New Zidoo boxes with some sort of Emby streaming compatibility?

[FrostByte 5216]

Zidoo has a line of four new boxes coming out using the Amlogic S928X-K processor.  Thanks @Audiomixerfor giving me a heads-up as I was about to buy the one of the current models. 

On their webpage they mention some sort of support for mounting and streaming from several services with Emby's logo listed.  Not sure exactly what that entails though.

Pic from OS

 

Here's a link to the base model.  If you have a nice sound system you may be interested in one of the 3 upper models.

https://www.zidoo.tv/Product/index/model/Z9X+8K/target/UXVVvon[ld]QlVKKmVViAFMcQ%3D%3D.html

 

Also, if interested there is a long thread in the Zidoo forum with someone who already has a couple of the new models and has been very good at answering questions.  You can preorder from Futeko now or wait and they usually end up on Amazon eventually.

 

 

[Audiomixer 367]

Audio passthrough specs appear the same between the units. OS appears to be android 11.

[FrostByte 5216]

For me mostly it's additional codecs like HDR10+ and AV1 and maybe a few others.  There is actually a lot of HDR10+ media now from streaming services.  Not so much from UHD source. 

I would expect it to be snappier with the newer SOC.  Better picture too from maxcll and maxfall, 12bit color, etc.  I'm reading something about those with nonDV TVs playing DV, but I'm not 100% on how it does that (I know that really doesn't apply to you).  4K display.   

What I don't know is what the Emby experience will be on it.  Most people on the Zidoo forum don't use Emby and just use Zidoo's own software.   There are some posts of people in here though saying they are using their older Zidoo boxes with Emby. 

Plus, I like to play, and the Shield is getting old.

[rbjtech 4919]

Interesting .. but remember the transport protocols it supports will be meaninless unless the Emby clients support them too.

This is the primary reason why I'm still on SE8/Android 9 - because that is the last Android version to support SMB mounting on the Emby Client.   Emby disabled it on SE9/Android 11 ..

SMB is simply far snappier than HTTP - especially with large 4K/8K files as it obviously takes away the 'emby in the middle', meaning you get a direct NAS > Client connection for the stream.

I'm in the market for a new main player as well - not because the Shield is missing anything, but running on an old version of Android is far from ideal ..

Thanks for the info @FrostByte& @Audiomixer 

[FrostByte 5216]

Their player does support SMBv3 to the NAS for playback.  Would think the Emby client would do the same if sideloaded.

Not sure how they are doing what looks like connecting to an Emby server from their client though.  I suppose that part could be HTTP.

The one thing this box isn't for is streaming from places like Netflix, etc.  It's built for playback from NAS, cloud, etc.

[rbjtech 4919]

32 minutes ago, FrostByte said:

Would think the Emby client would do the same if sideloaded.

The only Emby clients capable of direct SMB is Emby Theater (Windows/Linux) and Emby for AndroidTV using SE8/Android 9.    All other clients are HTTP only...

So it unfortunately doesn't really matter if the Zidoo supports SMBv3, the Emby Client can't use it on the majority of clients...

That being said, the native client looks pretty cool, maybe there is some Emby 'Agent' available that syncs playback etc, like Kodi does.    That would be pretty neat, I certainly have no allegiance to the Emby clients, especially the Universal one which imho leaves a lot to be desired ...

edit - Ouch! - they are also a bit pricey !  

Edited July 11, 2024 by rbjtech

[FrostByte 5216]

Ahh ya, totally brain dumped ATV is checking the Android version to determine if it will support smb.  So, technically for the average user who hasn't flashed their Shields like the 3 of us it would be the same.

They are premium devices.  The Z9X is on par with the Shield's price when it first came out, but the others are out there.

 

[rbjtech 4919]

Just now, FrostByte said:

Ahh ya, totally brain dumped ATV is checking the Android version to determine if it will support smb.  So, technically for the average user who hasn't flashed their Shields like the 3 of us it would be the same.

They are premium devices.  The Z9X is on par with the Shield's price when it first came out, but the others are out there.

 

Just been reading the Zidoo thread - the Emby File Manager looks curious ... 

[Luke 39636]

So we have mapped out a plan for Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer, just haven't been able to do them yet.

[rbjtech 4919]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

So we have mapped out a plan for Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer, just haven't been able to do them yet.

Sounds promising - thanks.

[FrostByte 5216]

15 minutes ago, Luke said:

So we have mapped out a plan for Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer, just haven't been able to do them yet.

Excellent, thanks.

Nice to see that they can stream from Emby and the Emby client will eventually support their devices fully.  Shelling out to their player isn't always ideal

Edited July 11, 2024 by FrostByte

[FrostByte 5216]

Just a quick comparison between the SOC in the upcoming Zidoo boxes and the one in the latest nVidia Shields.  

https://gadgetversus.com/processor/amlogic-s928x-vs-nvidia-tegra-x1-plus-t214/

It appears they are very close; one being faster in single threaded processing and the other in multi-threaded processes.  I'm no expert in reading this data though.

 

[Spaceboy 2565]

am i wrong to be a bit disappointed by that? a brand new device only matches a 5 year old nvidia shield? i'm quite keen on a shield upgrade - is this really it?

[rbjtech 4919]

1 hour ago, Spaceboy said:

am i wrong to be a bit disappointed by that? a brand new device only matches a 5 year old nvidia shield? i'm quite keen on a shield upgrade - is this really it?

Agree 100% - I expected the expensive Zidoo boxes to be significantly quicker  ...  I don;t even think the Zidoo's are 64 bit, they are still running a 32 bit OS ...

Tecnically, the latest FireTV sticks and FireTV Cubes also use the 4 x A55 cpu's - so yes, while they noticeably quicker than my Shield Pro in navigation, in general usage and playback, they are no different as you don't need to multitask on a media playback device.

On the Zidoo's, you are basically paying a heavy price for it being a premium/high end metal box, with a lot of software tweaks, but fundamentally, they are using the same CPU/GPU's as a FireTV stick max that costs a fraction of the price.

I can't see me abandoning the Shield Pro just yet ...

Edited July 13, 2024 by rbjtech

[FrostByte 5216]

For me the Shield just isn't a box that can do everything for me now.  I have more and more HDR10+ every day from streaming services like Amazon and I've been avoiding AV1 because I know the Shield won't like that.

What I'm looking for is something that can play additional types of media and has a better PQ.  After 5 years surely something has a better PQ than the Shield.  

 

[FrostByte 5216]

For anyone interested in what the new SOC can do.

• • Support multi-video decoder up to 4x 4Kp60 - this one probably won't mean much to people unless Dolby changes their policy on DV and allows processing of EL.

Quote

Amlogic S928X specifications:
 

• CPU sub-system
  • 1x Arm Cortex-A76 core and 4x Arm Cortex-A55 cores in big.LITTLE configuration
  • NEON and Crypto extensions
  • Private L2 cache and unified system L3 cache
  • Build-in RISC-V core for system control processing
• GPUs
  • Arm Mali-G57 MC2 3D GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.2, and OpenCL 2.0
  • 2.5D graphics processor for scaling, alpha, rotation, and color space conversion operations
• VPU
  • Amlogic Video Engine (AVE) with dedicated hardware decoders and encoders
  • Decoding
    • AV1 MP-10 @ L6.1 up to 8Kp60
    • VP9 Profile-2 @ 6.1 up to 8Kp60
    • H.265 HEVC MP-10 @ L6.1 up to 8Kp60
    • AVS3 Phase 1 up to 8Kp60
    • AVS2-P2 Profile up to 8Kp60
    • H.264 AVC HP @ L5.2 up to 4Kp60
    • MPEG-4, WMV/VC-1, AVS, MPEG-2, MPEG-1 up to 1080p60
    • MJPEG and JPEG unlimited pixel resolution decoding (ISO/IEC-10918)
    • Support multi-video decoder up to 4x 4Kp60
  • Encoding
    • JPEG image encoding up to 4Kp60
    • H.265 video encoding up to 4Kp60 with low latency
    • H.264 video encoding up to 4Kp60 with low latency
  • 8th Generation Advanced Amlogic TruLife Image Engine with support for Dolby Vision (optional), HDR10+, HDR10, HLG, and HDR Vivid processing
• AI accelerator – Up to 3.2 TOPS Neural Network Accelerator (NNA) with Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) architecture, supports TensorFlow and Caffe
• Memory and Storage Interface
  • Up to 8GB RAM DDR4-3200/LPDDR4/4X-4266 SDRAM
  • SDSC/SDHC/SDXC card and SDIO interface with 1-bit and 4-bit data bus width supporting spec version 2.x/3.x/4.x DS/HS modes up to UHS-I SDR104
  • eMMC and MMC card interface with 1/4/8-bit data bus width fully supporting spec version 5.1 HS400 with HW CQ
• Video Output – HDMI 2.1a transmitter including both controller and PHY supporting CEC, Dynamic HDR, and HDCP 2.2/2.3, up to 8Kp60 max resolution output with support for eARC, VRR, QMS, QFT, ALLM, DSC & SBTM (Source-Based Tone Mapping)
• Audio
  • Support for MP3, AAC, WMA, RM, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis, Opus, SRS Truvolume, Dolby Audio (optional), DTS (optional), and programmable with 7.1/5.1 down-mixing
  • Low-power VAD
  • Built-in SPDIF input/output up to 192KHz 16/24/32bit stereo
  • 3x built-in TDM/PCM/I2S ports with TDM/PCM mode up to 48kHz x 32bits x 32ch or 192kHz x 16bits x 16ch and I2S mode up to 384kHz x 32bits x 16ch
  • Digital microphone PDM input with programmable CIC, LPF, HPF, support up to 8 DMICs
  • Built-in stereo audio DAC
• Digital Television Interface
  • 4x serial transport stream (TS) or 2x serial and 1x parallel TS input interface with built-in demux processor for connecting to external digital TV tuner/demodulator
  • Built-in PWM, I2C, and SPI interfaces to control tuner and demodulator
  • Integrated ISO 7816 smart card controller
    Integrated I/O Controllers and Interfaces
• Networking
  • Integrated IEEE 802.3 10/100/1000M Ethernet MAC with RGMII interface
  • WiFi and Bluetooth via PCIe/SDIO/USB/UART/PCM
  • Network interface optimized for mixed WIFI and BT traffic
• USB – 1x USB XHCI OTG 2.0, 2x USB 2.0 host, 1x USB 3.0 (5 Gbps) multiplexed with PCIe 2.0
• PCIe – 1x PCIE 2.0 up to 5Gbps (multiplexed with USB 3.0)
• Other peripherals
  • Multiple PWM, UART, I2C, and SPI interfaces with slave select
  • Programmable IR remote input/output controllers
  • 10-bit SAR ADC with 4 input channels
  • GPIOs
• Misc
  • General-purpose timers, counters, DMA controllers
  • 24 MHz crystal input
  • Embedded debug interface using ICE/JTAG
  • Integrated Power On Reset(POR) module
• Security
  • Trustzone-based Trusted Execution Environment (TEE)
  • Secure boot
  • Crypto Engine
    • AES/block cipher with 128/256-bit keys, standard 16 bytes block size and streaming ECB, CBC, and CTR modes
    • TDES block cipher with ECB and CBC modes supporting 64-bit keys for DES and 192-bit keys for 3DES.
    • SM4 block cipher with ECB, CBC, CTR modes
    • RSA block cipher with 4K-bit keys
    • Hardware crypto key-ladder operation and for transport stream encryption
    • Built-in hardware True Random Number Generator (TRNG), CRC, and SHA-1/SHA-2/HMAC SHA engine
    • Hardware ECC
    • TS descrambler/scrambler and TS demux
  • Built-in 4k bits One-Time-Programming memory for key storage
  • Pre-region/ID memory security control and electric fence
  • Hardware-based Trusted Video Path (TVP), video watermarking, and secured contents (needs SecureOS software)
  • Secured IO and secured clock
• Package – 17 x 16 mm, FCBGA

 

[rbjtech 4919]

13 hours ago, FrostByte said:

For me the Shield just isn't a box that can do everything for me now.  I have more and more HDR10+ every day from streaming services like Amazon and I've been avoiding AV1 because I know the Shield won't like that.

What I'm looking for is something that can play additional types of media and has a better PQ.  After 5 years surely something has a better PQ than the Shield.  

 

I guess a lot depends on your HDR10+ vs Dolby hardware - I abandoned Samsung for TV's many years ago due to their stubborness/contractual obligations not to adopt Dolby Vision despite the rest of the AV industry rapidly adopting it.    Thus all my TV's support DV, thus HDR10+ is not required.   I simply convert HDR10+ to DV8 if that is the only option.

On PQ - Yes, from what I've heard - the Zidoo's should lead here - but if I'm being honest, I've never had an issue with PQ on the Shield but better is always welcome of course

AV1 - Hmm - I don't personally think AV1 is 'going places' and it's 'missed the boat' - 5 years old and the slow adoption of it suggests it will never reach the heights of h264 or h265 as frankly storage and bandwidth are no longer bottlenecks.   Would I buy a new 'Shield' just because it supported AV1 in hardware - probably not..    The same as my main emby server CPU/GPU - would I buy the next Gen because it supported AV1 encode in hardware - again, no, as I have no real need to stream AV1 in low bandwidth, as that is where AV1 shines over h264/h265 - in 'normal' streaming usage at a decent bandwidth, it's advantages are minimal.   8K mainstream may change things but that is years off ..

Edited July 14, 2024 by rbjtech

[next_level 11]

On 11/07/2024 at 18:19, Luke said:

So we have mapped out a plan for Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer, just haven't been able to do them yet.

 

@Luke is there anything we can do to get this to the top of the list. The new Zidoo Z9X 8K is an insane media device, Zidoo have had a go themselves at Emby integration and it works fine BUT obviously your APK is lightyears ahead. Getting exoplayer to understand the Zidoo hardware is the holygrail... if I could beg I would.

[next_level 11]

@Luke as the Emby source code is no longer open it is difficult to help but something simple like this would hook it together --

Dependencies

implementation 'com.google.android.exoplayer:exoplayer:2.15.1'
implementation 'com.squareup.okhttp3:okhttp:4.9.1'
implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.8.7'

UI Layout

<RelativeLayout xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="match_parent"
    android:layout_height="match_parent">
    
    <com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView
        android:id="@+id/player_view"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:layout_centerInParent="true"/>
</RelativeLayout>

MainActivity.java

import android.net.Uri;
import android.os.Bundle;
import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity;
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ExoPlayer;
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.MediaItem;
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.ui.PlayerView;
import com.google.android.exoplayer2.upstream.DefaultHttpDataSource;
import okhttp3.OkHttpClient;
import okhttp3.Request;
import okhttp3.Response;
import java.io.IOException;
import com.google.gson.Gson;

public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {

    private PlayerView playerView;
    private ExoPlayer player;
    private OkHttpClient client = new OkHttpClient();
    private String zidooBaseUrl = "http://your.zidoo.device.ip:9529/ZidooControlCenter/";

    @Override
    protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);

        playerView = findViewById(R.id.player_view);
        initializePlayer();
    }

    private void initializePlayer() {
        player = new ExoPlayer.Builder(this).build();
        playerView.setPlayer(player);

        String videoUrl = getZidooVideoUrl("your_video_id");
        MediaItem mediaItem = new MediaItem.Builder()
                .setUri(videoUrl)
                .build();

        player.setMediaItem(mediaItem);
        player.prepare();
        player.play();
    }

    private String getZidooVideoUrl(String videoId) {
        String url = zidooBaseUrl + "getModel"; // Example API endpoint
        Request request = new Request.Builder()
                .url(url)
                .build();

        try (Response response = client.newCall(request).execute()) {
            if (response.isSuccessful()) {
                String responseBody = response.body().string();
                ZidooResponse zidooResponse = new Gson().fromJson(responseBody, ZidooResponse.class);
                // Use zidooResponse to get the video URL
                return "http://your.video.url"; // Replace with actual video URL
            }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
        return null;
    }

    @Override
    protected void onDestroy() {
        super.onDestroy();
        if (player != null) {
            player.release();
            player = null;
        }
    }

    private class ZidooResponse {
        // Define fields based on Zidoo API response
    }
}
 

--

Its very basic but I cannot see the Emby code.

[rbjtech 4919]

13 hours ago, next_level said:

 

@Luke is there anything we can do to get this to the top of the list. The new Zidoo Z9X 8K is an insane media device, Zidoo have had a go themselves at Emby integration and it works fine BUT obviously your APK is lightyears ahead. Getting exoplayer to understand the Zidoo hardware is the holygrail... if I could beg I would.

@next_levelMay I ask what the current Emby integration is ?

There appears to be some sort of agent on the device - is this simply a data source over http for the built in player ?    is there any further integration such as user permissions etc or is it simply a static data source ?

Thanks !

Edited July 26, 2024 by rbjtech

[next_level 11]

Its a custom

9 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

@next_levelMay I ask what the current Emby integration is ?

There appears to be some sort of agent on the device - is this simply a data source over http for the built in player ?    is there any further integration such as user permissions etc or is it simply a static data source ?

Thanks !

Its a customised version of HT to speak to the Emby api.

[rbjtech 4919]

4 minutes ago, next_level said:

Its a custom

Its a customised version of HT to speak to the Emby api.

I don't own a Zidoo - sorry, what is HT ? 

edit - 'Home Theatre 4' I presume - so it's the normal Zidoo 'interface' but speaking to the emby API - ok, nice.

Edited July 26, 2024 by rbjtech

[next_level 11]

3 minutes ago, rbjtech said:

I don't own a Zidoo - sorry, what is HT ? 

edit - 'Home Theatre 4' I presume - so it's the normal Zidoo 'interface' but speaking to the emby API - ok, nice.

You got it

[next_level 11]

Hi @Luke, have the Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer been added yet for Emby?

[Luke 39636]

On 9/8/2024 at 12:06 PM, next_level said:

Hi @Luke, have the Zidoo-specific customizations to exoplayer been added yet for Emby?

Hi, not yet. On the to do list.