JellyfinToZidoo - Native Zidoo Playback for Jellyfin with Support for Intro Skip, Next Up, and More!

Hey everyone,

For those of you running Jellyfin instead of (or alongside) Plex, I've built JellyfinToZidoo , an app that bridges any Jellyfin client to the native Zidoo player so you get full hardware decoding (Dolby Vision, DTS, TrueHD, etc.) instead of being stuck with software playback.

This project is built on top of PlexToZidoo by bowlingbeeg, which did the hard work of figuring out the Zidoo player integration, SMB playback pipeline, and path substitution logic. Huge thanks to bowlingbeeg and the PlexToZidoo contributors for laying that groundwork. JellyfinToZidoo adapts all of that for the Jellyfin ecosystem and adds several new features on top, including a custom "Next-Up" screen with a countdown between episodes for binge watching.

The problem it solves: Jellyfin clients on Android TV don't take advantage of the Zidoo's native video processing hardware. JellyfinToZidoo acts as a middle layer, your Jellyfin client hands off playback to the app, which translates the server file path into an SMB URI via path substitution, then launches the native Zidoo player directly. The result is proper hardware decoding and direct file access including internal/external subtitles.

What it does:

• Native Zidoo playback via SMB with full hardware video processing
• Automatic watch state sync - progress, watched status, and resume position all report back to Jellyfin
• Up Next countdown screen between episodes
• Binge watching support - each auto-advanced episode is tracked individually
• Intro and credit skip via the Intro Skipper plugin (auto-skip only)
• Audio/subtitle track selections carry through from the Jellyfin client
• Disarm-on-seek - manual seeking disables auto-skip so your intent is respected
• Up to 10 path substitution rules for multi-share setups
• Settings import/export

Full setup instructions, requirements, and releases are on GitHub: https://github.com/magnetgrouplabs/JellyfinToZidoo

If you run into issues or have feature requests, feel free to open an issue. And if it saves you from manually marking episodes as watched - we've all been there - there's a Buy Me a Coffee link on the repo page.

 

Hey, thanks for your effort. This sounds like something I'd want to use, however installing failed.
Your requirements don't list which zidoo devices are supported, at least in theory. Should this work on my Z9X 8K?

Effectively I get 'installation failed' with not much else to go on. Since zidoo prevents ADB sideloading *cough* I can't quite tell what's going on.
I filed an issue - your first and only one

 

Hi @Anthonymkz

Thank you for your work. This is something I would love to use. What hardware is this for before we get all stuck with errors trying to install the app. I have two Z9X players Realtek RTD1619DR.

Currently in order to use hardware acceleration with full subs support I have an old Andy's Jellyfin client for Zidoo. It needs old version of server in order to work correctly. The rest of my devices work on second Jellyfin server with latest version.
If your JellyfinToZidoo app works successfully on my old Z9X, I could essentially move everything to the newer server.

Please let us know what hardware is the app for?

Looking at your page at Github you have "Zidoo needs to have firmware version 6.4.42+ installed " in Requirements. This looks correct for my Zidoo Z9X

 

I just installed official Jellyfin TV client version on my Zidoo Z9X and tried to install JellyfinToZidoo.apk from USB stick. I'm getting error same as puntloos Installation Failed.

I have Zidoo Z9X
Android 9
Software v6.4.68



Note:
PlexToZidoo v.3 installs just fine and it works.

 

Here is debug log file from the installation process. Looks strange, missing something?

After a bit of research I got this error using adb command:
C:\Apps\Scrcpy>adb install JellyfinToZidoo.apk
Performing Streamed Install
adb: failed to install JellyfinToZidoo.apk: Failure [INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES: Failed to collect certificates from /data/app/vmdl866670166.tmp/base.apk: Attempt to get length of null array]

 

Just install the Jellyfin Android TV app and select external player in settings?

What am I missing?

 

Yeah Mark, you probably don't need it. You know the difference, the official Jelly client and external Zidoo will play the stream from the server compared to playing the source file just like using the Home Theater. While there is no difference during the playback (as far as we know) there are some Jelly synch issues with Jelly server but what drives me towards the source file playback is the subs support. From the stream you only get embedded subs, no external files at all and no live online search and download. Going the other way when Zidoo is reading the source file I get full subs support with external files, online search and I can even use Jellyfin client on my phone to search and download subs and they will appear in Zidoo player.

Subs in Zidoo are very well done with offsets, colours, size, position, external files support etc. Not too many players can do that. Typically I don't use subs but on occasion when it's hard to understand the part of conversation or suddenly you get foreign language it's very convenient to download the subs on the fly as needed. Going to PC, downloading subs, embedding them into the movie using MKVTool at that point in the middle of the movie is out of the question.

Now back to JellyfinToZidoo. This may not be a value to everyone but it is a value to some. Using help of AI I managed to install the JellyfinToZidoo.apk It works, comes up with the configuration screen. Now I have another glitch. I don't get the pupup where I can select the player. From Jellyfin client external player it is automatically selected as Zidoo player. No option to select JellyfinToZidoo as a player. Zidoo is set as default external player. I need to find a way to reset default external player. The research will continue. @Anthonymkz did all the hard work, now it's just debugging and polishing to get this baby going

 

I'm stuck here at this selection of external player from Jellyfin client. It supposed to give me a popup window with the selection of installed players. It doesn't. I tried to reset apps, play around with some other settings, installed VLC player, no go. It defaults to Zidoo player without asking. I had similar case where default player was set in FireTV and I couldn't reset it until I removed that player from the device. Don't want to remove Zidoo build in app. Any help? I'm on the last step to get this JellyfinToZidoo going.

 

Hey @Anthonymkz, we need some help here in order to get this app going.

I'm stuck on step 3. from your Set up Instruction on GitHub
3. Set JellyfinToZidoo as your external player
In your Jellyfin client app, configure it to use JellyfinToZidoo as an external video player. The exact steps depend on which client you use:

• Jellyfin for Android TV - Go to Settings > Client Settings > Video Player Type and select "External Player", then choose JellyfinToZidoo when prompted
• Moonfin - Go to Settings > Player and configure the external player option

The problem is that I don't have a way to set JellyfinToZidoo as an external video player. I only have option to select external video player. It automatically select Zidoo Gallery player. How did you get it to select JellyfinToZidoo as an external video player?
I already tried both clients Jellyfin and Moonfin. Installed VLC player. Same results. It plays automatically using Zidoo player when external is selected.

Looks like you are using Z9X PRO. Not sure if Pro allows to select the player or some other programs that I had forced Gallery to be default but it's stuck on my Z9X.

Not sure why Zidoo was rejecting the APK verification for its digital signature, maybe something to do with Android versions. Quick help of uber-apk-signer solved that issue. The app installs and opens to the setup page. Logs and authenticates to Jellyfin server. All good except for point 3 above, no way to select JellyfinToZidoo as the player in any of the clients.

Help!

 

After multiple attempts and long research I managed to get this thing going. I got first successful linked substitution of Jellyfin stream to direct path on my old Zidoo Z9X using native Zidoo player. The format of substitution path is very similar Andy's version of Jelly client.

I resolved the final glitch on my system, got the popup with the player selection and not even sure what did it at the end. There is a bit more info what and how at GitHub PlexToZidoo page here.

Not sure if the app works directly on any Zidoo hardware. If anybody is interested and needs help please let me know.
The app is missing a valid digital signature or the versions are wrong to Android 9.0 This can be fixed with uber-apk-signer.
Next obstacle was selecting JellyfinToZodoo as player. No matter what I did the popup would not come up and Zidoo video player would automatically start.
Today I tried "Default Apps" from Google Play Store, selected JellyfinToZidoo as default player for MP4 files, went through VLC player and settings, followed instructions from PlexToZidoo GitHub page, try to reset and set bunch of apps default settings and at the end I got the popup

JellyfinToZidoo works

 

I got all substitutions done. Zidoo player is reading the source files when launched from Jelly client. I can download and use external subs.
I have one last issue now. It's not updating resume point back to the server and marking the file as watched. Play mode is selected as "Single file" as per instructions.
Has anybody had a successful installation?

 

Finally I got this bridge to work as intended with Plezy Jellyfin client app.
https://forum.zidoo.tv/index.php?th...-solve-your-jellyfin-and-zidoo-issues.103393/