[ppoulos]

...I'm not experiencing the stuttering issues...(albeit my 4K display renders at 8-bit and w/o HDR).

Suggestion - you might want to note this in the Post #1 review as HDR Untested in bold type.
As this looks to be where demanding users are running into issues.

I have not even tried to playback full 4k movies with much higher bitrates. Especially when the Zidoo X9S cannot even stream any lossless 1080p Blu-ray 2D or 3D movies without constant horrible (my opinion) repetitive stuttering in both their built in media center or modified Kodi app. So what's the use of now trying HDR material, especially since there is NO lossless high bitrate moves in HDR available "yet".

Until they fix playback from all streaming sources (NFS, SMB, UPnP, etc.) and while using native Zidoo player or through the modified Kodi app with external player, I would only rate this product as a "C" and not recommend buying it until (and if) future firmware upgrades fix this. I like playing around with these type of media players, so buying the Zidoo X9S was more of a play toy than a serious media player for me, at least in its current state of readiness.

We will see how committed the company is in improving their product.

[couto27]

A little off topic...

This Media players are all low cost solutions even the ones costing $350 like the Dune 4K, but they still are capable to deliver capable good av quality if you know what to avoid.

They can't be compared with other high cost solutions that had carefull development and testing before reaching to the consumers hands.
Some built-in examples of what a some players present in their setup:

Front Playback controls with Play, Stop, Pause, and Chapter Navigation buttons
Back-lit Remote
Dual HDMI out (with selectable independent pixel format for each HDMI )
Source Direct available
Toroidal linear power supply
High quality DACs
Low digital Jitter into Femtosecond territory for increased soundstaging, layering, imaging,bass definition/depth and overall fine high resolution.
Low Vibration & Resonance
EMI/RFI Shielding (chassis/lid, power supplies, clocks)
Grounding

Some of this things can be over too much for some users, but if you search high quality audio & video you need to invest a lot more.
For example ive Mod my XTZ speakers with a help of a friend and the Mod parts (crossover, wires, capacitors, wool, tweeter etc etc) cost more than the speakers itself, but it has worth every penny because now they play better than some speakers i could never afford.

Heres another true story:
I travel regularly by plane in Europe, and recently i was surprised that a small FM radio by sunstech RPD12 can work on a plane at 10.000m altitude and the speed 800km/h..
So if the Antenna signal reach so high imagine what the same antenna signal would do to your audio/video equipment without any EMI/RFI Shielding

[couto27]

Development a little more the subject about Shielding have a look at this Intel White paper about USB 3.0 interferences with bluethooth & Wireless

Heres a brief explanation from other forum:

Both ends of a USB 3.0 Cable, and to some extent the cable itself, generate interference, especially in the 2.4GHz range.
When a wireless (i.e. 2.4GHz band) mouse was tested (with its receiver connected to a USB 2.0 port adjacent to a 3.0 port with a 3.0 device), mouse response dropped off when the mouse was about 3 feet away.
With the mouse's receiver using a stacked USB port on top of an active USB 3.0 port, the mouse was essentially unresponsive.
With the mouse's receiver moved to the other side of the laptop (away from the active USB 3.0 port), mouse responsiveness was fine up to the max distance tested of 5 feet.
The responsiveness of different mice at various distances varied, meaning there is potential to improve wireless performance through more intelligent antenna placement in the mouse by the manufacturer.
Interference was able to be reduced (but not eliminated) by adding shielding to either end of the USB 3.0 cable.

This Video Guide from OWC shows how to reduce the bluetooth Interference by Shielding the bluetooth Module...




This is just a example why some Audio & Video Gear sometimes have pornographic prices... they are built properly to have the best performance possible.

[setumismo]

Hello, I can not write to the USB hard drives that I have connected. Any idea why it can be?

I have firmware 1.2.6.

When using artwork download gives an error for failure to record in the USB.

Same type of error using solid Explorer.

[wrxtasy]

Thread Split regarding ratings system before this get way off topic...its now in the Hardware Review - Ratings discussion thread.

[movie78]

Thread Split regarding ratings system before this get way off topic...its now in the Hardware Review - Ratings discussion thread.

Good, i was going to request that, sorry for polluting this thread with the HW rating...

[mirror88]

Good news.Solved occasional green flashes/streak when playing 3D ISO issue today

[boboiusa]

@mirror88
Great news about the green flickering in 3D ISO.
I have however solved most of my initial problems with the X8. Most of my buffering issues were because of a 100 mbit mini-switch I had behind my amplifier. When I hooked up a giga switch the box was much more responsive. So maybe there could be an issue connection the box to an older switch? All other devices connected to that switch worked flawlessly.

I have one more strange problem. External player is not playing any files from my SMB share in ZDMC. The player just exists to ZDMC after I press play. I think there is some kind of access problem. I want to reset the box and set everything up again from the beginning. What is the proper way to do a total reset so I get the initial setup guide?

Cheers!

[spawn_lmg]

Dont work switch [email protected]! My TV have this mode 2160@50 and 2160@60.
Test video
http://kodi.wiki/view/Samples#4K_.28UltraHD.29

[mirror88]

Dont work switch [email protected]! My TV have this mode 2160@50 and 2160@60.
Test video
http://kodi.wiki/view/Samples#4K_.28UltraHD.29

Will add 30HZ,60HZ frame switch via native player in next version.
also change [email protected] switch to 2160@60 ok?

[spawn_lmg]

Dont work switch [email protected]! My TV have this mode 2160@50 and 2160@60.
Test video
http://kodi.wiki/view/Samples#4K_.28UltraHD.29

Will add 30HZ,60HZ frame switch via native player in next version.
also change [email protected] switch to 2160@60 ok?

59.94fps switch in mode [email protected], 60fps switch in mode 2160@60, as it was done in 1080 mode!

[DaMacFunkin]

Development a little more the subject about Shielding have a look at this Intel White paper about USB 3.0 interferences with bluethooth & Wireless

Heres a brief explanation from other forum:

Both ends of a USB 3.0 Cable, and to some extent the cable itself, generate interference, especially in the 2.4GHz range.
When a wireless (i.e. 2.4GHz band) mouse was tested (with its receiver connected to a USB 2.0 port adjacent to a 3.0 port with a 3.0 device), mouse response dropped off when the mouse was about 3 feet away.
With the mouse's receiver using a stacked USB port on top of an active USB 3.0 port, the mouse was essentially unresponsive.
With the mouse's receiver moved to the other side of the laptop (away from the active USB 3.0 port), mouse responsiveness was fine up to the max distance tested of 5 feet.
The responsiveness of different mice at various distances varied, meaning there is potential to improve wireless performance through more intelligent antenna placement in the mouse by the manufacturer.
Interference was able to be reduced (but not eliminated) by adding shielding to either end of the USB 3.0 cable.

This Video Guide from OWC shows how to reduce the bluetooth Interference by Shielding the bluetooth Module...




This is just a example why some Audio & Video Gear sometimes have pornographic prices... they are built properly to have the best performance possible.

I have a Panasonic VT50 plasma that cost thousands of pounds and the wireless doesn't work with a USB3 hard drive connected, so it isn't just cheap Chinese boxes.

[couto27]

[
I have a Panasonic VT50 plasma that cost thousands of pounds and the wireless doesn't work with a USB3 hard drive connected, so it isn't just cheap Chinese boxes.

Panasonic plasmas had huge flaws (remember the Buzzing) but that dont stop them to built the best TV and create a tremendous reputation.

The Tegra X1 and the Shield wasn't created in couple weeks like the chinese manufacturer do, building a aluminium box around the latest Chipset available...have a look at the Nvidia shield teardown from mlab and have a look at x9s teardown its obvious who´s doing the planning and the development of the product.

If you have a Micro stuttering in Zidoo device X9S its up to the manufacturer open a ticket and request to the chip manufacturer to fix it (in this case its realtek) and most of the time the problem is Fix with other SDK, and Zidoo must start coding again most of the features already implemented, and this process can take months & months of wait.


In the SATV case the bugs process can be faster because they are the chip manufacturer.

The Tegra X1 processor is built with AI, machine learning and robotics in mind. With excellent GPU performance and low power specs, in can be used in mobile systems for robotics, car systems and drones as well. Tesla is using the Tegra CPU's in their cars from the very beginning, and it's one of the key factors to develop self driving or autonomous vehicles. The X1 is also able to process signals from up to four cameras and a lot other sensors too. see the X1 white paper

In my opinion for 200$ the SATV is the bargain media player of the decade..

[wesk05]

I have done some more testing and I have interesting updates! First, the good things:

1) Color accuracy: Absolutely perfect in 8-bit/10-bit/12-bit YCbCr 4:4:4 modes.

2) Hi-Res Audio: 44.1/88.2/176.4/96/192kHz are 24-bit output even for multichannel PCM from the default "Music Player". ZDMC and native "Video Player" are limited to 16-bit 48kHz.

Now, the bad thing:
Deep color mode has stability issues (A/V dropouts) at 4K. It does work without issues for 1080p.

For 4K these are the best options:
1) Deep Color: Auto, Colorspace: YCbCr 4:2:2 (This by standards is 12-bit, but I have noticed that sometimes the output changes to YCbCr 4:4:4 8-bit and Colorspace changes to Rec.2020).
2) Deep Color: Off, Colorspace: Auto/YCbCr 4:4:4

All other combinations result in A/V dropouts.

[wesk05]

The Tegra X1 and the Shield wasn't created in couple weeks like the chinese manufacturer do, building a aluminium box around the latest Chipset available...have a look at the Nvidia shield teardown from mlab and have a look at x9s teardown its obvious who´s doing the planning and the development of the product.

nVIDIA Shield has unshielded USB 3.0 ports causing interference in the 2.4GHz ISM band. On the X9S, I see shielded (Shield Can) USB ports.