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March 9, 2016March 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

WeTek Hub Android & OpenELEC TV Box Features Amlogic S905-H Revision C Processor

WeTek has been working not on one, but two four new devices recently. I’ve already covered WeTek Play 2S (previously known as WeTek Play+) based on Amlogic S905 Rev. C , running Android 5.1 or OpenELEC, and featuring digital TV tuners (ATSC, DVB-S2, DVB-T2/C), which should become available in Q2 2016. The company has unveiled another model called WeTek Hub with features closer to the ones found in other Amlogic S905 TV boxes I’ve reviewed so far, except it is based on Amlogic S905-H revision C, comes with Widewine and Microsoft PlayReady DRM, and supports both Android 5.1.1 and OpenELEC. WeTek Hub specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905-H revision C quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to […]

February 15, 2016February 15, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Linaro Connect 2016 Bangkok Schedule – March 7-11, 2016

Linaro Connect Bangkok (BKK16) will take place on March 7 – 11, 2016, and the schedule is now available for the 5-day event with keynotes and sessions. Whether you’re going to attend or not, it’s always interesting to check the schedule to find out what’s going on in terms of ARM Linux development. The five days will focus on work by different Linaro groups, but really sessions are mixed for any given day, and I’ve created a virtual schedule for each day with available information, as Linaro has become a little more closed to the outside than when it was launched a few years ago. Monday 7 – LITE (Linaro IoT & Embedded Group) 1400 – 14:50 – Evolution of the Reference Software Platform Project The Reference Software Platform lead project was introduced in Linaro Connect San Francisco 2015, and since then it evolved and matured with the completion of […]

February 9, 2016February 16, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

Ugoos AM1 4K TV Box Review

Ugoos AM1 is yet another TV box based on Amlogic S905. I’ve already published specifications and uploaded some pictures of the nice looking cyan box and its board, so today I’ll report on my experience after actually playing with the device, where I mostly focused on known problems found on other S905 mini PCs, and some extra features added to Ugoos firmware. First Boot, Settings, and First Impressions I filled all three USB ports with a USB webcam, a USB hard drive, and a USB hub with RF dongles for MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse, Tronsmart Mars G01 wireless gamepad, and a USB keyboard (convenient for screenshots), and connected Ethernet, HDMI and power cables. A boot will usually take around 30 seconds. Before going through the user interface, I’ll mention that OTA firmware upgrade worked very well, and it was one of the first thing I did before the […]

January 12, 2016September 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

Amlogic S905X Processor Specifications

[Update September 2016: Removed Video Input Unit and Gigabit Ethernet MAC, since the latest documents have removed them] A few weeks ago, I wrote about the upcoming Amlogic S905M quad core Cortex A53 processor support 4K VP9 and 10-bit HEVC, but the silicon manufacturer seems to struggle with sticking with a name, as after the initial S908 part, they moved to S905M, before hopefully settling on Amlogic S905X, for which I received more information include a block diagram, and more detailed specifications. These are most of the specifications currently available for Amlogic S905X processor with highlights in bold: CPU Sub-system – Quad core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU up to 1.5GHz (DVFS) with Neon and Crypto extensions 3D Graphics Processing Unit – Penta-core ARM Mali-450 GPU up to 750MHz+ (DVFS) with two geometry/vertex processors, three pixel processors supporting OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and OpenVG 1.1. 2.5D Graphics Processor – Fast bitblt engine with […]

January 9, 2016January 9, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 33 Comments

WeTek Play+ Amlogic S905 Android Set-Top Box Features a Tuner with a SmartCard Reader and an mSATA SSD Bay

When WeTek announced the WeTek Core, some people were disappointed that they did not include a tuner like in the original WeTek Play, but the company has been working on a successor called Wetek Play+ that is based on Amlogic S905-H quad core processor and supports DVB-S/S2, DVB-C/T/T2, ISDB-T and ATSC tuners with a smartcard reader, as well as an extra store with an half-size SSD slot. WeTek Play+ specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905-H (Revision C) quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC 5.0 flash + micro SD card slot + mSATA SSD socket (implemented via USB to SATA) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDCP 2.2 support, and AV port Audio – HDMI, AV (stereo), optical S/PDIF Tuners – Support for DVB-S2, DVB-C/T/T2, ISDB-T and […]

December 30, 2015December 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Why Doesn’t your Android TV Box Play Full HD or 4K Videos in Netflix?

I’m not a Netflix user myself, but I know many of my readers are, and a frequent complain was the inability to play Full HD or 4K content, except on specific devices such as WeTek Core or Nvidia Shield Android TV. Until now, I thought most TV box manufacturers did not get DRM and Netflix support to reduce costs, but after reading one article about this very subject on AndroidPCReview, I realized it was more complicated than that. Beside the obvious hardware requirements that you need a Full HD or 4K capable player and television, the device needs to be certified by Google, and Widevine Level 1 DRM is required to stream anything above SD resolution from premium apps such as HBO Go or Netflix. However while many devices are certified by Google, only a few are officially supported by Netflix. The company also ranks device by categories such as […]

December 17, 2015July 31, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Amlogic S905X and S912 Processors To Support 4K VP9, HDMI 2.0a, Built-in DAC and More

I had heard some news that Amlogic S912 was delayed, and even possibly canceled, while talks about a new S908 processor surfaced recently with support for VP9 up to 4K resolution. We now have some more details as I’ve received some more information about Amlogic product roadmap, and S908 should be renamed S905M [Update: The name will apparently be changed to S905X now, the saga continues…] Amlogic S905 Amlogic S908 / S905M / S905X Amlogic S912 CPU Quad core Cortex A53 @ up to 2.0 GHz Quad core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5/2.0 GHz Octa core Cortex A53 @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU Penta-core Mali-450 up to 750 MHz High perf gaming GPU Memory 16/32-bit DDR3, LPDDR2/3 Up to 2GB, DDR2133 16/32-bit DDR3/4, LPDDR2/3 Up to 2GB, DDR2400 Storage NAND Flash@BCH60 eMMC 5.0, SD, Nor Flash Video Decoding 4Kp60 10-bit HEVC, 4Kp30 H.264 4Kp60 10-bit HEVC, VP9 4Kp30 […]

December 14, 2015March 13, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 42 Comments

Review of MINIX NEO U1 Media Hub

We’ve already seen that MINIX NEO U1 has some impressive hardware to offer with a good thermal solution, and high-end chips for storage and WiFi, as well as some neats additions like RTC support. But obviously the most important is to find out how the box performs, so I’ve put it through it spaces with video playback and features testing, as well as some benchmarks. First Boot, OTA Firmware, Settings and First Impressions The device has three full-sized USB 2.0 ports, which become four once we had the provided USB OTG adapter to the remaining micro USB port. So I’ve connected a USB 3.0 hard drive, the RF dongle for NEO A2 Lite air mouse, a USB hub with a USB webcam, a USB keyboard, and the RF dongle for Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad, as well as USB powered speakers to the micro USB port. After inserting HDMI, optical audio […]