Problems with Zidoo Z10 Pro: video freezes

I bought the Zidoo Z10 Pro in April 2023. The firmware version was v6.4.42. I stream movies from a QNAP NAS, and all files are in .MKV format. This setup worked very well initially. However, recently, during a movie, I started experiencing video freezes. After waiting for about 10 seconds, the movie would continue seamlessly. This freezing happened roughly 1-2 times per movie.


Since about a week ago, this freezing issue has worsened. Now, it occurs with every movie I try to play, typically about 1-5 minutes after starting. When it freezes, the movie doesn’t resume but instead returns to the movie's information screen after about 15 seconds. Notably, the remote control commands respond very slowly, as if the processor is overloaded.

Actions Taken:
1. Checked NAS functionality and gigabit intranet; no issues found. No improvement.
2. Updated firmware from v6.4.42 to v6.4.68. No effect.
3. Tried factory resetting the Zidoo according to Zidoo's recommended procedure. Unfortunately, this did not work. Only the Zidoo logo (not the Z10 Pro logo) appeared, and it remained frozen even after 5 minutes. After releasing the recovery button, nothing happened either.


Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions that might help resolve this issue? Your assistance is greatly appreciated!

 

QNAP QTS has a bad habit of "doing it's own thing" without warning (or reason that I can see)! It is always best to switch off any QNAP video add-on apps as they are the worst offenders (I have 3x 6-bay QNAP's on the network). You don't normally need them, as the Zidoo does its own library function and only needs SMB for good file access.

This does sound like a NAS/network issue, rather than the player (which often gets blamed for issues not under its control).
If you've not already done so, also power off and reboot the router and any switches being used in your system. This can have a major impact at times when networks are going slow and drops back throughput from gigabit to a lower level - which is when 4K files will freeze or stutter.

 

Dear Phil181,

sorry for my delayed response. I had almost given up hope that someone would reply. Thank you for your response.

I’m using the QNAP TS-873A with about 90 TB of storage and firmware version QuTS hero h5.2.1.2929. I’m not using any QNAP video add-on apps. Ziggo accesses the files stored on the NAS directly via SMB.
On your recommendation, I’ll carefully check all the components of my network again (router, switches, etc.).

Thanks again for your advice. I’ll get to work on it!

 

I initially didn't reply to this because it seems to be a network issue and I tend to keep out of them because no-one ever believes their network is to blame for anything at all. Ever.

What I will say however is that the fact you say it has got considerably worse sounds very much like a hard disc issue rather than an out and out network access issue. What you describe sounds very much like what I'd expect to happen when a source becomes suddenly unavailable during playback. And network problems don't tend to worsen on their own.

The first thing I'd probably try is a sanity check by running a few movies from a share on a local PC by SMB and I'd expect them to play perfectly.

Obviously not to rule out a hardware issue with the Z10 Pro either - it's quite an old box now, but hardware issues are very very rare and I have 1619DR boxes here that still work perfectly and I still rate them even with the new hardware released over the last few years. But a sanity check on a PC should help confirm it's not the hardware (or is!).

By the way, the reset button is only used in conjunction with recovery firmware - it isn't used for a factory reset, that's in the setup menus on the box and the logo is always a plain Zidoo one.

 

Dear Markswift2003,

Thank you very much for your response. No worries, I’m not blaming Zidoo for anything. I just thought I could rule a few things out, and then Zidoo was the only one left. Even though it’s an old box, I really like it.

I haven’t had time to check my network yet (following Phil181’s advice), but it’s on my to-do list. I did, however, load a few 4K movies onto the Zidoo’s internal hard drive and played them back without any hiccups!

So, my plan is as follows:

1. Check the entire network thoroughly (good old Fluke Netwerks Optiview Series III)

2. Running a few movies from a share on a local PC by SMB

3. Test the QNAP hard drives (even though they’re only five months old)

Thank you for your advice. I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

 

Very nice to see pragmatism - it's always a case of stepping back and use processes of elimination. Not always easy though. Good luck!!

 

Dear Phil181 and Markswift2003,

After extensive testing following the steps you suggested, I’ve found the culprit. There was an HP switch (10-100-1000 Mbps) in the network between the router and the Zidoo that was intermittently downgrading from 1000 Mbps to 100 Mbps. Naturally, this was causing issues, especially when playing 4K movies. I replaced the switch with a new one, and so far, the problems haven’t reoccurred.

Thank you both very much for your help and advice!

 

Great news!

I've always used Netgear Prosafe switches because they have a lifetime warranty - I've probably had 3 or so fail over the years and true to their word, they've always been replaced without any issue (as long you register them with Netgear).

 

Dear Markswift2003,

Thank you for your advice. I’ve now purchased a TP-Link switch, but in the future, I’ll focus on using Netgear Prosafe switches instead.