AMLogic Category - Page 90 of 93 - CNX Software

April 24, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

PlayJam GameStick Devkit Unboxing (Video)

PlayJam GameStick is a video game console comprised of an AMLogic powered mini PC and a wireless game controller. They had a successful kickstarter campaign with 5,691 backers, and the company started to ship developer’s kits earlier this month. Those kits are designed for developers, and is not the final hardware which, as Liliputing reports, will be available in June for $79. The retail version of the GameStick will feature a smaller stick with mini USB port (instead of a full USB port in the devkit), and a controller with a better finish. In the meantime, PlayJam has uploaded an unboxing video of the development kits, showing the mini PC, controller and accessories (cables, power supply, etc..), as well as a quick demo. The demo shows the first boot setup (language, display layout, ethernet, Wi-Fi settings), the Gamestick store, and they play a RipideGP. If you’re a game developer, you can […]

April 19, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Sub $70 Bluetimes MX5 and C150 Android Media Player Powered by AMLogic AML8726-MX

There are many Android set-top box based on single core AML8726 processor, but not so many featuring the dual core AML8726-MX (aka AML8726-M6) processor. Tronsmart Prometheus is one of them, it costs just under $100, has the shape of a spaceship, and the recent Android 4.2 firmware supports XBMC pretty well. But if you don’t like boxes with fancy shape, or/and are looking for a cheaper options, Bluetimes now manufactures two Android set-top box based on AML8726-MX that sells for less than $70 including shipping: Bluetimes MX5 for $69.99 Bluetimes C150 for $66.99 Bluetimes MX5 Specifications: SoC – AMLogic 8726 M6 dual Cortex A9 CPU + Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1G DDR3 RAM Storage – 4 GB NAND Flash + SD card slot Video Output – HDMI + Composite Audio Output – Optical Audio Output (S/PDIF) + HDMI + Stereo RCA Video Codecs – M-JPEG, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.263, […]

April 15, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Android Set-top Boxes With Digital Satellite TV Receiver (DVB-S2)

There are now plenty of Android set-top boxes or HDMI TV sticks, but if you want to watch digital satellite or terrestrial TV, the options are limited. If you already have a satellite receiver at home, you could buy an Android set-top box with an HDMI input such as Huawei MediaQ M310, or use a DVB-S2 USB adapter, but you may need to acquire both the kernel source and DVB driver to compile it for your device. So for now, the last option is currently reserved for ODM/OEM as mentioned on Geniatech store. But today, I’m going to write about an Android set-top boxes that comes with a satellite receiver (DVB-S2). They are all based on AMLogic AML8726-M1/M3, and models include: Geniatech ATV1100B Hybrid DVB Box – Multiple standards STV-502 – DVB-S2 Monolithelec MINGLE – DVB-S2 Geniatech ATV1100B Key Features: SoC – AmLogic AML8726-M1 ARM Cortex A9 @ 800MHz System […]

April 12, 2013April 13, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

MINIX To Launch Four New NEO Set-Top Boxes: X5+, X5 Mini, X3 & X7

MINIX is a company relatively well know for its Neo G4 mini PC and Neo X5 Android set-top box based on Rockchip RK3066. They’ve now announced 4 new devices for HKTDC Electronic Fair in Hong Kong: Neo X5+ – RK3066 Set-top box based on Neo X5, but with 2GB RAM instead of 1GB RAM. Neo X5 Mini – Low cost version of the Neo X5 with 8GB NAND Flash instead of 16GB, and missing Bluetooth support. Neo X3 – Android 4.1/4.2 Set-top box powered by AMLogic AML8726-M3 with 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. No word about Ethernet support. Neo X7 – Android Media Player based on Rockchip RK3188 with 2GB RAM, 16 GB RAM, HDMI, Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11n and Bluetooth support. The full specifications are not available yet, but the design of the box is nice, although it might not be to the taste of everybody, and I […]

March 30, 2013March 30, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Updated Review of Tronsmart Prometheus with Android 4.2 and XBMC

Earlier this month, a new firmware for Tronsmart Prometheus with Android 4.2 and XBMC with hardware acceleration has been released. Several users left divergent opinions about this firmware, so I’ve decided to give it a try, and write an updated review of Tronsmart Prometheus. I’ll focus on the new features and performance of Android 4.2, XBMC video testing, and see if some of the bugs I found in my earlier review have been fixed. Android 4.2 Features and Benchmarks The firmware file and instructions are available on Tronsmart website. The procedure is straight forward so I won’t repeat it here. During the first boot after the upgrade, you’ll be taken through a wizard to configure your device (e.g. Ethernet, WiFi,…). The first think you’ll notice is a slightly different Home Screen in Android 4.2. There are several small UI improvements / modifications, but the most interesting features for me in […]

March 28, 2013October 6, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

Droid Stick A2 mini PC Recovery with AMLogic’s Hardware Flash Tool

In some circumstances, for example by installing the wrong firmware or doing something wrong by playing god (as a root user), it’s possible to brick your device. This happened to me with one of my Droid Stick A2 mini PCs based on AMLogic AML8726-MX. I changed some files in /system/etc/permissions directory, lost Wi-Fi access, and even replacing my changes with the backup files would not solve the problem. It also changed some permissions in the system, and it was not possible to restore the firmware the usual way. At the end of last month, dbtablets left a comment with download links to “Amlogic USB Burning tool”, but I only decided to give it a try today, and after some efforts I was successful. Just make sure you only use this method as last resort, i.e. a standard firmware upgrade does not work, and you’re about to throw your device in […]

March 27, 2013May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments

Mini PCs (MK802+, UG802, GK802 & iStick A200) Linux Performance Comparison

Ian MORRISON (linuxium) has tested Linux with several mini PCs powered by different processors. The main point of his tests was to evaluate the performance difference between running Ubuntu 12.04 natively, or in a chroot in Android using tools such as Complete Linux Installer. I previously tried Linux on Android in ODROID-X, and found the applications start time when running from an low-end SD card pretty dismal, and the graphics performance poor. Ian had a different approach, and decided to use a subset of Phoronix Suite benchmarks to compare different hardware / software combination and posted the results in “mini PCs” G+ community. There’s a lot of data, and analyzing the results is not really straightforward without spending some time looking at the data. In this post, I’ll explain how the tests have been conducted, explain the results and try to draw a conclusion. Mini PCs and other Hardware Under […]

March 12, 2013March 17, 2013 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Giayee TV BOX101 Looks Like a Nexus Q Clone

Last summer Google launched the Nexus Q a set-top box which main features were its rounded shape and ridiculously high price. Google eventually dropped the product, but at least one Chinese company called Giayee believes in the concept and launched TV BOX101 which just looks like the Nexus Q internally, but instead of OMAP4460, it’s powered by Rockchip RK3066. Here are some preliminary specifications of the device: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 Dual core A9 @ 1.6GHz + Quad Mali-400 GPU System Memory 1G DDR3 RAM Storage – 8G NAND Flash + micro SD slot Video Out – HDMI + AV Connectivity: Ethernet – 10/100M Wifi – 802.11 b/g/n USB – 2x USB Host Size – Diameter 117mm, Height 108.5mm Weight: 363g Air Mouse Control Wireless Microphone Somatic Joypad Customized UI This Android 4.1 device will come with an “Air Mouse Controller”, an HDMI cable, a power supply (5V/3A), and a […]