UGoos AM6B+ - End-Game 4K Media Streamer (for me anyway, and anyone who cares about Dolby Vision playback)

[timothyemerson]

After a few weeks with the Ugoos/CoreElec, I thought I'd post my experiences and a few questions for the experts:

1. I've watched a couple of 4K-with-Dolby-Vision-FEL MKVs and they play fine and look fine so that's good. I can't tell the difference between the so-called "real" FEL on the Ugoos/CoreElec and whatever the Zidoo Z9X is doing or not doing with the FEL though so whatever. I'm over the whole Dolby Vision thing. None of the HDR10-only 4K movies I've seen make me think they'd look better with the additional ~30GB the DV FEL adds to the file size - they all look fine to me.

2. I noticed that right at the end of the end credits on one of the 4K-with-Dolby-Vision-FEL MKVs that the image froze in about the last 5 seconds of the credits rolling while the audio continued to play. This is something the Zidoo Z9X does intermittently (it hasn't done it for over a year though) that I hoped the Ugoos/CoreElec would not do but I guess it's something media players sometimes do when they're getting to the end of a file. Weird, intermittent and not reliably repeatable. Anyone else noticed this?

3. BD (2K) MKVs, however, look pretty soft, colours aren't as bright and black levels aren't as good on the Ugoos/CoreElec compared to the Zidoo Z9X. Image on the Zidoo Z9X is sharper, colours brighter and blacks are pretty black. Can y'all let me know the Ugoos/CoreElec pic settings y'all use that I could try? I'll then give them a go and see how they look.

4. The UR02 Bluetooth remote sometimes either doesn't respond to a button push or behaves like I'm holding a button down - e.g., if I'm scrolling through tunes and take my paw off the button, it keeps scrolling before eventually stopping. It eventually settles down and behaves correctly though so not a show-stopper. Have y'all noticed this?

5. I haven't tagged any of my FLAC/WAV/DSF files and noticed as you'll all know that Kodi seems to ignore FLAC file names and display tag info instead (I don't find this enough of a pain to retag all my FLACs across 3 back-up drives). DSFs display the file name but from memory, they might have been tagged automatically when I ripped 'em from my SACDs. However, I ripped all of my WAVs from CDs with Windows Media Player and didn't tag anything but only edited each file name via Windows Explorer (press F2, retype file name, press Enter). Kodi seems to display WAV file names fine though. Is this the way it works?

 

[HomerJAU]

Dolby FEL must be encoded in the source to be decoded. It only exists in Dovi releases with FEL ripped with recent (post 2021) rippers. Not all Dovi releases are FEL. The ‘EL’ in the codec does not mean FEL. EL can be either FEL or MEL. MMH 9s Fike Manager shows FEL in its reports.

The Ugoos UR02 remotes needs a firmware update, did you do that?

Kodi needs tags, always has done. Part of the reason some users bag Kodi. They don’t tag and just want to play files.

Don’t use WAVs. To big and difficult to tag.

 

[himey]

After a few weeks with the Ugoos/CoreElec, I thought I'd post my experiences and a few questions for the experts:

1. I've watched a couple of 4K-with-Dolby-Vision-FEL MKVs and they play fine and look fine so that's good. I can't tell the difference between the so-called "real" FEL on the Ugoos/CoreElec and whatever the Zidoo Z9X is doing or not doing with the FEL though so whatever. I'm over the whole Dolby Vision thing. None of the HDR10-only 4K movies I've seen make me think they'd look better with the additional ~30GB the DV FEL adds to the file size - they all look fine to me.

2. I noticed that right at the end of the end credits on one of the 4K-with-Dolby-Vision-FEL MKVs that the image froze in about the last 5 seconds of the credits rolling while the audio continued to play. This is something the Zidoo Z9X does intermittently (it hasn't done it for over a year though) that I hoped the Ugoos/CoreElec would not do but I guess it's something media players sometimes do when they're getting to the end of a file. Weird, intermittent and not reliably repeatable. Anyone else noticed this?

3. BD (2K) MKVs, however, look pretty soft, colours aren't as bright and black levels aren't as good on the Ugoos/CoreElec compared to the Zidoo Z9X. Image on the Zidoo Z9X is sharper, colours brighter and blacks are pretty black. Can y'all let me know the Ugoos/CoreElec pic settings y'all use that I could try? I'll then give them a go and see how they look.

4. The UR02 Bluetooth remote sometimes either doesn't respond to a button push or behaves like I'm holding a button down - e.g., if I'm scrolling through tunes and take my paw off the button, it keeps scrolling before eventually stopping. It eventually settles down and behaves correctly though so not a show-stopper. Have y'all noticed this?

5. I haven't tagged any of my FLAC/WAV/DSF files and noticed as you'll all know that Kodi seems to ignore FLAC file names and display tag info instead (I don't find this enough of a pain to retag all my FLACs across 3 back-up drives). DSFs display the file name but from memory, they might have been tagged automatically when I ripped 'em from my SACDs. However, I ripped all of my WAVs from CDs with Windows Media Player and didn't tag anything but only edited each file name via Windows Explorer (press F2, retype file name, press Enter). Kodi seems to display WAV file names fine though. Is this the way it works?

What TV?

 

[timothyemerson]

What TV?

It's a Sony 75X9000F. I'm in New Zealand so the model number might differ slightly from US model numbers.

 

[timothyemerson]

Dolby FEL must be encoded in the source to be decoded. It only exists in Dovi releases with FEL ripped with recent (post 2021) rippers. Not all Dovi releases are FEL. The ‘EL’ in the codec does not mean FEL. EL can be either FEL or MEL. MMH 9s Fike Manager shows FEL in its reports.

The Ugoos UR02 remotes needs a firmware update, did you do that?

Kodi needs tags, always has done. Part of the reason some users bag Kodi. They don’t tag and just want to play files.

Don’t use WAVs. To big and difficult to tag.

Thanks Garry:

1. Yep, the 4K MKVs I watched were all ripped in the past couple of years from recent releases and showed "FEL" in MakeMKV as opposed to a "MEL".

2. I didn't know the remote needed an update. Is this how I do it (I'm a "programmed instruction" kinda guy)?

a. Go here: https://ugoos.com/ugoos-bt-remote-control-ur02 and download the APK.
b. Copy the APK to a USB drive and plug it into the Ugoos.
c. Boot up the Ugoos in non-CoreElec mode, navigate to the APK on the USB drive and press on it.
d. Follow the instructions in this PDF: https://ugoos.com/files/uploads/780ca34082fbc8de037a89a93837d446.pdf

Just wanna make sure there isn't some missing step that "everyone knows about" that I don't know about!

Thanks.

 

[HomerJAU]

Those instructions look good, I probably used exactly that

This update makes the remote very stable! A must do!

Are you sure MakeMKV shows FEL? That must be something new, it used to be only EL.

 

[HomerJAU]

Hey Tim,

Use the CoreElec power menu to switch to Android and do the update then shutdown and restart back to CoreElec

 

[timothyemerson]

Those instructions look good, I probably used exactly that

This update makes the remote very stable! A must do!

Are you sure MakeMKV shows FEL? That must be something new, it used to be only EL.

Thanks Garry, will give it a crack soon.

Yep, MakeMKV definitely shows FEL or MEL or neither if it don't got no Dolby Vision hogging the file size! I always make sure to look for it so that I can make a mental note to see if I can tell if the image of FEL/MEL DV MKVs all seem to be collectively better than MKVs without DV and I never can. They all look great. Flippin' Dolby middle-manning it again and clipping the ticket!

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Yep, MakeMKV definitely shows FEL or MEL or neither if it don't got no Dolby Vision hogging the file size!

Out of interest, where does MakeMKV state this?

 

[timothyemerson]

Hey Tim,

Use the CoreElec power menu to switch to Android and do the update then shutdown and restart back to CoreElec

I've just gone through the process (twice to ensure I didn't mess anything up) and here's what happened:

APK installed. Remote connected via BT. When I got to the CHECK FOR UPDATES screen, I checked for updates but it returned a UPDATES | Updates not exists with a CLOSE button. So, it appears it's already up to date. The Current Version displayed on my machine is 3761378373 whereas that in this PDF https://ugoos.com/files/uploads/780ca34082fbc8de037a89a93837d446.pdf is 3760396288 (a lower version number). Guess the remote's just a bit buggy eh?

 

[HomerJAU]

I’m buying more U2 this week and will check it out when I try to update them. So a couple of weeks away.

 

[HomerJAU]

Out of interest, where does MakeMKV state this?

It would be on the right info pane when selecting the video stream on left

 

[timothyemerson]

Out of interest, where does MakeMKV state this?

From memory:

It appears once MakeMKV has done all its initial processes, has verified that it's able to open the disc and is ready for you to select what playlists you want to make an MKV from. Click the "down arrow" to expand whatever you want to make the MKV from in the list of Titles and it should appear in that list somewhere.

 

[timothyemerson]

I’m buying more U2 this week and will check it out when I try to update them. So a couple of weeks away.

Cool. I've sometimes noticed (not always but then I'm usually looking at the screen and not the remote) that the BT remote blue light stays on after I've released a button and it's scrolling by itself. I guess it's possible mine got a bit bashed around enroute but as I mentioned, it settles down eventually and only seems to misbehave sometimes on start up of the Ugoos or after a period of inactivity. Might just need a wake-up. Anyway, let us know what you find when your back-ups arrive. Thanks.

 

[HomerJAU]

I bought around 8 or so and 2 would not update the firmware, they both got ‘stuck’ part way. They still worked but I’ve binned them.

 

[timothyemerson]

I bought around 8 or so and 2 would not update the firmware, they both got ‘stuck’ part way. They still worked but I’ve binned them.

Hmmm, interesting. Mine didn't even start the update. Good thing they're cheap!

 

[HomerJAU]

Get one of the Kodi Remote apps for your smartphone. Free. They connect via WiFi to your Kodi player.

 

[steelydave]

Get one of the Kodi Remote apps for your smartphone. Free. They connect via WiFi to your Kodi player.

I use and can reccomend Kore if you have an android phone, it's superb.