Amlogic offers variants of their processors depending on whether they come with Dolby and/or DTS licenses. For example, we’ve recently seen Amlogic S922XJ with Dolby license only for the upcoming MINIX NEO N22XJ TV box.
Beelink has used another variant, namely Amlogic S922X-H, with both Dolby and DTS licenses in their GT-King Pro TV box as an upgrade to their Beelink GT-King TV box which Karl reviewed a few weeks ago.
Beelink GT-King Pro specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic S922X-H hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 2.21 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.8 GHz, Arm Mali-G52MP6 GPU; 12nm manufacturing process
- System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM
- Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, SD card slot
- Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 75 Hz
- Video – AVE-10 engine with 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding up to 60 fps, Dolby Vision, Advanced HDR10, HDR10+, HLG, and PRIME HDR high-dynamic range support
- Audio – Digital audio via HDMI, stereo analog audio via 3.5mm audio jack, DTS Listen + Dolby Audio decoding, ESS9108 audio DAC
- Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac 2×2 MIMO WiFi 5, Bluetooth 4.1
- USB – 3x USB 3.0 ports, 1x USB 2.0 OTG Type-A port
- Misc – Power button, power LED, IR receiver, RS232 port
- Power Supply – 12V DC / 1.5A power barrel jack
- Dimensions – 119 x 119 x 17.9 mm
- Weight – 380 grams
Beelink GT-King Pro runs Android 9.0 operating systems, and ships with a 2.4GHz RF voice remote control, an HDMI cable, a power adapter and a user manual in English.
As I understand it, DTS and Dolby licenses are only needed if the system processes the audio stream, for instance, if downmixing a DTS-HD or Dolby-HD audio stream to stereo. But if you intend to use HDMI pass-through, the licenses are not needed since audio processing will be handled by your A/V receiver for which you’ve already paid such licenses. If you miss those licenses and try to watch a video with Dolby TrueHD or DTS Master or other higher-end codecs, many apps will not output audio at all. Kodi can manage without licenses because they implement the code to do so, and apparently does not check for the license(s). Note that Dolby AC3 patent expired in 2017 so you should not need any license to play videos with that 5.1 channel audio codec.
Beelink GT-King Pro is now available for purchase for $139.99 including shipping.
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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