M12N Amlogic S912 Octa-core TV Box Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 Firmware

Shenzhen Shiningworth MXQ Plus M12N is one of the first TV box powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor also bringing a faster GPU, VP9 and HDR support compared to the earlier Amlogic S905 processor. I’ve already shown the device, its accesories, and its internal degisn in the first part of MXQ Plus M12N review, so today I’ll spend time reporting my finding testing features and performance with Android 6.0 firmware. Setup Wizard and First Impressions Since there are only two USB ports, I connected my USB hard drive to one, and used a USB hub to connect input devices including two RF dongles for an air mouse, and a gamepad, as well as a USB keyboard to take screenshots. I also added Ethernet and  HDMI cable, and finally connected the power supply to boot it up. But as you can see from the picture the very first boot was not […]

Nvidia Provides More Details About Parker Automotive SoC with ARMv8 Cores, Pascal GPU

Nvidia demonstrated DRIVE PX2 platform for self-driving cars at CES 2016, but did not give many details about the SoC used in the board. Today, the company has finally provided more information about Parker hexa-core SoC combining two Denver 2 cores, and four Cortex A57 cores combining with a 256-core Pascal GPU. Nvidia Parker SoC specifications: CPU – 2x Denver 2 ARMv8 cores, and 4x ARM Cortex A57 cores with 2MB + 2 MB L2 cache, coherent HMP architecture (meaning all 6 cores can work at the same time) GPUs – Nvidia Pascal Geforce GPU with 256 CUDA cores supporting DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.5, Nvidia CUDA 8.0, OpenGL ES 3.1, AEP, and Vulkan + 2D graphics engine Memory – 128-bit LPDDR4 with ECC Display – Triple display pipeline, each at up to 4K 60fps. VPU – 4K60 H.265 and VP9 hardware video decoder and encoder Others: Gigabit Ethernet MAC Dual-CAN […]

YOKATV KB2 Amlogic S912 TV Box Comes with 32GB Internal Storage

Most Android TV boxes now come with either 8 or 16GB, and in my experience it’s usually enough for most users. However, as we’ve seen recently, while not being as powerful as Nvidia Shield Android TV box, Amlogic S912 TV boxes are suitable for gaming, and games may use a lot of space, and for example a PSP street fighting game took 500 MB space when I tested it. So if you need more storage space, you may consider devices such as YOKATV KB2 that comes with 32GB eMMC flash. YOKATV KB2 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S912 octo-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-T820MP3 GPU @ up to 750MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a with HDR, CEC and (maybe) HDCP 2.2 support + 3.5mm AV jack Audio Output – […]

Mini Review of MECOOL BM8 TV Box with Android 6.0 and Kodi 17.0

CNXSoft: An other review by Ray for an Amlogic S905X powered TV box provided by Videostrong. MECOOL BM8 specifications The specifications are pretty standard, except for the large flash: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core Cortex A53 @ 2.0GHz with a penta-core Mali-450MP GPU Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 32GB eMMC flash + card reader for SD/SDHC/MMC cards Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K*2K “super HD video” with HDR support and AV outputs Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 port Supports HEVC (H.265) decoding The TV box runs Android 6.0. Unboxing The box comes with 3 different Power Adapters, a HDMI cable, power supply and a completely oversized (20cm/5cm) remote control with  “learning modes ability”. No manual was inside the box. The Videostrong MECOOL BM8 is a […]

Beelink GT1 Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S912 Sells for $56 (Promo)

In a recent list of Amlogic S912 TV boxes we found out that factory prices ranged between $47 to $54 for typical devices with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage, but you can only get those price by buying in quantities, and they don’t include shipping. However, GearBest has just informed me they lowered Beelink GT1 prices to $55.99 shipped with GBGT1 coupon,  which – provided the box works well – looks like a good bargain. Beelink GT1 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-820MP3 @ up to 750MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a Audio Output – HDMI and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, and Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports Misc – IR receiver Power Supply – […]

Allwinner H5 is a Quad Core Cortex A53 Processor for 4K OTT TV Boxes

Last year, we found that Allwinner was preparing to launch Allwinner H64 and H5 quad and octa processors in their roadmap, but there have been some changes, and the compny seems to have dropped H64 name, and has now introduced Allwinner H5 quad core Cortex A53 processor designed for 4K TV boxes. Allwinner H5 main specifications: CPU – quad core Cortex A53 with NEON, FPU, 64KB I/D cache per core, and 512KB L2 cache 3G GPU – ARM Mali-450MP GPU with 4 pixel processor cores, and 2 geometry cores with support for OpenGL ES 2.0/1.1/1.1, OpenVG 1.1 and EGL 2D GPU (Graphics and Display Processor) – Dual display; Main display: 4 video layers, 12 graphics layers, 4 alpha blending channels; Auxiliary display: 4 video layers, 4 graphics layers, and 2 alpha blending channels Memory I/F – DDR3/3L SDRAM interface up to 32-bit data width Storage I/F – SPI NOR flash, […]

SZTomato TVI Amlogic S905X Development Board to Support Android 6.0, OpenELEC 7.0, and Ubuntu 16.04

Shenzhen Tomato has been selling Android TV boxes for a few years now, but one of their next product will be a development board based on Amlogic S905X processor with 8GB flash, 2GB RAM, and the usual 40-pin Raspberry Pi header. SZTomato TVI development board specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (1GB or less as option) Storage – 8GB Samsung eMMC flash (other capacities as option)  + micro SD slot Video & Audio  Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz Connectivity – Fast Ethernet port, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 (Ampak AP6212) with IPEX connector USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports with 500mA fuses, 1x USB type C port for power and USB devices (no video) Expansion header – 40-pin Raspberry Pi compatible header with USB, […]

4K VP9, H.265 and H.264 Video Playback in Amlogic S912 M12N TV Box

I’ve received my first Amlogic S912 TV box with MXQ Plus M12N TV box this week-end, and I’ve decided to start testing by showing the media capabilities of the platform that is supposed to support 4K VP9 up to 60Hz, 4K 10-bit H.265 up to 60Hz and 4K H.264 up to 30 Hz. I connected the device to Onkyo TX-NR636 A/V recevier itself connected to  LG 42UB820T 4K UHD TV, set video output to 2160p @ 60Hz, and played several 4K video samples from a USB hard drive using the pre-installed version of Kodi 16.1: 4K Hawaii Sunset _ GoPro Hero 4 Black [email protected] (Downloaded from YouTube) – OK Beauty_3840x2160_120fps_420_8bit_HEVC_MP4.mp4 (H.265 @ 30 fps – No audio) – OK big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_30fps.mp4 (H.264 @ 30 fps – MPEG1/2 and AC3 audio) – OK big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_60fps.mp4 (H.264 @ 60 fps – MPEG1/2 and AC3 audio) – Video a bit choppy, large audio delay. Expected […]