Mekotronics R58-HD-1U is a digital signage player with 12 independent HDMI outputs implemented through three Rockchip RK3588 SoCs, housed in a 1U standard chassis, and mostly designed for video walls and other applications where multiple displays are close to each other.
Each Rockchip RK3588 processor is coupled with up to 16GB RAM and 128GB eMMC flash, and the system also offers two HDMI inputs, five Ethernet ports, WiFi 6 and Bluetooth, and seven USB ports for expansion.
Mekotronics R58-HD-1U specifications:
- SoCs – 3x Rockchip RK3588 each with
- CPU – Octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 cores @ up to 2.4 GHz, 4x Cortex-A55 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz
- GPU – Arm Mali-G610 GPU with OpenGL ES 3.2, OpenCL 2.2, and Vulkan 1.2 support
- VPU
- 8Kp60 video decoder for H.265/VP9 codecs
- 8Kp30 video decoder for H.264 codec
- 4Kp60 video decoder for AV1 codec
- Multi-channel decoder in parallel
- AI accelerator – 6 TOPS NPU
- System Memory – 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB LPDDR4x per RK3588 SoC
- Storage
- 32GB, 64GB, or 128GB eMMC flash per RK3588 SoC
- 2.5-inch SATA HDD slot accessible from the front panel
- Video Output – 12x HDMI ports
- Video Input – 2x HDMI input ports
- Networking
- 5x Ethernet RJ45 ports
- WiFI 6 and Bluetooth wireless module
- USB
- 5x USB 3.0 ports
- 2x USB 2.0 port
- USB Type-C port
- Misc – Power switch
- Power Supply – 12V DC
- Dimensions – 440 x 330 x 44mm
Mekotronics mentions support for Android, Debian, Buildroot, and Armbian, but we don’t have much more information about the software. The video demo below shows the R58-HD-1U connected to twelve displays each playing a different video and we’re told two Rockchip RK3588 SoCs operate independently as two USB flash drives are used for this specific demo. From a functional perspective, the R58-HD-1U digital signage player is similar to having two Mekotronics D58 embedded computers with six HDMI outputs each for this specific demo.
A single Rockchip RK3588 can support well over 12 full HD videos, but two are needed to have twelve independent video outputs. But considering the specs list three Rockchip RK3588 SoCs, I asked Mekotronics, and they replied that two Rockchip RK3588 are needed for playing 12 videos, but a third RK3588 SoC is required for video walls. I assume that RK3588 splits a single video or HDMI input into 12 video streams and distributes them to the other two Rockchip RK3588 over PCIe or another fast interface.
A few more details about the R58-HD-1U digital signage player with 12 HDMI outputs may be found on the product page.
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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Video walls arent gonna use a bunch of different video signals to a wall ( or billboards). They’ll use a single output per wall ( or side of the billboard) that will split the signal via hardware and software based on the number of rows and columns and what specific reciever cards the led modules are connected to. Using 3 rk3588s to get enough outputs seems like a very inefficient way to get video signals to walls, unless the goal is to have 12 different videos being played on one wall made of 12 different monitors….
Are they not running as a cluster? Like with K8s? Or K3s?