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July 31, 2015April 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Zidoo X1 Android TV Box Unboxing and Teardown

Zidoo X1 is an Android media player powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor with support for 4K videos up to 30Hz and H.265 / HEVC video codec. The company sent me one unit for review, and today I’ll start by unboxing and tearing down the device, before further testing to get the review posted in a few days. Zidoo X1 Unboxing I’ve received the package by (MY)DHL a few days after it was shipped. The package shows some of the main features like 4K and 3D support, H.265/HEVC codec, Kodi support, and ZIUI which must be the name given to Zidoo user interface. The box comes with an HDMI cable, a user’s manual in English, a warranty card, a 5V/2A power adapter, and a standard IR remote control with IR learning function for 5 keys: Vol +/-, power, AV/TV, and SET so that you can control your TV with […]

July 23, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Kodi 15 Isengard Release

After several months of development, including H.265 hardware decoding in Android, Kodi 15 “Isengard” has recently been released by the developers. It’s available for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and Android, and for the first time a stable release can directly be downloaded from Google Play store with so far over 400,000 active installs from the app store. Key features and improvements of Kodi 15 include: Android specific changes – 4K, refresh rate switching and H.265 for hardware that support it including several Amlogic platforms, and Nvidia Shield Android TV. Android 5.0 and greater is required. New chapter selector window – Allows users to visually browse and select chapters from mkv videos and other containers that support chapters Adaptive seeking (aka Skip Steps) – The more times a user presses a button to seek in a period of time, the larger the jump forward or backward will be. Audio and […]

July 8, 2015July 17, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Eny EM95 Android Mini PC Runs Android 5.1 on Amlogic S905 Processor

Amlogic S905 is the first 64-bit ARM processor by Amlogic, and comes with four ARM Cortex A53 cores coupled with a Mali-450MP GPU, with S912 to follow later with the same CPU cores, but more powerful Mali-T7xx GPU. With Acemax G9C we already have one company working on an Amlogic S905 TV box, but Eny Technology just informed me they are about to launch two models based on Amlogic armv8 processor: EM95-MXQ, which looks exactly like G9C, and EM95 with a different casing, but very similar specs. Eny EM95 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with quad core Mali-450MP GPU up to 750MHz System Memory – 1GB DDR3 (Option: 2GB) Storage – 8GB NAND flash (Option: 16GB) + SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with support for CEC and HDCP 2.2 , AV output Video Codecs […]

June 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

Tronsmart Draco H3 TV Stick Firmware and SDK Released

Tronsmart Draco H3 is a low cost HDMI TV stick powered by Allwinner H3 quad core processor. At $35, the device costs about $5 more than Amlogic S805 based sticks like MK808B Plus with about the same specs (quad core Cortex A7/A5, 1GB RAM, 8GB flash, HDMI out..), but with the added benefit of 4K @ 30Hz support. Tronsmart has now released some firmware files as well as Linux kernel and an Android SDK. Two firmware files have been released: Tronsmart_Draco_H3_720p_Kernel_20150526.zip – Firmware with 1280×720 framebuffer for better performance Tronsmart_Draco_H3_1080p_Kernel_20150526.zip – Firmware with 1920×1080 framebuffer for higher resolution Please note that the resolution will only affect the user interface, and when you play videos you should get the resolution selected in Android settings. So if you play a 4K videos it will truly show as a 4K video on your TV, even though the user interface is only 720p, at […]

June 8, 2015June 8, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

$59 Zidoo X1 Android TV Box Powered by Allwinner H3 SoC

Allwinner H3 based Android TV boxes have been selling for a few months for $80 or less, and Draco H3 HDMI TV stick even goes for just $35. Zidoo has been working on their own Allwinner H3 platform called Zidoo X1 for a little while, and they are about to launch it for $59 (MSRP). Zidoo X1 specifications: SoC – Allwinner H3 quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-400MP2 @ 600 MHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash (16GB in option) + micro SD slot up to 32GB Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi Video Output – HDMI up to 4K2K @ 30Hz, AV Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Video Codec – H.265/HEVC up to 4K30, 1080p60 decoding for H.264, VP8, MPEG-1/2, MPEG-4, H.263. WMV9, VC1, etc… USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – […]

May 22, 2015May 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 43 Comments

Eny EKB368 TV Box with Rockchip RK3368 Runs Android 5.1

We’ve had a first glimpse at RK3368 Android TV Boxes when Rockchip showcased X6 TV box during one of their events. However, that box was targeting the Chinese market only, but Eny Technology informed me they are about to launch EKB368 TV box destined to overseas markets. Eny EKB368 specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with PowerVR G6110 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.x/2.0/3.x, OpenGL 3.2, DirectX 9.3, OpenCL 1.2 EP, and Renderscript System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 (Option: 1GB) Storage – 8GB NAND flash (Options: 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB) + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz Audio Output – HDMI, 3.5mm audio jack, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n/ac and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6335 by default) USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports, 1x micro USB OTG port Power Supply […]

April 28, 2015April 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Intel Atom Z3735F mini PC Power Consumption in Android

I’ve already measured power consumption running Antutu and playing a 4K video on Rockchip RK3288 and Amlogic S812 platform, as described in “Power Consumption of Amlogic S812 and Rockchip RK3288 TV Boxes“, and now that I have an Intel Bay Trail-T mini PC running Android 4.4 with Wintel W8, I was interested in comparing its power consumption to the ARM platform. [Update: I forgot to mention measurements have all been done @ ~5V.] The test normally consists in several steps: Boot the device Run the latest Antutu benchmark Connect a USB hard drive Play a 4K video in Kodi from the hard drive Diconnect the hard drive Power off the device But since the current draw was a little to high at times, I got a few issues with my setup. First, I had to boot twice hence the “Power On 1” and “Power On 2” strings on the chart, […]

April 17, 2015May 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Popcorn Hour VTEN Review

Popcorn Hour VTEN a Linux based media player powered by Sigma Designs SMP8757 ARM Cortex A9 processor. Contrary to the many Android TV boxes I tested in the last few years, the device is dedicated to media playback, even though it has an App Store with 59 apps including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. I’ve already taken a few pictures of the device and board, so today, I’ll go through the user interface, quickly test the app store, go through my library of video test files, and check if HDMI audio pass-through is indeed working. Popcorn Hour VTEN User Interface I’ve connected VTEN to an Ethernet Gigabit switch, the HDMI port to Onkyo TX-NR636 AV receiver which itself is connected to LG 42UB820T 4K UHD TV, and the 5V/3A power supply. Pressing the On/Off switch at the back of the player will start it, and the boot takes just under one […]