gaming News - Page 19 of 19 - CNX Software

June 26, 2017July 25, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

A95X R2 TV Box Review – Part 2: Android 7.1, Video & Audio Tests, and Benchmarks

In the first part of A95X R2 Rockchip RK3328 TV box review, I listed the specifications of the device, took a few photos, and reported about the chip used in the PCBA. I’ve now had time to play with the box, so I can report about my experience with Android 7.1, video & audio capabilities, and the performance of the device in the second part of the review. First Boot, Setup, and First Impressions I connected a USB 3.0 hard drive to the USB 3.0 port of the box, a USB keyboard to one of the USB port to take screenshots, and a USB hub with the RF dongles for my air mouse and gamepad in the remaining USB 2.0 port. I completed the hardware setup with Ethernet and HDMI cables, as well as the power supply. I then pressed the power button on the unit to start it up, […]

April 11, 2017April 11, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

No Case for Orange Pi Zero or Other Tiny Development Boards? No problem: Use an Old Mouse

There now plenty of tiny ARM Linux boards, which are normally sold without case, but usually it’s not to hard to find a 3D printed case. But if you have small board, and don’t feel to purchase a case for it, there’s an other solution: use an old mouse. That’s exactly what Slider2732 has done with his Orange Pi Zero board to convert it to a mini PC running Armbian, or a game console running RetroOrangePi. So after the keyboard PC, here comes the mouse PC! So what did he exactly use for the mouse PC? Orange Pi Zero board An old Logitech mouse for the case and cable An 8GB micro SD card to flash the operating system A 4.3″ car reversing monitor (optional) acting as the display with composite input An Rii wireless keyboard/mouse, as the mouse function is not included with the mouse PC… A PAM8403 based […]

October 25, 2015October 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Kingnovel R8 Android TV Box Review (VLC Edition)

Kingnovel R8 is one of the many Rockchip RK3368 based TV boxes on the market, and since I’ve already provided the specs, as well as pictures of the device and board, I’ll carry on with the review today. While I’m usually testing video playback in Kodi, I’ve only spent a short time with Kodi 15.2 on this box, and instead switched to VLC (aka VideoLAN), an another open source media player, and my favorite program to watch videos in my Ubuntu computer. Of course, I’ve also tested most hardware features and performance of the device. First Boot, and First Impressions Since I like to test worst case scenarios, I also make sure I use all the ports of the devices, and connected a USB hard drive, USB RF dongles, USB webcam, and relevant cables to the device before powering it up. Once you connect the power, I recommend you have […]

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Nvidia Shield Android TV vs Apple TV vs Roku 3 vs Fire TV vs Nexus Player – Video Capabilities and Features Comparison

Since Nvidia released the Shield Android TV box, I’ve heard several people saying Nvidia raised the bar and even disrupted the TV box market by bringing a powerful HTPC and gaming console to the market for just $199. The company has now released OTA 2.0 firmware that improves HTPC capabilities, including under Kodi and Plex, and the box supports for 10-bit HEVC, H.264, and VP9 @ 4K, and audio pass-through for HD audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. As part of the release announcement, Nvidia also compared the Shield TV media capabilities to the ones of other US centric media players, namely Apple TV (2015), Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV (2015), and Nexus Player. Since it comes from Nvidia, it was also going to show the Shield TV in a good light, but I’m very surprised to see that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku would ship a […]

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Skreens are Configurable Picture-in-Picture HDMI Splitters (Crowdfunding)

Some HDMI splitters support picture-in-picture (PiP) to display of the video input full screen, and the others in small windows, and the ones I checked just cost under $30 on Amazon here, there, and over there. People who only use them as splitters are satisfied, but the ones who tried the PiP function are disappointed, as the other inputs, usually 3, are only shown in small windows on one of the corner of the TV, and not that useful. If you want more customizable PiP, Skreens could be what you are looking for, as the HDMI inputs can be resized and positioned via a mobile app. There are basically two models named by their number of inputs: NexusTwo, and NexusFour, with Pro versions bringing the total to 4 models. Skreens NexusTwo specifications: Chip(s) – Xilinx Kintex-7 Field Programmable Gate array with Dual ARM Cortex-A9 @ >1 GHz with NEON (Over […]

December 30, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Snail Games OBox is an Upcoming High End Android Game Console Powered by Nvidia Tegra K1 Processor

Snail Games is a gaming company based in Suzhou, China, with a branch in the US, specializing online games with over 85 million account on sites like woniu.com for the Chinese market, and playsnail.com for the North American market. Snail is now planning to launch an Android 4.4 console called OBox Online at CES 2015. Internally, the gaming console is comprised of a motherboard, a processor board, an HDD board, and an optional multi-media board. Two processor board are currently available with variants of Nvidia Tegra K1 quad core 32-bit processor, and I assume it should be possible to upgrade the console with a more powerful processor and more memory in the future. Technical specifications listed in a leaked/released PDF: Processor Board SoC Option 1 – Nvidia Tegra K1 TD570D quad-core ARM Cortex A15 CPU @ 2.0 GHz, and Kepler GPU with 192 CUDA cores Option 2 – Nvidia Tegra […]

April 19, 2014April 19, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Vivante Unveils Details About GC7000 Series GPU IP Family

Earlier this month, Vivante Corporation has announced several silicon partner integrations (but no names given) of its GC7000 Series GPU IP into SoCs targeting wearables, mobile, automotive, and 4K TV products, and provided some more details about its GC7000 family which supports features such as OpenGL ES 3.1 API, and hardware TS/GS/CS (tessellation / geometry / compute shader) extensions for Android. According to the company, they key benefits of their GC7000 GPU IP can be summarized as follows: True GPU Scalability – GC7000 Series products support limited silicon area to match form factor and market requirements. Products can snap to grid starting at 3.0 mm2 (28 nm) for the smallest single GPU GC7000 instance and grow in simple modular fashion for high end implementations to achieve what the company’s claims to be the the industry’s best PPA (power/performance/area). Smallest Licensable OpenGL ES 3.1 Cores with Geometry, Tessellation, and Compute Shaders […]

February 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Seiki Digital 4K TVs Sell for as Low as $500

A couple of month ago, I bought a 39″ Full HD Panasonic TV that I’m currently using as my computer screen for about $400. But this morning, I’ve found out you can now buy Seiki Digital SE39UY04 39″ 4K TV on Amazon for just $100 more, which is amazingly cheap. These are the key features listed on Amazon: 3840 x 2160 Panel Resolution, 4K up scaling, Thin Bezel Aspect Ratio: 16:9, Refresh Rate: 120Hz, Component & HDMI Support: 480I, 576I, 480P, 576P, 720P, 1080I, 1080P, 4k2k 30Hz (only HDMI) Video Connections: 1 Analog & Digital TV Tuner, 1 Component Video Input, Component Video (Y, Cb, Cr/Y, Pb, Pr): One VGA Input (15 pin, D-Sub) Audio Connections: 1 Stereo Mini Phono Jack Input (3.5 mm) (VGA Audio), 1 RCA Input (R & L), 1 Headphone: Stereo Mini (3.5 mm), 1 RCA Output (R & L) 3 HDMI Input, 2 USB Input (JPEG […]