zidoo Z3000 PRO-8K HDR Media Player, Amlogic S928X-K Processor 8G+64G, Base on Android 11os, Support DV,HDR10+ and All HDR Technoly,BDMV/BDISO

I tried the Z9X 4K some time ago and hated it primarily because I'm an idiot and didn't understand what it was really for. I was trying to use it for Netflix etc, I was trying to load Plex on it, and it didn't really work well for that. Now I'm trying the Z3000 Pro and based on first impressions, I think I may have found my player. I haven't tried using it for Netflix or other similar services, I'm just pulling content off my NAS, both movies and music and I have to say, the UI is far superior to my Dune 8K. The response is significantly faster than the Dune and so far it has not locked up or required power cycling like the Dune sometimes does. I don't want to knock the Dune, it's a decent player and it continues to improve with firmware updates but the Zidoo Z3000 Pro has much more of a Kaleidescape feel to it, lightning fast and so far no glitches. Unless it's simply because I'm an idiot and don't know how to set it up, the Dune doesn't have an artwork based media wall for music, only for movies whereas the 3000 Pro has a beautiful media wall for movies, TV shows, and music. You can switch between movies and TV shows or music with no delay, whereas the Dune can be a bit slow at times. Just scrolling through the list has been known to lock up the Dune but not the Zidoo. Before the Z3000 arrived I pulled out the old Z9x 4K and was much more impressed with it than I had been previously when I was using it wrong. Although I never managed to get an artwork media wall working with it, it was also far faster than the Dune. I realized then that if the Z3000 could do the same thing but with actual artwork instead of folders that I would like it. I have it now and I've been playing with it for a few hours and I think I'm going to go ahead and order a 2nd one so I can have one both in my downstairs system (82" TV with 2-ch audio) and in my upstairs dedicated theater where I have a 185" 2.4:1 screen with 7.2.4 audio. I might consider the UHD8000 for upstairs but I'm not sure it would gain me anything. I have a Marantz AV10 in the theater so the balanced analog outputs of the UHD8000 don't really buy me any advantage. Don't need the internal drive bays so I think the Z3000 is the sweet spot. I'm easily frustrated by gadgets that are not intuitive and easy to set up especially if I'm trying to use them outside their intended purpose. So far, the Z3000 has not frustrated me, it all just sort of makes sense, I'm sure it has features I will never need or ever realize it has but getting it to do what I want it to do has been easy so far. If at some point in the future I find things about it that I don't like, I'll do an update to this review.

This player is awesome! I looked at a lot of options when I was planning to replace my player and this one was the best. It runs really fast and displays video in high definition 4K, true Dolby Vision, and it works flawlessly! I put a hard drive in it and it plays all the video formats I have on my hard drive.

Plays everything I throw at it! My nvidia shield wouldn’t play some mkv files correctly, but this does. Picture quality is outstanding and it upscales lower resolution discs.

.... there are many things in its OS that should be easier and more intuitive Example is when you need to match some poster entries manually. If you need to search for the same thing more than once, it doesn't keep a history so using the remote arrows to select letters and press enter is very time consuming and unnecessary. The other issue is the current OS doesn't recognize many hard drives you want to use in its bay, regardless of capacity. It can't see them, won't format them and when it finally does, it hangs and you need to reboot. It's an Android issue. 24Tb HD? Forget it. They should update this or go Linux or something less picky when it comes to storage. The good news is the great image quality it delivers when using Dolby Vision / HDR etc. and it will play DTS audio and a whole lot of other formats. Once you have your Poster wall the way you like it, back it up with the included option to do that. You'll need it because at some point you'll need to rebuild it. Offering user interface in HDR is also very nice, the colors pop and if you have mostly UHD HDR movies you won't get many black screens as modes won't switch a lot. On a calibrated panel this Zidoo doesn't disappoint at all, I just wish they would have chosen a different OS as Android really blows in many aspects.

I’ve been a fan of home media players for many years. I started with the Western Digital WD TV back in 2012, then upgraded to the KDLinks A400 media player in 2019. While HD playback was flawless on the A400, 4K videos were extremely sluggish and frequently hung up, which led me to start researching a more capable player. In June 2024, I upgraded to the Zidoo Z20 Pro, and the player performed well. However, my biggest issue with it was the occasional freezing when playing large 4K video files. After a reboot, playback would usually be fine, and all HD content played without any issues. About a month later, Zidoo introduced an entirely new lineup. That timing didn’t bother me too much, and the Z20 Pro worked as noted. After reading user reviews and growing curious about the new lineup, I decided to purchase the Zidoo Z3000 in January 2025. Fast forward to today, and the difference has been noticeable. The Z3000 hasn’t frozen on anything I’ve thrown at it, including large 4K files, and the boot time is significantly faster. It’s not quite Apple TV–fast, but it’s a clear improvement over the Z20 Pro. For that alone, the upgrade feels worth it. Another major plus has been the broad support for video and audio formats. This has been especially enjoyable since I’m now watching most of my content in 4K with an Atmos surround sound system, and everything just works as expected. There is a bit of a learning curve if you’re not familiar with this type of media player and its user interface. Setup requires some patience, but once everything is configured properly, the experience becomes much more plug-and-play. Additional equipment used: Sabrent 5-Bay USB 3.2 Gen 2 SATA Docking Station WD Red Pro hard drive

After 8 months the HDMI CEC is bad. I can no longer use the CEC function to control the player. My Bravia 9 TV doesn't even know it's plugged in, and the bad HDMI CEC corrupts all communications of the tv to all other attached HDMI devices. If I remove the Zidoo all works normal with all devices and HDMI ports. As a temporary solution I installed the BlueRigger HDMI CEC Less Adapter to be able to use this player, as it keeps the player from corrupting the CEC communications to the tv. I'll see if Zidoo will repair or replace and give feedback soon.

Better and cheaper alternative to kaleidescape. You can set it up to go to the poster wall directly and its an amazing experience. The video quality and audio is top tier.

very nice very quick to load the movies, the tech support is awesome. there some minors issues, copying files from your server media player to player using SMB will not work!!!

Excelente streame de audio y video, puede con casi todos los formatos y es muy fácil de usar.

Très bon lecteur multimedia

Fantastic media player. High-quality built very happy with how it works. I highly recommend this product

Product recieved in good conditions

Top Gerät - sehr zufrieden hatte den R-Vol...... zum Vergleich. Die Vorteile diese Zidoo überwiegen und das nicht nur beim Preis - handliche FB mit Bew. Melder für autom. Hintergrundbel. - Trailer werden in der Posterwall auch autom. abgespielt - sehr gute Android App - Paremetereinstellung wie bei R_vol...... auch - Bild und Tonqualität - Top - App installation möglich z.B Smart Tu.... - seperater HDMI Ausgang für Audio falls der AV-Receiver kein 8k beherrscht. So kann das 8k Signal zum TV weiter gegeben werden und das Audiosignal zum AV-Receiver mit 4k oder 2k - USB Festplatten werden ohne Probleme erkannt und bleiben auch eingebunden. Bei dem anderen Hersteller wurden diese beim Einschalten sehr oft wieder als neu erkannt und ein Scann wurde gestartet. Was das Gerät je nach Volumen der HDD entsprechend lange gesperrt hat, bis die Posterwall wieder geöffnet wurde. Da war der Filmspass gleich zu Ende. Der Hersteller hatte keine Lösung - das einzige was er nicht hat, ist ein IR Repeater, der kann aber bei Bedarf für kleines Geld nachgekauft werden. ich kann den Player wärmstens empfehlen und bin sehr zufrieden damit