set-top box

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on Top 10 Posts of 2014 and Stats on CNX Software

Top 10 Posts of 2014 and Stats on CNX Software

Wow! After a slow start of the year, 2014 has been a busy year as new devices based on newer processor from Amlogic started to flood the market in Q2, soon followed by even more Rockchip RK3288 based media players, and then some more Amlogic S805 and Allwinner A80 boards and devices. It’s now the last day of the year, so just like in 2013, it’s time to look back on the main trends of the year, and based on the list of the top 10 most visited posts below, the new generation of ARM Android media players were the most important story of the year on CNX Software, but we also saw more IoT devices and board like Vidonn X5 or LinkIT One, lots of new Wi-Fi modules, and by the end of the year ESP8266 seemed to have won that fight, but being found in $3 Wi-Fi modules. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

I’ve reviewed quite a few Android media players this year, and as 2014 comes to an end, I thought it might be worth writing a best of 2014. But it’s difficult to announce an overall winner since all have some flaws one way or another, I’ll classified by categories: Best Ethernet, Best Internal Storage, … a bit like for “Oscars ceremony awards, based mostly on objective results from my tests. However, and somewhat oddly for a media player, I won’t select any TV boxes based on their video playback capabilities, as so far I haven’t found one that can play most 4K / H.265 videos reasonably well in Kodi, and video playback tests are also subjective. This is obviously a flawed contest as they all are, because in order to be nominated, the media player must have been reviewed on CNX Software. But it should be fun anyway, so let’s […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on A Quick Look at SAMART Strong Black “Free” DVB-T2 Receiver in Thailand

A Quick Look at SAMART Strong Black “Free” DVB-T2 Receiver in Thailand

Thai government has made digital television a priority, so they’ve launched a program to give a 690 Baht voucher ($21) to all households in Thailand. The voucher is send by registered mail to your home, and delivery has to be signed by a Thai person. Then you can go to a shop equipped with a Thai ID card and house registration book copy, present this voucher, and get a free (except for tax payers of course) DVB-T2 receiver, or use it to buy something a more advanced set-top box or digital TV package with 690 Baht discount. We decided to get a free DVB-T2 receiver, and ended up with a box called SAMART Strong Black supporting SD and 1080p video streams over DVB-T2, EPG (Electronic Program Guide), and with a USB port to connect devices for recording programs or time-shifting. SAMART is a Thai company whose name means “can” (formal) […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments on Review of Realtek RTD1195 Based M-195 Android Media Player

Review of Realtek RTD1195 Based M-195 Android Media Player

M-195 is one of the new low cost Android media players based on Realtek RTD1195 processor featuring two Cortex A7 cores, and a Mali-400MP2 GPU, but providing high speed interface like USB 3.0, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as 4K video decoding and output, including the latest H.265 / HEVC video codec. So before testing, I was expecting the box to be mainly interesting as a media player, and even maybe NAS, as Android performance for other tasks would be similar to Allwinner A20. I’ll already taken pictures of M-195 and its “902” board, so today we’ll find out how the device performs. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve used both the provided IR remote control, and Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse in this review, simply because I needed to press the Home button to come back to the Launcher from time to time, and the Home button on […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments on Unboxing of M-195 TV Box Powered by Realtek RTD1195 Processor

Unboxing of M-195 TV Box Powered by Realtek RTD1195 Processor

Realtek RTD1195 is a dual core Cortex A7 processor with a Mali-400 GPU, supporting fast interfaces such as USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and SATA, as well 4K video decoding (including H.265) and output, and HDMI input. Despite all these features, it can be found in ultra low cost Android media players, so I was eager to find out if it’s as good as it looks on paper.  Thanks to GeekBuying which sent me M-195 TV box, I’ll soon be able to find out. Today, I’ll list the technical specifications of the device, and take pictures of the device and the board, before doing a full test early next month. M-195 specifications Hardware specifications as listed in the user’s manual and GeekBuying: SoC – Realtek RTD1195 dual core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.3 GHz with Mali-400MP2 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB eMMC  + SD […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on Unboxing of Eny M8S H.265 / 4K Android Media Player Powered by Amlogic S812 Processor

Unboxing of Eny M8S H.265 / 4K Android Media Player Powered by Amlogic S812 Processor

M8S and M8C Android TV boxes are updates of M8 / TM8 box, replacing Amlogic S802 quad core processor with Amlogic S812 processor which has about the same feature except it bring HEVC/H.265 hardware video decoding. M8S comes with 2GB RAM, whereas M8C features only 1GB RAM. Eny Technology decided to send me M8S for review. As usual, I’ll start with some pictures of the package, box, and board, and will do the full review in the next few days. M8S Unboxing Pictures The company send me the parcel via DHL which I promptly received with the product in the package below marked “4K OTT TV BOX” and a predominant “HEVC”. The back of the package list the main specifications: quad core processor, octo core Mali 450 GPU, Android Kitkat. and so on. There’s also a sticker showing the MAC address, which starts with C4:4E:AC for those interested. The box […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on $199 Gizmo 2 Development Board Powered by AMD G-Series GX210HA SoC

$199 Gizmo 2 Development Board Powered by AMD G-Series GX210HA SoC

There are only a few Intel / AMD x86 embedded development boards on the market, at least for the hobbyist market, namely MinnowBoard MAX based on Intel E3815 or E3825 processors, and Gizmophere Explorer Kit powered by AMD G-Series GT-40E dual core APU + A55E hub controller. Gizmosphere, a non-profit organization, had now released a new version of their embedded board called Gizmo 2 powered by AMD G-Series GX210HA SoC combining a dual core x86 processor, a Radeon GPU, and peripherals. Gizmo 2 development board specifications: SoC –  AMD Embedded G-Series GX210HA SOC with a dual core “Jaguar” processor @ 1.0 GHz and a Radeon 8210E GPU @ 300 MHz with support for DirectX 11.1, OpenGL 4.2x and OpenCL 1.2. 153 GFLOPS of performance. 9W TDP. System Memory – 1GB DDR3-1600 SDRAM Storage – mSATA/mini PCIe Connector + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI Audio I/O – HDMI and […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on JmGO G1 Android “Home Theater” Projector Powered by Mstar 6A918 SoC

JmGO G1 Android “Home Theater” Projector Powered by Mstar 6A918 SoC

JmGO G1 is a neat looking Android 4.4 projector powered by Mstar 6A918 quad core Cortex A9 processor with a Mali-450MP4 GPU (same as Mstar 9810?), and featuring a Texas Instruments LED based DLP projector. It comes with USB 2.0 / 3.0 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI, AV, S/PDIF ports, and four speakers on the periphery. Tentative hardware specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO6A918 Quad core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with an ARM Mali-450MP4 GPU. System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC + microSD card slot Projector Texas Instruments DLP RGB LED. Native resolution: 1280 x 800 30,000 hours LED life (About 10 years @ 10 hours per day) 15″ to 300″ screenI Brightness – 450  Lumens Video Inputs – HDMI IN, AV IN Audio I/Os – Inputs HDMI, AV, coaxial S/PDIF; Output: 4x speakers Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth USB – 1x USB 2.0 […]