Dune HD Pro : A Premium Entertainment System using the Sigma Designs SMP8910

Dune HD  is one of the most respected middleware developers in the media player scene. By exclusively restricting themselves to Sigma Designs, they have managed to produce an enviable lineup of media players coveted by many people. It was not much of a surprise, then, that their latest offering, the Dune HD Pro received a CES innovation award.

When it was announced in late fall last year, the unit was a silver colored monolithic design. In the space of a few months, it has undergone revisions to become more of a modular design.

The unit in the middle is the player housing the main SoC, the SMP8910. It also has all the DACs for full multichannel analog audio output. The module on top is the Blu-ray / HDD add-on, while the third module
is a NAS system with 4 bays and a touchscreen based control unit. Unfortunately, I couldn't play around with the system because the display was running a canned video, and the unit was just showcased without being powered on (at least in the time that I was at the booth).

The main unit comes in at $1900, and I was told by the Dune rep that the rest of the pricing wasn't fully decided yet. At around $2000, it is difficult to justify the purchase of a media player for a majority of the consumers out there. Hopefully, a lower cost version (with just the SoC, couple of USB ports, wired Ethernet, SPDIF optical out and HDMI 1.4a output) will come out soon.

Much has been said about the SMP8910 and its VXP video post processing. I won't go into the details in this piece, but suffice to say that a large number of users are waiting for the SoC to make an appearance in shipping products and believe that only the premium features offered by the SoC can save the local media streamer market from its current rut.

One of the biggest challenges to be faced by the Dune HD Pro (other than consumers accepting their pricing strategy), is the Cinavia DRM system. While I couldn't elicit any official response from the Dune
representatives, I understood that

Cinavia DRM was included in the latest SDK supplied by SigmaThe Cinavia behavior with that SDK wasn't the same as that of the PS3.

Since the SDK is quite immature, not much can be inferred from the current state. However, Cinavia is a threat that Dune is perfectly aware of. It will be quite interesting to see how it is handled.

At CES, Dune also showcased their IPTV platform (Dune HD TV-101/301) which looks very similar in form factor to the WDTV Live SMP and is targeted towards the same market. In the US, the WDTV Live SMP is well placed, and I believe the Dune HD TV series will find its feet in other markets.

Partnerships with THX and Vudu have also been made public. You can read all about that in the official press releases [1 ] and [2]. It is highly possible that one may be able to watch Vudu in HD on the  various Dune units (based on the SMP8642) already in the market.

Dune also confirmed that the current lineup (Smart series, HD Duo and HD Max) would remain in production and continue to use the SMP8642. There are no plans to shift to a SMP8646 model unless Sigma Designs decides to completely stop shipping the SMP8642 before the SMP8910 lineup takes off.

There is no firm shipping date set for the HDI Dune Pro, but a large number of media streaming enthusiasts (including me) are waiting in anticipation just to see how good the SMP8910 is!

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Tutorial: Using multiple Windows desktops with Dexpot

Using multiple Windows desktops: Steps 1-8

Multiple Windows desktops don't have to mean multiple computers. Dexpot emulates features built in to Linux operating systems and OS X, and splits your machine up into a number of distinct workspaces.

You might do your accounts on one, your art on another, your filing on a third. However you choose to use them, you'll be more efficient than before.

This method keeps all your windows and applications separate and neat, but doesn't restrict you. Just as with real desks, you're free to take work from one and put it on another, or move one out of the room if you find you don't really need that much space.

Using multiple Windows desktops with Dexpot will make your life so much easier, you'll wonder why you didn't give it a try sooner.

1. Run the installer

First, double-click the Dexpot install package to get things started, and click 'Yes' if the User Account Control window appears. Click 'OK' to select English as your language, then the installation wizard will start. Remember to close any other programs you have open to make sure the installation process goes smoothly.

2. Complete the wizard

The wizard makes installation a breeze. Click 'Next', click 'I accept' on the licence agreement page, then click the check box to confirm that you'll be using Dexpot for private purposes. Click 'Next' twice, select 'Do not install Internet Explorer 9' (unless you want to for some masochistic reason) then click 'Install'.

3. Your first run

Once the files have been installed, click 'Finish' and Dexpot will run automatically. It might look like nothing has happened, but on Windows 7 you should be able to see a blue Dexpot icon with a number 1 on it – click it once and you'll see the set of four independent desktops that are installed by default.

4. Activate SevenDex

During our tests, we discovered that restarting made that fancy icon disappear. So restart your PC, run Dexpot, and see if it comes back. If not, check the system tray, right-click the blue 'Dexpot' icon, click 'Settings', select 'Plugins and extras', and then check the box next to 'SevenDex' to switch it back on.

5. Alternative switcher

You don't have to use SevenDex to flit between your litany of desktops – indeed, you can't if you're running Windows XP or Windows Vista. The alternative is nestling in that tray icon we used earlier – right-click it, then click Desktop Manager to bring up a custom overlaid desktop switcher. You'll need to use this in the following steps if you can't access SevenDex.

6. Switching desktops

It's time for a quick test of Dexpot's functionality: click on the taskbar icon, then the second desktop in the set. You'll see the number on the Dexpot icon change to '2' to indicate you're now on Desktop 2. Run any program – your web browser, for example – then click the Dexpot icon and switch back to the first desktop. The browser, and its taskbar icon, has disappeared.

7. Moving programs

Only it hasn't really disappeared. That's sort of the point of multiple desktops. Click the icon, then click desktop 2 andyou'll see that your browser is still open, it's just filed on the second screen. To quickly move it to the first desktop, just hold down [Alt]and [Shift], and press the number key that corresponds to the desktop you want the window to go to.

8. Quick switching

Clicking icons to jump between desktops can be a bit clumsy. The default keyboard shortcut for quick movement is [Alt] and [x], where x is the number of the desktop you wish to switch to. You can hit [Windows]+[W] to bring up a handy visual desktop switcher, or [Windows]+[Q] to hunt down a particular application among all of your active desktops. We find the latter shortcut particularly handy.

Using multiple Windows desktops: Steps 9-16

9. Background information

Time to add some flair to your desktops and personalise each one. First, let's tell Dexpot that we want to look after each background individually. Right-click the icon, click on 'Configure desktops', select the desktop on the left that you want to personalise, then click the Background tab. Click 'Browse', then agree to enabling background configuration by choosing 'Yes'.

10. Choose your wallpaper

Now you need to dig out the background you want to use. You can use something from your Pictures folder, or hunt down the Windows default backgrounds – you'll find them in C:\Windows\Web\Wallpaper. Repeat the process for each of your desktops for a unique look. It might help to use textures or images appropriate to different tasks.

11. See everything

It's quite possible to get a bit lost if you're using many desktops at once. The full-screen preview is a useful tool for getting an overall view of what's going on. Press [Windows] and [F3] at the same time to bring up a fancy grid showing you the current contents of all your current desktops. Now you just need to click on one of the desktops to bring it to the front.

12. More desktops

Four desktops not enough? Fine! You can have up to 20 desktops running at any one time, or reduce the number if it suits you. Right-click the Dexpot icon, left-click on 'Settings', then make sure 'General' is selected on the left. The number of desktops can be chosen in the uppermost box. While it's certainly possible to run 20 desktops, it can get a little draining on the hardware, so choose carefully.

13. Using the cube

Stay in the Settings window, click 'Plugins and settings', then tick the box next to DexCube. This implements a cool plug-in that pretties up the way your desktops switch – try moving left and right between your desktops using [Ctrl] and [Alt] and arrow keys to see the fancy 3D effect in action. Yes, Linux users have had this sort of thing for years so it's not new, but it's still rather nice.

14. Taskbar tweaking

If you're using Windows 7, you can make the most of empty space on your taskbar to display a quick at-a-glance preview of your desktops, complete with representations of the open windows. In the same Settings menu as before, just switch on Taskbar Pager – click and drag icons on it to move them between desktops.

15. Find a window

The problem with all these desktops is that organisation can go too far, and things can go missing. Hit [Windows]+[F2] to bring up the Window Catalogue, right-click on the desktop name at the top, then click All desktops to show all your open windows – click the one you want to go immediately to its desktop. OS X users will recognise this as a clever facsimile of Exposé.

16. Make the most of your multiple desktops

So, you've set up multiple desktops, you've made them look good, and you've found numerous ways to manage them, from taskbar switching to keyboard shortcuts. Dexpot has a host more features to explore, but now it's up to you to poke around and find out what more it can do. We'll give you a clue: it can do a lot more.

Google using Chrome browser to flog Chromebooks

Google has started to use its popular Chrome browser to try to sell Chromebooks for the Christmas period.

The simple adverts have been showing up at the top of the Google Chrome homepage as Google tries to push the Chrome OS-fuelled notebooks.

Currently only Acer and Samsung have made Chromebooks, with the latter far and away the dominant manufacturer.

Simplicity

Although the notebooks have won praise for simplicity and the speed in which a user can be up and running, the offline features remain a major sticking point as TechRadar's Samsung Chromebook review suggests.

A pop-up shop in a PC World and Currys superstore in London's Tottenham Court Road garnered a nice bit of publicity, but Chromebooks cannot be accused of being over-hyped since their launch.

In truth, as offline functionality is added to Chrome OS, it becomes a more viable alternative to Windows, although key products like Google Docs' usefulness without a connection are still severely limited.

Google's Chrome browser is going from strength to strength, however, and with the apps becoming more prominent within it, and the decision to advertise Chromebooks, there may be light at the end of the tunnel for those who believe that the potential of a cloud-based computer strategy is high.

But can Chromebooks come good? Find out what we think in our video below:

brightcove : 1261970660001

Rendering and HPC Benchmark Session Using Our Best Servers

Each time we publish a new server platform review, several of our readers inquire about HPC and rendering benchmarks. We're always willing to accommodate reasonable requests, so we're going to start expanding beyond our usual labor intensive virtualization benchmarks. This article is our first attempt. It was a bumpy ride, but this first attempt produced some very interesting insights.

The increasing core counts on modern servers makes finding useful benchmarks difficult, and given how many businesses have chosen to use virtualization that has been our major focus. For this article, we decided to run the latest version of Cinebench and Stars Euler 3D CFD, as both seemed like they would be fairly easy to work with. That didn't end up being the case, but at least our testing results are a lot more interesting than we imagined they would be.

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Windows 8 Syncs Settings Between Systems Using Windows Live ID

Today on the Building Windows 8 blog, Katie Frigon explains how user settings, Metro apps purchased through the Windows app store, and other data can be synced across Windows 8 devices using a Windows Live ID. 

When setting up a new or reloaded Windows 8 device, you're given an opportunity to sign in with a (or create a new) Windows Live ID. Windows will then create a user profile with that username, and can sync various settings including your lock screen picture, desktop background bookmarks and browser history, and various other settings to the cloud and between devices.

A new Control Panel gives users control over exactly what is synced, and IT administrators will also be able to determine whether users can link their domain accounts with Windows Live IDs (and the kinds of data the users can sync). Data synced to Microsoft's servers is encrypted using SSL/TLS, and that new devices associated with your Windows Live ID must be confirmed before they can access your sync data. The post also notes that local accounts and domain accounts can continue to function just as they always have, if desired. 

These changes are mostly consumer-oriented, and mirror moves by Apple and Google (among others) to sync data between different devices using a central account. For more information (and, as always, there's plenty more), check out the post on the Building Windows 8 blog.

Source: Building Windows 8 Blog

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Using High Performance RAM with AMD A-Series APUs in DX11 Gaming

The Lynx GPU

In recent weeks we’ve been really excited to see the discrete-class performance of AMD’s new A-Series APUs, where a multi-core CPU and a full DirectX11 GPU basically sit side by side on one piece of silicon. This means that users can get fairly solid 3D gaming performance out of their rig using the onboard graphics alone.

Like all of today’s graphics processors, the Lynx GPUs that reside on these Llano APUs are also reliant on the memory sub-system to reach decent performance levels in today’s 3D games. This is because modern GPUs use parallel processing to churn through large data sets on-the-fly, using accelerated pixel and vertex shaders to make these realistic 3D environments come to life. Memory bandwidth, or basically the speed of your RAM, is therefore a crucial factor in getting this data to and from the GPU.

The upshot of all this is that if you use high-performance memory with your A-Series APU, the onboard Lynx GPU will have more bandwidth to play with, resulting in faster frame rates and smoother game-play in modern 3D games.

To give you a clearer idea about just how much extra performance you can expect see by using high-performance RAM, we’ve done some benchmarking and testing which we will share with you here.

Raising the Memory Clock

We took AMD’s A8350 APU, our GIGABYTE A75-UD4H board and tried a variety of differently clocked memory modules. We wanted to see exactly what effect raising the memory clock had on DX11 3D gaming performance. For this we used a variety of Corsair RAM modules; DDR3 1333, 1600, 1866, 2000 and 2400.

And just to make interesting, we also benchmarked the DDR 2400 rig with HiCookie’s overclocked GPU settings – to take a glimpse of the outer limit of A-Series APU performance.

Here are the test configurations we used.

Here are the benchmarks of four DirectX 11 titles that we enjoy playing; Dirt 3, Dragon Age II, Metro 2033 and Civilization V.

As you can see, you can expect to enjoy a decent performance boost with each successive memory clock increase. Civilization V stands out an example of how even relatively affordable DDR 1600 RAM can be used to effect a FPS change of huge significance – moving from 28 FPS to a much smoother 47 FPS. In short, APU users who invest in high-performance memory will be getting more performance out of their AMD APU – in 3 out of 4 cases we explored, that performance boost was pretty much incremental.

Overclocking Does Make a Difference

A few reviewers in the last week or so have concluded that AMD’s Llano APUs are entirely bandwidth constrained, and that overclocking the APU is more or less a waste of time. We attempted to explore that idea by getting our resident overclocker HiCookie to try and push the Lynx GPU on a higher RAM clock. The results here speak for themselves. Using our A75-UD3H board with HiCookie’s overclocked GPU settings, you’re entering another performance bracket entirely, with often double the frame rates of stock settings. If you’re going to use DDR 2400 RAM, there‘s clearly GPU headroom worth exploiting.

A Word to the Wise

So if you’re thinking of building a AMD A-Series rig anytime soon, bear in mind that the RAM you choose will have an effect on gaming performance. High performance RAM will allow you to get more out of the onboard Lynx GPU. But hey, don’t forget that you’ll probably have to configure the memory timings in BIOS according to the manufacturers recommendations (usually printed on the DIMM itself). SPD alone won’t get you there!

Good luck, and good gaming…

You can read this blog in Chinese (中文版) here.