TV box

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on Raspberry Pi Based Slice, and EzeeCube Quad Media Players Support Internal Hard Drives (Crowdfunding)

Raspberry Pi Based Slice, and EzeeCube Quad Media Players Support Internal Hard Drives (Crowdfunding)

Slice is a media player based on Raspberry Pi Compute Module, and EzeeCube Quad is media hub powered by Freescale i.MX6 Quad, and an upgrade to EzeeCube based on i.MX6 dual, which was successfully funded. The underlying hardware between Slice and EzeeCube is much different, but both devices have a lot in common. They are both media players currently being crowd-funded respectively in Kickstarter and Indiegogo, both comes with an internal hard drive, run XBMC, targets typical end-users (rather than tinkerers) and are somewhat pricey. Slice Media Player When I first saw Slice, all I could see was an Raspberry Pi module, put in a case with an internal hard drive bay, and lots of pretty RGB LEDs, and with an air mouse sold for an inflated price of 114 GBP ($190 US) without hard drive or 179 GBP ($300 US) with a 1TB drive, with admittedly some cheaper early […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 28 Comments on Review of Probox2 EX Quad Core Android TV Box and Remote+ Air Mouse

Review of Probox2 EX Quad Core Android TV Box and Remote+ Air Mouse

Probox2 EX is an Android TV box powered by Amlogic S802-H processor with 2GB RAM and 16GB eMMC, an hardware very similar to MINIX NEO X8-H, and an upgrade to the Tronsmart Vega S89 Elite and Shenzhen Tomato EM8 / Enybox M8 TV boxes I’ve reviewed previously, with more storage (16GB vs 8GB), dual band Wi-Fi, and S802-H instead of S802 for hardware DTS and Dolby audio decoding. I’ve already published an unboxing post for Probox2 EX, so today I’m going to test the firmware, including overall performance and stability, video playback, gaming, and most hardware features, as well as Remote+ air mouse with audio and gaming capabilities, which comes with the device. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve found two AAA battery to insert into Remote+ air mouse, connected an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable, the Wi-Fi antenna, the RF dongle for Remote+, and the power adapter to […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments on $122 MK903V May Be the First Android HDMI TV Dongle Powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC

$122 MK903V May Be the First Android HDMI TV Dongle Powered by Rockchip RK3288 SoC

Most of currently announced Rockchip RK3288 based Android mini PCs comes in box form factor, rather than in HDMI stick form factor, but I’ve been informed that MK903V is one of the first HDMI stick based on the latest Rockchip quad core Cortex A17 SoC. MK903V specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3288 quad core CortexA17 @ 1.8 GHz (likely 1.6 GHz or lower) + Mali-T764 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 /3.0, and OpenCL 1.1 System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + micro SD card slot (up to 32 GB) Connectivity – dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) with external Wi-Fi antenna, and Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6330) Video Output – HDMI 2.0 output (male) up to 4k2k @ 60 fps USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port, 2x micro USB ports (1x OTG, 1x for power) Misc – Firmware update button (pinhole). Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on UyeSee T1H 4K Android TV Box Features USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI In

UyeSee T1H 4K Android TV Box Features USB 3.0, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI In

Shenzhen UyeSee Technology, a company specializing in audio / video products, has announced UyeSee T1H Android TV box powered by Mstar MSO9810 quad core processor, with 1 to 2GB RAM, 8 to 32GB eMMC flash, and featuring high speed ports such as Gigabit Ethernet and USB 3.0, as well as HDMI In supporting PiP (Picture-in-Picture) thanks to the dual decoder found in the processor. T1H is not the first Mstar 9810 STB I mention here, as Kaiboer already has a few models with Q5, Q6, and F5, but the latter focuses on the Chinese market, whereas Uyesee plans to expand to oversea markets, and the firmware is available in English, and other languages supported by Android, too. UyeSee T1H specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO9180 quad core ARM Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with a quad-core ARM Mali-450 MP2 GPU @ 500MHz. System Memory – 1GB to 2GB DDR3 @ 1866MHz? Storage […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Probox2 EX Android TV Box and Remote+ Unboxing

Probox2 EX Android TV Box and Remote+ Unboxing

W2COMP sent me their Probox2 EX Android TV Box (click link for full specs) powered by Amlogic S802-H processor with DTS and Dolby hardware decoding, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, and the usual USB ports, and wired and wireless connectivity. Probox2 EX is a direct competitor to MINIX NEO X8-H with similar features, and it also comes with an air mouse called Remote+ with gaming and voice control functions. Today, I’ll post some pictures, and videos about the device and its internal, following by a full review sometimes next week. Probox2 EX Unboxing I’ve received not one, but two boxes in the package I received via Fedex. The first package contains Probox2 EX Android media player, and the smaller one Probox2 Remote+ air mouse. The device comes with a few accessories including a 5V/2A power supply, HDMI and AV cables, an external Wi-Fi antenna, a micro USB to USB cable, an […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments on Unboxing of WeTek Play DVB-S2 Android / Linux STB

Unboxing of WeTek Play DVB-S2 Android / Linux STB

WeTek Electronics, a company based in Hong Kong, has sent me an Android TV powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor. Nothing new here, but I was very very interested in reviewing it because it includes a DVB-S2 tuner, and on top of their stock Android firmware, the company provides various Android and Linux firmware files such as CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid, OpenELEC, Linux with Enlightenment desktop environment, Lubuntu 14.04 and so on. Today, I’ll list the hardware specifications of the device, show some unboxing pictures and video, and as usual, open the device to see what’s inside. I’ll provide a full review in one or two more posts. WeTek Play Specifications Apart from the DVB-S2 tuner are the serial port, the hardware specifications sound familiar: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on Toshiba TZ5000 ApP Lite Media Player Development Kits Run Android 4.4 and Ubuntu Linux

Toshiba TZ5000 ApP Lite Media Player Development Kits Run Android 4.4 and Ubuntu Linux

Toshiba has recently announced two development kits powered by their TZ5000 ApP Lite SoC featuring two ARM Cortex A9 cores, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, PowerVR VXD395 GPU, an optional 4GB MLC NAND, and Ensigma C4500 Wi-Fi baseband engine into a single chip solution that targets Over-The-Top (OTT) tuners and IP media boxes, wearable devices, digital signage, thin clients, and more. The first development kit, RBTZ5000-6MA-A1, is a full size board that supports Ubuntu, the other one, RBTZ5000-6MA-A1, is an HDMI stick form factor board running Android 4.4. Toshiba RBTZ5000-2MA-A1 Board (Ubuntu) RBTZ5000-2MA-A1 Starter Kit specifications: SoC – Toshiba TZ5011XBG dual core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.0 GHz with PowerVR VPU and GPU, and Ensigma C4500 Wi-Fi baseband engine System Memory – DDR3L-1600 Storage – 8GB eMMC (external) + MicroSDXC Connectivity – Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO  (via Ensigma C4500), Bluetooth 4.0. Ethernet is available via a daughter board connected to ADB. USB […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments on How to Upgrade Firmware in Rockchip RK3288, RK3328, RK3399 Android TV Boxes

How to Upgrade Firmware in Rockchip RK3288, RK3328, RK3399 Android TV Boxes

For some reasons, Rockchip is extremely fond of Windows based firmware tools, and instead of providing a simple SD card method, they’ve continued to use these awful tools to upgrade firmware for Rockchip RK3288, RK3328, RK3399 devices, and other Rockchip based TV boxes. I don’t mean to say these are useless, but they should not be used by end users, unless their device is bricked. Nevertheless, Rockchip has now release version 2.3 of their Android tools for Windows, and GeekBuying has published a guide showing how to do, which I’ll summarize below. Rockchip has also released an updated version for the Linux Upgrade Tool (upgrade_tool) v1.24 that allows you to do the update in Linux. [Update: The latest versions of DriverAssistant (Step 1) and AndroidTool (Step 2) can be found in Rockchip-Linux account in Github] The first thing to do is to make sure you’ve got the latest Rockchip USB […]