2020-05-05, 03:34
Updated January 3, 2023
News or Notices:
Vero 4K+ in 2023 remains an excellent dedicated Kodi media streamer for your videos on a server. The h/w is getting old and performance isn't the fastest, but it's still the only box to support 4K HDR, HDR10+ & 3D MVC/ISO natively with Kodi. My interest in Vero 4K+ got revived with owning an AWOL LTV-3500 UST projector. This projector has the best 3D home performance I've even seen & it's a great pairing with Vero 4K+, also because you can enjoy HDR10+ natively.
Quick Take:
Is Vero 4K+ the perfect native Kodi full 3D + 4K HDR set-top player? Yes... close enough! If what you're after is that (elusive to date) pure Kodi player w/perfect 4K HDR + 3D MVC + HD/object-based audio playback for your videos off a NAS (or old school USB drive)! This is it; there's still no other player on the market that accomplishes this feat, or come this close.
My Assessment: Overall grade: A-
I'm not saying Vero 4K+ is a perfect Kodi-native player lightly. No player is, but it took owner Sam Nazarko & OSMC developers since summer of 2018 (when it was released) to get the player to its present state. 3D support was first introduced in August 2019. Early results, while very encouraging, were plagued by nagging issues & it wasn't certain if they'd all be resolved. Sam & team took their time, in particular our hero @tanio99, and did so deliberately in improving performance w/community inputs, and boy did they deliver.
For 4K fans who also still love 3D as much (or maybe even more so), it had been necessary to have 2+ players for one's own Blu-ray/UHD collection. In my case, I've kept a Zidoo Z9X, mostly for 3D use, with nVidia Shield TV Pro for 4K and everything else. nVidia of course additionally supports premium streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., but lack of 3D has been a bummer. And nVidia confirmed 3D will never happen.
Disclosures:
My Expectations for a Media Player:
I love HD, 3D and 4K, with HD audio (preferably Dolby ATMOS/DTS:X) in the best quality possible. I love movies and shows, and want to enjoy them in the best environment possible (and what I can afford, which isn't high end by any means). I realize 3D is a slow dying format, but at nearly 500 titles in my collection (and still growing), I continue to support and enjoy it (even if manufacturers and studios have mostly abandoned it). See this thread on Blu-ray.com's forum with fans keeping 3D on life support. Although you can't buy new 3D TV's anymore, it's still well-supported on projectors thankfully from the likes of AWOL, Philips, VAVA, BenQ, Optoma, JVC and Epson. A big screen is the way to enjoy it anyway. As much as I love the clarity and rich colors of 4K w/HDR, you simply cannot beat the total immersive experience of (decently produced) 3D, especially combined w/Dolby ATMOS or DTS:X! Those who dismiss 3D don't get it, or didn't experience it as they should've at home.
Solid playback is a must! Glitches, stutters, unwanted artifacts or other issues (even minor) ruin the movie experience. And a solid player needs to support SD, HD, 3D, 4K w/various audio formats, in various containers (MKV, ts, ISO, mov, etc.) equally well. Refresh rate switching and resolution switching also need be handled right. For 4K, accurate colors and no banding. And, the player needs to be really affordable. Oh, and it needs to be well supported and for months, years. Not asking for much are we home theater fans?!
Vero 4K+ checks all these boxes as a local media player! Like I said, not perfect, as there are a few 3D titles that exhibit issues.
Performance Results:
To cut to the chase:
Vero 4K+ supports gigabit connection and relies on AMLogic's S905D SoC to power it, with 16GB onboard (eMMC) memory. It supports Bluetooth, so you can pair a Bluetooth remote or keyboard to it. I have my Logitech Harmony Ultimate remote and iOS app paired, but the supplied wireless USB remote is simple and well-designed, and works well (see here for extended functionality).
Adding your networked media shares via SMB or NFS work just fine, including high bitrate playback, even up to max available 400Mbps clip, playing smoothly. You can also mount shares for even better results. See this thread about using autofs to mount shares. It may seem intimidating at first to some (did to me), and I did need to solicit help, but experts like @fzinken and others came through quickly (and even tweaked instructions for clarity based on my feedback).
Anything to Gripe About?:
Just the now somewhat dated hardware, but it does the job, if albeit a bit slow. 3D ISO seeking & chapter skips are a bit laggy. Some macroblocking issues still exist w/'Avatar', 'Gravity', 'Ready Player One' & 'A Christmas Carol' (and possibly a few other 3D titles).
Some may also say Vero 4K+ can't be a true do-it-all player w/o support for premium streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, etc. Maybe, and if you don't care about 3D, nVidia Shield TV will fit the bill. But, we're in a Kodi forum, and it's about top notch local media playback. I don't subscribe to Netflix and barely use my Amazon Prime service for streaming, and even with improved quality of streaming, I prefer high bitrate, full ATMOS (over EAC3 JOC) whenever available.
There's no native Dolby Vision support, but if you have a HDFury device, tonemapping using it often excels DV implementation by manufacturers, at least in the handful of projectors we've seen to date.
Support:
Just terrific! This is one of the key things that sets Vero/OSMC apart from most manufacturers. Sam & team support the community with patience and persistence, and appear to continually work on improving performance and features. They worked hard for many months months to get 3D working well. What the OSMC development team has achieved is no easy feat as there are simply no other native Kodi 3D players that also support 4K HDR. And, HTPC's don't have that set-top box convenience and user experience (and require a lot of work to configure and maintain). Beyond 3D, numerous 4K improvements have been made, from HDR10 metadata passthrough to HLG and HDR10+.
Wrap-Up:
What a pleasure it has been to review and have own a Vero 4K+! It's a unique player where you don't have to think/worry about the type of local media type (4K, 3D, ATMOS/X, whatever) and confidently use it knowing that for 99% of your collection, you'll get perfect playback directly from within Kodi.
News or Notices:
Vero 4K+ in 2023 remains an excellent dedicated Kodi media streamer for your videos on a server. The h/w is getting old and performance isn't the fastest, but it's still the only box to support 4K HDR, HDR10+ & 3D MVC/ISO natively with Kodi. My interest in Vero 4K+ got revived with owning an AWOL LTV-3500 UST projector. This projector has the best 3D home performance I've even seen & it's a great pairing with Vero 4K+, also because you can enjoy HDR10+ natively.
Quick Take:
Is Vero 4K+ the perfect native Kodi full 3D + 4K HDR set-top player? Yes... close enough! If what you're after is that (elusive to date) pure Kodi player w/perfect 4K HDR + 3D MVC + HD/object-based audio playback for your videos off a NAS (or old school USB drive)! This is it; there's still no other player on the market that accomplishes this feat, or come this close.
My Assessment: Overall grade: A-
I'm not saying Vero 4K+ is a perfect Kodi-native player lightly. No player is, but it took owner Sam Nazarko & OSMC developers since summer of 2018 (when it was released) to get the player to its present state. 3D support was first introduced in August 2019. Early results, while very encouraging, were plagued by nagging issues & it wasn't certain if they'd all be resolved. Sam & team took their time, in particular our hero @tanio99, and did so deliberately in improving performance w/community inputs, and boy did they deliver.
For 4K fans who also still love 3D as much (or maybe even more so), it had been necessary to have 2+ players for one's own Blu-ray/UHD collection. In my case, I've kept a Zidoo Z9X, mostly for 3D use, with nVidia Shield TV Pro for 4K and everything else. nVidia of course additionally supports premium streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., but lack of 3D has been a bummer. And nVidia confirmed 3D will never happen.
Disclosures:
- Vero 4K+ unit purchased on my own
- Opinions are my own, and haven't been influenced by anyone else
- This review has been posted w/o seeking any kind of consent from Sam or the OSMC team
- Here's my home theater and review set-up
My Expectations for a Media Player:
I love HD, 3D and 4K, with HD audio (preferably Dolby ATMOS/DTS:X) in the best quality possible. I love movies and shows, and want to enjoy them in the best environment possible (and what I can afford, which isn't high end by any means). I realize 3D is a slow dying format, but at nearly 500 titles in my collection (and still growing), I continue to support and enjoy it (even if manufacturers and studios have mostly abandoned it). See this thread on Blu-ray.com's forum with fans keeping 3D on life support. Although you can't buy new 3D TV's anymore, it's still well-supported on projectors thankfully from the likes of AWOL, Philips, VAVA, BenQ, Optoma, JVC and Epson. A big screen is the way to enjoy it anyway. As much as I love the clarity and rich colors of 4K w/HDR, you simply cannot beat the total immersive experience of (decently produced) 3D, especially combined w/Dolby ATMOS or DTS:X! Those who dismiss 3D don't get it, or didn't experience it as they should've at home.
Solid playback is a must! Glitches, stutters, unwanted artifacts or other issues (even minor) ruin the movie experience. And a solid player needs to support SD, HD, 3D, 4K w/various audio formats, in various containers (MKV, ts, ISO, mov, etc.) equally well. Refresh rate switching and resolution switching also need be handled right. For 4K, accurate colors and no banding. And, the player needs to be really affordable. Oh, and it needs to be well supported and for months, years. Not asking for much are we home theater fans?!
Vero 4K+ checks all these boxes as a local media player! Like I said, not perfect, as there are a few 3D titles that exhibit issues.
Performance Results:
To cut to the chase:
- PQ is excellent (and looks as good as my nVidia Shield TV, Odroid N2 w/CoreELEC and Zidoo Z9S)
- Proper 23.976 support and other framerates (59.94/60, 24, 29.97, etc.) and resolutions (HD, 3D, 4K, NTSC/PAL-based) matching source media
- Proper HD audio passthrough support for all formats, including Dolby ATMOS and DTS:X
- Proper HDR10 & HDR10+ support, along with HLG and VP9; also MaxFALL/MaxCLL metadata passthrough
- Playback of high bitrate videos (over wired connection of course), including the max Birds 90Mbps clip and even the Jellyfish 400Mbps
Vero 4K+ supports gigabit connection and relies on AMLogic's S905D SoC to power it, with 16GB onboard (eMMC) memory. It supports Bluetooth, so you can pair a Bluetooth remote or keyboard to it. I have my Logitech Harmony Ultimate remote and iOS app paired, but the supplied wireless USB remote is simple and well-designed, and works well (see here for extended functionality).
Adding your networked media shares via SMB or NFS work just fine, including high bitrate playback, even up to max available 400Mbps clip, playing smoothly. You can also mount shares for even better results. See this thread about using autofs to mount shares. It may seem intimidating at first to some (did to me), and I did need to solicit help, but experts like @fzinken and others came through quickly (and even tweaked instructions for clarity based on my feedback).
Anything to Gripe About?:
Just the now somewhat dated hardware, but it does the job, if albeit a bit slow. 3D ISO seeking & chapter skips are a bit laggy. Some macroblocking issues still exist w/'Avatar', 'Gravity', 'Ready Player One' & 'A Christmas Carol' (and possibly a few other 3D titles).
Some may also say Vero 4K+ can't be a true do-it-all player w/o support for premium streaming services like Netflix, Amazon, etc. Maybe, and if you don't care about 3D, nVidia Shield TV will fit the bill. But, we're in a Kodi forum, and it's about top notch local media playback. I don't subscribe to Netflix and barely use my Amazon Prime service for streaming, and even with improved quality of streaming, I prefer high bitrate, full ATMOS (over EAC3 JOC) whenever available.
There's no native Dolby Vision support, but if you have a HDFury device, tonemapping using it often excels DV implementation by manufacturers, at least in the handful of projectors we've seen to date.
Support:
Just terrific! This is one of the key things that sets Vero/OSMC apart from most manufacturers. Sam & team support the community with patience and persistence, and appear to continually work on improving performance and features. They worked hard for many months months to get 3D working well. What the OSMC development team has achieved is no easy feat as there are simply no other native Kodi 3D players that also support 4K HDR. And, HTPC's don't have that set-top box convenience and user experience (and require a lot of work to configure and maintain). Beyond 3D, numerous 4K improvements have been made, from HDR10 metadata passthrough to HLG and HDR10+.
Wrap-Up:
What a pleasure it has been to review and have own a Vero 4K+! It's a unique player where you don't have to think/worry about the type of local media type (4K, 3D, ATMOS/X, whatever) and confidently use it knowing that for 99% of your collection, you'll get perfect playback directly from within Kodi.
