Hi everyone, and thank you in advance for any help and/or insights. I upgraded my A/V last Christmas (TV, AVR & 4K Blu-ray player), but the media software doesn't read E-AC3. I've been converting my .mkv files that have E-AC3 (Dolby Digital Plus) and E-AC3 JOC (Dolby Digital Plus with Joint Object Coding) to AC3 but looking for a media player that removes the need for that. The Blu-ray player has dual HDMI out, meaning I can feed my 5.1 AVR and 4K TV separately, so can play files without the need to have the full AVR set up, hence question 2 below: 1) Does the Z3000 read and passthrough E-AC3 in .mkv files? 2) Does the Z3000 feed audio as well as video via the Main HDMI (to TV) with the Audio Out HDMI connected? 3) Can apps be sideloaded to the Z3000? 4) What specification of HDD do I need to match, and what sizes are allowed?
This is my understanding to your questions: Yes. The Zidoo Z3000 Pro fully supports E-AC3 (Dolby Digital Plus) and E-AC3 JOC (DD+ Atmos) in MKV files and can bitstream/pass through these formats to a compatible AVR. Yes. With dual HDMI, you can use MAIN HDMI to TV (video) and AUDIO HDMI to AVR (audio). Audio is sent correctly over the Audio-only HDMI. If required, audio can also be sent via the Main HDMI depending on settings. Yes. Apps can be sideloaded via APK, though Zidoo players are best used primarily as local media players rather than general Android streaming boxes. The Z3000 Pro accepts an internal 3.5″ SATA HDD. Use a CMR NAS-grade drive (e.g. WD Red Plus/Pro, Seagate IronWolf). Large capacities are supported; NTFS or exFAT are commonly used. Kind Regards Asmcom
Thank you Asmcom, and a very happy new year. I bought a Z3000 Pro, and set it up yesterday. There were a few steps back and forth to get video and audio working to TV correctly. USB 3 extension to connect an external drive to the back panel, and 2TB IronWolf ordered and on their way. I haven't tried sound via AVR yet, but based on how it's gone so far, it should be painless. Considering that I hadn't even heard of Zidoo two weeks ago, I'm really impressed. Having seen that going Google Playstore is a no way back, I'll wait to see if that is really necessary. I've also been investigating WOL from my PC (rather than the app), as well as file transfers.
Installing the _G firmware (Google Play Store) has never caused issues as far as I know. I have it on both my Zidoos but you are correct in that there's no going back
I can transfer files by using the Webrox LAN Drive utility, but is there a way of waking (WOL) the Z3000 Pro other than using the app? I've tried a few programs without success, despite setting a static IP address.
Pretty much anything that can send a magic packet will work, for example: https://www.depicus.com/wake-on-lan/wake-on-lan-gui I've created Crestron modules that work so I know a standard magic packet works fine.
Thank you, I had a look at that, downloaded but couldn't get it to work, I'll try different settings.
