Beta version v1.0.65 for Z9X Pro/Z20 Pro/Z2000 Pro/Z2600/UHD5000 release

It's well into 'next week' - your post was Friday 22nd and now Thursday 28th. Hopefully this will be dropping very soon???

 

Radio silence this end...

Had another internal on Monday though, so they are working on stuff...

 

Nova launcher or similar. Will try after new firmware gets out.

 

It is the end of the year, after all. All our business contacts from China are silent right now. It's probably the same for Zidoo. We will just have to wait until they release it.

 

Hi blenky
I just confirm that my zidoo has frame rate issue. So, I did this
in setting >other> about >advanced settings > video> i selected @24 hz there and in zidoo settings just select match framerate only.
which solved my framerate issue. if i change something in zidoo settings i cant revert it back until i factory reset it.
i do not understand without going in advanced settings i do not have correct framerate by default.

 

It is a framerate glitch. If i do selection in setting i have framerate issue. But if i select 24hz in advanced setting than i have correct framerate. Thats quite strange.

 

P.S.
Tidal is also starting correctly when you go to Settings -> Other -> scroll to bottom to info -> additional info -> in the right panel Manage applications... and open settings for Tidal -> Open.

 

Yeah, the interface is fairly sluggish. I hate it when I have to write on it. Connecting everything was pain, especially used with the speed and using the Magic remote on the LG, while on the Zidoo the keyboard lags.

Even so, it plays everything just fine for me, albeit I do not have over 300Mbps content and I have not tested 60fps content either.

I am able to convert mkv with DV into mp4 to play it directly on the C2, but then I lose any hi rez audio as mp4 cannot handle them along with PGS subs which are most used and again mp4 does not support it, plus the time taken to convert them.

From what I read, the alternatives have their own issues, so, I do not see anything better at this point.


For people that have LG OLEDs and are able to see that the pixels do not power off in complete dark parts of the screen with DV, like black bars, instead of dropping the black levels, go to White Balance and lower the RGB for the Low point values to -1 or -2, depending on the case. This would be the better workaround without a colorimeter to make adjustments on the shadow details, as lowering the Black level will affect dynamic range also. I recommend using TV-Led DV, as with LLDV, at least for me, seems to make the issue worse.

 

imho a TV should never be better in upscaling than a device build for nothing else than streaming local media. not even a 5000eur TV vs a 200 eur shield pro is better.

anyway. I'm watching something to upscale first time in 5 years and I haven't even checked the z9 because I want to have the worst sound ever only on TV speaker and not on 7.4.2
I'm silent now!

no update this year anymore? my question is related to all this necessary forum checks to know of there's a new software.

for what do we have Ota? as I've learned it will probably always be beta so why not Ota, it's anyway optional to install. I don't want to check the forum all the time or even forget it completely...

happy Xmas!

 

What is up with the picture settings from the Advanced Settings > Video menu? As my OCD was not accepting the 51%, I wanted to take it down to 50%, they are not clear anyway why they are at this value, but it jumps in random steps of 3-4-5 points of adjustment. Why? Who implemented this and thought it made sense? Now I have it stuck at 52% and can't move it back to 51%, albeit 50...

 

And then it will be "after the Chinese New Year"......that's what happened this year

 

I checked the release dates of the previous firmwares on mcbluna and they seem to come out on fridays or saturdays in general.

Markswift, is it really likely that I will break my z9x pro if I use the 1.0.70 internal beta from mcbluna? I’m getting impatient here and others used it without issues, at least I think.

 

I had a lot problems with the 1.0.65 firmware, blackscreens @some mkv etc.... since I installed the v1.0.68 (internal test version) these problems are solved.
So I would say, if you have problems with blackscreens etc, and you can't play a lot of you files,Install the 1.0.70
If you don't have problems like that, just wait.
I had these blackscreen problems since the beginning, and I don't wanted to wait any longer.
But that's only me, do what ever you want. For me the 1.0.70 runs fine. A much much better than the 1.0.65 did

 

I bought the Z9X pro a month ago after reding rave reviews unfortunately Z9X Pro has disappointed me. Its sluggish, lags, no good upscaling options, noticed "zero" improvement in PQ.


I can certainly play various media files directly by connecting HDD to the TV so what's the point in having Zidoo if not getting better PQ or better interface than the TV's?

Either my device is faulty or its not god enough for me. I wish zidoo should have offered return policy if not happy with the purchase. In India return policy is not available.

 

Regarding the PQ, ideally the player does nothing to picture or sound. If a player makes the image look "better" then it means it does extra processing. This "better" is also subjective. For me I would want the image and sound untouched.

Sadly, for the C2 they removed the DTS support, so I have to use the Zidoo to do the decoding for it. The C2 doesn't do PGS subs either, so the Zidoo has to work with that also. The TV can't access a dedicate server either, so I would have to move around the HDDs I have the movies on.

Yes, the TV can play many files just fine, but, at least for the C2, no DV support from MKV either. Plex TV native app can't do that either and also when it has to work with DTS decoding it also turns the transcoding for video, which messes up the HDR. So the TV native Plex app is a no go too for DV movies and/or any movie with HDR and DTS sound if I want subs also, and sometimes I do.

Currently there seems we do not have any media boxes that can do DV output 100% correctly, as a dedicat Blu-ray player does. No matter the amount, any media box does processing on the DV even when set to TV-LED, which normally shouldn't happen. Even with higher end players it's the same, it's not only the Z9X. So going this digital route seems more frustrating than disks.

 

I don't know what people's requirements are when it comes to image quality.
The fact is that the image quality is top. The colors come across much better on my zidoo than on my shield tv 2019, for example.
The upscaling is great. I don't see any difference whether I have the upscaling done by my TV or by my Zidoo.
Some people probably think that a media player improves the picture quality like a new TV

 

Lags and sluggish?
Do you have the right resolution selected? It is important to use a 60hz resolution, if you want a fast interface
Use a resolution like 3846x2160p 60hz (4k tv)
Or 1920x1080p 60hz (full HD tv)

 

In the end if the TV does better upscale it's fine with me, that is not the main scope I bought it for, but it is sluggish. I am used to the TV's OS which is super fluid even compared to Samsung or Sony, especially the Tizen which I had more time with when I had the S95B.

It's annoying when I have to write something on the Zidoo. I am used to typing fast even on the TV, but the Zidoo keyboard is lagging noticeably compared to any electronics I have, be it console, TV, music streamer, it's the slowest, even when set to 60hz.
The content matching is a nightmare on the HT4. I spent hours matching each episode by hand for many shows, while Plex had everything covered automatically and correct for 99% of movies/shows. Corroborate that with the sluggish input and now that is a big issue with it for me. And there other small foibles that make the experience with it annoying sometimes, but, as I said, reading all over the internet, there isn't a box that does everything right.

I would still want it to have the option of doing untouched video, at least. But for now it's 95% there compared to my UB820 in terms of PQ, so I can live with that, but still, small issue.

A win that I did not expect was the remote, besides being backlit, the programmable buttons are a treat. I programmed the main functions I need for my amp and now I can use one remote for both Zidoo and the amp

 

The zidoo is only sluggish if you use other Apps than hometheater 4.
I use Tinymedia Manager for my films and series. This software automatically renames my film and series collection. USB and network drives can be specified as sources. https://www.tinymediamanager.org
This means Hometheater 4 automatically finds all films and series. I've never had to edit anything by hand

 

Thanks for the hint. I had used Filebot for the renaming, which works with TMDB and TVDB which seem to be the same source as HT4 is using, but somehow what I can find in the Filebot, the HT4 app does not find, so it doesn't match the content still. Will give Tinymedia Manager a try.