Beta version v6.4(7).42 for Z9X/Z10 Pro/Z1000 Pro/UHD3000/NEO S/NEO X/NEO Alpha release

See my post below for incorrect cast for TV shows. It is a bug. The code is pulling info from wrong database table

http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/ht4-bug-tv-episodes-pull-actors-from-wrong-table.94789/

 

Any news on the new beta?! Fingers crossed it comes before the new year.

 

Hopefully before Chinese New Year.

 

I like this firmware. HT4 works fine again, DV and HDR and + work well. MP7 I do not use, so everything suits.
The only issue is related to VS10 for SDRs. The picture is faded, inexpressive on a 4K TV with support for all formats. Without the use of this engine by the TV itself, SDR films look very similar to HDR. With VS10, there is no such effect, it looks more like a picture that you get on a technique that does not support HDR when viewing HDR content.

 

unsure whats wrong
I just checked a couple SDR tv epis ( Plebs Soldiers of Rome and an old Mork and Mindy epis)
both show a very marked improvement in picture quality all over
Blacks look deeper metals shinier to me the standard SDR versions are the faded out totally lacking ,compared to VS10 playback

And Tvs a Panasonic OLED capable of HLG HDR10+ hdr10 and DV

 

Not sure what's going on there either - using VS10 for SDR does not cause such an effect here whether I use HDR or DV output.

There's certainly nothing in this firmware that has changed to cause such a problem.

You say your TV supports all formats, so I assume that means DV which means VS10 will output DV - the only way I can think this would happen is if the TV did not recognise that the output from the Zidoo was DV and the TV was displaying in REC.709.

 

Next chapter? Next video?

Resume from pause? Resume from stop?

What audio codec?

MKV? BDMV? ISO?

Not enough information to be able to attempt to replicate.

 

If the Denon works fine and the Panasonic doesn't, I guess that tells you something...

There was an issue with some codecs (seem to remember primarily Dolby lossy - AC3, E-AC3) but that was fixed a few months ago.

Just to be sure, I just tested a few (E-AC3, Atmos, DTS-HD, DTS-X) but as expected, all started almost immediately after pause and with maybe a 1-2s pause after seek or stop.

 

I've been watching See and noticed on several episodes the dark scenes are basically too dark to view on the zidoo. I have taken 2 screenshots from the latest episode I watched, from around the red mark and above on the TV it's black blobs of pixels. When I view in VLC on the PC I can see the dark blues and see the faces pretty clearly, but on the Zidoo it's a black ball and you see virtually no facial features for the same scene.

How do I improve the quality so I can actually see content for dark scenes? Here's a link to the file MediaInfo if needed - https://pastebin.com/89sGmicn

 

Curious what TV do you have? Also, can you try playing something that you are well familiar with and see if Z9X is still clipping blacks or PC is raising blacks instead and narrow down the culprit.

 

Sony Bravia XR A80J. I'm not sure what should play well or not, I went from a first gen Zappiti 4K Player which couldn't even play the opening to Ozark properly without freezing, so not sure what dark content would look good on this player.

 

1. you have very low q. of video source.
proper size for this show is cca 9GB/ep. (yours is 1GB)
try See.S02E04.2160p.ATVP.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.DV.mkv and report result.

 

I'm not looking for ultra HD content for TV shows, 720p is typically fine and looks good on VLC with an old PC. It shouldn't have the dark areas with artefacts on this player.

 

he posted info: See (2019)\Season 2 (WEB)\S02E04 - The Witchfinder.mkv

 

S02E04 - The Witchfinder.mkv, the scene by the water on the rocks outside the camp starting around 31:15

I noticed it was hard to see a lot of dark scenes prior to this, but this is the first time I saw artefacts and very clearly saw darkness that shouldn't be there which I confirmed in VLC Player.

 

I saw it after. I am watching this episode in 4K DV on Apple TV + (Sony A95K for the TV) and the scenes on the screenshot are ok. The sky is in a dark blue but definitely not black. Maybe to try another encode, less heavily compressed to compare.

 

@Six66Mike low quality videos can be more distorted on Zidoo compared to VLC and small PC screen. VLC will also do image processing by default. Zidoo should be true to the source. If you calibrated black levels using test patterns from Zidoo to your TV theoretically you should be fine. However differences between studios and systems used for final video production can result in slight differences. Your low quality copy could also be encoded on PC below 16 black level. VLC on PC will use full range 0 to 255 rather than 16 to 235 and scale it accordingly. The quick fix is to rise brightness on the TV 1 or 2 steps to your liking. You have low quality source so don’t worry about standards. Touching brightness after calibration is a big NO NO in this forum but it will solve your issue instantly

 

I set the preset to Vivid which maxed the brightness and didn't really improve it. I upped the black level from 50 to 65, made it easier to see the faces but still had the darkness and black spots along the top/corners of the screen.

New file - https://pastebin.com/sanZu5Vp

Vivid, max brightness, black level at 60, most of the artefacts in the corner are gone but still poor gradient from light to dark along the top of the screen, when he gets up to walk away his head is still being cut off by a band of darkness visible at higher black level settings. I know the photo isn't great but midway through his head and up his weapon you can see how the dark comes in across the top.

I plan to bring someone in for a professional calibration in the new year, should I just leave it all until then?

 

@Six66Mike, check your inbox on the forum. As the conversation was not really related to the firmware, I sent you a PM.

 

Z9X or any device is only as good as the source/content you feed it. Since SEE is presented in 4K/DV, anything less is not accurate. So best to get the proper content, otherwise not sure what else can be done about the issue except change TV settings for that one scene to see things in clouds and change em back again after the scene has ended and repeat as needed.

Also, did somebody say VIVID?! I have fainted mildly If the professional calibrator is truly a professional, he shall at least shudder or murmur under his breath when he sees the tv in Vivid mode lol