Zidoo X1II Android Media Player review
5. Summary
The Zidoo X1 II is powered by the very promising RockChip R3229 octa-core chip and has the lowest retail price ( $55) among all the Zidoo players.
At first glance,the player's design looks a bit strange and its bold, yellow color is definitely eye-catching. Being passively cooled, it has compact dimensions and could fit almost anywhere. On the other hand, the curvy design of the player sometimes made reaching out the LAN or the USB ports tricky
The product supports HDMI2.0 and up to 4K @ 60hz AVC/HEVC video playback, along with 7.1 audio/. It will play most currently available test files when paired with a proper A/V receiver - up to 7.1 Dolby Digital and DTS sound, using either the stock or the ZDMC (KODI) video players. However even with the latest firmware installed, we noticed some pauses/cuts in the audio playback that Zidoo has to fix.
The Zidoo X1 II had no major issues playing H264/H265 videos. The majority of available files are supported. As a bonus, the player supports up to 200Mbps video files. Playback of 10bit HEVC files is not a problem as well. On the other hand, we faced some issues with USB-powered HDDs, which weren't recognized. That did not apply to USB flash drives, which were easily recognized by the player.
Generally, the Zidoo X1 II is an entry level Android media player with good overall playback capabilities, but also with limitations for power users. If you need a basic Android player for 2.0/2.1 playback from a local USB flash drive, the X1II TV box is there for you. However if you need more features working out of the box, spend some $15 more and get the Zidoo X5 instead.
We liked:
* Good price compared with other Zidoo android boxes
* Supports HDMI2.0, up to 4K @ 60hz
* Playbacks up to 200Mbps H265/H265 files
* 3D Playback
* Wifi and Bluetooth 4.0 connectors
* Includes 2x USB2.0 devices and microSDHC/SDXC slot
* Included ZDMC (KODI) works very well
* Good picture quality with 2K, 4K, HD content
* Great power control over software (auto off)
* Frequent firmware updates
Need more work:
- HDMI-CEC doesn't work - at least with a Panasonic 4K TV
- USB 2.0/3.0 2.5" powered HDDs weren't recognized
- HD Audio passthrough needs fine-tuning to avoid audio skipping and pauses
- Memory management of the player needs fine-tunning
- Only 100Mbit LAN connection
- Wifi performance is poor
- Xvid/DiX/DivXHD jerky playback
- No SPDIF port may be an issue for some users
- Stock player doesn't support DVD/Blu-Ray ISO playback (easily fixable by using the ZDMC)
- No "fake" Wifi option under settings, needed for some apps to work when LAN is being used