[da-anda]

Because half SBS is 1920 X 540 which is the best it gets for a 1080 system.

HSBS is 960x1080 per eye, HTAB is 1920x540 per eye. FullSBS is 1920x1080 per eye. On passive 3D screens (polarized glasses) you won't really see a difference between HTAB and FullSBS, as the passive screen uses every second line for the second eye, so in 3D mode you end up with half the vertical resolution. The worst thing you can do is to play a HSBS file on a passive 3D screen, because you'll basically end up with 960x540 per eye. For active 3D displays (shutter glasses) you won't see a real difference between HSBS and HTAB, but you'll notice HTAB/SBS vs FullSBS/MVC. However, some might say that HSBS is looking better than HTAB. The reason for this IIRC is, that the human brain can better deal with horizontally stretched pixel then vertically ones, so it will better "compensate" the dissortion. I at least heard something like that years ago, related to anamorph video scaling.

[hausmanis]

going from the q10pro to the x9s was probably the worst "upgrade" ive done.

x9s is so much worse than the q10pro acording to me, i got so much lagg, ethernet lost and shit bugs in the x9s its driving my crazy

q10pro is a final product
x9s is in beta

Dunno why anyone would rank x9s higher than q10pro but thats why i thought i made a upgrade buying this bad product that x9s is atm

I agreed with you, I gave my Q10 Pro to my Brother and got X8, now I am scratching my head, want to tell him that I want my device back but I can't.

Yeah i sold my Q10 Pro, stupid mistake but honestly tho, how can X9S be ranked higher here ? its so shitty compared to q10pro
Like this evening, me and my wife trying to watch simple 720p content but it keeps crashing due to ethernet lost... we got perfect 1gbit lan setup

[da-anda]

How do you make a full SBS rip?

I think DVDFab does, never made one myself, as my HW can't decode FullSBS and my CPU is to weak for software decoding FullSBS. Also note that the PI can't handle FullSBS, but it can handle MVC. Same probably with other, especially older GPUs

[brazen1]

I should add, in the past the file size MAY have increased because I used two pass during the encode. @DJisumi informed me that the additional file size was due to interpolation added to the rip. While I noticed no side effects, other than the size increase, it does add a bunch of time to the encode. Let's put it this way. With my old GTX 650Ti, a movie took about 12 hours to rip. With my GTX 960, 3 hours. But, I'm only single passing. Why? DJisumi said it will guess most of the interpolation added. That would be bad data imo although I didn't see it. Besides, I support interpolation. Yes, I like it. So, I just let my display do it on the fly and I bet it does a better job than the software. I use FAB.

Just checked. The full BD is 43.4 GB on one of them. The encode of it is 45.3 so yes, there is still a slight increase even after eliminating extra audios.

[brazen1]

Because half SBS is 1920 X 540 which is the best it gets for a 1080 system.

HSBS is 960x1080 per eye, HTAB is 1920x540 per eye. FullSBS is 1920x1080 per eye. On passive 3D screens (polarized glasses) you won't really see a difference between HTAB and FullSBS, as the passive screen uses every second line for the second eye, so in 3D mode you end up with half the vertical resolution. The worst thing you can do is to play a HSBS file on a passive 3D screen, because you'll basically end up with 960x540 per eye. For active 3D displays (shutter glasses) you won't see a real difference between HSBS and HTAB, but you'll notice HTAB/SBS vs FullSBS/MVC. However, some might say that HSBS is looking better than HTAB. The reason for this IIRC is, that the human brain can better deal with horizontally stretched pixel then vertically ones, so it will better "compensate" the dissortion. I at least heard something like that years ago, related to anamorph video scaling.

Errrr, correct. What he said. LoL.

[hdmkv]

going from the q10pro to the x9s was probably the worst "upgrade" ive done.

x9s is so much worse than the q10pro acording to me, i got so much lagg, ethernet lost and shit bugs in the x9s its driving my crazy

q10pro is a final product
x9s is in beta

Dunno why anyone would rank x9s higher than q10pro but thats why i thought i made a upgrade buying this bad product that x9s is atm

I agreed with you, I gave my Q10 Pro to my Brother and got X8, now I am scratching my head, want to tell him that I want my device back but I can't.

Yeah i sold my Q10 Pro, stupid mistake but honestly tho, how can X9S be ranked higher here ? its so shitty compared to q10pro
Like this evening, me and my wife trying to watch simple 720p content but it keeps crashing due to ethernet lost... we got perfect 1gbit lan setup

Sorry to hear you guys are having such experiences; mine has been the opposite.

[timstephens24]

Ha I can't see how your experience with it has been good. The X9S was horrible, and I agree, it's absurd that it's rated so high. Maybe in a few months after the alpha testing is done it'll be good, but until then it's just not up to snuff. No reason to pay $150 for something that still needs months of development work, and shouldn't be recommended on this list at all.

[movie78]

@hdmkv I think you need to revisit your rating, if you have 4 or 5 knowledgeable members expressing the same thing then there is a problem with the device.
To me that X9S/X8 should not be rated anything close to A too much issues.

[hdmkv]

I disagree as 2D MKV's and 3D ISO's have been working perfectly for me. I'm also not seeing widespread reports of issues. Not discounting you guys, but if the kind of issues you have/had were widespread, there would be significant backlash. I can only assume there may be some reliability issues w/X9S and X8.

For my X9S, there's proper 23.976, and full HD audio. 3D PQ looks great. Only negatives (for me) are MVC MKV disabled for now w/Zidoo reworking it from scratch, and device occasionally powering itself on.

[wrxtasy]

@hdmkv I think you need to revisit your rating, if you have 4 or 5 knowledgeable members expressing the same thing then there is a problem with the device.
To me that X9S/X8 should not be rated anything close to A too much issues.

I've read enough now to re-edit the START HERE Sticky thread and warn potential purchasers that the Zidoo X9S is a "Beta Testers only device".

IMHO - an A rating does not seem correct for day to day use as a reliable media player device with the number of issues being reported.

[hdmkv]

I'm not affiliated with Zidoo, HiMedia or whichever manufacturer it may be. Just a Kodi and A/V playback fan who wants the most versatile media player w/the best PQ and AQ. Best I can do is report based on my findings and tests, but also learn from users. In a way, every media player released is alpha or at best beta (WeTek Play2 for example, and HiMedia Q10 which some are saying is better than Zidoo X9S/X8 also). Maybe I should just nix any grading on media players in the 3D players thread or Zidoo or HiMedia. These were always just meant to be a guide to help out for users, w/caveats as noted in those threads from my POV.

To be honest, at this point, I don't give a s**t. Not trying to be rude, but I'm done reviewing media players, and just happy to be another home theater enthusiast . Happy to nix post #1 from all my reviews and sticky 3D thread if that's what most users would want.

[wrxtasy]

Ha Ha, its one of the risks of being a reviewer and sticking your neck out @hdmkv. Hard to please the masses, even though you give your best. A thankless task really.

I believe half the problems are unrealistic high user expectations from people here on the Kodi forums when what are being used are after all budget media players.
Expecting any brand new box using an unfamiliar Chipset for software engineers to develop on is never going to go smoothly right out of the gate.

Thats a given, and one of the golden rules. Give a device about a year to bug fix and then reassess it, especially if its coming from a smaller resourced developer. For that very reason IMHO awarding any shiny new box, from a relatively small developer, one with an unfamiliar chipset (for the Brand), an A is always fraught with peril. Very much so as time passes and bugs are discovered.

[hausmanis]

I'm not affiliated with Zidoo, HiMedia or whichever manufacturer it may be. Just a Kodi and A/V playback fan who wants the most versatile media player w/the best PQ and AQ. Best I can do is report based on my findings and tests, but also learn from users. In a way, every media player released is alpha or at best beta (WeTek Play2 for example, and HiMedia Q10 which some are saying is better than Zidoo X9S/X8 also). Maybe I should just nix any grading on media players in the 3D players thread or Zidoo or HiMedia. These were always just meant to be a guide to help out for users, w/caveats as noted in those threads from my POV.

To be honest, at this point, I don't give a s**t. Not trying to be rude, but I'm done reviewing media players, and just happy to be another home theater enthusiast . Happy to nix post #1 from all my reviews and sticky 3D thread if that's what most users would want.

Dont get me wrong, i appriciate this thread ALOT, keep up the good work, i probaly had a bad ex of the zido x9s cause its unstable as hell

[hdmkv]

Give me some time... I'll nix the ranking and add some cautionary notes. Still feel the 4 options in post #1 are the best we have, warts and all.

[hausmanis]

Still cant help feeling abit sad for, how hard is it to create 1 option that is good at everything ? i mean Nvidia Shield seemed so damn nice but NOES still cant do hd 7.1 and other important bits lacking aswell
And pro10 and zidox9s sure they got potential but still are in "beta" more or less

who will make the first perfect media player ? and when ? that is the question