D-Link MediaLounge High-Definition Media Player (DSM-510)

First off, I'd like to say that I firmly believe that digital media players similar to this one are the future of digital home entertainment. A simple and inexpensive device like that allows you to stream digital media to your home theater from your laptop, desktop or a dedicated media server located anywhere in your house. This is a great idea. This technology is here to stay. It's just a question of maturity. And, sorry to say, D-Link DSM-510 is not quite there yet.

I truly liked its design simplicity. There are no frills, but all essentials are there WiFi, Ethernet, HDMI, optical audio and USB port. Exactly what I needed, no more and no less, in a small and neatly done package with clean and straightforward user interface.

However, the device is palgued by fimware bugs that eventually made me take it back to the store where I bought it.

First, the most obvious and the most stupid one is the absence of the on/off indicator. The blue light on the front panel goes on once the power adapter is connected and remanis lit whether the device is turned on or off. So you have to turn your TV on to tell whether it's on or off.

Second, there's no on/off or reset button on the front panel. Well... there's no buttons whatsoever, period. And boy, will you miss that reset button now and then. The only way to turn it on or off is by using remote control.

The most annoying thing is, the device's video output goes completely dark for no apparent reason once in a while and won't come back even if you power cycle it using remote. The device appears to be alive (you can ping it), but video output remains black no matter what you do. The only way to remedy from this is to physically disconnect power supply (there's no reset or power button, remember?)

I upgraded to the latest firmware version (1.01), but to no avail. By the way, firmware upgrade is done via Internet and went very smoothly, although at some point you're left wondering if it's hung up or what? Just be patient and wait for a couple of minutes for it to finish.

I'm really surprised and disappointed that D-Link's QA have not caught this nasty "black screen" problem. Hopefully, it can be fixed with a firmware patch. But until then, the DSM-510 goes back to the store shelf.

And D-Link, take note. If you want to enter consumer market, you have to change your attitude. Consumers are less forgiving than computer geeks you sell your networking stuff to. They won't tolerate bugs that require reaching behind the box and pulling the power cord.

Like the previous review, I also think that Digital Media is the way of the future. I had high hopes for this device as it support DVR-MS format, except, it does not. Your home PC needs to transcode the DVR-ms files in order for the DSM to work. Said another way you better have one fast PC.

Now to the problems. It looses sound quite often easy to fix by just turning power off/on, but after the 10th time that gets old.

As reported before the screen goes blank every once in a while only way is to un-plug power.

The quality is bad. First unit I got was DOA. Second unit worked for 4 weeks then started to default to Analog output whenever you power it down. So then you have to plug the analog cable in, change the setting to digital and never turn it off.

Customer Support. It only took me 1 hour to go through the normal service desks to be forewarded to their expert level support. But there is nothing to do. His advice return it to the store as their service call take quite long.

This experience was bad enough that I'll most likley never buy D-link again or at least until there are enough review to warrant oterhwise.

Stay clear!

Buy D-Link MediaLounge High-Definition Media Player (DSM-510) Now

Finally, something I can recommend: the Dlink DSM-510. Here's my story.

My wife bought me DSM-510 around Thanksgiving for this Christmas. They had it on sale. I did lots of research before hand to ensure that I knew what I was doing. I was going to ensure that the firmware on the unit was upgraded to v1.07. Problem was this unit was fubarred. I turned on with the Dlink screen and then went black. No video no nothing. The only way to get the unit to work again was to unplug it and wait acouple of minutes before plugging it back in. Regardless of what I tried. The Dlink screen would come one and something I could get alittle further into the next screen and then the video would go out. Back for a full refund. I found out that this particular unit was purchased and returned twice. I told them not to try to resell this brick.

I purchased a new one it was a different story. I plugged it in to the TV. It came on and went searching for the wireless network. I put in the wpa passcode was immediately connected. I had previously download TVerisity on my pc. Started the server and shared my media drives. I even went into the Windows firewall and made an exception for Tversity. Everything seemed to work on the network PCs but the DSM still could not see the TVersity server. It turns out that the you also have to go into your router and open up the port 41952. After I did this the DSM-510 saw the server and all my share folders and files. I had set TVersity profile to DSM-510 and while i could see the share divx/avi files they were grayed out and inaccessible. After searching on the TVersity forums and here on avsforum, I got the answer from a thread by tonedeafdan. You have to change the profile.xml file in the TVersity software application.

Open profiles.xml with Notepad or Wordpad and search for DSM-510, and then find the line:



Now delete that line, down through the line:



And replace with the following lines (between the cut lines):

-------------cut line -----------------------------------------------































---------------cut line ---------------------------------------------

Then don't forget to save the file and restart sharing!

After I edited the profile.xml. All was good. All my divx/xvid/avi files came up in black on the DSM-510. Everyone of my movies plaved wirelessly without any problems, no glitches, no skipping, or locking up. I even took the DSM-510 to rooms on far end of the house and hooked it up to TVs in the other rooms with serveral walls in between on different floor and still was able to run The 510 and play a video file completely with no stuttering or locking. Likewise the I was able to play the photos, and music files without problems. Actually, I was so happy with the way this unit finally functions that we went back to Fry's tonight and purchased another DSM-510. Now I will have one in the theater room and another in any other room I choose.

Summary: This unit is great for the money. Athough it is not recommended for the uninitiated. It is by no means just plug and play. Dlink has done a horrible job with there supplied Nero server software and their firmware is never up to date. If you update the firmware to the latest v1.07 and use TVersity as the server with alittle modification then all will work well. Once you take the time to modify the setup for the way you want it will work flawlessly everytime. It does have an HDMI connection and you can also connect via RCA cables.

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I admit I was overwhelmed when I purchased this product as in the past I had Sony's version that I was unable to hook up, no matter how much I followed the directions, called tech support, finally got it working only for it to crash and never come up again.

For those without the ViiV computer that this is designed for, relax it's not a big deal. Though the directions out of the box aren't as helpful and I glanced at the manual on the disc, I pretty much went through the setup on my own. You will need to use the remote and the box to actually set up the product. Took me a few minutes to figure that out.

Next step is setting up your network. I went with wireless, set it up, had to look on my computer to figure out encription type but no problems there. It reboots. No big deal. Then I upgraded software and had to once again input the network info. A bit of a hassle, another 10 mins or so wasted but easy enough.

After you do this and manage to connect to your computer, I suggest using WMP11 (research online if you want to) to use your songs. I spent 10 hours doing the entire setup today and 8 or 9 was because the audio files weren't showing up. Then when they started to they weren't all there with only folder names. It's not difficult to use WMP11 and its much quicker!

Now I still had problems with audio/video stuttering, freezing. I was frustrated, researched the net to come to no real conclusions. I defragmented my computer. Slightly better but not enough to make any difference. I couldn't listen to a full song or watch an entire minute of video. It was upsetting, frustrating, and I dug through the trash for the receipt I thought had got thrown out.

Finally before going to bed I decided to hook up my external hard drive to the USB connection in the front. (My iRiver mp3 player doesn't seem to connect not sure about other mp3 players). Immediately it worked! The connection was SUPERIOR. The video was as it is on a computer without any interruptions (if not better!). The audio is synced up. If you are going to buy this product I recommend using your External Harddrive or picking one up (especially if you plan on using it with a wireless connection). I can't say how the wired connection would have been. I'm on the same floor, down the hall with one wall of interference. I believe the main problem was the computer interfering more than the actual internet. Some people may have better luck (especially if you have the viiv computer that this is made for).

If you decide to buy this product (I got mine at Frys on sale for $100) I recommend picking up an External Hard Drive if you don't have one. (They run about $100 for a 500 gig--usually on sale).

ETA: If you do use an external harddrive be sure to keep your folders to about 25 max. So if you have a music folder I recommend A-Z and a reorganization because I had trouble accessing my music folder with just artists listed. I called Tech support and they were AMAZING. They helped with that and transfered me to a higher level for the issues with my computer and video/audio stability. I admit I hung up not wanting to wait but I had emailed tech support a day before and this really nice guy was emailing me back and I mentioned I had called the other day and so he called me wanting to help fix the problem. How often do you have tech support calling you? I was in shock but the guy was Fantastic! He walked me through downloading D-Links Media Server software (you actually download the 520 version) and it works great! My laptop has no problems for listening to music. It doesn't seem to support AVI files however or WMV(unless its a specific version)--something my external drive will let me watch (at least AVI files). So if you have problems setting up, make sure you call tech support. They were great and at they weren't outsourced to another country---even better!

All in all this product has met my expectations and well worth the $100 spent. It was a pain in the butt initially but if you take my advice (use WMP11 and/or go to D-Links website, select products and download the DSM-520 software version 1.09--latest version) then you shouldn't have any problems!

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This little guy exceeds my expectations. I never take the time to write reviews, but after spending two days with my new little friend, the DSM-510, I feel he deserves some outward praise.

My setup:

I have a PC with Windows Vista MCE running in a closet. It has a tuner card on it, and I have webguide installed, so I can control my TV recording from a browser. I use a DVRMSToolbox utility to move new TV recordings to the NAS device (still working on stripping commercials out before the move)

Next to my PC, I have a D-Link DNS-323. It is outfitted with 2 500GB SATA Drives and connected to a Gigabit switch (also D-link). Using information I found in a WIKI, I used the "fun_plug" feature to access the linux Kernel of the DNS-323 and installed TwonkyVision v4.4. Twonky is a killer UPnP (Media) server software, and the DSM-510 is a supported client of Twonky. Twonky runs right there on the NAS device, where it catalogs my many gigs of MP3's, JPG photos, and now my recorded TV shows. The DNS-323 also acts as a file & print server, iTunes server, FTP, and a Lite Duty Web Server (more features added by the Wiki)

So I bought the DSM-510 to be able to access all of this good stuff on my NAS device. With Twonky support, it connected beautifully. After a few long hours of playing around with the Media tree features in Twonky I discovered how to make my media files very manageable.

I don't have cable or satellite, I'm just doing analog broadcast. That will be my next step. My tuner card supports it ( Vista View Saber DA-1N1-I Combo Analog/Digital), and the DSM-510 supports HD, so I'm really only a TV away from going HD. I've read that the 54mb wireless can be highly taxed by pushing HD through the air, so I may run a Ethernet cable at that point, but it works fine on wireless right now.

About the DSM-510:

I've gotta say something about the useability. First off, the DSM-510 came out of the box with older firmware and the GUI looked hokey. My first step was to update, but it was very easy once it connected to the network. Now the GUI is working great! I don't use the medai access features of the DSM-510, though because Twonky does alot better job of managing media. I access everything from by browsing the NAS under the "Server" menu. The interface is very nice, looks great on my old 27" Sony. The remote has some nice features, but I'd like a better commecial skip and you have to have it pointed directly at the DSM-510. If I could improve anything, it would be the remote, but I would call it "bad", either.

So using the DSM-510 with Twonky, I have access to Music, Pictures (very nice menu for pictures, and you can listen to music while you are browsing or viewing a slide show), Video, and Internet Radio. While I do think that alot of the functionality I love comes from Twonky on the NAS, this little guy is the perfect front-end for it all.

Next Steps? Definitely an HD TV and an HD Antennae.

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