SEI 520 is a 2-in-1 Android TV Hybrid Set-top Box and Smart Speaker

SEI 520 Android TV Smart Speaker

SEI Robotics has showcased a new device at CES 2019 that looks like a smart speaker, and SEI 520 is indeed a smart speaker with Google Assistant support, but it also adds a digital TV tuner and a quad-core Cortex A53 processor running Android TV 9.0 operating system to allow you to watch live TV, and stream videos. Preliminary specifications for SEI 520 smart speaker: SoC – Quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor, possibly Amlogic S905X2 System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 16GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI up to 4K UHD Video Decode – VP9 and H.265/HEVC Audio Output – HDMI audio + optical S/PDIF Input – Far-field microphone Speaker – No technical details provided Connectivity – Ethernet, 2T2R MIMO WiFi, Bluetooth 5.0 Tuner – DVB-S2X/T2/C, ATSC, ISDBT USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port Misc – IR blaster Power Supply – 12V DC via […]

Rockchip RK1808 Cortex-A35 NPU Delivers up to 3.0 TOPS

RK1808 NPU AIoT Solution

Rockchip RK3399Pro was expected to be the first processor from the company featuring an NPU (Neural Processing Unit) to accelerate artificial intelligence workloads, but eventually went through a redesign, and the community found it gave birth to RK1808 NPU by looking at a device tree file in the Linux kernel. Rockchip has now made the NPU official at CES 2019, and we now know a little bit more. Here are the specifications shared by the company: Dual-core Arm Cortex-A35 CPU NPU computing performance up to 3.0TOPs supporting INT8/INT16/FP16 hybrid operation VPU supporting 1080P video codec Built-in 2MB system-level SRAM Display – MIPI/RGB video output Camera – MIPI/CIF/BT1120 Camera video signal input with built-in ISP Audio Microphone array support with hardware VAD function for low-power monitoring and far-field wake-up Audio output I/O PWM/I2C/SPI /UART USB3.0/USB2.0 PCIe interface Support for Gigabit Ethernet and external WiFi/Bluetooth modules Manufacturing – 22nm FD-SOI process It […]

NXP Immersiv3D Enables DSP-Free Dolby Atmos & DTS:X Audio Systems

NXP Immersiv3d audio reference design

High-fidelity audio systems such as soundbars, smart speakers, and AV receivers have traditionally relied on DSPs (Digital Signal Processors) to deliver low-latency audio processing, and enable audio and video synchronization. DSPs add to the cost of the overall design however, and with Immersiv3D technology, NXP has leveraged Arm Cortex-A53 and M4 cores in their NXP i.MX 8M Mini processor to completely remove the need for DSP in audio systems, shaving the BoM cost by up to 20%  according to an article on EETimes. Immersiv3D also enables immersive audio support with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, advanced audio pre/post processing, advanced features like voice control for the smart home. Immersiv3D audio solution was designed to help OEMs to bring to market affordable consumer audio devices with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, and beside the audio processing software, NXP is also offering an Immersiv3D audio reference design to help them delelop sound bars based […]

Business Card Sized NTT Card Keitai E-Ink Phone Weights just 47 Grams

NTT Card Keitai

There’s been a trend for faster phones with larger screens in the past few years, and 5″ smartphones that used to be referred as phablets have now made place to phones with 5.5″ to 6″ display just called smartphones. But some people don’t make use of advanced features of smartphones, value their privacy, or just want something small, light, and easy to use for phone calls and SMS. NTT Docomo Card Keitai KY-01L phone looks like a 5.3 mm thick business card weights justt 47 grams, features a 2.8″ E-Ink  and allows you to call, send & receive messages, manage your calendar, and browse the web. Despite the basic functions, the phone is said to run Android on a Qualcomm Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor.  You won’t be able to install apps from the Play Store though, it’s meant to be simple to use, functional and lightweight, so it’s not possible […]

Zotac Pico PI470 Amber Lake Mini PC is Powered by Intel Core i7-8500Y Processor

Zotac Pico PI470

Intel announced Core-Y series “Amber Lake” processors last August. The new 5W SoC are designed for laptops and 2-in-1 hybrids with built-in Gigabit WiFi, and optional LTE cellular connectivity. But that does not mean they cannot be used in other form factors, and Zotac is showcasing their tiny ZBOX Pico PI470 mini PC powered by Intel Core i7-8500Y dual core / quad thread processor at CES 2019. Zotac Pico PI470 specifications: SoC – Intel Core i7-8500Y dual core quad thread Amber Lake-Y processor  clocked at 1.5 GHz (base) / 4.2 GHz (turbo) with 4MB cache, Intel HD Graphics 615; 5W TDP System Memory – 4GB LPDDR3 memory Storage – 32GB eMMC storage, micro SD/SDHC/SDXC card reader Video Output – HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2 Audio – HDMI audio output, 3.5mm headphone jack Networking & Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi 5, Bluetooth 5 USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports including 1x […]

LG Unveils 8K, HDMI 2.1 Capable TVs Powered by Alpha 9 Gen 2 Processor

LG 8K TV HDMI 2.1

Last year Samsung unveiled their first 8K TV right before CES 2018 with a 85″ QLED model that can now be yours for a cool $15,000, and capable of upscaling SD / HD content to 8K using artificial intelligence since 8K content was not – and still is not – broadly available. One year has passed, and now LG has announced two new 8K TVs with HDMI 2.1 inputs just before CES 2019. Both 88″ Z9 OLED TV and 75″ SM99 8K LCD TV are powered by the company’s α9 (Alpha 9) Gen 2 processor running  deep learning algorithms to deliver enhanced picture and sound. The press release gives an overview of how AI works on both video and audio as follows: In addition to content source detection, the new processor finely adjusts the tone mapping curve in accordance with ambient conditions to offer optimized screen brightness, leveraging its ability […]

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