While there are many models of TV boxes on the market, there are only a few companies that will provide firmware updates over time for their products. Two of those companies are WeTek and Ugoos, both of which recently released Android 6.0 Marshmallow firmware for their Amlogic S905 TV boxes. I actually reported about WeTek working on Android 6.0 for Hub TV box last year, but at the time it was still a beta version. The company has now released weOS 3.1 firmware with Android 6.0 for both WeTek Hub and WeTek Play 2 with the following changelog: System Kernel Fixes Streaming apps in 4K Improved Auto refresh rate system for Kodi Improved DRM playback Apps Added Kodi 17.3, update Updted Aptoide Store, Google Apps and File Manager WeTV (Play 2 only) Added XMLTV for Sat PG Fixes for ATSC Now allows ATSC-T and ATSC-C Most people can get the […]
HD3S Android-on-TV Box with HD Webcam is Powered by Amlogic S905X Processor
What I call “Android-on-TV” boxes are some sort of TV boxes, usually with a webcam, that are meant to be placed on top of the TV instead of on the furniture, and apart from being used to watch videos like other TV boxes, are also well-suited for videoconference over Skype or Google Hangout. Over the years. we’ve had a few of those products such as HD23 TV box, but recently I don’t recall having seen new Android-on-TV boxes. That’s until today, and I found out about HD3S TV box running Android 6.0 on Amlogic S905X processor. HD3S specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5GHz with a penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash + micro SD card slot up to 64GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, and AV port (composite video) Audio […]
TX95D Android Set-Top Box with Amlogic S905D SoC, DVB-T2 Tuner is Selling for $52
We know have a decent choice of affordable Android TV boxes with tuners, but TX95D model powered by Amlogic S905D processor, and a single DVB-T/T2 tuner, appears to be a few dollars cheaper than the competition, as it sells for $51.99 shipped on Acemax’ Aliexpress store. TX95D Android STB specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB flash + micro SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with HDR support, and 3.5mm AV (composite video) jack Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 10-bit H.265, and VP9 Profile 2 up to 4K60, H.264 up to 4K30, AVS+ and other codecs up to 1080p60 Tuner – DVB-T/T2 tuner with one coaxial RF input Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi USB […]
Sunvell T95P Android Plug Computer mini Review
First of all, I have to say sorry for the delay for the review, but at the time I got this “beauty”, it would not power up, even though the blue light showed up out of the USB connector… I tried to recover a couple of times, no success at all… Getting a little upset, and tried after weeks of not thinking anymore… So I used an old trick, we all know, I guess. The freezer trick! I covered the Sunvell T95P in a soft linen towel, and put it in the freezer for around 3 hours. After that, it really worked like nothing happened before. There is also the old fascinating hairspray trick for “boards”… That could have been of help in some cases, but I couldn’t find a way to open this box without it being damaged for good. Here we go. Claimed Product details of T95P: 2G/8G […]
FriendlyELEC Mailbag: NanoPi NEO OLED Starter Kit, NEO Station NS-120B, and NanoPi K2 Multimedia Kit
FriendlyELEC will send me some review samples from time to time, and normally I just ask for one item, but they aways send a bunch of their products instead. This time I asked for a NanoPi NEO NAS Kit v1.2 to play with, but I got clearly more than what I asked for… Let’s start with the box at the top. It contains “NanoPi NEO complete starter kit” selling for $29.99for $29.00 with the following items: NanoPi NEO board NanoHat OLED Heatsink and thermal pad kit Akuminum housing a Mico USB cable A micro SD card pre-loaded with NEO OLED Ubuntu firmware. Three buttons, and screws It’s actually not fully complete, as you’d need to provide and solder your own male headers to NanoPi NEO board. I did not have time for soldering that day, but the final results should be really neat based on pictures from their website. If […]
ODROID-C2 Board Gets Experimental Ubuntu 16.04 Armbian Images with Linux 4.10
Hardkernel is doing a good job at providing working images with GPU / VPU support, and documentation for their ODROID boards. But while Exynos based ODROID-XU4(Q) boards already get firmware images with a recent Linux 4.9 kernel, Amlogic S905 based ODROID-C2 board’s Ubuntu 16.04 images still rely on the Linux 3.14 kernel released by Amlogic, plus various patchsets. But we’ve seen BayLibre is working on a Linux mainline port for Amlogic processors, and Armbian community appears to have leveraged that work, and added Ubuntu 16.04 Server and Desktop images with Linux 4.10 to their build system. Those are experimental nightly builds so they may not have been tested, and it’s likely not working as well as the Ubuntu 16.04 “legacy” images released by Hardkernel. They are also not shown in Armbian ODROID-C2 page at the time of writing, but it’s a step in the right direction. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started […]
Foxconn Bandott STB is an Amlogic S905D TV Box with Dual HDMI Input, Netflix 4K Support
So far, we’ve seen two dual tuner set-top boxes powered by Amlogic S905D processor with Sen5 Android STB and Mecool KI Pro, but earlier this year, Foxconn launched Bandott set-top box based on the processor, with any tuner, but two HDMI inputs, and Widevine L1 and PlayReady 3.0 support allowing for 4K video playback for premium services like Netflix (see Bandott page), CatchPlay, iqiyi, and myVideo. BANDOTT BA101 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D quad core ARM Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with penta core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB RAM Storage – 8GB flash Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0b (HDCP) Video Input – 2x HDMI 1.4 Audio Output – HDMI, and 3.5mm headphone jack Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band Wi-Fi 802.11ac/b/g/n (2×2), Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 1 x USB 2.0 DRM – Widevine L1 and PlayReady 3.0 The box runs Android TV 6.0, and was unveiled in […]
Sen5 Amlogic S905D TV Box Review – Part 2: Android Firmware, Kodi 17, and DVB-T2 & S2 App
Sen5 is one of the first Android TV boxes powered by Amlogic S905D processor, and comes with two tuners (DVB-C/T/T2 and DVB-T/T2) with two demodulators that should allow for recording on one tuner, while watching the other, or recording two channels at the same time. We’ve already check out the hardware in the first part of the review, and seen a glimpse of the neat user interface, so today I’ll report about my experience with the device. Sen5 Android Set-Top Box First Boot, Setup Wizard, & First Impressions The STB comes with two USB ports so I used one for the hard drive, a necessity if you plan to use the PVR function, and connected a USB hub to the other with RF dongles for an air mouse and a gamepad, as well as a USB keyboard to take screenshots. I also connected Ethernet and HDMI cables, as well as […]