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[mikehd]

Thought I'd start this thread to collect inputs from the user community on what the next firmware release for the DSM-520 must address.

I'll start with:

Bugs

• Distorted photos (eg ineffective photo display modes)
• Media list display bug
• DVR-MS playback
• 300x300 album art support (present in f/w prior to 1.06)
  
• DCS-1110 doesn't display folder content; doesn't work as a media server to the DSM-520: http://forums.dlink.com/index.php?topic=1972.0
  

Formats/Features

• Matroska (.mkv video) support   Not technically possible
• DVD menu support

The formats may not be technically feasible with the chipset in the DSM-520, but the bugs certainly need to be addressed.

[kolinb]

H.264 video codec support to go along with the MKV support is important.

Kolin

[ECF]

The DSM-750 have support for H.264 and talk of .mkv plans in the future. However due limitation of the chipset the DSM-520 cannot support these HD video formats.

[mikehd]

The DSM-750 have support for H.264 and talk of .mkv plans in the future. However due limitation of the chipset the DSM-520 cannot support these HD video formats.

I thought as much. I'll edit my OP to reflect this, since it isn't reasonable to ask for what is not possible.

[kolinb]

Shouldn't the MKV support be a function of the Media Server?  It could split the MKV into the streams you want and forward those to the DSM-520.  Basically MKV is a container similar to AVI.  Both can hold video and audio streams, MKV has the ability to hold more and different types (text files, subtitles, etc.)

Either way I still don't understand why the DSM-520 cannot support H.264.  It is a flavour of MPEG4 and since the DSM-520 can support XVID & DIVX (both MPEG4 flavours) why cannot it do H.264.  If it is a matter of horsepower, there are some really efficient H.264 codecs out there and I would be willing to pay for this functionality if DLink made it a pay add-on feature.

[lrackow]

Bug Fix What about fixing the support for the Microsoft Media Center DVR-MS file format.  This is still advertised as a supported format in the DSM-520, but D-Link support has known since January that is does not work correctly.  I still have to convert everything I record with Media Center to another format to get it to play correctly with the DSM-520.

I bought the DSM-520 specifically to stream my Media Center DVR-MS files to my TV.  When I found out that the sound and the picture were not connected, I called support.  After 5 hours and several transfers, I got from India to a Product Specialist in the US who said that D-Link knew about the problem, were working on the fix, and it would be in the next firmware release.  Well, 1.06 did not fix it so how about doing it in the next firmware release so the advertising will match reality!

[mikehd]

googling reveals that the DSM-520 is based on the EM8620 TV System-On-Chip: http://www.sigmadesigns.com/public/Company/press_releases/070108a.pdf

While the EM8620 series has been recently expanded to include H.264 capability (http://www.allbusiness.com/electronics/consumer-household-electronics-high/5085953-1.html) it would apparently require a change out of the EM8620 to the EM8622.

From interior photos found via google it is clear that the EM8620 chip is soldered to the board, not socketed, so unlikely that a field replacement is feasible.

DVR-MS bug added to the list.

[mikehd]

Updated for 300x300 album art support.

[mikehd]

Updated for DCS-1110 support.

Any idea when these will be addressed?

[ECF]

I am very sorry for the inconvenience but I do not have release dates for firmware.

[mikehd]

I've taken my dsm-520 out of service and will no longer be an active member of this forum.

Good luck to everyone with continuing improvements to this device. It has potential to be a nice little utility.

[simoncutting]

1. I have a catalog of almost 7000 songs.  When paging through the albums the display will stick, often with half a screen full, and stay stuck for some time.  Sometimes I can go backward and then forward again but not beyond the sticking point.  It will stay this way for up to a minute or more.  I put a network sniffer on and saw that the whole catalog goes across as XML and it appeared that all the songs had been transferred over. 

2. Fast forward/reverse - there need to be graduated speeds 4x, 8x, 16x etc. 

3. The album order of tracks is not maintained in anything but the folder view.  This makes the DSM useless for classical albums in anything other than folder view because the tracks are alphabetically sorted.  I use the Windows Media Server on XP and the track ordering is maintained there.

There are more but I would be ecstatic if these 3 persistant irritants were fixed.