I’ve been asked what’s next for Amlogic a few times recently, and today I received an Amlogic 2017/2018 roadmap dated Q3 2017 that shows three new processors beside Amlogic S805X, which has yet to be launched into products: Amlogic S905C, S905X2 and S922. So let’s have a look at the three new processors.
Amlogic S905C specifications:
- CPU – Quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor
- GPU- ARM Mali-450MP2
- System Memory – Up to 3GB DDR3/3L, LPDDR2/3 memory
- Storage – NAND flash, eMMC 5.0 flash, and NOR flash interfaces
- Video – 4K60 HEVC decoder, 4K30 H.264 decoder, and AVS+ decoder with HDR10, HLG, 1080p60 H.264 encoder
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0b, CVBS
- Audio – integrated audio DAC
- Integrated DVB-C demodulator , 1x TS input
- Others – 10/100M Ethernet, 2x USB 2.0
- Package – 13 x 13 mm BGA
Engineering samples have been available since July 2017, and it looks to be targeting the Chinese cable TV market with an AVS+ decoder and built-in DVB-C demodulator. Android and TVOS SDK will be provided. I had never heard about tvOS, and it looks to be the operating system used in Apple TV boxes. Will Amlogic processor be found in Apple devices, or is that another “TVOS”? [Update: TVOS should either be Android TV OS, or more likely NGB TVOS for the Chinese market. See comments]
Amlogic S905X2 is an update for S905X with a new manufacturing process and a mysterious dual core Dvalin GPU:
- CPU – Quad core ARM Cortex A53 processor
- GPU- Dvalin MP2
- Video – Advanced HEVC, VP9 decoders; H.264, H.265 encoder
- HDR – Dolby Vision, HDR10+
- Ultra low power
- Next gen process
Amlogic S922 will move to next gen Arm cores, and an upgraded GPU, but we don’t know a whole lot:
- CPU – Octa-core next gen Arm CPU
- GPU – Next gen GPU
- Video – Dual 4K decode/4K encode
- Full HDR standards
- Display – MIPI DSI
- Camera – MIPI CSI
- Interfaces – USB type C, and PCI-e
- Ultra low power
That processor should be able to handle 4K 3D videos thanks to the dual decoder, and will likely go beyond TV boxes, with the camera and display interfaces, so maybe Amlogic S922 laptops or tablets will be a thing at the end of 2018. If that’s the case, the processor will likely use an Arm Cortex A7x/A5x configuration, instead of just eight Cortex A55 cores.
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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As I understand, TVOS for Amlogic stands for Android TV. They are not supporting normal Android anymore (basically customized mobile version of Android) – that was I told by Amlogic engineer. You can still build ‘normal’ Android 7 for 905 onward but officially it’s not supported.
so maybe in 2019 we expect s922(d) especially for dvb..?
Amlogic S922 = Meltdown and Spectre 🙁
no, only inferior Intel is vulnerable
CA73 is vulnerable to spectre variants 1, 2 and 4 (https://developer.arm.com/support/arm-security-updates/speculative-processor-vulnerability) Meltdown is an intel-only vulnerability.
What’s a Dvalin gpu? First time I hear of it.
Maybe a refinement of Mali G51 (G52?) as replacement of S912’s T820.
@Tomm
Not if they use A53 or A55, those are not vulnerable.
@davidlt
“processor will likely use an Arm Cortex A7x/A5x configuration, instead of just eight Cortex A55 cores.”
@Tomm
But even if they use Cortex A7x, those could be new revisions of the cores without vulnerability to Metldown or Spectre.
@blu
Now that I think of it, Arm likes to use names from the Norse mythology for their GPU like Midgard, Utgard, Bifröst…
So Dvalin is probably the next (entry level?) Mali GPU architecture since “In Norse mythology, Dvalin is a dwarf who appears in several Old Norse tales and kennings”…
I always wonder why Amlogic never make any more use of their 8 core 450 design from the 812 range. Wonder if it is a heat issue or higher licence costs. It was a unique feature they had, that Allwinner, Rockchip did not.
@Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)
That makes sense. But it’s a bit strange to first hear of it from an Amlogic roadmap ; )
I think like A17 at time, Dvalin GPU will be announced soon by ARM, beside that the S905x2 is the most important CPU in this roadmap if if they can make it run above 2Ghz, for the S922 it uses probabely heterogenous configuration with A55 and a75 and featuring 8K decoder, the presence of mipi interface suggest tablet integration
Low power, small size, high integration all lean towards laptop, tablet and a low power, small die size GPU rather than a high end GPU, I would suggest. Just as other have mentioned.
@theguyuk
In fact I going to guess it will be a T830 MP2 they use, in s905x2
Hi ,
I want to know S922 what are is FULL HDR ?
just to say now other is not FULL HDR ?
Video Output – HDMI 2.2b?
HDMI 2.0b with HDCP 2.2.?
@Björn
That’s what I got in the documentation I received, but you’re right it does not make any sense. HDMI 2.1 just got published, and AFAIK no hardware supports it yet…
@joe
I guess it means all HDR format.
I think TVOS means is the one from “国家新闻出版广电总局” (State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of The People’s Republic of China), which is a government bureau that is heated by nearly all Chinese people.
See https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/zh-hans/NGB_TVOS .
It’s not an open platform at all (3rd party APP installation forbidden).
Thanks for the info!
I think that AMLogic had cancelled some of the models mentioned in this roadmap, because we can see that the ETA had passed, but these products are nowhere to be seen…
I do hope that these models would launch at products with Oreo.
I do hope that more products (especially ones with dvb-t2) would launch with AndroidTV!
Does PCI-e for S922 mean potential SSD support?
@Ron
The “ES” mentioned in the slide likely means “Engineering Sample” which means the chip is available for testing. This occurs prior to a chip being available for “production” when its generally available. I have no inside knowledge so this is just my speculation.
@Ron
Amlogic have release Android 8.0 Oreo SDK to for S905X/D and S805X, and will upgrade to 8.1 very soon to support more SoCs like S912.
Android 8.0 Oreo source code are available at Khadas Github:
https://github.com/khadas/android_manifest/blob/Oreo/default.xml
And Android 8.0 Oreo ROM for VIM1/S905X also available at:
http://forum.khadas.com/t/vim-android-oreo-v171229-preview-rom-release/1752
Do you know any information LAN (1 Gbit or still 100Mbit) and WLAN specification (802.11ac) that these processors supports?
Any news about these CPUs lately?