Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Zappiti Player 4K Duo UHD Media Player Supports Two 3.5″ Hard Drives for Up to 16TB Video Storage

Zappiti Player 4K Duo UHD Media Player Supports Two 3.5″ Hard Drives for Up to 16TB Video Storage

If you are the kind of person who mostly likes to watch online videos, Zappiti’s media players won’t have much to offer over cheaper alternatives, but if you have a large library of videos, either downloads or your own Blu-Ray rips, and would like to watch your movies both at home or on the go, Zappiti Player 4K Duo media player may fulfill your needs thanks to its two 3.5″ SATA bays providing up to 16TB storage, and a RealTek RTD1195 dual core processor supporting 1080p60 and 4K30 video playback. Zappiti Player 4K Duo specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – N/A Storage 5 GB  internal memory (I assume available space out of a 8GB NAND flash) 2x SATA Bay with 3.5″ hard drive up to 8TB each formatted with FAT16/FAT32, EXT2/EXT3, NTFS, or Mac OS enhanced (HFS+) file system. SD card reader Video Output – HDMI …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments on QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 are NAS Running Android and Linux based QTS on Realtek RTD1195 Processor

QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 are NAS Running Android and Linux based QTS on Realtek RTD1195 Processor

QNAP has recently launched two network attached storage (NAS) devices with TAS-168 and TAS-268 that are based on Realtek RTD1195 dual core processor, and happen to run Android along side the company’s Linux based QTS operating system, and respectively have one and two bays for 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives. QNAP TAS-168 and TAS-268 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.1 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage 4 GB eMMC and SD card slot TAS-168 – 1x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs TAS-268 – 2x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA @ 3Gbs Video and Audio Output – HDMI port Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet USB – 1x USB 3.0, 4x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – IR receiver, LEDs for HDD, LAN, status, and USB, buttons (Power, reset, USB copy) Power – TAS-168 – 12V/3A (36W) power adapter; TAS-268 – 12V/5A (60W) power adapter Power consumption TAS-168 – HDD sleep mode: …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments on Giveaway Week Winners (November 2015)

Giveaway Week Winners (November 2015)

The third giveaway week, and the second in 2015, on CNX Software is now complete. I’ve just sent the packages this morning, including 4 Android TV boxes, 2 Linux media players, and a development board to the winners from Europe, North America, and for the first time, Oceania. The winners were selected randomly from the list of people who comments, and without any further due, here are the results: let’s go through the winners and their country of residence, with links to the original individual winner announcements: Zidoo X6 Pro – Marko, Slovenia ARNU Box Mach Q Pure Linux – Xavier, Belgium M-195 TV box – Fran, Spain A80 OptimusBoard development board – Gil, Portugal M8S TV box – Roel, Belgium Tronfy Telos MXIV – Treb “winners are grinners”, Australia Popcorn Hour VTEN – ax, USA While last time, people living in Canadians were the luckiest, this giveaway was kind to people living in Belgium. The parcels have been send via registered …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 203 Comments on Giveaway Week – M-195 Android TV Box

Giveaway Week – M-195 Android TV Box

The third TV box of this giveaway week is a one year old device based on Realtek RTD1195 dual core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400MP2. However, beside relatively weak CPU and GPU, M-195 Android TV box features some fast interfaces like USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 4K video decoding and output, HDMI audio pass-through up to 7.1 channels, an HDMI input port, and H.265 video codec support. While I found out the device was quite slow at times during the review, video playback quite good using XBMC with an external player, and USB 3.0 and Gigabit Ethernet interface provides a boost, albeit limited, compared to other devices with only USB 2.0 and Fast Ethernet. At the time of review, 7.1 audio pass-through did not work, nor SAMBA in XBMC (now Kodi), and HDMI input was not very useful, but M-195 has got several firmware updates, including a recent firmware update (October 24, 2015) which may have …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments on 4K Output and Video Playback Capability Tested on 6 ARM based mini PCs and Boards

4K Output and Video Playback Capability Tested on 6 ARM based mini PCs and Boards

Since I’ve now got a 4K TV, I’ve decided to test 4K support for six different platforms based on Rockchip, Allwinner, Amlogic, Realtek, HiSilicon, and Mstar processors. For all these platforms I’ll report HDMI 4K output options, user interface resolution, and take close up pictures of the screen while displaying a 4K 1×1 grid picture and video with the image players, and video players such as MX Player or XBMC depending which are available in the firmware. Test Setup and Procedure I’m using LG 42UB820T 42″ UltraHD television with an HDMI cable connected to HDMI 1 port of the TV. Please note that my TV only support 8-bit color depth / YCbCr 4:2:0 which may cause compatibility issues with some boxes, at least the ones based on RK3288 processor, for 2160p 50Hz or 60Hz mode. I’ll take close-up pictures of the screen with a Canon PowerShot A2300HD camera by holding it with my hand (i.e. no tripod). This is important, …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

I’ve reviewed quite a few Android media players this year, and as 2014 comes to an end, I thought it might be worth writing a best of 2014. But it’s difficult to announce an overall winner since all have some flaws one way or another, I’ll classified by categories: Best Ethernet, Best Internal Storage, … a bit like for “Oscars ceremony awards, based mostly on objective results from my tests. However, and somewhat oddly for a media player, I won’t select any TV boxes based on their video playback capabilities, as so far I haven’t found one that can play most 4K / H.265 videos reasonably well in Kodi, and video playback tests are also subjective. This is obviously a flawed contest as they all are, because in order to be nominated, the media player must have been reviewed on CNX Software. But it should be fun anyway, so let’s get started. Best Ethernet Performance – Tronsmart Orion R28 Meta …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments on Review of Realtek RTD1195 Based M-195 Android Media Player

Review of Realtek RTD1195 Based M-195 Android Media Player

M-195 is one of the new low cost Android media players based on Realtek RTD1195 processor featuring two Cortex A7 cores, and a Mali-400MP2 GPU, but providing high speed interface like USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 4K video decoding and output, including the latest H.265 / HEVC video codec. So before testing, I was expecting the box to be mainly interesting as a media player, and even maybe NAS, as Android performance for other tasks would be similar to Allwinner A20. I’ll already taken pictures of M-195 and its “902” board, so today we’ll find out how the device performs. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve used both the provided IR remote control, and Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse in this review, simply because I needed to press the Home button to come back to the Launcher from time to time, and the Home button on my air mouse is not mapped to the actual home …

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Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments on Unboxing of M-195 TV Box Powered by Realtek RTD1195 Processor

Unboxing of M-195 TV Box Powered by Realtek RTD1195 Processor

Realtek RTD1195 is a dual core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400 GPU, supporting fast interfaces such as USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and SATA, as well 4K video decoding (including H.265) and output, and HDMI input. Despite all these features, it can be found in ultra low cost Android media players, so I was eager to find out if it’s as good as it looks on paper.  Thanks to GeekBuying which sent me M-195 TV box, I’ll soon be able to find out. Today, I’ll list the technical specifications of the device, and take pictures of the device and the board, before doing a full test early next month. M-195 specifications Hardware specifications as listed in the user’s manual and GeekBuying: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.3 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC  + SD card slot Video Output / Input  – HDMI 1.4b out …

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