Vidon.me has sent me one of their Vidon Box (without asking). The box features an Allwinner A31s processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB storage, and more. You can check my previous post for Vidon Box specifications. The company is also providing a membership for extra services such as HDMI / SPDIF pass-through, and Blu-ray menu navigation, among others, as you can see from the table below. The item with ** are upcoming features.
| VidOn Box Features | Subscriber | Non Subscriber |
| Blu-ray Menu Navigation | Y | N |
| Access to VidOn XBMC Pro | Y | N |
| Access to VidOn Media Center Beta* | Y | Y |
| Access to VidOn XBMC* | Y | Y |
| Free XBMC Add-ons | Y | Y |
| Media Library Info Collection | Y | Y |
| Access Home Sharing Server | Y | Y |
| 1080p Hardware Acceleration | Y | Y |
| Blu-ray ISO Playback | Y | Y |
| 3D Blu-ray Playback | Y | Y |
| Firmware/Software Update Support | Y | Y |
| SPDIF/HDMI Passthrough | Y | N |
| Mobile Transfer** | Y | N |
| Photo Backup** | Y | N |
| Mobile Access Media Library** | Y | N |
| Mobile Access via 3G/4G/WiFi** | Y | N |
| More Upcoming Features | Y | N |
The box includes one year subscription. Today I’ll simply post some pictures of the device and board, before writing a review in a couple of weeks.
Vidon Box Unboxing
The media player comes in the black box below with Vidon logo in golden, as well as a sticker with a summary of specs on the bottom.
Vidon Box comes with an IR remote control including a CR2032 battery, a 5V/2A power supply, an instruction manual in English, and a VidOn Membership top up card to enable a free one-year membership. There’s no HDMI cable, so it’s something you’d have t purchase separately.
Most boxes come in rectangular or squared shape, a few with a hockey puck like shape that’s not my favorite, but Vidon Box features an elliptic aluminum case that looks pretty to me.
All ports are located on the rear panel: Wi-Fi antenna, a reset button, optical S/PDIF, two USB 2.0 host ports, HDMI output, 10/100M Ethernet, and the power jack. There’s no micro SD slot, so the only options for external storage are the two USB ports. The front panel is a semi-transparent black plastic hiding the power LED, and the IR receiver.
Unboxing video below.
Vidon Box Board
Provided you have the right tools, opening the box is straightforward, as you only need to untighten two screen on the left and right side of the rear panel, take out the rear panel, and slide the board. It took me a little while since my multi-bit screwdriver was too thick, and would not fit into the deep holes, so I had to run around to find another screwdriver.
There are many golden dots on the board, and normally these are test points, but since there are just too many, and based their position, they must have another purpose. They make the board look neat though. Allwinner A31s is a quad core Cortex A7 processor clocked at 1.0 GHz, which should explain why there’s no heatsink. Two Samsung K4B4G1646D-BCK0 DDR3 are used to get 1GB RAM, and a 8GB FORESEE NAND flash has been used for storage. The Wi-Fi module is based on Realtek RTL8188EUS. Other ICs include AXP221a PMIC, and IC Plus IP101A Fast Ethernet transceiver. The UART connector for debugging is soldered. You’ll also notice a solder pads for TF (micro SD card), but they probably left this out due to mechanical issues with the chosen enclosure.
More pretty golden dots are spread on the bottom of the board. The board is VBOX1-V1.30, and it was probably made specifically for Vidon.me. You’ll also notice the two golden bands on the left and right edges of the board. The picture below might explain why they’ve done these, although I’m not 100% sure of the exact reason for this design.
The MAC address shown on the bottom of the enclosure starts with 00:88:00, which does not lookup to any vendor.
Vidon Box can be purchased on Vidon.me for $69.99 including shipping and one year of membership. After one year, membership costs $15 yearly, and is only required if you need the subscriber features listed in the table on the top of this post. Other shopping options include GeekBuying and Aliexpress. Price remains the same wherever you buy.
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.
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