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INTRODUCTION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tv 101awa

   Network media players may not hold the same share in the market such as DVD and Blu-Ray players but as long as we keep getting larger storage capacity drives available to fit every bit of media owned by people there's simply no doubt it my mind that it will not take long before there's at least a single network media player in every house (personally i have 5). So if you've been following my media player reviews who should remember saying that Sigma Designs has yet to release their top-end HD decoding chip (i have no idea when they will) but since even their latest base solution the SMP8670/71 works like a charm many of the top manufacturers have decided to introduce more than just 1 solution based on it. Almost a month ago we reviewed the very good TV-301A network media player by Dune HD and today with us we have its little brother, the TV-101AW.

 

   Dune HD GmbH is a global manufacturer of cutting-edge digital media players and hybrid media player products which combine broad IPTV/VOD support with excellent DMA (Digital Media Adapter) functionality. The company maintains corporate offices in the United States, Russia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Germany, and its distribution network covers over 60 countries. The company employs high-class engineers who design its products on the basis of cutting-edge A/V and digital media technologies. Our Software development team located in Moscow Russia and Kiev Ukraine develops dedicated software that supports all Dune HD media players. Because of this the Dune HD brand enjoys a tremendous worldwide reputation in the premium segment of Consumer Electronics.

 

   As the name suggests (101/301) the TV-101AW is a cut-down version of the TV-301AW lacking the internal 2.5" drive bay, side card-reader and most of the available A/V outputs. Because of that however the TV-101AW is amongst the smallest units in the market and less than half the size of the TV-301AW making it the ideal network media player to move around inside the house or carry with you on the go. Except for the extra features however the TV-101AW has the same specifications with its larger brother including 256MB or RAM, 128MB of flash memory, HDMI 1.3 and support for pretty much every media file type out there (MKV, MPEG-TS, MPEG-PS, M2TS, VOB, AVI, MOV, MP4, QT, ASF, WMV, DVD-ISO, VIDEO_TS, MP3, MPA, M4A, WMA, FLAC, APE (Monkey's Audio), Ogg/Vorbis, WAV, AC3, AAC, JPEG, PNG, BMP, GIF). Unfortunately support for BD-ISO and FLV is not yet implemented by Sigma Designs something which i am not so sure will change anytime soon.

 


 

SPECIFICATIONS AND FEATURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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PACKAGING AND CONTENTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Exactly like the TV-301A the TV-101AW arrived inside a long box (yet smaller) with a large product image at the front, the Dune HD logo and some of the supported media types and codecs.

 

 

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A product description is present on the right side in 7 languages.

 

 

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The exact model type is checked at the bottom of the box (ours is the TV-101AW although as you can see it wasn't checked).

 

 

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At the rear of the box you can read about all the features and functions the TV-101AW has to offer.

 

 

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The entire bundle is safely placed beneath a secondary cardboard section.

 

 

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For such a tiny network media player the bundle is quite rich and aside the TV-101AW it includes the wireless antenna, remote control, two AAA batteries, quickstart guide, A/V cable, IR extender cable with stickers and the AC power adapter with 4 different tips (worldwide compatibility).

 

 

 


 

THE TV-101AW EXTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It is somewhat funny that the remote control of the TV-101AW is larger than the player itself but that means large buttons coupled with illumination for use in the dark.

 

 

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With just 110mm in width, 77mm in length and 26mm in height the TV-101AW is amongst the smallest network media players currently in the market.

 

 

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If you are wondering just how small it is check the above picture where it's placed over the TViX XROID A1, the PIVOS AIOS and the TV-301A.

 

 

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The front of the player is nothing to get excited about since it only has the power LED, IR receiver and a USB 2.0 port.

 

 

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At the top we see the Dune HD logo and product name.

 

 

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We get just the basics at the rear of the TV-101AW such as A/V output, HDMI 1.3 port, Gigabit LAN, IR extender, antenna port and the AC power adapter plug.

 


 

 

THE TV-101AW INTERIOR

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Again just like the TV-301A the components of the TV-101AW are placed at the bottom/opposite side of the PCB.

 

 

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The RTL8188CUS USB 2.0 network interface controller by Realtek is the chip responsible for units IEEE 802.11b/g/n WLAN support.

 

 

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At the center of the PCB we see the Sigma Designs SMP8670/1 processor/HD decoding chip.

 

 

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Realtek is also the supplier of the RTL8201CP PHYceiver (Ethernet component).

 

 

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Two 64MB DDR2 800MHz ICs manufactured by Nanya Technology (NT5TU64M16GG-AC) are also present at the bottom of the PCB.

 

 

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So the time has come to see how well this little guy performs.

 


 

 

USING THE TV-101AW

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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As usual prior to using the unit i really suggest heading over to the official support page to download the latest available firmware update.

 

 

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Dune HD has puts extra effort in designing the unique GUI (graphical user interface) used with their players to provide the best possible experience while at the same time making them extremely easy to navigate and use. (Note that once you successfully run the Accuweather application the current weather will be displayed at the top right corner of the GUI).

 


 

 

TESTING METHODOLOGY - TEST RESULTS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   After thinking it over i have decided on performing the same exact tests for all the Media Players i review. This occurred right after some of you emailed me while on my previous position asking for a more reliable methodology when testing such players/recorders. To be honest this may complicate things but it should also save me quite a bit of time in the process. So from now and on testing will be performed with the help of 4 specific MKV media files and several BDISO (when possible), MOV, RMVB and AVI ones, with bitrates of up to 35Mbps, something which as many of you know is not easy to come by. Of course the 4 specific MKV files are ones i ripped myself from 4 Blu-Ray titles i currently own in order to not only manage to hit the desired bitrate of up to 35Mbps but also use specific, high detailed scenes. My good old SONY 55A2000 (already 3+ years old but still my favorite) along with my latest Panasonic TX-P42S20 are the two screens i will be using for testing. In due time and when i finally see a 3D Screen that really makes me want to buy it i will also start using 3D material for testing but currently that is simply not possible and so i can't comment on 3D results. As for sound the audio/video amplifiers used with the two screens are the Yamaha RX-650 and the Yamaha RX-V463 coupled with 5.1 systems by TANNOY and Crystal Audio.

 

   Since the TV-101AW is basically the same as the TV-301A(W) there's not much i can say about it that i haven't already. The latest SMP8670/71 processors/HD decoding chips output better image quality (more live colors) compared to the latest RTD1186DD by Realtek but lack support for BD-ISO and FLV media file types. Now for some weird reason the Gigabit Ethernet LAN performed a tad slower than the one on the TV-301A (Realtek VS Vitesse chips?) but i really found no issues other than that during all 3 weeks of testing. What really surprised me was the performance of the onboard WLAN mainly because it worked flawlessly at a distance of 12 meters (between the TV-101AW and my modem/router) with 2 concrete walls in between.

 

     Bellow you will find 4 different screenshots from the 4 specific MKV media files i mentioned above featuring bit rates between 20 and 35Mbps. The resolution has remained unchanged (however the files are compressed to JPEG to save space on the server) at 1920x1080.

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CONCLUSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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   With the TV-101AW Dune HD has managed to introduce a very small yet powerful network media player in the market with top class A/V quality and countless functions. That makes it extremely convenient especially if you plan on moving it around much, however at the same time reducing the size of a network media player to such small levels automatically means less features and so the TV-101AW was simply not designed for people who need all the extra connectors found in other players like the TV-301A(W) (digital audio out/Toslink, coaxial, component) since it basically comes only with an HDMI 1.3 port and a Gigabit Ethernet port. Of course that doesn't affect the rest of the things the TV-101AW has to offer and so with it you can download torrent files, check the weather, surf the web, listen to internet radio, use Facebook/twitter, watch YouTube, play the four available games and much more.

 

   At this exact moment in time you can purchase the TV-101AW Universal Full HD Network Media Player by Dune HD for around USD130 inside the USA and 110Euros inside the EU. I can understand that to some people the TV-101AW may look a bit expensive especially due to its lack of most of the output connectors we find with most network media players but don't forget that it's really the superior A/V quality that you are paying for and in that area there's simply nothing better right now (at least until we see the next batch of processors/HD decoding chips). Personally i have to admit that i prefer large network media players like the Dune HD Max but i can think of nothing better than the TV-101AW for a portable network media player which i can take with me at a moment’s notice and that's why it gets our Golden Award.

 

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PROS

- Build Quality (Overall)
- Amazing Performance (Sigma Designs SMP8670/1)
- Size
- Illuminated Remote Control
- Price (For Some)
- GUI
- Build-In WiFi
- Product Support 

 

 

CONS

- Hard Plastic Exterior
- Lack of Output Connectors
- Lack of Support for BDISO/FLV Files