matricom

Posted on by Karl Johnson - 5 Comments on Matricom G-Box Q2 Android TV Box Review

Matricom G-Box Q2 Android TV Box Review

Another guest review from Karl, this time, with Matricom G-Box Q2 Android 5.1 TV box based on Amlogic S812 processor. First Impressions Today I will be reviewing the G-Box Q2 by Matricom. This is a follow up device to the popular G-Box Q. The first day I plugged it in and did some basic first impressions I thought it was laggy…..but after using it and setting up the way I am accustomed to using it…I found it very fast and responsive. From the time power is applied to launcher is loaded is about 33 seconds. The software seems solid and I ran into only minor issues. It got very respectable scores between 38000 and 42000 on Antutu. The box does have a lot of software that I am not a fan of, but these can be easily uninstalled. The launcher that comes with it is ok but I prefer a […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Matricom G-Box Q Media Player Features Amlogic S802 SoC, HyperStream P2P Video Streaming

Matricom G-Box Q Media Player Features Amlogic S802 SoC, HyperStream P2P Video Streaming

Last year, I reviewed Matricom GBox Midnight MX2, and at the time It was the best Android media player I had tested. The company has now launched a new Android media player called G-Box Q with an Amlogic S802 processor, 2 GB RAM, 16 GB eMMC, Ethernet and 802.11ac Wi-Fi. The box will also feature HyperStream, a P2P video streaming technology providing a “more reliable and faster transmission of on-demand and streaming video data”.   Matricom G-Box Q specifications: SoC – Amlogic S802 quad core ARM Cortex A9r4 at 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2G DDR3 Storage – 16 GB internal storage + micro SD card slot up to 64GB Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 4K30, AV port Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 95 Comments on Giveaway Week – Gbox Midnight MX2 Android Media Player

Giveaway Week – Gbox Midnight MX2 Android Media Player

The fourth prize for this week is Matricom Gbox Midnight MX2, an Android TV box powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core processor with 1GB RAM, 4GB flash, HDMI and AV output, optical S/PDIF, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, and 4 USB ports. The company had specifically worked on the XBMC port at the time, and I found it did a pretty good job. I tested the device in May of last, and I found the firmware to be very stable and responsive, and XBMC works as expected, supporting most video files without issues, except some MPEG-2 had aspect ratio issues,, RMVB files would make XBMC exit, and WebM 1080p could not be played smoothly due to software decode for this particular codec. It could decode all high-end audio codecs such as DTS and Dolby just fine. I did have problems with composite and component outputs but it must have been fixed now. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Top 10 Posts of 2013 and Stats on CNXSoft Blog

Top 10 Posts of 2013 and Stats on CNXSoft Blog

This is the last day of the year, and just like in 2012, I’ll look back on the main trends of this year,  post a list of the top 10 posts of 2013 on cnx-software.com, and add some fun stats about the site and my visitors. 2013 has been the year of quad core media players and mini PCs, especially those based on Rockchip RK3188, XBMC is now featured in many Android STBs, “big.LITTLE” and “Octa-core” have been the buzz words on the application processor front, Google has entered the HDMI TV sticks market with the ChromeCast, and is competing with Miracast / DLNA TV dongles, we’ve gotten more and more low cost Linux development boards, crowdfunding has almost gone mainstream, and the Internet of things has started to take off thanks to new technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy. I’ve compiled the list using data from Google Analytics, filtered […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments on XBMC MX Linux v1.00 RC1 for AMLogic AML8726-MX Devices

XBMC MX Linux v1.00 RC1 for AMLogic AML8726-MX Devices

Developer “croniccorey” has recently announced the release of MX Linux v1.00 RC1, an XBMC Linux image for media players based on AMLogic AML8726-MX, on XDA Developers’ Forums. This release supports G18REF and MX2REF devices (See build.prop in Android) such as Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2, and a test image has also been released for g02refDongle devices such as Droid Stick A2. Checking the MTD layout Before starting the installation, you may want to check your flash partitions in order to avoid bricking your device: Install and run Terminal Emulator Run the command below to make sure your partition table is compatible with the image:

If your partition table is different, do not install the default image for MX2REF / G18REF. However, If you’ve got Matricom Android firmware version 1.1.6 or greater or WJB’s Linux builds from November 21 2013 onwards, the MTD layout will be different, and you’ll need to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 72 Comments on G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway

G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway

I reviewed Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android set-top box about a month ago, and I was pretty happy with the device with regards to performance, stability, and XBMC support. During my initial review, Wi-Fi was really excellent, the best, by far, I had seen in the dozen of devices I had tested, although an upgrade to my router firmware somehow changed that. This is also one the rare device that will support OTA firmware update. There were still some problems in the firmware I tested: some videos could not play, composite output did not work…, but overall I find it’s a pretty good device. The company also seems committed to fix issues, as they even have a public bug tracking system for the MX2. If you plan to use Android app, and not only XBMC, the IR remote provided may not be the ideal input device, and you’ll probably need […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 157 Comments on Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android TV Box Review

Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android TV Box Review

Matricom sent me one of their latest G-Box Midnight MX2 media player based on AMLogic AML8726-M6, with 1GB RAM, 8 GB flash, running Android 4.2, and with full support for XBMC. This is an update of the G-Box Midnight based on AML8726-M3 which supports XBMC in Android, as well as XBMC Linux thanks to community builds. Specifications: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX Dual Core Cortex A9 CPU + dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB Flash + SD card slot (Up to 32GB) Video Output – HDMI v1.4, composite (CVBS) and component (YUV) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and SPDIF Connectivity – 802.11b/g/n internal Wifi + 10/100 Ethernet Port USB – 4x USB 2.0 Ports (1 might be OTG) IR sensor Power Supply – 5V/2A The hardware and software is very similar to Tronsmart Prometheus (See review), as both are based on AML8726-MX, run Android […]