Hot from CeBit the HDI lads have been busy with updating firmware for the Dune 3.0 models.

You can also see the HDI roadmap here thanks to mpcclub and some pictures of coming soon features here.

The new Dune firmware is available for download from here

Exciting times for HDI owners!

Click read more for the full release notes.

Regards, DE Sales Team Sales@digitalera.co.uk

please note the latest f/w development news we have. You are welcome
to translate this information into your own language (if not English)
and to put it to all the Web portals you are working with.

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HDI Dune release the new beta firmware on or before March 9th.
Here are the main new features added to this firmware:

1. Autoframerate improvements:
- Autoframerate is now supported not only for files, but also for DVD
and BD: DVD-discs, DVD-images (VIDEO_TS, ISO), BD-discs, BD-images
(BDMV, ISO).
- If a DVD/BD consists of several parts having different framerate,
the player switches framerate automatically when going from one part
to another.
- Also autoframerate support for files improves (problems with
incorrect working of autoframerate on specific TS files fixed).

2. Support for PGS (Blu-ray) subtitles in TS/M2TS files:
- It is now possible to use Blu-ray subtitles not only playing full
BD-ima! ges, but also when playing individual M2TS files.
- This is important for many users who do not have the entire
BD-image, or who do not want to play full BD-image for some reason.
- This is also useful for owners of very old, discontinued Dune models
having no full Blu-ray support (Dune HD Ultra and Dune HD Mini) -
owners of these models now can play BD-images with subtitles.

3. Other improvements related to subtitles support:
- Added support for SUB/IDX format of external subtitles (aka VobSub)
(graphical subtitles similar to those used in DVD).
- Added support for UTF-16 encoding in external subtitles in SRT and
SUB (MicroDVD) formats (text-based subtitle formats).

4. More conveniences for working with network resources:
- The built-in SMB browser improved to better scan the network; more
chances that all SMB network resources are found w/o delays now.
- Added a very easy and convenient way to create a fixed shortcut to anetwork share on the main screen: just select the share in
SMB-browser, and choose “Add to Main Screen” command in the popup
menu.

5. Support for more USB WiFi dongle models:
- Finally fixed support for D-Link DWA-140 rev.B2, demanded by many
users (in addition to originally supported rev.B1).
- Updated the WiFi drivers to the most recent versions, included an
additional WiFi driver.
- Allows to use any USB WiFi dongle supported by WiFi drivers (97
different USB devices in total), not just specific tested models, – so
the users get more freedom to try to use existing WiFi dongles with
Dune and checking which ones work good.

6. HDMI-related improvements:
- Fixed problem that “HDMI Audio = Disabled” did not work properly
with certain HDMI equipment (no picture during playback, wrong
picture/colors during playback).
- Added a new setting “HDMI Color Depth” allowing to set color depth
for HDMI output: 8-bit (most compatible, is default now), 10-bit,
12-bit (DeepColor); this allows to! solve the problems with noise on
HDMI output when using certain HDMI equipment and certain HDMI cables.
Also, the effective HDMI color depth is now reported in Video Setup.
- Added a new setting “HDMI CEC”, allowing to enable/disable CEC
handling by Dune (disabled by default); this solves various problems
with certain TV models having CEC support.
- Fixed problem with hangup of Blu-ray playback when
disconnecting/reconnecting HDMI cable, switching off/on the TV, or
switching the input on the TV during playback.

7. Online firmware upgrade:
- A new Setup section “Firmware Upgrade” allows to conveniently check
for the presence of new firmware version directly from the player,
and, if a new version is available, automatically download and install
it (w/o the need to use a PC to download the firmware upgrade file).
- Also, if the player is connected to Internet, the player
periodically automatically checks for the new firmware up! dates, and
when one becomes available, informs the user about it and proposes to
download/install it.
- System Storage or any other attached storage can be used as a
temporary location for the downloaded firmware file; if no writable
storage with enough free space is found, the user is prompted to
attach one.
- When downloading the firmware, a progress is indicated, and a
possibility to stop/cancel the download is provided.
- Advanced users can fine-tune various settings via Setup menu: enable
checking for non-stable (beta) versions, disable automatic checking.

8. Bookmarks improvements:
- Enabled a simple support for bookmarks when working with playlists
(check/use previously saved bookmark for the initial file of the
playlist, save bookmark for the current file when stopping the
playback of the playlist). No advanced support for playlist bookmarks
(one bookmark for the entire playlist) yet.

9. Added support for network media URLs (nfs://…, smb://…) in
dune_folder.txt/media_url! and M3U/PLS playlist files:
- Now, the users of various Media Collection solutions can use Media
Indexes pointing to network resources (on NAS’es etc).
- Network shares are mounted by the player automatically as needed, no
need to manually configure corresponding network folders in the
player.
- Network media URLs are supported for all kinds of content – regular
media files (video, audio, photo), DVD-images (VIDEO_TS, ISO),
BD-Images (BDMV, ISO).

10. IPTV (multicast UDP streams) playback improvement: added support
for detecting and switching between multiple audio tracks.

11. Further dune_folder.txt extensions/improvements, to allow users to
more easily extend Dune user interface with custom look and behavior,
and to further support various solutions for organizing media
collections.

12. A LOT of other bugfixes and improvements (in particular, various
media format compatibility improvements).
New featu! res mostly implemented which will become available in the next
f/w versions after the current one:

1. DVB-T support via USB DVB-T dongle.
- Support for SD and HD (up to FullHD) media content, including H.264
video codec.
- Autoscan for available frequencies / channels.
- Provide the list of channels to the user, allow to start playback of
any channel.
- Allow to switch between channels during playback (as for IPTV /
multicast UDP streams).
- Recording: record the media stream during playback (as for for IPTV
/ multicast UDP streams).
- Potential future extensions: EPG browsing, EPG+DVR, time-shifting, etc.

2. Own solution for working with user’s media collections: Dune Media Library.
- The key thing is that each movie is accompanied with not just
pregenerated pictures, but also with well-structured formal
description, which is automatically indexed and used by the player.
- Based on the database of such descriptions, the player automatically
provides user interface for browsing the! Media Library, including
flexible navigation/filtering/search options.
- Advantages of this approach in comparison with other currently used
approaches (based on pregeneration of static pictures/pages with movie
descriptions and static indexes for navigation): the provided
navigation/filtering/search options can be much more powerful and
convenient than those based on static pregenerated indexes (e.g. more
flexible search conditions, the use of current context, etc); the user
interface can be much more flexible/powerful (as it does not depend on
static pregenerated content, and can include dynamic behavior), and
also can be much faster.
- The movie descriptions can be generated by a special PC application,
which looks up movies and fetch data automatically from Internet,
making as much job automatically as possible; it requires user
interaction only when automatic lookup does not give proper results,
and/or when the user wants t! o customize/override something.
- In future, also the following could be possible: movie descriptions
could be fetched from Internet by the player itself (e.g. from a
special Internet service), so the need to use PC application could be
completely eliminated of significantly reduced.
- Some parts of this approach could be used also for working with
Music and Photos, giving a consistent interface for working with the
entire Media Library.

3. Web Browser based on WebKit engine.
- Much more faster than Web Browser which took place on Sigma 863x units.
- Can render existing standard web sites, including very complex ones
via a lot of JavaScript (e.g. maps.google.com), not just simple pages
specially developed for the player.
- Also, can provide a way implement HTML+JavaScript based plugins for
Dune, providing various Internet services and other additional
features.

4. Flash Lite integration.
- Will provide a way to develop Flash-based based plugins for Dune,
providing various Internet s! ervices and other additional features.
- Also, potentially could be used in some parts of Dune’s user interface.

5. User Interface with a nice 3D graphics and animation effects.
- Will be based on Flash Lite and/or natively implemented code
(whatever provides the best speed/performance and the best overall
results).

6. Possibility to control the player from network via Ethernet/HTTP,
and via RS232 (in future models).
- Will include possibilities such as: start/stop/control playback,
add/control torrents, emulate RC button presses, etc.
- Usages: integration into complex home theater setups and
home-automation systems, convenient client applications for various
platforms (HTML-based applications for standard web browsers, PC
applications, iPhone applications, etc), other usages by advanced
users.

7. Advanced bookmarks support.
- Bookmarks for playlists: one bookmark for the entire playlist (e.g. series).
- Browse! r of all saved bookmarks (aka “Recent Files” menu): easily
view what was played most recently, and resume it. Including proper
support for playlists / series.

8. Better music section.
- Music start/stop w/o video output reinitialization.
- Background music playback (together with photos, together with file browsing).
- Music control center with nice GUI.
- CUE support.
- APE and other formats support.
- Other music-related features.

9. System / general.
- Avoid video output reinitialization whenever possible.
- More options for video output configuration (colorspace settings,
native resolution support, advanced auto framerate settings, etc).
- A lot of other misc fixes/improvements.