Zappiti 4K HDR Media System

[AVSCraig]

I have a Synology Media Server that I use to store music, pictures, and home videos (still have a ton of work to convert MiniDV tapes onto the disc drives). I have ripped a few movies to MKV and frankly, it was too much front end work to do. I'd rather just put the disc in the player

Zappiti is like putting the disc in a player. It rips it and then it plays on your Zappiti player. In the event of future disc rot you have another way to watch your movies. 

[jkasanic]

I have a Synology Media Server that I use to store music, pictures, and home videos (still have a ton of work to convert MiniDV tapes onto the disc drives). I have ripped a few movies to MKV and frankly, it was too much front end work to do. I'd rather just put the disc in the player 

Well, I’m not a fan of Synology because of the proprietary firmware on the NAS and lack of expansion options. But if you went with UnRAID and something like Emby, it could handle all of your media with one interface. Don’t get me wrong, Craig’s solution is pretty turnkey although at a premium price. Ripping mkv’s is not for the faint of heart but you could put your time into a script that mimics the same behavior vs selecting audio and video tracks, subtitles etc. in MakeMKV.

As has been stated here numerous times, those of us with media servers would never go back to disc play. Seems we have a new convert among us…not surprised. 😉

[DLCPhoto]

Zappiti is like putting the disc in a player. It rips it and then it plays on your Zappiti player. In the event of future disc rot you have another way to watch your movies.

I really like the idea of instant access to my movie collection, but the idea of feeding close to 700 discs into a ripper is daunting.  I think I had read you can buy extra disc drives to use, at a reasonable cost, so you can feed perhaps 3 at a time, or something like that.  But even so, it is still daunting.

I would even consider the cost of a Kaleidescape system if they offered some path to add movies I've already purchased, even if I had to pay a small fee for each movie.  But they don't seem interested in that.  And no  way am I going to buy all those movies yet again.

I have all my movies in the CollectorZ database, so can easily look through the collection on a phone, PC, etc., to decide what I want to watch.  I obviously then have to go get the Disc and put it in, which as Dave Vaughn indicates isn't really a big deal.  But I have to admit it would be cool to be able to access them with a nice GUI and just start playing them.

I vaguely recall some other limitations if I were to use Zappiti, in terms of 3d? subtitles?  other?  Any shortcomings compared to conventional disc play?  Things you wish were different, or needed to be added (or removed)?

[AVSCraig]

I really like the idea of instant access to my movie collection, but the idea of feeding close to 700 discs into a ripper is daunting.  I think I had read you can buy extra disc drives to use, at a reasonable cost, so you can feed perhaps 3 at a time, or something like that.  But even so, it is still daunting.

I would even consider the cost of a Kaleidescape system if they offered some path to add movies I've already purchased, even if I had to pay a small fee for each movie.  But they don't seem interested in that.  And no  way am I going to buy all those movies yet again.

I have all my movies in the CollectorZ database, so can easily look through the collection on a phone, PC, etc., to decide what I want to watch.  I obviously then have to go get the Disc and put it in, which as Dave Vaughn indicates isn't really a big deal.  But I have to admit it would be cool to be able to access them with a nice GUI and just start playing them.

I vaguely recall some other limitations if I were to use Zappiti, in terms of 3d? subtitles?  other?  Any shortcomings compared to conventional disc play?  Things you wish were different, or needed to be added (or removed)?

Yes, you can add up to 2 additional ripping drives, for a total of 3. I'm going to get one. I'm culling some discs which will bring me down to about 720 movies. I also have Collector Z. I currently have 146 4K discs and and 168 Blu rays ripped. So about 1/2 of my 4K discs and 1/3 of the Blu-rays. Doubling the speed should have the collection finished in a couple of weeks. 
I'll need to play some more movies with subtitles, but you basically have all the options available you would have with a disc player. All the subtitles are there, and audio tracks. Can't say about 3D - I don't have any 3D discs unless they came included ( like Alita ) - and I have no 3D glasses etc. 

[bmoney]

I’m sure it’s a “wished I done it sooner” type situation. It was for me. 

[SRW1000]

Do any of the Zappiti units have built in tone mapping?

[AVSCraig]

Do any of the Zappiti units have built in tone mapping?

No. I'm using my Lumagen for that. 

[bmoney]

That’s THE only downside of the NAS you need an external VP of some sorts.

[AVSCraig]

That’s THE only downside of the NAS you need an external VP of some sorts.

Same with a disc player though. Unless you have a 4K JVC projector. 

[claw]

Just don't expect that you will be able to immediately rip every new UHD disc that you purchase.  I don't know what Zappiti uses for decryption.   I expect that it has a server side database with encryption keys for each title.

There are Blu-Ray discs and a few UHD discs that use Screenpass.  There is also a new AACS 2.1 encryption version that is very difficult to break used on some UHD discs.

With AnyDVD HD, I sometimes need to wait a few days after disc release, or a few weeks in some cases, before I can backup the disc.  Some cannot be backed up at all; Knives Out purchased from Best Buy for example.

Impossible to Rip Some DVD or Blu-ray on Zappiti NAS Rip – Ideas Proposals for New Features / Idées et suggestions (uservoice.com)

[Clark Burk]

Claw that last part about altered resin in the Zappiti link is scary. I didn’t realize so many BRs are affected. The 4K discs with 3 layers will likely be even more susceptible to this disc rot. One more nail in the coffin for physical disc media.

[bmoney]

Same with a disc player though. Unless you have a 4K JVC projector.

Not true. The panny 820 did a fine job with Tm 

[bmoney]

Same with a disc player though. Unless you have a 4K JVC projector.

Not true. The panny 820 did a fine job with Tm. Obv not up to par with lumagen. But nothing is

[AVSCraig]

Not true. The panny 820 did a fine job with Tm. Obv not up to par with lumagen. But nothing is

True, it did work better than nothing. It would be hard to go back to that instead of the dynamic tone mapping solutions we currently have.

[bmoney]

True, it did work better than nothing. It would be hard to go back to that instead of the dynamic tone mapping solutions we currently have.

Absolutely:)