// Updated October 15, 2015 //
Now available for purchase via Amazon (looks like Zidoo selling directly vs. reseller).
A new firmware is available (
download here), but it does NOT fix lack of 3D and 23.976 yet. That's promised for the next firmware.
Testing and posting impressions here, culminating in a full review if/once full 3D is supported. If not, this player will be useless for 3D.
Thanks much to mirror88/Zidoo for sending me an X6 for review. Will do my best to provide a fair review (good and areas for improvement).
My Setup for Testing:
- Dedicated, light-controlled home theater
- Epson 5025UB 1080p 3D projector
- Da-lite Hi-Power 133" 16:9 screen
- Onkyo TX-NR636 AVR
- Pioneer 'Andrew Jones' speakers (2x tower fronts, 4x sides/rears)
- Outlaw LFM-1 EX subwoofer
Unboxing:
The unit itself is much smaller than I was expecting from photos we've seen. It's almost the same size & dimensions of Fire TV; even a tad smaller. Amazingly lightweight at just 4.5 ounces. Nice packaging, taking a cue from Apple and Amazon it seems. X6 itself has a nice form factor & build quality, rounded edges; FTV-like remote, but with numbered buttons and additional functions. Small power brick, which is also welcome. HDMI cable and simple (quick) guide booklet. No necessary 2x AAA batteries for remote, so make sure you have some around.
Photos:
More photos:
Boot-up, UI, Remote and Settings:- Boot up time is about 18 secs (terrific)
- Kodi launches in about 2 seconds, with Zidoo logo briefly visible
- Remote is nice to hold with buttons intuitively laid out, but must be close to unit and point directly (I expect this to be a non-issue once I program my Harmony/Hub). Also, no stop button on remote (aargh!) and none of the buttons bright up the Kodi context menu
- Keyboard/mouse or air mouse needed for some apps/functions (pre-installed weather app is an example)
- Nice UI as you can see above, with Kodi icon most prominent. Easy 'Update' (for OTA firmware updates) and task killer 'Clean Up' icons on the main UI (nice)
- Almost 13GB of storage available to use; a big plus over most other Chinese Android boxes that restrict user-available space via partitions you can't modify
- Found adding my city in weather in Kodi a little sluggish, but after that, navigating around Kodi is fast; no issues
- My Logitech K400 keyboard got recognized right away, but unlike with my RPi2, I need to be closer to the X6 to use fluidly
- More photos of X6's screens (and settings I made) and my Kodi settings: http://imgur.com/a/gK1rk
Video Playback Test Results, and Functional Items:
Major issue: None of my 3D ISO's play in 3D in Kodi; they render in side-by-side mode. For details, please see this post. 3D ISO's via native player (using File Explorer app) render in 3D, but as HSBS. Also PQ is poor, and there is a lot of pixellation/break-ups in the picture.
See this post for details.
- Video loops to start when it reaches end, over and over; must press 'OK' on remote & choose 'Stop' icon (as there's no stop button on remote)
- Dolby ATMOS bitstreams fine (excellent)
- Dolby TrueHD bitstreams fine (excellent)
- DTS-HD MA bitstreams fine (excellent)
- Jellyfish 100Mbps & Birds 100Mbps clips play w/o any sweat, and smoothly; zero dropped frames (impressive)
- No way to get context menu using Zidoo remote; had to use my Logitech K400 keyboard (and press 'O')
- 23.976 plays at 24Hz, and 59.940 plays at 60Hz. Need to watch a full movie to see how noticeable the microstutters may be
- 24 & 60 play at 24 & 60, respectively (good)
- 29.970 plays at 30 (good)
- 25 & 50 play at 25 & 50, respectively (good)
- One of my very problematic titles for many media players, Eagles' Farewell Melbourne concert (1080i/29.970 VC-1) played w/o stutter with DTS-HD MA, but with pixellated streaks/flashes continuously (still, better than RPi2 and HiMedia Q5 last I tested)
- My camcorder 1080p/29.970 files played perfectly. These have also been problematic for many media players
- 1080i & 720p MPEG2 files play great, but for some reason X6 won't pass 5.1 AC3 audio from all my 1080i OTA captures from CBS affiliate (like Grammy Awards), but do pass AC3 from all my 1080i NBC affiliate caps (all my MPEG2 play fine with audio on my Chromebox). Something weird is up
- VC-1 plays great; tested '3:10 to Yuma' & 'Constantine', but in 'Yuma', 7.1 LPCM is passed as 2.0 PCM to my AVR only by X6
- X6 is overall almost as snappy as my Chromebox (navigating libraries, fast-scrolling, moving around Kodi UI), but X6 is occasionally sluggish (like trying to catch up from last event) when installing some add-ons or just after stopping a movie
All of the above tests via Kodi. Via native player, as noted earlier, performance & PQ are both poor. Playback stutters (almost like shaky cam effect) & there is noticeable break-up/pixellation in the picture. Also, 23.976 movies play back at 60Hz.
