Dune (any model) as primary music server?

[haraldo]

Hey ya

I been using squeezebox for something that seems like ages now.... as the primary music player and it works quite nice, using digital out into a Benchmark DAC, both user friendly and performing well.... Music server is a h/w limited Asus Eee running a minimum version of Suse Linux Enterprise Server (Suse Linux Enterprise Server JeOS, built by Suse Studio)
There were some issues with dropouts sometimes but after going from wi-fi to hardwired ethernet for the pc and squeezebox it seems to be rock-solid. (touch wood)

Now is there anyone out there using any of the Dune products as the primary music player, using the digital output? or how is it performing via analog output?

How is this for user friendlyness, stability+++

anyone using squeezebox and Dune players?

 

[96cobra10101]

I'm interested in this also, anyone using the Dune?

 

[dkane360]

I use a Dune Smart H1. I'll post some more info later tonight. I don't use it as a music server, but I was planning on it at some point. I'll load some music and show how it works for that as well as with blu-rays.

 

[BMXTRIX]

There have been a lot of people on the MPCClub forums who have been asking for a better music interface for the Dune. As it is, the interface I've seen from my Dune is pretty windowsesque. Folders and stuff. Still, it works.

I use Zappiti for my movies, and Zappiti is pretty cool once it's all setup... which takes a while.

For stability, it's pretty solid. If it has an issue with a file, typically weird internet downloads, then it may freeze up. But, I use mine for DVD, TV (shows), and BD playback and it usually chugs right along without any problems. I've got about 2,000 TV episodes and 500+ movies available now. Still growing way to fast.

 

[dkane360]

There have been a lot of people on the MPCClub forums who have been asking for a better music interface for the Dune. As it is, the interface I've seen from my Dune is pretty windowsesque. Folders and stuff. Still, it works.

I use Zappiti for my movies, and Zappiti is pretty cool once it's all setup... which takes a while.

For stability, it's pretty solid. If it has an issue with a file, typically weird internet downloads, then it may freeze up. But, I use mine for DVD, TV (shows), and BD playback and it usually chugs right along without any problems. I've got about 2,000 TV episodes and 500+ movies available now. Still growing way to fast.

Agreed. I just played around with it, and the music interface leaves some to be desired. It'll display the metadata such as artist, song name, track # album, but other than that there's nothing.

Dune has been great with updating things that people want (MKV chapter support), so I wouldn't be surprised if they improve it in the future. I'm not sure I would recommend it specifically as a music server, but if you wanted to start ripping blu-rays/dvds in the future than this is the ticket.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Yeah, that's been my impression of it. I think my AppleTV may have been better for music and the interface, especially since I have a fair bit of music in my iTunes stuff. But, I bought my AppleTV for... TV... and it sucks at that. Completely blows.

One of my customers has all his iTunes setup and uses AppleTV and completely loves it. He's 100% in there for music and sometimes throws up family vacation photos and stuff during parties, but that's about it for his usage.

 

[ratso]

i also had a smart D1. i was hoping i could get a good all in one server, that would do audio and video well. i sold it. over a power line, i had bad buffering issues and was unable to watch blu-rays. i also could not get it to read all my flac files (although to be fair, i only had a few issues that i discovered with this, but i have a very large cd collection and was afraid i would run into more problems in the future). it is not a bad piece of kit. the video interface is nice, but the audio interfaces are pretty primitive. it seems to be well made. it just wasn't for me.

 

[haraldo]

i also had a smart D1. i was hoping i could get a good all in one server, that would do audio and video well. i sold it. over a power line, i had bad buffering issues and was unable to watch blu-rays. i also could not get it to read all my flac files (although to be fair, i only had a few issues that i discovered with this, but i have a very large cd collection and was afraid i would run into more problems in the future). it is not a bad piece of kit. the video interface is nice, but the audio interfaces are pretty primitive. it seems to be well made. it just wasn't for me.

Hmmmmm.....
As listed in D1 spec:
Blu-ray playback: Blu-ray menu, BD-J, BonusView, BD-Live – for both Blu-ray discs (retail and user-authored) (*) and full Blu-ray structures (Blu-ray-ISO, BDMV) played from HDD and network

So the Blu-ray stuff should work according to their own glossy papers... what's the specific of thw issues you had with Blu-ray playback?