Chowmain - Zappiti Media Player Driver

[alanchow]

Chowmain - Zappiti Media Player Driver for Control4

Supporting almost all video and audio formats, codecs and file containers, including all modern video standards such as HDMI 2.0, Ultra HD 4K, HDR, 3D subtitles and HEVC video codec with one billion colors (10-Bit color encoding), the Zappiti 4K HDR media player range sets an entirely new standard. The top class Zappiti Duo 4K HDR is equipped with an internal 3.5" SATA HDD bay with hot swap function for huge total capacity (up to 32 TB) and offers powerful Wi-Fi 5G and Ethernet gigabit network capability. The Zappiti 4K HDR media players are compatible with most audio and video formats such as UHD ISO, BD ISO, M2TS, MKV 4K, MVC 3D with 3D subtitles, BD and UHD menus support, home theater audio (including Dolby Atmos and DTS:X) and high-resolution lossless audio files. This new player range is also compatible with Zappiti Video for the best possible home theater experience.

A premium product deserves an excellent interface to match as such the Chowmain Zappiti driver for Control4 offers full library access on all Control4 user interfaces including the Control T3 touchscreen and Neeo remote control.

Put the finishing touch on your customer's Zappiti system using our driver for Control4.

Features

• Transport Controls
• Ability to browse movies, tv shows and more on navigator. View movie information including synopsis, MPAA rating, genres, cast director and more
• T3 Touchscreen support
• Neeo remote support
• Detection of when media playback starts and stops with feedback

FAQ

Can you give us some examples of how we could use this driver?

• Use your Control4 touchscreen, Onscreen, mobile or remote control user interfaces to browse movies and tv shows directly from the Control4 user interface.
• Create the perfect cinema experience by dimming the lights down when a movie starts and ramp it back up when the movie ends.
   

What hardware will this work on?
This driver will work on all model with Zappiti Video version 4.23.251 and above.

How do I find out more information about the driver?
Please see the links below for more information about the driver.

Chowmain Website

How do I buy the driver?
This driver can be purchased from our distributor driverCentral.

Download Driver / Purchase Licence

Do you provide trial licences?
All Chowmain drivers for Control4 come with a 7 day trial.

Who do i contact for technical support?
We have two support desks. One in Australia and one in the US. Click on the link below for details.

Support

[alanchow]

MAJOR UPDATE

Version #20200424 - 24-APR-2020
⦁ Grid View
⦁ Cover art support in Grid View and List View
⦁ Added Favoriting support (only in grid view)
⦁ Added ability to programatically select movie through composer programming
⦁ Changed Red, Green, Yellow and Blue commands to be programmable.
⦁ Removed Zappiti logo from missing artwork
⦁ Added 'Auto Room Select' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room on upon detection of playback.
⦁ Added 'Room Off After Seconds' functionality. This will allow end user to utilise Zappiti app to select media and have the driver automatically turn the room off x seconds after the state changes from playing to stopped.
⦁ Fixed Page Up & Page Down (Zappiti API is incorrect)
⦁ Added Home command (its an undocumented API call) as mappable button
⦁ Changed driver to send BACK command and HOME command on OFF. This will resolve issues where it may be in menus which have music playing in the background.

[jfh]

Wow.  This seems to be exactly what I’ve been looking for!  
 

What I don’t understand though is how you rip the discs if you don’t have the Zappiti NAS RIP (which looks easy but seems like overkill if you already have another NAS)

And ... if you have a NAS to store the movies is there any substantial advantage using the players with internal hard drives rather than the Zappiti mini?

[alanchow]

On 4/25/2020 at 1:12 PM, jfh said:

What I don’t understand though is how you rip the discs if you don’t have the Zappiti NAS RIP (which looks easy but seems like overkill if you already have another NAS)

As Zappiti plays back your maintstream video codecs and containers you would rip them like you would any other movie.  It doesn't require any sort of propriatary video format.

On 4/25/2020 at 1:12 PM, jfh said:

And ... if you have a NAS to store the movies is there any substantial advantage using the players with internal hard drives rather than the Zappiti mini?

Honesetly there is none (as long as your NAS / network doesn't have problems).  Its a nice option to have if you don't have a NAS (not everyone does).

[jfh]

This looks like it is going to be good.  Never got my Dune HD player working with MyMovies and kind of gave up until now.
 

Just got a Zappiti One SE 4K connected.  However, no matter what I did it would not connect while the driver was in trial mode (Debug info said Activate Driver and then CYPHER).  Once my license was activated it connected right away.

I noticed some interesting things in the Properties page after the driver connected.  
(1) The Zappiti account field is blank.  I expected it to show the account the player was logged into (or for the driver to have you enter account/password and have the driver log in)

(2)  The Power Setup field said “Always On” and was greeted out though it looked like it was a drop down box.  Is this correct?  I’m not sure I want to have the box always on which brings me to

(3)  After the Room turned off I noticed a status every 5 seconds (“Received Last media” or “Received Is Playing”).  Why is the driver polling if Zappiti isn’t an active source?

(4) There don’t seem to be any Zappiti related events or variables to program off of.  I would like to be able to know what title is selected and/or playing at minimum and probably more.

(4.5) Ditto Device specific events.  Looks like the only thing you can do is launch a specific title.

(5) it would be nice to have a binding for the HDMI Audio only output in the virtual switcher.  This is available on the SE but not the mini.
 

(I picked the SE because it had many more connection/output options than the mini and thought I might want the ability to use an internal drive).  The SE looks like it will be great in the rack (but presume there will be issues if someone selects it in room B while playing in Room A).  That’s ok for me because I don’t think I’ll need to have different movies playing at the same time.

 

 

 

The following is not related to the driver but may be helpful to anyone setting up a new player and/or new to Zappiti.  The included and online Knowledge base docs from Zappiti are confusing and sometimes misleading and some aren’t current.  Getting started certainly isn’t intuitive because there is nothing in the doc with the player that tells you most of this.

a) You must have a Zappiti account set up to do anything.  If you don’t already have one create it during the setup of the hardware.  DO NOT use the online web page to do it or use an iPad or mobile ap.  (And on the iPad ap you can’t read the error messages if you get any because they get cut off)

b) during the hardware setup you may get an error message saying you need an update to continue but when you proceed there is a message saying the upgrade can’t proceed after a couple screens flash by faster than you can read.  Retry will be useless because you will find yourself in an endless loop.  To fix this, use the remote to go to the Home Screen and then go to My Aps.  Select the service icon (looks like a Z with wrenches) and run it.  You will probably see that the Video and Explorer aps have new updates available.  Update Explorer first, then Video, even though Explorer is listed second.  Once these are both done your account should load correctly.

c) If you are going to put your collection on a Synology NAS you do not need the Zappiti package on the Synology (or the required mono package) and can simply ignore any references to Synology specific code)

d) If you are storing your collection on a NAS you probably won’t use Zappiti Share.  If you only have one player, you won’t use it at all.  

e) Zappiti will merge all info from all the disks/paths listed so you don’t have to have all your data centralized (I haven’t seen this in action yet because I need to set up a test collection)

f) You MUST set up at least one folder for movies and another for TV shows however you can call them what you want.  Various pieces of documentation indicate they must have specific names but this isn’t true.

 

 

 

 

[alanchow]

(1) The Zappiti account field is blank.  I expected it to show the account the player was logged into (or for the driver to have you enter account/password and have the driver log in)

The driver polls for this info and honestly it doesn't do anything.  I only put it there because i got the info in the API.

(2)  The Power Setup field said “Always On” and was greeted out though it looked like it was a drop down box.  Is this correct?  I’m not sure I want to have the box always on which brings me to

Zappiti has a bug at the moment where if you power it off for extended periods of time we lose IP control.  As such we removed power on and power off until they resolve it (if they ever do).

(3)  After the Room turned off I noticed a status every 5 seconds (“Received Last media” or “Received Is Playing”).  Why is the driver polling if Zappiti isn’t an active source?

The driver has the ability to automatically turn the room on should it detect if it detects playback.  This is useful if you choose to control Zappiti through other means.

(4) There don’t seem to be any Zappiti related events or variables to program off of.  I would like to be able to know what title is selected and/or playing at minimum and probably more.

Zappiti doesn't really have that much feedback.  In fact they didn't implement ANY feedback until we asked them to and all they really gave us is playing true or false and a method to get the last selected movie.  Zappiti does not give feedback as to if it is playing, paused, stopped, etc which we have asked for.

I would look at this as a better version of the Dune media player with library support rather than a cheaper version of Kaleidescape.  If you're after events and feedback Kaleidescape is ahead of the pack by far.

(4.5) Ditto Device specific events.  Looks like the only thing you can do is launch a specific title.

As above

(5) it would be nice to have a binding for the HDMI Audio only output in the virtual switcher.  This is available on the SE but not the mini.

This is a single zone player.  As such you adding additional outputs realy doesn't do anything.  Just double bind the HDMI output thats already there.
 

[jfh]

Thanks @alanchow  

I will have to lobby the Zappiti US folks to get you more feedback through the API then     It’s a very small team, but they seem helpful.  Definitely need status on basic transport events.  I would hope they could give you “Is Paused” at minimum (my wife is going to be all over me when she realizes I can’t do anything with the lights when a movie is paused).

While I would love to have a Kaleidoscope it’s just way out of my price range.  I saw this exactly as you suggest - a better version of the Dune HD.  The Zappiti will get me going on digitizing my collection and getting rid of two massive BluRay changers.  
 

Two other questions for now:
1) should the virtual switcher be hidden or exposed in the watch menu for any room the player or library is visible in?

2) The Zappiti doc says an Oppo (or any device supporting SMB) can play from the library.  Is there a way to do this through your Oppo driver and would that give me the ability to use the Oppo to detect that a movie had been paused?

[alanchow]

2 hours ago, jfh said:

Thanks @alanchow  

I will have to lobby the Zappiti US folks to get you more feedback through the API then     It’s a very small team, but they seem helpful.  Definitely need status on basic transport events.  I would hope they could give you “Is Paused” at minimum (my wife is going to be all over me when she realizes I can’t do anything with the lights when a movie is paused).

While I would love to have a Kaleidoscope it’s just way out of my price range.  I saw this exactly as you suggest - a better version of the Dune HD.  The Zappiti will get me going on digitizing my collection and getting rid of two massive BluRay changers.  
 

Two other questions for now:
1) should the virtual switcher be hidden or exposed in the watch menu for any room the player or library is visible in?

2) The Zappiti doc says an Oppo (or any device supporting SMB) can play from the library.  Is there a way to do this through your Oppo driver and would that give me the ability to use the Oppo to detect that a movie had been paused?

They are basically saying.  It’s a network share.... like a NAS drive or windows shared folder.  You can do whatever you want with it.

The only other alternative media player that have pause feedback that works well is probably Kodi and is in the lower price range.

Oppo gives pause feedback though I’m pretty sure it’s discs only.  Could be wrong as I haven’t touched an Oppo in years.

[jfh]

Using the Zappiti Library driver on a T3 seems to work fine.

 

When using on an iPad, when you first select a title in a session the splash page does not render and the movie cannot be selected.  If you left arrow back and select again the splash page displays.

 

For either device, there seems to be a group submenu displayed for each title, even if there is only one title in the group.  Can this be changed (or a property set) so that the group menu is skipped if it contains only one entry?

[alanchow]

4 hours ago, jfh said:

Using the Zappiti Library driver on a T3 seems to work fine.

 

When using on an iPad, when you first select a title in a session the splash page does not render and the movie cannot be selected.  If you left arrow back and select again the splash page displays.

 

For either device, there seems to be a group submenu displayed for each title, even if there is only one title in the group.  Can this be changed (or a property set) so that the group menu is skipped if it contains only one entry?

I replicated your problem.  Its an iOS bug with Control4s app due to short timeouts on metadata.  I'll report it to them and hopefully they'll resolve it in the next build.

In regards to submenus theres not much i can do about that.  Zappiti has a browse style API.  This means that when you select an item it returns a list of content and so on.

[jfh]

In the Zappiti Library driver, if there are multiple entries in a collection each poster shows the same icon rather than proper one.  
 

For example I have a collection with “The Little Mermaid” with 4K, 3D and BluRay versions.   If I open TLM collection on the player itself I see three covers - 4K version, BR version, 3D version (the library driver shows them in the same relative order, just with identical posters/icons.

Two questions:

1) is there anyway for the driver to show the corresponding covers in a collection rather than identical ones?

2) Is there a way for the driver to show the version of the splash page that shows the bottom icons (ratio, Dolby, UHD or 4K, etc.) or info?

[alanchow]

2 hours ago, jfh said:

In the Zappiti Library driver, if there are multiple entries in a collection each poster shows the same icon rather than proper one.  
 

For example I have a collection with “The Little Mermaid” with 4K, 3D and BluRay versions.   If I open TLM collection on the player itself I see three covers - 4K version, BR version, 3D version (the library driver shows them in the same relative order, just with identical posters/icons.

Two questions:

1) is there anyway for the driver to show the corresponding covers in a collection rather than identical ones?

2) Is there a way for the driver to show the version of the splash page that shows the bottom icons (ratio, Dolby, UHD or 4K, etc.) or info?

wow you must really like the little mermaid

Answers
1 - We don’t get any of that information so we can’t do that.  

2 - We may be able to get that info and display it on the synopsis page but definitely not in the browse pages.

 

[jfh]

3 hours ago, alanchow said:

wow you must really like the little mermaid

Answers
1 - We don’t get any of that information so we can’t do that.  

2 - We may be able to get that info and display it on the synopsis page but definitely not in the browse pages.

 

Lol.  Yeah.  Also one of the few titles I have multiple versions of that are ripped and I wanted to set up a test collection with as many media types as I think I’ll have when everything is done.

#2 - displaying it on the synopsis page would be very helpful

[South Africa C4 user]

18 hours ago, alanchow said:

wow you must really like the little mermaid

 

I can only assume that @jfh has a daughter the same sort of age as my youngest 

[Pounce]

Maybe its a Bronie like thing? lol

[South Africa C4 user]

On 7/14/2020 at 5:58 PM, Pounce said:

Maybe its a Bronie like thing? lol

 had to do a google search to learn what that was but maybe... 

[drmark12pa]

The driver is $200?!?!  Ouch..... 

[Sledgehamma]

On 7/3/2020 at 6:42 AM, alanchow said:

(4) There don’t seem to be any Zappiti related events or variables to program off of.  I would like to be able to know what title is selected and/or playing at minimum and probably more.

Zappiti doesn't really have that much feedback.  In fact they didn't implement ANY feedback until we asked them to and all they really gave us is playing true or false and a method to get the last selected movie.  Zappiti does not give feedback as to if it is playing, paused, stopped, etc which we have asked for.

I would look at this as a better version of the Dune media player with library support rather than a cheaper version of Kaleidescape.  If you're after events and feedback Kaleidescape is ahead of the pack by far.

As your post is rather old I'd like to know whether the feedback situation has changed or not. I'd love to see cover, elapsed time/progress bar of current movie/tv show on the NEEO remote.

[alanchow]

No updates to Zappitis API since we released this driver

[Wolf_54321]

Another great addition to this driver would be feedback for the movies aspect ratio. But let me guess: No chance with zappiti… A good product that could be great, sigh.

 

[alanchow]

On 2/15/2022 at 10:38 PM, Wolf_54321 said:

Another great addition to this driver would be feedback for the movies aspect ratio. But let me guess: No chance with zappiti… A good product that could be great, sigh.

 

Zappiti does not provide that information unfortunately.  We have requested it from them.

If you want to automate a cinema based on aspect ratio, screen masking, etc then i suggest Kaleidescape.  It is more pricey but its well worth the money if you are planning on making the perfect cinema.

[jevansoh]

@alanchowMy dealer installed the Zappiti driver and I now have control over the Zappiti from within C4 but nothing is showing in the Zappiti Library app.

What must we do/configure for the media that is already scanned and on the Zappiti itself to show in the Zappiti Library on a C4 navigator?

Thanks.

[alanchow]

15 hours ago, jevansoh said:

@alanchowMy dealer installed the Zappiti driver and I now have control over the Zappiti from within C4 but nothing is showing in the Zappiti Library app.

What must we do/configure for the media that is already scanned and on the Zappiti itself to show in the Zappiti Library on a C4 navigator?

Thanks.

Cresson from Diamond Home Design reached out to us for assistance.  We have been working with him on this and the last contact we had (4 days ago) we asked Cresson for logs capturing the problem so we can troubleshoot.

[jevansoh]

On 11/6/2022 at 3:53 PM, alanchow said:

Cresson from Diamond Home Design reached out to us for assistance.  We have been working with him on this and the last contact we had (4 days ago) we asked Cresson for logs capturing the problem so we can troubleshoot.

Thank you for letting me know and keeping me in the loop.

I believe Cresson has sent you what you requested now.  Please confirm.  He also mentioned maybe you could do an Anydesk session to check further.  If you'd like to do that with him, or with me, please let me know.

I appreciate your assistance with this.

--Jason

[jevansoh]

On 11/6/2022 at 3:53 PM, alanchow said:

Cresson from Diamond Home Design reached out to us for assistance.  We have been working with him on this and the last contact we had (4 days ago) we asked Cresson for logs capturing the problem so we can troubleshoot.

Hello,

It's been another week so I just thought I'd check in.

Cresson said you were able to reproduce the error and that there was a problem with the API.

I understand that means you may have to wait on Zappiti to act and who knows how long that will take, but I'm just checking in to see if you have an ETA or even a guess as to when this might be fixed.

Also, if there is a problem with the API, wouldn't this affect everyone and not just me?  Is the Zappiti Library driver working for anyone at this point?

Thanks,

--Jason