v1.1.70 Beta version for Z9X 8K/Z30 PRO/Z3000 PRO/UHD8000

And look what happened to THX too...

 

Yup, they'd sold their soul at that point with their previous business model dying/dead.

They were sold not long after I got in this game, but I remember the "THX Certified" Monster cables. I had one forced on me to "solve" dead pixels I had on a TV I was trying to return. I had to entertain them and run with it before they would honor the return. Never actually took them inside and connected them, I just ripped open the package and brought it back with the TV a few days later.

 

I remember going to Circuit City to get a simple av cable (the old yellow composite type) and all they had was Monster Cable on display for outrageous prices. I had to ask someone to bring me a non Monster Cable from behind the desk. Also they often were so over tight they would damage the jacks of the equipment.

 

Ah, takes me back....

 

yup, days of being excited to have S video and then component and then hdmi took over. The good old days.
Monster did make a very good composite/S vid transcoder to component unit.

 

This file was played directly from the SSD inserted into the player. It froze (slowed down for a few seconds) every 10-15 minutes. The image stopped completely at 00:47:19, but the sound continued to play. I rebooted the device and then the movie played without problems. I don't know what the reason was. It seems that the firmware still requires serious revision.

 

So my zidoo could have hardware problem as well?
Sometimes, the picture on my Zidoo player looks overly whitewashed, like a cardboard cutout with strange or unnatural colors. Other times, the details are very poor, the colors appear off, or the picture looks overly sharp. I also experience playback issues like picture tearing, but this happens more often with some movies than others.

To fix these issues, I often have to restart the Zidoo, and occasionally, I need to restart both the Zidoo and the TV. Using a Sandstrom HDMI cable sometimes makes the whitewashing problem worse.

It seems to me that the issue might be the color range switching between "Limited" and "Unlimited," or it could be an EDID problem, as Mark suggested. It’s possible that both are contributing to the problem.
However, things have improved with each new firmware update. But not properly fixed yet.

 

Yeah, I've noticed such washed out image with brighter/poor color range for a while, specially with SDR contents outputting DV- VS10. It seems like a slow HDMI handshake.

 

A grey looking washed out image is a symptom of an HDR signal (Rec.2020 colour and ST.2084 PQ gamma) being played back on a display that is decoding as SDR (Rec.709 colour and BT.1886 Power Gamma).

When you say "for a while", what do you mean?

 

It maybe such when it plays back from Vertex2 with custom EDID but almost the same symptom appears on LG OLEDC3 TV with no EDID.

"For a while": it's much more noticeable at the beginning of the movie. Then it seems like the HDMI handshake stabilises the image, not sure. Anyway I'd to workaround this issue as I'm bit confused playing both boxes, one AVR > LG TV and another one(AVR > Vertex2 > Sangumg TV.

 

So are you saying that you play content in DV, the image is initially grey & washed out but at some point later it becomes correct? Minutes later? Seconds later?

Is this on the Samsung or the LG or both?

 

Yes, but let me clarify the issue in both the scenarios. The case in Samsung (HDR10+) is much more evident than in LG (DV - HDR10). Anyway I'll come back to you later today or tomorrow.

Actually I decided to post when @jehangir kh detailed the same perception I've got days ago (more noticeable from fw 1.1.47) and tried to figure out with settings.

 

It was more noticeable in the previous firmware. Now, it’s still there, but all I have to do is cut the power for at least a couple of minutes. This helps reduce the overly sharp and whitewashed, cardboard-like image. The issue is quite evident in SDR content, whether it’s 4K or 1080p. However, since the colors have been adjusted, it’s a bit better, though the problem still persists. Sometimes, it’s even more obvious in HDR content, especially when turning on the Zidoo from standby mode.

one more thing as compared to Dune 8K has Atmos surround sound effects are much more natural and vivid compared to the Zidoo. On the Zidoo, the surround effects for Atmos sound feel quite subdued and lack the same immersive quality.

 

After new Update picture quality and playback was quite smooth for couple of days. HDR and SDR do not look natural

 

I have no idea what's going on there at all I'm afraid - I've never seen what you describe in any media player ever. I'd be fascinated if you can provide a way to reproduce it.

As for sound - the bitstream coming out a Zidoo is identical to the bitstream coming out of a Dune - there is no difference. Sound is only generated when that bitstream is decoded by the receiver/soundbar etc. If you perceive a difference it's either a placebo of you have the audio settings configured differently in either the receiver, the player or both.

To say that one player outputs a different sounding bitstream to another is a bit like saying that a zip file opened on a Mac has different contents if it's opened on a PC.

 

I can confirm that all video contents converted by VS10-DV are downgrading the color and brightness (washed, flashing, lack of contrast, sharpness and deepness) in general, either in LG or Samsung. Obviously the conversion to LG OLEDC3 is better than Samsung QLED due to hardware differences. SDR to LLDV output is the poorest. When you play contents without conversions, output is really fine.

 

Can you send me a backup of your Vertex - it has to be something to do with that.

 

I use vs 10 for all my sdr hdr and have no issues with it
It makes a huge improvement ,especially for my sdr stuff ,but nothing in my chain ,ie z30 8k..3800h amp..lz1500 oled ,so as above Vertex or a setting ?

If you can name a few SDR tv epis or movies ,i could try play em and post a cellphone shot of how im seeing them with vs10 on ,for you to compare to,maybe

 

Personally I prefer without VS10 activated!!

 

I'll send it later but I don't think it's the cause since the video downgrade appears in both settings, with and without Vertex.