New firmware v2.0.5 version(beta) for ZIDOO X9S release

Discussion in 'X9S Official Firmware Releases' started by mirror, Jan 24, 2018.

  1. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Banding

    I did some extensive testing today to try and pinpoint what modes were causing banding for me. I'll post the results here. The test file I used (due to it displaying heavy banding) was:

    The World In HDR 4K Demo.mkv
    http://4kmedia.org/the-world-in-hdr-uhd-4k-demo/

    This is with "Switch frame rate and resolution" selected.
    I used the native "Media Center" player, not ZDMC.

    HDMI mode: AUTO
    Color Space: AUTO / YCbCr 444 / YCbCr 420
    Deep Color Mode:
    - OFF - severe banding
    - 10bit - much less banding
    - 12bit - minimal/no banding
    - AUTO - minimal/no banding


    HDMI mode: Auto
    Color Space: YCbCr 422 / RGB 444
    Deep Color Mode:
    - OFF - severe banding
    - 10bit - severe banding
    - 12bit - severe banding
    - AUTO - severe banding


    What this tells me is for me, deep color "Auto" is selecting 12-bit, as the results are the same between the two when using color space AUTO / YCbCr 444 / YCbCr 420.

    YCbCr 422 / RGB 444 both have severe banding with the above demo and other videos prone to banding, regardless of deep color mode. The only configuration I can use to reduce the banding to an absolute minimum is 12bit deep color in AUTO / YCbCr 444 / YCbCr 420.

    Unfortunately, because of the issue I posted yesterday with 23.976 files outputting at the wrong frame rate when in 2160p 4:4:4 mode with 10-bit or 12-bit color, this means I cannot use the YCbCr 444 configuration above to reduce/eliminate the banding, because it would introduce the 23.976 stuttering bug.

    Is this how the player should be handling banding or is something not right with what the player is sending out? Why do I need to select 12-bit to get the best results, when the TV is 10-bit and the files are processed as 10-bit? Also, I can play that demo above directly from my TV's native media player via USB 3 thumb drive, and it plays with minimal banding - it looks the same through the TV's media player as it does when setting the x9s to 12-bit color in AUTO / YCbCr 444 / YCbCr 420.

    Another big drawback of all this is, as I posted above, is I have an issue with the screen flashing back, which I narrowed down to deep color being enabled in AUTO, YCbCr 444 and YCbCr 420 - the very settings I need to eliminate banding. So I have a choice of the screen flashing black (which is unwatchable) or having heavy banding issues on some videos. That's the choice i need to make right now with my configuration.

    Can the team please look into these two issues? Right now I'm stuck with two choices, neither of which is good.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
    godalmighty likes this.
  2. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Thanks for posting. Well it seems then that Deep Color is definitely causing this issue for at least some people. I would like to find out why. It's easy to say just turn it off, but it should not be happening with it enabled. And as I just posted above, the banding issue ties into this problem for me - if I disable Deep Color, I get heavy banding on some UHD videos. So I need Deep Color to minimize the banding. You may not notice banding in all your videos but deep color seems to greatly reduce it to the point where it's not an issue for videos that do show banding, so it's pretty important for some UHD videos.

    I hope the Zidoo team looks into this.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  3. Christian

    Christian New Member

    Since Update 1.5 (and still in 2.0.5) I have a problem with the HDR mode. The TV looses the HDR signal for a second, switch to SDR and goes than back to HDR immediately. This happenes 5-10 times in a movie length. Not a major problem, but annoying. Anyone else mentioend this?
     
  4. Random_Vibration

    Random_Vibration Active Member

    Ursiel,

    The banding issue with always be an issue unfortunately. I see this as more of a complaint on LG TVs than Sony or Samsung units. It's one of the weak points of LG televisions IMO.

    My LG OLED C6 TV is much more suceptable to banding than my Samsung UHD and 3D TVs (JS8500, F8000, ES7100). Like yourself, I must choose particular settings on my X9s and X8 to avoid banding on the LG whereas just about any setting works reasonably well with the Samsungs. Hopefully, something can be improved on the fps issue so you can run settings to minimize your banding problem.
     
  5. 4kHD

    4kHD New Member

    Apologies yes you must also disable HTTP 3rd party as well to stop the popup
     
  6. litlgi74

    litlgi74 Member

    I was having almost the same problem...Shared here. What input is your X9S plugged into? For some reason, deep color does not work properly with the X9S and my LG OLED on HDMI ports 3 & 4 but works perfectly on 1 & 2. I am scheduled to have the main module (I/O board) replaced... but its on back order form LG.
     
  7. litlgi74

    litlgi74 Member

    This issue is also being discussed here. There is still a lot of confusion as to why the X9S (and others) is doing what it is doing... So far, no response from Zidoo.
     
  8. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    But as I outlined in my post, the same exact file played directly off a thumb drive from my TV's built-in media player, through the TV's USB 3.0 port, has minimal banding - the Zidoo has severe banding on that file in comparison, unless using the configurations I documented. If I set the Zidoo to the green configurations I highlighted below, the banding is minimized to the point it's a non-issue for me. I know my LG does suffer from some banding no matter what, but the Zidoo must be doing something wrong, because the TV shows more banding in 10-bit mode from the Zidoo than 12-bit mode, which shouldn't be the case. If it was just my TV at fault, then I would have the severe banding regardless of what I set the Zidoo to.

    HDMI mode: AUTO
    Color Space: AUTO / YCbCr 444 / YCbCr 420
    Deep Color Mode:
    - OFF - severe banding
    - 10bit - much less banding
    - 12bit - minimal/no banding
    - AUTO - minimal/no banding


    HDMI mode: Auto
    Color Space: YCbCr 422 / RGB 444
    Deep Color Mode:
    - OFF - severe banding
    - 10bit - severe banding
    - 12bit - severe banding
    - AUTO - severe banding

    10-bit should offer the same improvement as 12-bit, but 12-bit shows less banding for some reason. Currently, 12-bit is the only option to offer an image that matches what my TV displays when playing the file directly, and then only when using certain Color Space modes.

    The Zidoo is not doing something right, and they need to take a look at it.
     
  9. litlgi74

    litlgi74 Member

    You are right about that... The frame rate is being changed to 23.981 as seen here...

    Screen shot 2018-01-21 at 12.57.23 PM.png
     
  10. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    I'm using input #1 on my LG LED UH8500. Supposedly all 3 HDMI ports on my TV are the same and all 3 accept 4:4:4.
     
  11. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Thanks for confirming with that picture. Hopefully now Zidoo will take this seriously and correct the issue. Is that your TV displaying that info? My TV gives me very little information about what it's receiving so I don't know what it's actually receiving.
     
  12. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    DVD Remuxes - aspect ratio issues

    Being new to the x9s, and running the new 2.0.5 firmware, I wanted to see just what kind of file support this player has and what files it has issues with. So I threw it a barrage of different file types, formats, codecs, and framerates yesterday. Notably, it has issues with DVD REMUXES and aspect ratios, just like it can't display full DVDs properly. Here are some file specs:

    704x576i (16:9) 25.000 (PAL TV BROADCAST) MPEG-2 .mpg - SQUISHED Horizontally (can be forced to 16:9 correctly using "full")
    720x480 (16:9) 23.976 (NTSC DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - SQUISHED Horizontally (can be forced to 16:9 correctly using "full")
    720x480i (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - STRETCHED Horizontally (cannot be corrected using "full")
    720x576i (4:3) 25.000 (PAL DVD REMUX) MPEG-2 .mkv - SQUISHED Horizontally (cannot be corrected using "full")

    4:3 DVD Remuxes simply are not watchable on this player, as the aspect ratio is always squished for PAL or stretched for NTSC, and cannot be corrected.

    Other misc. resolutions I tested (no black bars) - These all displayed in the correct aspect ratio. Note I cannot verify that these played in the correct frame rates, due to current issues surrounding frame rates, so this is just verifying that aspect ratios looked correct. The player appeared to switch to the correct frame rates, but it seems some frame rates are not being output correctly in some configurations, as described earlier.

    320x240 (4:3) Variable Sorenson Spark .flv
    480x360 (4:3) 29.925 Sorenson Spark .flv
    616x464p (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) AVC .mkv
    640x480 (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) Sorenson Spark .flv
    640x480p (4:3) 29.970 (NTSC) AVC .mp4
    640x480p (4:3) 59.940 AVC .mp4
    656x368p (16:9) 23.976 xvid .avi
    1024x576 (16:9) 25.000 PAL VC-1 (WMV3) .avi
    1440x720p (2.000) 23.976 AVC .mov
    1464x1080 (4:3) 23.976 HEVC .mkv
    1914x1080 (16:9) 23.976 HEVC .mkv
    1920x1080i (16:9) 25.000 (PAL TV BROADCAST) AVC .ts
    2560x1066 (2:40:1) 24.000 AVC .mp4
    4096x2106 (1.945) 23.976 AVC .mpeg


    1280x532 (2:40:1 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1280x544 (2:35:1 23.976 720p mkv)
    1280x692 (1:85:1 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1280x718 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1280x704 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1280x720 (16:9 720p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1428x1076 (4:3 23.976 mkv)
    1440x1080 (4:3 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1920x800 (2:40:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1920x816 (2:35:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
    1920x1036 (1:85:1 1080p 23.976 blu-ray encode mkv)
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2018
  13. litlgi74

    litlgi74 Member

    Sure... The green info on the bottom is from an HDFury Vertex... I got the unit to help me figure out why my OLED was acting up... Turns out its the X9S behaving badly.

    Not sure there any settings that are actually being sent correctly from the Zidoo... as seen here

    Until Zidoo corrects the problem... I am dealing with an occasional micro strutter from 444 12bit or auto everything as discussed here. It beats the continuous color banding by trying to achieve 420 10bit by making manual selections in color space and deep color.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  14. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    I want so bad to keep this player, but I really have my doubts that it's outputting color space, deep color, and frame rates correctly. The silence from Zidoo is deafening. I (and many others, I'm sure) would feel a lot better if they would acknowledge these issues in here and promise to sort them out. This is not free media player software - this is an expensive piece of hardware and I expect it to function correctly. And these are the kind of issues I would maybe expect in the first month or two of a new player, while it's getting issues sorted out. This player has been on the market for well over a year, and still appears to have critical issues with outputting wrong framerates, color space and deep color. I need to decide if I will be keeping this player or getting a refund, and it's unfortunate that we are hearing so little from Zidoo on these issues. I would much rather have them fix core issues than work on a spiffy new poster wall.

    Things are such a mess right now with this player I don't even know what setting configuration to use between the screen flashing to black, the deep color banding issues, and the frame rate bugs mentioned in the past couple pages.
     
  15. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Stuttering & other issues

    Here are some other problem files I ran into during my testing so far.

    Linked to from the kodi wiki samples page:
    1920x1080 50.000 AVC .mkv
    https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwxFVkl63-lEbFBzak1sbmU1N0E/view
    Doesn't play - screen goes black, no audio, but you can bring up the navigation bar and it seems to be advancing
    (TV's native media player plays it fine)

    Linked to from the kodi wiki samples page:
    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/6iy4gxgsfn14opq/AAAK_L1M_NwZwBPb5IkEPh7Ga?dl=0
    Hi10 Anime samples
    Doesn't play - screen goes black, no audio, but you can bring up the navigation bar and it seems to be advancing

    Linked to from the kodi wiki samples page:
    https://www.koi-sama.net/files/hi10/
    Hi10 Anime samples (header stripping)
    "Can't Play Video."

    All 5 of these clips play with a solid grey bar on the bottom of the video: (TV's native media player plays them all fine)

    4096x2160 HEVC 24.000 .mp4
    http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/samsung-nx1/FULLRES/yvid_SAM_0161-C4K_Sample.MP4
    4096x2160 HEVC 24.000 .mp4
    http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/samsung-nx1/FULLRES/yvid_SAM_0164-C4K_Sample2.MP4
    3840x2160 HEVC 29.970 .mp4
    http://imaging-resource.com/PRODS/samsung-nx1/FULLRES/yvid_SAM_0235-UHD_Sample1.MP4
    3840x2160 HEVC 29.970 .mp4
    http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/samsung-nx1/FULLRES/yvid_SAM_0231-HQQuality.MP4
    3840x2160 HEVC 29.970 .mp4
    http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/samsung-nx1/FULLRES/yvid_SAM_0230-ProQuality.MP4

    VP9 - (HDMI AUTO/Switch Frame rate and resolution)
    Eye of the Storm 4K Ultra HD.mkv (Youtube)
    (3840x2026 (1:895) 24.000 VP9 (OPUS audio) .mkv)
    Stuttering, No Audio, Player info reads 0 fps (TV's native media player also has same issues)

    No stutter issues with the HEVC demos I tried, but AVC had serious stutter issues, making them unwatchable, especially in the 29.970 frame rate. For those files, I tried "Switch frame rate and resolution" (which sent out 2160p/29.970), and also manually forced 2160p/30.00 and 2160p/60.000. In all cases the files still stuttered.

    AVC - Stutters badly (HDMI AUTO/Switch Frame rate and resolution)
    TV's native media player plays them fine
    ------
    29.970
    - 4K_AUO.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 92.7 Mb/s)
    - Hisense_The-amazing-beauty-of-the-planet_large.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 89.3 Mb/s)
    - LG Cities By Night 4K Demo.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 45.1 Mb/s)
    - Panasonic Marvelous World 4K Demo.m2ts (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 119 Mb/s)
    - Samsung_UHD_demo_2013.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 48.8 Mb/s)
    - Samsung_UHD_demo_Iceland.mpeg (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 49.2 Mb/s)
    - Sharp_4K_Italia_Parasols.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 73.0 Mb/s)
    - Skyworth_4K_Jiuzhaigou.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 96.5 Mb/s)
    - TCL_-_Four_Basic_Colors.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 79.8 Mb/s)

    60.000
    - bbb_sunflower_2160p_60fps_normal.mp4 (3840x2160 60.000 AVC 8,488 kb/s)

    Variable (Zidoo Player info reads 30 fps)
    - Panasonic_-_The_World_Heritage_of_Cambodia.m2ts (3840x2160 Variable AVC 110 Mb/s)
    - Panasonic_4K_Hokkaido_and_Tokyo.m2ts (3840x2160 Variable AVC 112 Mb/s)


    AVC - No stutter (HDMI AUTO/Switch Frame rate and resolution)
    ------

    29.970
    - Sony_Demo_Bravia_4K_2014.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 12.1 Mb/s)
    - LG_4K_UHD_Music_Video_AOA_Miniskirt.mp4 (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 20.7 Mb/s)
    - Panasonic Perfume 4K Demo.mkv (3840x2160 29.970 AVC 39.7 Mb/s)

    30.000
    - bbb_sunflower_2160p_30fps_normal.mp4 (3840x2160 30.000 AVC 7,981 kb/s)
    - LG_4K_UHD_Music_Video_Apink_Mr_Chu.mp4 (3840x2160 30.000 AVC 21.3 Mb/s)
    - LG_4K_UHD_Music_Video_Hyomin_Nice_Body.mp4 (3840x2160 30.000 AVC 21.4 Mb/s)
    - LG_4K_UHD_Music_Video_T_Ara_Number_Nine.mp4 (3840x2160 30.000 AVC 20.9 Mb/s)
    - Mandelbrot Set Standart Zoom. 10^33 in 4K [3840x2160 - No Sound].mp4 Youtube (3840x2160 30.000 AVC 16.6 Mb/s)

    25.000
    - CanalPlus_4K_Demo.mp4 (3840x2160 25.000 AVC 33.2 Mb/s)

    23.976
    - LG Europe 4K Demo.mp4 (3840x2160 23.976 AVC 125 Mb/s)
    - Samsung_UHD_Cityscape.mp4 (3840x2160 23.976 AVC 43.1 Mb/s)
    - Sony Alpha 7R 2 4K Demo.mp4 (3840x2160 23.976 AVC 98.4 Mb/s)
    - Sony The Fountains Of Bellagio 4K Demo.mkv (3840x2160 23.976 AVC 47.1 Mb/s)
    - UHD 4K Sony FDR-AX1 2160p.mpeg (3840x2160 23.976 AVC 50.3 Mb/s)


    29.917
    - LG Greece and Norway 4k Demo.mp4 (3840x2160 29.917 AVC 33.4 Mb/s)


    HEVC - No stutter (HDMI AUTO/Switch Frame rate and resolution)
    --------
    3840x2160 23.976 HEVC .ts 51.4 Mb/s
    3840x2160 24.000 HEVC .mp4 38.5 Mb/s
    3840x2160 25.000 HEVC .ts 51.4 Mb/s
    3840x2160 29.970 HEVC .mp4 24.9 Mb/s - 46.8 Mb/s
    3840x2160 29.970 HEVC .ts 31.0 Mb/s - 51.4 Mb/s
    3840x2160 30.000 HEVC .ts 23.8 Mb/s - 51.4 Mb/s
    3840x2160 50.000 HEVC .ts 16.2 Mb/s - 45.8Mb/s
    3840x2160 50.000 HEVC .mkv 24.7 Mb/s
    3840x2160 50.000 HEVC .mp4 61.7 Mb/s
    3840x2160 59.940 HEVC .mp4 77.4 Mb/s
    3840x2160 59.940 HEVC .ts 31.1 Mb/s - 51.6Mb/s


    Why does the Zidoo player have such stutter issues particularly with so many AVC 29.970 files? Is it another frame rate issue with the player or is it the AVC codec at higher bitrates for some reason? I played the Jellyfish demo http://jell.yfish.us/at 400 Mb/s and it played fine, so bitrate shouldn't be an issue.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  16. Ekul

    Ekul Active Member

    Do yourself a favour and get a refund asap.
    This box will never function ok and with every new firmware more problems.

    I will give mine away for free to Stevie Wonder.
    I ordered a player with silicon chipset, cannot be more worse than zidoo.
     
  17. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Frustrating because this box has HUGE potential, which is why I bought it. It supports so many formats - including 3D, which was important to me. Many other current UHD boxes out there don't support 3D mkv remuxes, which is important to me. It also has blu-ray and UHD menu support - hit or miss, but better than many players that have no menu support

    But it seems that if this player is having such critical issues a year+ later, then I have to question if it will ever function properly. I just don't know if the Zidoo team is capable of fixing these issues, or if they care enough to. We hear no updates from them on these issues - they appear to be silent until a firmware pops up and we see what they fix. Poor communication.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  18. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Other big issues I think need to be addressed ASAP:

    - There is no setting for the player to play all video files in a folder sequentially. This is mind-boggling to me. Is this broken or did it never support sequential play? This makes it absolutely impossible to play a folder of trailers or clips. It stops playback after each file ends and returns to the menu. It should play all files in a folder until it reaches the last file, or until you hit stop. Have these guys never used a media player before? I used to like putting a bunch of trailers in a folder, with the naming such that the movie would play last, so I could just play the first file and have it play all the trailers and then the film, all in order. Impossible with this player and it baffles the mind. Not only should it have an option for sequential play - it should not switch frame rate and resolution between files unless necessary - If I have 5 clips, and 4 are the same frame rate and resolution, it should play them all neatly and seamlessly until it reaches the file that requires a switch, to keep things as seamless as possible. You know you can drop a pile of audio files in a folder and when you hit play you expect them all to play until you hit stop? That's how it should play video files too.

    - It's also unbelievably annoying that it starts to display each file immediately, before switching frame rate and resolution, then blacks out as it switches frame rate and resolution, then returns, with the file already several seconds into playback. It ruins the first few seconds of every single file I play. My old Mede8er switched also, but it did so before the video appears on-screen, making for a smoother transition to the correct frame rate and resolution. I'd click the file and the screen would immediately go black as it switches, then the movie would appear from the beginning and start playing. The way this player handles it is very messy.

    - It also does this with selecting playback of blu-rays with the menu - it starts to play the main feature as soon as you select blu-ray menu, then it goes black and switches frame rate and resolution, then displays the menu. Very annoying to see the first few seconds of the film then it stops and goes to the main menu.

    - I had to really dig to find a way to disable bookmarking. If I keep it enabled, it pops up over the video every single time I start playback, while the video is playing. It should ask as soon as you click play if you want to resume, not start playing the file and then popping up over the film, interrupting the first few seconds of your video. There should be a simple-to-find option for bookmarking - on/off in the basic settings under playback. Instead I had to find it by selecting advanced playback options in the pop-up menu while playing a video.

    - With all the video issues, I would say music is a lesser priority, but the music player 2.0 is disappointing. It offers zero playback improvements over the old player on 1.4.12. Very poor support for .cue files for playback, both with split flac/ape files, and single-file flac.ape files. Navigation through music is very spotty - it's often impossible to navigate to another part of the song, especially with cue files being used to play the album. DVD-ISO dts/Dolby Digital music discs are problematic - when given a choice of DTS or DD, selecting one track sometimes plays the other track and you have to manually force it in the pop-up menu. No gapless audio - there's a bit of silence in-between each track, when using a .cue or playing split files directly. This ruins albums that are meant to be heard seamlessly from track to track, with no silence.
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2018
  19. SaskMedia

    SaskMedia Member

    Feature Request: Delay playback after frame rate and resolution switch. My LG TV is a little slow when switching frame rates and resolution (1 or 2 seconds). It would be nice if you could manually put in this delay so that the frame rate and resolution can have time to switch before playback begins. Kodi native player has this... would like it in external as well.
     
    ursiel likes this.
  20. ursiel

    ursiel Active Member

    Agreed - this is partly what I was describing in my post above - as it is, the beginning of file playback is sloppy, and if the player just paused playback long enough for it to switch resolutions and frame rates, it would be a far better option. Right now, the film keeps playing while it's switching, and many A/V receivers take a couple seconds to pick up the audio signal, too. It's annoying having the first few seconds of every video cut off. I'd rather wait for a few seconds while it does what it needs to before it begins proper playback.

    I get confused though when I hear "native" and "external" players used interchangeably. When I say native I mean the Home Theatre player built into the unit - the core player, not ZDMC or other apps you need to install.
     

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