Beelink SEA TV Box with Realtek RTD1295, HDMI Input and Internal SATA Bay Sells for $105 and Up

I’ve already reviewed two Android TV boxes powered by Realtek RTD1295 processor, namely Zidoo X9S and EWEAT R9 Plus. They are quite interesting devices as beside supporting video & audio playback nicely (minus 4K H.264 @ 30fps), they also serve as a personal NAS thanks to their SATA interface and OpenWrt operating system running alongside Android, as well as a HDMI recorder and streamer thanks to the HDMI input. Zidoo firmware is a little better, but it only comes with external SATA, while EWEAT R9 Plus comes with a neat internal 3.5″ SATA bay inside a metal case. The downside is that it’s quite expensive at $200 shipped. If you’d like a Realtek RTD1295 solution with a SATA bay, but would like something more cost effective, Beelink SEA TV box with might be for you. Beelink SEA specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1295 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.4 GHz […]

Orange Pi Zero NAS Expansion Board with SATA, USB, and AV Port Sells for $10 Shipped

Orange Pi Zero is a $7 and up board based on Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor with 256 to 512MB RAM, Ethernet, WiFi, and USB, but no video output except on headers, making it more suitable to headless applications. The company has just launched Orange Pi Zero NAS Expansion port adding SATA, mSATA, two more USB ports, and an AV port allowing you to add a hard drive or SSD, and connect it to a TV with composite input. Orange Pi Zero NAS Expansion Board preliminary specifications: Storage – 1x SATA port, 1x mSATA port both through a JMS578 USB 3.1 to SATA bridge with UAS support each, which should be better than some other USB to SATA solution despite only being connected to a USB 2.0 interface. USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports Video & Audio Output – 3.5mm AV jack with composite video (TBC) and stereo […]

QNAP gets into dev board market with the QBoat Sunny at CES

One surprise at CES was QNAP’s entry into the developer board market with the introduction of the QBoat Sunny developer board. It’s a rather odd beast to say the least and Qnap is even offering a cut-down version of its QTS OS for, simply named QTS Lite. The only thing we know about QTS Lite at this time is that it’ll support “basic server functions” as well as apps from the QNAP app center, such as the Container Station which will allow you to run the QIoT Suite which will apparently help you to build IoT solutions quicker. But let’s go back to the board itself. The specs are as follows. Processor – Intel AnyWAN GRX750 @ 2GHz (6W Dual Core Atom based) Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 4GB eMMC, two M.2 2260/2280 SATA only slots for SSDs (RAID-1 support) Network connectivity – 3x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x WAN 2x […]

Xiaomi Router HD AC2600 WiFi Router Comes with up to 8TB Storage

Xiaomi has unveiled a new WiFi router at CES 2017. Mi Router HD is an AC2600 WiFi router that’s also use as a personal NAS with a “surveillance-class” hard drive with up to 8TB capacity. Mi Router HD key features: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ8064 quad core network processor with a dual-core Qualcomm Krait CPU @ 1.4 GHz for control plane and applications, and a dual-core 730 MHz Network Subsystem (NSS) to accelerate packet processing. 4×4 multi-user 802.11ac MIMO router, supports up to 2600 Mbps transfer speeds 4 high-gain PCB array antennas Built-in surveillance-class hard drive of up to 8TB Automatically back up all your devices, supports Time Machine Automatically syncs with Dropbox Integrates with Sonos audio system The router will launch this trimester in China with either 1TB hard drive for under $200, or an 8TB hard drive for under $500. It will very likely be sold through Aliexpress, GearBest, […]

Fasetto LINK 256GB to 2TB SSD Portable WiFi NAS is Powered by Samsung Exynos 7420 Processor

Fasetto LINK is a wireless portable storage for your smartphone, camera, or other device, includes 256GB, 512GB, or 2TB SSD storage, and – for some reasons – is based on a rather powerful Samsung Exynos 7420 octa-core processor coupled with 4GB RAM. The device can also take expansion blocks to add extra battery or/and LTE connectivity via pogo pins. LINK specifications: SoC – Samsung Exynos 7420 octa core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Cortex A57 core @ 2.1GHz + 4x Cortex A53 cores @ 1.5Ghz, and Mali-T760 MP8 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 256GB, 512GB, or 2TB Samsung NVMe SSD Connectivity – 802.11ac WiFi + Bluetooth 4.0, optical LTE via expansion block Expansion – 17-pin ball connector USB – USB type C port Battery – 1,300 mAh battery (2 weeks standby; 5 hours streaming); optional 1120mAh expansion block (total: 4 weeks standby; 8 hours streaming) Dimensions – 5.08 x […]

Eweat R9 Plus Android TV Box and OpenWrt NAS Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

Zidoo X9S is getting some competition with Eweat R9 TV boxes based on the same Realtek RTD1295 processor with built-in SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, 4K VP9 and H.265, HDR, and USB 3.0. The company has three R9 models, and they sent me to top of the line R9 Plus with 2GB RAM, 16GB storage, a 3.5″ SATA bay, HDMI input, and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports for evaluation. I’ll start the first part of the review by checking out the hardware inside and out, before testing the firmware in the second part. Eweat R9 Plus Unboxing The device ships in a large package with a handle which can be convenient in brick and mortar shops since the whole package weights about 1.8 kilograms.The package then contains a smaller package will all accessories: a 12V/2.5A power supply, a “Quickly User Guide” (sic.), a HDMI cable, and an IR remote control taking two AAA […]

Himedia Q5 Pro & Q10 Pro TV Boxes Get Android 7.0 Nougat Firmware

The majority of TV boxes sold today are running Android 4.4 to Android 6.0, but with the release of Android 7.0 for smartphones and tablets earlier this year, it was just a question of time before the OS got ported to TV boxes. Himedia appears to be the first company to have released Android 7.0 for their Hisilicon Hi3798CV200 based TV boxes, namely Q5 Pro and Q10 Pro. The changelog for the new firmware includes: Android N OS running stable and smooth Support for Android N Google Play version Support for Samba UPnP System function perfectly upgraded from 5.1 to Android N with compatibility Youtube updated to 4.10.7 and Netflix to 1.3.11 Homepage, Application Management, Media Center optimized, focus movement are more swift and smooth Media Player upgraded and support mouse operation Local Media Playback Improved; Certain rare videos black screen, display ratio of 3D to 2D abnormal, and occasional […]

Zidoo X8 Android TV Box, OpenWrt NAS, and HDMI Recorder Sells for $109

I posted my review of Zidoo X9S Android TV box, HDMI recorder and OpenWrt NAS a few days ago, and despite some limitations with regards to 4K video playback, the device is working pretty well. The $140 price tag might be a little more than some people are ready to pay, and the good news is that the company has now launched a cheaper model based on the same processor called Zidoo X8, without the external SATA port, and less storage. Zidoo X8 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.4 GHz with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot + SATA 3.0 interface Video I/O – HDMI 2.0a output, AV output and HDMI 2.0 input (Support up to 4K60 input, but record/stream up to 1080p @ 30 Hz) Audio I/O – HDMI […]

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