Thanks for watching the video, I hope you enjoyed it - even 30 minutes long you cant cover everything for a product like this. I forgot to talk about how you can access your files in many different ways across the network or USB drives plugged into it, you don't need to use internal hard drives if you don't want to.
zidoo still isn't a home theater like you said. I have a 7.4.4 using Arcam AVR5, and 2.2 music using Eversolo DMP-A6. Matching LCR speakers (e.g., GoldenEar BRX). For movies, add an AppleTV4k, a couple of external amps and you're done (NAD C298, Parasound 2125v2. For excellent music, add an Apple Music lossless, linear power supply for Eversolo, external DDC Denafrips Iris 12th, external DAC Denafrips Pontus II 12th-1, IsoAcoustics pucks, Cardas Parsec cables, iFi Supanova power cable.
It always annoys me when I find HiFi companies thinking typical homes have a separate listening room and home theatre room. If you want an excellent music system, you need excellent stereo speakers that easily can also serve in a surround setup. With modern audiophile listening increasingly is done through lossless streaming, you have zero argument of doing audio processing in one hardware covering both a stereo mode and surround modes. Lossless streaming to your DAC makes the digital side a non-topic. Then comes the question about DAC. But it's not hard to do an 8 channel DAC with modern leading chipsets either. No need for a pre-amp. The rest is just standard HiFi stuff. This product seems to have got it right. But look at PS Audio and other companies still stuck in ancient architectures. Who the heck needs a pre-amp when streaming takes 100% of the music listening for most of us nowadays?
This is the best review of the Zidoo UHD8000 I have seen. Thank you for adding the points about how to and how long it takes to rip a disc and the pitfalls of getting a Disc Ripped for novices like myself. I have a vast 4 K, Blu-ray, and DVD disc collection and a massive CD collection, and having it all in one place ready to go is a solution I have been looking for. And this is (pun intended) the perfect system. You have one of the best and most reliable RU-vid channels. Thank you for sharing your experience.
I'm quite certain I'm the only person who looked at this thing and was *immediately* transported to the late 1980s and the venerable Bryston 2BLP power amp, but there it is. I absolutely ADORED that amp. So much so that I've been tempted to buy one all these years later, just to HAVE it.
Brilliant review dear Terry 👏 Real High quality YT content 🙏 thank you for all your incredible hard work 💯 Even your early stuff is superb 👌You are a good soul, as is.., all those who connect with you here ✨
Really nice review. I own the Zidoo UHD3000 and love it. Also love how you can make your own groups of discs. Such as I made a whole category just for all my music concert videos.
Great review! Many people have large tvs and projector screens and also like to listen to music. Why watch on a tiny screen across the room when you have a 65” or larger in front of you? Most of the dedicated streamers for audiophiles won’t do Dolby Atmos despite there being some pretty incredible music being recorded. This device opens up so many possibilities.
The killer feature of this is that it supports Dolby Atmos over Tidal Connect: There is no other product that does this as far as I know. The only alternative is using an iPhone with Apple Music and an Apple TV.
Excellent review. Much better than the other reviews I’ve watched so far. I have the unit as well and I only have two issues: 1. Dolby Atmos for Apple Music doesn’t work for me and 2. I have over 200 unmatched videos. Didn’t have this issue with Plex with my Appletv.
Thank you, I didn't try the Dolby Atmos music, I assume you have it turned on in the menu? I did mention it doesn't always get the disc right - thats why I spoke about the importance of the ripping and library management, it seems to go from the disc title and reference against a library. Also that its not perfect right at the moment but I am confident it will get software updates to fix any bugs if Eversolo products are anything to go by
All the settings were correct. Their support said it’s something on their side that they are trying to fix. The unmatched videos were just older video files stored as mp4 and mkv. Anyway, I loved your review from an audiophile’s perspective.
@@zidoo8486 not quite. It doesn't normalize the sound btw dolby atmos tracks and stereo tracks. The difference is sound levels is dramatic to the point that it's unlistentable to have a playlist of songs in both formats. I'm going to continue to use my AppleTV since it doesn't have that issue unfortunately.
All worth it. The physical media will fail and or the Blu-ray player optics will die too. I am glad you went through the full journey on Zidoo all in one player. The dual HDMI is the game changer of the Zidoo.
Interesting product. It doesn’t appear to have any fans which could be good or bad. Good for noise perhaps but maybe not so good for hard drive lifespan. Anyway, thanks for the review. Definitely a product to consider.
There is a fan built into the underneath I am pretty sure I didn't show it sorry - there is a fan control in the menu too I just checked as I am watching the 8000 now testing a new UST projector ;)
When I found out about this device, I was more than delighted, and then after watching a few reviews, my enthusiasm melted away! The first disappointment was that it only reads hard disks up to 16 TB, and the second reason why this device was removed from the wish list is the inability to support 3D movies! the horror! ZIDOO, why such a stupid decision!?!? I have over 500 movies in 3D format on my hard drive and I know there are many more of us who love 3D movies! I am very disappointed! 😭
I have never seen a hard drive larger than 16tb so that is interesting. But you can always store your movies on a nas or a computer when your 32tb is full and access them all the same. 3d sucks for the very small number of people that still watches 3d movies. You can’t please everyone :)
I love AV players😊. It is perfect solution for bedroom.💪😊. I have old Popcorn Hour A-410 bought use for about 80 euro and it spend all my needs. It is my second sound system at home and it is great😀😀😀.
A product like this seems like one for the future. Zidoo/eversolo should embedd a ripping software on the system. Mush like the how you rip CDs on the eversolo.
I have had mine for a week now and love it. My only complaint is having to fix incorrectly match posters with the remote. It's kind of cumbersome. I wish I could do it with the App. I did get a little bluetooth keyboard off amazon for $17 today. Maybe that will make it easier. By the way I did get Furiosa to rip with Makemkv a few days ago so they have decoded it now.
Thanks Stephen, I will give the Furiosa RIP another try this weekend as I am looking forward to seeing it while I have the PJ all setup. Top man thanks.
This the best and exciting review I saw so far on RU-vid and watch all of them. Thank you . Can you confirm the zidoo has a better picture than Oppo 203 ? Does the zidoo has a source direct? And last what hdmi cable did you use for your review?
Its hard to say its better than the oppo but its as good or maybe a touch better - purely subjective, the picture is excellent. I have not seen a source direct mode For HDMI I was using a Kabel direct 5 metre geni.us/meX4W
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I may have to get a loan unit to tried, I like my. Oppo but zidoo h8000 seems to be what I need , I rip movies only , no streaming. Thanks for the links, I usually use Qed or Audioquest , I may tried this cable next week .
Can you use 3.5" SSDs in it? Using those big old spinning drives is so last century. Even SSDs are old tech now with available and much faster flash storage. Sure, old drives are cheaper but maybe they'll offer dual 8Tb flash storage built in someday...?
Thank you for the review. Could you please clarify: can I output the audio from this device via Bluetooth (or airPlay)? I need this because I am planning to install the video streamer next to the projector, at the back end of a large living room whereas the audio needs to be played by my hi-fi system installed in the front end of the room, under the projection screen, so the audio needs to travel by air.
Thats is not the way to do it, install it by the hifi and run a long hdmi cable to the projector for picture - that is the best way I appreciate its not what you are saying but try and make that work if you can you will be thankful you did
If you are not going to use it as a DAC for music, then you should get the UHD3000 Pro 9K for half the price. I did that because I would not benefit from buying the 8000, and they are identical in every way for movies.
zidoo still isn't a home theater like you said. I have a 7.4.4 using Arcam AVR5, and 2.2 music using Eversolo DMP-A6. For movies, add an AppleTV4k, a couple of external amps and you're done (NAD C298, Parasound 2125v2. Matching LCR speakers (e.g., GoldenEar BRX). For excellent music, add an Apple Music lossless, linear power supply for Eversolo, external DDC Denafrips Iris 12th, external DAC Denafrips Pontus II 12th-1, IsoAcoustics pucks, Cardas Parsec cables, iFi Supanova power cable.
It’s not a whole home theatre it’s a music and home theatre source combined so it betters your a6 and puts your whole movie library in front of you all the time with lovely visuals with a performance that bests an upgraded linear power supply oppo. That’s a cool thing
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Nice review. But movie ripping is a pain (copy protection software, time, fixing the meta data) like you said. It's easier for me to just buy physical media for action movies (better sound than streaming) for my Panasonic 4k player, although picture quality is the same as streaming (especially on Apple TV) to me.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I've never been into the movie ripping because it's so time consuming, when I'm not really going to watch it again as often as i listen to the same songs again.
yeah the ripping is a PIA but it only something you do once if you have a back up and then your golden. I think it depends in the screen. I have done quite a bit if testing of an apple tv vs my oppo on a 4 metre screen and its not close then at all but thats quite an extreme example
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I'm watching on a 150in screen using the Epson 2250 projector at 16' from the screen. Today's action movies have their digital intermediate at 1080P, so I've compared my 1080P projector to the ViewSonic LX700-4K projector and mine looked better with its higher contrast versus the Viewsonic's higher resolution.
Is there an easy way to switch between watching movie (using hdmi main out ), and then listening to music (using analogue output to AVR). As, if you switch the AVR source to the zidoo's analog output then you cant watch album art etc on tv screen. and if you listen music via hdmi main then you are not using the inbuilt ess DAC.
If you feed the signal into an avr it’s very likely converting the signal digital anyway in the avr so it’s not advised to use the analogue outs. I would test the digital outs and see if that sounds better. The analogue output is really for sending the signal to a power amplifier or hifi integrated amplifier. Might be worth checking this out
Best review of zidoo so far. Have the oppo 203 and it is starting to get old so looking for alternatives. It says a lot of the 203 that you need to replace it with something atleast twice the price. Considering a panasonic BD player forcdisc playback and a zidoo for media streaming. Have you tested the magnetar 800. A zidoo 3000 pro + panasonic 9000 is about same price. Using makemkv for most discs but have dvdfab for the times you have some copy protection that have the multiple stream copy protection where it is impossible to find the right stream. Using the asus dht16 with original firmware and also just bought another from a friend for backup. Also running a qnap NAS so maybe just buy a BD player for disc playback and using the 203 for network media and buying a media streamer later.
Yes you possibly could but I really dont think you need to, the experience is excellent even with slow hard drives, I think 7200s would be enough but yes your likely right
,my EMOTIVA RMC-1 (version 3.2) in DOLBY 7..3.4 paired with INTEGRA RESEARCH RDA 7 is above my high end INTEGRA RESEARCH RDC-7.1 +RDA-7 in music in DOLBY PL2. The EMOTIVA sound like a tube preamp ( because the 16 dac AKM4490 in parallel mode).. the RDC sounded very good but not very high end like EMOTIVA.. sound very good in pure audio too (both of them). All sound the same with viny, can,t heard a difference..dac sound so perfect nowl
How do you connect this VIA wifi to a computer or server? I have a plex server and Zidoo has always seemed interesting but it looks like it may be complicated to direct this to a folder or server.
You have access to a folder navigation page and you can search internal or what ls on your network in a couple of different ways. Select the folder or file for music and movies and it imports the “data” and organises it for you to browse with extra metadata. That’s the cool bit for me
Samba is what you see when you search for the UHD8000 from a computer, so you dont create a folder for it as its already created when you enable it in the menu. I think it should just find your network and what is on it. It found my mac just fine but I dont have any content on it., so that is all I tested
I run my home cinema thru a Denon reciver, like normal, with chromecast and a Blu-ray player as source. Then I run the fronts and the subs thru an Nad M32. So when I only play music it's only thru the M32 and bluesound card and when I watch movies/TV the source runs thru the receiver. Best of both worlds, and I can run everything thru the Denon and bluesound app on my phone. Haven't seen this done a lot, but it's a great way to get the best of both worlds with one system. IMO.
This would replace the blu ray player the blus os and give you all your discs in a streaming type of format where you can select them all from the library visually lovely and it might outperform all those units too. That is why this stands out
By the time I bought several drives a drive caddy some discs several software this review cost me around £400 to complete and it was several weeks work, so I paid to do it, not the other way around.
I'm not even interested in the uhd 8000. I still watched until the end. I guess it must be the presentation or perhaps the delivery of the presentation! Next time I watch one of your lengthy videos, I'm gonna make sure I'm interested in it first. I think you're getting a little bit too good for this 🎉
High end streaming doesn't exist yet, its more compression on compression to begin with. UHD blu ray is the best quality source and its mega compressed. Streaming more so, especially the audio. The potential is there for high end streaming of huge less/ uncompressed files but we are not getting it yet. To put some perspective on this a 4K UHD is around 50GB on average - if you watch a movie from Disney or Netflix there is no way your getting sent that much data for the file, it would hammer peoples internet too much and the source of it all. Its mega compressed and its amazing how good it is still. Now some greater perspective 50GB seems like a lot of data but the video you are watching started off off around 450GB with all the B roll and then due to H.265 compression ended up at 10gb to upload to RU-vid which compresses it again. So from where we start to what we see even from Hollywood is still at a massive data loss. One day images will be so much better than what they are today when there is not the need for such heavy compression
@@PursuitPerfectSystem holy moly, I need to pay more attention 🤣🤣. I'm not a fan of the dac output either (for my tastes) now I need to play around with it.!
For the price difference you could buy this and every 4k blu ray available to fill it up with and still have money left over and get a close experience as well, says a lot about it
Old school hard drives are still the most cost effective way for high TB storage that you want for a product like this, similar to how they are used in a NAS
