[UHD8000] Initial observations after 48 full hours vs Zappiti 4K HDR

Discussion in 'HDD 8K Media player(AML S928X)' started by Troy LaMont, Oct 8, 2024.

  1. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Hi all,

    I just took possession on my UHD8000 on Saturday, here's my initial impressions after 48 hours of use.
    • The UI is absolutely glorious! I have mine in 4K HDR. I had read in another post on one of these forums that the 4K UI is faster than the 1080P, and I can confirm this to be true on my setup
    • Reaction speed is phenomenal, light years ahead of the old Zappiti!
    • UI is super intuitive and easy to navigate
    • Scrapping was very good in comparison to the current Zappiti with R_Video! I have a little over 300+ movies on two 16 TB HDDs, first drive with the most movies took a little over four minutes. Accuracy was decent, with only about 7% not matched for my whole collection, not bad. Every title I added to the Zappiti through R_Video had the incorrect or missing metadata, only the title was correct. The old Zappiti movie player was a little better with that regard
    • Forced subtitles!! Yes, finally! I don't have many movies that utilize forced subs, but I'm so glad this is a feature, and it works flawlessly
    • I don't know what voodoo they're doing on movie playback, but my movies have never looked better!
    • This is my first time experiencing Dolby Vision via a media player, but it looks great, some even better than on my Sony X800 m2
    • I've had no issues with disc menus or playback on the titles I've tested (see note below on VC1)
    • I am using this as my main music player as well, works great! I am moving my Yamaha WXA-50 to the bedroom. This ESS DAC sounds amazing, I almost feel like I have a new pair of speakers!
    • Don't judge, but my main steaming app is Pandora, (I've had it for over a decade), and I'm going to try to load the APK on the Zidoo this evening, I'll keep you posted.
    • File navigation is a breeze, and I was able to transfer a movie via SMB to the Zidoo with ease
    Cons:
    • Funny, I had just taken the time recently to rip my old HDDVDs and the rips played fine on the Zappiti, not so much on the Zidoo, they freeze every 8-10 seconds, not a big deal for me as I only have 10 titles
    • I'm having occasional HDMI handshake issues, the screen goes completely black after stopping playback. If I switch inputs on my receiver and back, it goes away. Overall not that big of a deal, but an issue none-the-less
    • When navigating the companion app via Android, the navigation was clearly setup for Apple users, as it completely ignores the in-built back button on Android devices and has you use a software back button located only at the top of each page. It's taken me a while to get used to this, but it's kind of a pain, here's wishing they allow the Android back button to function like it was intended in a future firmware
    • 8K playback is absolute trash! LOL It barely plays back 8K video created with my Galaxy S23 Ultra. I have a Canon R5, which can shoot 8K 12 bit RAW, but at it's lowest 8K setting it produces HEVC 8bit 4:2:0, 230 MBs clips, which the Zidoo can't handle! That's sad as I was looking forward to using this for watching my Canon 8K clips on my TV.
    Other that that, I'm so glad I got this player, it's everything I've ever wanted in a media player, and should carry me into the foreseeable future.

    Thanks for reading.
     

    Attached Files:

    blenky likes this.
  2. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Some additional notes,

    It doesn't like when I connect an external SSD enclosure to the USB connection. For some reason it slows the system down and causes glitches. I have a bunch of music files on an SSD and it won't even scan the drive to pick up the music it just keeps defaulting back to the home screen.

    My built-in, software keyboard doesn't work properly, it always types the second (shift) option no matter what I try. Weird.

    The temperature and time of day icon isn't always correct.

    I had a folder full of surround sound demos on the same hard drive as my main movies and for some reason the system wasn't picking it up, I had to go in and manually add that folder to be scanned.

    All for now, still loving this unit.
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2024
  3. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Zidoo Beta Tester Contributor

    Have you updated the firmware to v1.1.60? That may fix the HD-DVD issue.

    Temperature and time of day - I assume you've set your location correctly? Never seen that go out as long as there's an internet connection.

    HDMI issue is possibly due to a UI video mode that's on the cusp of what the AVR can deal with - that's an old receiver, not sure what HDMI version it uses, I think it's 1.3.
     
  4. DELUCAS

    DELUCAS Well-Known Member

    Your Playback issues / Hdmi / 8K issues amongst others maybe because your receiver is Onkyo 807 is a 1.3 HDMI ?
     
  5. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Thanks for the response, I haven't manually updated to that firmware yet. I did check for an update via the system check, but that version wasn't available (.60).

    Someone over at AVSFORUM helped me fix my HDMI issue shortly after posting this, I set my display out via HDMI to force 12bit 4:2:2, works without a hitch now. I'm also running audio via the second audio only HDMI, no video to the receiver. All video goes directly to my OLED.

    Location is set and it's connected via ethernet, the time is always correct, but the temperature is constantly off. Also the time of day/weather icon is always wrong. It shows the sun when it's nighttime, etc.
     
  6. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    I'm not using my receiver for any video, just audio. All video goes straight to my OLED.
     
  7. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Zidoo Beta Tester Contributor

    Possibly the location is still wrong - when I select location in Weather Settings and search for my town I'm presented with two identically named locations with no way to know which is the correct one - it doesn't even show country - one is correct and one isn't - maybe choose a wider area or another nearby location.

    Or just turn weather off ;)
     
    DELUCAS likes this.
  8. DELUCAS

    DELUCAS Well-Known Member

    Amazes me the Zidoo weather app causes so much reports ……
    When peoples phone app is so more Accurate or tv weather reporting or as we say stick your head out the window
    Is the Most Accurate of all .

    id be more concerned of Zidoo Movie playback of concern etc .
     
    xskip likes this.
  9. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Zidoo Beta Tester Contributor

    It's a nice addition, but yeah, I wouldn't miss it.
     
  10. DELUCAS

    DELUCAS Well-Known Member

    Maybe show as Default picture showing
    Sun , Rain , Cloudy , Thunder storms , Hurricane , Snow
    , lightening etc and thats all bases covered so no complaints ;)
     
  11. Markswift2003

    Markswift2003 Well-Known Member SUPER Administrator Zidoo Beta Tester Contributor

    Just rain would do here.
     
    blenky and xskip like this.
  12. enry184

    enry184 Active Member

    @Troy LaMont
    We have the same setup and I have the exact same problem that I also solve by switching from one input to another. Can you tell me exactly how you solved it? Thanks.
     
  13. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Settings -> Display -> Color settings -> select Priority YUV422 12 BIT
     
  14. enry184

    enry184 Active Member

    Yes, ok, but under what heading should I select YUV422 12 Bit?

    Color Settings/8K
    Color Settings/4K 50~60Hz
    Color Settings/4K 23~30Hz
    Color Settings/Non-4K
     
  15. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    I did it for all...
     
    enry184 likes this.
  16. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    I had to reset my UHD8000 last night. I use it a lot for music playback and I couldn't get it to launch any streaming apps or play any music. It would just freeze then eventually go back to the home screen, after half an hour of trying, I reset the unit, so far all is well now.

    I did have a USB drive connected with local music, and I had removed that, I'm not sure if that was a cause of the problems, but mentioning it in case anyone notices issues once they remove a USB drive.

    On another note, I need to create a backup of my cover art etc., so if I have to reset the unit again, I won't have to rescan my movie collection.
     
  17. rozel

    rozel Well-Known Member

    May I ask what Streaming Apps? I assume you know the UHD8000 is essentially a media player, playing local files?
     
  18. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, etc., music streaming apps. I have local music files on my USB thumb drive.
     
  19. rozel

    rozel Well-Known Member

    Ahh ok. Yes, you shouldn't have issues with those, so something isn't right. Fingers crossed the Reset should've solved your issues
     
  20. Troy LaMont

    Troy LaMont Member

    Pandora APK installed and plays fine on non 'G' firmware. 20241126_181834.jpg
     

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