Home Theater 4 overview

While most of the top Zidoo supporters are obsessed with new Z9X player, Dolby Vision and what it can and cannot do I think the rest of us should take a look at HT 4.

Here is a screenshot from new layout in addition to traditional poster wall.



It's probably OK for quick view of latest addition of the movies but not as friendly for a larger collections compared to poster wall previous design.

Here is a list of issues and other observations with new layout:

1. First thing that stands out really bad is the "Collections". Poster Wall presents collection icon and opens up a collection of posters when clicked on it. In the new layout when I click on collection it plays first movie it finds. There are no posters from individual movies making collection. All movies are listed in "Episodes" section with list of titles only. The same section Episodes holds different versions of the same movie like ISO, MKV, 3D, HDR. Total mess. It needs serious work. Clicking on collections it has to open another list of movies with posters. Versions of the same movie A, B, C have to be listed on main screen just like it is on movie page from poster wall.

2. Dynamic background with movie artwork is not as good as movie page.

3. In horizontal poster view scrolling by letter does not work even when using keyboard.

4. Limit of badges is expended to 7 now. Audio badge stays on screen on ISO after playback. Icons are blend of older small design and new large bold logos.

HT vs Kodi (ZDMC)

A lot of small issues have been resolved like scrolling by alphabet or adjustable delay to start the trailer.
There are couple of big ones still keeping Kodi above.
1. Scraping of movie info and TV series.
2. Maintain database poster wall active for disconnected drives option. Small check mark in source selection to keep database active when drive is disconnected.
3. Kodi also allows selection of movies by countries. Very limited regions in HT.

Some other stuff on my wish list:
1. Local trailer don't show up as additional movie version. @mirror was going to look into it to merge MovieTitle.trailer.mov with MovieTitle.(#Preview).mov. If I download high quality trailer I want to be able to play it full screen using Zidoo player with proper resolution and frame rate without any stutter. The pop up trailer window is low quality. I don't want to copy the trailer twice to run it as trailer and second movie version.
2. Swipe off movie info overlay to show movie backdrop (artwork). I would rather this this than new horizontal or vertical poster layout.
3. We finally got more room for extra badges on new poster layout. Anyway to add space for 7 badges to old movie page?
4. Filter by source. Ability to select multiple sources. Right now we can only select one source at the time. I have 3D titles and HDR titles across multiple network shares.
5. Stop button should also stop trailer preview playback.

Anything else?

 

Z9s can update to HT4?

 

It's part of latest firmware for Z9s or you can install it by itself. Check https://www.mcbluna.net/wp/ for reference and download links.

 

I have a strange issue in HT (Z1000 PRO). My current poster view is in grid mode (poster wall), sorted by year and working perfect.

Now I've changed the poster view to horizontal list mode and again sorted by year. When I leave the poster view and re-enter the poster view settings still show sorted by year but actual they aren't. Everytime I re-enter poster view list starts with other posters while sorting order (year) has not been changed!
Same issue in vertical list mode.
Any idea what it could be?

 

I have to check. I haven't sort my collection by year. I'll try it later today.

 

This version of HT4 crashes on zidoo X9S. At a certain moment during scanning of my TV series library the screen goes black for a short time and it returns to the main menu of HT. After pressing the source button, it indicates it is still scanning but nothing happens. Unfortunately v3 is removed and I can't get v3 back even after removing v4 and reinstall v2.1.4 of the firmware.

 

Just checked on @McBluna web site. He has all versions there Just click on the top line Player / Firmware version and pick the one you like. It should give you zipped pack of all apps. You can pick and install HT 3 only from the package.

https://www.mcbluna.net/wp/zidoo-apk-version-overview/

 

Thank you very much!!! (and McBluna of course) HT3 is back again

 

Yes confirmed. The new layouts don't maintain sorting by year when you cycle in and out of poster wall. I keeps correct sorting for added date but not year. Another glitch in HT 4.

 

Thanks .... how to report this to the developers?

 

They read this forum sometimes, specially when you mention them they get notifications. You can send email to support at Zidoo as well.

 

Are there any plans of adding a aspect ratio tag?

 

mail send to service at zidoo dot tv

 

using it with my X9S, but still love classic mode

 

v4 is now integrated in the latest firmware of X9S, but as mentioned before it crashes. I assume it's a memory problem as there are more then 2000 episodes in my library that needs to be scanned and when I let HT scan every folder indivdually, the crash doesn't happen.

What I would to like to be added to the scraper is the functionality of handling multiple episodes in the same iso. So for instance I've blu ray iso's of Game of Thrones and every ISO containes multiple episodes. According to KODI naming convention I named these ISO's as follows:

Game of Thrones s<season number>e<episode number>e<episode number> etc. for instance:
Game of Thrones s01e01e02e03.iso

Kodi recognizes this and splits this into different episodes and ensures that the correct ISO is read when an episode is selected.

 

What is the difference between zidoo poster 4.0.11 and 4.0.17, is it worth upgrading.

 

I don't really know the difference. You could try to figure it out by comparing the firmware change logs.
Btw the latest is 4.0.25 -> https://www.mcbluna.net/wp/zidoo/zidoo-poster-apk-v4-0-25/

 

I upgraded to 4.0.25, at this stage I do not find any difference.

 

I loaded .25 yesterday and had a quick look. One item from the list is fixed now. In horizontal list view clicking on Collection item opens up sub page with posters in collection compared to before it would play first movie in collection.

The rest hasn't been changed as far as I can tell.
Here is quick summary of issues with new layout:
1. Different versions of the same movie like 4K HDR, 3D, 1080p (trailer) still appear in "Episodes". Play button is stuck on one movie not clearly defined which one. Opening Episodes and selecting movie versions 3D, HDR will not update movie path or badges. Those are still stuck on first movie in collection. Still needs a lot of work but progres has been made in collection screen. Badges with movie versions A, B, C should be visible on movie page just like in poster wall movie page.
2. Scrolling by letter or keyboard in horizontal view is not working.

Everything else listed at the top of the thread related to HT not necessarily issues with new layout are still the same.
Things like stop trailer preview, play trailer full screen using Zidoo player, maintain databases for disconnected drives, filter by multiple sources etc. are the same and need work.

 

Only just noticed the different views in HT4! My observations

1) The cast and crew in the Movie is a bit messed up. You get correct names but often photos from previous Movie if no photo available for Director.

2) If a movie collection is created you cannot see each movie within the collection - see in screen shot the 'Alien Collection'. This has Aliens and Alien but I can't view details - it just shows Alien and Aliens as 'episodes'. Click on either it won't take me to page for movie but will play. Also no option for playing full bluray or just movie

3) TV series allow you to view list of episodes but you can't see the info for each episode - just the first one. Clicking an episode number will play it