[clarkss12]

Yeah actually I did mean as in streaming over network as in from a NAS. I know these players can play over samba/cifs but I haven't been able to experience the way they index media content and I have some doubts as to how much priority is given to these features in their software.

In my personal experience, the Dune indexer does a fabulous job of indexing my media.  Kodi struggles with some of my TV shows recordings if something is wrong in the naming.  The Dune media player does NOT suffer from that.

The fact that their native video playing software needs better integration with software like Kodi/Plex or other software makes me feel that the best experience is had when only using their own software. Given the longer track record of both Kodi and/or Plex I feel a bit safer knowing that I can rely on this software staying up to date in the long run. Of course given the fact it plays back 8k and most modern codecs it should be fairly future proof but you never know.

Emby allows selection of optional players directly from their menu.  Using the Dune player, Emby just a frontend for the Dune.  Plex does not support that feature, so, it not very functional with the Dune OS. 

Kodi on the other hand works great as is, under the Dune OS.  Using the Kodi v21 (Omega) Pre-release Builds, Everything works perfectly except Dolby Vision videos with "profile 7".  The Kodi player setting has to be changed to DV compatibility mode.  Also, Kodi Omega builds are lacking a lot of addons, including skins, at this time.

I'm also quite happy with my network server indexing media under Plex keeping track of watched content resume positions etc. I feel Plex is the most mature media server not to mention I've been using Plex for tidal integration on Plex but that's a whole different story .... But if you say Emby works well I might give it a go, it's just that I haven't been hearing much from Emby over the years I suppose moreso even now that Jellyfin is out there as well.

I use Trakt to keep track of my watched content, and it works under Kodi Omega.

[banggun]

Was lucky enough to borrow a Zidoo Z9X Pro over the weekend I was interested in it's a performance as it also has the VS10 engine. The thing I noticed and sort of suspected though is that the playback really only goes well when using the internal software from Zidoo. Other players sometimes for some weird reasons would not load DV correctly and then later open it properly on a second attempt. I also noticed that almost all client apps (Jellyfin, Kodi and I think I'm forgetting another) all work in similar ways (I think it's just straight feeding the player the SMB link for proper playback over the network this however kills features like introduction skipping and in some cases gives flaky results with loading subtitles). Again it works fine in the native playback application but it does not communicatie anything back to either Emby, Jellyfin and/or Plex. I do have to say that indeed their media indexing is fairly impressive however I have multiple media players in my home so if all that information is stored per device it's not the most elegant solution.

I'm wondering if the Dune fares any better in this regard especially the ability for Emby to for example skip intros can it be used in any player?

[izprtxqkft]

Was lucky enough to borrow a Zidoo Z9X Pro over the weekend I was interested in it's a performance as it also has the VS10 engine. The thing I noticed and sort of suspected though is that the playback really only goes well when using the internal software from Zidoo

this is 100% accurate

for the Zidoo Z9X Pro -
Jellyfin needs the jellyfin fork https://github.com/Andy2244/jellyfin-androidtv-zidoo
even though a bit out of date it is functional and will resume

Emby can select external player but will not resume because the internal player remembers resume points based on filename and Emby always feeds it a generic filename (server/transcodefile.m3u or some such) so it tries to resume everything from the same point

Zidoo has a Kodi fork which is suppose to leverage the internal player from playercorefactory but it doesn't actually work https://www.mcbluna.net/wp/tag/zdmc/
zdmc can switch refresh rates (but cannot use audio passthrough IIRC)
Kodi 21 master (from mid January) cannot switch refresh rates (but could use audio passthrough IIRC)

but the built-in software is very good as you did find out
i like the VS10 engine for converting SDR and HDR to DV as it looks great on my display, both Zidoo and Dune have this
and the simple modern ui of the Zidoo HT4 is actually quite nice
nfo files are an issue but are supported, issues include it won't load additional artwork from nfo files (only 1 item per type) and it won't load trailers from nfo

i would be curious how the Dune does resuming on files using External Player since it doesn't work for me

Trakt really would be a great option as there are clients for almost everything, jellyfin,emby,kodi and the Zidoo have it (but i haven't tried it in Zidoo yet) and i bet plex does

[clarkss12]

Was lucky enough to borrow a Zidoo Z9X Pro over the weekend I was interested in it's a performance as it also has the VS10 engine. The thing I noticed and sort of suspected though is that the playback really only goes well when using the internal software from Zidoo

this is 100% accurate

Emby can select external player but will not resume because the internal player remembers resume points based on filename and Emby always feeds it a generic filename (server/transcodefile.m3u or some such) so it tries to resume everything from the same point

Can you explain that a little more, I will test it.  Not sure what file name Emby feeds it, how do I check it?

i would be curious how the Dune does resuming on files using External Player since it doesn't work for me

I am not sure what you mean......  Which player do you have?, The Dune or Zidoo?

Trakt really would be a great option as there are clients for almost everything, jellyfin,emby,kodi and the Zidoo have it (but i haven't tried it in Zidoo yet) and i bet plex does

Plex does NOT support Trakt anymore, from my reading.  I guess there is a way to get Trakt to work, but I did not have any luck.  I love Trakt.

[izprtxqkft]

Emby can select external player but will not resume because the internal player remembers resume points based on filename and Emby always feeds it a generic filename (server/transcodefile.m3u or some such) so it tries to resume everything from the same point

Can you explain that a little more, I will test it.  Not sure what file name Emby feeds it, how do I check it?

i would be curious how the Dune does resuming on files using External Player since it doesn't work for me

I am not sure what you mean......  Which player do you have?, The Dune or Zidoo?

on the Zidoo Z9X Pro, when using the Emby app (emby android and emby android tv both) with External Player when selecting a movie it does not remember the resume point for "that" movie

to reproduce -
select a movie in Emby, seek to a position ~20m or whatever, maybe wait a few seconds for it to recognize that you've seeked
then close the playback and select a different movie
the newly selected movie attempts to resume from where you stopped the first
and it's completely out of sync with the Emby server, emby server thinks playback started at 00:00 but is actually playing at ~20m

in the Emby server logs you should see the url passed to the client, embyserver:8096/.../steamingfile, which is always the same so for me the Zidoo tries to remember the resume position for the generic filename instead of the real filename

[clarkss12]

 

on the Zidoo Z9X Pro, when using the Emby app (emby android and emby android tv both) with External Player when selecting a movie it does not remember the resume point for "that" movie

to reproduce -
select a movie in Emby, seek to a position ~20m or whatever, maybe wait a few seconds for it to recognize that you've seeked
then close the playback and select a different movie
the newly selected movie attempts to resume from where you stopped the first
and it's completely out of sync with the Emby server, emby server thinks playback started at 00:00 but is actually playing at ~20m

Just tested, and you are correct.  I had forgotten about that.  I use Kodi most of the time on this device.

in the Emby server logs you should see the url passed to the client, embyserver:8096/.../steamingfile, which is always the same so for me the Zidoo tries to remember the resume position for the generic filename instead of the real filename

I briefly checked the "log" but did not see the stream, but I did not spend too much time looking. 

[izprtxqkft]

Just tested, and you are correct.  I had forgotten about that.  I use Kodi most of the time on this device.

ok at least it's not just me, thanks for checking
 

I briefly checked the "log" but did not see the stream, but I did not spend too much time looking. 

indeed less important once you've confirmed the issue

[banggun]

Just tested, and you are correct.  I had forgotten about that.  I use Kodi most of the time on this device

Yes I was wondering about that I'm assuming by Kodi you mean the Omega beta build? Then wouldn't that disable the VS10 engine it comes shipped with? Is the default Kodi that comes on the device not able to use the native playback software (I'm assuming no otherwise I suppose it would be able to playback DV without needing to switch to the Omega build). From your videos at least the hardware seems substantially more powerful as I found Kodi on the Zidoo not to be the smoothest experience...

[clarkss12]

Just tested, and you are correct.  I had forgotten about that.  I use Kodi most of the time on this device

Yes I was wondering about that I'm assuming by Kodi you mean the Omega beta build?

Yes, the Omega build for Dolby Vision.  

Then wouldn't that disable the VS10 engine it comes shipped with?  Yes.

Is the default Kodi that comes on the device not able to use the native playback software (I'm assuming no otherwise I suppose it would be able to playback DV without needing to switch to the Omega build).  From what I could tell, it does NOT use the Dune player, as you stated.

From your videos at least the hardware seems substantially more powerful as I found Kodi on the Zidoo not to be the smoothest experience...

I really can't tell any difference in the Kodi experience.  But I use the official stock skin.....  I have never really done any comparison testing of Kodi running on different devices.

[banggun]

Thanks for all the feedback it's been super useful. I think given the state of things I will still hold off a bit on getting the Dune given it's more premium price it has a bit too many limitations in it's current state but hopefully those will get better over time.

Trakt really would be a great option as there are clients for almost everything, jellyfin,emby,kodi and the Zidoo have it (but i haven't tried it in Zidoo yet) and i bet plex does

Plex does NOT support Trakt anymore, from my reading. I guess there is a way to get Trakt to work, but I did not have any luck. I love Trakt.

It's possible but requires a trakt ​VIP account and uses web hooks. I remember there also being some sync services available on GitHub but were a bit clunky to use. See:


https://blog.trakt.tv/plex-scrobbler-52db9b016ead

[banggun]

Just posting back here again as I got my hands on the Dune 8K it's a step over the Z9x pro in many ways. I was wondering however if your version of Kodi is also locked to 1080P (the omega beta specifically). I installed the release candidate but it seems locked at 1920x1080 I remember the stock app being able to run in 4K but I upgraded pretty fast so I might be wrong ...

[clarkss12]

Just posting back here again as I got my hands on the Dune 8K it's a step over the Z9x pro in many ways. I was wondering however if your version of Kodi is also locked to 1080P (the omega beta specifically). I installed the release candidate but it seems locked at 1920x1080 I remember the stock app being able to run in 4K but I upgraded pretty fast so I might be wrong ...

I am running the latest development build "kodi-20240317-172230e9-master-armeabi-v7a.apk", and it plays Dolby Vision, but you have to enable the compatibility mode.  So, yes it plays in full 4k.

https://imgur.com/ukQtI7C
https://imgur.com/ibTc0iK
https://imgur.com/pN6T3UL
https://imgur.com/P1WXnQB
https://imgur.com/q31VrgW
https://imgur.com/MChBDzo

[Sholander]

Just posting back here again as I got my hands on the Dune 8K it's a step over the Z9x pro in many ways. I was wondering however if your version of Kodi is
also locked to 1080P (the omega beta specifically). I installed the release candidate but it seems locked at 1920x1080

On most Androids Kodi UI is locked at 1920x1080, but video plays at 4k; so all is OK...

@clarkss12, your picture shows input file format. Look under the tab "System" to see what Kodi outputs to Android (which then does who_knows_what).
But to be sure, you should check what resolution arrives at your TV after it leaves the box ...

[clarkss12]

Just posting back here again as I got my hands on the Dune 8K it's a step over the Z9x pro in many ways. I was wondering however if your version of Kodi is
also locked to 1080P (the omega beta specifically). I installed the release candidate but it seems locked at 1920x1080

On most Androids Kodi UI is locked at 1920x1080, but video plays at 4k; so all is OK...

@clarkss12, your picture shows input file format. Look under the tab "System" to see what Kodi outputs to Android (which then does who_knows_what).
But to be sure, you should check what resolution arrives at your TV after it leaves the box ...

I use stats for nerds on my Vizio TV.  It shows the basic information of what it is receiving from the box.  Resolution, frame rate, audio in, audio output, HDR version, and VRR if any.

Edit: I have a pic of the "system" output, but guess it got lost.  I had a double post of one of the pics.  Those were screen grabs using "O" on my Rii keyboard.

[banggun]

Yeah that's the thing the videos do play at 4K but just the UI for some reason is 1080p only.

Another thing I've noticed with the Dune is that volume control doesn't seem to working over CEC adjusting the volume only seems to change the volume on the device itself either that or I'm missing a setting unfortunately there isn't much documentation on this device.