Help me to find a Media Player (USB 3, 3TB ext. HDD Support)

Hemanth

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Hi all,

I am looking to buy a Hardware Media Player to play my HD collection. Here are the requirements:

1. It should support 3TB NTFS formatted USB 3.0 external hard drives (All my MKV 1080p videos are in two of those Seagate Goflex 3 TB drives) ? My research showed that many players like NeoTV 550 or WDTV HD do not have this support and won't detect external drives above 2TB.

2. Should play Bluray backups, ISOs, MKVs etc. all 2D. For now 3D is not that important for me.

3. Should be able to passthrough, decode (core) and downmix DTS-HDMA & TrueHD audio.

4. Should display forced subtitles properly and should have PGS sub support (mkv).

5. Networking and content streaming features would be nice but not mandatory.

I have mixed inputs from users of NeoTV 550, WDTV Live etc. regarding the 3TB USB drive support. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Hemanth
 
CAn confirm the WDTVLive Hub works with the Seagate 3tb ext usb hdd
 
CAn confirm the WDTVLive Hub works with the Seagate 3tb ext usb hdd


Thanks mate. I hope WDTV Live Streamer will also support it.

Btw. Does it Bitstream/decode/downmix DTS-HD & TrueHD?
 
Thanks mate. I hope WDTV Live Streamer will also support it.

Btw. Does it Bitstream/decode/downmix DTS-HD & TrueHD?

Everything except DTS-HD (my experience and official, but I think some people claim it does for them)

The WDTV Live Streamer will almost certainly support ext 3tb too
 
Everything except DTS-HD (my experience and official, but I think some people claim it does for them)

The WDTV Live Streamer will almost certainly support ext 3tb too

Argh, that's a shame. Does the PGS subs in MKV files display properly?

Thanks again for your help btw. :thumbsup:
 
1. It should support 3TB NTFS formatted USB 3.0 external hard drives (All my MKV 1080p videos are in two of those Seagate Goflex 3 TB drives) ? My research showed that many players like NeoTV 550 or WDTV HD do not have this support and won't detect external drives above 2TB.
Any of the HDI Dune media players with the latest firmware support NTFS HDD's greater than 2Tb
2. Should play Bluray backups, ISOs, MKVs etc. all 2D. For now 3D is not that important for me.
Yep all the Dune players do this and most even have a full BD license so will give access to the disc menu.
3. Should be able to passthrough, decode (core) and downmix DTS-HDMA & TrueHD audio.
How about a Dune :D
Passthrough - Yes
Decode - Yes (the only media players that do this, and not just the core but the actual HD audio)
Downmix - Yes
4. Should display forced subtitles properly and should have PGS sub support (mkv).
err how about a Dune as they have excellent subtitle support :p
however there is a known fault with MakeMKV that means rips made with it don't show forced subs unless they are hard coded on the video track - this is not just a Dune issue, but is the same AFAIK for all makes of media players.
5. Networking and content streaming features would be nice but not mandatory.
All the Dunes have a network port and with the latest firmware you can install a YouTube app - other apps should follow soon.

Are you seeing a pattern with my above replies :rotfl:
Dune HD Media Players - Items - Custom built Home Theatre PCs from my-HTPC
Full HD Players » Dune HD GmbH

Mark.
 
Last edited:
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.

But I too have been after a player that can accept a 3tb hard drive.

Are all dune players able to do this?

So If I buy a 3tb seagate external drive and plug in via usb to a TV-101 this will work?

Thanks in advance.
 
Thanks Mark. :)

Decode - Yes (the only media players that do this, and not just the core but the actual HD audio)

From the link you provided, it seems it is limited to high end players. The TV 101 and TV 301 won't even passthrough them?? And the Smart H1 and Smart B1 will only downmix the core. Surprisingly the Smart D1 will decode both the full 7.1 HD codecs. It raises the rather noobish question, can these decoded audio be used to drive a 5.1 or 7.1 speaker system without an AMP?
 
I don't have HDMI on my AV processor so couldn't check when I borrowed a Smart H1 & TV101. But Graham Myers who lent me the players has tested and IIRC he said that he did get the HD audio on his AV system from both of them - I can't remember if it was decoded in the player or by his AV system though so might be worth asking him.

So the players do output the HD audio over HDMI, but you still need an AV system to connect them as they do not output an amplified signal and only the Max & Duo have the audio DACs. So an AV system is also needed to convert the multichannel digital signal to analogue and then feed the amps to drive the speakers.

Mark.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.
Not a problem - it is why the thread was started so we could all ask questions :)
But I too have been after a player that can accept a 3tb hard drive.

Are all dune players able to do this?
All the current players yes, but a few of the older discontinued models don't (yet?) have the latest firmware which is required for the 3Tb HDD support
So If I buy a 3tb seagate external drive and plug in via usb to a TV-101 this will work?
According to the specs listed in the latest firmware then yes it should work - although I've not tried it myself as all my media is streamed from my server and I don't have any HDD's directly attached to my Dune

Mark.
 
you wont need an amp if you're TV can understand the output down the HDMI cable. The Smart will pass through HD audio in bitstreamed mode, but you're amp (or TV) has to decode. Only the max and duo have onboard DACS and so have discrete outputs for each channel. if you use the optical our or dont bit stream then you will get downmixed dts. The smart range do not give LPCM across HDMI only bitstreamed.
 
inman_v1 said:
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit.

But I too have been after a player that can accept a 3tb hard drive.

Are all dune players able to do this?

So If I buy a 3tb seagate external drive and plug in via usb to a TV-101 this will work?

Thanks in advance.

The mede8er 500x2 takes a 3tb drive as well
 
too be honest usb 3.0 doesn't seem much help in turns of speed.

I only have usb 2.0 but I was only getting about 25 MB/s copying videos between 2 mechanical HD
OTOH when I used a mechanical drive to copy a video to an SSD the writespeed went up about 33 MB/s

point being if you have a mechasnical drive in your media player usb2.0 doesn't appear to be a bottleneck
 
The smart range do not give LPCM across HDMI only bitstreamed.
I've just been reading over at MPC Club that there is a new hardware revision to the Smart range that will only run the recent firmware and not any of the older versions. It has also been stated that the latest firmware has broken the multi-channel HD audio decoding and now only gives a stereo LPCM output over HDMI. But if you have the older version of a Smart then rolling back to the last stable firmware will enable full muli-channel HD audio decoding.

Mark.
 

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