Zappiti Out of Business - Are your Media Purchases Doomed?

[RGauld]

The reason I bought it was because of the video interface... that and other media player/streamers (HiFi Rose, to name one), are way more expensive! It's interesting that the same thing happened to me a long time ago when I purchased a Mede8er player only to find out that they too shut down shortly thereafter... talk about bad luck!
I sent a not so kind email to Zappiti Canada, asking what I'm supposed to do with my new paperweight!

 

[HighPowerDude]

Sad news. My Zappiti Pro 4K HDR produces vivid images and is a sonically outstanding music server. I'll just use it for music. The technology was tops.

 

[isolar8001]

Sad news. My Zappiti Pro 4K HDR produces vivid images and is a sonically outstanding music server. I'll just use it for music. The technology was tops.

What makes you think it won't be good for video anymore ?
All you lost was any updates to the poster wall if you use that.

It will play any video you add to it until the day it dies.
People are highly exaggerating all of this...no one claimed their Oppo player was useless when they went under.

 

[itallushrt]

Ive been using a Zappiti media server for a LONG time and love it. I purchased it new for 299.99 USD and in terms of av components always considered it a steal. It just works.

I love the movie wall, automatic media identification, etc. My device is very old and doesn't support DV or HDR10 so I have been half looking for a replacement anyway.

I have all of my content on local drives and prefer the simplicity of that functionality + a good remote. Is Dune a suitable replacement?

 

[cpp]

Never heard of them. I thought it was a lighter company

 

[jasper.o.waale]

So, its clear that offline collection is needed for some, will that function work after the cloud stops? or do we have to do and build the offline collection before EOL Do anybody know? I for sure like to know when to do this on this

 

[jasper.o.waale]

Does anybody know howe the offline modem works, will be possible to swap after Cloude is off, or is that to be done before? I still have to say I am happy with my machine hard love to have to pay 50 a year going forward, im sure most will find a way to save it on something,

 

[itallushrt]

Is the cloud subscription service available?

I ask because I've found no way to "discover / manually identify" TV episodes.

 

[BMXTRIX]

Is the cloud subscription service available?

I ask because I've found no way to "discover / manually identify" TV episodes.

I would think that most of the real knowledgebase for this is going to be at AVS.

This article didn't hit home for me at all. I bought TWO of the Dune players years ago. This was before getting a reliable player was much of a thing, and they were pretty expensive. Set up some RAIDs in my home and ripped my entire BD collection. No downloads, all true 1:1 BD rips. They were okay. That was kind of it, at best, they were okay. Dune did allow for some plugins for a movie wall, which I went with, and worked on, but it was a labor of enjoyment, which soon turned into just being labor. I mean, it was cool to get the movie wall, but it wasn't automatic, and it wasn't built in.

Zappiti was the promise of making movie walls fully automatic, but it came at a price, which I didn't buy into. I could live without it and just browse to my recent downloads if I wanted to...

Then came Plex. I had tried XBMC (Kodi) a few years before and was really bugged by how much hand holding it needed to operate properly. But a few years had passed and people were talking about Plex as a good option. It wouldn't read my native BD rips, but I had converted some to MP4 files for my iPad to watch on the go, so I had some files it could index. I also owned a Roku so I could try out a player. 30 minutes later and it was all setup and ready to go. No hand holding, no fuss. Just installing and running through some steps. A few days later I had added some content and it seemed to be nearly flawless for my needs. I got the one month pass which I paid for... and a month later, I bought the lifetime pass.

I removed my Dune players from my equipment rack a couple of years ago and nobody in my house has missed them in the least. Converted all my BD.iso files to .mkv files and haven't looked back. I love that Plex offers a lifetime pass. I hope they stick around that long as well! I love that Plex has grown so popular that it is showing up as a quick shortcut button on some remotes. I love that it's on basically every major platform and television out there.

I feel bad for Zappiti owners, but I'm glad they have options.

I have no idea what Zappiti would offer people these days which is a big improvement on what Plex can deliver today. Or, what Plex will offer in a few years as things continue to progress with their software.

 

[itallushrt]

Fair enough!

I will investigate what Plex offers now as it has been a LONG time since I last attempted to use it (and quickly dumped).

I like the movie wall, etc because I have young children and being able to browse by image meant I didn't have to always "help".

 

[Movie2099]

I would think that most of the real knowledgebase for this is going to be at AVS.

This article didn't hit home for me at all. I bought TWO of the Dune players years ago. This was before getting a reliable player was much of a thing, and they were pretty expensive. Set up some RAIDs in my home and ripped my entire BD collection. No downloads, all true 1:1 BD rips. They were okay. That was kind of it, at best, they were okay. Dune did allow for some plugins for a movie wall, which I went with, and worked on, but it was a labor of enjoyment, which soon turned into just being labor. I mean, it was cool to get the movie wall, but it wasn't automatic, and it wasn't built in.

Zappiti was the promise of making movie walls fully automatic, but it came at a price, which I didn't buy into. I could live without it and just browse to my recent downloads if I wanted to...

Then came Plex. I had tried XBMC (Kodi) a few years before and was really bugged by how much hand holding it needed to operate properly. But a few years had passed and people were talking about Plex as a good option. It wouldn't read my native BD rips, but I had converted some to MP4 files for my iPad to watch on the go, so I had some files it could index. I also owned a Roku so I could try out a player. 30 minutes later and it was all setup and ready to go. No hand holding, no fuss. Just installing and running through some steps. A few days later I had added some content and it seemed to be nearly flawless for my needs. I got the one month pass which I paid for... and a month later, I bought the lifetime pass.

I removed my Dune players from my equipment rack a couple of years ago and nobody in my house has missed them in the least. Converted all my BD.iso files to .mkv files and haven't looked back. I love that Plex offers a lifetime pass. I hope they stick around that long as well! I love that Plex has grown so popular that it is showing up as a quick shortcut button on some remotes. I love that it's on basically every major platform and television out there.

I feel bad for Zappiti owners, but I'm glad they have options.

I have no idea what Zappiti would offer people these days which is a big improvement on what Plex can deliver today. Or, what Plex will offer in a few years as things continue to progress with their software.

Zappiti thought they were kings and decided to charge double what everyone else was charging for the exact same thing. Greed is what killed Zappiti. I really wanted to buy into Zappiti, but after they released their new lineup and jacked up the prices. I decided against it. Glad I went down that path. Plenty of other options on the market.

 

[itallushrt]

Zappiti thought they were kings and decided to charge double what everyone else was charging for the exact same thing. Greed is what killed Zappiti. I really wanted to buy into Zappiti, but after they released their new lineup and jacked up the prices. I decided against it. Glad I went down that path. Plenty of other options on the market.

I had 300$ wrapped up in a solid product so not much of a loss for me giving how long I used it.

Can you recommend an alternative?

 

[Movie2099]

I had 300$ wrapped up in a solid product so not much of a loss for me giving how long I used it.

Can you recommend an alternative?

Zidoo is really stepping up their game. If you're still interested in a media player like Zappiti, Zidoo seems like the way to go. Cheaper too.

 

[itallushrt]

Zidoo is really stepping up their game. If you're still interested in a media player like Zappiti, Zidoo seems like the way to go. Cheaper too.

Thanks. I'm going to investigate Plex (again) now that is has a lot more maturity. I already host all of my media locally on a dedicated 48tb NAS. If it can't meet my requirements, which admittedly are VERY low, then I'll look in Zidoo. I had already been checking them out.

 

[jasper.o.waale]

I Updated to the pay-to-use software and works and has the support, I have no issue paying for services that I use,

The Facebook group is active and if you ignore the English / French mix of text you be happy im sure, we had 2end update already and they have a 6usd a month or 50 a year option so I suggest if not sure try the 6,

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[TLS Guy]

Zappiti, the French maker of media players and AV servers, is closing its doors. The company’s cloud service will shut down before the end of 2023. Will a new app allow existing customers to keep using their Zappiti hardware, or will the company’s media players, which sell for as much as $3,000, become doorstops?

View attachment 63660

Over on AVSForum, a user named John (a.k.a netroamer on the forum) added additional details from his contact at Zappiti. He said that Zappiti support will continue until approximately the first of next year, perhaps beyond that if the company hasn’t run out of funds. If support ends, the codes for administrative access will be sent to owners (this would allow users full admin-level access to their NAS devices). The new app would be a subscription-based service, and would be a direct replacement for the current Zappiti Video app. Is this something the average user will be able to handle or tolerate?

Read: Zappiti Calls it Quits

This is a developing story. For now, we can only wait and see if Zappiti comes through with a new app for its customers. Do you own a Zappiti media player? Share your thoughts in this related forum thread below.

It's French. Say no more!

 

[jasper.o.waale]

The software that runs on all the machines https://www.rvolution.com/ and all functions looks to work better then orgional

 

[itallushrt]

I Updated to the pay-to-use software and works and has the support, I have no issue paying for services that I use,

The Facebook group is active and if you ignore the English / French mix of text you be happy im sure, we had 2end update already and they have a 6usd a month or 50 a year option so I suggest if not sure try the 6,

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I've signed up also. Will try this for awhile and explore some other software based options before going with another hw product. I may just end up building a HTPC as my kids are getting older and are getting into gaming.

 

[itallushrt]

I've signed up also. Will try this for awhile and explore some other software based options before going with another hw product. I may just end up building a HTPC as my kids are getting older and are getting into gaming.

MEH, R.Volution is garbage. Can't even authenticate to SMB1.0 shares on the same LAN. The documentation says not to use "special characters" in the pw. LOL.

Guess I'll look into building a HTPC running Jellyfin or go the Zidoo route.