Question New to Media Players. Need help!

Simbo2020

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Hi All,

Apologies as I’m sure this has been asked a million times but I’m (well, the Mrs) is fed up of my blu-ray collection taking up physical space in our living room so thought it was time to look at other options.

I really want to get into ripping my collection and having them all on a dedicated player.....however as I’m starting from scratch I need to get everything required to start ripping.

Firstly my requirements are that the player must have a HDD bay and be able to output 4K, HDR and Dolby Atmos. I hate the thought of losing any quality in my rips so the player must be able to play ISOs.

I will also need a drive (preferably external but might be able to make an internal work with a docking attachment) and the necessary software.

I have already seen some Zidoo and Zappiti players. Originally I really liked the look of the Zappiti but I find the menus to look a bit childish when I prefer the sleek look of the Zidoo menus. Are there skins / themes for the Zappiti?

Any help whatsoever would be really appreciated.
 
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Players with internal drives.

What happens when the drive is full?

I hate the thought of losing any quality in my rips so the player must be able to play ISOs

A remuxed mkv file will lose no quality over an ISO, there's no video or audio compression and you can remove audio tracks you won't listen to, remove all the menus, deleted scenes and extras and take up a lot less space. Obviously, if you value all the extras then that's moot but I usually watch them once, if at all and move on.
If it's something you want to do, like the Marvel One-Shots, then they can be ripped as well.

Examples

Saving Private Ryan 1080p Bluray (Movie only) - 38GB
This is certainly one of my larger movies
ISO of movie - 50GB

John Wick 3 - 28GB
ISO - 41GB

The Grand Budapest Hotel without menus and extras - 18GB
with menus and extras - 37GB

As you can see the space saving can be quite large.

Personally, rather than spend a fortune on a Zappitti with an internal drive. I'd prefer the flexibility of an external NAS that can be increased in size as your collection grows and some kind of player running Kodi or Plex (I much prefer Kodi for this) that has more scope for customisation in appearance.

As to ripping I'm unsure of current models so perhaps someone else can advise on this but do ou need to rip UHD or just Bluray/DVD?
 
Hi,

Thanks for the replies.

My collection mainly consists of blu-rays but I am slowly amassing UHDs. I have about 120 movies at the mo and my collection grows very slowly so I thought a stand-alone player with an HDD bay would do me for a number of years.

I did look at NAS and haven’t ruled it out. My router is under the stairs but there is internal wiring into my living room. It’s a new build property so assume it’s Cat5e cabling. Is that sufficient?

So basically it would be NAS > router > media player.

Does the quality of router matter?

Sorry for all of the questions but I’m trying to learn about it all.

Thanks again!
 
I did look at NAS and haven’t ruled it out. My router is under the stairs but there is internal wiring into my living room. It’s a new build property so assume it’s Cat5e cabling. Is that sufficient?

Yes

So basically it would be NAS > router > media player.

Yes

Does the quality of router matter?

Not really. I've used the bog standard ones I get from the 3 ISP's I've had over the years with no issues.

Also, if you're set on a Zappitti, you can still get one. Just with a NAS you can buy one without the HDD enclosure and you can also get two or three for different rooms and run them off the same NAS.
 
I use a vero 4k with two hdd's connected its also on a home network with a dell windows 10 desktop pc so you could rip your blurays to mkv remux's and transfere them on to the hdd over the network or store them on a nas theres no need for an internal drive its probley more flexable with out one.
I use kodi video library to sort my movies very easy and efficent and loads of customized skins.
 
Also, if you're set on a Zappitti, you can still get one. Just with a NAS you can buy one without the HDD enclosure and you can also get two or three for different rooms and run them off the same NAS.

Thanks. That’s very helpful.

Can I just ask if there is any loss in quality from the original disc doing it over Ethernet to a media player? That really is a big thing for me. Hate the thought of losing any quality whatsoever.
 
Some media players are better than others when it comes to picture quality.

I've never noticed a difference from when I tried my Vero4K, my Nvidia Shield TV and a MiniX I used to run.

I did notice a difference when I used a PC. It was much worse.
 
Can I just ask if there is any loss in quality from the original disc doing it over Ethernet to a media player?
As long as you have a full quality rip of the disc then the playback over ethernet will not cause any loss of audio or video quality. As previously mentioned the final quality would then be down to the media player and TV/PJ setup.
If you want to avoid the cost of a NAS then you could use USB external HDD's connected directly to the media player and again would see no loss of quality.

Mark.
 
Thanks, all of this has been very helpful.

I think I’m still leaning slightly more towards a media player with HDD as buying a drive to rip my collection, NAS, storage and media player(s) is maybe pushing the price a little higher than I had wanted.

Despite what I originally said about the Zappiti’s menus I’m now quite liking the look of the Zappiti One SE 4K HDR. I could then start with a 6TB drive and see how I get on. I think I could get everything I need for <£600. Does that seem reasonable?
 
Thanks, all of this has been very helpful.

I think I’m still leaning slightly more towards a media player with HDD as buying a drive to rip my collection, NAS, storage and media player(s) is maybe pushing the price a little higher than I had wanted.

Despite what I originally said about the Zappiti’s menus I’m now quite liking the look of the Zappiti One SE 4K HDR. I could then start with a 6TB drive and see how I get on. I think I could get everything I need for <£600. Does that seem reasonable?
If you do go the internal drive route make sure you buy as quiet a drive as possible. I once had a drive internally in my Zappiti and could hear it. Bear in mind you can get a portable 5tb hard drive and attach it via usb. That is essentially silent as a solution.
 
If like me you get a vero 4k + and a 6TB HDD it would cost you £107 for the vero and on Amazon there are a few 6TB HDD's for £110 total of £217 and you could use any kodi skin and customize it to suit your needs I just use the kodi default skin
 

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