Z9X 8K/Z30 PRO/Z3000 PRO/UHD8000 First Impressions

Seen some comments already about how DV looks better on the new generation of players. Anyone that switched from the BDP players notice an improvement in PQ? (sorry if it's been asked before, couldn't find the responce). I currently own a z2000 pro and have almost no complaints. Just wandered if what some people are saying isn't just the hype around these new players talking.

 

What I would also like to know is whether it is worth taking the leap and buying this new zidoo range

 

We can agree to disagree on this. In my opinion bluray menu functionality is much improved. Not perfect and I'm OK with that. I don't really want Zidoo to take time away from more important issues. But as it stands I'm more than happy with the current implementation.

If I wanted near perfect menus I would get a Dune. But I don't want a Dune!

 

I wholeheartedly agree. I rip the main feature only. And if we want to have a look again at the extras, just loading the original Blu-rays into the Sony 4K player will do the job.

 

Sono d'accordo. In questo modo puoi sfruttare al meglio entrambe le tecnologie in base alle tue esigenze.

 

No more 2.35 display function ?

 

A fix for File Manager not to show hidden directories (system volume information, Lost.dir, $recycle.bin etc) real pet hate for me.

 

They said improved so it’s not a lie, it never said perfect. In regards to media players over the many years I’ve bought these I’ve learnt to take these claims as guides, lower my expectations, then be pleased at what these things actually deliver, that way you’ll never be disappointed.

 

Unless I misunderstand you, it's always been there.

 

Im also curious if anyone uses the HDR to SDR conversion with VS10. I observed a decent improvement from the z9x pro compared to the z9x. Im sure its pretty difficult to determine, but if anyone tests this feature out and has any feedback Id be glad to hear!

 

Last week, parcel post said they were not able to access the building. Yet, I was next door (three feet from my front door in the same building, and they handed me a pkg for my neighbor at the same time they said they couldn't get into the building??? For me, they do this every time the package is heavy. FedX never seems to have issues. They delivered my unit very quickly and the box is in perfect condition. Never seen so much packing tape on a box before.

 

several yrs ago when I got my Samsung phone, I did not know that it put any pics onto the web for viewing by anyone who wanted to see them unless I set it not too. All my pics were there for all the world to see.

 

any is an exaggeration and the new dune 8k stutters and has some other issues. All players have issues.

 

Have not set mine up yet. But can say the Dune 8k although they claim to have fixed this issue, still puts them on the drive every time.

 

Can anyone comment on whether the 5.1 PCM issues (some audio tracks play through the wrong speakers) have been fixed in the new devices? And are the audio tracks correctly identified/labeled in the menus now?

 

I'd like to know this also. I only have a handful of BDs with (L)PCM 5.1 audio and can confirm that the channel assignment is all messed up when playing these MKVs via the Z9X.

 

Got my Z9X 8K today, didn't have much time to test it out but from first impressions it's definitely not as stable as my Z9X Pro on playback, which was to be expected. Playback in general seems better than on the Dune Pro One 8K though, for example vp9 hdr actually works and I didn't see any lip synch or skips in the very fast tests I did on UHD blu-ray MKVs. My two Zidoo players are the only ones without any lip synch which is commendable.

VC-1 has the same buggy blocks on interludes on austin powers 1 as the Dune Pro One 8K which confirms it's a HW decoder bug on the S928X since the bugs are identical on both. Also, the playback of austin powers VC-1 in general is choppy. Perfect on Z9X Pro. No stuttering resume bug on VC-1 like on the Z9X Pro though.

I checked my test video for oversharpening and don't see any compared to Dune Por One 8K which clearly oversharpens but I need to test more to confirm. That's a good thing for me.

I will post the list of problems I have found out already later when I test more.

The main thing that disappoints me but that's something I PERSONALLY love about the Z9X Pro and most will probably not care but the chapter skipping and moving around in the video is not as snappy as on the Z9X Pro at all. There's a pause before it resumes and when it resumes there's frame skips before it stabilizes. On the Z9x Pro it's instant on any encoding format (VC-1, AV1, HEVC, etc. anything) and no skips on resume.

Starting a video does not flick twice anymore though where the video starts playing and then the TV sync framerate happens and the TV flicks black and returns to playback like on the Z9X Pro so that's a plus. Dune has that for years now.

Also, when you pop up the blue bar on the bottom to scan in the file or you pop up the playback information the video stutters until you close the overlays. This is something I don't expect from a quality media player. I am not sure it does it on 4k 24fps at first glance but it does it on 29.97 fps videos in my fast tests. Hope this will be fixed.

I seem negative here but all in all the player seems pretty good already but I just want to point out the problems I found so far.

That Plex internal app is pretty neat and functional. It's basic compared to ZidooPlexMod on the Z9X Pro but still pretty darn good. I will try kodi + plexmod4kodi + Zidoo internal player but I am unsure we can do this right now if we can't access the files in the kodi directory to force the zidoo internal player on it if it's even possible right now as we need to know what program name to put in the xml file.

@Markswift2003 , do you think the snappiness of moving in files during playback is something Zidoo can improve and make it like the Z9X Pro since these are early days for the Z9X 8K?

P.S. I did more tests and the playback is really solid. VC-1 seems to stutter but the rest looks good so far, maybe I saw 1 stutter in the witcher h265. Also, the PQ seems better than Z9X Pro, sharper a little but not oversharpened like the Dune Pro One 8K.

 

Got my Z9X 8K in today, earlier than I expected, and I’m pleased to find that the PCM 5.1 tracks are coming through as they should, at least for Foo Fighters at Wembley and AC/DC at Donington. I have a lot of older PCM concerts and I was really bummed to listen to the lossy tracks. It’s great to see that this issue seems to have been resolved.

 

Doesn't work if the drive has been formatted on PC or is a USB drive that gets connected to PC for file transfer. Plus you get a Android directory created on drives, pretty sure you really don't need to see that either.

Ok it not a life changer but a bit annoying

 

Got my Z3000 today, full day earlier than I thought, so that was awesome.. So far for what I use it for Primary movie watching, its been great, having the UI in 4K been amazing and to jump in and out of films so fast compared to my Z1000 been a delight.
Also notice an improved picture quality?.. maybe it's just me wanting it to be better..lol Only thing was I had to update to the google play store.. only way to get my VPN service installed.. no way to side load that one.

But for a day one thing.. no real complaints yet except I wish it still had the hard drive port on the side, not a biggie as I moved the files to the NAS