New beta version v1.0.95 for Z9X PRO/Z20 PRO/Z2000 PRO/Z2600/UHD5000 release

Thank you for your reply. You can be glad that you’re not able to replicate this issue.
With firmware version 1.0.95 I noticed this problem while watching the movie Blues Bro. After that, I tested LOTR, which also stuttered, along with several other movies.
These issues were significantly reduced or didn’t occur at all with version 1.0.75, so I reverted back to that version.

Today, however, while watching Godzilla, the stuttering happened again.
It’s starting to get frustrating that I can’t seem to resolve this problem. Thanks for the support.

 

So this now sounds like a file delivery problem rather than a player problem.

 

Thank you for the suggestion. If this is indeed a file delivery problem, how would you recommend testing it to confirm?

So far the stuttering only occurs with files that have TrueHD/Dolby Atmos soundtracks, all others (MKV, ISO, 3D) play smooth and it doesn’t happen after same time or sequence within a movie.
The network speed seems to be high enough and this makes it harder to pinpoint the cause. Any advice on how to troubleshoot this further would be greatly appreciated.

 

Sorry, I’m not familiar with doing speed test with Chrome. Windows 10 Pro Explorer shows the data rate of a file being transferred. Since a file speed transfer is fairly close to the max of my 1000Base-T LAN for the PC to NAS or PC to Zidoo then I assume the same is true between NAS and Zidoo. The NAS (Zappiti) is based on Windows 10 Pro. BTW, I am using SMB because of some older hardware that I still use.

I don’t know of any, perhaps Mark Swift can help. On some UHD titles I have saw peaks hit about 110 Mbps using the Zidoo Info screen. Since this is only about 1/8th the speed of a file transfer speed it should not be a problem.

 

I would probably start by copying a (smallish) file to the internal storage or even a USB drive.

 

Must admit I've never ever even looked at network transfer speeds. Never had any need to.

 

Hello,
I have a problem with 4K ISO movies stored in my NAS (QNap), they glitch, they stutter during playback and it's worse when fast forwarding or rewinding.

I have a Z9Xpro that I just bought, it is in version V1.0.95, my network is in Gbits.

4K films in mkv format pose no problem regardless of the file size.

On the other hand, 4K films in ISO format do not work when played from the NOS.
But on a USB key connected to the zidoo they work perfectly, no bugs even with fast forwards.
We could think of a flow problem, but I don't really believe it, because no matter the size of the file it doesn't change the problem.
It's really file related, only UHD ISO files pose a problem because an HD ISO works very well.

Do you have any idea or lead on the problem?
Thank you so much.

David

 

That is likely down to your NAS not handling the read load well enough. ISOs require a more random read, whereas an MKV makes it entirely sequential instead of random chunks in the file. Might be smoother from an all SSD NAS but that's a cost/capacity trade-off that not everyone can make.

If you only have a few ISOs maybe move them to local storage before playing and focus your media archive on formats like MKV.

 

Okay, for everyone having problems with random stutters with 4K playback, i've just had this problem right now and couldn't figure it out until i noticed the player wasn't making the switch to 4K and was stuck into 1080p/i for some reason. The only thing that made my Z9XPRO react and make the switch was cycling the hdmi switch i use to run cables in my setup.

What i'm getting at is: if you see your movie suffering from random stutters, use the "info" button so you can see in the details if it's playing in the native resolution, if not, force your AVR or anything you're using to interface your zidoo to the tv and force the handshake and after that you'll be ejoying your smooth playback gain.

I hope i'm making sense here.

 

if you are running through a HDMI switcher have you tried dumping the EDID from your TV and locking the Zidoo to that? it could be the switcher was causing an EDID error and forcing the Zidoo down to the wrong resolution.

I run through a HDMI matrix distribution rig and have locked EDIDs for everything because of countless issues like that on other devices.

 

I hadn't thought of that... But i hope my experience can help someone else with their stuttering problems.

 

@Markswift2003
Normally, my network works at around 300 Mbit/s (WLAN to LAN).
I switched from the Orbsmart to the Zidoo due to network performance problems (the media player only properly supported SMB access).
The Zidoo player, performs very well overall and plays most files without issues, except for this recurring problem. It feels as though some sort of buffer isn’t large enough and only clears when I pause and restart playback.
I will cut a scene from an MKV file where I know stuttering occurs and test it over NAS/local storage and USB to check the speed and see if the stuttering still happens.

@robsainz
Did the player change the resolution during playback, or after turning it on, and you didn’t notice it?

I experienced a similar phenomenon once where the player suddenly booted in 1080p, and all other resolutions were locked. After a reboot, everything was back to normal.

Thank you all for your advice and suggestions on what adjustments could help resolve this issue.

 

i think it was upon boot, but i didn't noticed because i watched a bunch of 1080p content before i tried a 4k video and noticed the stuttering and began looking for what was going on. I hope you can troubleshoot your problems, one more thing that i used to get:

When i had a lot of activity on the same HDD (shared via smb) where the 4k/truehd movie was hosted, it started stuttering. After that i restricted the number of torrents i was seeding the stuttering went away. Maybe if you have some other software working at the same time (antivirus, metadata scrappers and the like) that's the reason the stuttering appears. On a side note, this case i'm talking about started happening sometime between firmware 1.075~1.095 on my z9xpro.

 

So when is the new firmware coming?

 

This is the big question !

 

Is there any possibility that the player will not activate the VS10? I am facing a problem with some BDMV/ISO files. When playing a file with the Blu-ray menu, some files the BT2020 VS10 is activated automatically, especially when I am watching the extras or when the Blu-ray already starts with the trailers. When I return to the movie menu or to the movie playback and the VS10 is deactivated and returns to the BT2020 DV, this is where a bug occurs, and the image color becomes grayish which does not correspond to the original BT2020 DV color when I use the option to play the movie directly without the Blu-ray menu option. I do not know if it is a bug in my TV which is a Phillips The One 8807 or in the player when this change occurs. In Quick Settings > Display > HDR > Auto.

 

i have this problem mostly with DTS tracks in the files.
And it is NOT a file delivery Problem. It does Not happen with RTD1619DR.

 

I habe the problem too ! Since jully bêta update !

 

According to @Markswift2003 this issue is "extremely intermittent. Extremely."
It happens almost always between 40 and 50 min when watching a movie for me. Only pausing and resuming fixes it. This needs to be fixed as highest priority.

 

I agree, this should be a very high priority for this product line. Whether they want to move forward on with new devices or not, I personally can't bring myself to dish out on any more money on flagship devices this company produces till I can feel secure they will support all products when issues are present.

Definitely can confirm though this stems usually from ATMOS related playback. I get audio drop outs and stutter usually as well 40-50 minutes into almost every film I watch. Wouldn't think that should be too much to iron out and patch. Also getting constant audio drop outs when I use streaming services playing ATMOS on my Zidoo z2600, so something is not jiving with ATMOS on my Pioneer surround. I turn off RAW and use LPCM 2.0 on my tv directly and none of these issues happen, so strange