[lionne]

Hello lionne,

You use the same settings as me, and what setting you use for the HDMI range mode ? 

All the android boxes I've had always indicated 8Bit with 4.2.2 and I've always had banding with this setting.

About flash black : I saw a similar problem with others people who have LG TVs a few months ago about black flash, some solve the problem by changing the hdmi cable but it is not 100% guaranteed.




See you

 I use limited.

I'm still not sure what configuration to use honestly as there are several issues that seem to be coming together to cause problems.

As far as the black flashing, I have my LG TV set to allow deep color (when I first played a file on the Zidoo sending deep color, the TV asked if I want to enable it and it said it needed to reboot to apply the setting, which it did). But the TV doesn't specify if the Deep Color mode accepts 10-bit only or 12-bit also. It just lists it as "Ultra Deep Color". I have no idea if the TV can't handle the 12-bit input, or if it's the cable, or the player doing something wrong. But the screen flashes even with 10-bit selected in the Zidoo, but only in the modes I referenced so it's can't be a specific 12-bit issue. Then again, there are a number of issues with the Zidoo, so how do I know it's putting out 10-bit when I select 10-bit? Maybe it's putitng out 12-bit and that's tripping up my TV?

[lionne]

DVD playback is completely broken on 2.0.5, as well as previous versions:

- When playing NTSC (29.97) 4:3 aspect ratio DVDs (VIDEO_TS or ISO, or individual VOB files), video is "stretched" horizontally. It is not stretched to 16:9, as there are vertical pillarboxes (black bars), but it is not the correct 4:3 aspect ratio, as the pillarboxes are not as wide as they should be. It's half-way between 4:3 and 16:9. It is completely distorted and there is no way to fix it. Hitting "menu" brings up an option under the pop-up menu on the left for "aspect ratio" but the 2 options are:
- "full"
- "fit"
Neither option displays 4:3 correctly. "Full" stretches the image to 16:9, and "fit" displays the image partially stretched.

- When playing PAL (25.00) 4:3 aspect ratio DVDs, the opposite is true - the video is "squished" horizontally, resulting in pillarboxes wider than they should be. Again, neither "full" nor "fit" displays it correctly. "Full" stretches the image to 16:9, and "fit" displays the image partially squished.

- Same holds true for 16:9 NTSC and PAL content - it is "squished" horizontally into the same broken aspect ratio - in-between 4:3 and 16:9. You have to hit the menu key on the remote and force the aspect ratio option to 16:9 to force it into the proper 16:9 aspect ratio.

To put it simply, regardless of the disc's aspect ratio, the Zidoo forces all DVD content to a weird "in-between" aspect ratio - neither 4:3 or 16:9. So both ratios are broken for DVD playback.

How is this an issue a year+ into the player's firmware? How has this not been fixed already? Has this just been ignored? This is a deal-breaker for me. Many people still have large collections of DVDs and DVD files. If a media player in 2018 can't get basic DVD playback figured out, there's something wrong.

Also:

- The navigation bar is broken for DVD ISOs. In a 1 hr, 46min film, hitting the right navigation key on the remote skips to 35:28, 1:10:56, and 1:46:25 (end). That's it. In a 25 min TV episode, I cannot skip in the navigation bar at all. There's no way to go anywhere else in the video. I have confirmed this with multiple DVDs. The numerical keys do bring you to the percentage of the film, so it's the navigation bar that is broken. The navigation bar seems to work "okay" with DVD VIDEO_TS folders, though the navigation bar is choppy (not smooth) and a bit hard to get where you want in the video. It's not as precise as with mkvs, mp4s, etc.

- DVD menu navigation was broken in one of the PAL DVD ISOs I tried. You could not see any indicator in the DVD menu as you moved from option to option. If you hit "ok" on the remote it would activate the option you were on in the menu, but there was no way to see what option I was on since moving the remote's navigation buttons weren't having any visual effect on-screen (no arrow or highlighted text of any kind like you usually see in DVDs and blu-rays).

- You can't navigate or skip warnings or other junk (studio intros) when DVDs start playing. Hitting menu doesn't work. You have to sit through them.

- Cannot hit "menu" key on remote to bring up the player's menu options when on the DVD menu page. You have to start playback first.

- When clicking on a DVD ISO file, it thinks it's a blu-ray file:
"This file may be a bluray image file,Please choose operation to be performed.
Play
Blu-ray menu"
Hitting "Play" still brings you to the menu, just like hitting "blu-ray menu".

- When clicking on a folder with a DVD VIDEO_TS folder, it thinks it's a blu-ray folder:
"This is a Blu-ray folder. Please make a selection
Open
Play
Blu-ray menu"
Hitting "Play" still brings you to the menu, just like hitting "blu-ray menu".

- I also installed the latest ZDMC and set it up, then tried playing those same DVDs in ZDMC. The aspect ratio is correct in ZDMC but both NTSC and PAL have constant stuttering every few seconds, making it unwatchable. This is with the Zidoo's options set to HDMI auto, and I also tried it with HDMI 1080p@60Hz.

All of this combined makes DVDs an exercise in frustration and unplayable.

[lionne]

DVD Remuxes - aspect ratio issues

Being new to the x9s, and running the new 2.0.5 firmware, I wanted to see just what kind of file support this player has and what files it has issues with. So I threw it a barrage of different file types, formats, codecs, and framerates yesterday. Notably, it has issues with DVD REMUXES and aspect ratios, just like it can't display full DVDs properly. Here are some file specs:

704x576i (16:9) 25.000 (PAL TV BROADCAST) MPEG-2 .mpg - SQUISHED Horizontally (can be forced to 16:9 correctly using "full")
720x480 (16:9) 23.976 (NTSC DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - SQUISHED Horizontally (can be forced to 16:9 correctly using "full")
720x480i (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - STRETCHED Horizontally (cannot be corrected using "full")
720x576i (4:3) 25.000 (PAL DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - SQUISHED Horizontally (cannot be corrected using "full")

4:3 DVD Remuxes simply are not watchable on this player, as the aspect ratio is always squished for PAL or stretched for NTSC, and cannot be corrected.

Other misc. resolutions I tested (no black bars) - These all displayed in the correct aspect ratio. Note I cannot verify that these played in the correct frame rates, due to current issues surrounding frame rates, so this is just verifying that aspect ratios looked correct. The player appeared to switch to the correct frame rates, but it seems some frame rates are not being output correctly in some configurations, as described earlier.

320x240 (4:3) Variable Sorenson Spark .flv
480x360 (4:3) 29.925 Sorenson Spark .flv
616x464p (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) AVC .mkv
640x480 (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) Sorenson Spark .flv
640x480p (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) AVC .mp4
640x480p (4:3) 59.940 AVC .mp4
656x368p (16:9) 23.976 xvid .avi
1024x576 (16:9) 25.000 PAL VC-1 (WMV3) .avi
1440x720p (2.000) 23.976 AVC .mov
1464x1080 (4:3) 23.976 HEVC .mkv
1914x1080 (16:9) 23.976 HEVC .mkv
1920x1080i (16:9) 25.000 (PAL TV BROADCAST) AVC .ts
2560x1066 (2:40:1) 24.000 AVC .mp4
4096x2106 (1.945) 23.976 AVC .mpeg

1280x532 (2:40:1 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1280x544 (2:35:1 23.976 720p mkv)
1280x692 (1:85:1 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1280x718 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1280x704 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1280x720 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1428x1076 (4:3 23.976 mkv)
1440x1080 (4:3 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1920x800 (2:40:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1920x816 (2:35:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
1920x1036 (1:85:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)

[lionne]

Black flashing solved!

So I connected my new WalMart Black Web premium certified 18Gbps HDMI 2.0 cable, and it has totally eliminated the screen flashing black. It indeed was my old 1.4 HDMI cable to blame. It couldn't handle 4:4:4 deep color apparently. My LG has 3 HDMI inputs and all 3 accept 4:4:4 from what I've been told, so every HDMI port should act the same for me.

I would say anybody that is having the issue with the screen flashing black should try a premium HDMI 2. o cable, and if that doesn't solve it, try a different HDMI port. I'll update my earlier post about the issue.

[hdmkv]

For your DVD tests, are you using ZDMC's internal player? That should work better than external, which is better for most everything else.

---

New beta f/w v2.0.10 is now available.

[lionne]

I'm using the built-in "media center" player that comes with the unit, not ZDMC or any other player. As I described in my above post about the issue,:

"- I also installed the latest ZDMC and set it up, then tried playing those same DVDs in ZDMC. The aspect ratio is correct in ZDMC but both NTSC and PAL have constant stuttering every few seconds, making it unwatchable. This is with the Zidoo's options set to HDMI auto, and I also tried it with HDMI 1080p@60Hz."

I installed ZDMC and tried DVD playback in ZDMC also, but it stuttered very badly at all settings, both PAL and NTSC, ISo and VIDEO_TS folders, so ZDMC is a no-go for me with DVD. It did play some files fine, but not DVDs.

When people say "internal player" or "external player", I get confused. When I hear internal I assume they mean the "media center" player that ships built-in - the basic media browser/player. ZDMC wasn't even on the x9s when I received it last week- I installed the latest apk posted.

[lionne]

Player "freaking out" when booting with Deep Color 12-bit through Certified Premium HDMI 2.0 cable

So after solving my black flashing issue today with the new 18Gbps certified HDMI 2.0 cable I bought, I've discovered a new problem. When booting, the player goes nuts when Deep Color 12bit is enabled. There are rows of diagonal flickering white dots across the boot screen, along with some random flashes to black. Once the home screen appears, it continues until it sets to the correct frame rate and resolution, then it settles down. Here's the details:

HDMI mode: AUTO
Deep Color: 12bit/Auto
Color Space Mode:
- YCbCr 4:4:4
- YCbCr 4:2:0
- YCbCr RGB 4:4:4
- Auto - extra bad

The only color space mode that doesn't boot with the screen flaking out when Deep Color 12bit is enabled is YCbCr 4:2:2. I'm guessing that YCbCr 4:2:2 isn't enabling Deep Color 12bit which is why that mode isn't affected. This doesn't happen with 10-bit - only 12-bit and auto. This tells me Deep Color on AUTO is actually selecting 12bit for me. I tried each color space mode with each deep color mode. Only the modes I list above are affected.

I also tried my old cable again and it doesn't happen with the old 1.4 cable. So the new cable has solved the black flashing issue, but introduced a new "bug" or issue for me by enalbing full support of Deep Color in the cable.

So the question is why is this happening? What is happening at boot with Deep Color on 12bit that is causing this "corrupted" boot-up? My girlfriend noticed during my testing that it's actually worse when color space is set to auto - like the additional job of the player selecting the right color space mode automatically with 12-bit deep color enabled is an extra challenge for it, causing the black flashing to increase.

[hdmkv]

For me, w/Epson 5040UB, only settings that work as expected are 3840x2160p/24 / 12-bit / YCbCr 4:2:0 / limited HDMI range. Perfect HDR. Anything else, I get 8-bit.

Re: f/w's 2.0.5 and 2.0.10, both cause Samba (SMB) playback to break w/external player. Reverted to 1.5.0.

[mirror88]

About SMB, Do you tried in Media center(file explorer)?

[OlivierQC]

Hi all,

In my case the SMB works properly with ZDMC 16.4.13 and HT 2.0



same thing with the FW 2.0.5

See you

[OlivierQC]

hi all,

I asked on the forum homecinema.fr about the hdmkv problem and a person has the same problem and other people do not have this problem.

not easy to know if the problem comes from the zidoo or not

see you

[hdmkv]

It's definitely a problem... can't access SMB shares from Media Center/File Explorer directly either. NFS is fine. With 1.5.0, SMB works fine.

Other users too.

[mirror88]

It's definitely a problem... can't access SMB shares from Media Center/File Explorer directly either. NFS is fine. With 1.5.0, SMB works fine.

Other users too.

 It's a special character issue, we'll fix it in the next version.

[lionne]

Mirror88, thank you for posting in here. I'm sure if you've been following the thread you know about the issues I have posted about recently since I bought my x9s, as well as bugs others have posted about recently here and on the Zidoo forums. is it possible to share any information on whether any of these issues are being looked at? These are all issues I posted about recently with info on which modes are issues for me:

- Banding
- DVD playback is completely broken on 2.0.5, as well as previous versions:
- DVD Remuxes - aspect ratio issues
- Player "freaking out" when booting with Deep Color 12-bit through Certified Premium HDMI 2.0 cable

Plus the 23.976 issue in 2160p 4:4:4 mode with 10bit and 12bit selected, as posted by Wesk05.

If some of these bigger issues could be ironed out, I'd be more inclined to hang onto the player and hope they get fixed. As it is right now, some of these issues are a big concern for me and I can't see holding onto the player if these issues can't be addressed.

[OlivierQC]

It's definitely a problem... can't access SMB shares from Media Center/File Explorer directly either. NFS is fine. With 1.5.0, SMB works fine.

Other users too.

 It's a special character issue, we'll fix it in the next version.   

  Good news for those who have the problem, They are highly-reactive.