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Media player recommendations?
#1
In the past I've been a Kodi user with either a NVidia Shield or PC/HTPC but I've grown tired of several aspects of that setup (plus my older Shield won't do DV) and was doing research into other methods of watching my discs/files.

Not in particular a fan of Plex either.

So with that in mind, I was wondering what people's opinions are some of the media players that are around. Particularly, was looking at Zidoo, Zappiti and Dune. Basically, the players with the new Realtek chipset for DV and HDR10+ and which can do the HDR to SDR conversion well for my legacy 1080p projector and CRT. I'm also trying to balance out getting the best by keep the cost down as I don't have a lot of spare change at the moment.

In researching, I'm kind of leaning towards the Zidoo Z series since it seems to have that chipset and the features I want, plus seems to be the cheapest (but not cheap). I have a somewhat negative opinion on Dune since I had one years ago in the 1080p period and found the features (or features taken away) and interface lacking. That might be unfair as they probably has changed their ways in the intervening years. Zappiti has a good rep but is more expensive then Zidoo and Dune for much of the same features. I point out that I do like their app for editing metadata content. As a person with a lot of (obviously) custom projects, editing them to appear properly in a UI is a big deal and I don't think Zidoo has the same app. Otherwise it looks like the Zap and Zidoo interface is similar, not sure about Dune.

Anyway am I off on things and does anyone have opinions or insight as to what they feel is the best?
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#2
Is it just for local media or are streaming apps also important?

I've tried several over the years but I'm still happy with my Shield Pro and Maven's Kodi build with MKV/Dolby Vision support.
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#3
Local media from a network device is the primary important thing. I’ve got the shield and my tv for streaming.

My problem is I have the old shield (pre 2019) so even if I had Maven’s build, I assume DV is a no go.
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#4
(2022-03-01, 02:21 AM)PDB Wrote: My problem is I have the old shield (pre 2019) so even if I had Maven’s build, I assume DV is a no go.

Yes, unfortunately.
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#5
I have the original shield also, but I am fine with no DV as my receiver doesn't pass it through and I only use DV on disc and in TV app streaming.
I never download DV rips myself and my disc TV chain defaults to 10+ over DV if there is an option
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#6
I have the new Shield, and it seems like the best option for a kodi device that can do pretty much everything (minus AV1 and FEL DV).
I really hate to recommend it because NVIDIA is pretty shitty company, and there's been several updates that make things objectively worse, but I haven't found anything better that fits my needs.
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#7
+1 on Shield Pro 2019 as long as its on previous firmware 8.2.3. 9 update and the relevant hotfixes are a complete disaster at the moment, hoping nvidia can fix all the issues quickly.
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#8
(2022-03-01, 05:47 PM)X5gb Wrote: hoping nvidia can fix all the issues quickly.

They're too busy adding ads to the launcher, and getting around ways of blocking them.
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#9
Yeah, I will say that I'm sticking with v8.2.3 for awhile yet because of all the problems people are having.

I also use Wolf Launcher so I don't have to put up with ads.
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#10
(2022-03-01, 05:24 PM)stwd4nder2 Wrote: I have the new Shield, and it seems like the best option for a kodi device that can do pretty much everything (minus AV1 and FEL DV).
I really hate to recommend it because NVIDIA is pretty shitty company, and there's been several updates that make things objectively worse, but I haven't found anything better that fits my needs.

(2022-03-01, 05:47 PM)X5gb Wrote: +1 on Shield Pro 2019 as long as its on previous firmware 8.2.3. 9 update and the relevant hotfixes are a complete disaster at the moment, hoping nvidia can fix all the issues quickly.

Besides ads did they strip features?

(2022-03-01, 06:31 PM)Hitcher Wrote: Yeah, I will say that I'm sticking with v8.2.3 for awhile yet because of all the problems people are having.

I also use Wolf Launcher so I don't have to put up with ads.

So I assume lots of side loading? What the full suite of stuff (aka play MKVs) do you use, Hitcher?
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