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+--- Thread: Android Zidoo X9S (X-series) 4K HDR / 3D / HD Audio / ZDMC (Kodi fork): Review & Use (/showthread.php?tid=291943)
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RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - hdmkv - 2018-01-19
(2018-01-19, 03:22)lionne Wrote: Is there anyone who is shipping the x9s with the newer backlit remote that they started including with the x10? An image on their forum shows the x9s with the new remote, but it's hard enough even finding this player in the US. I see Amazon is selling some through a 3rd party, but I have no idea if they come with the new remote? A Jan 2018 review for the xs9 on gearbest shows his xs9 came with the old remote. If I bought the x9s I'd want to be sure I receive the new remote.No idea. @mirror88 can answer, but he has been absent from posting here of late (last time was September I think). Your best bet may be to ask in Zidoo's own forum.
http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/is-zidoo-shipping-a-new-remote.5111/
Answering what I can...
(2018-01-18, 22:11)lionne Wrote: - Most important, does it handle outputting both 23.976 and 24.000 framerates correctly, without stutter, depending on the source file? And does it do the same for 3D? Some previous players I've encountered forced 24.000 output when playing 23.976, resulting in stutter.
Yes, handles both 23.976 and 24.000 fine. No stutters or microstutters.
- How is 3D support? This is one of the more important features for me. Does it handle 3D MVC mkv remuxes, from makemkv? Does it play full 3D ISO? Are there any 3D issues I should know about, like framerate issues? Another media player I was looking at has a bug where it only outputs 3D at 24.000, not 23.976, resulting in framerate stutters every 42 seconds. Do these players output correct framerate for 3D, at either 23.976 or 24.000 based on the file's framerate?
Solid! No issues with proper framerates in either MKV or ISO.
- Does it handle HDR mkv 10-bit HEVC remuxes without issues? How about HDR/UHD for other framerates like 50.000 and 60.000? Any limitations when playing on a 60Hz TV? I saw a thread over on the Zidoo forum that said, "Zidoo "does not play mkv files UHD BDRemux 2160p HDR 10-bit HEVC. Writes "Can't play video". Has anyone else run into this issue?
I can mainly speak to 23.976 UHD remuxes (have around 30 rips) and they play fine in 10-bit BT2020 w/HDR. I have test files in 4K HDR 60fps (namely the Sony 'Camp' clip), which also plays fine, as do the 24fps 'Exodus' and 'Life of Pi' samples.
- Are there any issues with crushed blacks, blown-out highlights or over-saturation in either SDR or HDR?
Not from what I saw with a LG OLED display and my present Epson 5040UB.
- Does it convert 25.000/50.000 fps > 60Hz well? I'll be using this on a US TV that only displays 60Hz, but I do play a lot of PAL content, from both 25.000 DVDs and 50.000 blu-rays. Are there any framerate/output issues with various framerates and resolutions output to 60 Hz?
Don't know, as my Epson renders in native 25/50, so no conversion.
- I read it outputs PAL/25.000 as 25.000 only, not 50.000 like most players. But as mentioned above, My US TV doesn't display 50Hz anyways. What does it do when connected to a US 60Hz TV? Does it output PAL as 60Hz stutter-free, or are there issues?- Does it play MTS (AVC HD H.264) files directly?- Are there any audio issues/passthrough issues to be aware of when bitstreaming lossless audio to my A/V receiver?- Does it display 4:3 aspect ratio DVDs and files correctly, without any stretching or distortion? Does it handle DVD menus and DVD ISO?- Does it handle 3840 x 2160/AVC/50.00fps with HDR? Are there any HDR issues/restrictions on certain framerates or file types?- Are there any major issues I should be aware of like dropped frames, stuttering, or framerate issues? I would be playing from a USB 3.0 thumb drive, or an internal HDD. I won't be streaming.
In my case, my Epson renders in native 25/50, so no conversion.
- Are there any major subtitle issues?- How is it for music files? Does it play gapless when playing lossless flac/ape files with or without a .cue file, or is there a brief pause between tracks?
Don't know.
- Does it scale hi-res photos well without aliasing issues?- Does it handle full blu-ray menus pretty well? Are there any major issues with this?
Blu-ray menus work for the most part; haven't tried UHD BD menus.
I'd appreciate any input I can get here. Sorry for all the questions. I know it's a lot but these are all important to me, especially the ones dealing with framerates and audio output. I want to make sure the core functionality will meet my needs. A few of the other players I've been looking at have some deal-breaking issues, mostly either from lack of 3D MVC mkv support, or framerate limitations or bugs that break the basic functionality. I just want to cover all my bases here to get an idea of how well these players handle the type of media I'll be playing. I will mostly be playing blu-ray ISOs and mkvs (both 2D and 3D) along with full DVDs , and UHD/HDR remuxes. I also have a lot of various UHD demo clips that I would like to be able to play (various frametrates and codecs). I also would use it for playing music and displaying pictures on occasion.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-19
Thanks very much for trying to answer some of my questions. I'm sure there are issues like with all media players, but of course it's a matter of finding out how well the player works for me. It seems like a pretty solid player. My concern is wondering how it handles PAL/25.000 content on a 60Hz TV. I hear if you have a TV that displays PAL it sends it out as 25.0000 instead of 50.000 like it should. This makes me wonder how it handles it on a 60Hz screen.
I was told in the Zidoo forum that the x9s ships with the old remote, but the new one does work with it.
I have no idea where to buy an x9s or x10 though. Amazon doesn't carry either one directly. They have the x9s through a 3rd party seller but at least it's fulfilled by Amazon. There's only a single x10 and it's sold and fulfilled by a 3rd party. I see a couple other online shops list them but they have less than ideal return polices (restocking fee, 7-day return window, unopened items only). I'd much rather buy through Amazon. The "Buy now" links from Zidoo's main site links to their product pages on Amazon, but both links lead to an "unavailable" message on Amazon.
EDIT: I was told by Zidoo in an email that both the X9s and x10 now ship with the new remote.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-19
I'm especially curious about how well it handles UHD/HDR with various codecs. Are there framerate limitations on UHD for some codecs or file formats? I have many UHD demos in various framerates (23.976, 24, 25, 29.970, 30, 50, 59.970 and 60). Does it have issues with any of these framerates on a 60Hz TV? Does it have any restrictions on h264 UHD?
Are there any audio issues (Dolby TrueHD/DTS-MA/atmos) while playing HD or UHD media? Hiccups, etc? I won't be streaming - just playing off a USB 3 thumb drive or internal HDD.
Does it have any issues with black crushing or blown highlights? One player I was looking at over-saturated the color according to a review with test files. Does this player put out accurate video? I know this is a Kodi forum but I'm also curious how well the player's native built-in player works compared to ZDMC for video playback (3D and UHD/HDR). I understand for blu-ray menus and UHD menus, you need to use the native player, correct? Are blu-ray menus working in the current firmware? A few comments on the Zidoo forum say menus are broken now and posted video on Youtube showing menus not working.
How about subtitles? Any issues (missing lines, etc.)?
I'd also like to hear from some owners who play flac/ape music files - especially if it plays gapless with or without .cue files. And how about the image viewer? One of the players I was looking at was said to have awful image scaling of pictures.
Then there are comments in this very thread over just the last couple pages that worry me:
"X9S is still unreliable. Next firmware upgrade might break something. I use it just for watching movies. Couple of subtitle lines are missing every 5 mins or so."
That is unacceptable imo for a $200 media player. I will be needing to buy a player soon and I was already getting ready to give this one a shot, but if it breaks blu-ray menu playback in the most recent update, or can't even properly display subtitles without dropping lines, then I have some serious concerns before buying a Zidoo.
This series of players also had a serious color space issue last year. See here: http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/color-issue-thread-discussion-2.5419/ Has it been fully resolved? Does it output in the proper limited color space (16-235) to match the way most TVs are set up (not PC level 0-255)? Is there an option to select which to use? Can I use video test patterns like the AVS patterns or Disney Wow patterns to check for black/white clipping? Does it properly handle both limited and full color space now, for both video and images/games/web?
Help me out here somebody. I want to buy one of these but I worry about the stability of this player. I need a stable player, not one that won't fix issues or breaks things with each update. I don't want to have to worry every time I update what features will be broken that I rely on every day. I'm trying to get some answers to some of these questions but support is limited on Zidoo's forum.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-19
(2018-01-07, 23:39)hdmkv Wrote: Not planning to update review due to lack of time, but link to latest f/w 1.5.0 is there. Like with last 1.4.16 f/w, 720p, 1080p and 4K MKV's render in squished 16x9 frame. This is for MKV's encoded w/o black bars, for example with ratio like 1920x800. The 25/50 issue seems fixed however, with those framerates switching to/from properly.These are the quirks I'm concerned about. Did this happen with a recent update, or was it always like that? I hate when updates break things. I need a player I can trust to not break something important every time I update. I'd be really upset if I bought this player and the first thing I do is update it and some of the main functionality is broken like this.
How does the player auto-switch framerate? I'm on a US 60Hz TV, so it doesn't display 50Hz. What happens when I play 25fps or 50fps content on a 60Hz TV?
About auto-framerate - If I play a 23.976 file, does the screen go black and stay black while the framerate changes, so the film doesn't start until the framerate is set properly, or does the film start to play right away in the wrong framerate, then switch afterwards? I saw a video on Youtube and it looked like it starts to play the video right away in the menu's framerate first, then flashes to black as it switches framerate, then returns to the video in the correct framerate. That looks like it could be very annoying, plus you miss the first few seconds of the movie as it is switching. On my Mede8er player, it sets the framerate before it starts the film - it detects the framerate then switches, so you don't have the annoying back-and-forth flashing and losing the first 10 seconds of the film.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - hdmkv - 2018-01-20
@lionne...
- Amazon used to carry X9S, but it appears to only be sold through 3rd party suppliers now. But, I see at least one "Fulfilled by Amazon", so you can return easily if any issues
- No framerate limitations that I'm aware of UHD codecs or file formats; they all play in native refresh rates. But again, can't say how behavior will be w/a 60Hz TV. No restrictions w/h264 UHD
- No HD audio issues, including object-based
- No white or black crushing from what I've seen. Re: native player vs. ZDMC internal, you'll want to almost always use former. Can't speak to menus much as I don't use them; I mostly have movie-only MKVs and ISOs
- Subs work fine for me, but I only rely on embedded PGS, SRT, etc. Not external subs, which I've seen some complaints of
- The player does auto-switch framerate, but issue w/scope or wider than 16x9 movies being squished into 16x9 frame remains (this is the biggest bug since Zidoo introduced resolution switching)
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-20
Thanks again for your input.
I'm worried about scope films being stretched or squished to 16:9. This is really bad for blu-ray encodes where the black bars from the 16:9 image are cropped out. This makes those files unwatchable, and that's unacceptable for a $200 player. This needs to be a top priority, as this is basic file playback that tons of other media players handle without issue. I'm very surprised the Zidoo suffers from this issue, and what's worse is, it didn't used to happen. This is what worries me - I need a player I can rely on every day, not to break something important when I update.
I also think the external subtitles issues in unacceptable. Again, My several-years-old Mede8er has no issues with external or internal subs. Why does a new UHD-capable player have issues with basic functionality like this? Why wasn't this fixed long ago? They can't claim the player has subtitle support if external subs are broken. I use both internal and sometimes external so this would affect me.
So both of those issues would result in me needing to use my old player, but I only have so much space and HDMI inputs, and this was supposed to replace my aging Mede8er. I need one player I can rely on. It's a shame that these issues exist at all and haven't been addressed. Has Zidoo even acknowledged that they are working on it?
Also, blu-ray menus may be broken on newer firmware, but I have no idea if that's accurate. A few people have reported this in the Zidoo forums. Another feature that worked until they broke it. Also, a video I saw of the Zidoo on a Youtube review was demonstrating DVD playback, and the menus and movie played back in the wrong aspect ratio. This makes me wonder if DVDs are properly supported. This is basic stuff.
I wish I could hear from somebody who uses their Zidoo to play PAL/50Hz videos on their US 60Hz set. I have no idea what to expect from that.
This seems like it has the makings of an outstanding media player, but if I bought one, I wouldn't even know what firmware is recommended. It sounds like updating is absolutely necessary to fix many issues, including color space issues early on, but updates also seem to randomly break functionality. This really makes me hesitate. I thought I found my next player, but I have to say I'm thinking twice about this now. Basic functionality is currently broken (external subs, playing re-encoded/scope videos), and one of it's most enticing features (blu-ray/UHD menu playback) also seems to be broken currently.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-20
Also, does this player handle VC-1 remuxes/full discs from blu-ray? I play those fairly often, and I hear VC-1 has issues. Can anybody comment on VC-1 playback?
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - hdmkv - 2018-01-20
No issues w/VC-1 (I have both HD DVD & BD rips). As I noted, the single biggest issue w/X8, X9S & X10 right now is auto framerate switching. It works, except for MKVs w/black bars cropped out being rendered in full 16x9, so you get squished/elongated picture. Pretty obvious issue that got introduced w/them introducing framerate switching. I've brought it up w/Zidoo, but no reply yet. You can revert to two f/w's back w/o framerate switching if you don't want to deal w/this for now.
Others may have additional issues, don't know. Do read up at Zidoo forums on external subs as I've seen ongoing complaints around it.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-20
Thank you again.
About that issue, if you disable auto framerate switching, does it still squish the video in for scope films with the bars cropped out, or does it only do that with auto framerate enabled? If it only does it with auto framerate enabled, I suppose I could live with it disabled until they hopefully fix it (I'm assuming you can enable or disable this feature in the settings?).
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - hdmkv - 2018-01-21
So, I did some testing (on latest f/w v1.5.0) with auto framerate disabled, and it's better for the most part, at least w/my Epson 5040UB PJ for now. Only minus is that 1080p/23.976 gets upscaled to 4K/23.976 SDR, but PQ looks excellent (to me, indistinguishable from native 1080p).
Here are the settings I'm using: https://imgur.com/a/V8BO6
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - cesarleeds - 2018-01-21
So, today, out of nowhere, 3D has stopped working on ZDMC 17.6-fmw 1.5.0, it actually calls the external player but stops right there and goes back to the program interface, have tried every single format, no ISO, no mkv, no m2ts, i also tried several skins, no luck either.
However, if you use the native Zidoo player, it works, but there u will lose the quite friendly kodi interface, interface for Home Theater is still quite messy and not very accurate when scraping movies.
Any solution?
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-22
Is there any confirmation on whether blu-ray menus are functional or broken in the latest firmware for the native Zidoo player?
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-22
(2018-01-21, 22:30)hdmkv Wrote: So, I did some testing (on latest f/w v1.5.0) with auto framerate disabled, and it's better for the most part, at least w/my Epson 5040UB PJ for now. Only minus is that 1080p/23.976 gets upscaled to 4K/23.976 SDR, but PQ looks excellent (to me, indistinguishable from native 1080p).What do you mean by the minus? Do you mean it upscales the 1080p to 4k even if you have the output forced to 1080p in settings?
Here are the settings I'm using: https://imgur.com/a/V8BO6
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - lionne - 2018-01-23
Only 7 pages in this thread since last July. Very disappointing to see so little support for these players. I see many, many questions asked but not answered, both in here and on the official Zidoo forum. Suggestions/requests thread is closed on the Zidoo forum. Many seem unhappy with lack of updates to let people know how fixes are coming along. These boxes are not cheap and new owners deserve to know if issues will be fixed soon within a reasonable time or not, so they can decide if keeping the player is in their best interest or not. Everyone has to decide for themselves which issues/bugs/lack of features they can live with, but if we can't even ask and expect an answer back on which issues will be fixed, then that's what I consider poor customer support.
Anyways, I did decide to purchase the x9s and give it a try for myself. I have no idea what firmware to use, so I guess I'll just let it update to whatever the latest version it wants to. That should be a good test to begin with, because if a bunch of things are broken in the latest official available update that weren't broken before, then that will give me a good idea of what to expect from future updates. I have a ton of things to test for to see if it will suit my needs, and I'm expecting issues just from what I've been reading. Sadly no box seems to get it "all" right, but when I read about features like basic subtitle support being broken, or menus that used to work but now don't, that leaves me understandably nervous about this player. The frustrating thing is I believe this player has huge potential, but it's been out for over a year, and the major issues should certainly be sorted out by now. Sadly from what I've been reading that's not the case.
I'll be sure to post an update in here once I get it up and running and run some test files.
RE: Zidoo X9S, X8 & X10 (4K / HDR / 3D / HD Audio): Review & User Impressions - Skank - 2018-01-24
@hdmkv or anyone else, do you know the right settings for the player for a 4k tv?