The first Realtek RTL8157 5Gbps Ethernet to USB 3.2 adapters are now available for $35

RTL8157 USB 3.2 to 5GbE adapter

WisdPi WP-UT5 is the first Realtek RTL8157 5Gbps Ethernet (5GbE) to USB 3.2 adapter to make it to market, following the launch of Realtek RTL8126 5Gbps Ethernet PCIe and M.2 adapters last June, and the announcement for both the RTL8126 and RTL8157 chips at Computer 2023 last year. While the RTL8126 dongles and cards are fairly cheap at around $16 on average and as low as $12, the WisdPi WP-UT5 is sold at a premium for about $35 on AliExpress, but we can expect the price to down come as more companies introduce 5GbE to USB 3.2 adapters. For reference, the 2.5GbE variants based on RTL8156(BG) can be had for about $20 on Amazon. WisdPi WP-UT5 specifications: Chip – Realtek RTL8157 USB USB 3.2 Type-C female port A-C and C-C cables to support hosts with USB Type-C or Type-A ports Ethernet 10/10/100/2500/5000 Mbps Ethernet Supports 5G Lite (2.5Gbps data rate) […]

RealTek RTD1325 SoC shows up in Formuler Z mini 4K Android 12 dongle

Realtek RTD1325 Android TV dongle

Formuler Z mini is a 4K Android 12 TV dongle powered by the new RealTek RTD1325 SoC with a Mali-G57 MC1, 4K AV1 video processing unit, and support for features such as Quick Media Switching (QMS) from the HDMI 2.1 specifications. The Android TV dongle also comes with 2GB LPDDR4 memory, 8GB eMMC flash, an HDMI 2.1 port up to 4K resolution, WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity, Widevine L1 DRM, and a Bluetooth voice remote control. Formuler Z mini specifications: SoC – RealTek RTD1325 CPU – Quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 @ 1.7GHz with 512KB L3 cache [Updated on April 24, 2024 – See comments section] GPU – Arm Mali-G57 MC1 VPU – 4Kp60 10-bit AV1 video decoder System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 @ 2400MHz Storage – 8GB eMMC flash Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K resolution (3840 x 2160) with 4K HDR (HDR10+, HLG), QMS support Networking – […]

Realtek WiFi 7 and WiFi 6 roadmap for routers and clients

Realtek Testbed WiFi 7

We’ve just written about Realtek 5 Gbps Ethernet chips, but the company also has some roadmaps for WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 router chips, and a WiFi 7 client module demonstrated at COMPUTEX 2023. The company’s roadmap include five WiFi 7 router solutions: WiFi 7 BE6500 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz and 6 GHz chip, RTL8902A 2×2 2.4 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE9400 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz chip, RTL8902A 2×2 2.4 GHz chip, an RTL8934AR 4×4 MIMO 6 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE3400 router with a Realtek 8198DS dual Arm core processor @ 1.2 GHz with an RTL8952AR 2×2 MIMO 5 GHz chip, and an RTL8221B 2.5GbE PHY WiFi 7 BE6400 […]

Realtek RTL8126, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5Gbps Ethernet solutions showcased at COMPUTEX 2023

RTL8126 5GbE PCie Card prototype

I only upgraded my local network to 2.5 Gbps Ethernet last year, but 5 Gbps Ethernet is soon coming to the home as shown by Realtek at COMPUTEX 2023 with demonstrations of their RTL816, RTL8157, and RTL8251B 5GbE chips that were initially unveiled at CES 2022. The RTL8126-CG is a PCIe 3.0 x1 to 5GbE controller offered in a QFN56 8x8mm package that succeeds the RTL8125 chips, the RTL8157-CG is a USB 3.2 Gen2 to 5Gbps Ethernet controller in a 8x8mm QFN68 package providing an update the RTL8156(B)/(BG) 2.5GbE USB controllers, and the RTL8251B-CG is a single-port “PHYceiver” in a 8x8mm QFM56 package. All support 10/10/100/2500/5000 Mbps links and consumes under 1.5 watts, against 0.7W for 2.5 GbE networking. The same Cat5e cables can be used at the higher speed. The company did not just come with some slides to show and also showcased some test boards for each chip […]

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 […]

Ai-Thinker BW16 is a dual-band WiFi & Bluetooth 5.0 IoT module (Sponsored)

Ai Thinker BW16 dual-band WiFi BLE 5.0 module

Many users prefer the ESP32 when implementing WiFi & Bluetooth into their IoT projects. But Ai-Thinker BW16 offers dual-band WiFi 4 & Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity through Realtek’s RTL8720DN chipset which may provide more reliable connectivity where the 2.4 GHz band is crowded. The module integrates an Arm Cortex-M4F compatible high-performance MCU, an Arm Cortex-M0 compatible low power MCU, WiFI 802.11 a/b/g/n, MAC, Bluetooth and RF baseband, and provides a set of configurable GPIO ports to control peripheral devices. BW16 module One significant difference between BW16 and ESP32 module is that it has two serial port interfaces, so attention should be paid to the wiring of the UART interfaces. The following diagram shows the two serial interfaces of the BW16 module. One of the module serial interfaces is used to send and receive AT commands to control connectivity from a host processor or microcontroller, while the other serial port is used […]

Realtek AP-Router SDK vulnerabilities could impact millions of routers and IoT devices

Realtek SDK vulnerabilities

The IoT Inspector Research Lab has discovered four high and critical vulnerabilities in the Realtek AP-Router “Jungle” SDK used for RTL819x SoCs that could impact millions of WiFi routers and dongles. An attacker can use a network attack, e.g. without physical access to the device, to generate a buffer or stack overflow helping him access the system and execute his own code. Realtek has released an advisory (PDF) with patchsets for all four vulnerabilities so you should upgrade the firmware if you can. Summary of the four vulnerabilities: CVE-2021-35392 – Realtek Jungle SDK version v2.x up to v3.4.14B provides a ‘WiFi Simple Config’ server called wscd or mini_upnpd that implements both UPnP and SSDP protocols. The server is vulnerable to a heap buffer overflow that is present due to unsafe crafting of SSDP NOTIFY messages from received M-SEARCH messages ST header. CVE-2021-35393 – Also impacts ‘WiFi Simple Config’ server (wscd […]

$6 Rtlduino RTL8720DN dual-band WiFi IoT board features 2.4/5GHz Wireless MCU

Rtlduino RTL8720DN dual-band WIFi IoT board

There are plenty of WiFi modules for the IoT market, but those usually work at 2.4 GHz only. This may be an issue in areas where the 2.4 GHz spectrum is overcrowded. But two years ago, we were pleased to see the Ameba Z2  board offering dual-band (2.4GHz and 5Ghz) WiFi thanks to Realtek RTL8720CM wireless MCU, and last year, we discovered B&T BW16 dual-band IoT module based on RTL8720DN sold for under $4 before shipping. If you like the cheap price of the module, but do not feel like creating your own baseboard, or soldering wires to the module, you’ll be glad to know Rtlduino RTL8720DN board offers an easy way to evaluate RTL8720DN dual-band WiFi (and Bluetooth LE 5.0) microcontroller as it is fitted with a B&T BW16 module and comes in a form factor similar to NodeMCU ESP8266 board. Rtlduino RTL8720DN board Specifications: B&T BW16 wireless module […]

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