Hi. I ordered a Zidoo Z9S that is supposed to arrive next week. I want to know all there is to k ow to set it as a media server using one of two Lenovo NAS that I have. Lenovo ECM PX4-400d or the Iomega IX4-300d. Does anyone has these 2 together or has an idea of hot to set them correctly?
There's very little to know to be honest - the Zidoo doesn't need a media server as such, just a location where the movies are kept. Those locations can either be one or more network locations (NAS or PC) or local (USB) or a mixture of both. You've probably done something similar already, but all you need is a Share on your NAS, then I'd have a folder in the Share, say "Movies", then a folder for each movie inside "Movies". If you're using more than one location, just name accordingly - say Movies1, 2 etc And that's it - you then just point HT2 (Home Theatre v2) at the Movies folder on the NAS and you're good to go.
Thanks a lot for your reply! That sounds a lot easier than I though. If I want to have a picture of the movie is there a program for that or does the HT2 have that feature? My Z9S arrives today and I'm anxious.
I managed to find where to download subtiles. But is there any way to set the source for them? Also can I erase a movie or any file directly from the player?
I have a few questions: How can I fix when the picture of the movie is not the correct one? Is it possible to separate movies from series? What can I do when the HT2 app does not get any info from a movie or a series?
Highlight the poster, press and hold "select" and chose "Rematch". It's pretty accurate as long as the movie name is accurate but you can also refine the search using "rematch". You can separate TV series using the left menu bar but you need to use filters to separate movies. The iOS or Android app allows you to separate movies and TV Series too. If you don't get a match, look at how the file is named and also use "rematch" as above. You can also manage the database using a web browser pointed at the Zidoo's IP address on port 9528 (http://ip-address:9528) - you can see how to do this from the "settings" menu in HT2 and choose "about" - You may find this easier than using the menus - of course, the Zidoo must be switched on to do this! As for subtitles - I always mux in the subtitles I want with the files.
Muxing is shorthand for multiplexing - basically adding video, audio and sub streams into one container - so you may have a video track encoded in h.265, an audio track encoded as DTS and a subtitle stream and they would all be multiplexed, or "muxed" into one mkv file - mkv being the "container". The best tool for this is: https://www.bunkus.org/blog/
I believe another option is to simply have the subtitle file (usually a .pgs or .srt file) in the same directory as your video file and named the same but I haven't tried that so can't confirm it works.
This is what I used to do with my late media player and worked well. It does not work for Roku when files are played through the network.
When surfing the HT2 setings through the web some movies have a lock that asks for a password to unlock. What is that and what is the password?
It's the child lock - it's a bit mad the way it works, but if you don't use the "Children" filter I wouldn't worry about it. Password is the one you set up when you first logged into the web interface (I think!!). I unlocked all mine just to keep it tidy.
Ok, that is the child lock and the default password is 123. I'm liking this player more by the minute. One thing that I notice is that it shows Audio formats like ProLogic as PCM in my Pioneer 1120K More sophisticated audio formats are shown as they should. (DD+, DTS, DTS-HD Master). I still have not tried any True HD-Master file yet, but I will soon. My receiver is only HDMI 1.3
I'd check the files that show PCM with MediaInfo and see what it shows for the audio stream - if formats such as DTS and Dolby Digital Plus etc show up on the receiver that means the player is bitstreaming the audio correctly. Dolby Digital & DTS and all their variants are digitally encoded audio tracks with separate discreet audio channels. Pro Logic is a non discrete analogue audio format - ie, the surround channels are derived from within a simple stereo track and that track does not necessarily need to be enclosed in a Dolby wrapper. I suspect everything is behaving as it should be, you may just need to tell your amp to apply a pro logic decoder to a stereo PCM input.
I checked the audio stream using MediaInfo as you suggested and it says 384 kb/s, 48.0 kHz, 6 channels, AAC LC and then tried changing the settings in the receiver to correct it, and you were absolutely right. Right now I'm watching a series and it sometimes stops for a few seconds, like if it is buffering for a few seconds. Is that normal? Btw one feature I have not been able to find is a timeout screen saver that automatically activates when not in use. Is there such a feature in the player? I need that to protect my display from screen burns.
Well, I read that there is no screen saver and that is one feature that lots of users are waiting for. Strange that they did mot included since that is one very important feature that most other players have.
