Video Category - Page 202 of 331 - CNX Software

September 1, 2016September 2, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

USB Fun – Tiny USB WiFi and Hub Boards and micro USB Hub

I’ve come across a few interesting tiny USB boards and hubs in the last few days, so instead of writing a post for each, I’ve gathered all info into a single article. Small ESP8285 USB Board A couple of weeks ago, CNLohr released his first ESPUSB virtual USB implementation for ESP8266 allowing to use USB with external hardware, barring a resistor, and only two GPIOs. He has now made a tiny board based on ESP8285 with a USB interface leveraging ESPUSB. Hardware files can be found on github. So what can you do with it? CNLohr leveraged the work of the community in order to emulate a keyboard and mouse using a smartphone. The only bit of bad news in the video is that finally USB full speed (12 Mbps) can’t be supported. NanoUSB Hub Board Mux wanted to add more USB devices to its tablets, but there was none […]

August 31, 2016September 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

VR SKY CX-V3 Allwinner H8vr All-in-one Android Virtual Reality Headset Review – Part 1: Specs and Unboxing

I’ve heard about standalone Android virtual reality headset for a while, but so far I had never tried one, except using my phone with a cardboard kit, which was not such a good experience. So when GearBest asked me whether I want to try one of the Allwinner H8vr virtual reality kits, I thought it was a good idea, and today, I received VR SKY CX-V3 model. Today, I’ll just list the specs, check out the device and accessories, and report my first impressions, before posting a review about my experience in a few weeks. VR SKY CX-V3 Virtual Reality Headset Specifications While I would have preferred a 2K or greater display, CX-V3 includes a 1080p display, but that’s probably good enough for a first experience: SoC – Allwinner H8 octa core Cortex A7 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz with PowerVR SGX544 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage […]

August 31, 2016September 1, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Review of Vernee Apollo Lite Smartphone with Mediatek Helio X20 SoC – Part1: Unboxing, First Boot and Benchmarks

Vernee Apollo Lite is the little brother of Vernee Apollo, both based on Mediatek Helio X20 deca-core Cortex A72/A53 SoC, but with the Lite version having lower hardware specs otherwise, and being one of the few ARM Cortex A72 smartphones selling for less than $200 (at least in China). Tomtop, a Chinese online store, sent me a sample for review, and today, I’ll start by going through the tech specs, then check out the phone design and its accessories, and finally run a few benchmark, before posting a more detailed review in one or two weeks, where I’ll have more experience and feel about the phone. Vernee Apollo Lite Specifications I had posted some specs about the phone when it was first released, but they were incomplete at the time, and Vernee now released the full specs for their Apollo Lite: SoC – Meaitek Helio X20 (MT6797) deca-core processor with […]

August 31, 2016August 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Yi Technology Releases an Open API SDK for Yi and Yi 2 4K Action Cameras

Yi Technology, the maker of Yi actions cameras, often wrongly reported as Xiaomi Yi cameras as they are sold in Xiaomi stores, has now released an Open API to allow software and hardware engineers to develop products – such as drones, robots, or 360 deg. video recording setups – using their cameras. YiOpenAPI supports three types of APIs available in Java or Swift languages: Camera control (start/stop recording, capture picture, turn on/off viewfinder, etc…) Camera settings (date/time, video resolution, photo size, video standard, etc…) Camera state (record started/completed, video finder started etc…) There are also some app samples, one of which being YI360Demo available in both binary and source code, and used to control multiple Yi cameras in order to shoot 360 deg. / VR videos. You can find YiOpenAPI on github, get support on YiOpenAPI Facebook group, and sign-up for news updates on YiOpen.com. Via GeekBuying Blog Jean-Luc Aufranc […]

August 30, 2016May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

C.H.I.P Board and Allwinner A13/R8 SoCs To Get VPU Support in Linux Mainline

Allwinner has mixed relationships with open source communities such as Kodi, especially due to issues with its closed-source CedarX VPU drivers, and some GPL violations. However to address the former, linux-sunxi community has been working on open source Cedrus library for the video processor unit on Allwinner processors, that’s been successfully tested on boards such as Orange Pi One. Free Electrons has gone further, as they’ve made sure Cedrus now works with Linux mainline kernel, currently Linux 4.8, and tested it on Allwinner R8 based Pocket CHIP. The work has been done by Florent Revest, a 19 years old intern at the company, who delivered a new sunxi-cedrus driver, a Video4Linux (V4L2) memory-to-memory decoder kernel driver, and corresponding VA-API backend, with the implementations currently available on Github here and there respectively. Currently only MPEG2 and MPEG4 are working, but adding other codecs such as H.264, and video encoding is possible […]

August 27, 2016August 27, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Getting Started with ReSpeaker WiFi IoT Board’s Audio Capabilities, Voice Recognition and Synthesis

ReSpeaker is a development board combining an Atmel AVR MCU, a MediaTek MT7688 WiFi module running OpenWrt, a built-in microphone, an audio jack, and I/O headers to allow for voice control and output for IoT applications. That means you could make your own Amazon Echo like device with the board and add-ons, use it as a voice controlled home automation gateway and more. The board was launched on Kickstarter a few days ago, and already raised $100,000 from about 100 backers, but I’ve received an early sample, so I’ll provide some more information about the firmware, and shows how to use with some Python scripts leveraging Microsoft Bing Speech API. You’ll need a micro USB to USB cable to connect your to computer (Linux, Windows, Mac OS…), and a speaker to connect to the board. Linux (OpenWrt) boots in a few seconds, and once it’s done all RGB LED will […]

August 26, 2016September 3, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Ambarella A12S SoC Allows For Cheaper 4K 30 fps Action Cameras, or Does it Not?

[Update: I’ve been informed that Ambarella A12S product brief from their website contains outdated information, and that A12S does indeed support 4K @ 30 fps, not only 2K @ 30 fps] [Update 2 (03/09/2016): The company has now updated the page, and I’ve myself updated the article accordingly] Some ultra cheap Allwinner V3 based cameras are advertised as 4K cameras, but in reality they are limited to 4K @ 15 fps, and on top of that the software have to extrapolate data to get to that resolution. So there are not usable for most people, unless maybe if you somehow need a 4K CCTV camera. Currently one of the cheapest “true” 4K action cameras is Yi Technology / Xiaomi Yi 2 sports camera based on Ambarella A9S SoC, capable of recording up to 4K @ 30 fps, and selling for around $250. But there’s now a new wave of cheaper […]

August 25, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Dot is a Location Aware Bluetooth Beacon Used as a Digital Post-it, for Home Automation, and More (Crowdfunding)

Dot physical push notification is another Bluetooth beacon, but the company – Iota Labs – has designed and promote it in a location aware device that gets triggered when you move in a specific area with your smartphone. For example, somebody can leave a dot with a message such as “remember to take the trash out” in the kitchen, and once you walk pass you’ll receive a notification, or you can use a dot to automatically turn on the light if you enter a room at night. The full technical specifications have not been made available but here’s what we know: MCU – Nordic Semi nRF51822 (or similar) ARM SoC with Bluetooth radio Connectivity – Bluetooth 4.0 LE with a range up to around 45 meters Misc – RGB LED Battery – Replaceable battery good for 6 months to one year Android and iOS apps will allow your to configure […]