It’s been a little while since I unboxed Tronsmart Orion R28 Meta Android TV box, but since the product was still consider “beta” by GeekBuying, I wanted to wait for a OTA firmware update (109k4), which was released at the beginning of the week. Since I’ve already listed the technical specifications, and showed pictures of the board and device, I’ll focus on feature tests and benchmarks results in the review. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I quickly tried the basic infrared remote control, inserting two AAA batteries, and it does the job, but for Android, you really need a pointing device, so I switched to Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse during testing. I’ve connected a whole bunch of cable, and peripherals to the box including an HDMI cable, a USB hard drive, an Ethernet cable, a USB webcam, and a USB hub with RF dongles for my air mouse […]
Tronsmart T2000 EZCast Pro Dongle Supports MHL, Split Screen, Improves Wi-Fi Performance
EZCast dongles, tiny HDMI streaming Wi-Fi stick with support for Airplay, Miracast, DLNA, and their own proprietary EZCast protocol first appeared about a year ago. I’ve reviewed a few including Tronsmart T1000 and MeLeCast S1, and found them to work relatively well, with some caveats, in Android. There’s now a new EZCast Pro wireless adapters that adds features such for four split screens display, conference control via web browser, and content broadcast to multiple screens, as well as improved wireless performance thanks to 2T2R Wi-Fi. Tronsmart T2000 is the first device I’ve heard of, that’s EZCast Pro capable. Tronsmart T2000 hardware specifications: SoC – Action Semi AM8251 @ 500MHz (MIPS) System memory – 256 MB DDR3 RAM Storage – 128 MB NAND Flash Video output – HDMI 1.2 / MHL 2.0 Wi-Fi – Single band 802.11 a/b/g/n Wi-Fi 2T2R up to 300 Mbps Standards – Miracast, Airplay, DLNA, and EZCast […]
Atmel Introduces SAMA5D4 Embedded MPUs With 720p Video Decoder And TrustZone Support
Atmel has expanded its SAMA5 Cortex A5 embedded processor family with SAMA5D4 series adding an optional video processing unit capable of decoding H264, VP8 and MPEG4 at 720p / 30fps, as well as support for ARM NEON and TrustZone technology. There are also some other changes with regards to connectivity: no Gigabit Ethernet, more UART interfaces, less SPI interfaces, etc… Key features listed of Atmel SAMA5D4 series:: ARM Cortex-A5 core up to 528MHz (840DMIPS) with NEON & TrustZone support, 2x 32KB L1 cache, and 128KB L2 cache. Optional 720p hardware video decoder supporting H264/263, VP8, JPEG, and MPEG4. Graphic LCD TFT controller with overlays for image composition, resistive touchscreen controller. CMOS image sensor interface. Three high-speed USB ports (configurable as three hosts or two hosts and one device port). Dual EMAC 10/100 with IEEE1588 support (Precision Time Protocol). Other I/Os – 8x UART, 8x SPI, 4x TWI, 2 HS SDIO/SD/MMC, […]
ARM Announces mbed OS for ARM Cortex-M Micro-controllers and mbed Device Server for the Cloud
ARM has just announced two new software products for mbed development boards at ARM Techcon 2014: mbed OS, an operating system for Cortex-M MCUs, and mbed Device Server to handle IoT data in the cloud. Together with existing mbed hardware, these form what ARM now calls mbed IoT Device Platform. mbed OS is a free operating system for ARM Cortex-M processor with security, communication and device management features necessary to enable IoT devices. It will provide a C++ application framework, and the software stack includes support for Bluetooth Smart, 2G, 3G, LTE and CDMA cellular technologies, Thread, Wi-Fi, 802.15.4 / 6LoWPAN, TLS/DTLS, CoAP, HTTP, MQTT and Lightweight M2M. No need to look for your mbed board, planning to try it out just yet however, as mbed OS (alpha) will be available to partners in Q4 2014, and there will be alpha and beta releases during the course of 2015, before […]
CALAO Systems Introduces PInBALL Industrial Board Based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module
CALAO Systems has just launched an industrial single board computer (SBC) for professional Raspberry Pi developers called PiNBALL or, if you prefer, PAC-1210-S200-B2835-EXX…. The board is powered by the Raspberry Pi Compute Module, features interfaces such as two mini PCIe slots (for USB, I2C, GPIOs,…), fast Ethernet, HDMI, opto-isolated inputs and outputs, etc., +6 to +36V power input, and can operate in -20°C to +70°C temperature range. PInBALL industrial SBC specifications (Items marker with ‘*’ are optional, and depend on model): SoC / Memory / Storage – Via Raspberry Pi Compute Module – Broadcom BCM2835, 512MB RAM, 4GB eMMC Flash. Other Storage – 1x 2Kb I²C EEPROM with EUI-48 MAC Address & 128 bit Serial Number (AT24MAC402). Video Output – 1x HDMI Out, 1x CVBS Out (BCM2835) Audio Output – 1x HDMI, 2x S/PDIF Out / Optical & RCA (WM8804), Connectivity – 1x Fast Ethernet (LAN9514), 1x Micro-SIM Socket USB […]
Xtreamer Wonder Might Be the First Android Media Player Powered by Amlogic S812
Amlogic S812 processor is an upgrade of S802 processor with HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding up to 3840×2160 resolution, and Gigabit Ethernet support, and it looks like the first Android TV boxes will start shipping by early November, starting with Xtreamer Wonder “TV entertainment system” running Android 4.4 Kitkat and XBMC / Kodi. Xtreamer Wonder specifications: SoC – Amlogic S812-H quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 + micro SD card reader Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4 Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF Video Container Formats – DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS/TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, M2TS, MTS, M4V, WMV, ASF, RM/RMVB, etc… Audio Formats – MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AAC etc… Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, and DTS USB – […]
$18 Matchstick is an HDMI TV Stick Running Firefox OS (Crowdfunding)
A few month ago, a Firefox OS HDMI streaming stick (codenamed netcast) by Mozilla that would compete with Google Chromecast was previewed. It is now called Matchstick, based on Rockchip RK3066 and has just been launched on Kickstarter. MatchStick technical specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.2 GHz with Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 (micron) Storage – 4 GB flash. (FORSEE, NCEFES86 eMMC) Video Output – HDMI Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (AP6181?), but the board supports other Wi-Fi modules include AP6210 and AP6330, and many people are asking for dual band Wi-Fi in comments, so maybe a stretch goal… USB – 1x micro USB port for power Power – 5V via micro USB port. TPS659102 PMIC. Dimensions – 110 x 40 x 11 mm The Firefox OS dongle will come with an HDMI extension Cable, a micro USB Cable, and a […]
Finally… An Android TV Stick with an Ethernet Port
Ever since MK802 hit the market in April 2012, I’ve been expecting HDMI TV Sticks with Ethernet ports, but it never really materialized. There have been many small TV boxes, but AFAIK none of which could simply be insert in the back of your TV. Thanks to MK802 V we now have an HDMI TV dongle, powered by Rockchip RK3288 quad core Cortex A12/A17 processor, featuring an Ethernet port. MK802 V specifications: SoC – Rockchip 3288 quad core ARM Cortex A12/A17 up to 1.8 GHz with Mali-T764 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash (16GB optional) + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Video / Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 (male) Video Codecs – MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, H.264, H.265, AVS, VC-1, RV, VP6/VP8, MVC (1080p) Sorenson Spark, MVC up to 4K2K @ 60fps Audio Formats – MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, OGA, […]