Infomir MAG Linux & Android Set-top-boxes Feature STMicro or Broadcom Processors, Support Open Source IPTV Solution

Infomir is a group of companies that specializes on the development, design, production and maintenance of equipment and client support for IPTV, OTT and VoD services, with offices in Ukraine and the US. They’ve been selling their Linux based MAG set-top-boxes based on STMicro STB SoC for a little while, and their upcoming model include either STMicro or Broadcom processor, and have support for “Stalker” open source IPTV middleware that allow their customers to setup their own IPTV services for thousands of clients.

Their upcoming MAG products fit into three categories:

• Basic IPTV set-top boxes (no tuner)
  • MAG257 – STMicro STiH301 single core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.5GHz with 512 MB RAM, 512MB storage, USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI 1.4. The box runs Linux, and supports HEVC decoding up to 1080p.
• Hybrid set-top boxes
  • MAG277 – STMicro STiH301 single core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.6GHz with 1 GB RAM, 512MB storage, USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI 1.4. The box runs Linux, supports HEVC decoding up to 1080p, and includes DVB-T2 or DVB-C tuners
• Premium set-top boxes (without tuner either)
  • MAG350 – Broadcom BCM7250 single core Cortex A15 processor with 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, HDMI 1.4 output, USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, optional WiFi 802.11ac & Bluetooth, , and a micro SD slot. The device runs Linux 3.3 or Android L, and also support H.265 video decoding up to 1080p
  • MAG352 – Broadcom BCM7252s dual core Cortex A15 processor with 2GB RAM, 8GB storage, HDMI 1.4 output,  USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, optional WiFi 802.11ac & Bluetooth, , and a micro SD slot. The box runs Linux 3.3 or Android TV, and support HEVC / H.265 up to 4K resolutions.

You can find more details about the hardware specifications on infomir “Choose your MAG device” page.

On the software side, all those STBs support the company’s Stalker “Middleware” that is both free as in beer, and free as in open source, based on the company statement that “numerous new functions can be set up through the open source code”.

But when you go to the download and installation instructions, Stalker looks like an IPTV server, rather than middleware. They explains how to configure the recommended server configuration to support 5,000 simultaneous users: two dual Intel XEON-E5620 servers with 16GB RAM, faster storage, and one server used to run Stalker portal, and one for storage. The servers run Linux with apache2, nginx, php5, and mysql packages, and Ubuntu Server 14.04 LTS 64-bit operating system is recommended.

I could not access the source code from the instructions, so maybe they only distribute it to their customers (which is fine), and you can still give a try using a VirtualBox image. Stalker allows you to setup your IPTV channels (own streams, or services like YouTube, Megogo, Oll.tv, etc…) change the interface with your branding, monitor usage, setup your own tariff plans if needed, etc… The servers can also be controlled with REST and/or SOAP APIs.

You can find more details on Stalker middleware page.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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