Amlogic S905X3 TV boxes have been announced since June. S905X3 is Amlogic’s first Arm Cortex-A55 processor and targets 4K UHD HDR TV boxes.
If you plan to play files locally, you may do so from a USB hard drive connected to one of the USB 3.0 or USB 2.0 ports, but Magicsee N5 Plus offers another option thanks to a SATA bay for 2.5″ hard drives or SSD’s.
Magicsee N5 Plus specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic S905X3 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 processor @ 1.9 GHz with Arm Mali-G31MP2 GPU
- System Memory – 2GB or 4GB DDR4
- Storage – 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot, 2.5″ SATA HDD/SSD bay up to 4TB
- Video & Audio Output
- HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP, CEC, HDR
- 3.5mm AV jack for composite video (480i/576i) and stereo audio
- Optical S/PDIF
- Video Playback – 10-bit H.265 up to 8K @ 24fps / 4K @ 60fps, VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K @ 60fps, AVS2-P2 up to 4K @ 60fps, H.264/AVC up to 4K @ 30fps, H.264 MVC up to 1080p60, MPEG-4 ASP up to 1080p60 (ISO-14496), etc..
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual-band 802.11ac WiFi 5 2×2 MIMO, Bluetooth 4.1,
- USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 OTG port
- Misc – Front panel display, IR receiver, open/close switch
- Power Supply – 12V/1.5A
- Dimensions – 12.50 x 12.50 x 4.50 cm
- Weight – 185 grams
The box runs Android 9.0, and ships with an IR remote control, a power supply, an HDMI cable, and a user manual in English. There’s CLOSE/OPEN switch to open the lid and install the drive, so no tools appear to be needed to install a hard drive.
The manufacturer’s website does not mention 8K video support, but resellers do write the box can handle 8K up to 24 Hz. That probably means the TV box can indeed decode 8K, but video output may be limited to 4K resolutions.
Magicsee N5 Plus (4GB/64GB) is currently sold for $59.99 and up including shipping on shops such as GearBest or Aliexpress.
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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Pity that these are still 100Mbit. Otherwise (assuming sata is done decently) this could be a nice low end NAS (assuming one could get it to run a Linux distro)
1080p videos are about 3Mb/s. 4k videos are about 25Mb/s. Most dl rate you get torrenting is 2-4MB/s.
HDDs r/w around 80-160MB/s while SDDs go above 200MB/s.
So, unless you’re streaming to over 4k screens and/or a dozen 1080p screens around the house simultaneously, a cheap SATA and 100Mbit ethernet are perfectly adequate for low-end NAS provided it has mainline linux distribution support.
No excuses for not integrating gigabit ethernet. Especially when there is a usb 3.0 port.
It is just a programmed obsolescence.
The HK1 X3 box has gigabit for a cheaper price. If it is well advertise.
> It is just a programmed obsolescence 8k @ 24frames is around 80-90Mb/sec so I fail to see how it matter with this SoC. > HK1 X3 box has gigabit for a cheaper price. If it is well advertise. Haven’t checked but I’m guessing there’s no storage bay. Don’t forget the Amlogic S905X3 doesn’t support AV1 and was never designed for 8k / 10bit / 60+ fps so any planned obsolescence here is inherit to physical SoC limitations. Personally I’d rather get something with bay storage so I’ll be able to stick it in the next one 2-3years down the… Read more »
It is not only the bandwidth of the video. There is always a cache filling for the video player. If good programmed, the video will start faster on a gigabit connection.
On some UHD 60p videos, the bandwidth needed goes beyond 100M/s.
For some cents more per unit, Magicsee could have integrated a 1000M chip.
High speed internet is still a luxury in many places. Want 1000M, then don’t be a cheapskate and buy a 1000m Nas or a Rpi 4 is suited to you.
The p in UHD 60p stand for the 60fps which the Amlogic S905X3 can’t deliver anyhow.
8k 24fps / UHD 24p is the most it can just barely squeeze out. Maybe, just maybe, 30fps if everything is perfectly optimized.
As for the cache, I’m not even sure the Amlogic S905X3 TV boxes have enough RAM to spare for caching or RAM bandwidth to move throttle 1000Mb/s AND 8k at the same time… You’re really pushing the specs here.
S905x3 can handle 4k 60fps. And can decode video files that have a stream of more than 150Mbps.
https://androidtvbox.eu/beelink-gt1mini-2-review-tv-box-with-s905x3-soc/
And there is always caching everywhere in micro electronics.
And the hdd bay could be a real plastic oven with the heat coming from below.
Totally! Wish is supported Linux (and build the antenna into the box.) If so, it might be a perfect OEM box for a product I’d like to launch.
In a relatively short time the overheating issue that this box stuffers from will probably damage your SSD.
How to set up ubuntu there?
In reality it has DDR3 RAM and it has a big overheating(throttling off course) issue.
Edit: it can barely do 4K@30fps so 8K is an amusing statement.
Link to firmware
https://mega.nz/#!xbYnBAoa!DI2ug-BJVJVba91lxBMvZN9MczizF70zkEVbZvttnN8
Anyone know the polarity of the composite 3.5mm A/V Plug?