Dune HD Pro One 8K Plus | The NEW Best In-Home Streaming Media Player?
Summary
TLDRLogan reviews the Dune HD Pro18 K Plus, a $400 Android TV box that aims to outperform competitors like the Nvidia Shield. It features an aluminum casing for cooling, an S928X chip for 8K 60Hz output, and a Dolby Vision 10 engine. The device supports local media storage, network streaming, and has a user-friendly interface. Despite a lack of Netflix certification, it offers robust features like direct USB 3.0 connectivity and a versatile remote. Logan explores whether its $200 premium over the Shield justifies its value, particularly for those seeking advanced streaming and media management capabilities.
Takeaways
- 📦 The Dune HD Pro 4K Plus is a premium Android TV box priced at $400, offering a variety of features beyond basic streaming capabilities.
- 🌐 It provides access to popular online streaming services and allows for playback of locally stored media or content served through a network from a media server.
- 🔥 A highlight feature is the S928x chip, which supports 8K 60Hz output and hardware AV1 decoding, with a focus on advanced Dolby Vision capabilities through the Dolby Vision 10 engine.
- 📦 The device comes with a robust aluminum housing, Bluetooth remote, HDMI cable, and international power adapter, including batteries.
- 💾 It includes a 2.5-inch SATA hard drive bay for local media storage and can function as network-attached storage (NAS) via SMB server.
- 🔌 The Dune HD Pro 4K Plus has multiple USB ports, including a USB 3.0 client port that allows direct connection to a computer for media management.
- 📺 The built-in video player is capable of streaming 4K Blu-ray rips smoothly, even over Wi-Fi, and supports advanced Dolby Vision profiles.
- 🚫 However, the device does not have Netflix certification, meaning it cannot play Netflix content in 4K, and other streaming services may not work optimally.
- 🛠️ The user interface is well-designed and easy to navigate, with a vintage yet functional aesthetic, and offers an aggregate list of popular movies and TV shows.
- 🔄 The device allows for scraping of movie collections from a NAS and presents a clear interface for choosing between different file versions of the same movie.
- 🛑 Minor issues were encountered with app updates, but the problem was easily resolved by enabling the Google Play Store on the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus.
- 💡 The Dune HD Pro 4K Plus offers a high level of openness, including root access to the operating system, providing users with flexibility in device usage and maintenance.
Q & A
What is the Dune HD pro18 K plus and what is its primary function?
-The Dune HD pro18 K plus is an Android TV box that connects to a TV or projector, allowing users to watch movies and TV shows. Its primary function is to provide an enhanced streaming experience with access to online streaming services and local media storage or content served through a network from a media server.
What is the price of the Dune HD pro18 K plus and how does it compare to the Nvidia Shield?
-The Dune HD pro18 K plus is priced at $400, which is $200 more than the Nvidia Shield. The comparison is made to determine if the added features of the Dune HD justify the higher price.
What are some unique features of the Dune HD pro18 K plus that set it apart from other streaming devices?
-Unique features of the Dune HD pro18 K plus include the S 928x chip that supports 8K 60 HZ output, hardware AV1 decoding, and a Dolby Vision 10 engine for fine control over Dolby Vision output parameters. It also has a built-in 2.5-inch SATA hard drive bay for local media storage and network-attached storage capabilities.
How does the Dune HD pro18 K plus handle the playback of movies from a NAS?
-The Dune HD pro18 K plus can add any network folder as a source for a movie collection, saving login credentials and automatically mounting the share on boot. It can scrape folders to detect movies and allows users to choose between different versions of the same movie with clear file path indications.
What is the issue with streaming services on the Dune HD pro18 K plus in terms of certification?
-The Dune HD pro18 K plus does not have Netflix certification, meaning it cannot play back Netflix content in 4K. Additionally, the performance of other streaming services is not guaranteed.
What is the user interface of the Dune HD pro18 K plus like and how does it handle movie selection?
-The user interface of the Dune HD pro18 K plus is described as easy to set up with a vintage look. It aggregates a list of popular movies and TV shows and allows for smooth browsing of the movie collection with cached metadata. It also handles movie selection well, especially when there are multiple versions of the same movie.
What is the remote control of the Dune HD pro18 K plus like and are there any concerns about it?
-The remote control for the Dune HD pro18 K plus is described as underwhelming for a premium product, feeling a bit cheap. However, it is functional, and for a home theater environment, a universal remote is recommended.
Does the Dune HD pro18 K plus have any issues with app installations or updates?
-During testing, there was an issue with installing Disney Plus from a movie recommendation, where the app needed an update but crashed when attempting to do so. However, enabling the Google Play Store on the Dune HD pro18 K plus allowed for the app to be updated successfully.
What is the performance of the built-in video player on the Dune HD pro18 K plus like?
-The built-in video player on the Dune HD pro18 K plus performed well, with no noticeable issues while streaming direct 4K Blu-ray rips, even over 5 GHz Wi-Fi.
What additional features does the Dune HD pro18 K plus offer for advanced users?
-The Dune HD pro18 K plus offers advanced features such as root access to the underlying operating system, allowing for a high level of customization and control over the device.
How does the Dune HD pro18 K plus compare to the Nvidia Shield for someone without an in-home streaming setup?
-For users without an in-home streaming setup who are more interested in online streaming, the Nvidia Shield is a tried and true solution, especially for those using a regular TV, as they won't get the benefits of the Dune HD's better chip.
Outlines
📦 Unboxing and Features Overview of the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus
Logan introduces the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus, a high-end Android TV box with a price tag of $400. The device is positioned as a competitor to other streaming devices, offering unique features such as an aluminum casing for heat dissipation, an S928X chipset for 8K 60Hz output, and hardware AV1 decoding. The package includes a Bluetooth remote, HDMI cable, and an international power adapter. The player also boasts a Dolby Vision 10 engine for enhanced playback and a front display for time or playback progress. Additionally, it has a SATA hard drive bay for local media storage and network-attached storage (NAS) capabilities, foldable wireless antennas, and multiple USB ports, including a unique USB 3.0 client port for direct connection to a computer.
🖥 Interface and Functionality Review of the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus
The Dune HD Pro 4K Plus's software is user-friendly, with a vintage yet effective menu layout. Despite not being Netflix certified, it supports various streaming services and local media playback. The device allows for network folder addition and automatic mounting for NAS integration. It also features an efficient movie scraping system that detects and organizes movies on the NAS. The interface is smooth and reminiscent of popular streaming apps, with a unique file selection process that clearly presents options when multiple files match a single movie title. However, there was an issue with updating the Disney Plus app, which was resolved by enabling the Google Play Store for updates. The built-in video player performs well, even streaming 4K Blu-ray rips over Wi-Fi.
💡 Conclusion and Considerations for the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus
The video concludes with a discussion on the value proposition of the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus. Its Dolby Vision profile 7 layer capability requires an active internet connection due to DRM restrictions. The device offers advanced options like root access to the operating system, appealing to tech-savvy users. The decision to purchase depends on individual needs; for those valuing the VS10 engine and Dolby Vision enhancements on a compatible display, the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus is a compelling choice. However, for users focused on online streaming, the Nvidia Shield might be a more reliable option. The video ends with an invitation to check out the Dune HD Pro 4K Plus on the manufacturer's page and to engage with the content through likes, subscriptions, and comments.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Dune HD Pro 18K Plus
💡Android TV box
💡8K 60 Hz output
💡Hardware AV1 decoding
💡Dolby Vision
💡SATA hard drive bay
💡SMB server
💡USB 3.0 client port
💡Google Play Store
💡Dolby Vision Profile 7
💡Nvidia Shield
Highlights
The Dune HD pro18 K plus is an Android TV box with a price tag of $400, offering advanced features over standard TV boxes.
It provides access to popular online streaming services and supports local media playback.
The device is designed to compete with the Nvidia Shield, offering a $200 markup for additional features.
The Dune HD pro18 K plus comes with a robust aluminum housing that serves as a heatsink for the S 928x chip.
The S 928x chip supports 8K 60 HZ output and hardware AV1 decoding, a feature that may become more relevant as streaming services adopt AV1.
A key feature is the Dolby Vision 10 engine, offering fine control over Dolby Vision output parameters and support for various formats.
The Dune HD pro18 K plus allows for direct playback of BD backups or ISO files with full Dolby Vision enhancement.
It includes a front display screen showing time or playback progress and a SATA hard drive bay for local media storage.
The device features foldable wireless antennas and multiple USB ports, including a unique USB 3.0 client port for direct computer connectivity.
The remote control, while functional, feels cheap for a premium product and may be replaced with a universal remote in a home theater setup.
The Dune's custom operating system is surprisingly user-friendly, with a vintage yet effective interface.
The Dune HD pro18 K plus does not have Netflix certification, meaning it cannot play Netflix content in 4K.
The device allows for network folder addition and automatic mounting for NAS-based movie collections.
The interface provides a smooth browsing experience with metadata cached on internal storage, reminiscent of the Netflix app.
The Dune HD pro18 K plus offers a clear and user-friendly method for selecting between different file versions of the same movie.
The built-in video player performs well, streaming 4K Blu-ray rips smoothly even over Wi-Fi.
The device requires an active internet connection for Dolby Vision profile 7 layer functionality due to DRM restrictions.
Dune provides options for root access to the operating system, showcasing an open approach to device customization and maintenance.
The value of the Dune HD pro18 K plus depends on customer requirements, particularly for those seeking advanced local streaming and Dolby Vision capabilities.
Transcripts
hey everyone welcome back to the channel
I'm Logan and there are a lot of options
on the market right now for devices that
do nothing more than hook up to your TV
or projector and let you watch movies
and TV shows at this point the bar is
pretty low and even the cheapest TV
boxes are probably going to offer a
halfway decent Android TV experience but
with that said today I want to look at
one of those devices that's trying to
compete above everyone else this is the
$400 Dune HD pro18 K plus and that's the
only time I'm saying its full name in
the video which was sent over to us for
review by Dune and like the Nvidia
Shield it's an Android TV box that's
going to give you access to all the
popular online streaming services you
may or may not be subscribed to right
now as well as your own collection of
locally stored Media or content served
through your network from a media server
but the Doom promises a lot of other
benefits over the shield and my mission
in this video is to see if they're
offering enough added value to justify
that $200 markup over the tried and true
solution because it looks like they've
added a lot of features to this that you
just can't really get anywhere else at
least this combination of features and
for the right person the Dune might be
an excellent choice so with all that out
of the way let's actually take a look at
this box and see what you get the Dune
8K comes in a pretty nice package and
provides some documentation along with
the player itself and all the usual
accessories like a Bluetooth remote HDMI
cable and an international power adapter
which can take a standard US plug
batteries are also included and the Dune
8K player is actually a really nice
piece of Hardware the housing is made
entirely out of aluminum and it has a
positive amount of heft to it but more
importantly this should also help to
keep the S 928x arm s so fairly cool
since the entire chassis is used as a
heat sink for the Chip And that s 928x
chip is actually one of the Highlight
features of the Dune it's a pretty
modern s so sporting full 8K 60 HZ
output which you can leverage using the
dun's HDMI port and it also has stuff
like Hardware av1 decoding which will
hopefully become a more relevant feature
as more streaming services start
offering their content in av1 to save
bandwidth but what's really exciting
here is that Dolby vs10 engine which
basically allows you much finer control
over the Dolby Vision output parameters
of the player and also bring support for
a ton of different Dolby Vision formats
like profile file 7 full enhancement
layer that you would find on 4K Blu-ray
discs without any conversion needed for
playback on the Dune according to Dune
you can just use a BD backup folder made
in make MKV for example or use an ISO
file of your disc and get the full
functionality of the Dolby Vision
enhancement from this so but we'll be
sure to dive further into that once we
actually test the unit and stream some
of our own movies onto it so for now on
the back of the Dune we've got a toslink
optical audio port a 3.5 mm audio jack
8K HDMI gigabit Ethernet a DC power
Inlet and a power switch on the front we
have a nice little screen that lets you
see the current time or the progress of
your current playback as well as a
little door which opens to reveal a
standard 2 and 1/2 in SATA hard drive
bay this can be used by the Dune for
local storage of media on the device
itself and it can also be used as
network attached storage using the SMB
server built to into the player which
can actually stream to other Dune
devices in the network or anything else
that supports SMB which is a lot of
devices so this is a really neat feature
on either side of the unit you can also
see these nice foldable Wireless
antennas and on the right side we get a
USB 2.0 Port two USB 3.0 ports and a USB
3.0 client port and this is really
uncommon but it actually makes a lot of
sense here basically you can plug a USB
3 typeb cable into this port Nook the
other end into your computer and then
whatever SATA storage you have inside
your player will be shown to your
computer as a USB hard drive meaning you
can format it and copy media to it so on
and so forth you don't even need to hook
up power to the Dune itself to use this
feature which is really cool and Mak
syncing large files really convenient
compared to other media players you
could even use this to directly rip
Blu-ray discs from your computer into
the hard drive of the streaming box for
example I do wish they would have
included a cable for this but it's a
pretty standard cable and not all that
expensive to get afterward if you'll be
using this feature and on that note we
do have to talk about the other slightly
less impressive aspects of this unit
that I noticed uh and one of those has
really got to be the remote which for
such a premium product was honestly
pretty underwhelming it's a little cheap
feeling but it gets the job done there's
not really much to say about it other
than the fact that if you're in a home
theater environment hopefully you have a
good universal remote that you can use
instead but while all the aspects of the
Dune player itself sound really good on
paper it really comes down to the
implementation of all these features
that's going to determine whether or not
it's even worth considering and usually
when I hear that someone's gone out of
their way to make a streaming box and
roll their own operating system for it
as is the case with the Dune players I
start to get a little worried because
the interfaces that ship with a lot of
streaming boxes outside of the
mainstream options are usually pretty
bad so with this in mind I crossed my
fingers and cautiously plugged in our
unit here so I could get a feel for it
and I got to say I was actually
pleasantly surprised the Dune software
was easy to set up although the visual
style of the menus here strike me as
looking a little vintage like a really
old Apple TV or something but I mean
that in a really good way everything
here is laid out really well and after
using the interface for a while I have a
lot of good things to say about it once
you get past the initial setup it's
going to show you this aggregate list of
a bunch of different popular movies and
TV shows and just because a movie is on
the screen here doesn't mean I'm
endorsing it neither is Dune but it does
mean that the movie is available through
one of the streaming services supported
by Dune and I should make it clear here
that while the Dune 8K is technically an
Android TV streaming box the main
function here is supposed to be
streaming from a Naas or playing back
media from the internal hard drive and I
say this because Dune wants to make it
very clear that this player does not
have Netflix certification so
unfortunately it can't play back any
Netflix content in 4k and other
streaming services aren't guaranteed to
work either and this isn't a huge
problem for us since we don't have
Netflix anymore but Dune also offers
Netflix certified Android TV models for
this exact purpose so if we're supposed
to be streaming from a Naz let's walk
through the process of actually doing
that you can add any network folder as a
source for your movie collection on the
dune and what this does is save the
login credentials for your Nas on the
player and automatically mounts that
share on boot so once that's been done
you have the ability to scrape any of
the folders in that share that you added
and the Dune will go through every
single file and try to detect the movies
that you have on your Nas all of our
movies here are on an SMB share hosted
from our sonology Nas and it only took
about 20 minutes to scrape our
collection and it seemed to pick up all
of our movies just fine with those movie
scraped you'll now see your local
network storage as an option for playing
back any of the movies recommended in
the movie section of the Dune interface
and if you're really not at all that big
into online streaming you can just
remove the entire online listing which
can also get rid of some of the weird
recommendations for movies you'd
probably never want to watch anyway the
actual process of browsing through
movies on the Dune home screen was
really good as well since all the
metadata for your movies are cached on
that 64 GB of internal storage going
through your colle ction is pretty
smooth and I like the layout of their
interface in some ways it reminds me a
lot of the Netflix app and one of the
most wellth thought out features of the
Dune interface is how you actually
choose files to play and this goes hand
inand with the scraping of movies as
well over time as you build up a movie
collection it's almost inevitable that
you'll eventually upgrade a movie well
in this case if you have more than one
folder or file on your Nas that matches
with a single movie The Dune will just
ask you very verbosely which file you
want to stream and it'll even clearly
tell you the file path of each option
and the reason I'm making this such a
big deal is because the zido players
that we reviewed on our Channel
previously do a much worse job handling
the scenario of having different
versions of the same movie they just add
tiny little buttons on the movie info
screen that you can switch between and
it changes a tiny label that shows you
which version of the movie that you're
playing the fact that you're selecting
between two different different files of
the same movie isn't very clear over
there so the Dune definitely did a
better job here and that was my main
observation with most of the
functionality on the Dune HD as far as
the user interface goes it seems welld
designed and everything basically worked
one hiccup that we did run into while
testing was when trying to install
Disney plus from a movie recommended on
the home screen the player installed
Disney plus just fine but upon trying to
launch it we got a notice saying that
the app needed to update and trying to
update it just made the app crash it
didn't take long to figure out that we
could enable the Google Play Store on
the Dune very easily and from there it
became easy to update the Disney Plus
app so I'm not sure why this happened in
the first place maybe it was just bad
timing and dune hadn't downloaded an
update that had been pushed to the Play
Store but the solution wasn't very
difficult so I'll give it a pass the
built-in video player itself was also
great I didn't notice any hiccups while
streaming direct 4K Blu-ray rips even
over 5 GHz Wi-Fi and of course if you
have a compatible display you can take
full advantage of the Dolby Vision
profile 7 layer on your movie rep but
note that this functionality also
requires the player to have an active
internet connection presumably to
appease some kind of draconian DRM that
will go on to plag us consumers until
the end of time so the Dune definitely
did what it was designed to do and if
you want to push it further they
actually offer a lot of other really fun
options like the ability to get Rude
access to the underlying operating
system which really makes me appreciate
how open these guys are with their
devices it doesn't feel like some kind
of a Walden Garden where you're only
meant to use the device the way the
manufacturer expects and there's more
value in that than you realize when
you're making this big of investment you
want to be able to maintain it and use
it however you see fit in your setup but
whether or not all this is actually
worth the $3.99 price tag is still going
to be pretty difficult to determine and
a lot of it comes down to your
requirements as a customer if you see
this panel that allows you to enable LDV
output using the vs10 engine and you
have a display or projector where you
know this is going to be a big
Improvement the Dune is a no-brainer and
I feel like it's an implementation
that's preferable over the other
Solutions on the market but if it's this
versus an Nvidia Shield when you don't
really have an inhome streaming setup
you're more interested in online
streaming the Nvidia Shield is a tried
andrue solution especially if you're
just using a regular TV and you won't
get the benefits of that better chip so
it's going to depend on your setup but
with all that said I still hope you
found this video helpful if you're
interested in picking up your own unit
we'll leave a link to dune's page on the
8K model here so you can check it out
for yourself let us know if you have any
questions down in the comment section
below don't forget to like subscribe and
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our future content and as always have an
awesome day
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)