Zidoo UHD8000 8K UHD Media Player Review
Table of contents
In today's digital age, the way we consume media has dramatically evolved. More and more people are transitioning away from their extensive Blu-ray collections, opting instead for the convenience and efficiency of media players. It's no surprise why; managing a couple of hard drives or a network-attached storage (NAS) system is far simpler than housing hundreds of discs and their cases.
Several options are available when it comes to consuming media. You can stick with your collection of physical discs, though this can be bulky and less convenient. Streaming services offer another avenue, but they often compromise on quality. Then there's Kaleidescape, a premium option that delivers top-tier performance but comes with a hefty price tag. Finally, media players offer a balanced solution, providing high-quality playback without the expense of physical bulk.
Zidoo has recently launched a new line of 8K media players, powered by the new Amlogic S928X-K chipset. This lineup includes four models, each catering to different levels of media enthusiasts. The entry-level Z9X 8K provides a solid foundation, while the Z30 Pro offers additional features and performance. Moving up, the Z3000 Pro brings even more advanced capabilities. At the top of the lineup is the flagship model, the UHD8000, which we will be reviewing in detail below.
Specifications
The recently released Zidoo UHD8000 media player is the company’s new media player that supports Dolby Vision, HDR10, and HDR10+, powered by the new Amlogic S928X-K chipset. The device includes hidden dual internal hard drive bays, accommodating up to two 22TB drives for a total of 44TB for movies, TV shows, and other media files.
The Zidoo UHD8000 supports a variety of video file formats, including MKV, BD, and UHD ISO files with full and quick access to BD/UHD menus, and BDMV files. It also handles high-resolution audio files such as DSF, DFF, SACD, AIFF, FLAC, and WAV. For playback capabilities, it supports advanced audio formats like Dolby Atmos and DTS:X but it does not include support for 3D playback.
The player is equipped with 8GB of RAM and 64GB of eMMC internal storage, supports both 8K video output and upscaling, and offers WiFi 6 connectivity. One of the major drawbacks of media players from previous years was their inability to handle Dolby Vision playback effectively. The Zidoo UHD8000 addresses this issue by supporting the playback of BDMV and ISO files across various Dolby Vision profiles, including P4, P5, P7 MEL and FEL, and P8. The VS10 engine found on the UHD8000 enables the device to convert standard dynamic range (SDR) content to high dynamic range (HDR) content and vice versa, utilizing 12-bit video processing based on your display's capabilities.
The Zidoo UHD8000 supports Bluetooth 5.2. It also comes preloaded with a variety of apps, including popular music streaming services like Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music, Deezer, Apple Music, and Spotify. The apps in the “Music Service” section are integrated by Zidoo using APIs. In the "Music Apps" section, Zidoo offers shortcuts for quick downloads of these third-party music apps.
For video content, it supports apps such as Emby, Jellyfin, and Plex, making it easy to access and manage your media library. The Zidoo UHD8000 can also function as a network music streamer, supporting Tidal Connect and DLNA casting. This allows you to use music streaming apps installed on other devices within the same local network to wirelessly stream or cast music to the UHD8000.
As the flagship model, the Zidoo UHD8000 is designed with separate power supplies for its digital and analog circuits. It also features an ESS9069Q DAC, supporting up to DSD512 and PCM 768@32-bit for audio decoding. By connecting an external music streamer via USB, the UHD8000 can serve as a high-performance audio decoder.
Design
The Zidoo UHD8000 features a ribbed aluminum alloy body, reminiscent of a high-end Blu-ray player, characterized by its superior build quality and sleek design. The front panel includes a large LED display in the middle, which can display the current time, elapsed time in a movie, or the remaining time. The power button, which lights up when the device is on, is located on the right side, along with a USB 2.0 port in the right corner. The entire front panel folds down to provide access to the dual HDD bays.
The back of the Zidoo UHD8000 offers a variety of options, including two USB 3.0 ports, an RS232 port, dual HDMI outputs (the main one supporting HDMI 2.1 and the other one for audio only), and an Ethernet port capable of speeds up to 1000 Mb/s. Additionally, there are IR input, trigger out, coaxial, and optical outputs.
On the right side, you'll find balanced and unbalanced audio outputs. The power cable is detachable for easy setup. The upper section of the rear panel is reserved for attaching the Wi-Fi and RF antennas. The player weighs approximately 13 pounds and measures 16.9-inches wide, 12.2-inches deep, and 3.1-inches tall.
The remote control provided with the Zidoo UHD8000 is thoughtfully designed, encompassing all the essential features. It includes a backlit design and is equipped with various shortcut buttons for quick access to functions like subtitles, play/pause, audio tracks, and information. You can skip forward or backward using the directional pad in the middle of the remote.
Setup
At the core of the system is the company's video media player software, known as Poster Wall, which operates on an Android 11-based platform. When you power on the Zidoo UHD8000, you are taken to the home page. Here, you will find icons for the Media Center/File Manager, which allows you to manage your files and access your HDD and networks. The next option is the Poster Wall, where you can organize and manage all your movies. I'll go into more detail about the Poster Wall below.
Next is the Music Player, followed by the App section, which includes pre-installed apps such as Chrome Browser. Adjacent to that is the Settings menu, where you can adjust various settings for optimal playback. Under playback settings, you can set the auto frame rate to match the frame rate only or both the frame rate and resolution. There is also a forced subtitle setting that defaults to "Auto," which turned on subtitles for everything I watched, so I switched it to "Follow Flag," which only shows subtitles when needed.
For watching HDR material, you’ll need to change the HDMI Signal Format from Standard to Enhanced under color settings. Lastly, under audio settings, you should change the HDMI main port setting to RAW if you plan to use Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. By default, it is set to Auto, but for these formats, RAW is the preferred setting. Other settings, such as menu resolution (1080p or 4K) and overall resolution (up to 8K), are personal preferences, which can be changed as desired.
One setting that stands out and sets this player apart from others is the Samba Server setting. If you plan on using internal hard drives, constantly removing and plugging them into your computer to add movies can be a pain. With Samba Server, you can transfer your files from your computer to your hard drive over the network. I tested this with both BDMV and MKV files, and it worked flawlessly. Transferring a 68GB file took an extra minute or two, but it was worth it to avoid the hassle of physically removing the hard drive.
The Zidoo UHD8000 includes the Poster Wall software at no extra cost. This software scans your video files, whether stored on a local drive connected to the UHD8000 or accessible via a NAS on the local network. Poster Wall then gathers cover art, backgrounds, and detailed information such as cast, director, release date, and ratings for each file. Users can easily browse movies by genre, sort them by rating, duration, or release date, read synopses, watch trailers, and play the movie with a simple press of a button.
Poster Wall improves the browsing experience by leveraging a fanart database along with TMDB for a variety of options. The user interface also allows direct filtering and sorting from categories to recently watched, or newly added. There’s also a search option that showcases movies featuring specific actors or directors.
Setting up the Zidoo UHD8000 is pretty simple. I used an HDD loaded with about 234 movies, ranging from Blu-ray comedies in MKV format to 4K HDR Dolby Vision ISO and BDMV files. After integrating the HDD with the player, the next step is navigating to the Poster Wall section.
From there, you’ll click on the hard drive icon in the top right corner and select "Add Source." Find the drive you want to add from the list and choose the folder you want to include. I have separate folders for Movies and TV Series. Once selected, a pop-up menu with scanning settings will appear. I kept it on "intelligent" for testing, which worked quite well. My collection of 234 movies was indexed in about nine minutes, with the system seamlessly cataloging each file by name and type from my hard drive.
You can then personalize the poster and background images for each movie. By default, the player will group a movie that is part of a saga with the rest of the titles automatically. If you only have one movie from a collection, you can pull the individual title from the collection to show as a single movie on the poster wall.
Within the Poster Wall app, you can sort your media by All, Movies, or TV. There is also a section for unmatched movies. A neat feature called Bored Mode offers two options: you can spin a wheel to randomly select a movie from your collection, or you can let the app randomly pick and start playing one for you. You can customize the view of your movies with a resolution banner and a rating flag on the top left, which can be turned off if you prefer a cleaner look, as I did.
The app offers three views to showcase your movies: Classic Mode, Cover Mode, and List Mode. In Classic Mode, all the movie posters are displayed in a grid. In Cover Mode, you can scroll through a list of movies while the selected movie's information is shown in the top left corner, with a summary and actors displayed on the left-hand side. In List Mode, the movies are listed on the left-hand side, with detailed movie information on the right-hand side.
The player performed well in identifying titles and accurately recognized most of my collection. Out of 234 titles, only six required manual adjustments. These include Blade (1997), which was mistaken for the new Marvel Blade, and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which had a very different Far From Home poster. You can access the information section from the poster, where the player prompts you to identify the titles. You can then input the name of the movie you're trying to identify, and a list of potential matches appears below, allowing you to select the correct one. The update takes effect immediately.
While this process is straightforward on the player itself, the company also offers a mobile application for iPhones and Android phones that mirrors the player's interface. The app displays detailed information about each movie, including the title format, video information, bitrate, and audio format. You can also play, pause, and switch movies directly from the app. This feature makes it more convenient to choose something to watch before you actually sit down to watch a movie.
Performance
Once everything was set up and running smoothly, I found the experience of using the system to be really enjoyable. The image quality was comparable to, if not slightly sharper than the Sony 1100es Blu-ray player I used for comparison. During my time with the player, I didn't notice any discernible quality loss in movie or TV show playback when compared to their disc counterparts.
Setting the player to output at a fixed resolution, such as upscaling everything to Dolby Vision with the VS10 processing, provided a seamless viewing experience without any notable issues. I also tested Dolby Vision playback with several titles, including "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," and the player handled Dolby Vision using the P7 profile well.
Navigating through the menus was a breeze. The player was responsive, showing no lag or glitches throughout my two-and-a-half weeks of testing. It does take a moment to load the movie posters the first time you scroll through your entire collection, but after that, it's quick. I did notice that if I turned off the player, it would have to reload the movie posters again, whereas if I left the unit on, the posters would stay cached.
Having a JVC NZ9 on hand allowed me to test the player's 8K capabilities. It not only plays back 8K content but also upscales 4K footage to 8K. This was particularly noticeable in the opening scene of "Chappie," where the close-ups of the robots were rendered with increased detail compared to the regular 4K version.
With the new Amlogic S928X-K chipset, the UHD8000 includes AI Image Processing with two options: AI PQ and AI Super Image. The AI PQ enhancement uses artificial intelligence to identify content scenes and adjusts color saturation, brightness, and sharpness frame by frame. This seemed to work on all types of content whether it be 1080p or 4K. AI Super Image improves the resolution, making the picture clearer, but during my testing, it only worked with 1080p content and automatically turned off with 4K content.
While playing a movie, you can quickly access the AI Image Processing settings, which offer three options: High, Medium, and Low. I found that leaving AI Super Image on Medium made the image a bit sharper with minimal ringing. However, I wasn't a huge fan of AI PQ, as it oversaturated the picture and made skin tones look somewhat orange, but this is based on personal preference.
Playback of ISO and BDMV files, which include the disc's menu, can often present challenges. However, this player managed menu playback flawlessly, with the exception of one ISO file. In the section where all the movie information is displayed, there's a convenient feature that lets you choose between jumping straight into the movie or exploring the menu section if you’re using an ISO or BDMV file.
Moving on to the DAC performance, I evaluated it using a Martin Logan Motion XT-200 setup. Listening to the Dire Straits "Money For Nothing" on SACD in two-channel mode showcased a clear and detailed sound. The delivery captured the guitar and vocals beautifully, reflecting a well-balanced audio reproduction with a neutral yet dynamic tone.
Conclusion
The Zidoo UHD8000 distinguishes itself as a high-quality media player, delivering impressive performance and a comprehensive feature set. With 8K playback, AI image processing, and exceptional audio decoding capabilities, it meets the needs of any media enthusiast would have. The inclusion of the Poster Wall software and a user-friendly mobile app further improves the ease of managing and enjoying your media library.
Priced at $1,499, the UHD8000 offers a premium experience that stands out in terms of performance and features. Its ability to handle a wide array of video and audio formats with remarkable playback quality sets it apart from the competition.
Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
Simple setup | No 3D playback support |
Visually appealing interface | Premium pricing |
Exceptional media playback quality | Occasional movie misidentifications |
Convenient mobile app control |
FAQ
What is an MKV file?
An MKV file, or Matroska Video file, is a multimedia container format that can hold an unlimited number of video, audio, picture, and subtitle tracks within a single file. It's commonly used for storing high-quality video content, such as movies and TV shows because it supports various codecs and allows for efficient compression. MKV files are known for their flexibility and wide compatibility with media players and streaming devices.
What is a BDMV file?
A BDMV file is a Blu-ray Disc Movie Information file. It contains information about the contents of a Blu-ray disc, including the structure of the disc, movie playlists, and navigation details. BDMV files are part of the Blu-ray Disc folder structure, typically found in the BDMV directory, and are essential for the playback of Blu-ray movies on compatible devices.
What is Dolby Vision FEL?
Certain Dolby Vision profiles operate on a dual-layer system, such as profile 7, which is utilized for Ultra HD Blu-ray. This system comprises a base layer (BL) and an enhancement layer (EL) that work together to create a 12-bit video stream. The enhancement layer may be categorized as either a full enhancement layer (FEL) or a minimum enhancement layer (MEL).
