Mecool KI PRO Hybrid Android TV Box with Amlogic S905D SoC, DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 Tuners Sells for $80

VideoStrong has become popular among people wanting an Android TV box with a tuner thanks to their affordable and customizable products such as K1 Plus T2 S2, or KIII Pro coming with DVB-T/T2 and DVB-S/S2 tuners. AFAIK, all there products so far came with a single demodulator meaning you could watch or record satellite or terrestrial TV, but not do both at the same time, for example watching a channel via DVB-S2, and recording one via DVB-T2. Amlogic S905D is supposed to support this, and upcoming products like Sen5 Android set-top box do come with two demodulators. Mecool KI PRO – based on the processor – has just been launched, pre-selling for $79.99 on Banggood with shipping scheduled for mid May. Mecool KI Pro specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with  Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR4 Storage – 16GB […]

U5 PVR Deluxe Android Set-Top Box Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing, Teardown, and SATA HDD Assembly

Last year, I reviewed U4 Quad Hybrid, an Android TV box powered by Hisilicon Hi3796M quad core Cortex A7 processor and with a combo DVB-T2/C + DVB-S2 tuner. with digital TV tuner. It worked pretty well, except for a few bugs here and there, the processor is not the most powerful, and video output & decoding is limited to 4K  @ 30Hz. The company – Shenzhen Vivant Technology – is now back with a new model called U5 PVR powered by a more powerful Hisilicon Hi3798C V200 quad core Cortex A53 processor with fast interfaces like USB 3.0, SATA, and Gigabit Ethernet, as well as support for 4K @ 60Hz via a HDMI 2.0a interface. There are actually three variations of U5 PVR with Deluxe/Slim/Normal models, and the company sent me U5 PVR Deluxe model for review. As usual, after listing the specifications, I’ll start the review by checking out […]

Sen5 Dual Tuner Android Set-top Box Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown

There are only a few companies manufacturing Android TV boxes with tuners with names like VideoStrong and WeTek coming to mind. Shenzhen Sen5 Technology is another one, and the company sent me one of their DVB combo Android TV boxes for review without providing that many details. So let’s have a look at what I received. Sen5 Android Combo STB Unboxing The product might be not ready for retail just yet, as I received it in an old carton box. Once I remove all the bubble wraps, I ended up with the device, an IR remote control, and a 12V/1.5A power supply. Once the product is actually launched I’d expect you’d receive a retail package and a user’s manual too. The box itself is made of plastic with plenty of randomly arranged (ventilation) holes on the top. The front panel comes with an IR window and a “Standby button”, one […]

Mecool KIII Pro Hybrid STB Review – Part 2: Android Firmware, TV Center, and DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 App

Last year I reviewed K1 Plus T2 S2, an Android TV box powered by Amlogic S905 quad core processor with DVB-T2 and DVB-S2 tuner support, which worked with some caveats. VideoStrong has now send me an updated model with Amlogic S912 octa-core processor, which I presented in the post entitled Mecool KIII Pro Hybrid Android STB Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing and Teardown, where I listed the specifications, and showed photos of the device and the boards (main board + tuner board). I’ve now had time to play with the device, and in many respects the user experience is very similar to the one I got with KI Plus T2 S2 models, but there are also some tweaks, and a few bugs which I’ll report in the second part of the review below. KIII Pro Hybrid TV Box Setup, Settings, & Power Consumption The four USB ports are really […]

Mecool KIII Pro Hybrid Android STB Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing and Teardown

K1 Plus T2 S2 review has been a popular post on CNX Software, as many people tried to improve their experience with the device. VideoStrong has just send an updated version of their DVB-T2 + DVB-S2 TV box with Mecool KIII Pro octa-core Hybrid STB powered by an Amlogic S912 processor combined with 3 GB RAM and 16GB storage, and the same dual tuner configuration. I’ve started the review by posting some pictures of the hardware, inside out, before reporting my experience with Android, especially the DTV part, in a few weeks. KIII Pro Specifications SoC –  Amlogic S912 octa core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with  Mali-T820MP3 GPU System Memory – 3 GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with support for HDR10 and HLG, and 3.5mm AV (composite […]

NVIDIA Shield Android TV Gets Unofficial USB Tuner (ATSC/DVB) Support

NVIDIA Shield Android TV may only be available in a limited number of countries, but if you happen to live in a country where it’s officially sold, it can be one of the best options due its hard-to-beat price to performance ratio, and official Android TV software support from Google & Nvidia. One features it does not support out of the box  is support for digital TV tuner, but linux4all has released an unofficial firmware image adding USB TV tuner support to Android TV (7.0) on Nvidia Shield Android TV 2015 and 2017 models. You’ll first need a supported tuner either Hauppauge WinTV-dualHD (DVB-C, DVB-T and DVB-T2), Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-850 (ATSC), Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-955Q (ATSC, QAM, Analog), or Sony PlayTV dual tuner (DVB-T). More tuners may be supported in the future. One you’ve got your tuner connected to Nvidia Shield Android TV, make sure you have the latest Android TV 7.0 OTA […]

Rockchip RK3328 Quad Core 64-bit ARM SoC is Designed for 4K HDR Android 7.1 & Linux TV Boxes

Beside RV1108 visual platform for applications, Rockchip also unveiled another processor at CES 2017 with RK3328 quad core Cortex A53 processor for 4K TV Box with H.265, H.264 and VP9 codecs support, HDR, HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet and more. Rockchip RK3328 STB SoC specifications: Processor – Quad core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz GPU – ARM Mali-450MP2 Memory I/F – DDR3/DDR3L/DDR4 with “large memory” support (4GB?) Video Output – HDMI 2.0a with HDCP 2.x/1.4 up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR10/HLG support, CVBS output Video Processor 4K UHD H.264, 10-bit H.265 and VP9 video decoder 1080p H.265/H.264 video encoder Audio – Embedded audio DAC Peripherals embedded USB 3.0 interface Dual Ethernet interface: RGMII (reduced gigabit media-independent interface) + Fast Ethernet PHY 8 channel I2S interface supporting PDM/TDM TS and smart card interface, with support for CSA 2.0 Security – TrustZone, Secure Video Path, Secure Boot, […]

Datamax DM145S Hybrid TV Box with Digital Tuners is Powered by Amlogic S905D Processor

There are already several Amlogic Android TV boxes with dual tuner on the market, but so far you could not use both tuner at the same time, for example using one to watch live TV, and another to record TV [Update: WeTek Play 1st generation based on Amlogic AML87426-MX can do that]. Amlogic S905D is supposed to change that, and Datamax DM145S is the first device I’ve seen featuring the new processor. Datamax DM145S specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D Quad Core Cortex A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB RAM Storage – 8 GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a + AV Audio Output – HDMI, AV and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wifi, optional Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Tuner – Combination of DVB-C/T2, DVB-S2, ATSC or ISDB-T Power Supply – […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case