Imagination PowerVR Series8XT GT8540 GPU Can Drive up to Six 4K Screens, Supports Hardware Virtualization

Imagination Technologies introduces PowerVR Furian architecture last year with improved performance, power and density, as well as dual cluster PowerVR Series8XT GT8525 GPU based on the new architecture, and targeting high-end smartphones, virtual reality and automotive products. The company has now introduced a quad cluster Furian GPU called PowerVR Series8XT GT8540 that can simultaneously drive up to six 4K screens at 60fps thanks to an 80% fillrate density improvement, and supports virtualization providing separation of services and applications. The new GPU mostly targets the automotive market with some new cars now requiring multiple screen support with high resolution displays for cluster, Head-Up Display (HUD) and infotainment. Hardware virtualization is equally important for automotive application, as you’ll want to separate safety-critical code, from infotainment applications for example, so if the latter crashes, the safety-critical code can still run unhindered. Each would run on separate shaders processing unit, with up to 8 […]

ZidooLab OPS Android Digital Signage Players are Powered by Rockchip RK3368 or Realtek RTD1295 SoC

Zidoo is known for their Arm based Android TV boxes targeting the consumer market, but the company also runs ZidooLab for the B2B market, and especially digital signage application, which may explain why they release a digital signage SDK a while ago. The company can customize hardware and software for their customer’s needs, but what caught my intention is that they have Arm based digital signage players that comply with OPS (Open Pluggable Specification) that was first released by Intel in 2010, and defines electrical, mechanical and thermal specifications of OPS compliant devices which are meant to be plugged into compliant monitors. ZidooLab has currently two Android OPS hosts: A1 & A2 that share most of the same specifications, except for the processor, and some I/Os: SoC A1 – Rockchip RK3368 octa-core Cortex A53 processor up to 1.5 GHz, PowerVR G6110 GPU A2 – Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 […]

WeTek Unveils Hyperion 4G LTE Set-Top Box & Nix OTT TV Box Running Android TV OS

When Geniatech announced Android TV certification for their ATV598Max set-top box with digital TV tuners compliant with DVB-T2, DVB-C, ATSC, or ISDB standards earlier this week, we noticed how few official Android TV STB there was on the market. But more may be coming, as Wetek will showcase two Android TV products at CABSAT in Dubai on January 14-16 with Wetek Hyperion Amlogic S905D 4G LTE set-top box, as well as WeTek Nix OTT box powered by Amlogic S905X processor. WeTek Hyperion Specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 SoC up to 1.5 GHz, with penta-core ARM Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC 5.0 flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a (CEC, HDR, HDCP 1.4/2.2), mini jack analog AV output Connectivity Gigabit Ethernet Dual band 802.11 ac/b/g/n WiFi (optional 802.11ac MiMo) Bluetooth 4.0 4G LTE modem – LTE-FDD: B2/B4/B5/B12/B13/B17/B25/B26; LTE-TDD: B41; […]

BenQ W1700 / HT2550 4K HDR Projector Now Available for $1,499

We wrote about BenQ W1700 4K HDR projector a couple of months ago, as the announced retail price of 1,699 Euros including VAT would make it the most affordable “True 4K” video projector on the market. The projector was scheduled to launch in January, and the company is right on schedule with Benq HT2550 (US model name for W1700) now listed on Amazon for $1,499 with shipping expected on January 14, 2018. We can refresh our memory with the specifications: Projection System – 0.47” single-DMD DLP technology with 8.3 million pixels resolution [Note: TI website still only shows 0.47″ 1080p DLP chipset, 4K chipset measures at least 0.66″] Resolution – VGA (640×480) to 4K UHD (3840 x 2160 native) Brightness (ANSI lumens) – 2200 ANSI Lumens‎ Contrast Ratio (FOFO) – 10,000:1 ‎ Display Color – 30 Bits (1,07 billion color) Light Source – 240W lamp good for 4,000 hours (Normal), 8,000 hours […]

Samsung Announces Exynos 9810 Octa-core Processor Optimized for AI and Multimedia Applications

Samsung Electronics has just announced the launch of Exynos 9 Series 9810 (Exynos 9810) manufactured with Samsung’s 10-nm FinFET process, featuring an eight core processor clocked up to 2.9 GHz, a gigabit (1.2 Gbps) LTE modem and deep learning-enhanced image processing. Single core performance is aud to be improved by two-fold, while multi-core performance gets a 40% improvement compared to the previous generation chip, which should be Exynos 8895. ARM Mali-G72 GPU is said to bring more realistic graphics along with 20% more performance. Samsung Exynos 9810 specifications with extra cache and memory info from Anandtech: CPU Quad core custom Exynos M3 @ up to 2.9GHz optimized for performance; 512KB L2 cache per core Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ up to 1.9GHz optimized for efficiency; 128KB L2 cache per core GPU – Arm Mali-G72MP18 Memory – LPDDR4x (4x 16-bit @ 1794 MHz) Storage – UFS 2.1, SD 3.0 Display –  Up […]

SRH-X5 is a Palm-sized Android TV Box based on Amlogic S905W Processor

Amlogic S905W processor is a cost down version of S905X processor limited to 1080p60 / 4K30 video output and found in low cost TV boxes such as Tanix TX3 or X96 Mini that sells for just above $20 shipped. SRH-X5 is yet another of those boxes, but the device is more compact than the ones of competitors I’ve seen, as they’ve not included interfaces such as Ethernet or optical S/PDIF, and it could fit into the palm of your hand (although it’s not meant to be). SHR-X5 TV box specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905W quad core Arm Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 (2GB optional ) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (Up to 32GB as option) + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 output Audio – 3.5mm headphone jack with stereo output/microphone, HDMI audio output […]

Dune HD Unveils 5 Entry Level to Premium 4K HDR Linux + Android Media Players & Set-Top Boxes

Dune HD is known to make high-end digital media players that often costs several hundred dollars such as Sigma Designs based Dune HD SOLO 4K or Dune HD Solo Lite. The company has now sent out an email announcing new models classified into three categories with most models based on Amlogic processors: Neo Series – Entry level Dune HD Neo 4K – 4Kp60 HDR media player + Android Smart TV box Amlogic S905X 1GB RAM, 8GB flash 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 100Mbit Ethernet, Bluetooth Dune HD Neo 4K T2 – 4Kp60 HDR media player + Android Smart TV box + DVB-T/T2/C receiver Amlogic S905D 1GB RAM, 8GB flash 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 100Mbit Ethernet, Bluetooth Dune HD Neo 4K T2 Plus – 4Kp60 HDR media player + Android Smart TV box + DVB-T/T2/C receiver Amlogic S905D 2GB RAM, 16GB flash 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 100Mbit Ethernet, Bluetooth Sky series – Models with satellite receiver Dune HD […]

More Low Cost ARM Linux NAS Platforms Coming Soon: Popcorn Hour Transformer (XL), ODROID-HC2

Last summer, Hardkernel launched ODROID-HC1 Home Cloud 1 taking a single 2.5″ hard drive, and based on a modified version of their popular Exynos 5422 powered ODROID-XU4 board where they removed HDMI, and added a SATA interface (via USB 3.0), but based on the initial announcement, we also knew the Korean company was working on ODROID-HC2 supporting 3.5″ drives instead. The device is not available yet, but guys at Armbian got an early unit, so we should not be waiting too long. Hardkernel will also have some competition for their ODROID-HC1 NAS, as Cloud Media (and Pine64?) are working on Rockchip RK3328 based Popcorn Hour Transformer & Transformer XL with support for 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives respectively. Hardkernel ODROID-HC2 ODROID-HC2 preliminary specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 5422 octa-core processor with 4x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 2.0 GHz, 4x ARM Cortex-A7 @ 1.4GHz, and Mali-T628 MP6 GPU supporting OpenGL ES 3.0 / […]