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kevmegforest · 2016-11-16, 19:16

I just received my x8.

My setup is a Panasonic plasma TV and an onkyo receiver via spdif.

Everything I tested seems to work fine except these.

1. Audio always goes to the TV and the receiver at the same time (There's no way to disable hdmi audio). SPDIF Passthrough for DTS doesn't work in external player. HD Audio is not downscaled to only the core part and then bitstreamed to my receiver. This means I only get stereo sound for everything except Dolby Digital 5.1.
2. ATSC live tv 1080i doesn't work with TVHeadend in zdmc. (I think the deinterlacer is using too much CPU instead of using the Hardware)

If somebody knows how to fix those issues or if there are fixes incoming, I would gladly take those. If not, I think I will return the box to amazon in 2 weeks and buy a kaby lake cpu instead.

boboiusa · 2016-11-17, 01:00

(2016-11-16, 14:32)ppoulos Wrote:
(2016-11-16, 12:10)boboiusa Wrote: I am still having problems with using external player in ZDMC. I did a factory reset since I thought I had access issues to my server, but I still can only start one file with external player. Every file I start after that external player just starts and stops. If I reboot same things happens. One file OK, rest fails. This is from SMB share from a Win 2012 R2 server, guest access activated. No login needed. This makes the box useless (w/ external player).
Disabling external player everything works fine.

As i mentioned in a previous post if I try the same files from my Serviio UPNP share, external player never gets activated. They just revert and play fine with internal player. Very strange ZDMC does not activate external player for UPNP sources.
Has anybody else had these problem with the X8?

Actually I have also seen that behavior with my MacPro under MacOs Sierra (10.12) and using the Zidoo X9S with firmware 1.2.6 . If I use a windows virtual machine from my MacPro with SMB, all the files play fine. However my MacPro can only connect natively with the X9S with a clean installed barebones MacOs Sierra boot disk without any other programs added on. With that configuration Kodi and ZDMC will connect anonymously with my MacPro. While Kodi Krypton (v17.0-beta5) plays the movie fine, the ZidooPlayer in ZDMC (external player) just starts and stops immediately. I have a feeling that the SMB (and probably NFS) protocol they are using is outdated and inefficient. NFS plays but with significant buffering issues.

Maybe firmware 1.2.7 will fix this?

So I did some further testing tonight and I came up with this:

# Using built in Media Explorer I can access my Windows SMB shares once. Second time it just says "Unknown Error" This is why it won't work in ZDMC as well.
# Tried both the built in SMB explorer and manually added my shares. Same error. Strange the problem only occurs with external player and not with Kodi internal.
# SMB shares from my Qnap works fine. USB as well.

Can anybody of you hardcore testers @hdmkv @movie78 please see if you can replicate these SMB issues from Windows shares. This is a very annoying problem since I have my main collection on my Windows server.
@mirror88 please look into this issue.

Besides this I love the box

Cheers!

**hdmkv** · 2016-11-17, 02:29

Not sure what to say, not dismissing your SMB issues, but I'm not having any problems between my X9S and Synology 1812+ w/a router and gigabit switch in between.

boboiusa · 2016-11-17, 11:28

(2016-11-17, 02:29)hdmkv Wrote: Not sure what to say, not dismissing your SMB issues, but I'm not having any problems between my X9S and Synology 1812+ w/a router and gigabit switch in between.

Well, my Qnap and Buffalo NAS are working fine. It is SMB from Windows that is the problem here. I was hoping somebody else could test streaming from a Windows share. As @ppoulos wrote there might be some issues with Zidoos implemention of SMB access. Microsoft has made several adjustments to SMB over the years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Server_Message_Block

Since it is working with ZDMC - KODI internal player and not the Media Explorer application it must be some programming error regarding SMB access for just that application.
I work with Windows Servers, clients and networking every day. Must say this is a first for me regarding access to a Windows share. I have had many different media-players like WD, VidOn etc, Never seen this problem. I hope somebody can test and replicate this so @mirror88 can troubleshoot and resolve this.

Cheers!

nikos_a · 2016-11-17, 11:48

I did further testing with NFS and my WDMyCloud.

-Mounting as NFS in ZDMC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can play all my movies without any issues

-Mounting as NFS in VLC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can access all my movies and files.

-Going through Media Center->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

-Going through Apps->File Explorer->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

When I try to access the NAS with SAMBA in Media Center or File Explorer, it works and doesn't restart. Not sure what else to try but there's something wrong here.

boboiusa · 2016-11-17, 13:25

(2016-11-17, 11:48)nikos_a Wrote: I did further testing with NFS and my WDMyCloud.

-Mounting as NFS in ZDMC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can play all my movies without any issues

-Mounting as NFS in VLC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can access all my movies and files.

-Going through Media Center->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

-Going through Apps->File Explorer->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

When I try to access the NAS with SAMBA in Media Center or File Explorer, it works and doesn't restart. Not sure what else to try but there's something wrong here.

Just to clarify, you did not have External Player option enabled in ZDMC?

If so Media Center is having issues with both Windows SMB shares and NFS shares from NAS.

**mirror88** · (This post was last modified: 2016-11-17, 13:40 by mirror88.)

(2016-11-17, 11:48)nikos_a Wrote: I did further testing with NFS and my WDMyCloud.

-Mounting as NFS in ZDMC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can play all my movies without any issues

-Mounting as NFS in VLC and accessing the NAS SUCCEEDS. I can access all my movies and files.

-Going through Media Center->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

-Going through Apps->File Explorer->NFS->IP of my NAS->Accessing top folded named "Public"->Trying to access any folder inside "Public" (I have 3) FAILS and x9s reboots

When I try to access the NAS with SAMBA in Media Center or File Explorer, it works and doesn't restart. Not sure what else to try but there's something wrong here.

Thanks，We will buy a WDMyCloud device to confirm the problem.

OlivierQC · 2016-11-17, 13:58

Hello mirror88,

have you any news about FW 1.2.7 and the new Theater player ?

have nice day

OlivierQC · 2016-11-17, 14:08

Hello,

When i turn off the X8, the box restarts after a certain period of time

In fact the box is always ON, fortunately it does not heat.

hdmkv had the same problem with the X9S

OlivierQC · 2016-11-17, 14:23

(2016-11-16, 18:56)movie78 Wrote:
(2016-11-16, 18:23)OlivierQC Wrote: hello movie78,

how do you change from simple menu to Show blu ray ?

thanks in advance

Change Play Main Movie to Show Blu-ray

Let me know if that works.

No BD-MENU at all in my case.

And when i choose ''Show blu ray'' and i start an ISO movie, the external player (zidoo) does not works,
It is the internal player from kodi who works, even so the external player (zidoo) is enabled in the options

nikos_a · 2016-11-17, 14:27

(2016-11-17, 13:25)boboiusa Wrote: Just to clarify, you did not have External Player option enabled in ZDMC?

If so Media Center is having issues with both Windows SMB shares and NFS shares from NAS.

Yes, that's right. But I will try that too. I doubt there will be an issue though because the problem is in the navigation to a certain folder. ZDMC does the navigation right to that folder and allows me to select the files. But out of curiosity, I will do that too and post back. BTW, I have Windows SMB shares (through Windows 10) and it works. At least I tried last night once and didn't have issues. I just had to scan for SMB shares for my PC to appear and I played some files without any issues.

boboiusa · 2016-11-17, 16:26

(2016-11-17, 14:27)nikos_a Wrote:
(2016-11-17, 13:25)boboiusa Wrote: Just to clarify, you did not have External Player option enabled in ZDMC?

If so Media Center is having issues with both Windows SMB shares and NFS shares from NAS.

Yes, that's right. But I will try that too. I doubt there will be an issue though because the problem is in the navigation to a certain folder. ZDMC does the navigation right to that folder and allows me to select the files. But out of curiosity, I will do that too and post back. BTW, I have Windows SMB shares (through Windows 10) and it works. At least I tried last night once and didn't have issues. I just had to scan for SMB shares for my PC to appear and I played some files without any issues.

When using ZDMC I can also navigate all my shares, but when it opens the file in Media Center (external player) it just flashes for a quick moment and returns to ZDMC.
I will also try to access shares from a Windows 10 computer. The problem I have is from a Server 2012 R2. But it should not make a difference. I also have a domain, but that should not cause any problems. As I wrote before all my other devices work fine after entering network credentials.

movie78 · (This post was last modified: 2016-11-17, 18:58 by movie78.)

Found an is with HDR playback, the Zidoo X8 is suffering the same HDR bug on the Xiaomi Mi Box, once the start playing HDR content and HDR signal is activated the HDR signal doesn't turn off if you stop playing,the only fix I found is to switch the input on my TV to turn the HDR signal off.

Also when playing 3D content it will be nice if playback starts instead browsing through the SIMPLE MENU and selecting PLAY 3D, this an issue because some complete ISO contains a lot of PLAYLIST example: Gods of Egypt 3D and not everyone rip their BD main movie only.

DaMacFunkin · 2016-11-17, 20:52

(2016-11-17, 17:21)movie78 Wrote: Found an is with HDR playback, the Zidoo X8 is suffering the same HDR bug on the Xiaomi Mi Box, once the start playing HDR content and HDR signal is activated the HDR signal doesn't turn off if you stop playing,the only fix I found is to switch the input on my TV to turn the HDR signal off.

Also when playing 3D content it will be nice if playback starts instead browsing through the SIMPLE MENU and selecting PLAY 3D, this an issue because some complete ISO contains a lot of PLAYLIST example: Gods of Egypt 3D and not everyone rip their BD main movie only.

The HDR thing is intermittent, it has happened to me twice, then another 20 times it has not.
If you choose the 3D iso from internal player it just plays the main title, only in ZDMC does it give you playlist options, that is a kodi fault not Zidoo.

movie78 · 2016-11-17, 21:25

(2016-11-17, 20:52)DaMacFunkin Wrote:
(2016-11-17, 17:21)movie78 Wrote: Found an is with HDR playback, the Zidoo X8 is suffering the same HDR bug on the Xiaomi Mi Box, once the start playing HDR content and HDR signal is activated the HDR signal doesn't turn off if you stop playing,the only fix I found is to switch the input on my TV to turn the HDR signal off.

Also when playing 3D content it will be nice if playback starts instead browsing through the SIMPLE MENU and selecting PLAY 3D, this an issue because some complete ISO contains a lot of PLAYLIST example: Gods of Egypt 3D and not everyone rip their BD main movie only.

The HDR thing is intermittent, it has happened to me twice, then another 20 times it has not.
If you choose the 3D iso from internal player it just plays the main title, only in ZDMC does it give you playlist options, that is a kodi fault not Zidoo.

@DaMacFunkin I've seen that name floating around in some forums Cool

The HDR is bug and needs to fixed, don't have that issue with the Himedia Q10 Pro, I will try and change the ZDMC to from internal and see if the 3D works.