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Product Support => Dune HD Max Vision, Pro Vision Solo, Real Vision 4K => Topic started by: Nice Monkey on June 08, 2021, 09:12:02 AM

Title: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 08, 2021, 09:12:02 AM
This is a full review for the new "Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K" players. Dune clearly made a huge marketing mistake not including DV with their earlier RTD1619DD models which they quickly corrected launching the Vision Series players. I don't expect new models to replace these again any soon.
 
Most of the review in fact applies to the full Dune HD Vision family series including: Real, Pro, Max and Ultra models. My review includes hands on experiences with both the Real and Pro models. I own a Real myself and a friend just got himself the Pro model. Got my hands on a Max during a couple of days. Where other differences apply for Max and Ultra versions this is indicated.

My personal use of colors:
- Action Points (my to do list together with Dune)
- Positive market differentiators
- Inconveniences open for improvement
- Caveats or serious shortcomings to be fixed
Obviously my marking is somewhat subjective.

Be aware I am a purist and use only 1:1 backup copies for movie playback being DVD, BD, BD-3D or UHD/HDR BD in ISO's or folders. Music files are SACD ISO, DVD-Audio ISO, DTS-CD and FLAC/MP3 only. Don't ask me questions about other formats/containers.

I am using a Philips 55OLED805 TV plus an Onkyo RZ720 AMP during my review and an OPPO UDP-203 as reference for Video / Music playback functionality and quality.

At the moment I am still in close dialog with Dune for several findings with initially good and quick responses but it varies depending how busy they seem to be. I am pleasantly surprised overall on the problems solved and how stable it got since the first communication.

For the new GUI/Launcher and My Collection under development: "dune_firmware_tv175u_220630_0727_r20.dff" has just been installed and is under test.
See Appendix-A for my current findings. The "NewGUI" experience will be integrated into the review when a final version is released.
This FW in fact synchronized again all feature for the last 3 generations Dune players (since 2018) which I regard as excellent support.

Intro:

The player seems to be a replacement for both the Dune HD Realbox 4K and the Dune HD Pro 4K II player clearly meant to be competitive on price with the Zidoo Z9X. I must say that target seems to be hit. It is close enough on price with the Realbox 4K but almost a RTD1619DR + BT5 upgraded Pro 4K II on specifications. Even the physical size measuring 160x115x26mm is midway achieved by stripping all non-essential ports.

What makes the Dune Vision series unique is the OS. Dune is using since many years their own Linux based Dune OS. Next to that they integrate the Google Android TV 9 OS as found on many Smart TV's today. This way additional APP's can be installed using either OS. Dune claims to be able to totally control the resource utilization of Android TV avoiding potential negative impact on Dune OS integrated media players.
For Dune OS this is limited and above all supported by a Russian community. For the strict Google controlled Android TV this is different as it offers the same as found on Powered by Android Smart TV's. Multiple TV manufacturers similar to Panasonic, Philips and Sony ditched their own OS versions in favor of Android TV. This makes it only more attractive regarding APP variety, updates, stability and quality.

Chapter-1: The HW of Real and Pro Vision
The specifications and some pictures can be found at Dune directly:
https://www.dune-hd.com/products/dune-hd-real-vision-4k
The Dune site also includes a nice comparison table of FW features and HW provisions for the 4 Vision models.
For a lot more pictures and peeps at the menus see this French review which reads nicely with Google Translate:
https://cod-box.net/dune-hd-real-vision-4k-test/
My review is very much complimentary being mine a lot more technical and detailed but far less fancy.

The first thing worth to mention is that all Dune Vision players seem to be using almost the same FW just changed for HW specifics. That makes Dune support a lot easier but also makes this review apply for most part to the bigger models too. See the Dune site for all details but in a nutshell here are the characteristics:

Unboxing
The player actually comes in a very good looking box and is very well packed.
It contains: The player, the brick type PSU including 4 plug adapters for global deployment, 2 external antennas, HDMI cable, BT remote and even an IR extender plus a 3.5mm A/V cable with 3x RCA plugs. This is very convenient and complete above all for an entry level model.
There is only a leaflet included but on the Dune site an online manual can be found. 

I do like the new Dune HD Real Vision Duo model. =Real Vision with 4 Gbyte RAM, 32 Gbyte flash and 2 Quick Loading bays at the front. All this for just $ 100 extra (OK offered only in the US).:
The Pro unit has a bit simpler but still nice box but surprisingly comes without the IR extender and RCA cables being bundled. Other items are similar just being a bigger PSU.


The Unit itself
The Real player comes with 2 GByte RAM and 16 GByte Flash memory residing on a dedicated motherboard for this model. I expect this to do just fine. The Pro comes with 4 GByte RAM and 32 GByte Flash memory.

For Android applications the Internal storage of Real can be expanded by inserting an SD-Card into the slot (low Read/Write speed). Within Android setup => Storage the SD- card can be found and be formatted for Internal Storage or Portable Storage. Internal Storage formatting works and some Android Data can be moved to it. That process can conveniently be undone too.
If you do so the storage will still be seen by the Dune OS as portable and offers to format it which obviously never should be done. The card may neither be removed as it will make Android unstable for sure. Dune promised to solve this in a coming FW update.

Dune next decided to bundle the Real Vision with a brand new little BT Remote Control. In practice this small remote works well with the advantage of BT, but is missing some direct action buttons. If you also use the excellent Dune Control app then this is less of an inconvenience. Buttons for TV Power, V+, V- and Mute may be programmed to IR which is very pleasant (see the leaflet included for instructions).
When doing a factory Reset the default pairing is lost and must be done when initializing the player again (V+ & Enter kept pressed for 3 seconds). A warning about that Factory Reset as it will reduce the Audio Output level again to the reduced factory default. Dune promised to change that too.

This brings me to the antenna's. The Real Vision is a nice small box but got the same huge antennas from the other big(ger) vision models. Not really good looking for some of us. What is the problem as these are made removable even for the entry model? Dune decided to combine BT and WiFi antennas for the Real Vision model to reduce some costs but bundling a BT remote these antennas can't be removed in practice as a consequence. You might get the Dune HD Premium IR remote for it to remove those as  the box comes even bundled with an IR extender. For me a bit strange overall move and HW bundling. Got myself that backlit Premium IR in the end.

Regarding ports there is only one HDMI-Output, no HDMI-Input, no SATA connector, no USB2 and no USB3c (just 2x USB3) with Real. For me personally the absence of a SATA connector is the most relevant. I you need any of these extra ports get the Pro Vision instead. That model also has a  bigger front display of 6 position HH:MM:SS instead of just the 4 position HH:MM of Real Vision and a HDD bay. Frankly the display of Real Vision is just too small for me as I can't read it from a typical viewing distance. The Pro on the other hand comes with a real nice bigger than average front display. The clock on the Pro is configurable for displaying seconds or not (4-pos).

All models above Real come with 4 GByte RAM,32 GByte Flash and a second HDMI Audio output only port. Dune offers no choice for Audio on Main + on that 2nd Audio only port concurrently. Both my Egreat A11 and Zidoo UHD3000 do enable to choose dual audio output or on 2nd HDMI only (Auto is the default). This may be relevant with some setups.

The Max Vision and Ultra Vision expand further with dual HDD bays and a graphical front display plus an Analog Stereo DAC with XLR outputs. The Ultra with top of the line DAC and PSU components, additional DAC inputs and a lot bigger front display. According information I got the info displayed on the Front panel is actually the same for Max and Ultra models.
Player functionality on all Vision players remain almost the same regarding software features. 

Power provision
In contrary to the old Realbox the new Real Vision comes with an adequate 12V 2A PSU and supplying power to the 2x USB3.1 ports (800mA) should not cause any problems.

Real Vision Power consumption measurements:
Idle:           1.5 W
Play:           2.8 W
Sleep:         1.2 W
Standby:   <0.1 W
It has no fan and only some vent openings at the bottom which is very adequate.

Never seen such low values before. If you are a really green person this is the box to get.
It takes about 50 seconds to boot which is somewhat longer than usual but it clearly does HDD startup in parallel. If you like the clock during sleep it is probably more convenient just to leave the player always on for better display visibility.

The box will always boot up when powered on, has no battery backup cell for the clock and does not support WOL (Wake On LAN). By default power off will result in a sleep mode but this can be changed to a real standby mode by a power setup APP setting.

Chapter-2: Menu, Setup and Bundled App's
Menu's
Getting familiar with the Dune menu structure takes some getting used to despite being intuitive enough. There are more Icons than on most players and not all really useful for all. Fortunately many items can be expanded or suppressed. The level of optional customization inclusive using custom skins and custom language packs is fairly high. One needs to consult the Dune online manual for using these.
https://dune-hd.com/eng/support/online_manual/getting_started
It is good to see such a manual with essential information for the various players.

Setup
The Dune setup uses the same icon structure as the main view. Going over settings is easy enough. Strange is that for a player running its own Dune OS that it has multiple essential settings (hidden) within Android setup. Good examples are BT pairing, HDMI Range and drive "Eject". Various Android settings for Audio and Video are under investigation on its functionality and usefulness. Most are very likely not used at all, but that makes it even more confusing.

Worth mentioning is that Dune has proven that HDMI-CEC can work well with both TV and TV+AMP setups:
- Switching to the designated HDMI port on my AMP automatically when powered on.
- Volume control of the AMP via HDMI-CEC using the volume control of the player.
Auto power-on or power-off in any combination with TV and/or AMP is not used by me but is configurable.

Bundled APP's and Android TV compatibility
Standard facilities and players for Pictures, Music and Movies are to be found on the main page. Bundled APP's can be found under Android Applications respectively Dune HD Applications.
The Dune HD APP "DUNE-HD.TV" requires an account and was removed by me. Radio Time is very nice on the other hand.

It is possible to get a lot more Dune HD APPs using patch "dune_service_install_dunestor_extension_v3.1" but these come from Russian users. The courageous can give it a try. A lot is actually also in English and usable. It is a lot for sure but potentially some may be highly illegal too? No guarantees or support by Dune here.

Under Android Applications come several more popular app's. One needs to be aware that these need to be installed first. It includes amongst others the famous Android TV Launcher, Google Play Store, Netflix, Youtube, HibyMusic and SBMC. App's can be added using Aptoide or the Google Play Store. In that sense it is even more flexible than Android TV coming with Smart TV's.
I found the Android TV compatibility to be excellent but keep in mind that only App's designed specifically for Android TV will be found on the Play Store and not those for Smart Phones! Some will exist in both versions but many won't.

NAS Support & SMB Server
Standard provisions for NAS access via NFS, SMB and UPnP/DLNA are included. The player can also act as a SMB Server which APP is to be found under Dune APP's. Unfortunately this APP does not allow full device access for all HDD's via a single share "\share" or "\public" is commonly used for that. Instead a HDD must be found with its HW ID as an unique share name which makes HDD dynamic swapping impossible. Just use Internet Explorer with the matching IP-Address e.g. \\192.168.2.1\ to find those share names.
Using W10 SMB Client I needed to use the Server Name in front to connect as using the IP-Address did not work there for me. Strange!
Neither setting an UID/PWD or Read/Write for access is possible. Positive to mention is that it puts the Volume Label in front of the HW ID for ease of  identification and that the Read/Write performance is good.

File Browser:
The File Browser is called "Sources" here. The APP works fine with all common file handling features available via pressing Menu and including several options for changing the actual view.
Missed just an "Eject" facility to swap files. That Eject actually exists but is deeply buried under Android Setup. Dune promised to add it in a future FW. They included a "Watched" feature with the recent FW update and is now included.
I am also missing the option which I always use myself which is "parking HDD" when not active for a set time interval. That reduces power/heat and next above all the noise produced by them. 

Chapter-3: Movie/Video playback

Videos can be started using the File Browser directly or using a Poster Wall.

The Video Player
Warning: Video setup parameters are used a bit different on this player than on most other players I used.
It starts with the Video Mode which is here not the "default video mode" but "maximum video mode" which is to be taken literally. It should be left on Auto (EDID) in almost all cases avoiding limiting TV capabilities. An exception may be using a HDMI 1.4 restricted AMP in between. As a consequence all menus and music playback will happen with the highest definition supported which may have you straight away running into HDMI cable limits.
Warning: The Dune showed to be extremely critical on cables. Swapped myself to the cable it came with in the box. In combination with UHD HDR video plus HD sound it may disappear and sound with side effects or drops. The sound will suffer first not the video strange enough. My Zidoo players all work under those same conditions with my old cable.

Enabling Auto Frame-rate and Auto Resolution will downscale actual movie playback output to the format of the source. Also set Preferred HDMI color depth then to: As in content. The TV will next do all the resolution upscaling which it mostly does excellent. If you want the player to do the upscaling then disable Auto Resolution.
It is the first implementation I have come across which works as designed with no flickering or other visible adoptions as claimed by Dune The time to get a first display after hitting play with BD-lite varies with the complexity of the source. UHD with DV and Atmost taking the most and a regular BD being very fast.

The picture quality for SD, HD and UHD is on par with other players I own including my OPPO UHD-203 which is my reference for this. Handling UHD/HDR movies with HDR10, HDR10+ and DV neither resulted in observations other than that these are reproduced as they should be. I am not the guy which compares paused pictures, uses test discs or other fancy analysis. So very minor differences and glitches may escape me. For daily viewing I found no problems with any standard video or audio format used by me. I am happy with the PQ, formats supported and far from trivial playback stability.
I am just missing an HDR mode option to toggle DV and HDR10/HDR10+ output for TV's supporting both (setup option coming according Dune).

The player seems to have no problems with my movie collection playing all formats inclusive the DVD/BD menu. Different sound formats including DD Atmos and DTS-X work just fine via my AMP and the BD Full Menu support seems to be better than found on most media players as claimed by Dune. I did not run into any Menu problematic BD discs yet this including UHD and 3D discs.

When playing BD's with menus (Full Menu) the player in fact acts as an equivalent disc player with all interaction going via the BD menu or dedicated remote control buttons. There are then no additional features or options for playback not foreseen by the actual disc being played. This includes external subtitles which are then not supported in any form. You may like it or miss features playing that way but it is not a bad concept keeping it pure. It is the real "just pop-in a disc feeling" that you get playing this way.  Coming from a disc player you will feel familiar straight away.

When playing Full Menu BD then the colored buttons on the BT remote get assigned and e.g. Subtitle and Audio can be selected directly that way. Just press Info for instructions which key does what This for BD's which enable the pop-up menu. If they don't you can press Info which will enable the keys while info is displayed temporarily.

Playing BD's without menus (Lite Menu) with either ISO or BDMV Folder offers several more features and configurable options. This is much closer to the experience playing on other brand media players. There is also a real time subtitle download option for the default system language set. The essential subtitle options are there too: Time-shift, vertical shift, color and size.
Correctly named subtitle.srt files can be put into the BDMV folder as common practice for other brands and will show the matching language when tagged/named properly. Manually pointing to a file via the filebrowser to an arbitrary file and location is not supported.

The on-demand Internet download command will download subtitles for the system set language plus the subtitle set preference and also English if different. This allows searching for 3 languages which will be adequate for most.
Used subtitle downloads ought to be put automatically in the folder of the matching movie for future automatic reuse which it unfortunately does not.

DVD's are always played with DVD Menus and fortunately include external subtitle support with that. The DVD menu processing seems to work well, but frankly hardly tried it thus far.
   
For sure it does not include many blows and whistles as included by some other brands. I would conclude saying about it "the essential set of features is available".
Title: Re: "Dune HD Real Vision 4K" review (most for total Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 08, 2021, 09:12:41 AM
Chapter-4: The Movie Poster Wall
The Movie Poster Wall is called "My Collection" here. Folders can be added to it and next scraped.
A lot of work is currently being done on a merged new Launcher/GUI and the My Collections application. An alpha release is available for it. Just had a brief peak at it but it is already looking good with essential features being there and as far as I tried also running stable. The scraping also went fast as before.
Will update this paragraph with "NewGUI" progress made based on my own experiences using it.

What I am sure about that with Poster Movie Walls it is impossible to satisfy everybody. They all want to work it differently and have different features for: Displaying metadata, import/export metadata, interworking with servers, handling TV series collections, grouped merges, block changes etc etc. They are very quick to call a product shit or worse if it doesn't do certain thing as they like or worked on some other product they have. A Zidoo with HT4 has far more features here for sure and keep adding them.
I personally don't need or want all that and won't evaluate these features neither. They may be briefly tried and mentioned only.

Tried scraping in English and Spanish both giving results in matching languages.
Trial run using a 8 TByte HDD with in total 165 1:1 copies BD's on it:
- Completed in 2 minutes and 1 seconds (which is very fast)
- Found according the log 147 movies (152 files)
- 85 confirmed associations and 67 not confirmed associations
The overall scraping result was not too bad and most could be associated correctly manually.

I hoped the App would use the SD-Card added Internal Storage but did not find it. That is a real missed opportunity. This APP and SPMC/KODI are potentially the biggest benefitters of added Internal Storage. Did not try anything external like Emby, Roon, Plex or Yadis myself.
 
Chapter-5: Streaming Video services
The player comes with "featured APP's" for Netflix and Youtube. These can be installed hasslefree by just playing those installation Apps.

In fact a Dune with Android TV9 on it can run any Android TV APP's and Streaming Services perfectly in a technical sense. Companies like Dune lack the big multinational status plus their relations and many video streaming providers limit Audio-features/Picture-Quality for them on purpose (a kind of unspoken boycott).

So they all run but the biggies like Netflix, Disney+ and BBCplayer will lack some of the high end goodies. This actually may vary over time with each of them. Having a Powered by Android TV myself no problem for me as I can use my TV directly as an alternative to bypass this foul play.
YES for full support you may also get an NVidia Shield or Apple-TV as elephants do it with elephants here clearly.

Tried myself the following designed for Android TV APP's :
Netflix: Video up to HD and sound up to Atmos (No UHD/4K, No HDR/DV)
Apple TV+: Video up to 4K and sound up to Atmos (No HDR/DV)
Canal Digitaal: Video up to 1080P and sound up to DD5.1 (not imposed by any limits)

For now only practical use "Canal Digitaal" which is a supplementary streaming service for Dutch TV bundled with my satellite service. Works well using the standard remote with the Android TV version installed.
Frankly prefer Netflix on Dune (with Dolby Atmos) versus Netflix on my TV (with UHD/DV) as I like the better sound that way as both my TV and AMP don't have eARC. The sound quality difference is more relevant than the picture quality difference for me.

Using streaming services on a Smart Phone and next casting the display to the TV is to be considered but likely also runs into on purpose enforced audio/video restrictions.

Chapter-6: Music playback
My educated guess is that about 5% to 10% of the media player owners are using their player also for music playback. I expect this percentage to be growing now that both the software and hardware capabilities have improved a lot. My own view is that the price/performance ratio of the Vision series is actually excellent as a (HiFi) music player.

Warning: Keep in mind that the Real Vision front display is just 4 positions and that it will show HH:MM also during individual playback of music tracks. This is not a fault but done by design despite resulting pretty useless with this specific model as a result.  It got me confused for quite a while.
Seen the reactions I got from Dune this might change with a future FW update? But it won't get really useful anyhow as this display is simply too tiny to be read with most home setups from a typical listening position.

The standard Music Player has a real lean and mean design and will show only the essential Album, Artist and Title information with the Cover. These are read from title tags and/or a folder.jpg when present. There is not even a progress bar or any control buttons shown. The Dune Control App will show these conveniently though. The only way to get a title/track progress indication is using the info button which then will also show any other tagged information.

This is not necessarily a bad thing as it reserves resources to the maximum for the most important aspect of a music player which is perfect audio reproduction. This player does an excellent job here for all formats tried including High Definition Audio. No hiccups, distortions, crashes or other unexpected things of any kind during playback making the core player functionality outstanding.
Also MCH Music is supported fairly well including: BD Pure Audio , MCH SACD with DSD => PCM and DTS-CD all working as it should. Also the sound is good and compares well with the sound produced via HDMI using my OPPO.

Another smart move made by Dune was to integrate the music player with screensaver functionality. When kicking-in the display is reduced to a small window which next floats around. Using Dune Control with the TV kept off works excellent and is my preferred way of listening.
 
All audio formats claimed including SACD playback via DSD => PCM for MCH 24-bit at 178.4 kHz played flawless. In fact not only DSD64 but also DSD128, DSD256 and even DSD512 were all converted to PCM 24-bit at 178.4 kHz output via HDMI.

No format support wishes left then? Only 3 on my list being:
- DSD output in Native/DoP format via HDMI
- DVD-Audio support for lossless MLP audio playback
- Less relevant an option to quickly toggle MCH and 2CH modes (audio button) now only via setup.
Frankly must add that I don't know of any Android based media player supporting those but my OPPO supports them all nicely. Still can't retire that one as I would like to do.

On the feature side I have only 1 big one and that is gapless playback. Maybe not essential for an entry model like Real Vision but for Max Vision and worse Ultra Vision this is a huge omission. I understand the HiFi models include a gapless playback additional driver specifically for DAC analog output? 
Restricting the gapless playback feature to real albums with an 100% matching codec format used for all titles within the album is my reference. There is really no need for any type of recoding or frame-rate/sample-size matching for gapless playback. Personally I like the feature to be optional with the possibility to turn it on/off.
As a bypass one can use the excellent XRECODE3 Windows program as I do to create single tracks with a matching CUE sheet to play e.g. live albums.

For a fancier interface and more features the HibyMusic App is bundled. This is a special version modified to work with a standard remote under Android TV. It also is one of the few music APP's supporting output via an USB DAC. More about it in the next chapter.

Chapter-7: Custom installed Music Player and Music Streaming APP's
This chapter is 100% applicable to the total Vision series of players.
Is is essential to keep in mind that most Music Player Applications are in fact designed to run on Smartphones and Tablets rather than on a TV. Don't be surprised that many popular ones won't be found and/or can't be installed by using an APK running Android TV (see Appendix for the why).

Music Streaming APP's mostly are written in both standard Android and Android TV versions and can be found and installed straight from the Google Play Store. The player does not come with any Featured Apps for popular commercial Streaming Music services. There is the nice "Radio Time" Dune HD APP as mentioned before included for listening to free Internet music channels.

Obviously started with bundled HibyMusic first.

HiByMusic (Dune Android TV version)
To be found under Android applications. Select it to install it for free next. This version is specially adapted to work well under Android TV and can't be found on the Google Play Store or on HiByMusic's own pages. Can also be controlled using the BT pointer mouse.
For me it is still does not offer a user friendly interface[/color], but it all can be done. There is no support via Dune Control for this app which would have been great.

A stupid left over from the smartphone background is the option to enable artwork and lyrics lookup. This can be selected only to work via WiFi as the app confuses a wired-network with a mobile network. As my setup doesn't use WiFi these features remain unavailable.
 
It has extensive playback capabilities including all common HD PCM formats and all SACD DSD formats even including DST compressed DFF and ISO. It handles CUE Sheets, DTS-CD's (Stereo output only) and will play Gapless when selected.
The library capabilities with scraping the content is available and works for those liking it. My collection is simply too big and too diverse in content and structure to work well with it.

Thus far only used for testing.

Running straight into a few (nasty) problems with standard Android Music Player APP's installed via APK which shouldn't come as a real surprise seen the Android TV OS being used.
- Several applications partially (some panels) or fully show up in portrait mode. Not very convenient to turn my 55 inch TV 90 degrees for using these.
- The cursor buttons controlled standard mouse feature does not work for several APP's. A RF or BT pointer mouse is really needed here (tried both). This above all to perform scrolling. The BT mouse is the original Dune mouse included with the other Dune Vision series models.

USB Audio Player Pro FW 5.9.8 (standard Android version)
UAPP as it is often referred to needs to be installed by APK and isn't full Android TV compatible regarding remote control. The essential operations do work with the standard remote though.

UAPP will also work without an USB DAC being attached but it was designed specifically for that deployment.
- Paid the license (about € 7,-) via the Google Play Store and it got activated automatically.
- Support for almost all Stereo HD Audio sources including DSD/SACD formats makes this APP also special. Currently still missing support for DST compressed DFF files.
- It does not play DTS-CD's but supports CUE sheets for other formats!
- For some operations a mouse is required (the standard button controlled mouse works but a pointer mouse is far better) .
- All sources are played truly gapless which is essential for live recordings!

It has an active forum and ongoing software development.
http://www.extreamsd.com/index.php/products/usb-audio-player-pro

ONKYO HF Player (FW 2.7.0)
This is a real alternative player to be used with external USB DAC's. Can technically be installed but has many problems running under Android TV. Gave up on it using Dune.

For HQ playback the license is € 9,50 for SQ playback it is free (with minimal advertisements).
Also this APP is really designed for Smartphones and needs also to be controlled using a pointer-mouse, which works just fine with Android Leanback. Differences are:
- There is also the free version reducing playback to SR but still handling all albums including SACD DSF and DFF.
- Very smooth on the controls and actions. Playback is gapless.
- No support for SACD ISO directly just DSF and DFF (not being DST compressed).
- Can toggle USB DAC or HDMI outputs via setup which is nice.
- Can real-time convert PCM to DSD which I have never seen elsewhere!
There is still some marginal development for this player but no forum.

Others
Neutron Music Player seems to be another good player with the required HiFi features but was never tried by me.
Title: Re: "Dune HD Real Vision 4K" review (most for total Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 08, 2021, 09:12:57 AM
Chapter-8: Additions for using the Dune HD Max Vision model;
Had the opportunity to do a very quick hands-on for the Max Vision model.

The Max Vision is really well build and sized in standard 19"rack width. It builds on top of Pro Vision regarding SOC, Ports and Remote Controls. It additional has:
- A standard designed internal Linear PSU.
- A very big Noctua brand Fan at the bottom paired with vent openings at the bottom and right side.
- An internal DAC based on the Sabre ES8036 m2q chip with RCA/XLR connectors.
- An OLED graphical display of similar effective display size as the Pro Vision.
- At the back a 2.5/3.5. fixed mount HDD provision plus a quick loading bay at the front.

The cooling is very effective with this unit and also the noise reduction for the loading bay works well. Under normal Auto-Speed conditions tested with a single 3.5 inch HDD mounted via the front it was very silent. The fan starts to make audible noise when speeded up via settings manually only. Did not have time to test using the fixed mout at the back concurrently for which the screws for mounding are included both 2.5 and 3.5 HDD versions.

The DAC included is a bare-bone SABRE ES9038q2m design. When connected RCA to my Onkyo AMP it in fact produced a very similar sound as using HDMI. Please note that the sound via HDMI with Dune Vision models is really good as mentioned before. If you have an external Stereo AMP with no HDMI ports included it may suit well.

Last but not least is the OLED front panel. Don't be mistaken by the size of the window on the front as above all the left/right black bars are big making also space for the IR receiver. It is unlike similar OLED panels on other brands a monochrome light blue graphical display without touch control.
Using a none-documented 2sec press on the Info button on the remote the display can be used for basis file browsing using the remote control next. By default it shows the clock/time. Starting with a recent FW update during playback it can also optionally show a progress bar with progressed/remaining time for Video or a big font scrolling filename/title during Audio playback.
This way the relative simple display is in fact very nice during actual playback.

Chapter-9: Photo Viewer
It is good to see the online manual for the assignment of keys and options. It is easy to miss a few.
Standard features to be expected are all present. Setup for transitions and delay are to be found under Setup => Applications => Picture Show which may be not that convenient for all. The defaults are fine for me.

Seen the fact that the player defaults for the highest resolution there is no need to change this for Photo viewing.
Not obvious is the fact that the Music player can be put into the background pressing Home on the remote. You can next fire up the Picture player for a slideshow with your favorite music playing.
Info will show picture characteristics but no camera meta data. That is a pity.

Chapter-10: Dune HD Support
Writing reviews one gets above average attention for sure, but I can honestly conclude that Dune Support is responsive. As far as the HW allows problems seem to get fixed but some may take their  time as FW releases come at a low pace. Seen the complex nature of media players problems found are relative few.
Dune HD does not have it's own forum but there are various general forum places where sections are dedicated to their products.

A rather unique approach is using the included Dune Support APP. You may be asked to run that APP and make a dump just after your problem occurring. This will be uploaded automatically to Dune and a Dump-ID will be assigned. You need to communicate that one to tie it to your case.
The dump is actually a total live memory dump of your player giving very detailed information to the support engineers. For the security aware there is an implicit risk here as the memory may hold some privacy sensitive information too. If you want to eliminate this potential exposure then you need to do a factory reset prior to reproducing the problem and making the dump. A clean player is anyway a good start for reporting problems.

In contrary to some other brands installing Alpha versions is pretty safe and easy with Dune. Dune uses the term Alpha where others use Beta and going back is as easy as upgrading. If you don't like them then just reinstall any previous version! They are typically also very stable with hardly any faults for things that worked correctly before.
You might consider installing Alpha releases as the frequency of stable Dune FW releases is really low compared with most other brands.

Dune players don't have a Reset key/pin for emergency flashing. The boot process seems to be looking for it always. Just rename the firmware DFF file on the USB flash drive into "dune_firmware.dff" and put it in the root directory. See the Dune online manual for a detailed procedure.

The recent FW updates in fact synchronized all feature for the last 3 generations Dune Players since 2018 which I regards as excellent support including old(er) models.

Conclusions and my personal verdict
This is based on fact and findings for this player but next based on a long history and experience with a slew of media players.

The functionality and OS claims
This player is different in many aspects from many players used by me. The final conclusion from me in one sentence is: "It is a mean and lean machine with still all essential features being included for Video, Music and Picture playback".
This is valid for all media players/app's included. Combined with the OS choices made this results in a remarkable easy to operate, stable and predictable player with hardly any quirks and very few pending bugs.
With bundled original full Android TV 9 including the launcher/GUI it has full "Powered by Android Smart-TV" potential capabilities. In practice this is seriously flawed only by big streaming providers like Netflix which may not be willing to certify the HW despite being 100% compatible.

No it is definitely not the most feature rich player in any area but it may be the most stable one for exactly that same reason! If you value certain specific capabilities (specifically for Poster Movie Wall) then have a thorough check for those to avoid any disappointments. This review combined with the online manual should offer a good start. If a desired feature is not mentioned by either one it most likely isn't there.

The hardware and price
The various Dune HD Vision models are excellent value for money without any doubt above all looking at their functionalities. The Real Vision is a nice entry level portable player but keep in mind it was (port) stripped to the bare minimum. The Pro and Max models in steps offer more again at very reasonable prices.
The Dune Real player has a SD-Card slot and the 2nd OS supported being Android TV does allow to configure it as Internal Storage for that OS. In effect found myself no practical use for it.
Despite being double the price I would always consider getting the Pro Vision instead as HW provision wise it has it all.

Personal verdict
There is a lot of green, some orange and hardly any red which speaks for itself. Bottom-line I really like these players! Dune Vision could even become my favorite player including music with some improvements above all on Music Player supported formats and gapless playback. The sound of a Dune Vision model via HDMI is comparable with my OPPO which can only be explained by using a similar quality crystal oscillator/clock source.
Would love to sound check the Ultra Vision with HiFi Music comparing with my Zidoo Neo X as the essential rock solid basis seems to be there.
Title: Re: "Dune HD Real Vision 4K" review (most for total Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 08, 2021, 09:13:24 AM
Appendix A: The "newGUI alpha FW"
Gave also the "NewGUI update" and my problem list a new view.
Some early findings running "dune_firmware_tv175u_220630_0727_r20.dff"

I do like the PosterWall implementation realized. It concentrates on core "view" features which are starting to work very well. Stability and performance are looking good.
I do like the trailer options with auto play in Netflix view and individual trailer selection on demand.
It does not provide Icon details as some other do: Video/Audio track details, parental advice etc. Some will miss those for sure.

"My Problem list"
- Using the "HDMI Audio only" port with Pro Vision a pause will produce a drop in sound and a nasty tick in audio when coming back. Not the case using the HDMI Main port only. With some AMP's audio kicks in several seconds late on others it also produces a tick which can vary from mild to very loud.
Seems to occur only with HD Audio not standard DD.

"My Inconveniences list"
Which potentially can (easily) be fixed with FW. Some may be caused by HW or legal limitations?
- Going to the Main panel "Sources" all drive icons are shown. Pressing "Info" the "Eject/Unmount" option should be available here next to "Format".
- No external subtitles supported with 'Full BD menu". Maybe an OPPO style support can be included? That player supports only a single SRT having a fixed file name stored on a fixed location.
- Downloaded external subtitles are not saved in the standard place and format for external subtitles. As a consequence they can't be reused (using any media player) nor stored.
- HibyMusic confuses a Wired Network with Mobile Data services.
- No Gapless playback with Music Player. Bypass: Create a single file plus CUE sheet.
- No Native DSD SACD via HDMI (but the DSD 2CH and MCH => PCM conversion is not bad)
- No DVD-Audio MLP support which would make it a perfect MCH Music Player. If that ever comes? Bypass: There are APP's which can extract the MLP 2CH and MCH tracks to PCM.
- All models above Real come with a second HDMI Audio Only output port. Dune offers no choice for Audio on Main + on that 2nd Audio only port concurrently. Both my Egreat A11 and Zidoo UHD3000 do enable to choose dual audio output or on 2nd HDMI only (Auto is the default). This may be a practical limitation with some setups.

"NewGUI"
I am not a very demanding user here so my list is very modest and short.
- Some of the new features can be configured in "Setup / Appearance / Additional" menu which in fact may be called well hidden. At least "Additional" should be labeled "My Collection". Only found it going over the release notes.
- Would like to see the File Title displayed as an option as I tag those with relevant Video/Language details e.g. My Movie (DC DV EN, ES, NLsubs).

These points were shared with Dune support.

Comments are more than welcome.

Appendix B: About Android OS versions and their peculiarities:
This is highly relevant to understand the differences and problems encountered when installing APP's via either the Google Play Store or directly running installation APK's.

Many customers think there is only one Android existing and used universally for everything. As a consequence they expect all Android APP's to run on any platform which they for sure won't.

Android OS versions
There are 3 different Android versions playing a role here. Knowing with which version one is dealing is far from trivial.

Android (standard Android)
It is just called Android running on Smartphones and Tablets
This is the most used Android OS version and referred to by me as "standard Android". It is never used as-is on media players but expected it is often.

The appearance changes with each OS generation slightly adding new features but appearance will vary mostly due to manufacturers/brands mostly using their own overlay on top of it.

Android TV
This is labeled as such and indicated on selected platforms with the "Powered by Android" logo. Only that version is really designed by Google directly for big screens. Android TV or (ATV) must be licensed to be used and may not be altered or customized on a platform to get certified by Google. This warrants stability and compatibility in a high degree.
Using the Google Play Store one will get to see and next get access only to applications specifically designed for Android TV. Some applications exist in both standard Android and Android TV versions to run optimized on mentioned different platforms. Above all APPs for streaming video services are mostly made available in both versions which aren't interchangeable.

ATV comes with its own integral application Launcher/GUI which is really nice and easy to be recognized. Specifically the Launcher/Menu coming with ATV8 and above OS versions is very easy to recognize. it can also be controlled by voice command with remotes including a microphone. 

Android Leanback
But omitting Leanback to be mentioned anywhere causing a big confusing for users and applications to be the standard Android OS version.

This is a modified/patched standard Android kernel for Media Players. It is e.g. patched to be controlled by IR remotes, have HDD's attached via SATA or USB and use the Wired Ethernet. Also the screen aspect ratio is typically forced to use Landscape instead of configurable/automatic Portrait plus Landscape on standard Android.
Manufacturers using modified Leanback seem to be free to use the Android core without licences (remember that is originally a mere linux kernel).

The Android application menu will vary completely with each implementation and may include various options to customize it or not.

Android OS peculiarities
Almost all media players use Android Leanback but some come with Android TV. Using this Leanback Android OS stupid/strange things can happen: Dynamic contrast option for phones, getting settings for battery saving, Notification Bar peculiarities, GPS being expected, APP's insisting to use WiFi as they think a Wired is a Mobile Network, inconvenient keyboard pop-ups, problems with access to Google Application Services and/or the Google Play Store, SDHC optional Internal Storage formatting, limited/bad HDMI-CEC implementation etc etc. IR remote controls often work only partially with installed APP's which often can be improved adding a real pointer-mouse via RF or BT operation to simulate touch screen operations including swiping required by the APP's.

Using different brand media players one will see that the Leanback modification/patching is different with each implementation with varying results for what works or doesn't. Occasionally additional Custom Patching (facilitated by knowledgeable customers) improves standard Android compatibility for certain aspects.

The Android Leanback OS implementation typically comes with the SDK (Software Development Kit) of the SOC providers (AMlogic, Realtek, HiSilicon etc) not from the media player manufacturer. The Android OS upgrade policy hence also comes from the SOC manufacturer! Realtek thus far never upgraded their Leanback OS versions on any of their SOC's once being released (RTD1195=A4, RTD1295=A6, RTD1296=A7, RTD1395=A7, RTD1619=A9). An exception is Hisillicon which moved from A5 to A7 for e.g. Himedia and Egreat media players. It is not media player brand or any other SOC implementer deciding that! For integrated media player FW the Android OS version and generation hardly matters but for App's added manually it for sure makes a big difference.
Title: Re: The "Dune HD Real Vision 4K" review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 08, 2021, 08:45:38 PM

We will follow this with interest
Title: Re: The "Dune HD Real Vision 4K" review (Vision family)
Post by: leonkoum on June 12, 2021, 09:38:00 AM
Very well!!
Keep going
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K functional review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 13, 2021, 09:18:09 AM
The integrated players review part is complete now and highlights are marked accordingly.
Comments and corrections are highly welcome.

Coming is using custom installed Music Players and Streaming Services.
Experiences with Streaming Video/Music services are very welcome. Just share them as comments or via PM.

Possibly pictures will be added too. Just share with me which (of what) you would like to see?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K functional review (Vision family)
Post by: leonkoum on June 13, 2021, 11:48:27 AM

......... 
Playing without menus (Lite Menu) offers several more features including external subtitles with also a realtime download option for the default language.
Bad enough and qualified as a real shortcoming by me is the fact that external subtitles are not found when playing BD Folders and that neither pointing via the filebrowser to a custom subtitle file with any name is supported.
For sure it does not include many blows and whistles as included by some other brands. I would conclude saying about it "the essential set of features is available" with exception of mentioned external subtitle handling.
........
   

I agree 100% here...
Dune MUST take care of this!

Good job NiceMonkey and tnx for the great review.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K functional review (Vision family)
Post by: futeko.com on June 14, 2021, 03:01:12 PM
Excellent detailed review. Thanks for posting it here.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Phil181 on June 15, 2021, 12:19:30 PM
This is a great read.  Thank you so much for your time and effort in providing a detailed review.
I do like the idea of twin HDMI outputs so my AVRKey can be retired!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 15, 2021, 02:12:56 PM
I do like the idea of twin HDMI outputs so my AVRKey can be retired!
From Pro Vision model upwards only. Not the Real Vision being reviewed here.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 16, 2021, 11:53:05 AM

Thank you for this Excellent detailed review.

I'm glad you did this review,

I see nothing to modify everything is detailed and gives an excellent idea of ​​the capacity of the box

It is a good idea to have removed the ''hdmi in'' completely useless in my opinion

For my part it is the video part that interests me including that of the bdmenu support with some movies (BDmenu Avatar) that interests me and it seems that everything is working correctly ?

you say that you will use it for the audio side, for the video part you prefer the other (competitor) ? or are they similar?

if I understood correctly (I am not good with English) it is a basic device which does its job very well associated with an excellent selling price.

Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 16, 2021, 12:18:38 PM
For my part it is the video part that interests me including that of the bdmenu support with some movies (BDmenu Avatar) that interests me and it seems that everything is working correctly ?
Thus far they all worked for me including my reference Avatar BD

you say that you will use it for the audio side, for the video part you prefer the other (competitor) ? or are they similar?
Except subtitles they are similar for the essential features and PQ.
For Audio it is a real barebone player but without any quirks (haha after they solve my issues reported).

if I understood correctly (I am not good with English) it is a basic device which does its job very well associated with an excellent selling price.
Price/performance is on par with that other brand which is excellent too.
Specifically both have very sharp priced entry models.

The player is really different which should appeal to those appreciating its specific goodies.
As Futeko stated before there should be a market for each. I can only agree with . here.

Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 16, 2021, 03:16:07 PM

thank you for your feedback

On the other hand my opinion differs with yours and .'s for what are 2 different markets

I will follow your thread, this box is very interesting, just wait to see if Dune HD updates ''Mycollection''.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 19, 2021, 08:27:41 AM
Got Dune subtitles sorted out. Even Dune Support put me on the wrong leg first. No need for index.srt at all after all.
The Vision in fact supports standard named subtitles in multiple languages the same way with ISO and BDMV Folders. The problem they must be in the same parent folder as the main movie BDMV folder resides. Works next identical for movies in ISO format or in BDMV folders which is excellent news.

Index.srt was an old Dune single subtitle implementation and won't come back.
It is replaced by the universal multiple subtitle support with ISO 2-pos and ISO 3-pos naming convention for language tagging. See example below with 1 subtile without a tag and 2 other subtitles with English and Spanish tags.

Example for Mymovies mainfolder with multiple movie BDMV folders starting with movie-1:
Mymovies/
Mymovies/movie-1
Mymovies/movie-1/BDMV
Mymovies/movie-1/CERTIFICATE
Mymovies/movie-1.srt
Mymovies/movie-1.EN.srt
Mymovies/movie-1.ES.srt


Adding them 1 level down to the movie-1 folder itself:
Mymovies/
Mymovies/movie-1
Mymovies/movie-1/BDMV
Mymovies/movie-1/CERTIFICATE
Mymovies/movie-1/movie-1.EN.srt
Does not work. This is what all other players use.

Dune confirmed they will support BDMV folders with subtitles within the folder with the coming  FW update.
Excellent news.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 25, 2021, 09:09:33 AM
The review got a first quick read/comment by Dune.
Everybody is invited to do the same. Also grammar corrections are more than welcome.

A relative small number of changes for typo's and corrections are included now.

Now waiting for a Beta update which should come in a few days enabling me to finish the job.
Maybe some pictures will be added too? 
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 26, 2021, 03:58:48 PM
Hello,

A person inquires about zidoo and Dune HD devices.

About audio, he is an audiophile.

About the video, he uses iso/bdmv.

He wonders what is the difference between the Dune HD Ultra Vision 4K and the Dune HD Max Vision 4k, is it only the DAC or is there something else ?

If someone can help us?

See you soon
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 26, 2021, 05:22:08 PM
Dune MAX <=> Ultra and Zidoo UHD3000 <=> Neo X
UHD3000 is clearly above MAX but if Neo X is also above Ultra? Both designs actually follow the same design principles and use similar components. Would love to try it myself.

It is all about sound and obvious a far bigger front display.

Topnotch sound calls for top quality components and good design all around. That is where the differences are:
The DAC chip itself being the PRO version, all components top quality including two femto precise oscillators, the analog balanced outputs and the Dual Linear PSU's. No they both offer nothing different but everything just a bit better.

On a very good stereo setup with quality audio source material it is easy to perceive.
On average installations using typically a sound bar or equivalent I would not spend my additional good money on it. The law of the weakest link for sure applies here. An old rule of thumb says spend at least 1/3 of your speakers investment amount on your AMP (including an internal/external DAC).
When comparing these media players inclusive DAC with similar audiophile brands/products then they offer really excellent value for money.

Having either one I might be tempted to use it as a dedicated Stereo Music Player relying entirely on the front display plus Smart Phone APP for its control. A dedicated 2.5 inch Music HDD for no audible drive/fan noise disturbance would complete it. It would be attached Analog only to my AMP running in Stereo mode exclusively.
For MCH Music I would use then my Movie/Video media player HDMI attached via the same AMP to my TV.

For the video part there will be hardly a difference if perceivable at all. The better PSU for sure does not harm but if it is the weakest link?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 26, 2021, 06:56:33 PM

Thanks Nice monkey  :)

-----------------

About me, I will buy a Dune HD in the next few months, (maybe buy with .) Zidoo not making progress with some of the features they put forward on their website and that are important to me, it seems to me that the Dune HD becomes the box that will suit me best.

I hope you will keep this thread updated as I will rely on your opinion and experience with the Dune HD

See you soon
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 27, 2021, 12:49:30 PM

About me, I will buy a Dune HD in the next few months, (maybe buy with .) Zidoo not making progress with some of the features they put forward on their website and that are important to me, it seems to me that the Dune HD becomes the box that will suit me best.
I have a bit of a doubt that you are a typical Dune customer?

I hope you will keep this thread updated as I will rely on your opinion and experience with the Dune HD
For sure will.
See you soon
Don't doubt it for a minute
Got Google Services working reliable now but on hold again running into new show stoppers running alternative Music Players.

I hope these will be fixed as quick as the previous. I expect a FW to be released this week.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Ter0 on June 28, 2021, 01:03:30 PM
Here's on review in french :(

Use google translate :)

https://cod-box.net/dune-hd-real-vision-4k-test/
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 28, 2021, 01:41:21 PM

About me, I will buy a Dune HD in the next few months, (maybe buy with .) Zidoo not making progress with some of the features they put forward on their website and that are important to me, it seems to me that the Dune HD becomes the box that will suit me best.
I have a bit of a doubt that you are a typical Dune customer?

You think I might not be satisfied with a Dune HD ?

I hope you will keep this thread updated as I will rely on your opinion and experience with the Dune HD
For sure will.
See you soon
Don't doubt it for a minute
Got Google Services working reliable now but on hold again running into new show stoppers running alternative Music Players.

I hope these will be fixed as quick as the previous. I expect a FW to be released this week.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on June 28, 2021, 01:49:23 PM
Here's on review in french :(

Use google translate :)

https://cod-box.net/dune-hd-real-vision-4k-test/

Thank you Ter0

A nice review and a comparison with its direct competitor the zidoo Z9X, what he says about the zidoo Z9X seems correct and he made the choice to keep the Dune HD
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on June 28, 2021, 02:12:24 PM
Here's on review in french :(

Use google translate :)

https://cod-box.net/dune-hd-real-vision-4k-test/
Nice review too. It is very much complimentary to my own which is a lot more technical and detailed.
Do this on purpose. Fortunately their and my conclusion are matching.  :)
To state it differently if you are basically a KODI fan go Zidoo if you are more of an OPPO fan go Dune.  8)

Added your link to my own review. Above all for those liking a lot of nice pictures.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on July 04, 2021, 09:30:46 AM
Added use of the info button and the colored remote keys playing BD with Full menu.

Made several other updates and small additions.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: leonkoum on August 16, 2021, 07:51:38 AM

......... 
Playing without menus (Lite Menu) offers several more features including external subtitles with also a realtime download option for the default language.
Bad enough and qualified as a real shortcoming by me is the fact that external subtitles are not found when playing BD Folders and that neither pointing via the filebrowser to a custom subtitle file with any name is supported.
For sure it does not include many blows and whistles as included by some other brands. I would conclude saying about it "the essential set of features is available" with exception of mentioned external subtitle handling.
........
   


I think that with the latest alpha fw (http://files4.dune-hd.com/tmp/dune_firmware_tv175u_210625_1453_r17.dff) there is some progress!!
Seems Dune is working on it.
Please check and confirm!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 18, 2021, 03:41:53 PM
I was running that FW and in fact the last review update is based on it. Added this to the review.

The remark in red is still valid. Menu Full is without external subtitles but Menu Lite supports them just fine if named according the common media player subtitle naming convention correctly.

Now running an RC Dune Internal version to validate 2 more bug fixes reported. That also includes the new GUI. Fixes will be included with the next FW update.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 23, 2021, 03:48:21 PM
Thusfar I do like the new GUI and Poster Wall. I am not a real good tester as my requirements are relative low. Use it for movies only and scraping my folders was still fast and accurate enough.

Still need to test some fixes made available to me.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: leonkoum on August 23, 2021, 07:14:29 PM
Next dig think to do is to add flags (atmos, Dv, dts, 4K ..) in poster wall…
There’s more work to do… ::)
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 24, 2021, 10:02:59 PM
Next big thing to do is to add flags (atmos, Dv, dts, 4K ..) in poster wall…
There’s more work to do… ::)
There is always more work to do for Poster Walls.  ;D
Everybody wants different things for individual use.  ;)
A big step was made though.

The 2 mentioned problems on my individual list were confirmed by me as solved.  :)

Updated the review matching the last Alpha available.
The gap between the factory default FW and this Alpha FW has become quite big. Personally I qualify it as a quality Beta to be honest.
 
The big still missing piece is about using external APP's for Streaming services and Music Players.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on August 26, 2021, 02:45:06 AM
Hello all,

what do you think of the GUI?

I just spoke with Mark and he said it's awful
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 26, 2021, 02:59:49 AM
Haha discussing taste is a difficult topic. But as you can change the GUI in many aspects it is fine for me.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on August 26, 2021, 11:31:43 AM
Hello Nice monkey,

Yes, that's right,

Is there a video that shows this new beta GUI ? Or can you make one to see how it is when you use it?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: BigZ12 on September 05, 2021, 09:46:19 AM
After installing the alpha firmware with new GUI, I got a question after the update was finished regarding upscaling.
If I wanted the tv or the Dune to upscale video with lower resolution.
I think I answered the Dune, and not my LG OLED CX.
What's best?

If I want to change, where do I do that? Can't find the option in settings.

Hoping for an answer!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: mytich on September 05, 2021, 06:28:22 PM
After installing the alpha firmware with new GUI, I got a question after the update was finished regarding upscaling.
If I wanted the tv or the Dune to upscale video with lower resolution.
I think I answered the Dune, and not my LG OLED CX.
What's best?

If I want to change, where do I do that? Can't find the option in settings.

Hoping for an answer!

Set "match resolution" to ON :)
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OMEGAZULUL on September 07, 2021, 01:38:11 PM
Does this device support Tv-led Dolby Vision? Is it specific to some formats or profiles?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: mytich on September 08, 2021, 11:25:36 PM
Does this device support Tv-led Dolby Vision? Is it specific to some formats or profiles?

Yes it does, you can select both tv-led or LLDV and doesn't matter which profile it is.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: johnnyc604 on September 23, 2021, 08:24:50 PM
Very nice review. Appreciate the work you put into this, and sharing.

I have one annoying problem with the included BT remote. On a very large screen HDTV, the mouse pointer speed is so fast that the air mouse is extremely difficult to use. I contacted Dune Support to see if there was a way to adjust the pointer speed, and they told me to use their control app istead of the BT remote. On almost every other device I have had that used an air mouse, there was a pointer speed adjustment under the android settings for accessability. Not, however, on this device. On most air mouse remotes, you can set the pointer speed on the remote itself, however, if there is a way to do this with this remote, I have yet to discover it. Have you tried the air mouse yourself?

Also, I have tried the new r18 GUI. Unfortunately, the indexing function for the HDD I have commected to the USB 3 port will not work, so no posters of my stored movies can be displayed on the main page. I did send this comment to Dune, but no response.

Thanks again for the review.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on September 24, 2021, 10:59:56 PM
Yes I use the BT mouse coming with it but hardly use the pointer mouse.
I am still having multiple problems running Music APP's installed by me. Till these are solved the need for it remains low. I agree having a speed adjust is almost mandatory.

Yeah an update for the new GUI is really due. They are taking their time as Dune mostly does. The quality of new releases is excellent though.

 
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on September 29, 2021, 06:16:48 PM
Some smaller updates and added testing with Streaming Video services Netflix and Apple TV+ which despite not being full functional resulted not too bad.

For me getting MCH/Atmos sound is more relevant than 1080P versus 4k/DV. For top Video I go for a real UHD-BD.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on October 03, 2021, 01:03:44 AM
Thanks Nice Monkey,

I created a new thread about the Dune HD Vision MAX 4K on homecinema.fr.

Is your review on the front page up to date with the latest FW ?



Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 03, 2021, 11:19:01 AM
Yes it is up to date. No new FW since over a month.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on October 03, 2021, 12:41:10 PM

Great thank you  :)

Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 06, 2021, 09:05:49 AM
Made a big update with my last action point being testing App's and Android TV compatibility.

To understand this better added an Appendix explaining the various Android OS versions.
From now on only minor updates/corrections are to be expected.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: leonkoum on October 16, 2021, 07:21:26 AM
ΝΕW Alpha firmware (211013_0531_r17) for Vision family...
Vision models (RTD1619DR): new "Dune HD extensions for VS10" feature (improved picture quality, contrast and black levels when using Dolby Vision VS10 engine with SDR/HDR output). (How to use: enable VS10; set DV to Disabled when outputting SDR/HDR content to DV TV; keep picture adjustment settings at default values.)
All models: upgraded to r17 firmware branch (gives various improvements previously implemented in firmware of Vision models).
RTD1619 models (Pro 4K II, Pro 4K Plus II): upgraded to the same Realtek SDK as used in Vision models (does not add DV support, but gives other improvements).
All Realtek models (RTD1295/RTD1395/RTD1619/RTD1619DR): added chapters support in BDLite mode.
Models with Hi-Fi audio output (Max 4K, Ultra 4K, Max Vision 4K, Ultra Vision 4K): some fixes and improvements for Hi-Fi audio output.
Various other fixes, improvements and internal changes.


Olso we have new FW for the new GUI (211013_0532_r18):
A lot of various fixes and internal changes and improvements related to the New GUI. In particular, fixed the following bugs: My Collection indexing not working in some cases, some GUI skin colors not properly used by the new font engine, dune_folder.txt wrongly ignored in My Collection folders, many issues related to the new "Nice looking movies catalog directly in file browser" functionality, and many other bugs.
Various improvements not related to the New GUI - same as included into the latest r17 alpha firmware (including "Dune HD extensions for VS10" for Vision models).
Added function of periodic automatic background reindexing of My Collection (enable it in Setup / My Collection).
Left menu extended with items corresponding to My Collection folders.
Support for "movie collections" (aka movie sagas, movie groups, such as "Harry Potter Collection") in My Collection and in the new Netflix-like view of File Browser. Movie collections are recognized automatically.
Initial (incomplete yet) implementation of the new Global Search function.
The following functions are in development and are expected to come in next versions: media information (such as codecs and resolution) in My Collection, additional useful menu categories (such as Continue Watching), menu customization possibilities (such as hiding/reordering of menu items), possibilities to manually edit/provide custom information about movies and manually create/modify movie collections, voice search, various other improvements.


Lets see......
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Hann on October 17, 2021, 10:17:20 AM
The new update r17 worked fine for me, but for some reason with r18 (the new GUI) my Dune Pro Vision Solo does not boot into the startup menu, the bootup just ends up to a black screen.

I wish they would in the coming updates give a possibility to move the subtitles a bit more up - now the last row of the subtitles is cut a bit from the bottom, even though I have adjusted them to be as high as possible.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 18, 2021, 07:55:36 AM
The new update r17 worked fine for me, but for some reason with r18 (the new GUI) my Dune Pro Vision Solo does not boot into the startup menu, the bootup just ends up to a black screen.
You waited long enough? Mine displays a black screen between 30 seconds and a minute. See list above.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Harmonium on October 18, 2021, 10:25:35 PM
I agree with you NiceMonkey! I like the new GUI and it is getting better. I welcome the "Movie Collection" feature. It was a must for me.

One thing I would like is to have more informations when we select a movie. Like is it a DVD, Blu-ray or 4K UHD and which audio tracks are available (Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc.), Dolby Vision, HDR etc.. For me it is basic informations to have.

It would be really nice if the movies were sorted without the determiner (The, They or L', Le, La, Les in french). I have more than 50 movies starting with "The". Do you think it is possible to have that?

I will continue to test the new GUI...
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 19, 2021, 07:44:35 AM
One thing I would like is to have more informations when we select a movie. Like is it a DVD, Blu-ray or 4K UHD and which audio tracks are available (Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, etc.), Dolby Vision, HDR etc.. For me it is basic informations to have.

It would be really nice if the movies were sorted without the determiner (The, They or L', Le, La, Les in french). I have more than 50 movies starting with "The". Do you think it is possible to have that?
I am pretty sure these are on the todo list. Also adding child lock tagging belongs to this wishlist for some.
Enough to do but they should not overdo it. Stability is more relevant in my humble view.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on October 20, 2021, 10:45:25 AM
Hello Nice Monkey,

Many complain that Dune HD does not manage collections....

I quote a person ''their film management is a big shit, do not hesitate to say it, you will find yourself with movies absolutely in all directions, simply that it is the only box in the world to not manage the collection, just pitiful''.

Is there anything planned by Dune HD in your opinion for the management of collections?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 20, 2021, 10:52:09 AM
Is there anything planned by Dune HD in your opinion for the management of collections?
I have no clue whatsoever.

What I am sure about that with Move Walls it is impossible to satisfy everybody. They all want to work it differently and have different features for displaying metadata, import/export metadata, TV series collections, merges, block changes etc etc. They are very quick to call a product shit or worse if it doesn't do certain thing as they like or worked on some other product they have. A Zidoo has far more features here but they keep adding more and more which in fact does not help performance nor stability.

I personally don't need or want it and won't evaluate it neither. No time/urge to watch all those series.
Seen the popularity of Poster Movie Wall applications made it a dedicated chapter in the review. The text above was added to it.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on October 20, 2021, 11:44:19 AM

I did not express myself well  :)

I was talking about movie sagas like for example ''Star Wars'' which are not grouped correctly?

it seems that with the r18, the problem seems solved?

Can you confirm or not
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 20, 2021, 12:22:51 PM
Will put in my Space Fiction HDD and give it a trial run. Typically these require a naming convention to be grouped correctly.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Harmonium on October 20, 2021, 03:27:07 PM
Well, OlivierQC, if you read my quote I just said that I welcome the new Movies Collection feature! And it is is working pretty well.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Hann on October 20, 2021, 10:31:36 PM
The new update r17 worked fine for me, but for some reason with r18 (the new GUI) my Dune Pro Vision Solo does not boot into the startup menu, the bootup just ends up to a black screen.
You waited long enough? Mine displays a black screen between 30 seconds and a minute. See list above.

Thanks, I will need to try it. Perhaps I did not wait long enough!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: OlivierQC on October 20, 2021, 11:31:25 PM
Well, OlivierQC, if you read my quote I just said that I welcome the new Movies Collection feature! And it is is working pretty well.

oouups  :) thank you, I read it too fast the first time
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 23, 2021, 09:29:27 AM
As a friend got himself the Dune HD Pro Vision 4K Solo model added the specifics for that model to the review. Still need to check some small things like fan noise and to do the consumption measurements for it. These will be added later.

Also added "Emergency Flash Booting" to the Dune Support chapter as Dune players don't have a reset Key/Pin.

Some of the new "My Collection" features can be configured in the "Setup / Appearance / Additional" menu:
1) Autoplay video: Play trailer automatically or not
2) Content window at the top: With or without Netflix style info on top. Off is full window with covers.
3) Navigation panel on the left. Speaks for itself.
Agreed a well hidden and very misleading setup, but they do work you know.

The problem list was updated for this R18 Alpha FW version but player problems were verified to be identical for the  R17 release without "NewGUI".
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on October 29, 2021, 02:59:25 PM
ive contacted dune support and asked when will we see an update to R18 Alpha, there reply was you can download Alpha from this location  :-\ , i guess they dont speak or know english :(
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on November 02, 2021, 09:35:14 AM
The inconvenience list was updated: No track list/song selection with a single track album with CUE sheet include. Being a must and bypass for gapless playback and also the standard format for DTS-CD.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on November 09, 2021, 09:50:05 PM
Updated with the new FW released "dune_firmware_tv175u_211031_0532_r18.dff. .
No serious problems fixes; yes an improved My Collections.

See reply #3 for updated details. Will be integrated when comments received form Dune.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on November 10, 2021, 09:31:51 PM
yes an improved My Collections.

improvements ?? where ive updated to this newer version and see no difference form the 211013 version if anything my box now doesnt boot from shutdown the light stays red but spins the hdd up but nothing happens till i unplug and restart

also hdd doesnt turn off in low power off mode just sits there spinning for hours

and it likes to reboot itself now and then for no apparent reason
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: isolar801 on November 10, 2021, 11:11:32 PM
Sound like you might have a bad Dune....some users have issues with Poster Walls and such, but these machines are rock stable and don't crash....usually.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on November 11, 2021, 07:06:54 AM
yes an improved My Collections.
improvements ?? where ive updated to this newer version and see no difference form the 211013 version if anything my box now doesnt boot from shutdown the light stays red but spins the hdd up but nothing happens till i unplug and restart
also hdd doesnt turn off in low power off mode just sits there spinning for hours
and it likes to reboot itself now and then for no apparent reason
Always use the real power off mode myself. It then for sure turns of the HDD's. Turning on/off always works correctly with mine. Power on/off may be controlled via HDMI/CEC too. Maybe using that unknowingly?

The Red Remote button now works for different views with My Collection for different numbers/sizes of posters in  a view. This is an essential feature.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on November 11, 2021, 03:14:10 PM

The Red Remote button now works for different views with My Collection for different numbers/sizes of posters in  a view. This is an essential feature.
[/quote]

what about sorting ?? can we sort by release date or date added to collection ??
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on November 23, 2021, 09:32:07 AM
Dune is looking at my list. Lets see what they come up with.

The list was updated/clarified a bit as a results of the comments/questions received.
The list was moved to reply #3 for convenience of finding it. It is now appended immediately following the review: Appendix A: The "newGUI alpha FW"

Good news for those interested a DSF fix for displaying "Remaining Time" on the front display is here:
https://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=5211.0
It was tested working on Real Vision and Pro Vision models. May work on other models too?
Does not work with BD Full menu as-is.

Item: "UHD with DV combined with external subtitles may causes severe stuttering and loss of audio on (some) UHD Folders (USB3 attached HDD). Have not seen it with ISO's. It seems to happen only if files are scattered/fragmented over a HDD? No such problem with Zidoo or my OPPO playing those same  folders from that same HDD" was removed from the list till I get it again and can reproduce it on-demand.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 01, 2021, 08:24:53 AM
Added a paragraph "Which brand media player to select?" to my conclusions. Updated it on 13-12-2021.
Guide to potential buyers to look at the for them most important aspects of a media player.

You might end up with more than one choice finally as I did myself!
The perfect player doing it all does not exist and probably never comes. They all still get better though.

The market for disc BD players has shrunken to an absolute minimum. A new generation there is not to be expected anymore. Streaming is taking over despite its lower video and sound quality (=compressed).
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on December 18, 2021, 03:07:56 PM
Any news on when we will see an update to the Alpha firmware ?? been 2 months since 211031_0532_r18:
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Harmonium on December 18, 2021, 07:06:48 PM
Yes there is! Take a look! A new alpha and a new GUI!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: kwapa on December 18, 2021, 08:50:51 PM
Where to look? There is no new alpha firmware  update available on the New GUI website.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Harmonium on December 18, 2021, 09:49:45 PM
The most recent for the new GUI is 211031_0532_r18!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 18, 2021, 11:01:13 PM
The most recent for the new GUI is 211031_0532_r18!
That's what is called 2 months old here. Almost indeed, which is along time.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: andys on December 19, 2021, 12:29:12 PM
latest official support 15/04/2021..support is not that much at best
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on December 19, 2021, 03:09:58 PM
i just hope they implement my collection sorting in the next release, its a pain only having a-z :(
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 20, 2021, 11:48:51 AM
latest official support 15/04/2021..support is not that much at best
They issue very few official releases. Their what they pessimistically call Alpha releases are in practice very good and safe to install. The FW also allows going back as easy as upgrading so little risk there to try them out.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on December 22, 2021, 09:57:36 PM
Maybe Dune will treat us to a Christmas present in the form of a complete feature set and working FW , oh hang on what was that went flying past my window  ::)
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 31, 2021, 08:40:43 AM
Maybe Dune will treat us to a Christmas present in the form of a complete feature set and working FW , oh hang on what was that went flying past my window  ::)
Just a New Years present:

dune_firmware_tv175u_211224_0317_r17.dff
This not a NewGUI version.

dune_firmware_tv175u_211229_0258_r20.dff
This is the latest NewGUI version

Update my review for the later FW in the Problems and Inconveniences part.
I do recommend to install this update. ;)
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: eruo1 on December 31, 2021, 10:55:40 PM
Be careful what you are recommending. This version plays DTS Music horribly. You cannot decipher the sound.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 31, 2021, 11:11:43 PM
Indeed the new DTS-CD decoder is far from perfect. Don't get bad sounds myself just silence with several albums. Already reported by me no need to do that. Just see my list.

- A few DTS-CD now don't produce sound (old samples provided).
The new DTS-CD player solved the previous send samples but now some (more common) albums don't produce sound anymore. I hope this can be fixed again as it made it worse as-is.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Hann on January 01, 2022, 08:30:24 PM
My Dune HD Pro Vision Solo has started to reset itself every once in a while resulting into the unit booting itself. Is this common to be fixed with firmware updates or do I have a defective unit?

EDIT: I have not reseted the settings of the player after firmware updates. Is this what other users are doing and could it be the reason for resets?

EDIT2: The new firmware for the new GUI (dune_firmware_tv175v_211229_0258_r20.dff) does not work for me (same thing with the previous GUI-updates) - booting results into a blank black screen, no matter how long I wait and how many times I press e.g. the "ok" button.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on January 02, 2022, 10:28:52 AM
ok so still no collection sort and still no 1 click to full wall, still need to scroll through 9 movies to get to that button :(, what are Dune thinking !!!!, these are 2 basic htpc requirements and should of been implemented in the very first alpha and which other software has been able to do for the last 15 years plus !!!,  dune hd is really starting to scream "kid in bedroom trying to look big" :( very frustrating and the reason why is because they are expensive units £350 for the solo and upwards for the " larger units" that's an insane price for something in its current state :( and providing there selling in large volumes Dune are make a LOT of money but were rewarded with slow incomplete alpha releases for years at a time :(, more than likely my last dune
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 02, 2022, 11:29:43 AM
You can turn off Netflix View and start with a Full Screen overview if you like (under setup additional)
I would like to get all fosters accessible in combination with that Netflix View though instead.

Yes seems to be a (very) good update with just a few smaller glitches introduced.
If all instabilities are now really gone it is very good.

- BD Full Screen uses a dedicated player so behavior and problems are often different from playing Lite or MKV's. This regarding the default sub set not being applied with MKV's. Manual select needed as a bypass.
- Screensaver on not being applied after update. Needs to be set again manually.
- DTS-CD new player being more picky on variants than the previous one.
- Movie sort now only doing sort by creation date instead of alphabetical.
- HDMI Audio Only port problems not solved (biggest problem now I think).
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on January 02, 2022, 12:02:04 PM
You can turn off Netflix View and start with a Full Screen overview if you like (under setup additional)
I would like to get all icons accessible in combination with that Netflix View though instead.
where is this option please ? i cant seem to find any option that gives me wall as start ??
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 02, 2022, 12:20:40 PM
@Mike-UK Reading release notes may help:

- Some of the new features can be configured in "Setup / Appearance / Additional" menu: use Netflix-like view or fill the entire screen with posters, show video preview or not, show the new left menu automatically or not.

Admitted it is well hidden which is in my inconveniences list.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on January 02, 2022, 01:21:13 PM
Some of the new features can be configured in "Setup / Appearance / Additional" menu: use Netflix-like view or fill the entire screen with posters, show video preview or not, show the new left menu automatically or not.

i dont seem to have thouse options ??

(https://i.ibb.co/ySwdjhs/20220102-124733.jpg)
[url=https://ibb.co/wMnsyX6](https://i.ibb.co/r4BskSy/20220102-130508.jpg)
 (https://ibb.co/k1R5C3c)
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: arcazal on January 02, 2022, 05:59:27 PM
In the latest alpha r-20 firmware, the forced subtitle track does not work in mkv. Greetings
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Shinji Mikami on January 06, 2022, 10:29:44 PM
Hi everybody. I own a Dune HD Real Vision 4K since few days ago and I'm very confuse and dissapointed so I hope solve with your help two big problems I can't resolve.

First of all, I got a 75% Projection dedicated room with a Epson EH-TW9400 (Epson Pro Cinema 6050ub in USA) and I came from madVR + PC video source and all content I played is Full UBD HDR 4K, ISO UBD HDR 4K and UBDRemux HDR 4K.  I did some setup changes in my room and I decided to try this Dune HD like a  main videoplayer source, aware that I was going to lose the amazing HDR to SDR convertion and dinamic tone mapping from madVR but still keeping a great HDR picture movie and easy/speed/comfort use that Dune HD Real Vision 4K offers.

Problem nº 1
I'm very happy with this Dune, but something is detroying picture quality and I'm no able to find any option to configure on setup menu. Dynamic Range is causing me a lot of trouble. All Deep Blacks, Reference Blacks and Contrast are gone. Black is always "up". Setup menu in PJ is in "Auto" but selecting by myself 16-235 or 0-255 is the same disaster.

Before that and under madVR all the chain was the same 0-255 from PC Videocard-Software-PJ and I try another setup calibration 16-235 from the Beginning to End and always got an amazing picture quality with very Deep Blacks and great Contrast. But now, like I said, it's a disaster.

Checking and testing into  Dune Video Setup I cannot find anything option to solve it, so I admit that I'm lost and I don't know how to solve it with this Dune HD.


Problem nº 2
ON/OFF remote control button is a nightmare. I don't know if remote control had an issue or something but I don't know how it works. I have to press several times ON/OFF button to turn on or turn off the device. All the rest buttons work perfectly and I have no problem with it but ON/OFF like I said is a nightmare. So the same, I don't know if I'm missing something or simply it's broken.

I hope you could help me with this two problems and I could enjoy this (i think) fantastic device like Dune HD Real Vision 4K. Thak you. !!!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 07, 2022, 10:33:43 AM
The projector problems are specific and don't have a clue. Maybe some other owners can answer here.

For power On/Off there are several ways. You can use the Remote, The APP or Dune Control. They all work for On/Off. Using the Remote it uses IR unlike the other buttons which are BT. So it must be directed and pressed slightly longer.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: carlpea on January 07, 2022, 05:49:38 PM
Hi everybody. I own a Dune HD Real Vision 4K since few days ago and I'm very confuse and dissapointed so I hope solve with your help two big problems I can't resolve.

First of all, I got a 75% Projection dedicated room with a Epson EH-TW9400 (Epson Pro Cinema 6050ub in USA) and I came from madVR + PC video source and all content I played is Full UBD HDR 4K, ISO UBD HDR 4K and UBDRemux HDR 4K.  I did some setup changes in my room and I decided to try this Dune HD like a  main videoplayer source, aware that I was going to lose the amazing HDR to SDR convertion and dinamic tone mapping from madVR but still keeping a great HDR picture movie and easy/speed/comfort use that Dune HD Real Vision 4K offers.

Problem nº 1
I'm very happy with this Dune, but something is detroying picture quality and I'm no able to find any option to configure on setup menu. Dynamic Range is causing me a lot of trouble. All Deep Blacks, Reference Blacks and Contrast are gone. Black is always "up". Setup menu in PJ is in "Auto" but selecting by myself 16-235 or 0-255 is the same disaster.

Before that and under madVR all the chain was the same 0-255 from PC Videocard-Software-PJ and I try another setup calibration 16-235 from the Beginning to End and always got an amazing picture quality with very Deep Blacks and great Contrast. But now, like I said, it's a disaster.

Checking and testing into  Dune Video Setup I cannot find anything option to solve it, so I admit that I'm lost and I don't know how to solve it with this Dune HD.


Problem nº 2
ON/OFF remote control button is a nightmare. I don't know if remote control had an issue or something but I don't know how it works. I have to press several times ON/OFF button to turn on or turn off the device. All the rest buttons work perfectly and I have no problem with it but ON/OFF like I said is a nightmare. So the same, I don't know if I'm missing something or simply it's broken.

I hope you could help me with this two problems and I could enjoy this (i think) fantastic device like Dune HD Real Vision 4K. Thak you. !!!

For problem 1 have a play with setting 'HDMI Range Mode' Under Setup / System / Video.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: andys on January 07, 2022, 09:03:23 PM
on game list there is an exit key, only return key?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Shinji Mikami on January 07, 2022, 09:59:51 PM


For problem 1 have a play with setting 'HDMI Range Mode' Under Setup / System / Video.



Thank you. You helpep me a lot. This setting is what I was looking for.



For power On/Off there are several ways. You can use the Remote, The APP or Dune Control. They all work for On/Off. Using the Remote it uses IR unlike the other buttons which are BT. So it must be directed and pressed slightly longer.



Thank you too. I couldn't manage ON/OFF. I'm trying with the android app but Dune HD always is offline (but it's always Wi-Fi connected).


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, for projection (4K/HDR) what video settings do you recommend into Dune HD settings and System Settings? I miss some "punch" in contrast and color saturation.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 09, 2022, 12:57:32 PM
Updated "Which brand media player to select" and moved it to Appendix-B as it is not integral part of the review.

The last FW in fact synchronized all feature for the last 3 generations Dune Players since 2018 which I regards as excellent support.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 16, 2022, 01:39:43 PM
Giving this one a try:
dune_firmware_tv175u_220115_0258_r20.dff
Change list looking promising. It is mostly a bugfix release. Recommended for previous Alpha FW users.

Did a quick check and update of my lists in Appendix-A:
Please correct me where I am wrong.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 18, 2022, 08:57:48 AM
Got a test FW to validate the reported problems with playing BD Menus smoothly. The problem seems to be resolved as they now play as fluent as using my OPPO.
It was reported by Zidoo as a bug only occurring with Vision Series models specifically and not with older generations.

Updated the header of the review, reference(s) to this problem and and also the Guide for player selection accordingly. I regard this a mayor improvement for those playing BD ISO's/Folders with Full Menu.
You will need to wait for the next FW update to include the fix.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on January 19, 2022, 02:59:54 PM
New GUI: In Movies/TV Shows sections, when the cursor is in the left panel, "ENTER" button now opens "Show All" screen for this row (to move to the right panel, use "RIGHT" button).

ok this is doing my head in now, why cant i get to "all wall" in a single click ??
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 20, 2022, 11:56:29 AM
@Mike-UK
I think they feel their default appeals to more customers? A preference option would be nice.

Updated the brand selection advice Appendix-B now including music streaming services.
Maybe I should create a specific Topic for this Appendix instead?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Mike-UK on January 23, 2022, 08:45:58 PM
yay im happier now with the Dune,

New GUI: In Movies/TV Shows sections, when the cursor is in the left panel, "ENTER" button now opens "Show All" screen for this row (to move to the right panel, use "RIGHT" button)

after flashing with this FW this wasnt working it just moved me over to the right and i still had to scroll 9 movies, but for some reason it is now working , its just down 3 times and click and im at "all wall" no idea why it just started to work odd
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on January 23, 2022, 09:09:40 PM
There must be more that 16 entries for Enter to trigger Full Screen mode.
Suggested to change this in the next FW for consistent behavior.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: karipu on February 07, 2022, 07:31:59 AM
If I have understood right: Vision players can’t play native DSD music in any way; instead they allways convert to PCM?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on February 07, 2022, 07:44:49 AM
There is no Android player from any brand (yet) supporting native DSD via HDMI. If it ever comes?
Dune supports DSD => PCM also for MCH which is an exception. Most do 2CH only.

Native 2CH DSD via additional DAC panels with HiFi models is supported by all good brands.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: karipu on February 07, 2022, 01:01:57 PM
And you can’t attach an USB drive to the Vision players and play native DSD files from there (without converting to PCM ?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on February 07, 2022, 01:44:44 PM
Where the file resides does not matter and neither the format ISO, DSF or DFF as the player will always convert these all to PCM automatically realtime during the actual playback.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on February 15, 2022, 11:50:31 AM
Updated to this one:
dune_firmware_tv175u_220209_0257_r20.dff
It is a combined feature and bugfix release. it included the improvement for playing BD Menus smoothly. Recommended for Alpha FW users.

Did a quick check and update of my lists in Appendix-A:
Please correct me where I am wrong.
My problem list is getting remarkably short which is very good news.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: cachotronco on February 15, 2022, 12:58:56 PM
The novelty of being able to sort My Collection by date, name and year, doesn't quite convince me.

When they add the option to see the characteristics of the files as others do, I will break out a good wine.
I don't understand what great difficulty that entails.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on February 16, 2022, 08:36:08 AM
Updated the Zappiti chapter in Appendix-B. Regard it a Dune with a Zappiti unique layer on top for the HW builds, its GUI and MovieWall Client/Server implementations. I conclude this from recent FW updates coming from both Dune and Zappiti.

I also feel Dune accelerated their FW development (quantity and quality) since the recent new Zappiti models appeared.
Title: comparison of different file system to format internal SATA HDD (NTFS,EXT4,EXT3)
Post by: campus on February 16, 2022, 05:06:50 PM
Hallo I have a "Dune HD PRO Vision 4K Solo" with inside (SATA 3.5" internal slot) a Seagate 18 TB X18 and I connect it, to load files, to my Windows 10 Pro notebook PC by SMB (ethernet LAN 1 Gbps). What do you suggest as file system to format the X18 and why? Which is better for files and data reliability and integrity? How (by which software) is better to format the disk? Dune can not format it (gives error: probably 18 TB is too big for today dune format app. My firmware version is "211224_0317_r17"). Please explain in a detailed techical way. What file system do you adopt?
Thank you very much.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on February 16, 2022, 07:05:59 PM
@campus
Answered here:
https://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=5047.0
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on March 19, 2022, 11:30:23 AM
Installed "dune_firmware_tv175u_220317_0257_r20" FW.
So far so good. Nice improvement list again.

Items I really waited for: HDD auto-stop on inactivity and HDMI volume control via Dune remote for AMP included.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: andys on March 19, 2022, 09:44:57 PM
for the next movie, what setting to put?
it doesn't work for me
for firmware tv175u_220317_0257_r20" FW
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: andys on March 19, 2022, 10:32:22 PM
found, thanks
guessing is a problem for settings ???
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Oraprimum on March 20, 2022, 08:35:46 AM
Installed "dune_firmware_tv175u_220317_0257_r20" FW.
So far so good. Nice improvement list again.

Items I really waited for: HDD auto-stop on inactivity and HDMI volume control via Dune remote for AMP included.

Do you have a link for the new firmware file ?

Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on March 20, 2022, 08:50:03 AM
http://dune-hd.com/firmware/newgui/

For last 3 generations of players.

Updated the original review where applicable.
The correct working of HDMI-CEC was specifically mentioned as this is the first Android media player implementation I have found to be working with both TV and TV+AMP setups.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on April 04, 2022, 09:37:51 AM
Added the following problem to my list:

- There is a color problem with the selection fields (choices) within BD Menu's. Often the color does not change adequately when being highlighted and/or selected. This makes using the different options almost a quest. Using a disc BD-Player like my OPPO UDP-203 this is not a problem at all as those color differences are way better visible using those.

Admitted it is more of a big inconvenience, but a friend even confused it with the BD menu not working at all.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on July 02, 2022, 03:50:36 PM
The official new beta is out: dune_firmware_tv175u_220630_0727_r20.dff for the baby Dune but in fact released for all models
https://dune-hd.com/firmware/
Coming with an impressive change list.

Can confirm several which I reported as a problem or asked as a change. Highly recommended for all recent models. Also the BD-Menu color problem mentioned was solved.
Went over my review quick and made some changes matching the new FW. If I missed anything please report here.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: ulysse31 on August 10, 2022, 11:03:48 AM
Hello,

Thank you for this test, it is very interesting.

I own a zidoo 1000pro and was considering a zidoo 3000 because what I'm mostly looking for is improving the sound. The zidoo 3000 is €999 and the Dune HD Max Vision 4K €640 without taxes. Or if a cheaper used zidoo 3000.

I wonder if it's worth it. Certainly the zidoo 3000 has an excellent dac but I have already had several dacs and the differences are really minimal

Image quality is pretty much the same, but I listen to a lot of stereo, multichannel and DVD-Audio (MLP tracks). The zidoo 1000pro now offers sacd iso multichannel dsd converted to LCPM and I imagine that dune HD Max Vision 4k does the same thanks to recent updates but no device is able to display MLP soundtracks from DVD-Audio , only in stereo and dolby or DTS 5.1.

What do you think ? Is it better that I keep the zidoo 1000pro or that I switch to Dune MAx or zidoo 3000 to have a real gain in sound quality?

Thanks
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 11, 2022, 05:09:50 PM
I am looking for the option to change the brightness for the OLED front panel of my Dune HD Max Vision. Somebody put mine on low-level or night-mode and hardly any light comes out of it now. He does not remember where and how he achieved that.  :(

Under "Setup/Miscellaneous/Display" I can find:
- Only one option to choose: With or Without seconds there on old FW versions.
- On latest FW version options for time display for Video and Audio are added.
For the Real/Pro Vision models a level setting is found there instead which works accordingly.

@futeko.com
Maybe you can help me here? Also asked Dune Support.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: robbedoes on August 12, 2022, 02:01:55 PM
There are some different videoplayers on this Dune mediaplayer and on video-files it is possible to choose which player to use.

Except when you play videofiles from "My collection". Most of them play with the standard own Dune mediaplayer, but in some situations the Dune choose to use a different videoplayer (looks like an Android-player). I find that irritating because I like the standaard videoplayer of Dune. So how can I change it to the situation that all videofiles are played by the videoplayer within Dune
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: carlpea on August 13, 2022, 10:56:40 PM
I am looking for the option to change the brightness for the OLED front panel of my Dune HD Max Vision. Somebody put mine on low-level or night-mode and hardly any light comes out of it now. He does not remember where and how he achieved that.  :(

Under Front Panel I can find:
- Only one option to choose: With or Without seconds there on old FW versions.
- On latest FW version options for time display for Video and Audio are added.
For the Real/Pro Vision models a level setting is found there instead which works accordingly.

@futeko.com
Maybe you can help me here? Also asked Dune Support.

Anything under 'Setup/Miscellaneous/Display'?

On my Pro Vision there is an option for 'Display brightness'.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: Nice Monkey on August 14, 2022, 11:42:03 AM
Added a new Chapter including the Dune HD MAX Vision model now.
In fact was impressed with what it all had on offer at the current going price. It again offers like the previously tested Real and Pro Vision models great value for money.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: robbedoes on September 16, 2022, 12:18:42 PM
There are some different videoplayers on this Dune mediaplayer and on video-files it is possible to choose which player to use.

Except when you play videofiles from "My collection". Most of them play with the standard own Dune mediaplayer, but in some situations the Dune choose to use a different videoplayer (looks like an Android-player). I find that irritating because I like the standaard videoplayer of Dune. So how can I change it to the situation that all videofiles are played by the videoplayer within Dune

Nobody ?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro Vision 4K detailed review (Vision family)
Post by: isolar801 on September 16, 2022, 04:33:55 PM
There are some different videoplayers on this Dune mediaplayer and on video-files it is possible to choose which player to use.

Except when you play videofiles from "My collection". Most of them play with the standard own Dune mediaplayer, but in some situations the Dune choose to use a different videoplayer (looks like an Android-player). I find that irritating because I like the standaard videoplayer of Dune. So how can I change it to the situation that all videofiles are played by the videoplayer within Dune

Nobody ?

There is no way to set the default player....I've never seen the Android player come up on its own.
You should post mediainfo on the files/s that cause this to happen.
Sounds like you have a few AV1 files, which Android will play.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: santorsk on October 26, 2022, 09:00:58 AM
hi i read review article its great,i am using dune real vision 4k player,but when i play DTS:X format my amplifier is not showing as dts:x instead dts is there any setting required to be changed also window media audio format not playing is there any firmware required
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: Nice Monkey on October 26, 2022, 01:43:30 PM
DTS:X is supported. You are sure your AMP supports it too as many don't.
Also DTS compatibility mode should not be set.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: Nice Monkey on December 22, 2022, 11:43:04 AM
Now my SATA attached HDD limitation of 16 TByte message seems to be confirmed:
Latest FW update 221220_0257_r21 release note:
- All models: Improvement: HDD format: HDD formatting software updated to a newer version for better compatibility
- All models: Improvement: HDD format: When attempting to format a HDD bigger than 16TB on a 32-bit OS (which is not supported), now a reasonable error message is shown.

For more details read here:
https://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=576.0
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: carlpea on December 22, 2022, 09:20:20 PM
Now my SATA attached HDD limitation of 16 TByte message seems to be confirmed:
Latest FW update 221220_0257_r21 release note:
- All models: Improvement: HDD format: HDD formatting software updated to a newer version for better compatibility
- All models: Improvement: HDD format: When attempting to format a HDD bigger than 16TB on a 32-bit OS (which is not supported), now a reasonable error message is shown.

For more details read here:
https://www.futeko.com/newforum/index.php?topic=576.0

They are working on using a 64bit Linux OS to overcome this... and hopefully all 4GB of memory instead of 3.25!
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: OlivierQC on January 04, 2023, 03:05:32 PM
Hello nice monkey,

will you have the opportunity to update your review with the new FW (version 221231_0257_r21 unless I'm mistaken), to see if there are significant improvements or interesting new features.
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: Harmonium on January 04, 2023, 03:27:55 PM
Where did you get that firmware?
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: duf666 on January 05, 2023, 02:54:30 PM
Here: http://dune-hd.com/firmware/alpha/
Title: Re: The Dune HD Real/Pro/Max Vision 4K detailed review
Post by: mam-1108 on March 05, 2024, 06:55:24 AM
Dune HD Ultra Vision 4K
Hello everyone. I hope my english is OK. Many Greetings from germany.
I have the problem.
Music plays in mch. if i play a mch. flac directly from source, but not with gapless playback :(
With newest firmware r22
Hibymusic can play gapless, but only stereo. Is it correct or is there a button to activate?
Same with kodi. Only stereo.
If theres no solution, mediaplayer gets back.

Marc