Upcoming Zidoo Model Z9X Pro and Z20 Pro

Possibly, but all streaming platforms support a variety of codecs including H.264, HEVC, VP9 and more recently AV1 to support the wide variety of hardware out there. The fallback is always Baseline H.264 followed by Main & High Profile H.264, and as I mentioned elsewhere, because of its ubiquity, I really don't see that changing in the near to mid-term future.

AV1 will become more relevant, but its predecessor, VP9, has been available on streaming platforms for a long time and you rarely see that in web rips, so I would expect H.264 to remain dominant as it's the easiest accessible and most supported and requires less processing overhead than AV1.

But we'll see...

 

I think you buy a media player so you don't have to worry about codec support or need a fallback. The people who do understand such things will choose the codecs as it has always been, and the writing is on the wall that AV1 will be the next common codec.

Even if they have multiple codec options for a Web-DL most people will want the most efficient. Storage/bandwidth isn't free. The AV1 encodes will be equal quality and smaller file size or higher quality with equal file size. Encoders will always use the best codec once enough hardware support is available it's always been that way. Both Nvidia and AMD now support AV1 and so do many of the recent media boxes so it's likely very soon.

VP9 was developed by Google and had many problems early on with hardware acceleration support it was also not as good as h.265 efficiency wise. The only reason it was relevant is because of YouTube. There would be no reason to encode into VP9 or to use it if not being paid to. Netflix did a study and rejected VP9.

AV1 is superior to h.265 and many of the streamers like Netflix and YouTube are already using it and have published articles about how much more efficient it is and how much storage and bandwidth they can save.

 

Of course - fallback is only relevant to streaming services and not relevant to local media. Not sure where you heard about Netflix rejecting VP9 - they currently support it, but H.264 is by far the more prevalent codec they support.

Yes, VP9 isn't as efficient as H.265 but my point was that it was never taken as a codec of preference for web rips over H.264.

AV1 is more efficient that H.265 but I'm still very dubious of it taking over as an "Encoder's" codec of choice.

Just opinions. As I say, we'll see over the next couple of years.

 

Sure, but you meant HDMI 2.1 is useless for media players which it is not.

What does Android 11 bring to the table?
Personally, I would care if it would use Android 12 so that the GUI would finally be in native 2160p instead of being upscaled.

 

Apps are run by android and updates. Chrome can install latest still error because some still use android 7. If NEO alpha have android 13 then less fix and more enjoy have most.

 

any news for publise the device for sale ?

 

Planned for July at the moment.

 

Hardware aside... what will the z9x pro do that the current z9x cant? Any advantages at all except whats on paper?

 

not much, nothing worth to replace current Z9X.

 

They used VP9 a while ago on some 1080p video as an alternative to h.264. VP9 is more efficient to h.264 so they could make bandwidth savings on some very specific older hardware using VP9 instead of h.264. They recognise that it has inferior efficiency to h.265.

This is a different discussion though. Netflix can encode in multiple niche formats as the saving in bandwidth pays for the cost of encoding. This isn't relevant to owners of a media box. If you are downloading a movie or show there is no reason to get a VP9 or h.264 encode over a h.265 (unless it's an untouched 1080p Blu-ray). You can save a substantial amount of disk space downloading a h.265 10 bit encode instead of a re-encoded h.264 8 bit one. Once AV1 encodes are available that would be best version to get if you have hardware that supports it.

Netflix have made certain decisions based on compatibility over efficiency for example a policy of retaining h.264 for 1080p encodes to keep compatibility with 1080p devices. I expect this to slowly change as people upgrade their devices.

By encoders I was not specifically talking about companies like Netflix. I was also talking about unofficial groups who distribute media. They have been converting 1080p blu ray to 10 bit h.265 with substantial storage saving for years now, and I expect these encoders to switch to AV1.

H.264 1080p Blu-ray and h.265 UHD will survive as they are standards and the best quality versions made available as they come from source. They do however use a lot of disk space, and If encoding the file again this is where AV1 can and will be used more frequently.

 

The day I notice that most unofficial groups is only using AV1 on most media I download then I might consider replace Z9X, I mostly use UHD Blu-ray remuxes and if they start to upload them in AV1 instead of the H265 source then fine why not if it saves space on my harddrives.

 

Will you be able to zidoo with double plate dolby vision?

 

@Markswift2003 I just read through this thread. Just to confirm, did you say that a new Zidoo box will come out in 2024 that will support playing FEL files with the full enhancement layer properly? I'm struggling to see what the Zidoo Z9x Pro gives you that the Z9X doesn't. As I think you or someone else pointed out, HDMI 2.1 is nice but wouldn't make any difference unless you were trying to play games on the Zidoo, which I don't think many people, if any, do? So is there really any benefit to the pro version?

 

Again HDMI 2.1 is not useless for these boxes…feature such as QMS are specifically made for media playback.
120p output is also not solely for gaming. Set GUI to 120p and no need for HDMI resync when you playback 24p content. But it seems I’m beating a dead horse…
However, there is basically no more HDMI 2.0 so everything is 2.1 without having the need for certain features as it is up to the manufacturer to implement and advertise them. So no difference compared to earlier models I’m afraid.

 

QMS is interesting. Does that basically get rid of HDMI resync? Or does it just greatly reduce the time it takes to sync? This is news to me.

 

It eliminates HDMI resync. But only if bit depth, color space etc. stay the same. So it works in case only the frame rate changes (it’s based upon VRR).
Also not many devices support it. Only latest AppleTV and Lg OLEDs. Some AVRs advertised it but it seems their implementation (specifically the used HDMI chip) was faulty. It’s all a mess…

 

HDMI 2.1 has been a mess since it was first released lol.

 

I just want the GUI on HT4 to be less clunky and slow, the larger your collection the slower and clunkier it seems to get. I know it's a limitation of the hardware, I wonder if the upgrade to 4gb and Android 11, will improve it... I guess we will have to wait and see. My HT4 has a habit of crashing, but then again, I don't leave my box on permanently, the wife say's power off to Alexa every night

I love my Z9X, for the price it's very good, especially pseudo Dolby Vision for SDR content etc, I upgraded from an older Zidoo just for that feature and Samba.

 

I haven't experienced any issues with HT4.0 crashing or being slow. I am not sure what the size of my library is compared to yours though.

 

100's in your collection won't make it clunky, but when you get over a 1000