set-top box News - Page 24 of 30 - CNX Software

July 29, 2012July 30, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Vizio Co-Start (VAP430) Google TV Stream Player

First announced at CES 2012, the Vizio VAP430 stream player featuring Google TV 2.0 has become available for pre-order for $99 last week. Here are the specs provided on Vizio website: Video Resolution Supported – 720p, 1080i, 1080p 3D Support – Yes Video Playback – H.264, MP4, MKV Audio Music Playback – MP3, AAC, WMA Audio Features – Up to 5.1 surround sound pass-through Connectivity WiFi – 802.11 n/g/b Bluetooth Ethernet – 10/100 Mbps Connections HDMI In – Connection to Cable or Satellite Box HDMI Out – Connection to TV One USB 2.0 Host port Remote control – Built-In IR Blaster, Bluetooth, Touchpad and Keyboard Dimension – 10.67 x 4.06 x 10.67 cm Weight – 300 grams They did not provide information about the processor, RAM and flash used, but I would guess it’s based on Marvell Google TV Reference Platform which is powered by ARMADA 1500 HD Secure Media […]

June 26, 2012June 26, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Sony NSZ-GS7, The 1st Google TV 2.0 Device is Now Available in the US and UK

Google announced that the 1st Google TV 2.0 device is now available for pre-order in the US and in UK for $199.99. Sony NSZ-GS7 is a set-top box based on Marvell GTV reference design, which comes with a dual-sided “magic” Bluetooth remote (NSG-MR5U). The device was first seen at CES 2012. Here are the key specifications of this media player: SoC – Marvell Armada 1500 dual core ARM processor @ 1.2 GHz with Vivante GC1000 GPU Storage – 8GB Nand Flash Connectivity: Built-in Wifi 802.11 b/g/n 100Mbit Ethernet Built-in Bluetooth Video Output – HDMI Audio Output – Optical out. HDMI supports Dolby and LPCM audio output Video codecs – H264-AVC, MPEG4-SP/-AAC/-HE, MPEG-1/2, MPEG4, H.263, WMV, Vorbis, Xvid… Video containers – 3gp/3g2/3gp9, AVI, FLV, MKV, MOV, MPEG TS/PS, mp4/m4a, MVC, ogg, wmv/asf… Picture formats – bmp, gif, jpeg, mpo and png Audio formats – AAC, AC3, LPCM/WAV, MDI, MP3 and WMA […]

June 14, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

GeneralPlus GP3300X Application Processor Details

Earlier this week, I wrote about GeneralPlus GP3300 Cortex A8 processor and its tablet development platform, but I did not have that much details about the processor itself. I eventually managed to get a bit more information today. GeneralPlus GP33000 family features 2 processors: GP33003 which comes in LQFP216 package and supports up to 512 MB DDR3 RAM. GP33009 which comes in BGA328 package, supports up to 1GB DDR3 RAM and more interfaces such as SPDIF, Ethernet, IR interface and CF card support. GP33003 appears to be better suited for tablets whereas GP33009 could be used in set-top boxes and digital signage players with Ethernet, IR remote and CF card support. The capabilities of these processors are better represented in the block diagram below. This processor features a Cortex A8 core with 32KB L1 cache and 256KB L2 cache, a 2D/3D engine (PowerVR SGX531 GPU), a video decoder and a […]

June 13, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 81 Comments

Hardware Packs for AllWinner A10 Devices and Easier Method to Create a Bootable Ubuntu 12.04 SD Card

Linaro has a tool called linaro-media-create to install Linaro Ubuntu to an SD card by passing the device, hardware pack file, the rootfs and the board as arguments. Hardware packs are files that contains hardware specific binaries and configs files (e.g. bootloader, kernel…). I’ve done something similar (albeit more basic) for AllWinner A10 devices so that you can easily install and run Ubuntu (and possibly other distributions) on an SD card. I’ve written 2 scripts for this: a10-hwpack-bld.sh – Script to generate evb.bin, build the latest u-boot and linux kernel, retrieve some config files and compress all this in an hardware pack file a1x-media-create.sh – Script to make a bootable SD card for AllWinner A10 devices. You can get the scripts with git:

git clone git://github.com/cnxsoft/a10-tools.git

1	git clone git://github.com/cnxsoft/a10-tools.git

I’ve only tested it with Mele A1000, but if you have other A10 devices such as MK802 mini PC or MINI X media player, it should […]

June 1, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

MINI X Android 2.3 Network Media Player Based on AllWinner A10

Here’s another tiny device based on AllWinner A10 processor. The MINI X is an Android 2.3.4 set-top box with 512MB RAM and 4GB NAND Flash that costs 77.50 USD including worldwide shipping. Here are the device specifications: CPU – AllWinner A10 (Cortex A8) with Mali-400 GPU Memory – 512MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 4GB NAND Flash, microSD slot Video Output – HDMI 1.3 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n Video Formats – MKV, TS, TP, M2TS, RM/RMVB, BD-ISO, AVI, MPG, VOB, DAT, ASF, TRP, FLV etc Video Codecs – MPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, Divx, Xvid, RM8/9/10, VP6 Subtitle – SRT, SUB, IDX, SSA, SMI Audio Formats – MP3, ACC, OGG, WMA, WAV, M4A, APE Image format – JPG, BMP,GIF, TIF, PNG IR Remote Control Dimension: 72 x 61 x 13mm Weight: 51g This device is half-way between the MK802 HDMI stick and the Mele A1000 STB. […]

April 17, 2012May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Ubuntu on AllWinner A10 based Mele A1000 Set-top Box

I’ve recently received and reviewed the 70 USD Mele A1000 STB powered by AllWinner A10, but haven’t been able to hack it yet since I’ve have not received the USB to Serial cable necessary for debugging the board. However, somebody else (Tom Cubie) had time to hack the box and run Ubuntu from a SD card (while still keeping Android in the flash) as you can see below. This port does not seem to include hardware accelerated GUI just yet, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. Tom said he just followed the instructions at http://rhombus-tech.net/allwinner_a10/hacking_the_mele_a1000/ and http://rhombus-tech.net/a10_mmc_boot/ to have Ubuntu working, but those do not appear to be that clear at the moment. 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 […]

April 15, 2012April 15, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Rockchip Unveils RK3066 Dual Core Cortex A9 Processor

Rockchip announced the RK3066 processor featuring a dual core Cortex A9 with a quad-core Mali-400 GPU and the company is currently showcasing tablets, e-Readers and set-top boxes powered by RK3066 at Hong Kong Electronics Fair on 13-16 April, 2012. Information is sparse, but I managed to find more information on Engadget China website which shows the key features of RK3066: Dual Core A9 + Quad Core GPU 2 banks, 8/16 bit Nor flash / SRAM interface 8 banks, 8/16 bit async NAND flash, LBA NAND flash and 8-bit sync ONFI NAND flash, all up to 60-bit hardware ECC 2 GB space for 2 ranks, 16-bit / 32-bit DDR3-800, LPDDR2-800 and LVDDR3-800 3 channels SD/MMC interface to support MMC 4.1 and SD3.0 2 channels TFT LCD interface with 5 layers and 3D display with resolution up to 1920×1080 HDMI 1.4 to support 1080p@30 3D video 2 channels 8-bit CCiR656 interface and […]

April 14, 2012July 7, 2012 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

Diyomate A6 TV BOX: 45 USD Android 4.0 Networked Media Player Based on Telechips TCC8920

Diyomate A6 TV BOX is a networked media player running Android 4.0 (ICS) and powered by Cortex A5 Telechips TCC8620 processor, and the company – Diyomate Electronic Technology – is showcasing their new device at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair on April 13 – 16, 2012. Here are the specifications of this set-top box: CPU – ARM Cortex A5 Telechips TCC8925 TCC8920 with Mali 400 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Video Codecs – H.264, VC1, ASP, DivX 3.x for 720p, 1080i and 1080p resolutions. Video output – Composite and HDMI 1.4 Flash – Flash 11.1 supported Connectivity – 10/100 Mbps Ethernet + built-in Wifi 802.11 b/g/n You can watch the video below to learn more about Diyomate A6 TV BOX. Diyomate A6 TV BOX set-top box should be available in May and cost 45 USD (MOQ: 1000). So I suppose the retail price should be around or below 90 […]