I originally owned the x9s, but I was asked by several users to create separate threads highlighting some of the more serious issues with these players, to bring it to Zidoo's attention. Now that I own the x10, I see this player suffers from all the same issues as the x9s. There's a wealth of information on these issues in these 2 threads for the x9s: http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/new-firmware-v2-0-5-version-beta-for-zidoo-x9s-release.7401/ http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/ycbcr-444-vs-ycbcr-422-why-the-difference.7216/ The frame rate issues are only part of the problem with this player. Zidoo needs to consider improving the way the player actually handles file playback, because it's sloppy to the point where it's almost unusable imo: 1) DVD playback is broken in a number of ways as I previously detailed (incorrect aspect ratios, navigation is totally broken, etc). 2) As you stated above, the sloppy way the player immediately plays the video in the wrong framerate and resolution, before switching over. This is annoying and ruins the first 10 seconds of everything I watch. It should read/sample the video first to determine the file specs, switch resolution and framerate as necessary, then play the film. Precious seconds tick away while the player starts the movie, flashes the screen black while it switches resolution and frame rate, then goes back to the film, which is now 10+ seconds in. It's an awful way to start a film up for guests. It even does this for blu-ray menus - it starts playing the film for a few seconds immediately after selecting play with menu, then goes to the menu. Sloppy. My Mede8er player switches frame rate and resolution immediately after clicking the video, before it even appears on screen. It's a much more elegant way of handling the job of switching fame rates and resolution. 3) Bookmarking is sloppy. If you haven't specifically disabled bookmarking (which is hidden in options, not in the Quick Settings menu where it should be), it asks every time if you want to continue where you left off or start from the beginning - while the film is still playing. Sloppy. It should pop up and ask you that as soon as you click the file to play - before it even plays it. This is how both my Mede8er and WDTV Live player handles it - so you don't have an annoying pop-up box over the film. Note - bookmarking has now been moved to "Quick Settings" in v2.0.15. Thank you! It still acts sloppy as described, but at least the setting is now in the correct location in Quick Settings. 4) See Post #19 below - this player can do this, it's just hard to find this option in the settings. No way to get the ZidooPlayer to play a folder of video files straight through without stopping after each file, like playing a folder of short clips or trailers. Have they not considered that some people like to sit back and play a folder of short clips straight through, the same way you would play a folder of music tracks? This player desperately needs to add this feature. It's incredibly frustrating to have a folder of short clips and have to be interrupted after each clip ends and goes back to the UI again. ZDMC has an option called "Play Next Video automatically" under player settings. Why doesn't the Zidoo offer that option? My Mede8er plays each video after the one I click to play consecutively, until I hit stop. If it comes to a file it can't play, it skips it and goes to the next file. And if the resolution and frame rate are the same for all the videos, it's virtually seamless - no need to switch frame rates or resolutions between files if the next video is the same as the one you're currently playing. It's great for playing multiple short films, or a trailer show. This is impossible on the Zidoo, even though it should be a basic feature. 5) There is no way to manually tweak or adjust the aspect ratio of a video being played. Sometimes a video is encoded incorrectly in the wrong aspect ratio, or a bit "off" - either horizontally or vertically squished or stretched. We've all seen that happen - somebody encodes the video slightly off - so 4:3 is more like 5:4, for example, or 16:9 is more like 16:10. Currently you are only given 2 aspect ratio choices - "fit" or "full". No custom fit option. My Mede8er player allows you to hit the zoom key and then the arrow keys on the remote (up,down,left,right) to expand or compress the video screen in 1% increments, allowing you to make fine adjustments to correct for aspect ratio issues. As you adjust the fit, the black letterbox bars on the top/bottom or left/right adjust to fit the new aspect ratio. It's invaluable for allowing you to view problem videos correctly without distortion. This player offers no way to do that, so some of the videos in my collection can't be watched unless you don't mind watching them distorted. With my Mede8er player, I can easily size it to look just right while the film is playing in real time. I can even save 2 custom aspect ratios. 6) The music player, as I detailed previously, doesn't use .cue files correctly as a playlist file, which it should be able to do. Also, no gapless audio playback for either split files (flac,wav,ape) or single files with .cue. Lots of other random audio playback glitches/broken navigation in audio playback. The music player is poor. 7) A minor gripe, but I have seen several pop-up box typos, and inconsistencies - one box has a space or comma between two words, another pop-up box has the same words but no space or comma, etc. - looks amateurish. 8) The x10 front display does not accurately display the video playback time "to the second" - it jumps ahead a second or two, then stalls for a second or two, then jumps ahead to catch up again, constantly. The timing seems to be off, so it's not in sync with the content being played - the result is the front display is always trying to "catch up" with the timing fo the content. It looks ridiculous. A nice, fancy front panel, that doesn't even keep an accurate readout of what's being played. 9) See my separate thread on image playback issues: http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?threads/image-player-jpeg-png-issues.8012/ 10) VFD display setting is currently under "Display" in Quick Settings. This should be under "Other", where "fan control" is. Just because it's called "VFD display" doesn't mean it's a display setting. It has absolutely nothing to do with video output. It's in the wrong place and it's confusing. The only settings that should be under "Display" are the video output settings. FIXED in v2.0.15. Thank you! 11) Fan Control setting is ridiculously confusing. It says: "Fan control explain: Switch cpu fan, let your box untie the shackles, more powerful operation." What does this even mean? FIXED in v2.0.15. Thank you! 12) ****Instead of a pop-up on-screen when loading a video, display "Load" on the front display. That's what the screen is for, after all - giving us information. So instead of an annoying popup, just say "Load" on the front display when it loads a video file. That will make one less annoying pop-up on-screen, which will make starting video files a smoother experience, and yet still give us the information that the video is loading. Both the x10 and the x9s have front displays, so it should be easily done. 13) VFD display does not remember the "close" setting when you reboot. Under Quick settings>Front Display Panel>Brightness setting, it remembers "light" and "dark", but if you select "close", every time you turn reboot, the VFD is back on again. You then need to switch the setting to either "light" or "dark" and back to close again to turn it back off. They may have done this on purpose maybe (?) so the VFD display is on for important info when you reboot the player? An idea to solve this - there could be a new option added - "auto", which could display the VFD when in the interface, but once a video plays, the VFD turns off after a few seconds, then turns on again when stopping playback. For music, it can remain on, since you're likely to want the VFD display for track info. Also - it should not be labeled "Close". This is confusing. It should be labeled "Off". These are not nit-picky issues. These are issues that added together make this an unfriendly player. I will say that I was very impressed with how it handles 3D. Some very nice 3D options (though 3D image support (.mpo) is non-existant, even though my old Mede8er and my TV both supports .mpo playback). I hope Ziddo considers implementing these fixes/features into the player.
This has been mentioned in-depth over in the x9s 2.0.5 thread, plus these new separate threads I created. Isn't Zidoo following these?
Added: 9) Image playback issues. 10) VFD display settings. FIXED in v2.0.15. Thank you! 11) Fan Control setting. FIXED in v2.0.15. Thank you!
x10 clock settings work for me no jumping of seconds was fixed in 2.0.5 update and 2.0.15 On my set up . ( after being broken on previous firmwares way back )
Don't know what to tell you, but it's not fixed for me on my x10. I have v2.0.15 installed, and the front VFD display still pauses and jumps ahead constantly every few seconds during video playback. I just confirmed it still happens.
Not at all. v2.0.15 is a Beta test firmware. It's not officially released, and doesn't fix any major playback issues. It does neaten up the menus nicely. Since it's not officially released, I have no idea what else they did in that firmware version.
Will test again on a tv series the Expanse in Mkv but after firmwars 2.0.5 it got resolved after many users complained . Will test and report back . Anyone else suffering from time video playback ?
From my side no. But if they could turn on the "HDR led" during full bluray playback on display, it would be great
Update - Regarding issue 4: I have discovered that the player can, in fact, play all video files sequentially in a folder! To select this, hit the menu button on the remote while playing a video, select "Play mode", then select "Repeat all". That will enable sequential playback for all video files in a folder. It's a global setting, so once you do it once, it's done. You don't have to to do it for each video or folder you play. The only thing that's annoying about the implementation is: Just like when you are first starting playback of a video, the player seems to switch framerate and resolution in-between files, except it does it even if the next file is the same resolution and frame rate as the currently playing file. That's annoying because the pop-up icon in the upper-left corner appears at the start of each video. To make it more annoying, an annoying pop-up message appears in the center of the screen in-between each file, with a spinning circle, saying "Loading Video", which appears quickly for a brief moment during the resolution change. zidoo - Could you please eliminate the "Loading Video" pop-up message and the spinning circle? It's unnecessary in general and just adds another annoyance during the frame rate/resolution switch. We already know it's loading the video. It's obvious. Also, if the next file is the same frame rate/resolution as the currently playing file, can you make it so the player just plays the next file without trying to switch the frame rate and resolution, as it is unnecessary? It should only need to switch when the frame rate or resolution needs to change. When they are the same, it would be a smoother transition to the next file if it didn't have the pop-up message and switching. Imagine playing a folder of short clips or trailers, all the same frame rate and resolution - they should just play from one file to the next without any interruptions, making a nice, clean transition to the next video, with just a brief black screen between videos (no pop-up messages). It should be like you're in a theatre, with a bunch of trailers or short films playing, not a pop-up message and screen switching to black between each one unnecessarily. I think that would make video playback a much smoother and more pleasant experience with the x10 and x9s. Note: The "Repeat Once/Repeat All" option should really be in the "playback" quick setting menu. Currently it can only be seen when hitting the menu key during playback. Zidoo has been making some improvements in the menu layout, from what I've seen in v2.0.15 for my x10, so hopefully they will move these options to a place where it's easier to find for users.
Can you please give it a try and report back? Play a couple videos and watch the front VFD display for 20 or 30 seconds. On my player, the seconds don't keep up like a clock or timer would, they pause for a second and then jump ahead to catch-up.
