Advice on a simple media player (no streaming) that can play FULL-HD + ATMOS w HDMI 2.1

[smipx]

Hi All.

I have some files I would like to download and play on my Atmos enabled Soundbar so am looking for a simple media player that can handle the Atmos via HDMI 2.1 and play 2160p. Not interested in streaming - just downloading files and playing them . What would be a good cheap option for this please? Preferably under £100

Thanks
Paul

 

[xar]

Vero 4k

Vero - OSMC

osmc.tv

 

[ChuckMountain]

Agree with @xar

It doesn’t need to be HDMI 2.1 though but it doesn’t do Dolby vision

 

[Nedy71]

Zidoo player
Or if you do not care about DV (you should) why not use Windows PC with many free medial players.
I use Zidoo for DV movies and from my PC Power DVD or MPC-BE Media Player for HDR files from my PC
Neither require HDMI 2.1

 

[smipx]

Hi, I think I would like to stick to HDMI 2.1 if affordable (to future proof it a bit) and I do care about DV. I feel I ned to up my budget to £200. So it really needs to be HDMI media player plugged into the soundbar. How would the Zidoo Z9X compare, for example to the Nvidia Shield Pro. The Sheild pro seems quite old now and the Z9X is only HDMI2.0b.

Would i be better waiting until the Zidoo Z9x sucessor comes along or the Shield Pro is refreshed??
I'm in no great rush so can be patient.

Thanks
Paul

 

[Sloppy Bob]

HDMI 2.1 is for gaming and has no real relevance to a media streamer unless you think 8K is going to catch on soon and that the player you buy is 8K capable.
There's a reason they're not HDMI 2.1. It's pointless as it would need a change in hardware as well.

HDMI 2.0 is capable of 4K/120 and movies are pretty much all 24fps, not 120. There is an odd exception but it's still way over the spec.

 

[smipx]

Okay - thanks for that. I am a bit of a novice here. so that being the case then would I still be better waiting for hte next Nvidia or Zidoo or is life too short!!

 

[ChuckMountain]

Hi, I think I would like to stick to HDMI 2.1 if affordable (to future proof it a bit) and I do care about DV. I feel I ned to up my budget to £200. So it really needs to be HDMI media player plugged into the soundbar. How would the Zidoo Z9X compare, for example to the Nvidia Shield Pro. The Sheild pro seems quite old now and the Z9X is only HDMI2.0b.

Would i be better waiting until the Zidoo Z9x sucessor comes along or the Shield Pro is refreshed??
I'm in no great rush so can be patient.

Thanks
Paul

You are unlikely to get anything song with HDMI 2.1 at that price point as is not required for that type of device unless you go for 8k. Neither the Nvidia or the Zidoo have it, they are both 2.0b.

Does your sound bar have it as there are very few that do?

 

[Sloppy Bob]

I'd buy one now or when there's a sale with a decent offer, you could be waiting years for something that never comes along.

Note that although you don't want a streaming device, these types of devices run media jukebox software, it's not really as simple as plugging a USB stick in and playing it.

 

[ChuckMountain]

Is life too short!!

This, stuff moves too quickly there is always something round the corner to wait for, but then you wouldn’t be enjoying it right now

 

[smipx]

Soundbar - Not sure. Its a lowish end Samsung Q700A so perhaps not. I think I might have been over thinking it and trying to future proof someting that will be out of date in a few years anyway
So it will be HDMI 2.0b and capable of playing Dolby Full-HD and DV. That is all I need and to be able to plug it in directly and to be able to either mount a 2.5" HDD via SATA or USB 3.0/3.1

cheaper the better.....

 

[smipx]

All I really want to be able to do is download a Full-HD movie from PB or similar and play it is 4k UHD on the TV and get DD Atmos or DTS:X to the new soundbar. I prefer to pop the downloads onto a portable HDD if possible.

 

[smipx]

Not sure if I even need something as capable as the Z9X or shield in that case??? Go cheap and replace often???

 

[Sloppy Bob]

Please note the forum does not advocate or allow piracy discussion and you could run foul of the site moderators.

 

[rccarguy2]

Happy with my amlogic box 905x. If you boot from SD card coreelac don't need much hardware lowest ram/storage is plenty.


Not sure what is the current latest chipset

 

[ChuckMountain]

Soundbar - Not sure. Its a lowish end Samsung Q700A so perhaps not. I think I might have been over thinking it and trying to future proof someting that will be out of date in a few years anyway
So it will be HDMI 2.0b and capable of playing Dolby Full-HD and DV. That is all I need and to be able to plug it in directly and to be able to either mount a 2.5" HDD via SATA or USB 3.0/3.1

cheaper the better.....

I can’t see anything that states you sound bar supports Dolby vision so unless you can see otherwise back to the Vero 4K+ box with its Kodi

 

[Sloppy Bob]

Either that or you compromise on the audio and connect the media streamer direct to the TV and make do with DD5.1

@smipx what TV model do you have?

 

[smipx]

Please note the forum does not advocate or allow piracy discussion and you could run foul of the site moderators.

Sorry - I was not suggesting that I would do such a thing - I was using it as an example of a file that one could acquire. My files would - of course allbe from legitimate sources

 

[smipx]

Maybe I'm getting muddled with the formats. The soundbar supports: Dolby 5.1ch / Dolby Digital Plus / Dolby TRUE HD / Dolby ATMOS DTS 5.1ch / DTS HD / DTS-HD Master Audio / DTS:X / LPCM 8Ch

I thought the Dolby True HD was the one as well as DTS:x as qn qlternative to get those upward firing speakers playing.

The TV , A Samsung MU7000 (to be repalced in the next year) is not happy to pass Atmos or DTS:x (even with passthrough) to the Soundbar as it only supports DD+ (if it feels like it). The Soundbar is meant to support Full Atmos and passthrough the Video to the TV via HDMI and that works quite well. My current media player (well its my TV box really) can play UHD quite happily (and is HDMI 2.0) but it will not pass the ATMOS to the Soundbar unless ists lossy DD+Atmos (which does work as the Soundbar lights up with the "DOLBY ATMOS" in its display. It cant handle the bandwidth of Full ATMOS via its HDMI 2.0 though. It also stutters with higher bitrate sources.

The whole point of the exercise is to get a taste of ATMOS without breaking the bank which is why I was thinking a low end Box. I "thought" the reason the current box was not passing through the ATMOS to the Soundbar was because it was only HDMI 2 (but that was just an assumption). It's a Zgemma H7S. It does, like I said, play UHD quite nicely 2160p @ 24 / 50 / 60hz and the soundbar happlily passes that through to the TV and "should" play ATMOS if the sending device will transmit it.

Hope that is all a bit clearer? It's not for me - It's like another language :-(

 

[smipx]

I am erring on the side of a Zidoo Z9X. Seems to be the best "simple file player" with the Vero 4K + a close (and cheaper) second.

Do they ever have sales on these boxes?

 

[rccarguy2]

I am erring on the side of a Zidoo Z9X. Seems to be the best "simple file player" with the Vero 4K + a close (and cheaper) second.

Do they ever have sales on these boxes?

last time I looked realtime is not supported with corelec. That player i realtek, Android is inferior OS to corelec.

 

[smipx]

For the novice like me, can you let me know what that means please? Thanks

 

[rccarguy2]

Anroid is ok but fairly bloated OS with high overheads (memory, CPU usage) I got better picture in Coreelec, for quality (could not fully disable post processing in Android) Noticeable straight away switching between Android/Kodi and Corelec. and codec support from Coreelec also. Plus I was having issues with audio output settings, as you've got the Android OS audio settings plus Kodi audio settings. With Corelec you simply have one.

Coreelec is it's own OS, stripped down with just the OS, and the OS is Kodi.

If I compare CPU and memory usage, I'd say Android requires 2x as much CPU, and 3x RAM.

With Android you'll also Kodi ontop of the OS . Android is analogy of Windows + Media Center

Corelec is like a console and the operating system is the media player. Coreelec IS kodi. Coreelec works better on specific CPU/chipsets.

If you have no interest in a "Android" OS then I would recommend coreelec.

CoreELEC

A lightweight OS for Kodi

coreelec.org

CoreELEC

A lightweight OS for Kodi

coreelec.org

Check what boxes support Coreelec.

 

[smipx]

Many thanks for that. I will do some more research

 

[rccarguy2]

Picture quality was better in Coreelec, no matter what I did I couldn't disable things in Android, tried on two difference 905x3 boxes. It had some artificial contrast or sharpness going on.

I installed coreelec on Microsd card, so it boots from that, if I want to go back to Android I eject the SD card and switch the box on. It's non destructive.

I can't see reason spending £200 on a "better" box. Maybe if you want official apps, like Netflix etc.
2GB RAM 16GB storage is plenty with Coreelec.