for significant growth in 2013 and beyond.

 

   Much like the previously released TV-301 and TV-101/102 network media players the TV-303D is based on a Sigma Designs solution (8672/8673) and belongs to the Compact product line designed manufactured by Dune HD so don't expect the extra bells and whistles we find in their Smart and Premium series. Once again Dune HD has used the same type of enclosure as with the rest of the compact like which is made by hard plastic and thanks to its small (compact as the name reveals) size and low height it allows for the player to fit pretty much everywhere. The only downside i personally find with that particular type of enclosure is how it looks and feels when you hold it and the reason i say that is because on one hand the rest of the device (interior) is top notch and on the other we are talking about a network media player manufactured by the leading company in the field so i would like to see at least something better to reflect those things. Of course Dune HD does have the Smart and Premium lines which are excellent across the board so i think we can accept the enclosure quality of the compact line especially since it also comes with a very appealing price tag. So let's see what Dune HD has to offer with the latest TV-303D Universal FullHD Network Media Player.

 

 

 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dune HD packs the TV-303D inside a simple medium sized box with a large product image at the front, a 3D Video Compatible statement and their URL.

 

 

The country of manufacture along with contact information is present on both sides.

 

 

The same product image found at the front is also present at the rear above a very short product description written in 6 languages.

 

 

As you cans see the device sits on a piece of cardboard while the rest of the bundle is placed right beneath it.

 

 

Dune HD always offers a complete bundle with their media players and so along with the TV-303D you will also get the Wi-Fi antenna, full sized remote control, 2 AA batteries, USB 3.0 host cable, HDMI cable, Ethernet cable, A/V cable, IR extension cable and the AC power adapter with 4 different plugs (universal).

 

 

 

THE TV-303D

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The remote control not only offers normal sized buttons (and pretty much every button you'd ever need) but also because it comes with keypad illumination in the dark.

 

 

Size-wise the TV-303D is almost 3 times larger than its tiny brother the TV-101.

 

 

As mentioned earlier the TV-303D features the same hard plastic exterior as its predecessors and measures 160mm in width, 115mm in depth and 36mm in height.

 

 

Unlike both the Smart and Premium product lines the front fascia of the compact line only has the company logo, IR receiver, on/off power LED (red when off, blue when on) and the name of the unit.

 

 

Most of the units top is perforated to allow hot air to exit the device with ease.

 

 

Over at the right side Dune HD has placed a convenient hot-swap 2.5" HDD rack.

 

 

A USB 2.0 port is placed over at the left side right next to a SD/SDHC compatible card reader.

 

 

Although the compact line is Dune HDs mainstream line at the rear you get pretty much every connector you'd ever hope to get including a USB 3.0 slave port, USB 2.0 port, optical audio out (SPDIF), Audio/Video out, antenna plug, HDMI 1.4 out, composite video out, IR extender (for use with the bundled cable/receiver), Gigabit LAN, DC input and an on/off power switch.

 

 

The player sits ontop of 4 round rubber feet roughly 4mm in height (you can remove them but i hardly see the reason for that).

 

 

Opening the device was rather easy and i have to say i was quite surprised to see that it has an interior USB port for increasing the system storage (a USB flash drive 4-8GB in capacity is recommended).

 

 

One 256MB SLC NAND Flash memory module by Samsung is placed on the upper side of the PCB.

 

 

Four Nanya DDR2 SDRAM modules (DDR2-667/800/1066) are placed at the opposite side of the PC resulting in 512MB (128MB each).

 

 

The TV-303D packs the latest SMP8672A30-CBE3 secure media processor by Sigma Designs.

 

 

For the USB 3.0 slave port Dune HD has used the JMicron JMS551 SATA II to USB 3.0 Controller.

 

 

Vertical placement is the optimal position for the antenna as seen above but if not possible due to height issues you can always use it horizontally.

 

 

 

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) PART 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dune HD has been using the same almost GUI since their previous generation media players and why not since it's actually amongst the easiest to use we've ever come across in a media player? As always the initial screen allows you to move between the available media sources (network, USB and HDD when installed), TV feed (DVB-T dongle required), favorites screen, available applications and the setup/configuration screen.

 

 

In the setup tab you can change the interface language, set the screensaver timer, configure the date/time, adjust video settings (you can even play with advanced settings such as color depth and colorspace), configure audio (HD audio is only available through HDMI), connect to the network either wired or wireless, choose which applications are shown in the applications screen, change the interface skin, adjust playback references, configure system settings (such as fast disk and SMB access), adjust the power management options, perform firmware updates, initialize/clear system storage, check the installed plugins (none by default) and finally see various info regarding the unit.

 

 

 

GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE (GUI) PART 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are a total of 9 available GUI skins for you to choose from but you can also use your very own (have to place the file in the USB/HDD).

 

 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY - RESULTS

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

   After thinking it over i have decided on performing the same exact tests for all the Media Players i review. This occurred right after some of you emailed me while on my previous position asking for a more reliable methodology when testing such players/recorders. To be honest this may complicate things but it should also save me quite a bit of time in the process. So from now and on testing will be performed with the help of 4 specific MKV media files and several BDISO (when possible), MOV, RMVB and AVI ones, with bitrates of up to 35Mbps, something which as many of you know is not easy to come by. Of course the 4 specific MKV files are ones i ripped myself from 4 Blu-Ray titles i currently own in order to not only manage to hit the desired bitrate of up to 35Mbps but also use specific, high detailed scenes. My good old SONY 55A2000 (already 3+ years old but still my favorite) along with my latest Panasonic TX-P42S20 are the two screens i will be using for testing. In due time and when i finally see a 3D Screen that really makes me want to buy it i will also start using 3D material for testing but currently that is simply not possible and so i can't comment on 3D results. As for sound the audio/video amplifiers used with the two screens are the Yamaha RX-650 and the Yamaha RX-V463 coupled with 5.1 systems by TANNOY and Crystal Audio.

 

     Unlike some of the latest network media players that use the android OS Dune HD is staying loyal to the same one they've been using for years ensuring stability and ease of use for people who are not very knowledgeable when it comes to such things. So once again we found no problems with the GUI or with the various applications offered by default while the range of available settings which you can play around with is vast. Now the good thing is that you can use the TV-303D for media playback right from the box without adjusting anything but Dune HD offers a wide range of advanced settings that can improve the picture quality by quite a bit (however only advanced users should tamper with those). Now as you know i don't currently own an DTS-HD compatible amplifier (something which should change quite soon) so i didn't really test HD sound with the TV-303D but since in the audio page it does indicate that HD audio is possible through HDMI i have no reason to doubt that and that's yet another plus for this product. The best thing however is image quality which even at default settings (without tampering with the colorspace and depth) was both crisp and with very vibrant colors (pretty much excellent). Audio quality was very good and it seems improved compared to the TV-101/301 players but as many of you know audio file playback could be better but that applies with just about every single media player out there. The TV-303D also had no problem reproducing even the heaviest media files i threw at it (even the 30GB MKV rip of the latest Avengers BD) but unfortunately BDISO playback is still an issue with Sigma Designs compatible players and the TV-303D is no exception to that rule. The build-in Wi-Fi worked like a charm and without a single issue but i can't really comment on the DVB-T abilities of the TV-303D since Dune HD did not send a compatible USB dongle along with the unit.

  

   Bellow you will find 4 different screenshots from the 4 specific MKV media files i mentioned above featuring bit rates between 20 and 35Mbps. The resolution has remained unchanged (however the files are slightly compressed to JPEG to save space on the server) at 1920x1080.

 

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

  

 

 

 

 

   Almost 3 years ago i predicted that standalone hardware/network media players would replace everything we knew so far including DVD players, Blu-Ray players and HTPC systems mainly because of their increasing features, picture quality, small size and ease of use. Today i feel i was right on the spot not only because most TV screens come ready with built-in network media players (basic functionality models) and even the cheapest DVB-T MPEG4 decoders also offer basic media playback but also because most people i know have sold their HTPC systems and have replaced them with network media players paired with NAS devices for more flexibility. Certainly one can never know what the future holds and i do hope that one day we can have full holographic projection in our houses from matchbox sized devices but right now network media players are the way to go if you are really into watching movies and the TV-303D by Dune HD is amongst a handful of such devices I’d currently choose to place under my TV sets. Picture quality is superb (crisp with vibrant colors), it has a very friendly graphical user interface (GUI), Wi-Fi works without issues and is quite fast, has room for an 2.5" internal HDD and comes with the continuous support only Dune HD knows how to offer to consumers, need i say more?

 

   As we speak the Dune HD TV-303D Universal FullHD Network Media Player has a retail price tag of USD159 inside the USA and 159Euros inside the EU so i wouldn't call it expensive, quite the opposite. Now i was hoping that Dune HD would launch an DVB-T MPEG4 compatible network media player right from the box meaning without the use of an external USB dongle but to date at least that hasn't happen. You can of course purchase the extra DVB-T USB dongle but some people may not like the extra effort to get a feature that other players offer right from the box. Leaving the housing quality out (which is also the only thing i didn't like much) the TV-303D did meet and even exceed our expectations and because of that it easily gets our Golden Award.

 

PROS

- Build Quality (Overall)
- Amazing Performance (Sigma Designs SMP8672)
- Easy/Hot-Swap 2.5" HDD Rack
- USB 3.0 Host Port
- SD/SDHC Card Reader
- Illuminated Remote Control
- Price (For Some)
- GUI
- Build-In Wi-Fi
- Product Support
- DVB-T Compatible
- 3D Video Compatible 

 

 

CONS

- Hard Plastic Exterior
- Lack Of Support For BDISO/FLV File Types