Like many who have been around for a few years I have a number of DVD’s collected starting from the 90’s onwards. I was quite an avid collector for three or four years until I jumped back into HiFi and video on demand became a thing. More recently I have been gifted blu-Ray discs at Christmas and Birthdays. A while back I put most of my older DVD’s into cases but even they use space. So I decided to archive my discs to storage and put everything into the loft. I did a search on AliExpress where I have an account and found something suitable, the Zidoo Z10 Pro. A UHD capable Android box with a 3.5 inch HDD caddy. I ordered it on the 7th from China, it arrived today. I could have had it a little sooner for £30 or so more purchased locally but I didn’t find that source until I had hit the buy button!
Unboxing was pleasant enough, it came double boxed and came with everything required to get up and running with a few notable exceptions. Batteries introduce complication to shipping so no AAA’s for the remote and no CR1220 for the Z10 Pro. Packaging was classy and there is a dual language (Chinese and English) manual to get things started. I am still waiting for the CR1220 and a 5TB 2.5 inch HDD. The 2.5-3.5 adaptor is here and I have already begun ripping a few DVD disks to see what format will best suit circumstances.
On power up there is a burst of fan noise but it soon subsides to an acceptable level. I updated it to the latest build and configured it as a Samba share to make it appear on my network. The aim will be to rip then drag and drop the resulting ISO. I paid for WinX DVD Platinum and hopefully that should get me through the bulk of my collection, after which I shall start to archive my Blu-Rays. The end result should be reclaimed space and much better accessibility to my old collection.
Historically I did do the older Android streaming boxes but never got on with them and was rarely happy with the results. As I have Netflix, NowTV, Prime and Disney+ subscriptions the urge to stream has gone. And this box isn’t recommended for that anyway, not because it can’t but because you have to do the donkey work with loading and configuring software. Why bother when you can buy a box ready to go for very little. No, the aim here is to have a simple plug and play way to access my old DVD’s and hopefully this will do the job. I’ll keep you all updated.
Unboxing was pleasant enough, it came double boxed and came with everything required to get up and running with a few notable exceptions. Batteries introduce complication to shipping so no AAA’s for the remote and no CR1220 for the Z10 Pro. Packaging was classy and there is a dual language (Chinese and English) manual to get things started. I am still waiting for the CR1220 and a 5TB 2.5 inch HDD. The 2.5-3.5 adaptor is here and I have already begun ripping a few DVD disks to see what format will best suit circumstances.
On power up there is a burst of fan noise but it soon subsides to an acceptable level. I updated it to the latest build and configured it as a Samba share to make it appear on my network. The aim will be to rip then drag and drop the resulting ISO. I paid for WinX DVD Platinum and hopefully that should get me through the bulk of my collection, after which I shall start to archive my Blu-Rays. The end result should be reclaimed space and much better accessibility to my old collection.
Historically I did do the older Android streaming boxes but never got on with them and was rarely happy with the results. As I have Netflix, NowTV, Prime and Disney+ subscriptions the urge to stream has gone. And this box isn’t recommended for that anyway, not because it can’t but because you have to do the donkey work with loading and configuring software. Why bother when you can buy a box ready to go for very little. No, the aim here is to have a simple plug and play way to access my old DVD’s and hopefully this will do the job. I’ll keep you all updated.
