daveva Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I need some help on choosing a new 4K media player. I do have a dune HD base 3D. With all the 4K media players out there today I really don't know which one I need to purchase for 4K. I would like to have a rack mounted one but I also want one that plays all the audio and video formats. Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted June 10, 2018 Share Posted June 10, 2018 I used the Dune Solo 4K for a while and it was very good but I have moved on to using InfusePro on my AppleTV4K to play all my HD and 4K content from my NAS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zaphod Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 Do you want to use anything like Plex or Kodi for the front end of your system? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveva Posted June 11, 2018 Author Share Posted June 11, 2018 I do have a server but no flex or Kodi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted June 11, 2018 Share Posted June 11, 2018 I've been checking out this the Zappiti and it has great reviews on Amazon. Would be very similar to a Dune and I know it has C4 drivers available. I don't have personal experience with it yet, but thought I'd just pass it along and maybe someone else on here has given it a try in their system to give you some feedback. https://www.amazon.com/ZAPPITI-Mini-4K-HDR/dp/B01N5MDS6Z/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1528748577&sr=8-2&keywords=zappiti+mini+4k#customerReviews Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mindedc1 Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 It's an ugly world out there for 4K streaming. Outside of Apple TV (great product, limited in the ways you can integrate with C4 or anything else, I.E users are banging around in the menu designed for apple remote using the C4 remote - feels clunky), the Nvidia Shield is fantastic for Netflix, Amazon Prime, Movies Anywhere etc... If you are willing to throw $30 at it on top of the cost of the shield, the videostorm IRUSB gives you extremely responsive control of the shield and lets you directly open apps... for example, the family just hits "watch" and then selects "Netflix" or whatever. You can get the same integration from Roku with the native Roku driver but I've had problems with signal stability with the Roku. The rules from Netflix and Amazon are that you don't get UHD unless the hardware detects 4K60 4:4:4. Make sure if you are after online streamed 4K UHD your whole rig is capable of 18Ghz throughput: cables, TV, reciever, HDMI switches etc. I cant speak to Plex, but for Kodi getting proper 4K UHD output requires a streamer with hardware decoding, meaning that if you want to use a HTPC or a NUC, it's going to have to be modern and fairly pricy. There are hardware streamer devices out there that support 4K playback, but most of them run on Android which only recieved the ability to process HDR in Nougat. There is no actual color management, just the ability to pass the 10bit color for say HDR10 with P3 color space. What I have found is that at least on the shield the APIs are not properly implemented and if you're switching back and forth between standard 1080P content with rec.709 color space and UHD with P3 or BT.2020 color space is that it will get all off and wonky. The only device that seems to implement this properly is the Minix U9-H, which does handle it properly along with properly bitstreaming Atmos, DTS-MA etc. The catch is that the android OS shipped with the U9 has the same problem. The solution is to boot Librelec from a sd card. There is a kernel fork for librelec that enables all the hardware to support the 4K UHD output. It's painful to setup but it seems to be pretty solid. The one pain point with C4 and the Minix device is that it doesn't support wake on lan. I had to create an IR driver with just the single power on command which I fire programatically. I control and power off via the Kodi driver. This will all probably (hopefully) change over time as android gets better support for manipulating color space and the kodi developers perfect use on the platform. Right now there aren't enough people doing it to get developer attention. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Thats a lot of really good info. You clearly have deep experience. Have you looked at the Zappiti unit at all. Curious if you found it lacking or not. @mindedc1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Zappitti won;t work like Dune will - the driver (and/or device) is (or has been, Ill add that I haven't looked at it for a few months) lacking any ability to allow C4 to tell it to grab a certain file - in other words you would be locked to using its own interface to select movies, and cannot see the movie database in Control4 and select from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveva Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 Thanks for the info. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 2 hours ago, Cyknight said: Zappitti won;t work like Dune will - the driver (and/or device) is (or has been, Ill add that I haven't looked at it for a few months) lacking any ability to allow C4 to tell it to grab a certain file - in other words you would be locked to using its own interface to select movies, and cannot see the movie database in Control4 and select from there. Looks like it's android and has some keycode api's. I bet it would work with VS IRUSB. I also see that you can enable UPNP on it to see the content. Yes, the drivers on their site are a year or more old. Seems like there are some API's available. They have an OpenAPI swaggar yml. http://zappiti.com/api/zappiti-player-4k/swagger/swagger.yaml Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 22 hours ago, Pounce said: Looks like it's android and has some keycode api's. I bet it would work with VS IRUSB. I also see that you can enable UPNP on it to see the content. Yes, the drivers on their site are a year or more old. Seems like there are some API's available. They have an OpenAPI swaggar yml. http://zappiti.com/api/zappiti-player-4k/swagger/swagger.yaml IRUSB would still do nothing for selecting content through C4 direct. Also, I'm not so sure it would as IRUSB requires an app. And while I'm sure there are APIs available - that doesn't mean the call for specific content is implemented in it - or that anyone would write a driver for it to get that function Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 16 minutes ago, Cyknight said: IRUSB would still do nothing for selecting content through C4 direct. Also, I'm not so sure it would as IRUSB requires an app. And while I'm sure there are APIs available - that doesn't mean the call for specific content is implemented in it - or that anyone would write a driver for it to get that function You can install apps on the Zappiti. You are right, it might not mean that, but I am not sure anyone has tried nor do we know for sure. I'm not going to hate on it without knowing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 3 hours ago, Pounce said: You can install apps on the Zappiti. You are right, it might not mean that, but I am not sure anyone has tried nor do we know for sure. I'm not going to hate on it without knowing. I wasn't hating on it either - just pointing out that it will be a different experience than the Dune setup he already has. Not better or worse, but it would be different and not an 'in place' upgrade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 19 minutes ago, Cyknight said: I wasn't hating on it either - just pointing out that it will be a different experience than the Dune setup he already has. Not better or worse, but it would be different and not an 'in place' upgrade. What's best in your option for 4k these days? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveva Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 Thanks for the help. I think I'm going to go with the dune HD duo 4k. This player is no longer in production but they are available. I would like to have your opinion on this player cyknight Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyknight Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Dune players, including the 4K solo have always been great players. Reliable and well maintained, including after production. As for what is the best option for 4K. Well, frankly if you want true 4KHDR support....a 4K Blu-Ray player and disk. Yes I know, old fashioned, but the reality is that it works, works well, is the one real way to get true UHD and 'HD' sound.... But beyond that, itll depend on the content you want. Personally I'll still take Roku for streaming services. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 I understand an Oppo unit can play 4k directories etc from the network. Not widely covered. I like the nVidia Shield for streaming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Peters Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 3 hours ago, Cyknight said: Dune players, including the 4K solo have always been great players. Reliable and well maintained, including after production. As for what is the best option for 4K. Well, frankly if you want true 4KHDR support....a 4K Blu-Ray player and disk. Yes I know, old fashioned, but the reality is that it works, works well, is the one real way to get true UHD and 'HD' sound.... But beyond that, itll depend on the content you want. Personally I'll still take Roku for streaming services. No, no it's not. I get full uncompressed 4k HDR video and HD sound through my system. NAS--Nvidia Shield--Plex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 9 hours ago, Jed Peters said: No, no it's not. I get full uncompressed 4k HDR video and HD sound through my system. NAS--Nvidia Shield--Plex Just a question, where are you getting/creating 4k HDR video from that's uncompressed? Is it possible to rip 4K UHD with HDR discs now? Wasn't aware of anywhere you can (legally) download high quality digital versions outside of Kaleidescape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 12 hours ago, Pounce said: I understand an Oppo unit can play 4k directories etc from the network. Not widely covered. I like the nVidia Shield for streaming. Yeah, you can stream through the Oppo with good results, but I don't have any ripped 4k content to verify it can handle it (see above question). The interface is very clunky though--basically just file directories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pounce Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 yup, clunky. Yes, it is possible to rip 4k discs if that is your interest. Not sure this is the place to discuss that kind of thing, but a few minutes of google-fu should have you sorted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rea Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 25 minutes ago, Pounce said: yup, clunky. Yes, it is possible to rip 4k discs if that is your interest. Not sure this is the place to discuss that kind of thing, but a few minutes of google-fu should have you sorted. Thanks and, agree, this isn't the right forum to discuss the particulars of it. The last time I'd looked into ripping 4k discs it was essentially impossible--knew that wouldn't last forever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livitup Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 Kalidescape. Legal, 4K, HDR, Atmos, digital, integrates incredibly well with C4. Just sayin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ERDrPC Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 40 minutes ago, livitup said: Kalidescape. Legal, 4K, HDR, Atmos, digital, integrates incredibly well with C4. Just sayin'. Lack of Atmos with first release of most movies in K store. Not quite K's fault as some studios don't allow UHD and full atmos in the K store. Have to wait and pay to upgrade for Atmos...ie pay for the same movie twice (although depending on the studio the amount second purchase amount varies) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveva Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 48 minutes ago, livitup said: Kalidescape. Legal, 4K, HDR, Atmos, digital, integrates incredibly well with C4. Just sayin'. My pockets aren't that deep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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