Zidoo X9S Dual OS Dual HDMI TV Box/Media Center Review

[Jeffrey]

Firstly, I would like to thank our friends over at FastTech for sending the Zidoo X9S over for review.

The Zidoo X9S design is simple yet stylish. The housing of the TV box is made of a smoke grey colored aircraft-grade aluminum, and it doesn’t attract fingerprints.

The front panel has a VFD display along with a window for the IR receiver. The back side comes with two WiFi antenna connectors, a Gigabit Ethernet port, HDMI In and an HDMI Out port, AV jack, optical SPDIF, a reset/recovery pinhole, micro SD slot, power jack, a power on/off button. The top of the device is clean with only a few printed features, while the bottom side has a large number of air vents that is necessary as this box uses a passive cooling method. There is nothing on the left but the air vents. On the right side you will find a SATA 3.0 interface, two USB 2.0 ports and USB 3.0 port.

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The X9S TV box to comes with a Realtek RTD 1295 64-bit processor. It’s a quad-core processor based at Cortex A53 architecture and paired with an octa-core Mali-T820 MP3 GPU. The X9S sports 2GB of DDR3 RAM and 16GB of eMMC internal memory. There is a SATA interface, which means you can connect your SATA hard drive or SSD that can be used for storage or an NAS drive. In addition there is an SD port to expand the memory up to 64GB. I did try a 128GB card and it worked fine..

The image output is implemented via HDMI 2.0A, but there is also an HDMI 2.0 port for video recording (PiP-Picture in Picture) and streaming. The Gigabit Ethernet port is capable of reproducing surround sound 7.1. It also supports Dolby Digital and DTS-HD as well as Dolby Atmos and DTS:X. Though ethernet is preferable, the 2.4GHz and 5GHz WIFI worked very well. This box supports Bluetooth 4.0. as well.

Thanks to this specs list the Zidoo X9S is capable of reproducing almost all the main video codecs of 4K@60 in 10-bit color (H.264, H.265 and vp9). In addition, Android 6.0 in conjunction with OpenWRT allows this box to be used as a router or a network-attached storage (NAS). You can literally create your own home entertainment center.

This box has some very unique features. The Zidoo X9S comes with Android 6.0 pre-installed. But as we have said above, this TV box runs on OpenWRT, which is based on Linux. This box comes with dual operating systems that runs simultaneously.

The key reason why people buy TV boxes is not only to cut the cord, but having the capable of playing any file from any internal and removable storages. Actually, there are no media files that can’t be played on this box. To play any video or audio file or to listen to music on radio you can use the built-in media center called ZDMC, which is their own rendition of KODI that is optimized specifically for Zidoo devices and uses OMX HW decoding for a better compatibility. KODI is known for the ability to extend the functionality via plugins. The latter can change the interface of the media center, add localization, codecs, new sources of content and much more. If you don’t like ZDMC, you can remove it and install any other program designed to deliver online content.

Special Features

• AirPlay,
• AirMirror,
• DLNA (UPnP),
• MicroCast,
• Zidoo RS
• Google Remote,
• Samba server,
• iTunes (DAAP) server,
• FTP server,
• AFP function (for Apple TimeMachine),
• BitTorrent download function.

Pros

• Aluminum Body
• Strict Design
• High-performance hardware
• Connectivity
• 4K video support
• OpenWRT usage
• Regular OTA updates
• HDMI-CEC support that allows to transfer data between different products
• Remote control with programming buttons

Cons

• We’d prefer to get it for a lower price tag.

The Bottom Line

The Zidoo X9S is considered to be one of the best TV box running on Android. It is capable of playing any file at any format. I have tested quite a few TV Boxes and must say that the Zidoo X9S is at the top of the list.

You can pick one up at FastTech for under $150. with free shipping.

 

[bkdodger]

Nice review @Jeffrey


7+

 

[xeene]

Is there a way to sideload windows 10 on it?

 

[kixfan]

That thing is a beast. Does everything except make me a sandwich! I may just have to pick one up.

 

[akhenax]

Sounds like it's only running on ARM processors, so no Windows 10.

 

[Mustang02]

I don't get the draw to these. Grab a tinyPC, throw Ubuntu on it and done.

 

[cerisecons]

I don't get the draw to these. Grab a tinyPC, throw Ubuntu on it and done.

We'll have to discuss this, I'd be interested in your thoughts, as I've looked at these and frankly wasn't impressed, especially the initial cost, if only used as a "TV cable box replacement"

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Mustang02]

We'll have to discuss this, I'd be interested in your thoughts, as I've looked at these and frankly wasn't impressed, especially the initial cost, if only used as a "TV cable box replacement"

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Roku can do everything this thing can and cheaper.

 

[cerisecons]

Roku can do everything this thing can and cheaper.

Got the Roku

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[kixfan]

I don't get the draw to these. Grab a tinyPC, throw Ubuntu on it and done.

Funny thing is that's exactly what I did when I wanted one of those hard to find over-priced Nintendo Classic Consoles. I bought a Raspberry Pi and case, put RetroPie and Emulation Station on it and use it as a multiple platform emulator. Bought a cheap controller to go with it. Never thought of doing that with TV although I already have a Roku. Hard to believe that Roku can do all this box does though. It seems fairly limited on the apps it supports. Can you run Kodi on a Roku?

 

[Mustang02]

No but Roku runs Plex.

 

[cerisecons]

I've seen plex on the roku, how's that work?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

[Mustang02]

I've seen plex on the roku, how's that work?

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Like Kodi. Drop files on a shared PC or NAS and it will let you play them. This is what I do for all my TV and Movies.

 

[Jeffrey]

We'll have to discuss this, I'd be interested in your thoughts, as I've looked at these and frankly wasn't impressed, especially the initial cost, if only used as a "TV cable box replacement"

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

It's a Media Console as well as a cable box replacement with no monthly fees.

Roku can do everything this thing can and cheaper.

Roku is limited to what Roku allows you to do. These boxes are wide open..

Like Kodi. Drop files on a shared PC or NAS and it will let you play them. This is what I do for all my TV and Movies.

The difference is, you are downloading movies, music etc.. to your Plex, Roku or your PC.

Buying a Roku does not give you access to the content you can watch on it, just like buying a TV does not give you access to cable TV shows. You need to have accounts with each service that provides the content (some free, some paid) and/or subscribe to a cable/satellite package that gives you permission to access specific networks through the Roku.

These boxes give you the ability to watch any TV show [past or present] movies sports events with just a few clicks.
I have thousands of channels available anytime I want to watch them.
Keep in mind that all the content available on these boxes are free and some of the content may not be legal.
These boxes have a huge presence in the EU and Asia. The US is just catching on now that Nvidia has included Kodi on their TV Box.
I have both the Zidoo and the HiMedia Q10 Pro. I will be doing a Q10 review next week.
I also have a $50. box in route. I want to see how a $50. box compares to a $150 Zidoo and $300. Q10.
To date, the Zidoo is the best TV Box I have tested.