Premium full-sized 8K Dolby Vision & HDR10+ Media Player
with HDD rack, linear PSU, TCXO, Hi-Fi digital audio, advanced hardware.

New flagship line of Dune HD 8K models (next generation after RTD1619DR models).

High-End video quality, 8K, AV1, YouTube 8K HDR,
Dolby Vision VS10, HD audio, ISO 4K DV P7 FEL, AFR.

Note: This media player is excellent for Hi-End media playback from HDD or NAS. Support for Android apps and streaming services is a non-primary function without guaranteed compatibility. No full/official Netflix support. No Netflix 4K support. (See more details here.)

Review by LatestInTech.com

Key Features

Premium full-sized casing

Standard 43 cm width design with brushed aluminum front panel fits perfectly into your audio/video rack.

Linear power supply

Advanced linear power supply with a custom magnetically shielded toroidal transformer ensures very clean and low-noise power for all components. This helps to reduce jitter and noise on all A/V outputs, minimise the transfer of jitter and noise from the media player to the receiving A/V equipment and thus improve the resulting audio and video quality.

TCXO chip

The media player uses an advanced ultra-low noise high-precision TCXO clock chip. This TCXO chip (Temperature Compensated Crystal Oscillator) provides very clean and precise clock (much more precise than the standard clock) for A/V processing circuits in the media player. The chip is powered by a dedicated low-noise power circuit. This helps to additionally reduce the jitter and noise on all A/V outputs and bring the resulting audio and video quality to the top level.

Hi-Fi digital out and XMOS chip

For Hi-Fi audio fans, the media player includes special Hi-Fi digital audio outputs (coaxial S/PDIF and I2S-E) based on XMOS chip. XMOS chip provides additional isolation of the generated audio signal from other components of the media players, which helps to achieve super-clean, very low-noise and very low-jitter audio.

Enhanced analog audio out

For users who prefer analog audio, the media player has an improved hardware design of the analog audio output. The DAC block of the media processor is powered by a dedicated low-noise power chip. Together with linear PSU and TCXO chip this gives significantly better sound quality.

Dedicated port for USB DAC

For audio lovers who prefer to connect an external Hi-Fi USB DAC, the media player is equipped with a dedicated USB audio output port. This USB port has a special hardware design and uses special components to filter out electric noise. This helps to minimise noise transfer from the media player to the USB DAC and improve sound quality. Gold plated connector prevents oxidation and ensures perfect contact over time.

New line of cutting edge 8K media players from Dune HD

The new flagship 8K line is based on the newest top S928X media processor, has full 8K support, very powerful hardware and various other advantages. At the same time, this line keeps the most important features of RTD1619DR models (except BD3D). Top picture quality, Dolby Vision VS10 technology, full support for all formats of HD audio, advanced support for playback of Dolby Vision files, support for full menu in ISO images and disc structures.

Hi-End S928X media processor with 8K, AV1, VS10

The media player uses the Hi-End version of the newest S928X media processor with Dolby Vision VS10 engine. It is the most powerful and the most advanced media processor from Amlogic. It gives outstanding picture quality, supports true 8Kp60 decoding and true 8Kp60 output, includes the new AV1 video codec, and has top performance overall.

Full 8K video support

8K is a next generation video format, which offers 4 times as many pixels than 4K. 8K format gives the most immersive viewing experience and delivers a truly smooth and crisp image. The media player supports both 8Kp60 HDR video decoding and 8Kp60 HDR video output. The media player can downscale 8K content to any resolution and upscale any content to 8K resolution. YouTube 8K HDR is supported.

AV1 video codec

The media player supports the new AV1 video codec, which helps to get up to 50% video quality improvement without increasing video bitrate (or requires up to 50% lesser bitrate for the same video quality). This new video codec is already used by YouTube and will be increasingly important for compatibility with various video services and content sources.

Top performance

The media player has a very powerful CPU and GPU. The CPU includes four 2.0 GHz ARM A55 cores, a "big" 1.9 GHz ARM A76 core (with very high performance), and also an extra core for system needs. The resulting CPU performance is up to 2x more than in RTD1619DR. GPU has been upgraded to Mali G57. Combined with super-fast LPDDR4X and super-fast eMMC, this gives blazing fast overall system performance. Total Antutu score exceeds 300,000 points, which is significantly more than in the previous generation media players.

8 GB operating memory

This huge amount of operating memory gives the best performance even in the most heavy use cases. 64-bit Linux kernel allows the efficient use of 8 GB RAM for caching of system and apps code and data. Apps launch, run and switch quicker. More memory can be used for graphics caching, which further improves the performance of the user interface.

64 GB flash memory

A giant storage space for the most heavy apps, for system needs (such as storage of movie posters), and for internal storage which can be used for any purpose. For example, you can store media files in the internal storage and even share them to the local network via the built-in SMB file server.

Dolby Vision and HDR10+

The media player supports not only HDR technology, but also the most latest and advanced Dolby Vision and HDR10+ technologies. In conventional HDR technology, the brightness range is set at the beginning of the film and does not change during the film, so completely dark and completely bright scenes may have insufficient detail. In the latest Dolby Vision and HDR10+ technologies, the brightness range can vary from frame to frame, so the maximum picture detail is provided even in scenes that contain only dark or only light elements.

Dolby Vision VS10 video processor

The advanced Dolby Vision VS10 video processing engine ensures maximum image quality when playing any type of content (SDR, HDR, Dolby Vision) with any type of video output signal (SDR, HDR, Dolby Vision). In particular, it improves the quality of conversion between Dolby Vision, HDR, and SDR. This gives benefits even when using the media player with TVs that do not support Dolby Vision, including Plasma TVs, and especially when using projectors.

Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL

The media player supports direct playback of Dolby Vision profile 7 FEL double-track and double-layer files. This is the most advanced Dolby Vision format. The media player plays video in this format using both tracks/layers. The important Dolby Vision information from the second track/layer (Dolby Vision RPU metadata) is transmitted to TV together with video data from the first track/layer. The passed video data uses 10-bit color depth - the maximum color depth supported by OLED-panels in OLED TVs, i.e. this fully uses the capabilities of OLED TVs. Combined with the full use of Dolby Vision metadata this gives an excellent Dolby Vision picture on the TV screen.

Widest support for Dolby Vision file formats

Dolby Vision is supported for all popular file formats (MKV, MP4, TS, M2TS, ISO, movie folder structure). All popular Dolby Vision profiles (P5, P7 MEL and FEL, P8) are supported. The media player supports the largest number of variations of Dolby Vision file formats of any other media player.

Playback of Dolby Vision ISO/folder structures

The media player supports direct playback of movie ISO/folder structures in Dolby Vision format (MEL and FEL). The extended Dolby Vision information is used and transmitted to the TV to improve the picture quality. This is possible due to the unique video playback and output engine created by Dune HD.

Full support for HD audio

The media player can output all formats of HD audio (up to Dolby TrueHD and DTS X) to HDMI in bitstream passthrough mode. Additionally, the media player can decode all formats of HD audio to multichannel PCM (up to 7.1 channels).

Audio playback with original sample rate

The media player can play high-quality music files and output audio to HDMI and S/PDIF preserving the original audio sample rate. Sample rates from 44.1 to 192 kHz are supported.

3.5" HDD rack

You can easily install a 3.5" SATA HDD into the media player and store up to 20 TB and more media content directly in the media player. HDD hot swap is supported. No tools are needed for HDD installation. Installed HDD can also be accessed from the local network via built-in SMB file server.

Vibration-isolated HDD rack

The HDD rack uses a special design for vibration isolation of the HDD from the case. The HDD rack is completely isolated from the case and is fixed to the case using special anti-vibration dampers. This significantly reduces the noise from the HDD.

Entire case as a heatsink for super-efficient silent cooling

The S928X processor is a very powerful processor. It needs very efficient cooling to achieve the maximum performance without any speed down. The media player implements the best passive cooling approach, which uses the entire metal case as a huge heatsink. Heat is very efficiently transferred from the processor directly to the metal case via special heat transfer elements.

Premium 120mm fan for extra HDD cooling

Besides the passive cooling solution, the media player also has a silent fan, which helps to ensure HDD longevity under maximum loads. The fan is a well known 120mm premium ultra-silent fan from Noctua.

Android 11

For Android applications, the media player uses a modern Android version 11. This increases system performance and gives improved compatibility with the newest Android apps.

Other key advantages over competitors

Best-in-class movie ISO/folder structure playback

Dune HD media players have the best-in-class support for playback of movie ISO/folder structures, including full support for disc menu, 4K, DV, HDR10+, HDR10, HD audio. Movie ISO/folder structures can be played from any source - local drive (USB, SATA) or network drive (SMB, NFS). A special engine helps to ensure smooth playback of the entire movie w/o any audio/video interruptions even when playing movies with complicated structure.

Automatic framerate/resolution switching

The media player can automatically switch output framerate and resolution to match the played content. This helps to ensure absolutely smooth video playback and use the best way for video resolution upscaling (resolution upscaling by the media player or by the TV).

Flicker-free framerate/resolution switching

Dune HD media players implement its own advanced flicker-free approach for automatic framerate and resolution switching, which performs video mode switching before the start of file playback (rather than after). Most other media players perform video mode switching after the start of file playback, which causes unpleasant flickering.

Multichannel DSD and other advanced music formats

You can play music in various advanced formats, including multichannel FLAC, WavPack, APE, ALAC and even multichannel Super Audio CD (SACD). SACD music files, encoded using the advanced DSD audio codec, are supported in all popular formats (ISO, DFF, DSF), including both stereo and multichannel files, including files which use the DST compression. Multichannel DSD files can be output to HDMI as multichannel PCM. Stereo DSD files can be output to HDMI and S/PDIF as stereo PCM.

Widevine L1 for premium video services

Support for Widevine Level 1 DRM (the most advanced DRM level) makes it possible to watch premium online video services with HD and Ultra HD video quality. Media players w/o Widevine Level 1 support can only output low quality (standard definition) video in many such services.

Optimized OS

Since the media player does not have Google Android TV certification, the operating system in the media player is optimized to eliminate the unneeded burdens and limitations. In particular, the media player does not create unneeded Android folders on connected HDDs, system performance is not decreased by Android indexing files on the connected HDDs, and so on.

Dune HD Android Playback Accelerator technology

This unique technology intellectually manages the resources of Android OS to minimize the influence of Android OS on the media playback engine and ensure smooth and high-quality video and audio playback.

Linux-based Dune HD OS

The media player runs a unique hybrid OS which consists of a Linux-based Dune HD OS (to ensure stable operation and smooth media playback) and Android OS (to support Android applications), which run simultaneously.

Dune HD ecosystem

Based on open Dune HD SDK and APIs, various TV-optimized applications, plugins, extensions, GUI skins, collection management solutions, integrations with home automation systems are available via official Dune Store, 3-party vendors, and from the huge user's community.

Dune HD UI

The famous Dune HD UI, developed and polished during more than 12 years, specially optimized for the use on TV screens and operation via a standard remote control, tuned for the best possible usability, makes it easy and convenient to use the media player.

Dune HD movies organizer and movies encyclopedia

“My Collection” function organizes a user's movie collection into a nice looking catalog. A comprehensive movies encyclopedia provides the information about hundreds of thousands of movies with detailed descriptions, posters, cross-links between movies and persons, trailers, direct links to online video services, etc. The advanced file browser automatically recognizes movies.

Dune HD mobile app

The unique Dune HD mobile app (Dune Control) for iOS and Android mobiles devices provides full access to all functions of Dune HD media player in a very convenient and powerful way. It fully replaces the standard IR remote control, allows browsing and choosing the media content directly on your mobile device (the menu shown on the mobile device mirrors the menu shown on the TV screen), and includes Now Playing section for convenient media playback control.

Smart home

The media player provides the powerful IP Control interface and has a lot of options for integration into Smart Home and Home Automation systems, such as Control4 and Crestron.

Proven history of software updates during a very long period

Dune HD is known for its reputation to listen to user's feedback and provide software updates for many years. For example, for some old models, software updates with additional functions have been provided for more than 10 years already. This is possible due to the unique "single code base" approach, which means that firmware for all Dune HD models is based on the same software (continuously developed and improved according to user's feedback).

Other key features

1 Gbit Ethernet

Ensures fast data transfer and smooth playback of high bitrate video when using a wired connection to the home network.

Wi-Fi 6

This newest Wi-Fi standard provides a better wireless performance and a better wireless range, when using a wireless connection to the home network.

Built-in Bluetooth 5.2

The built-in Bluetooth interface allows you to easily connect various remote controls, wireless keyboards, mice, joysticks, audio speakers, headphones, headsets and other devices. The new Bluetooth version 5.2 improves performance and compatibility.

Bluetooth remote with microphone, IR learning, Air Mouse, backlight, IR mode

The included Bluetooth remote controls the media player via a radio channel, includes a microphone (for voice search in applications which support it), and has IR learning function (allows you to configure the remote control to control not only a media player, but also a TV or other equipment). The Air Mouse function allows convenient control of Android applications not optimized for controlling via a conventional remote. The remote has a configurable backlight (can be set to 3 brightness levels or switched off). The remote supports Bluetooth and IR modes (can be manually switched into IR mode if needed).

IR control

The media player has the built-in IR receiver and can be controlled also by IR commands. This means you can use a 3-party programmable or learnable remote of your choice to control the media player, or integrate the media player with your smart home via IR. For example, you can integrate the media player with a smart speaker by using an IR emitter device controlled by the smart speaker.

Front panel display

During file playback, the display shows the current playback position. Also it can show the current time. Display mode can be adjusted in the menu.

Specifications

Hardware

Media processor: Amlogic S928X-K/J with Dolby Vision VS10 engine

Operating memory: 8 GB

Flash memory: 64 GB

Ethernet: 10/100/1000 Mbit/s

Wi-Fi: 802.11b/g/n/ac/ax (Wi-Fi 6), Dual Band 2.4+5 GHz, 2T2R

Bluetooth: 5.2

USB ports: 3x USB 3.0 host + 1x USB 2.0 host

USB audio output port: One of USB ports is optimized for connecting external USB DAC (includes advanced noise filtering to minimize noise transfer from the media player to the external DAC)

Built-in HDD rack: 3.5" SATA HDD, up to 20 TB and more, hot swap, vibration isolation

HDMI output: HDMI 2.1a up to 8Kp60 HDR / 4Kp60 Dolby Vision, experimental support for 120 Hz (up to 4Kp120)

Analog audio output: 2xRCA (stereo audio)

S/PDIF output: Optical S/PDIF, Coaxial S/PDIF

Hi-Fi S/PDIF output: Coaxial S/PDIF

Hi-Fi I2S-E output: RJ45 connector (pins 1-8: I2S_DATA/DSD_DATA1, GND, I2S_LRCK/DSD_DATA2, GND, I2S_BCLK/DSD_CLK, GND, DSDOE(1:DSD,0:PCM, GND)

Front panel display: Multi-segment LED display HH:MM:SS

Front panel power button: Yes

IR receiver: Built-in IR receiver, supports Dune HD IR codes and Google IR codes

IR input port: For connecting external IR receiver (included); 3.5mm minijack, T-R-S: 5V-IR-GND, L=14.5mm (→ details)

Antennas: 2x external Wi-Fi antennas (detachable) + external BT antenna (non-detachable, because it is needed for Bluetooth remote)

Remote: Bluetooth remote with microphone (voice search), Air Mouse, IR learning, backlight, IR mode

Case: Metal (43 cm full-sized steel case with brushed aluminum front panel)

Cooling: Passive (entire case as a super-efficient heatsink) and active (120mm premium ultra-silent fan from Noctua for extra HDD cooling)

Dimensions (W x H x D): 430mm x 79mm x 324mm

Power input: AC ~220-240/110-120V, 50/60Hz, auto switch

Power supply: Built-in linear power supply with custom magnetically shielded toroidal transformer; supports power saving (when the media player is in Power Off mode, the transformer is switched off to save power)

Video

8K video decoding: Yes, up to 8Kp60 HDR; 8K content can be downscaled to 4K, 1080p or lower output resolution

8K video output: Yes, up to 8Kp60 HDR; any content can be upscaled to 8K output resolution

Video decoding: AV1, VP9 profile 2, H.265 (HEVC), H.264 (AVC), VC1, MPEG4, MPEG2, MPEG1

HDR formats: Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG

Dolby Vision VS10 engine: Yes

Dolby Vision playback: Profiles 5, 7 (MEL and FEL), 8; various containers (ISO, movie folder structure, MKV, MP4, M2TS); DTDL (double-track double-layer), STDL (single-track double-layer), STSL (single-track single-layer). Double-track/double-layer video (profile 7 MEL, profile 7 FEL) is played with the use of data from both tracks/layers: video data from the first track/layer (with 10-bit color depth - the maximum color depth supported by OLED-panels in OLED TVs), extended Dolby Vision information (RPU metadata) from the second track/layer

Dolby Vision output: LLDV (Low Latency Dolby Vision / Player-led Dolby Vision), STD DV (Standard Dolby Vision / TV-led Dolby Vision)

Manual preference for LLDV or STD DV: Yes

HDR mode (SDR/HDR/DV) switching: manual and automatic (according to played content)

Framerates: all standard framerates including 23.976, 24.0, 25.0, 29.97, 30.0, 59.94, 60.0; experimental support for 120 Hz output

Framerate and resolution switching: manual and automatic (according to played content)

Video upscaling and downscaling: Yes

3D video support: Side-by-Side, Top-and-Bottom (TV requires manual switching into 3D mode)

Video file formats: MKV, MPEG-TS, MPEG-PS, M2TS, VOB, AVI, MOV, MP4, QT, ASF, WMV, ISO, movie folder structures

BD playback: Lite (direct video playback without menu), Full Menu

DVD-Video playback: Lite (direct video playback without menu), Full Menu

Audio

Bitstream passthrough: bitstream passthrough of all Dolby/DTS formats (up to Dolby TrueHD Atmos and DTS X)

Decoding of Dolby/DTS formats: multichannel decoding (up to 7.1 channels) of all Dolby/DTS formats (up to Dolby TrueHD Atmos and DTS X)

Audio decoding: MPEG-1/2 layer I/II/III, AAC, LPCM, FLAC, multichannel FLAC, Vorbis, WavPack, APE (Monkey's Audio), ALAC (Apple lossless), SACD DSD (stereo and multichannel) (supports output of decoded multichannel DSD as multichannel PCM to HDMI), multichannel PCM (up to 7.1), all Dolby/DTS formats (up to Dolby TrueHD Atmos and DTS X)

Audio file formats: MP3, MPA, M4A, AAC, WAV, FLAC, Ogg/Vorbis, WavPack, APE (Monkey's Audio), ALAC (Apple lossless), SACD ISO (stereo and multichannel), SACD DSF (stereo and multichannel), SACD DFF (stereo and multichannel), AC3, DTS, DTS-WAV

PCM audio output: original sample rate (44.1 to 192 kHz)

Other Features

Subtitle formats: SRT (external), SUB (MicroDVD) (external), text (MKV), SSA/ASS (MKV, external), VobSub (MP4, MKV, external SUB/IDX), PGS (ISO, TS, MKV)

Online subtitles: Automatically download subtitles from Internet

Picture file formats: JPEG, PNG, BMP

Photo viewer functions: Slideshow, transition effects, picture rotation, zoom, view playlist, repeat, shuffle

Playlist file formats: M3U, PLS, CUE

Playlist functions: Build playlist from selected folders and files, build playlist from selected playlist files, view playlist file, view current playlist, quickly jump to next/previous or selected playlist item, repeat, shuffle, playlist of photo files, playlist of audio files, playlist of video files, mixed playlist of audio and video files

SMB client: Browse SMB servers/shares, manually connect to SMB share, directly access (read-write) and play files (SMB v1/2/3)

NFS client: Browse NFS servers/shares, manually connect to NFS share, directly access (read-write) and play files

SMB server: Share connected storage devices (internal HDD, USB HDD) and internal flash memory to local network via SMB protocol (SMB v1/2/3)

iOS and Android mobile apps: Control the media player via the powerful Dune Control mobile application

IP control: Use the built-in IP Control interface to integrate the media player into Smart Home and Home Automation systems (such as Control4 and Crestron)

OS and Apps

OS: Linux-based Dune HD OS + Android 11

OS kernel: 64-bit

Android apps: 32-bit

Support for HDDs larger than 16 TB: Yes

Filesystems: FAT16/FAT32 (read-write), EXT2/EXT3/EXT4 (read-write), NTFS (read-write), exFAT (read-write), HFS/HFS+ (Mac OS Standard/Extended) (read-only), BTRFS (read-write)

Widevine DRM: Widevine L1

Google Android TV certification: No

Netflix certification: No

Compatibility with Android apps and streaming services: Varies across particular apps and services, no guaranteed compatibility (no official Android TV certification, no official certifications by particular streaming services); the primary function of this media player is Hi-End media playback from HDD or NAS, support for Android apps and streaming services is additional non-primary functionality without guaranteed compatibility

Functions requiring Internet connection: Some functions require Internet connection to verify Dune HD license. 1. Internet connection is required to play video files in the most advanced Dolby Vision format (DV Profile 7); w/o Internet, such files still can be played, but in HDR format (like in most media players of other brands). 2. Internet connection is required to play BD images with Full Menu; w/o Internet, such files still can be played, but with Lite Menu (like in most media players of other brands). In the future, the set of functions which require Internet connection may change.

Package Contents

Media player x1

Wi-Fi antenna x2

Bluetooth remote x1

Batteries AAA x2

PC power cord EU plug x1

PC power cord US plug x1

PC power cord UK plug x1

PC power cord AU plug x1

HDMI cable 8K Ultra High Speed x1

IR extender x1

Quick installation guide x1

19" rack mounting brackets x2

Set of screws for 19" rack mounting brackets x1

Notes

Some of the listed features may not be available in the factory firmware and may require to install a firmware update.

The support for particular media formats and codecs and playback functions may depend on the used application; some formats and codecs and playback functions may be supported only in specific applications and may require to install a specific application.

Compatibility of the player with particular media content (files, streams, etc) may depend on specifics of media content encoding, specifics of the configuration of the player and player-connected equipment, and other factors; compatibility of the player with arbitrary media content is not guaranteed.

Compatibility of the player with particular applications (Dune HD plugins or Android applications) may depend on specifics of the application, particular usage scenario, and other factors; compatibility of the player with arbitrary applications is not guaranteed.

Compatibility of the player with particular equipment (A/V equipment, network equipment, storage devices, etc) may depend on particular equipment model, specifics of equipment installation, specifics of the configuration of the player and equipment, and other factors; compatibility of the player with arbitrary equipment is not guaranteed.

Product images may be imprecise and may have some differences in comparison with the real look of the product.

Accuracy of the information is not guaranteed; the information is subject to change w/o notice.

DUNE HD Interface

Famous Dune HD interface: convenient and smooth interface optimized for TV screens and remote controls, developed and polished during many years; now even more smooth than before and with additional features

Direct network access: directly browse and play files stored on PC or NAS in local network via SMB or NFS

My Collection: organize your movies and TV series into a nice-looking and convenient catalog

Movies catalog: find any movies, even those which are not in your collection, via common unified catalog with detailed movie descriptions, trailers and cross references between movies and persons

Direct links to online video services: quickly start watching a movie via connected video services directly from the movies catalog

Automatic movie recognition: easily view movie descriptions and find related movies when browsing your movies in the file browser

Advanced file manager: easily manage (copy, move, delete, rename, organize, sort) files directly in the file browser

Favorites menu: easily access your favorite items: files, folders, movies, persons, applications, etc

Auto start: configure which favorite item to open automatically on player boot

Recent menu: see what you played recently and easily resume the playback or switch between latest items

TV browser: watch TV channels (Internet TV, when configured) via a convenient Dune HD TV Browser

Extended EPG: when watching TV channels, see extended EPG information automatically downloaded from the Internet (when available for a TV channel)

Links to Movies catalog from Extended EPG: easily view movie descriptions and find related movies, watch trailers, watch movies via connected online video services

Playlists: build playlists from selected items and folders or load playlists from files

Customizable user interface: enjoy a variety of user interface skins, customization options and Jukebox applications

Jukebox applications: use various 3-party Jukebox applications to organize your media collection into a convenient user interface

Dune HD applications: easily install various applications and plugins with additional functionality from Dune Store or third parties

Plugins and extensions: full support for Dune HD PHP plugins API, Dune HD skins, dune_folder.txt mechanism

Android applications: install any Android applications via App Store or from APK file, and launch them directly from Dune HD interface

Background playback: play music, radio, TV channel or video in background while navigating through any menus of Dune HD interface or even when using any Android applications

Internet browser: browse the Internet on your TV, including playing videos directly on websites (various web browsers can be installed via App Store or from APK file)

Dune HD Max 8K

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