MINIX has been providing Rockchip based Android TV boxes for a couple of years notably with their NEO X5 and NEO X7. They will now also offer devices powered by Amlogic with NEO X8 and NEO X8s respectively powered by S802 and S802-H quad core SoC. The advantage of the former is that it fully supports DTS and Dolby decoding and pass-through.
Let go through the hardware specs of both devices:
- SoC
- NEO X8 – Amlogic S802 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU
- NEO X8s – Amlogic S802-H quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with Mali-450MP6 GPU including Dolby and DTS support.
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB (X8) / 16GB (X8s) eMMC + SD/MMC card reader
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, dual band support for X8s, Bluetooth 4.0
- Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 4K @ 30 fps, with CEC support
- Audio Output – Hdmi, 3.5mm stereo jack, optical S/PDIF
- Video Container Formats – DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS/TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, MKV, M2TS, MTS, M4V, WMV, ASF, RM/RMVB, etc…
- Audio Formats – MP2, MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, OGA, FLAC, ALAC, APE, AAC etc… NEO X8s only: Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital+, and DTS
- USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports
- Misc – IR receiver.
- Power Supply – 5V/3A
Both devices will run Android 4.4 Kitkat. 4K2K video decoding and output are supported, as well as 1080p video encoding.
From an hardware specs perspective, NEO X8 is very similar to the two other Amlogic S802 STBs I’ve received, namely M8 and Tronsmart Vega S89, but NEO X8s is the first Android TV Box I’ve ever seen being announced with S802-H for proper Dolby and DTS support.
Pricing has not been announced, but the company expects their new devices to be available by the end of May. A new air mouse, NEO M1, has also been announced with “six-axis gyroscope support and built-in anti-shake technology for superior accuracy and control”.
Via Facebook. Thanks to Luis and Tadej for the tip.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
