Orange Pi 5 Ultra SBC offers HDMI 2.1 output and HDMI 2.0 input

The Orange Pi 5 Ultra is a Rockchip RK3588 SBC that’s slightly larger than a business card and visually identical to the Orange Pi 5 Max introduced last August, but replacing one of the two HDMI 2.1 video outputs on the latter with an HDMI 2.0 input port.

The new single board computer is still offered with up to 16GB LPDDR5, an eMMC flash module connector or soldered-on eMMC flash, an M.2 socket for an NVMe SSD, 2.5GbE and WiFi 6E networking, and four USB 3.0/2.0 ports.

Orange Pi 5 Ultra specifications:

• SoC – Rockchip RK3588
  • CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz
  • Arm Mali-G610 MP4 GPU with support for OpenGL ES1.1/2.0/3.2, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2
  • 6 TOPS AI accelerator with support for INT4/INT8/INT16/FP16 mixed operation
  • VPU – 8Kp60 H.265/VP9/AVS2 10-bit decoder, 8Kp30 H.264 decoder, 4Kp60 AV1 decoder, 8Kp30 H.265/H.264 encoder
• System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR5
• Storage
  • eMMC flash socket for 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB module or eMMC flash chip soldered on-board (co-lay)
  • 16MB QSPI NOR Flash
  • MicroSD card slot
  • M.2 2280 PCIe 3.0 x4 socket for NVMe SSD
• Video Output
  • 1x HDMI 2.1 port up to 8Kp60
  • 4-lane MIPI DSI connector up to 4Kp60
• Video Input and Camera I/F
  • 1x HDMI 2.0 port up to 4Kp60
  • 2x 4-lane MIPI CSI connectors
  • 1x 4-lane MIPI D-DPHY Rx connector
• Audio
  • ES8388 audio codec
  • 3.5mm audio jack with headphone and microphone support
  • Onboard MIC
  • Support for HDMI 2.1 eARC
• Networking
  • 2.5GbE RJ45 port via RTL8125BG controller
  • Onboard WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 module (AP6611S) using SDIO 3.0 for WiFi, UART and PCM for Bluetooth; IPEX antenna connector
• USB – 2x USB 3.0 ports, 2x USB 2.0 ports
• Expansion
  • 40-pin header with GPIO, UART, I2C, SPI, CAN, PWM, and others
  • M.2 Key-M socket (PCIe 3.0 x4) for a 2280 NVMe SSDs, or other PCIe 2280 modules (e.g. AI accelerators)
• Debugging – UART on 40-pin header
• Misc
  • Power and MaskROM buttons
  • Power LED
  • 2-pin 5V fan connector
  • 2-pin connector for RTC backup battery
• Power Supply
  • 5V/5A via USB Type-C port
  • RK806-1 PMU
• Dimensions – 89 x 57 mm
• Weight – 60.5 grams

Orange Pi will offer various OS images including Orange Pi OS (Android, Arch, or OpenHarmony), Ubuntu 20.04/22.04, Debian 11/12, OpenWrt, and Android 13. You’ll eventually find all those images, source code, and documentation on the Download page, but right now, most links point to empty Google Drive shares. The Orange Pi 5 Max images are already available and should boot on the Orange Pi 5 Ultra, but HDMI input may or may not be supported in those.

It’s not quite the first Rockchip RK3588 SBC with both HDMI 2.1 output and HDMI 2.0 input with examples including Orange Pi 5 Plus, FriendlyELEC NanoPC-T6, Banana Pi BPI-W3, and Radxa Rock 5B among others, but those are larger boards, while the Orange Pi 5 Ultra brings the HDMI input features in a smaller form factor slightly bigger than a credit card. HDMI input on RK3588 is seen as a V4L2 interface (e.g. /dev/video0) and an audio device in /proc/asound/card*. The Firefly wiki for the Core3588J module has instructions on how to use it on Android and Linux.

Official pricing for the Orange Pi 5 Ultra board is identical to the Orange Pi 5 Max:

• $75 with 4GB RAM
• $95 with 8GB RAM
• $125 with 16GB RAM

The 8GB and 16GB RAM variants of the Orange Pi 5 Ultra SBC can be purchased on AliExpress for the prices above, and you’ll also find the 16GB RAM version of Rockchip RK3588 board listed on Amazon, but without price at this time. The 4GB RAM model is not available now, and versions with eMMC flash might have to be ordered from Orange Pi directly likely with a minimum order quantity.

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