CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

October 24, 2016October 25, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments

Beelink GT1 TV Box Review – Part 2: Android Marshmallow Firmware

I’ve previously reviewed other Amlogic S912 TV boxes such as M12N MXQ Plus or Qintaix Q912, but Beelink GT1 has the advantage of being quite cheaper at $56 and up, but still come with many of the same features as more expensive devices. I’ve already posted pictures, and checked out the hardware design in the first part of Beelink GT1 review, so in the second part I’ll report my experience with Android, including video and audio capabilities, hardware features testing, and some benchmarks. First Boot, OTA Firmware Update, Settings, and First Impressions The device comes with two USB ports only, so I connected a USB hard drive to one of the port, and a USB hub to the other with the RF dongles for MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse and Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad, as well as a USB keyboard to take screenshots. I completed the setup by adding […]

October 24, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

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 […]

October 23, 2016October 23, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Aikun Morphus X300 Android Game Console with 3D Display Integrates Detachable Game Controllers

Earlier this week, Nintendo unveiled their innovative switch game console that can be used in various configuration such as a portable game console, and a TV connected game console by inserting the portable game console into its dock, and detaching the game controllers on each side of the display. There are many ways to play with the console in single or multiplayer mode, and the best way to understand what’s possible is to check out the video on Nintendo Switch product page. Few other details were provided but we do know it’s based on a custom Nvidia Tegra processor, and it should be available in March 2017. It turns out Aikun is already selling a similar concept with their Morphus X300 game console, available on Amazon.co.uk for 299 GBP, and slated to ship next month. Gaming performance should be much lower than Nintendo Switch but still enough for many Android […]

October 22, 2016October 22, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Webduino Smart ESP8266 Board is Designed to be Programmed via Websocket and Blockly Editor

Webduino Smart board reminds me of Witty ESP8266 board with its RGB LED and photocell sensor, but the design is a little different, and does not come with an extra USB to TTL board, as it’s designed to be programmed over the air using Blockly Editor. Webduino Smart specifications: WiFi Module – AI Thinker ESP-12F module with Espressif ESP8266 WiSoC Connectivity – WiFi 802.11 b/g/n 2x 8-pin headers with GPIOs, ADC (Connected to Photocell), UART, VCC, 3.3V, GND, and Reset. USB – 1x micro USB port for power Misc – Photo resistor, RGB LED, micro switch button for firmware upgrade (connected to GPIO 4) Dimensions – 3 x 2.5 cm (See comparison to AA and AAA batteries below) While Witty board was mostly targeting mainland China market with all documentation in Chinese, Webduino Smart does have some documentation in English, and is made by Banana Pi team (SinoVoIP). The default […]

October 21, 2016April 9, 2020 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Test Widevine & PlayReady DRM, HDCP 1.x/2.x, 4K VP9 and H.265 in Android with Exoplayer App

I first heard about ExoPlayer in an Android TV Overview presentation at Linaro Connect 2014, but I never really looked into it. The source code is available on Github, and I’ve been given ExoPlayer.apk [Update April 2020: Exoplayer binary is now available on Apkpure] as it can be used to test UHD H265 support, HDCP 1.x, HDCP 2.x compatibility, PlayReady & Widevine DRM using different format and so on. So I installed it on Beelink GT1 Android TV box which I’m currently reviewing, and only include basic Widewine Level 3 DRM, and certainly does not support HDCP features. There are 9 sections in the app to test various videos and DRM schemes: YouTube Dash Widevine Dash Policy Tests (GTS) – Widewine with or without HDCP, with or without secure video path Widevine HDCP Capabilities Tests – NoHDCP, HDCP 1.0, HDCP 1.1, HDCP 2.0, HDCP 2.1, HDCP 2.2, and HDCP no […]

October 21, 2016October 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Alorium XLR8 Arduino Compatible Altera MAX 10 FPGA Board Sells for $75

We already have a fair choice of boards with Arduino compatible headers powered by an FPGA with options such as $99 Digilent Arty (Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA), FleaFPGA (Lattice FPGA), Papillio DUO (Xilinx Spartan 6), or Snickerdoodle + shieldBuddy (Xilinx Zynq-7010/20). There’s no yet another choice with Alorium Technology XLR8 Arduino UNO like board powered by Altera MAX10 FPGA. XLR8 board specifications: FPGA – Altera MAX 10 FPGA MCU – Atmel/Microchip ATmega328 8-bit MCU Digital I/Os 5V inputs, 3.3V outputs 14x Digital I/O Pins 6x PWM Digital I/O Pins 6x Analog Pins Analog Inputs 5V tolerant Op-amp circuit emulates 0-5V behavior of the ADCs on the Arduino UNO Performance: 1 MHz; Resolution: 12-bit sustained Sample Rate: 154k samples/second Power Supply – 5V via USB or barrel connector Dimensions – Arduino UNO form factor The board is supported by Altera Quartus Prime Lite Edition, and programmable either via JTAG though a USB […]

October 21, 2016October 21, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Remix IO Aims to be Your $99 Android 7.0 TV Box, Mini PC, and Game Console (Crowdfunding)

You can use any Android TV box to watch movies on your TV, play some games as you would on a game console, and perform tasks such as checking email, browsing the web or editing documents like you’d do on your computer. However, this is not always as straightforward and/or user-friendly as it could be, so Jide Technology worked on Remix OS, a fork of Android, to make the experience more PC-like when needed. Recently they’ve also worked on improving gaming and a TV interface, and the company has now launched a new Kickstarter campaign for Remix IO Android mini PC based on Android 7.0 and including software improvements to create an all-in-one device acting as a TV box, mini PC, or game console. Remix IO specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 Octa-Core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5GHz with Imagination PowerVR SGX6110 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3L Storage – 16GB […]

October 20, 2016October 20, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

This Video Shows Vulkan API’s Higher Power Efficiency Compared to OpenGL ES API on ARM SoCs

Vulkan was introduced as the successor of OpenGL ES in March 2015, promising to take less CPU resources, and support multiple command buffers that can be created in parallel and distributed over several cores, at the cost of slightly more complex application programming since less software work in done inside the GPU drivers themselves with app developers needing to handle memory allocation and thread management. This was just a standard at the time, so it still needed some time to implement Vulkan, and work is still in program but ARM showcased the power efficiency of Vulkan over OpenGL ES in the video embedded at the end of this post. The demo has the same graphics details and performance using both OpenGL ES and Vulkan, but since the load on the CPU in that demo can be distributed over several CPU cores with Vulkan against a single core for OpenGL ES, […]