PlexToZidoo : An external player for plex using native Zidoo player

I would keep the Z9X as a backup if I were you, the Shield has some issues with a few films that the Zidoo plays perfectly. Specifically the Exoplayer that Plex uses on the Shield, has issues with remuxes of films that came on seamlessly branching discs, like Apocalypse Now. There's about a 1s delay on the joints. The Zidoo plays those files perfectly.

 

I do use Kodinerds (Kodi fork) with the Plex addon and it works fine, thing is atm I do not use my Unraid server with 4x14TB storage which works fine with the Z9X, I've moved on to cloud based media...and I haven't figured out to share the rclone drive with smb (which I mentioned some posts earlier)

http://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?posts/195564/

 

Hmm, does that have the exact same Plex UI or does it look like Kodi? More importantly, does it respect the sort names I've set in Plex or does it just sort by movie name? If it has all the features of Plex it might solve all my issues.

 

I like it more than the Plex UI, here is the addon I use, it's not the old Plex addon, but rather an updated one called PlexMod.

https://forums.plex.tv/t/plexmod-for-kodi-18-19-20/481208

Kodinerds: https://repo.kodinerds.net/index.php?action=list&scope=cat&item=Binary (arm64-v8a) (use Kodi20 for now)

 

Plex's TV interface is awful, makes me think I'm going blind. So much wasted/blank space. All Plex needs to do is add back support for external players. Plex would never put funds towards something that benefits 0.01% of users.

 

Thanks. I'm very new to Kodi, is there a guide for how to set it up? I found one on the Zidoo forums but it seemed to require purchasing an app to enable external player, which surely can't be the only way.

 

The solution that I've been working on for the new Z9X Pro uses a modified PlexMod and PlexToZidoo to send the video to the zidoo player. If you'd like to try it out just DM me. Since I don't have the pro version I've been developing it on the Z9X and it seems to work just fine there as well.

 

you just install the Kodinerds app, just rename it to .apk instead of .zip and the PlexMod the instructions on the link I sent, but please notice this is for the Shield TV Pro.

ok, I guess it's still necessary to use smb? atm I haven't been able to share my rclone virtual drive so can't use the Zidoo, with the Shield it just works as it use the Kodi player.

 

Yeah, smb is probably still necessary. I'm not sure what the zidoo player officially supports but right now everything I've done uses smb.

 

Ok, I've released an initial version of my modified PlexMod for Kodi which I brilliantly name ZidooPlexMod . This replaces the need for the official plex app which doesn't allow external players on the pro model but it works for both the regular and pro models. It requires PlexToZidoo version 2.0+. So if you would like to try it out you just need to update PlexToZidoo to 2.0+, install Kodi/ZDMC 20.1, and install the latest ZidooPlexMod addon zip from here, https://github.com/bowlingbeeg/plex-for-kodi/releases

I know on the pro models it can be hard to get Kodi to recognize the internal storage so the testers have had to keep the addon .zip file on their NAS, add the network location as a source in Kodi, and then install it from there.

Let me know if you have any issues.

 

Really good job
Now live sync did really work, in Plex, Tautulli and Trakt !!!


At start, the remote control did not work. (see DM)
Then there is no title bar:


the original:


I can hardly wait for the new version.

Thanks for your work!

 

I’m testing the ZidooPlexMod on my Z9x, and I can install ZDMC and the ZidooPlexMod add-on fine, and I can sign into Plex, but I can’t navigate the ZidooPlexMod GUI. I hear navigation sounds but nothing gets selected?

I can navigate in the initial screen where I select user, but not afterwards, any idea what might be happening? I can switch over to mouse mode and navigate, but not using the remote.

I rebooted the Zidoo but no change?

EDIT: So on further testing it seems I need to select something in mouse mode, and after that I can switch back to the normal remote mode and navigation works. But as soon as I exit the ZidooPlexMod add-on and start it again I get the same behavior, it’s like it gets stuck in some weird state on startup? Playback works great! Tagging @bowlingbeeg for visibility.

 

yeah another tester mentioned that as well but I don't have that issue on ZDMC or Kodi so I'm not sure what's going on there. Are you using the default kodi skin or something else? Not sure if that has anything to do with it or not but thought I'd ask

 

The navigation works fine inside ZDMC, the navigation issues start after I open the ZidooPlexMod add-on inside of ZDMC (with the default skin). In fact it starts after the initial screen where I select the Plex user.

 

Yeah I understand it's not until you're in the app that the navigation stops working but I've seen other rumblings from kodi addons that can have problems if you're not using the default skin so thought I'd make sure that wasn't the case here.

 

How long are you waiting after you log into a user to try and navigate. I know sometimes there is a delay after you select something that it gathers all of the necessary data and allows navigation to work. Maybe it's taking a while and you just need to let it sit for a few seconds. You've probably already done that but just throwing things out there since I have no idea why it wouldn't work.

 

@bowlingbeeg

ok wow it seems that I might keep the Z9X...but as someone mentioned earlier I can't navigate the media as I don't see the title bar items, it's empty and can't use TV remote to navigate, great work!

 

If you have time could you turn on Kodi debug logging and then start up the ZidooPlexMod and save off the kodi log. Then DM me and I can give you a place to post the log so I can look at it. Not sure if it will tell me anything or not but you never know.

 

I might rushed a little, I can't get subs to show up in the Zidoo player, I don't know if it's due to the current setup I run with Real Debrid/Plex Debrid/Rclone or if I setup the smb wrong, but I can playback all media but no subs...hmm...will the subs stop me from go back to Z9X...lol.

 

Subs are OK here.

For me, I have the default skin.