Beelink X45 Mini PC Review with Windows 10 and Ubuntu 16.04/18.04

Beelink X45 Board

The Beelink X45 mini PC is now available, and Lightinthebox.com have provided a unit for review. It is very similar in style to Intel’s latest NUC Windows mini PC, the NUC7CJYSAL reviewed earlier. However it contains an Intel Celeron Processor J4105 SoC which is a quad core processor bursting up to 2.50 GHz together with the Intel UHD Graphics 600 processor that is capable of 4K support at 60Hz. It is physically small consisting of an approximately 4.5″ by 4” case about 1¾” tall with a front panel that includes the power button and a couple of USB ports and a headphone jack with the rest of the ports including two HDMI (2.0) ones at the rear: The specifications include: A key point to note is the Beelink X45 comes with 64GB eMMC with pre-installed Windows 10 Home together with 4GB DDR4 RAM (soldered and is non-expandable) with space and […]

ZIDOO Z9S / Z10 RTD1296 Android + OpenWrt Media Boxes Coming in October

Zidoo Z10

Zidoo introduced their first Realtek RTD1296 media players earlier this year with Zidoo X20 / X20 Pro models, but with prices starting at almost $500 those are not for everyone. The company will soon  launch cheaper and more compact models with ZIDOO Z9S and Z10, which are updated of RTD1295 models Zidoo X9S and X10 launched in previous years. Zidoo Z9S / Z10 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1296DD quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Zidoo Z9S only – 2x SATA 3.0 external interfaces Zidoo Z10 only – 1x SATA 3.0 bay for 3.5″ drives Video I/O HDMI 2.0a output up to 4K @ 60 Hz, HDR10 support HDMI 2.0 input with HDCP 2.2 input (recording and streaming up to 1080p @ 60 Hz) Zidoo Z9S only – 3.5mm AV output […]

Lindenis V5 Allwinner V5 SBC is Designed for AI Video Processing, 4K Encoding

Allwinner V5 SBC

Allwinner V5 V100 is a new quad core Cortex A7 processor targeting 4K 30 fps (Linux)  cameras, and integrating AIE intelligent analytic acceleration engine handling motion detection, perimeter defense video diagnosis, and face detection. Usually, it’s pretty hard to get a development board based on a new processor, but Lindenis V5 single board computer based on the processor is already available in China, and comes with 1 to 2GB RAM, HDMI 1.4 and MIPI DSI video outputs, dual MIPI CSI video inputs, Gigabit Ethernet and more. Lindevis V5 SBC specifications: SoC – Allwinner V5 Quad-core Arm Cortex-A7 processor @ up to 1,512 MHz with NEON, VFPv4 FPU 4K @ 30 fps H.265/H.264 encoder and decoder Dual ISP 13M@30fps + 8M@30fps AIE (AI Engine) Architecture – Built-in with intelligent analytics acceleration engine with support for motion detection, perimeter defense, video diagnosis, face detection, flow statistics. Supports binocular depth map. System Memory […]

Review of Firefly-RK3399 Board with Android 8.1 Firmware

Firefly-RK3399 Review Android 8.1

Last week, I tested Android 7.1 on NanoPC-T4 Rockchip RK3399 SBC, and this week, I’ve given a try at Android 8.1 (Beta) on Firefly-RK3399 Board. Since it’s still a beta version, I’m expecting some issues and we’ll have to see how it performs at this stage of development. Firefly-RK3399 Kit Assembly I had to do some assembly before starting the board.  It took me some 30 minutes to complete, so I’ll quickly go through the steps. Beside the default kit, the company also sent me a fansink ($7.9) and an M.2 to SATA board + required cable ($16) which will be part of the assembly instructions. The first step is to peel off the protective films on both sides of the acrylic case. I then fastened my own 2.5″ hard drive with four screws provided in the default kit. I then installed the M.2 to dual SATA adapter board in […]

NanoPC-T4 Review with Android 7.1 Firmware

NanoPC T4 Connected

NanoPC-T4 is one of the many Rockchip RK3399 SBCs now available, and as we’ve seen in the “unboxing review” the company sent me two samples. So far, I’ve been reviewing RK3399 boards with Linux distributions in posts such as “Checking Out Debian and Linux SDK for VideoStrong VS-RD-RK3399 Board” and more recently “AIO-3399J Development Board Review with Ubuntu 16.04“. But in this NanoPC-T4 review, I’ll switch to Android, specifically Android 7.1, as I’ll soon try Android 8.1 on Firefly-RK3399 which might make for an interesting comparison between the two versions of the OS, before switching to Linux with Pine64 RockPro64 board which I received yesterday. First Boot with NanoPC-T4 Development Board I had already assembled  the board in the first part of the review, so I just added the two WiFi antennas, the optional USB to serial debug board, and connected various accessories and cables from left to right: USB […]

Alfawise A8 RK3229 Android 8.1 TV Box Sold for $29.99 (Promo)

Alfawise A8 Cheap Android Oreo TV Box

We started to see some Android 8.1 “Oreo” TV boxes a few months ago with MX10 model powered by Rockchip RK3328 processor, but if you don’t mind having a TV box with a 32-bit Arm processor, you can now get an Android 8.1 TV box for a much cheaper price, as GearBest now has a flash sale for Alfawise A8 TV box based on Rockchip RK3229 with a respectable 2GB RAM and 16GB flash, and selling for $29.99 shipped. Alfawise A8 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3229 quad core Arm Cortex A7 processor @ 1.5 GHz with  ARM Mali-400MP2 System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, full size SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K2K @ 60 fps & AV port (composite video) Audio – HDMI audio output, AV port (stereo audio), and coaxial S/PDIF output Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 […]

Meet EWEAT R11, the $1,200 High-End 4K Media Player

A few months ago, Zidoo released two high-end 4K media players based on Realtek RTD1296DD processor with Zidoo X20 going for around $500, and Zidoo X20 Pro for about $865. Those are quite expensive with dual hard drive support, large metal case, XLR connectors, and high-end audio chips. EWEAT has upped the ante with their R11 model, also based on Realtek RTD1295DD SoC instead, and going for about $1,200 on Aliexpress, and also listed on Amazon US but with no price at the time of writing.  [Update: GeekBuying has it for $699.99 shipped]. So let’s see what it has to offer. EWEAT R11 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1295DD quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR4 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash, 1x SATA 3.0 bay for 3.5″ drives, external SATA port; FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, EXT4, and HFS supported on SATA drives […]

e-con Systems Introduces a 4K Multi-Camera System for NVIDIA Jetson TX1/TX2 Boards

4K Camera Kit NVIDIA Jetson TX1 / TX2

Last year, e-con Systems launched a 360° Camera Kit for NVIDIA Jetson TX1/TX2 boards that featured 6 cameras capable of recording or streaming 1080p30 each in real-time. The company is now back with a multi-camera system with “only”  three cameras, but each can handle uncompressed video up to 4K UHD resolution at 30 fps. Meet e-CAM130_TRICUTX2 kit. Specification for the 4K Multi-camera system: Camera Modules – 3x e-CAM137_CUMI1335_MOD 13.0 MP Camera Module with S-mount lens holder Resolutions & frame rates (YUV422) VGA up to 30 fps (sync), up to 100 fps (async) HD (720p) up to 30 fps (sync), up to 72 fps (async) Full HD (1080p) up to 30 fps (sync), up to 72 fps (async) 4K up to 30 fps 13MP (4192 x 3120) up to 19 fps (async mode only) Baseboard with: 4-lane MIPI CSI-2 interface to connect with the CPU On board PWM generator circuit and external […]