Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Ugoos X4 Cube Android 9.0 TV Box Plays 4Kp120 AV1 Videos

Ugoos X4 Cube Android 9.0 TV Box Plays 4Kp120 AV1 Videos

AOMedia AV1 video codec has been in the works for several years, and has strong industry backing since it’s open-source, royalty-free and delivers compression similar or even superior to H.265. Some services like YouTube and Netflix have already started using AV1 on PCs where the CPU is powerful enough to handle software video decoding. But relying on software video decoding is not ideal on typical Arm-based devices, either because of battery life concerns (e.g. phones) or simply impossible because the processor won’t be able to cope. The latter is especially the case on TV boxes who are not usually fitted with Arm Cortex-A53 cores leaving hardware video decoding to a video processing unit (VPU). Since AV1 is still fairly new, most VPU doesn’t support the new video codec, and while we have seen several AV1 capable processors including Broadcom BCM7218x, Realtek RTD1311/RTD1319, and Amlogic S905X4. as well as at least one Android TV box for operators, I’m not aware of […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments on Ugoos AM6 Plus Android TV Box is Powered by Amlogic S922X-J Processor

Ugoos AM6 Plus Android TV Box is Powered by Amlogic S922X-J Processor

When I wrote about the official launch of MINIX NEO U22-XJ media hub yesterday, I mentioned it was the first Amlogic S922XJ that I knew of and the first Amlogic TV box to support Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio. But it was rightly pointed out to me that Amazon Fire TV Cube TV box already supported Dolby Vision with Amlogic S922Z processor that looks to be about the same as Amlogic S922XJ. Ugoos is now offering another Dolby Vision/Audio option with an upgrade to their existing Ugoos AM6 TV box replacing Amlogic S922X processor with S922X-J and increasing the memory and storage capacity. Ugoos AM6 Plus specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X-J hexa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, 2x ARM Cortex-A53 cores, and an Arm Mali G52 MP6 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 60fps […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment on Linux 5.5 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.5 Release – Main Changes, Arm, MIPS and RISC-V Architectures

Linux 5.5 has just been released by Linus Torvalds: So this last week was pretty quiet, and while we had a late network update with some (mainly iwl wireless) network driver and netfilter module loading fixes, David didn’t think that warranted another -rc. And outside of that, it’s really been very quiet indeed – there’s a panfrost driver update too, but again it didn’t really seem to make sense to delay the final release by another week. Outside of those, it’s all really tiny, even if some of those tiny changes touched some core files. So despite the slight worry that the holidays might have affected the schedule, 5.5 ended up with the regular rc cadence and is out now. That means that the merge window for 5.6 will open tomorrow, and I already have a couple of pull requests pending. The timing for this next merge window isn’t optimal for me – I have some travel and other things […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Karl Johnson - 28 Comments on Ugoos AM6 Review – An Android 9.0 TV Box with Plenty of Options

Ugoos AM6 Review – An Android 9.0 TV Box with Plenty of Options

Ugoos AM6 Review

Karl here….With another review. Today we look at the AM6 from Ugoos. Ugoos has been around for quite some time. I recently did a review of the Beelink GT-King with the same S922X processor and I will do some comparisons with that. I have to say with everything except the UI, I like this box much better (You can read my rant in the Beelink article about Android on the TV). The AM6 is built well. It is solid with a metal enclosure and just feels good when you pick it up. I know weight doesn’t really matter but it feels substantial. Like I stated I don’t really like UI but Ugoos ticks quite a few boxes that appeal to my nerdiness. I will go more into that later. Below are the specs per Ugoos Website. I highlighted the interesting ones. Hardware Specs: Operation System – Android 9.0 Language – English, Chinese …Multi-Language support CPU – Amlogic S922X with 12nn  […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on Ugoos X2 Cube Android 9.0 TV Box also Serves as a SAMBA Server

Ugoos X2 Cube Android 9.0 TV Box also Serves as a SAMBA Server

Ugoos X2 Cube

Ugoos X2 Cube is a tiny Android 9.0 TV box powered by the latest Amlogic S905X2 processor coupled with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash storage. The new Amlogic processor happens to have a USB 3.0 port which provides good storage performance, and the box is also equipped with a Gigabit Ethernet port, which should make the device especially suitable for network storage beside the usual 4K HDR video playback or streaming offered by any typical Amlogic S905X2 TV box. However in most cases, the firmware provided for such TV boxes does not offer an option to easily configure a SAMBA server (aka Windows network share), so you’d need to either mess up with the firmware configuration yourself, or install a paid app. Ugoos is different since they long have had the option to enable NFS & SAMBA client and/or server in the settings, and Ugoos X2 Cube is no different. Ugoos X2 Cube specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X2 quad core […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Tiwalade Joanna Okedara - 8 Comments on Ugoos AM6 Fanless S922X TV Box Launched for $150

Ugoos AM6 Fanless S922X TV Box Launched for $150

Ugoos AM6 Fan-Cooled S922X TV Box

For those that have been waiting for the launch of the Ugoos AM6 S922X TV box, enough of the anticipation. The long wait is now finally over! Earlier in April, we reported the increased mass production of Amlogic processors. With the Ugoos AM6 taking the lead, producing a fan cooled prototype. We are pleased to inform you that a fanless version of the TV box has finally been released, and is available in the market for just $150. Also, we now have some photos of its enclosure While Beelink GT1-K launched around mid-April, its specifications are slightly different from Ugoos features. What Features to Expect from the new AM6 Main Features An Android 9.0 operating system. Fully equipped with the Amlogic S922X CPU, Quad core, ARM Cortex-A73, 1.7GHz + Dual-core ARM Cortex A53 1.8GHz. An ARM Mali-G52 MP6 ( 6ppc ) GPU Up to 2GB LPDDR4 RAM + 16GB EMMC ROM. In addition, approximately 2.4GHz + 5GHz dual band WiFi, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments on Ugoos AM6 Fan-Cooled S922X TV Box Coming Soon

Ugoos AM6 Fan-Cooled S922X TV Box Coming Soon

Amlogic S922X TV Box Board

We’ve reported about the first Amlogic S922X TV box – Beelink GT1-K – last week, and unsurprisingly more are coming starting with Ugoos AM6. The former appears to the passively cooled, but Ugoos AM6 will include a fan for cooling providing optimal performance for the new Amlogic processor. While we do not have photos of the enclosure so far, Ugoos share with us some pictures of the board and the specifications. Ugoos AM6 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores, Arm Mali-G52 MP6 GPU; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 RAM (3GB/4GB optional) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash (8GB/32GB optional), micro SD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 75 Hz with CEC, HDCP 2.2, HDR support 3.5mm AV port for composite video (and stereo audio) Video – 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding up to 60 fps Audio – Digital audio via HDMI, […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments on Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube TV Dongle Makes Digital Signage Easy

Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube TV Dongle Makes Digital Signage Easy

Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube

When I was first informed about Ugoos Clever Canvas Cube, I ignored it because it just looked like an another “old” Amlogic S905 TV stick running Android 5.1. But I came across it again today, and I realized the device is not designed to stream video per se, but instead it’s loaded with digital signage software that makes it easy to compose layout from photos, and text directly from your mobile phone, with the content then uploaded to the stick over the cloud. Ugoos Clever Canvas hardware is actually Ugoos AM2 with the following specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core Cortex A53 processor with penta-core Arm Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB flash, micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4k @ 60 fps, 3.5mm AV output with composite and stereo audio Connectivity – Dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0 with high gain antenna […]

Support CNX Software – Donate via PayPal or cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or buy review samples