Mekotronics LS1200 “live streaming” box is powered by MediaTek Genio 1200 SoC

Mekotronics LS1200

Mekotronics LS1200 is a mini PC powered by a MediaTek Genio 1200 (MT8395) octa-core Cortex-A78/A55 processor with a 4.8 TOPS NPU, and especially suited to live streaming applications. The system, housed in a metal enclosure, is offered with an unspecified amount of LPDDR4x memory and eMMC flash, HDMI input and output, an eDP (Embedded DisplayPort) interface, a Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port, WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity, and four USB host ports. Mekotronics LS1200 specifications: SoC – MediaTek Genio 1200 (MT8395) octa-core processor with CPU – 4x Cortex-A78 cores @ 2.2GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ 2.2GHz GPU – Penta-core Arm Mali-G57 GPU @ 880MHz with support for OpenGL ES 3.2/2.0/1.1, Vulkan 1.1/1.0, OpenCL 2.2, AI accelerator – 4.8 TOPS dual NPU with support for TensorFlow and Caffe models DSP – HiFi 4 audio DSP VPU Encoding up to 4Kp60 with H.265/HEVC Decoding up to 4Kp90, AV1, VP9, HEVC, H.264 codecs supported System Memory […]

Khadas Edge2 review with Android 12

Khadas Edge2 Android 12 review

We’ve already reviewed Khadas Edge2 Pro with Ubuntu 22.04, and I’ve now had time to test the ultra-thin Rockchip RK3588S SBC with Android 12, so I’ll report my experience checking out the features, running some benchmarks, playing videos and games, etc… Flashing Android 12 to Khadas Edge2 board Our board was running Ubuntu 22.04, so in order to enter OOWOW firmware system, I had to keep pressing the function key (middle), then shortly press the reset button, before releasing the function key and entering the OOWOW interface. We can see the Android 11 image from the list we saw last month is gone for good, and a new Android 12 image dated September 20, 2022 is available. I selected that one, and OOWOW downloaded the files and flashed it to the board. Within five minutes, Android 12 was up and running on the board. As somebody who had spent several […]

Chromecast with Google TV (HD) features Amlogic S805X2 CPU with AV1 video support

Chromecast with Google TV HD

Google has launched the new Chromecast with Google TV (HD) powered by an Amlogic S805X2 quad-core Cortex-A35 CPU that offers a cheaper alternative to the Chromecast with Google TV (4K) that is limited to 1080p60 resolution, instead of the 4Kp60 video output supported by the Amlogic S905X3 model. While the processor is slower, the system comes with less memory (1.5GB vs 2GB), and only supports 1080p60, it supports the more efficient AV1 video decoding and as well as A/B partitions for seamless updates since the firmware does not need to be downloaded to the internal storage before the Chromecast with Google TV (HD) specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805X2 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor with Mali-G31 MP2 GPU, 1080p60 H.265, H.264, VP9, AV1 video decoder System Memory  – 1.5GB RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash with support for “virtual A/B updates with compression“ Video output – HDMI up to 1080p60 with HDR support […]

Realtek RTD1319D STB processor supports 4K H.266 and AV1 video decoding

Realtek RTD1319D H.266 AV1

Realtek RTD1319D is the first set-top box processor to support H.266 (aka Versatile Video Coding) video compression standard. The new SoC also provides a GPU with 10-bit graphics, support for multiple Conditional Access Systems (CAS), and HDMI 2.1a video output capable of up to 4Kp60 with HDR. One would have thought the royalty-free AV1 video codec might have killed licensed codecs such as H.266, but it’s clearly not the case, since Realtek decided to launch the RTD1319D processor with the new codec, and the primary reason may be because the H.266/VCC codec was added to the DVB specification last February for both 4K (3840×2160) and 8K (7680×4320) resolutions. Realtek RTD1319D preliminary specifications: CPU – Quad-core Arm processor GPU – Unnamed GPU with 10-bit graphics Video Output – HDMI 2.1a up to 4Kp60 HDR Video Codecs 4Kp60 Versatile Video Coding (VVC/H.266) 4Kp60 AV1, H.265 Tuner support Built-in DVB demodulators Multiple TS […]

NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 release supports Ubuntu 20.04, Jetson AGX Orin

NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 Ubuntu 20.04

The NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 production release is out with Ubuntu 20.04, the Jetson Linux 35.1 BSP 1 with Linux Kernel 5.10, an UEFI-based bootloader, support for Jetson AGX Orin module and developer kit, as new as updated packages such as CUDA 11.4, TensorRT 8.4.1, cuDNN 8.4.1. NVIDIA Jetson modules and developer kits are nice little pieces of hardware for AI workloads, but the associated NVIDIA Jetpack SDK was based on the older Ubuntu 18.04 which was not suitable for some projects. But the good news is that Ubuntu 20.04 was being worked on and initially available through the Jetpack 5.0.0/5.0.1 developer previews, and NVIDIA Jetpack 5.0.2 SDK is the first production release with support for Ubuntu 20.04. Besides the upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04, the Jetpack 5.0.2 SDK also adds support for both the Jetson AGX Orin Developer Kit and the newly-available Jetson AGX Orin 32 GB production module. It still […]

Intel Meteor Lake mobile processor highlights leaked

Meteor Lake Block Diagram

Intel Meteor Lake processor family is supposed to succeed the 13th generation Raptor Lake chips itself coming after the current 12th generation Alder lake processors. It is scheduled to launch next year (2023), but we already have some details about the Meteor Lake U, P, and H mobile processors from a leak. Just like most Alder Lake processors, Meteor Lake will be hybrid processors with power and energy-efficient cores, but they’ll also feature new LP E-cores which should stand for “low power efficiency” cores in order to further lower the power consumption while a laptop or mini PC in standby mode. Meteor Lake mobile processors highlights: CPU P cores + E cores + LP-E cores architecture U-series with up to 12 cores P- and H-series up to 14 cores; Up to 6+8 configuration with up to 24MB LLC/core (Note the LP-E cores don’t seem to be part of the main […]

MECOOL KP1 smart projector runs Android 11 for TV on Amlogic S805X2 TV Stick

MECOOL KP1 Android 11 for TV projector

MECOOL KP1 is a Full HD projector equipped with the MECOOL KD5 HDMI dongle powered by an Amlogic S805X2 quad-core Cortex-A35 processor with 1GB RAM and 8GB flash and running Android 11 for TV. Most Android projectors are equipped with a low-end processor accompanied by an outdated version of Android, and while the Amlogic S805X2 SoC found in the KP1 is not a workhorse, Android 11 for TV OS should make it useable for a few more years, and it might even be possible to upgrade the TV stick down the road. MECOOL KP1 specfications: TV Stick – MECOOL KD5 with SoC – Amlogic S805X2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A35 processor with Arm Mali-G31 MP2 GPU, 1080p60 10-bit AV1, H.265, VP9 P-2, H.264, AVS2, MPEG4/2/1 video decoder System Memory – 1GB LPDDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 1.4 port Connectivity – Dual-band WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2 OS […]

Kodi 20 “Nexus” Alpha 1 gets AV1 hardware decoding, DietPi 8.5 released

Kodi 20 Nexus

I’ll combine two unrelated short news about software releases for TV boxes, Raspberry Pi, and other SBCs: Kodi 20 “Nexus” Alpha 1 media center, and DietPi 8.5 lightweight Debian-based image for SBC’s. Kodi 20 “Nexus” Alpha 1 The first alpha release of Kodi 20 “Nexus” is out with one highlight being support for AV1 hardware video decoding in Android and x86 (VAAPI) platforms with AV1-capable GPU or VPU. Other notable changes include: FFMPEG upgraded to version 4.4 Plenty of subtitle related changes: Added Steam Deck built-in controller support Initial support for M1 native including native windowing/input handling Pipewire support in Linux Various PVR improvements including in terms of performance when a large number of channels is displayed You’ll find more details in the announcement. The RetroPlayer project based on Kodi, but adding some game-related features, has also released some test images based on Kodi 20. Note that since it’s an […]