D-Link DSM-520 from eBay

Today I ordered my second media player D-Link DSM-520. It will be my main player, connected to my home cinema and 42" plasma via component HD.

Why I chose DSM-520? The only reason was HD 1080i ability. I have 21 000 hi-resolution digiphotos in my server to share and also I have 1080 HD plasma to show them to my family and guests. Previously I used to show it in PAL, wat is onli 480 lines. So, the resolution improvement will be 2 times horizontally, what is vlearly visible!

It cost me just 205 €, so, quite cheap!

Wish List

This is Media Receiver wish list, concerning D-Link DSM-320, DSM-520 and upcoming DSM-750 models. I use model DSM-320 in conjunction with my home cinema. Soon I replace it with DSM-520 and old unit goes to bedroom, connected to old-school CRT TV. But I have wishlist for D-Link.

Please add LCD monitor D-sub output
Currently You may see the server contents, setup it and make adjustment only using your AV equipment -- LCD TV, Plasma TV; projector etc. DSM has composite, s-video and component outputs. I am lucky and have 42PD8600 42" 1080i Hitachi plasma TV. But I have a problem. If you listen all day long music and plasma is on, all static texts of DSM-320 "burn in". They disappear in some time. Still, You dont to keep Your 42" plasma on all day only to show track name currently playing. I miss some additional display. D-Links philosophy is not to add one or twil-line lcd to their receiverst, as some other companies do, like Roku. OK, I agree. But please give oportunity to add additional 15" PC LCD monitor via d-sub connector.

Screen saver

To avoit durnt in characters on my plasma screen

More resolution for OSD
Having about 260 artists and 700+ albums in my media server, I'd like to see a lot on the screen, trying to find album I wish to play. Currently You can see only 10 lines of text or so. TwonkyMedia has good solution indexing and grouping albums, artist etc to reduce time-consuming scrolling. Thats a good solution. But still, I'd like to see info in many colums, at least optionally.

Track properties
Please make possible to see bitrate, encoding and other properties of streaming tracks and also streaming video. Hope, that UPnP standards support it.

Thats it, three wishes only where is my goldfish?

New fast WiFi @ home

Some people heard already about new products, like D-Link Dual-band draft-N router and DSM-750 media receiver, having so-called draft-N wifi. What is it? How fast is it?

WiFi evolution:

1999 - 802.11 b - 11 Mbit/s, typically 6,5 Mbit/s

2003 - 802.11 g - 54 Mbit/s, typically 23 Mbit/s

2007 - 802.11 n - 540 Mbit/s, typically 200 Mbit/s

Look also: D-Link DSM-750 media receiver

Look also: D-Link Dual-band draft-N router

Today I link my media receiver to my media server via wired LAN to avoid problems in video streaming. Current WiFi speed is not enough to guarantee bandwith needed for DVD-quality or HD video, if base station is some 10 meters away. Lets hope, that draft-N aka 802.11n does the job.

D-Link's new media receiver

Dlink announced some new features of upcoming draft 802.11n high definition media receiver DSM-750.

Evolution of DSM media players -- my interpretation:

DSM-320

Wireless 802.11g;

Screen resolution 480 lines? (not confirmed)

SCART RGB or Component + S-video

New in DSM-520 (compared to DSM-320)

HD screen resolution 1080 for MPEG 2 and MPEG4, 760 for WMA HD and 760 x 480 for photos;

Wireless 802.11b & g;

HDMI output

New in DSM-750 (compared to DSM-520)

Draft 802.11n wireless (up to 200 Mbit)

So, only remarkable upgrade is draft N wireless, what allows better video streaming over wireless network.