Amlogic S905C2 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor supports digital TV tuners, CAS

Amlogic S905C2 quad-core Cortex-A55 processor has been showing up in some Android 11 set-top boxes (with tuner), and a development kit, but with limited public information.

The specifications appear to be similar to the ones for Amlogic S905X4 processor plus additional support for DVB tuners and conditional access (CAS) with the latter confirmed by an independent source saying the Amlogic S905C2 processor is part of the Android 11 SDK with a reference board named “ohmcas”.

Amlogic S905C2 preliminary specifications:

• CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 up to 2.0 GHz
• GPU – Arm Mali-G31MP2 with support for OpenGL ES 3.2, Vulkan 1.0/1.1, and OpenCL 2.0
• Memory I/F – Up to 4GB DDR3-2133, DDR3L-2133, DDR4-3200, LPDDR3-2133, LPDDR4-3200 SDRAM
• Storage I/F – eMMC 5.0, NAND Flash, SPI NOR/NAND, SD
• Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4Kp60, HDCP2.3, CVBS
• Video
  • Decoding – AV1 up to 4Kp120, 10-bit H.265, VP9, AVS2 up to 4Kp75, H.264 4Kp30
  • Encoding – 1080p60 H.265/H.264
  • HDR – HLG/HDR10/ 10+ Dolby vision, TCH PRIME
• Audio – Stereo DACs, S/PDIF In and Out, 8-ch PDM, 12-ch PDM in, 12-ch PDM out
• 2x Transport Stream (TS) inputs, ISO7816 smart card standard
• Support for digital TV tuners and conditional access (CAS)
• Networking – Gigabit Ethernet MAC, and 10/100M PHY
• USB/PCIe – 1x USB 2.0, 1x USB3.0 or PCI-E v2+USB 2.0 (multiplexed)

As a side note, the Amlogic 2018 roadmap included an S905C processor with a built-in DVB-C demodulator mostly designed for the Chinese market, so it’s not impossible S905C2 also includes a demodulator, but there’s no confirmation.

But Amlogic S905C2 may actually be the exact same silicon as S905X4, as the latter specs already included TS inputs and CAS solutions like Verimatrix, Irdeto MSR 3.2, Nagra NOCS3.2. So with the limited information available, we might just assume Amlogic S905C2 is S905X4 with one or more of the CAS solutions above, especially since some devices are shown to be equipped with Amlogic S905X4/S905C2 without clear differences between the two.

One such device is SEI Robotics SEI800 4K AV1 Android TV OTT or Hybrid STB running Android TV 10, pre-certified for Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, and supporting Google Assitant, Google Play Store, and Chromecast function. Presumably, the OTT version comes with Amlogic S905X4 without a tuner, while the Hybrid STB (Set-top box) is equipped with Amlogic S905X2 and a choice of DVB-T2, DVB-S2, DVB-C, ISDB-T, or ATSC tuner.

Other devices with the processor are Droidlogic “Amlogic S905C2 Developer Box” as shown above, and SDMC DV8945-S2 Hybrid DVB-S2 set-top box.

Only the former has a list price with the Developer Box being offered for $199, but out of stock. It’s the same price as the Amlogic S905X4 Developer Kit from the fall of 2020, and it’s hard to recommend even for developers that may benefit from “early access”, as we got feedback that it took months for the kit to arrive, some capacitors were damaged, and software support was dismissal.

In any case, that means Amlogic S905C2 set-top box with digital TV tuner and Android TV OS should be expected later this year.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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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