tuner

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments on Amazon Fire TV Recast DVR Records up to 150 Hours of Video

Amazon Fire TV Recast DVR Records up to 150 Hours of Video

Amazon has a hardware event yesterday where the company announced new Alexa smart speakers with better audio, Echo Input similar to ChromeCast audio and to be plugged into your own speakers, a new revision of Amazon Echo Show smart display, and some completely new Alexa powered products like Echo Wall Clock, Echo Auto connecting to your smartphone and your car’s speakers, and even an Alexa Microwave selling for $59.99. But I’m going to focus in another of their new product in this post: Amazon Fire TV Recast digital video recorder and media streamer with up to four ATSC tuners. Amazon Fire TV Recast will be available in two configurations: 500GB storage with two tuners, or 1TB storage with four tuners. Specifications: SoC – Unnamed dual core processor System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage 500 GB hard drive storing up to 75 hours of HDTV OR 1TB hard drive storing up […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on $43 Mecool M8S Plus DVB is an Entry Level Android Set-Top Box with DVB-T2/T/C Tuner

$43 Mecool M8S Plus DVB is an Entry Level Android Set-Top Box with DVB-T2/T/C Tuner

Android set-top boxes with tuner usually costs $70 and up depending on hardware specifications, and number of tuners, but if you want something cheap that runs Android and supports DVB-T2, “Mecool M8S Plus DVB” may be worth looking at, since it’s sold for just $55.99 shipped. [Update: Mecool M8S Plus DVB can now be found on Banggood for $42.99 including shipping] In order to achieve such low price, the company had to make some compromises, and the TV box only comes with 1GB RAM, and 8GB storage.  Amlogic however recently published a press release about their “new Amlogic S905X chipset” supporting Netflix and 1GB RAM. S905X is clearly not new, but it’s possible the company made some Android optimizations for their S9XX SoC family that provides a decent user experience even with just 1GB RAM. Mecool M8S Plus DVB set-top-box specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Geniatech ATV598Max is a Certified Android TV Hybrid TV Box with ATSC, DVB-T2, DVB-C, or ISDB-T Digital TV Tuner

Geniatech ATV598Max is a Certified Android TV Hybrid TV Box with ATSC, DVB-T2, DVB-C, or ISDB-T Digital TV Tuner

Geniatech ATV495 Max was the first model from the company to get official Android TV certifications. There now a bunch of those ATV OEM devices, but if you want one with a digital TV tuner, then the choice is much more limited, and so far, I only heard about ARRIS set top boxes. Geniatech ATV598 Max can now be added to the list, as the company informed me the Amlogic quad core hybrid TV box with ATSC, DVB-T2, or DVB-C tuner had just received official Android TV certification from Google too. ATV598Max specifications: SoC  – Amlogic S905D quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (optional 1GB) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a; Audio – Via HDMI, optical output, optional Dolby support Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments on How to Use Khadas VIM2 Board with VTV Expansion DTV Board as a Live TV Streaming Server

How to Use Khadas VIM2 Board with VTV Expansion DTV Board as a Live TV Streaming Server

Khadas-VIM2-Heatsink

Khadas VIM2 is the first and only Amlogic S912 based hobbyist development board on the market, which makes it interesting by itself, but the company also added some interesting features such as an SPI flash for network boot, Wake-on-LAN support, and more. Last month the company sent me a sample of the Khadas VIM2 Basic (2GB RAM/16GB flash) together with VTV Extension DTV Board featuring a DVB-T2/C and DVB-S2 tuner. I’ve already checkout the hardware and shown how to assemble the kit, so for the second part of the review it seemed like a good idea to use the board as a Live TV streaming server broadcasting satellite, cable or terrestrial TV to devices connected to the local network. At first I wanted to use Linux operating system, because I could have run other Linux server services, but SuperDVB, the company that makes and supports the tuner board, only have […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 15 Comments on Giveaway Week Winners – November 2017

Giveaway Week Winners – November 2017

Like every year, I’ve organized a giveaway week to send some of the items I’ve reviewed in the past year or so. There was a good mix of devices this year starting with a mini Linux NAS kit, following by some ESP32 boards, and Amlogic development boards among others. The results are in, and instead of 10 winners, I actually have 11 winners due a “timing issue”, and to make for one missing ESP32 board, a LinkIt Smart 7688 Duo board was also given away. While it started strongly for Eastern Europe, We have winners from 3 continents this year: NanoPi NEO2 NAS Kit – Hap Hapablap, Serbia Muses Beta DVB Encoder and Modulator Board – Luka, Slovenia ESP32 PICO Kit v3 boards (5 Winners): Andrius Kurtinaitis, Lithuania (2x ESP32 boards) Kebab, Turkey (2x ESP32 boards) Zoobab, Belgium (2x ESP32 boards) Sollie, Germany (2x ESP32 boards) BobR, USA (1x ESP32 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments on Khadas VIM2 Board Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Dual Tuner Board

Khadas VIM2 Board Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Dual Tuner Board

Khadas VIM2 board is the successor of Khadas VIM board, replacing Amlogic S905X by a slightly more powerful Amlogic S912, but that’s the connectivity features that really makes it stand apart from the first version with Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.2. It also exposes a few extra I/Os via pogopins. and among the three variants, two comes with 3GB RAM, and up to 64 GB storage. The company (Shenzhen Wesion) sent me one of the boards, together with various accessories, and I’ll start the review of the board by checking out the hardware and accessories, before testing the board further in another post. I received two packages: one book-like with Khadas marked on top, and another one with various other items. The first package includes the board, a USB to USB type C cable, and a card showing the main specifications, and supported operating systems: Ubuntu 16.04, Android […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Geniatech ATV495 Max & ATV598 Max TV Boxes Run Android TV OS

Geniatech ATV495 Max & ATV598 Max TV Boxes Run Android TV OS

Most TV boxes coming from Chinese manufacturers are running Android operating systems based on the mobile version, which gives you more flexibility, but for some use cases such as watching online videos, is not as user-friendly as Android TV operating systems that’s developer by Google specifically for a TV experience. However, it looks like there’s a shift now, as I’ve heard several companies are in the process of applying for an Android TV License from Google, and Geniatech is one of the first to unveil two boxes running Android 6.0 TV operating system, that should soon be certified by Google, with ATV495 Max and ATV598 Max. [Update: The company has now removed the link to the press release (see cache), since certification is not complete yet] Those models are updated from their ATV495X and ATV598E models running Android 6.0, with apparently the same hardware but upgraded to Android TV OS. […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments on TX95D Android Set-Top Box with Amlogic S905D SoC, DVB-T2 Tuner is Selling for $52

TX95D Android Set-Top Box with Amlogic S905D SoC, DVB-T2 Tuner is Selling for $52

We know have a decent choice of affordable Android TV boxes with tuners, but TX95D model powered by Amlogic S905D processor, and a single DVB-T/T2 tuner, appears to be a few dollars cheaper than the competition, as it sells for $51.99 shipped on Acemax’ Aliexpress store. TX95D Android STB specifications: SoC –  Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDR support, and 3.5mm AV (composite video) jack Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 10-bit H.265, and VP9 Profile 2 up to 4K60, H.264 up to 4K30, AVS+ and other codecs up to 1080p60 Tuner – DVB-T/T2 tuner with one coaxial RF input Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi USB […]