Man, SOOOOO much information in this video. Thanks for sharing this, the Zippiti is picking up steam for sure. I will definitely be watching the Zippiti vs Shield video when you release it.
I have a shield and it will be a waste of video because they show movies differently. I am awaiting for Zappiti vs zidoo or dune. They are similar devices with similar chipsets. I heard the new Zappiti's may not ship until Q1 2022 is that correct? Don't want to pre-order something you may not get for a while.
Added my Atmos Demo disc into a demo module yesterday. Thanks for the video. Did a manual identification, pulled cover and background from goggle and added some info in the EDIT synopsis section.
I'd say they are split on thinking this is cool and it's not. Maybe wait a week to see if more people chime in. I bet it will skew toward Shield/Plex after some time.
Zappiti is expensive but really great device. It is so much more convenient to access all your movies. Backing up all your discs to a drive is a great feature. Thanks for the video.
@@TechnoDad of course. You put your heart and soul into this business venture. Honestly I feel guilty not watching knowing what you sacrifice to create amazing content.
If you compare the price of a old oppo that don't have this PQ and also missing alot if functions and also warranty. This zappiti must be a bargain. I use audiocom version👍
Great video! I can't wait to see your comparison of this to the Plex server. I've been using Plex for over 5 years now and have over 30 TB of movies on it.
I just started building a server and plex. Plex is not where I wanna be or maybe I’m doin somethin wrong. My 4K movies have a ton of stutter and the colors are completely washed out. Are you experiencing this?
Can the Shield play ISO/BDMV? Only way would be through PLEX I believe. MAKEMKV now updated with DV support but not sure of/if any quality diff of ISO or MKV w/ DV.
That's a good call Michael, and yes, you can get Dolby Vision from a 4K disc, you'll have to rip the disc as a BDMV folder. I've been doing this for years and it works flawlessly on my Oppo 203. I'm making a video on this for release tomorrow...hopefully.
I have mine on the way, be here Friday… I am looking forward to getting it up and running. No more hunting my disks down and ha I got to find them. Adding 2 x16TB drives and will spend weeks adding movies to it.
Incredible. Need to take a course to figure this stuff out man lol. On my way home...the last piece of the puzzle came today for me. I've got the denon x4700h now. Traded up from the 2700. I've got 2 rp6000fs, an rp404c, surrounds are rp400m and I'm putting 2 rp500sa's on the front wall up high. Eventually ill grab 2 more for the back. Also got my dual pb 2000s. I've been on tv speakers for a month while wheeling and dealing to get all this stuff. I'm hyped. Ps5, apple 4k, panasonic ub820, 77 lg cx. Ready to finally hear some solid bass. Of course by the time I'm done installing the elevation speakers, I'm sure it'll be too late to run audyssey. Anyway, thanks for your hard work. Just an update
The info on the videos look great but the rest looks like a bunch of different interfaces mashed together. I have a plex server running on an old imac mini looking forward to your comparison. Main draw back I see is in the reliance on the internet for login. If they go out of business you will end up with an expensive brick
How does this unit compare to the Zidoo UHD3000? I thought I saw somewhere that the chipset is this unit is the same as in the Zidoo 9XE which is way cheaper.
Sorry for conformation zappiti have alot of problems while playing dolby vision video.. zappiti not supporting dolby vision.. i have dolby vision video its showing only HDR10/HDR10+ on screen, it's not showing dolby vision details(dolby vision logo top left or right corner) of the screen......Dear sir please check your device once and inform me please...
As much as I want to get into plex my problem is my wifi can't handle that type of server so I am glad that there's a way to directly stream the file off of a media player.
So it's a NAS that runs Kodi with a nice theme. Eventually I'm going to need a bigger HDD but the same look can be done on Kodi with a little know how and I run it on an Nvidia Sheild. 4TB fills fast with 1:1 4k rips.
Awesome video! Like everyone else, eager to see the shield comparison video. I myself have a 32TB FreeNAS server in my server room but I wish there was the ability to introduce a Zappiti plugin for FreeNAS so that I could only buy a Zappiti Mini for all my TVs/projector! But if the only way to do it is to get Zappiti hardware then I might just get a ZAPPITI ONE 4K HDR as a stand-alone device for only 4K UHD rips as most of my 1080p stuff is on Plex.
Thanks for this. I was trying to figure out a NAS to serve up videos when I came across this video. I went with the Zappiti One. They need to sponsor you.
OMG! 16:00 I was just about to pay for the damn silver skin and I remembered you saying something about that and now they gave it to me free! That $5 I was going to spend will now go to your Patreon my good sir!!
Thank you so much, Marc! Don't forget, as a Patron, you have access to Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and IMAX Enhanced demo files in M2TS format which will play on the Zappiti without issue. Enjoy!
I love this! This is exactly what i've been waiting for. I already have a synology nas, thinking the mini is all I need unless you think there is a feature that to pro has outside hdd? Also would a firmware upgrade on a current model be in the works for dolby vision or is it a harware limitation, and finally since lotr 4k is on separate discs, do you "stitch" your files or will zippiti handle the transition. If you want I can email this to you too. This probably another videos worth lol
@@Travel-Tales24 The mini does a good job on 1080 and less. I find it has too many visual artifacts for anything higher. There is a "passthrough" setting but I can't seem to get it to not process the video. So far no dolby vision and I haven't invested time to "stitch" files together.
Hi. Great video. I use a Popcorn Hour A-400 but the interface i better on den Zap. One question, is the main inteface 4K and is i able to display in anamorfic format? Thank you for a great video.
Fantastic review .. I wanted to ask you something. I have a sony a8 oled tv connected to a nas with many 4k movies inside. I use the kodi application on the tv to watch them. Do I have a better video quality rendering with this product or would the expense be useless? Thank you
I missed a step that provided my movies to connect correctly on the Zappiti. How do you send movie content to the Zappiti from your Mac's external hard drive? Please! I can't figure it out. Thanks.
This is one unit i love... to hate. Not easy for a newbie like me at ripping. If you could do a video on the best way to rip your own movies. Many of them just won’t allow without major skipping issues (la la land, incredibles 2, Creed 2, Deadpool 2,..). Also i have to plug the unit directly into my projector because the image will not show up if it is plugged into my Pioneer SC-87 receiver. Old receiver I know, but no issues with any other hardware. Oh well.
cool stuff T.D. I use Plex Pass and my NAS (WD MyCloudEX2 Ultra) for my music streaming and TV shows recorded from my OTA. Havent done Bluray/4k rips yet. I use my NVIDIA shielfd so prob dont need a Zapiti. Seems a little slow/clunky for the UI with some lag but still cool Lots of work to populate all that stuff and get all the tags correct for sure. keep it up
I have the ZAPPITI One 4K HDR ....love the unit ....the only con is the remote...signal is not strong...have to be pointing directly to the IR in the unit...interface is great as well
You can use it extender that's including. I use harmony logitech remote and that works better. Also remove the sticker from the zappiti logo in frontpanel.
Awesome walk through. I’m going to start my BR collection and the Zappiti mini. I understand DV is in tact with either ISO or BDMV. Which would you recommend for the entire library? Or is it BDMV for TV Series and ISO for Movies?
Hello Jim! I would go with ISO if you want to rip 4K and standard Blu Rays. DVDFab has a module called 4K Copy and Blu Ray Copy and that is how you rip to ISO.
What's up K Man? I'll be making a video on that subject soon. You'll need a 4K friendly drive first, and you can get one form this guy named Alex - alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
Thanks Techno Dad for everything you're doing here. I look forward to helping anyone wanting to get into ripping their discs. email me anytime at alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com, thank you.
Are you saying that you can't get the same experience with the nvidia shield? If you can get the same experience, why spend the extra for this device? Am I missing something?
Hey man, great video as always. I have a couple of questions regarding its use with a projector if you could answer them: First off, for those who have a scope screen, is there a way to change the position of the subtitles to get them above the black bars? And second, I’ve read in many forums about its inability to passthrough the correct metadata for HDR material and so the projectors can’t do proper tonemapping. I know this is a really technical question, but it would be great if you could help with it
Very interesting video. Can't wait for you to do the compare to plex on the Shield. I have been using plex for about 7 years now and have been looking into Zappitti for a few months. Do you also plan on doing a video and sound quality review and also letting us know now well HDR works on it or the HDR to SDR for maybe a second TV that might have only 1080P with a mini? Keep up the great work. Looking forward to the comparison video. It will really help me out.
@@TechnoDad Can't wait for all the reviews on this unit. I have been searching for some reviews on the Zappiti stuff and other than sparechange it is really hard to find anything in english or any comparisons to an Nvidia shield etc. Thanks again and keep up the great videos.
Am subscribing to your chanell in anticipation of your Zappit vs Nvidia shield comparison. Also, would really appreciate if you could show some other options for digitizing movies collections that are still on disc. Been using my Oppo 203 till now, but am thinking it's about time to digitize the disks. Zappiti can do that, but oddly they only offer when if you buy their VERY expensive NAS. I don't have $8-10K to blow on a NAS right now.
Right on L S. I ripped 60 4K discs into M2TS format and that took up about 3.5 TB which can all be played through the Oppo 203. Just getting a bug raid HDD and connecting it to your Oppo would get you the same-ish results if you rip the discs on your own.
Hi Stanley! No I haven’t. I used to have a Mac Mini connected to my AVR. The only thing I had to do was setup the HDMI output to also send audio. After that it was smooth sailing.
@@TechnoDad That's great news it's the only thing that has kept me from buying one and just sticking with an oppo 203 well that and the fact that it needs to be online to play files which is kind of scary if/when they get discontinued or the company goes bust and they stop being supported.
I'm not 100% sure, but the Zappiti is playing a 1:1 rip where as the others, there is the transcode step which could introduce a slight degradation in quality.
This does looks like a good player. But price not so good. If the price would have included at least one of the 10 TB or more hard drive, then it might have been a better deal. Anyway, buy Nvidia Shield and add external hard drives for media consumption. Use the Kodi app and add the directories to it and it'll download media art from the internet. On side note, the video interface reminded me more of Kodi for some reason on this media player. I personally have 2x12 TB external hard drives attached to Raspberry Pi 4 and running minidlna. Running Kodi on Nvidia Shield and now Chromecast with Google TV, I have added the media directories in Kodi and I get 4K HDR with full audio support. I also use my Oppo UDP 203 (well now you wont find UDP 203 for cheap) to play movies from Raspberry Pi 4 attached hard drives. Anyway, depending on whether people want the added features on this media player is up to the individual tastes. At least everything works fine for me for what I wanted.
Question ? Did you say I can have all these features with the Zappiti Mini and connect an external Hard drive? Like a Synology NAS? I have 4000 movies and running out of space in my home
What do you think about the “other” famous Android players (of/in this genre), such as: Dune, Zidoo, or the eGreat? I have the Zidoo X10, and it works GREAT for me 👍 PS/BTW - Hey Dude, noticed you had/have a 10tb drive for your movies. Take my word, that you will eventually have to update your storage - that is, if you want to store a TON of 4K’s, as they are HUGE (space wise). I have a Synology DS3617xs (12 Slot) that is presently up to 40tb (Expandable to 192tb 😳🤯).
How does the audio sound compared to blu ray/4k disc. I have a lot of downloads and the picture is great but nothing compared to the actual audio of the disc itself. What about music? Can I download cds? And how is that audio compared to the cd?
Hi Edward, the rips are 1:1 so there is no loss in quality and the player is just playing the files. I would imagine it would be identical to playing a disc.
well i hope you have a good time with it, (hope it doesn't go wrong) my personal experience with one was shit, dont care how good the hardware "build" is when there software suck balls and their customer support is pretty much non existent.
Question, we install a NAS and a mini player and the hard drives came with the unit from zappiti so all was set up by them. Direct lines from a gigabit switcher to the mini player and NAS for the network. The first 100 + DVD were load it without an issue. a wear thing, any video took more than 10 minutes to load in the NAS, more DVD were less than 5 minutes, but it showing in the NAS and play. Normally suppose to be 10 to 20 for standard DVD. Them after some weeks of load movies, the NAS started with issues, the DVD burn inside the NAS was not working, we being advise to turn off and on the NAS because it is a PC do issues can go away. I am making the story short but many things happen...we receive an external DVD player for the NAS and we download more movies using the external DVD player and it works for some days but other issues show up, all videos started to take about 3 minutes to download a movie and them start to not show movies they were download before, so more than 200 movies and only show less than 150. My question is some one have this issue we had. No 4K movies in this download we did, most old DVD movies version from the 80 and 90.
@@TechnoDad hello, yes the NAS, the mini player still there no issues, the problem was the NAS. We paid to have the NAS with 3 hard drive with 16 TB pre installed and we fallow all instructions .... but all and more happen in 2 or 4 months we had NAS so I ask this because maybe we are the only ones we had this issue
Still watching (only a few minutes in atm), but as Nvidia shield pro owner, I gotta say that although the shield is a beast, I have major issues with its file management system. My HDD is directly plugged in and anytime I want to launch a movie from rest off the shield, I need to restart the shield first or else I get an error
Create ftp server on your computer or raspberry pi to share HDD content through your network on your nvidia shiled use kodi add your ftp account and create your library
I will do that comparison soon. The files on the Zappiti are 1 to 1 rips, but I know there's another step with Plex and that's the transcode step. I wonder if that can cause even the slightest video degradation??
@@TechnoDad All depends on how you do it. SO I use 1 to 1 MKV's. In the PLEX app on the Shield if you set it to audio Pass Through, PLEX should not have to do any Transcoding. So it should be a good comparison. KODI would also be a good comparison as well.
Question- I’m looking to download my “concert video” collection. And really want to be able to create a playlist of certain songs pulled out of different concert videos. does anyone know if that is possible with this player?
Right dude! I watched this whole video. I just started my collection. This video made my head spin a bit, but its really, really cool. Dolby Vision is necessary for me though, but yea I'd like to have that knowledge. Its one aspect of home theater/av tech that I'm unfamiliar with
Check out MakeMKV software and the MakeMKV forums. With the right drives (Libredrive capable) it can rip 4K copies of your disks byte for byte no problem, no compression, with all Audio channels, etc. I am currently using Plex but have been considering one of these a lot.
Salut de France dear TechnoDad i have a question: which HDD do you recommand for the Zappiti players. Does the majority of all work ? Which brand dID you choose ?
@@TechnoDad hi again dear Technodad. Just a question: do you have received your discs Seagate Iron Wolf (NAS mentionned) do they work fine ? Because i've read that not all discs were compatible. It's a bit confusing for me. Thanks
I made the mistake of getting a WD 16tb red nas drive before buying the Zappiti one. Then I read the fine print and Zappiti says that the drive is not compatible with the the Zappiti one. Has anyone tried the WD red nas drive?
Zappiti sent me a 3 TB WD Red drive when they sent me the Pro 4K. I personally use the 16TB Seagate Iron Wolf drives in my Zappiti - technodad.biz/Drives
@@TechnoDad hum I wonder why their literature says that they are not compatible? I checked again. I guess I could buy it and if it doesn’t work I could return it. Just the hassle. I was going to buy Zappiti one model. Thanks for your help brother.
Hey Channa D hope all is well with you. We have over 400 4K discs. I am interested in a device like this for convenience. Thanks for the informative video!
Hey TD, Waiting on the Zappiti Neo review to drop as I am testing the Zidoo Z10-Pro which is OK. The only difference I see is the picture wall on the Zappiti is better. The Zappiti is this review has older chipset so I don't want to take a step backwards. I hope the PQ/SQ on the Zappiti match what is currently on the Zidoo that I am testing. Do you think the new Zappiti Neo would match the current Zidoo devices? Please give your thoughts. PM
Hah! That's funny, I have a Zidoo Z10-Pro video to release as well. The only advantage I see about the Zidoo is that I can get 4K HDR Atmos movies streaming over wifi. Zappiti recommends being hardwired and my master bedroom is just too far away.
@@TechnoDad, if the new Zappiti has better PQ/SQ, Scraper and picture wall I would be sold. The Zidoo black levels may not be a good as on the Zappiti. The other thing I do not like is every time you play a movie you have to turn off subtitles. They should be off by default. The Zidoo has no good TS so you have to know how to set it up to your liking.
Hi Brad, Yes, I am comparing the two in an upcoming video. The Shield does a lot but with Plex, you have to do a bit more than the Zappiti. Although, you can share your library with others. It really depends on what you want.
Any reason not to use a PLEX server and use this same money (or way less) on a custom built PC? Got a 2012 mac mini as a PLEX server with a 10tb disk connected and works great on all devices, even remotely. Is there that much of a quality difference to justify the price and less convenience?
I guess it depends on how involved you want to get. You speak of convenience then say build a custom PC? Is this what the average person wants to do or considers convenient? Not sure about that.
@@TechnoDad thanks for the reply! Yea i guess that was a bit contradictory - i didnt have to do much with the mac mini to set it up as a server, but trying to figure out what i’d be missing by sticking with my current set up or upgrading to something like the zappiti. Great content as always and love the channel. Thank you!
Right on! It will also play ISO and BDMV folders and when Dobly Vision and HDR10+ are supported, then it will do things that a Shield/Plex cannot do. But the Shield does do a lot more.
Hello TechnoDad, I am a huge fan from Canada Ontario. my question is not related to this product but its Ui/ GUI , I love the way this zappiti or plex , how they show the movies on your Hard disks. I did rip movies from my Blue rays and saved them on my Hard disk as you explained in your previous videos. thanks for that. I am using Kodi to play my Hard disks videos through the Nvidia shield. but I am bored of it UI or skin. I love the way how plex or Zappiti or kaleidescape shows its list of movies, like posters. is there is any way I can get that in any other app? when I am using plex it is streaming the video and I am not getting my Dolby atmos output. but Kodi doing it. any suggestions?
This is a great video, but at the same time it brings back some horrible experiences I've had in the past with hardware based media players. They tend to be short lived and not future proof as far as features and format support is concerned. Looking forward to the video comparing this to Plex etc. as the I've not seen anything here that a Plex /NAS /Shield does not support. Thx, for a great video.
Not quite. Read the instructions. The list is included on the site. I ordered 3.5” sata drives from amazon that were not compatible. Thank God i was able to return them. See list here: zappiti.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1816957--hdd-recommended-hdd-models-to-use-with-zappiti-4
This is the best video on Zappiti that I’ve seen so far.
Thank you!
Man, SOOOOO much information in this video. Thanks for sharing this, the Zippiti is picking up steam for sure. I will definitely be watching the Zippiti vs Shield video when you release it.
I have a shield and it will be a waste of video because they show movies differently. I am awaiting for Zappiti vs zidoo or dune. They are similar devices with similar chipsets. I heard the new Zappiti's may not ship until Q1 2022 is that correct? Don't want to pre-order something you may not get for a while.
I grabbed one for $850 during their Black Friday sale. It's awesome!
Nice!
Love the random Snatch reference. (Heavy is good Heavy is Reliable.)
Yes! Glad somebody commented about it!
Added my Atmos Demo disc into a demo module yesterday. Thanks for the video. Did a manual identification, pulled cover and background from goggle and added some info in the EDIT synopsis section.
Thank you for making this awesome video Techno Dad.
I’m picking won up right now from Amazon.
Oh nice! I'll have more videos on the ripping and storage process.
Could you please show how to RIP 4k discs and regular blu rays to the hard drive?
Techno Dad has a tutorial video on how to rip movies.
I’d like to see that tutorial video I can’t seem to find it?
email me for help with ripping discs and the hardware required to do it. alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com thank you Techno Dad!
Was I right about the majority of the responses being about running a Plex on the Nvidia Shield?
Mine was anyway.
I'd say they are split on thinking this is cool and it's not. Maybe wait a week to see if more people chime in. I bet it will skew toward Shield/Plex after some time.
Zappiti is expensive but really great device. It is so much more convenient to access all your movies. Backing up all your discs to a drive is a great feature. Thanks for the video.
As always Tristan, Thank you for watching!
@@TechnoDad of course. You put your heart and soul into this business venture. Honestly I feel guilty not watching knowing what you sacrifice to create amazing content.
If you compare the price of a old oppo that don't have this PQ and also missing alot if functions and also warranty. This zappiti must be a bargain.
I use audiocom version👍
Great video! I can't wait to see your comparison of this to the Plex server. I've been using Plex for over 5 years now and have over 30 TB of movies on it.
Same here, long before Plex was an app on everything.
I just started building a server and plex. Plex is not where I wanna be or maybe I’m doin somethin wrong. My 4K movies have a ton of stutter and the colors are completely washed out. Are you experiencing this?
@@michaelkreisel3573 I don't have that problem. Are you transcoding the the file or direct playing it?
@@tp2100 direct play. I have a cat 8 and a switch comin in the mail today. Since it’s jus a home network I’ll avoid the modem and hope this helps.
@@michaelkreisel3573 Hardwiring does help out a lot. Only 3 devices in my house are not hardwired and I don't do 4K on them.
Raspberry Pi 4 with Libreelec works fine for me at much less money.
Great video @Techno Dad! Waiting for comparison with Shield
Right on!!
Can the Shield play ISO/BDMV? Only way would be through PLEX I believe. MAKEMKV now updated with DV support but not sure of/if any quality diff of ISO or MKV w/ DV.
How about Kodi
I will buy one of these once they get dolby vision .
@Mark Lopez nVidia Shield can play Dolby Vision mkv's via Plex or Kodi with a modded version of ExoPlayer.
@Mark Lopez i have some mkvs with dolby vision its hit miss i actually have game thrones first season MKV dolby vision using dvd fab.
@Mark Lopez I have had no luck grabbing a Dolby Vision file either.
That's a good call Michael, and yes, you can get Dolby Vision from a 4K disc, you'll have to rip the disc as a BDMV folder. I've been doing this for years and it works flawlessly on my Oppo 203. I'm making a video on this for release tomorrow...hopefully.
Ditto
Really looking forward to that second video. This player seems to be the sweet spot for media storage players
Coming soon!
I have mine on the way, be here Friday… I am looking forward to getting it up and running. No more hunting my disks down and ha I got to find them. Adding 2 x16TB drives and will spend weeks adding movies to it.
Oh man…a new one is going to be released in a Couple of months…
Incredible. Need to take a course to figure this stuff out man lol.
On my way home...the last piece of the puzzle came today for me. I've got the denon x4700h now. Traded up from the 2700. I've got 2 rp6000fs, an rp404c, surrounds are rp400m and I'm putting 2 rp500sa's on the front wall up high. Eventually ill grab 2 more for the back.
Also got my dual pb 2000s. I've been on tv speakers for a month while wheeling and dealing to get all this stuff. I'm hyped. Ps5, apple 4k, panasonic ub820, 77 lg cx. Ready to finally hear some solid bass. Of course by the time I'm done installing the elevation speakers, I'm sure it'll be too late to run audyssey. Anyway, thanks for your hard work. Just an update
Nice Chris! That's super exciting!
Did you ever find that missing Jumanji welcome to the jungle disk?
Does it have a shuffle/next button for the videos folder?
I’ve heard in places that a Dolby vision compatible version of the Zapitti is going to be released. Any idea of when?
Absolutely fantastic video on this product. Very easy to follow and informative. Subscribed.
Thank you, Don!
Man that thing is slow. Looking forward to the comparison video since I don’t see any benefit over a Plex server
Right on!
The info on the videos look great but the rest looks like a bunch of different interfaces mashed together. I have a plex server running on an old imac mini looking forward to your comparison.
Main draw back I see is in the reliance on the internet for login. If they go out of business you will end up with an expensive brick
How does this unit compare to the Zidoo UHD3000? I thought I saw somewhere that the chipset is this unit is the same as in the Zidoo 9XE which is way cheaper.
Sorry for conformation zappiti have alot of problems while playing dolby vision video.. zappiti not supporting dolby vision.. i have dolby vision video its showing only HDR10/HDR10+ on screen, it's not showing dolby vision details(dolby vision logo top left or right corner) of the screen......Dear sir please check your device once and inform me please...
As much as I want to get into plex my problem is my wifi can't handle that type of server so I am glad that there's a way to directly stream the file off of a media player.
That is an issue. I know that Zappiti said that connecting the boxes via gigabit ethernet will be much better than wifi.
So it's a NAS that runs Kodi with a nice theme. Eventually I'm going to need a bigger HDD but the same look can be done on Kodi with a little know how and I run it on an Nvidia Sheild. 4TB fills fast with 1:1 4k rips.
Awesome video! Like everyone else, eager to see the shield comparison video. I myself have a 32TB FreeNAS server in my server room but I wish there was the ability to introduce a Zappiti plugin for FreeNAS so that I could only buy a Zappiti Mini for all my TVs/projector! But if the only way to do it is to get Zappiti hardware then I might just get a ZAPPITI ONE 4K HDR as a stand-alone device for only 4K UHD rips as most of my 1080p stuff is on Plex.
Yeah, what's tough is that I need to re-rip into MKV to work on Shield/Plex...what a PITA!!
Thanks for this. I was trying to figure out a NAS to serve up videos when I came across this video. I went with the Zappiti One. They need to sponsor you.
Thanks Norman!
OMG! 16:00 I was just about to pay for the damn silver skin and I remembered you saying something about that and now they gave it to me free! That $5 I was going to spend will now go to your Patreon my good sir!!
Thank you so much, Marc! Don't forget, as a Patron, you have access to Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, and IMAX Enhanced demo files in M2TS format which will play on the Zappiti without issue. Enjoy!
I love this! This is exactly what i've been waiting for. I already have a synology nas, thinking the mini is all I need unless you think there is a feature that to pro has outside hdd? Also would a firmware upgrade on a current model be in the works for dolby vision or is it a harware limitation, and finally since lotr 4k is on separate discs, do you "stitch" your files or will zippiti handle the transition. If you want I can email this to you too. This probably another videos worth lol
Hey mate, did you get a response on this. I have the same question. I have all my titles ripped on my NAS so will the mini do the job?
@@Travel-Tales24 The mini does a good job on 1080 and less. I find it has too many visual artifacts for anything higher. There is a "passthrough" setting but I can't seem to get it to not process the video. So far no dolby vision and I haven't invested time to "stitch" files together.
is it just an expensive kodi box ?
I don't think so.
Hi. Great video. I use a Popcorn Hour A-400 but the interface i better on den Zap. One question, is the main inteface 4K and is i able to display in anamorfic format? Thank you for a great video.
Fantastic review .. I wanted to ask you something. I have a sony a8 oled tv connected to a nas with many 4k movies inside. I use the kodi application on the tv to watch them. Do I have a better video quality rendering with this product or would the expense be useless? Thank you
I missed a step that provided my movies to connect correctly on the Zappiti. How do you send movie content to the Zappiti from your Mac's external hard drive? Please! I can't figure it out. Thanks.
This is one unit i love... to hate. Not easy for a newbie like me at ripping. If you could do a video on the best way to rip your own movies. Many of them just won’t allow without major skipping issues (la la land, incredibles 2, Creed 2, Deadpool 2,..). Also i have to plug the unit directly into my projector because the image will not show up if it is plugged into my Pioneer SC-87 receiver. Old receiver I know, but no issues with any other hardware. Oh well.
Hi! I'm working on a ripping video right now. I hope to have it out tomorrow, but not 100% sure...
U do a great job with ur videos. Love ur channel bro. Preciate u homie👍🏽👊🏽
Thank you so much!
cool stuff T.D. I use Plex Pass and my NAS (WD MyCloudEX2 Ultra) for my music streaming and TV shows recorded from my OTA. Havent done Bluray/4k rips yet. I use my NVIDIA shielfd so prob dont need a Zapiti. Seems a little slow/clunky for the UI with some lag but still cool Lots of work to populate all that stuff and get all the tags correct for sure. keep it up
Is there any difference between ripping my 4k bluray disk to mkv or m2ts formats? Im using dvdfab which i have to say i really like🙄
How does the video quality compare to Panasonic dp-ub9000 (or 820)? I'm using an LG OLED CX for viewing.
how is the picture and sound vs say a Panasonic ub 9000? how do you rip 4k discs? does it have a disc drive?
Here is a tutorial on ripping - czcams.com/video/AqUpY78BlnQ/video.html
@@TechnoDad Thank you Techno.
I have the ZAPPITI One 4K HDR ....love the unit ....the only con is the remote...signal is not strong...have to be pointing directly to the IR in the unit...interface is great as well
I have a SVS SB16. The Zappiti remote signal is the same! Had to hide my SVS display so it won’t pick it up.
Yeah, I think they need to work on that.
You can use it extender that's including.
I use harmony logitech remote and that works better.
Also remove the sticker from the zappiti logo in frontpanel.
can you change the regions on this player example France, Europe codes for playback region free
Not sure about that.
Zappiti 4k vs nvidia shield tv 4k pro ... Which one is best for Home theater ??
It depends...
Awesome walk through. I’m going to start my BR collection and the Zappiti mini. I understand DV is in tact with either ISO or BDMV. Which would you recommend for the entire library? Or is it BDMV for TV Series and ISO for Movies?
Hello Jim! I would go with ISO if you want to rip 4K and standard Blu Rays. DVDFab has a module called 4K Copy and Blu Ray Copy and that is how you rip to ISO.
@@TechnoDad thank you!
another great review TD. I'm thinking of the Zappiti Mini.
ps: what do you use to rip the 4k disks. hardware/software wise, thanks
What's up K Man? I'll be making a video on that subject soon. You'll need a 4K friendly drive first, and you can get one form this guy named Alex - alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
I’m thinking of getting the mini also. I’m also interested on learning how to rip 4K disc?
Thanks Techno Dad for everything you're doing here. I look forward to helping anyone wanting to get into ripping their discs. email me anytime at alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com, thank you.
Are you saying that you can't get the same experience with the nvidia shield? If you can get the same experience, why spend the extra for this device? Am I missing something?
There are a few differences and I’m making a video about that.
As a DJ from way back, using CD’s . I was so OCD, If the CD was not back in it’s original case. I would loose my freaking mind.
Yeah, that was super tough for me. Luckily, I went from vinyl straight to digital and skipped CDs.
Hey man, great video as always. I have a couple of questions regarding its use with a projector if you could answer them:
First off, for those who have a scope screen, is there a way to change the position of the subtitles to get them above the black bars?
And second, I’ve read in many forums about its inability to passthrough the correct metadata for HDR material and so the projectors can’t do proper tonemapping. I know this is a really technical question, but it would be great if you could help with it
Did you get some answers to your questions? would be very intresting
Hope someone could answer these questions!
If I have a NAS already can I play files from NAS to the pro or do I have to have HD added?
Hi! You can play it all off your NAS. You could even get the $249 model without drive bays.
So mkv files? My movies are all vts will it play those? I have folders with the movie name then all the vts file inside. Been using a WD Media player.
Very interesting video. Can't wait for you to do the compare to plex on the Shield. I have been using plex for about 7 years now and have been looking into Zappitti for a few months. Do you also plan on doing a video and sound quality review and also letting us know now well HDR works on it or the HDR to SDR for maybe a second TV that might have only 1080P with a mini? Keep up the great work. Looking forward to the comparison video. It will really help me out.
Right on! That's a lot of stuff to check out, LOL! I'll start with a ripping tutorial as that's what people have mostly been asking about.
@@TechnoDad Can't wait for all the reviews on this unit. I have been searching for some reviews on the Zappiti stuff and other than sparechange it is really hard to find anything in english or any comparisons to an Nvidia shield etc. Thanks again and keep up the great videos.
Am subscribing to your chanell in anticipation of your Zappit vs Nvidia shield comparison. Also, would really appreciate if you could show some other options for digitizing movies collections that are still on disc. Been using my Oppo 203 till now, but am thinking it's about time to digitize the disks. Zappiti can do that, but oddly they only offer when if you buy their VERY expensive NAS. I don't have $8-10K to blow on a NAS right now.
Right on L S. I ripped 60 4K discs into M2TS format and that took up about 3.5 TB which can all be played through the Oppo 203. Just getting a bug raid HDD and connecting it to your Oppo would get you the same-ish results if you rip the discs on your own.
@technodad, did you ever make the comparison video for the Zappiti and Nvidia shield.
I’m trying to start cheaper by having a computer connected to the receiver. Have you done a video about setting that up?
Hi Stanley! No I haven’t. I used to have a Mac Mini connected to my AVR. The only thing I had to do was setup the HDMI output to also send audio. After that it was smooth sailing.
Has it been updated to play Dolby vision and HDR10+ files?
Hi Alex! They are working on adding Dolby Vision and HDR10+ to the next-gen players that will release next year.
@@TechnoDad That's great news it's the only thing that has kept me from buying one and just sticking with an oppo 203 well that and the fact that it needs to be online to play files which is kind of scary if/when they get discontinued or the company goes bust and they stop being supported.
How does the picture quality compare to Infuse on Apple TV vs Plex and Kodi on Nvidia Shield?
I'm not 100% sure, but the Zappiti is playing a 1:1 rip where as the others, there is the transcode step which could introduce a slight degradation in quality.
So I only need a 4K player to rip these movies right I don't need a 4k burner?
Yeah, you need a downgraded firmware 4K friendly drive. Contact Alex to get one - alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
What about Zappiti vs. Dvdfab Server?
This does looks like a good player. But price not so good. If the price would have included at least one of the 10 TB or more hard drive, then it might have been a better deal.
Anyway, buy Nvidia Shield and add external hard drives for media consumption. Use the Kodi app and add the directories to it and it'll download media art from the internet. On side note, the video interface reminded me more of Kodi for some reason on this media player.
I personally have 2x12 TB external hard drives attached to Raspberry Pi 4 and running minidlna. Running Kodi on Nvidia Shield and now Chromecast with Google TV, I have added the media directories in Kodi and I get 4K HDR with full audio support. I also use my Oppo UDP 203 (well now you wont find UDP 203 for cheap) to play movies from Raspberry Pi 4 attached hard drives.
Anyway, depending on whether people want the added features on this media player is up to the individual tastes. At least everything works fine for me for what I wanted.
Question ?
Did you say I can have all these features with the Zappiti Mini and connect an external Hard drive? Like a Synology NAS? I have 4000 movies and running out of space in my home
Hi! Yes, the mini has the same features.
What do you think about the “other” famous Android players (of/in this genre), such as: Dune, Zidoo, or the eGreat? I have the Zidoo X10, and it works GREAT for me 👍
PS/BTW - Hey Dude, noticed you had/have a 10tb drive for your movies. Take my word, that you will eventually have to update your storage - that is, if you want to store a TON of 4K’s, as they are HUGE (space wise). I have a Synology DS3617xs (12 Slot) that is presently up to 40tb (Expandable to 192tb 😳🤯).
How does the audio sound compared to blu ray/4k disc.
I have a lot of downloads and the picture is great but nothing compared to the actual audio of the disc itself. What about music? Can I download cds? And how is that audio compared to the cd?
Hi Edward, the rips are 1:1 so there is no loss in quality and the player is just playing the files. I would imagine it would be identical to playing a disc.
well i hope you have a good time with it, (hope it doesn't go wrong) my personal experience with one was shit, dont care how good the hardware "build" is when there software suck balls and their customer support is pretty much non existent.
That's too bad to hear. I wonder why customer support wasn't able to help?
Great video! What are you using to rip 4Ks?
Hi! There's a couple of software but the first thing to do is get a 4K friendly drive from this guy named Alex - alexcoluzzi32@gmail.com
Does it play 3D ISO files? Like Dune HD pro for example, with blu-ray menus.
Yes.
Does zappit recognizes other software to put movies on hard drives?
What do you mean?
@@TechnoDad can I use dvdfab to put movies on hard drives in the zapptit
@@TechnoDad I use dvdfab to make back ups of my movies I am asking will zappiti allow me to use dvdfab to put movies on hard drives inside the zappiti
Question, we install a NAS and a mini player and the hard drives came with the unit from zappiti so all was set up by them. Direct lines from a gigabit switcher to the mini player and NAS for the network.
The first 100 + DVD were load it without an issue.
a wear thing, any video took more than 10 minutes to load in the NAS, more DVD were less than 5 minutes, but it showing in the NAS and play. Normally suppose to be 10 to 20 for standard DVD.
Them after some weeks of load movies, the NAS started with issues, the DVD burn inside the NAS was not working, we being advise to turn off and on the NAS because it is a PC do issues can go away.
I am making the story short but many things happen...we receive an external DVD player for the NAS and we download more movies using the external DVD player and it works for some days but other issues show up, all videos started to take about 3 minutes to download a movie and them start to not show movies they were download before, so more than 200 movies and only show less than 150.
My question is some one have this issue we had. No 4K movies in this download we did, most old DVD movies version from the 80 and 90.
Hi! Do you mean the Zappiti NAS?
@@TechnoDad hello, yes the NAS, the mini player still there no issues, the problem was the NAS.
We paid to have the NAS with 3 hard drive with 16 TB pre installed and we fallow all instructions .... but all and more happen in 2 or 4 months we had NAS so I ask this because maybe we are the only ones we had this issue
Still watching (only a few minutes in atm), but as Nvidia shield pro owner, I gotta say that although the shield is a beast, I have major issues with its file management system. My HDD is directly plugged in and anytime I want to launch a movie from rest off the shield, I need to restart the shield first or else I get an error
So basically I'm looking forward to seeing if this product can be a good replacement
Create ftp server on your computer or raspberry pi to share HDD content through your network on your nvidia shiled use kodi add your ftp account and create your library
Install Kodi on it.
That's pretty strange Kula. Sounds like it's not workig correctly.
I would love to see a comparison of Zappiti vs a Shield running Plex and or KODI. Does the Zappiti have a better picture quality?
I will do that comparison soon. The files on the Zappiti are 1 to 1 rips, but I know there's another step with Plex and that's the transcode step. I wonder if that can cause even the slightest video degradation??
@@TechnoDad All depends on how you do it. SO I use 1 to 1 MKV's. In the PLEX app on the Shield if you set it to audio Pass Through, PLEX should not have to do any Transcoding. So it should be a good comparison. KODI would also be a good comparison as well.
Where can I buy this in Dec 2021?
They just released a newer version - technodad.biz/Zappiti
Question- I’m looking to download my “concert video” collection. And really want to be able to create a playlist of certain songs pulled out of different concert videos. does anyone know if that is possible with this player?
Hi! I don’t think so. If you were to edit those scenes to one file, it could work, but not too sure.
Seems like the movie metadata scraper would require title and date. Not just the title.
Does anybody have any videos on how to rip 4k uhd discs? I've been on the hunt, but can't find anything good. Thanks
Right dude! I watched this whole video. I just started my collection. This video made my head spin a bit, but its really, really cool. Dolby Vision is necessary for me though, but yea I'd like to have that knowledge. Its one aspect of home theater/av tech that I'm unfamiliar with
Check out MakeMKV software and the MakeMKV forums. With the right drives (Libredrive capable) it can rip 4K copies of your disks byte for byte no problem, no compression, with all Audio channels, etc.
I am currently using Plex but have been considering one of these a lot.
Shane from spare change has several videos on using the zappiti and how to rip
I'll make another one!
@@TechnoDad please do.
If you have your own NAS setup, are we losing anything by going with the Zappiti Mini?
Nope!
Thanks Channa. Eta on the Zappitti Mini VS Nvidia shield pro video?
does this support dolby vission
No, but the newer one will.
ima wait for the 12k verison haha, looks cool
LOL, so like, next year? hahaha!
@@TechnoDad yeah pbly. 😆
Salut de France dear TechnoDad i have a question: which HDD
do you recommand for the Zappiti players. Does the majority of all work ? Which brand dID you choose ?
Hi!! You can use whatever you want. Any 3.5” SATA drive will work, I chose the Seagate Ironwolf 16TB drives which are kind of pricey.
Not all drives are compatible. See here. zappiti.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1816957--hdd-recommended-hdd-models-to-use-with-zappiti-4
@@TechnoDad hi again dear Technodad. Just a question: do you have received your discs Seagate Iron Wolf (NAS mentionned) do they work fine ? Because i've read that not all discs were compatible. It's a bit confusing for me. Thanks
does the mini have all the same features ( such as covers and info on movie)
Yes, it does! You just connect the drive to the USB port.
I made the mistake of getting a WD 16tb red nas drive before buying the Zappiti one. Then I read the fine print and Zappiti says that the drive is not compatible with the the Zappiti one.
Has anyone tried the WD red nas drive?
Zappiti sent me a 3 TB WD Red drive when they sent me the Pro 4K. I personally use the 16TB Seagate Iron Wolf drives in my Zappiti - technodad.biz/Drives
@@TechnoDad are those the drives labeled “nas” ?
Thanks
@@TechnoDad are those the drives labeled “nas” ?
Thanks
Yes, right under the Iron Wolf logo, it says NAS
@@TechnoDad hum I wonder why their literature says that they are not compatible?
I checked again. I guess I could buy it and if it doesn’t work I could return it. Just the hassle.
I was going to buy Zappiti one model.
Thanks for your help brother.
If you already have a NAS a Zidoo is more value for money, uses the same chipset and everything.
U said u were waiting on ur hard drives for the player. What brand did u order if u don’t mind me asking👊🏽
Hi! I went with Seagate IronWolf in the 16TB size. here's a link with multiple sizes - technodad.biz/Drives
@@TechnoDad thx👍🏽👊🏽
Hey Channa D hope all is well with you. We have over 400 4K discs. I am interested in a device like this for convenience. Thanks for the informative video!
Daaaaammmnnnn!!! Some people have asked me to make a video about ripping 4K blu rays, would you be interested in that as well?
@@TechnoDad Yes I would!
@@TechnoDad pleeeaaase do! Thank you in advance!
Hey TD, Waiting on the Zappiti Neo review to drop as I am testing the Zidoo Z10-Pro which is OK. The only difference I see is the picture wall on the Zappiti is better. The Zappiti is this review has older chipset so I don't want to take a step backwards. I hope the PQ/SQ on the Zappiti match what is currently on the Zidoo that I am testing. Do you think the new Zappiti Neo would match the current Zidoo devices? Please give your thoughts.
PM
Hah! That's funny, I have a Zidoo Z10-Pro video to release as well. The only advantage I see about the Zidoo is that I can get 4K HDR Atmos movies streaming over wifi. Zappiti recommends being hardwired and my master bedroom is just too far away.
@@TechnoDad, if the new Zappiti has better PQ/SQ, Scraper and picture wall I would be sold. The Zidoo black levels may not be a good as on the Zappiti. The other thing I do not like is every time you play a movie you have to turn off subtitles. They should be off by default. The Zidoo has no good TS so you have to know how to set it up to your liking.
Hi Techno Dad, what do you think of the DVDFab Movie Server?
Hi! I’ve never used it
Have you ever looked at a Plex server? It does all this and much more.
Hi Brad, Yes, I am comparing the two in an upcoming video. The Shield does a lot but with Plex, you have to do a bit more than the Zappiti. Although, you can share your library with others. It really depends on what you want.
so this is locked down kodi?
I appreciate new tech. However, why $1000? A mini PC with Plex or Emby would do the same plus more at $200.
Any reason not to use a PLEX server and use this same money (or way less) on a custom built PC? Got a 2012 mac mini as a PLEX server with a 10tb disk connected and works great on all devices, even remotely. Is there that much of a quality difference to justify the price and less convenience?
I guess it depends on how involved you want to get. You speak of convenience then say build a custom PC? Is this what the average person wants to do or considers convenient? Not sure about that.
@@TechnoDad thanks for the reply! Yea i guess that was a bit contradictory - i didnt have to do much with the mac mini to set it up as a server, but trying to figure out what i’d be missing by sticking with my current set up or upgrading to something like the zappiti.
Great content as always and love the channel. Thank you!
kodi-pc the best
What hard drives do you recommend for the zappiti
I have 16TB Seagate Iron Wolf drives - technodad.biz/Drives
@@TechnoDad thanks Techno Dad for this information
a snatch reference there!
Yup yup!!
How do you stream between tvs?
You would need two boxes, like two Zappiti Minis or one of these and then a Mini.
I see a Kaleidescape in your future. I'm sure you have the money for it.
that Kaleidescape is diminishing return but if you got the money go for it lol
That's crazy expensive! Then I have to buy movies and they stay on that device. At least with a physical disc, I can choose where it goes.
How did I know it was going to be a gucci player with a gucci price before even clicking? LOL
It's really awesome but it's not better than Plex apart from 4k hdr playback probably. Plus the UI is really poor in my opinion looks early 2010's.
Right on! It will also play ISO and BDMV folders and when Dobly Vision and HDR10+ are supported, then it will do things that a Shield/Plex cannot do. But the Shield does do a lot more.
@@TechnoDad right didn't think of ISO files but I think Plex can play .m2ts files.
Hello TechnoDad, I am a huge fan from Canada Ontario. my question is not related to this product but its Ui/ GUI , I love the way this zappiti or plex , how they show the movies on your Hard disks. I did rip movies from my Blue rays and saved them on my Hard disk as you explained in your previous videos. thanks for that. I am using Kodi to play my Hard disks videos through the Nvidia shield. but I am bored of it UI or skin. I love the way how plex or Zappiti or kaleidescape shows its list of movies, like posters. is there is any way I can get that in any other app? when I am using plex it is streaming the video and I am not getting my Dolby atmos output. but Kodi doing it. any suggestions?
Hi! I'm unsure if there are any Kodi skins, I haven't had any experience with Kodi.
@@TechnoDad ok. Thank you.😁. So zappiti will be my only cheap option to "show off" my movie library. 😔.
@@rajmohanpm8189 You can also try the Zidoo - czcams.com/video/MrGbvdtw6_M/video.html
@@TechnoDad thank u.
This is a great video, but at the same time it brings back some horrible experiences I've had in the past with hardware based media players. They tend to be short lived and not future proof as far as features and format support is concerned. Looking forward to the video comparing this to Plex etc. as the I've not seen anything here that a Plex /NAS /Shield does not support. Thx, for a great video.
I love it
What hard drives do we need to buy for it?
Any standard 3.5" SATA drive will work.
Not quite. Read the instructions. The list is included on the site. I ordered 3.5” sata drives from amazon that were not compatible. Thank God i was able to return them. See list here: zappiti.uservoice.com/knowledgebase/articles/1816957--hdd-recommended-hdd-models-to-use-with-zappiti-4
do you prefer this vs owning a Plex server ?
I will be making that video.
When zappiti with Dolby vision is coming ?
They said 2021.I just don't know when.
Fuuuu...K ..
I wanna have this as my library.. I need to start on this path for a media player.. and rip my content. Thanks, DJ TD .. =)
You got it man!!