We’ve learned that Amlogic was working on S905 and S912 64-bit ARM processors a little while ago, and one of the first product to market featuring Amlogic S905 processor could be Acemax G9C.
ACEMAX G9C specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-vore Mali-450MP GPU up to 750MHz+
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB NAND flash (Bigger Memory Optional) + micro SD card slot
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0, AV
- Video Codecs – 1080p/4k2k H.264, H.265, HD AVC/VC-1, HD MPEG1/2/4, RM/RMVB, Xvid/DivX 3/4/5/6, RealVideo 8/9/10
- Audio – HDMI, AV, coaxial S/PDIF
- Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, Wi-Fi @ 2.4GHz
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 host ports
- Power Supply – DC 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 125 x 120 x 20 mm
The box is said to run Android 5.0.
That’s about all we know about the box right now, as availability and pricing are not available, but since Amlogic S905’s mass production was scheduled in Q2 2015, it should not be that far away, even though S905 Android TV boxes are yet to be listed on Alibaba or Aliexpress.
Thanks to Harley 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.
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very nice product, with A53 clocked at 2Ghz we can expect a huge jump in performance from the S805, but the most important thing is the Video Decoder with finally a REAL HEVC support, just crossing fingers for much higher biterate support for HEVC above of 60 Mbps
Looks very interesting.
I am quite happy with the S805 based Odroid C1’s performance, and this should be significantly faster.
I wish it had gigabit Ethernet and SATA though…
i wonder if its going to be less then $80.
From Acemax website
“Thinking about buying a knock-off? Think again! Clone boxes will not be running the same firmware as ACEMAX box. Our unique software is tied to the specific hardware in our device and is not installable outside of our manufacturing process. What does this mean for clones? They’ll be left in the dust.”
What does that mean?
Locked bootloaders and no firmware updates.
Also be aware of their fake chargers that don’t offer real 2A and slow EMMC/Nand RAM that will cause you headaches.
If you go on to freaktab forum, you will see there is literally no firmware updates and just complaints for Acemax/Eny boxes.
RK3188 – They put firmware ‘tricks’ into their firmware to report fake 2GB RAM instead of the actual 1GB in hardware.
RK3288 – Locked Bootloaders, No firmware updates, plagued with problems that other RK3288 manufacturers fixed months ago.
S805 – Same device ID’s for all boxes. So lots of streaming apps don’t work that require unique different serial numbers for each device. Also faked Antutu scores by around 8000+. Have to use Ember OpenELEC firmware from different manufacturers to make the device useful.
They might have increased quality control recently but can’t be sure.
So just be aware if you buy something even if it’s the latest chipset.
You don’t always get what you think you are getting.
Do your research and buy from companies that support their users.
Acemax is small company which mainly resell products of others manufacturers and they announced this even they dint have device ready nor anybody have it.
with rk3288 boxes i did come a cross something called masking mode i wonder if that would help installing other F/W onto a box. like my beelink r89 i was able to install many F/W from lots of other manufacturers including openhour chamelian or something.
@adem
Beelink & Openhour have lots of support, so different manufacturers firmware can work on them.
Openhour have engineers that work with Rockchip to report and fix bugs. Beelink devices are very popular to mod and put extra heatsinks on and overclock. UGOOS are very good with Linux support and also custom firmware.
On ENY/AceMax boxes not even maskrom mode can help with flashing different firmware.
Lots of people ask me and I gave them instructions for maskrom mode and some other technical info to clear flash & bootloaders and nothing worked on the RK3288 AceMax/ENY boxes. Now they are abandoning those boxes and releasing completely new ones with the same problems all over again. Other manufacturers are releasing Lollipop and even Windows 10 in a few weeks. Buying cheap is not always worth it. Rather spend a little more and have no problems afterwards.
@dewet
i agree cheaper is not allways better but best is doing your homework reading up on devices on cnx or freaktab.
also i had the same problem with my cs868 Allwinner A31 they never fixed the broken F/W and abandoned the whole thing it was a dead investment.
Wondering if this newer Amlogic S905/S912 SoCs will support Main10 HEVC profile (10-bit H.265) and VP9 decode?
VP9 decode is needed to support YouTube in 4k (2160p) resolution, and might sooner or later also become standard for lower-resolutions too.
Main10 HEVC profile support is required for decoding H.265 in 10-bit color, and interestingly the older Amlogic S805/S812 is limited to Main HEVC profile support which is 8-bit only.
Maybe we should also ask why older Amlogic S805/S812 do not support Main10 HEVC (10-bit H.265)?
first device from ACEMAX using the RK3368 seems very promising, especially decoding wise
http://www.acemax.net.cn/droid-world/droid-box/rk3368-octa-core/acemax-ak838-rk3368-octa-core-tv-box-134.html#.VXV4sc_1ako
“using the RK3368 ”
I will not trust again in the RK SOCs. I tried 3066, 3188, they never worked correctly, I saw forums, problems with 3288. I will stay with the Amlogic. Or Mediatek, next time, maybe?
@Valent Levente
RK 3066 was a classic in it’s time, very good soc, the rk3288 performance wise is very good, but for video decoding I don’t know, anyway you should not expect much from firmware support with such cheap devices
@natsu
That’s a picture of Eny Technology EKB368 hardware.
Wondering if it’s an OEM or just a stolen pictur.e
@natsu
It wasn’t really. At best, it sold more.
Rockchip would have to pull off something spectacular for me to look at them in the future, especially after the sneaky RK3188-T.
At any rate, this would also have to have a decent price to get many people I know, interested.
Options of many different OS’s, and many other features should be the only reason for higher prices, imo.
@dewet Why would anyone buy their products, or even report on them (hint mr CNX!)
@Methanoid
Acemax was the first to claim they’d manufacture a TV bx based on S905, that’s why I wrote about it.
But yeah, Eny often (always?) uses slower NAND flash chip, but I did not know about the firmware flashing issues.
To find out how the device performance better wait for reviews. Eny once send me a product where Google Play would not even work properly (e.g. M8S), so I completely stopped the review, as the new firmware took months to come.
first s905 device is available on aliexpress for 55 $
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2015-newest-amlogic-s905-quad-core-2-0ghz-a53-1GB-Ram-8GB-Rom-android-5-1/32460223054.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.2.qCRJY8&ws_ab_test=201407_5,201444_6,201409_2
@Natsu,
A new chip and firmware and the rest of the box specs…just mediocre.
Better to wait a few months for something better from a known manufacturer
@Peter
you’re right, anyway I’m waiting for one with DVB S2 tuner and a good OPENELEC support