Review of EM6Q-MXQ Android Quad Core Media Player

After taking a few pictures of Eny EM6Q-MXQ Android media player, it’s time for a full review. I’ll first give my first impressions and go through the user interface, test video playback, test the system, network, and storage performance, try a few games, and check various hardware ports are working as they are supposed to do. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve inserted two AAA batteries in the provided infrared remote control to check it’s working, and it’s usable in the main user interface and XBMC, but once you start using most Android apps it’s useless, so I quickly switched to  Mele F10 Deluxe air mouse. Before powering up the device, I’ve connected an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable, and made with use of the 4 USB ports by connecting two RF dongles (Air mouse and gamepad), a USB hard drive, and a UVC USB webcam. The box lacks […]

Unboxing of Eny EM6Q-MXQ Android TV Box Powered by Amlogic S805 Processor

EM6Q-MXQ is an Android TV box based on Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex A5 processor, with a quad core Mali-450MP GPU, 1GB RAM, and 8GB flash. The company sent me a sample for review, so today I’ll start with some pictures, and follow up with a full review in a few days. EM6Q-MXQ Unboxing Pictures The box comes with a brand-less “OTT TV BOX” package. The media player comes with an HDMI cable (1.2m), a remote control requiring two AAA batteries, a 5V/2A power supply, and a user’s manual in English and Chinese. The box features an LED and an IR receiver at the front, 3 USB 2.0 ports and an SD card slot on the side, with most ports on the rear panel: another full size USB port (OTG), coaxial S/PDIF, AV output, HDMI output, 10/100M Ethernet, and DC in. There’s also MAC address on the bottom of the […]

MXQ S85 Android TV Box Based on Amlogic S805 is Available for $50

Android media players powered by Amlogic S805 quad core processor such as TV110 are already pretty cheap at around $60, but there’s currently a deal on Gearbest where you can get MXQ S85 for less than $50 without Bluetooth and about $55 with Bluetooth by using BackToSchool8 coupon to get 8% discount. Prices include shipping. MXQ S85 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot (up to 32GB) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, and optional Bluetooth 4.0. Video Output – HDMI 1.4, AV output Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports + 1 x micro USB OTG port Misc – IR sensor Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 11.4x 11.4 x 2.3 cm Weight – 137 grams […]

$60 TV110 Android Media Player Powered by Amlogic S805 SoC

Yesterday I wrote about MINIX NEO X6 featuring Amlogic S805 quad core Cortex A5 processor with HEVC hardware decoding. MINIX device is expected to sell later this month for around $120, but I’ve been informed there’s another model called TV110 with similar hardware specifications, but selling for around $60 or even lower on sites like GeekBuying and Aliexpress. I’ve seen one of the seller offering $10 coupon, so it might even be possible to get it for $50. TV110-S805 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB NAND flash + micro SD slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4, AV output Audio Output – HDMI 1.4, 3.5mm stereo audio jack USB – 2x USB 2.0 port Misc – IR sensor Power […]

MINIX NEO X6 Features Amlogic S805 Processor with Full HD HEVC Support

Amlogic S805 is a cost down version of the popular Amlogic S802. It features four Cortex A5 cores, and quad core Mali450-MP GPU, only support 1080p resolution (no 4K), but adds hardware decoding for HEVC / H.265 at 1080p resolution, which is not possible with his big brother. In theory, I should also support Gigabit Ethernet, but none of the upcoming media players support it, allegedly because it’s not working yet… After products by the likes of Ugoos, Eny Technology. and Geniatech, it’s time for MINIX to announce their own S805 mini PC with the NEO X6. NEO X6 Specifications: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-450MP4 GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3L Storage – 8 GB eMMC + micro SD slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (2.4 GHz) with external antenna, Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4 […]

XBMC 13.2 Android and Source Code for Amlogic S802 Released

Based on comments on my M8 review post, many people have troubles with XBMC stability on this hardware, and the official XBMC 13.2 release can only be used on Android 4.2.2. But there’s hope, and maybe a solution to all these problems, as stane1983 has now released XBMC 13.2 for Amlogic S802 with backports from Kodi 14 alpha, that runs on Android 4.4.2. So if you have issues with XBMC in your Amlogic S802 Android TV box, you may want to download and install XBMC Gotham 13.2 (20140831_xbmcapp-stane.apk) from Stane1983’s download section. If you have an Amlogic device running Android 4.2.2, this won’t work due to differences with Amlogic’s libplayer header files, and you need to download and install mainline XBMC 13.2 instead. He’s also made all source available on his github account. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as […]

Armada Mach 8 Pure Linux is a Quad Core XBMC Linux TV Box

Armada Mach 8 is an Amlogic S802 based TV Box apparently based on M8/EM8 hardware, but instead of running Android, it comes with XBMC Linux. It’s unlikely a quad core media player brings much performance over a dual core media player with XBMC Linux, but Amlogic S802 adds 4K video playback compared to Amlogic AML8726-MX. One of the main advantages of Linux compared to Android is support for automatic frame rate switching depending on the video you are watching (24Hz, 50Hz, 60Hz…), in order to avoid regular skipped frames when the video frame rate does not match the video output refresh rate. Let’s double check the specifications to confirm they are indeed the same as Shenzhen Tomato / Enybox M8, except possibly for Bluetooth: SoC – AMLogic S802 quad core Cortex A9r4 processor @ 2GHz with Mali‐450MP6 GPU @ 600Mhz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash […]

Linux (Enlightenment and Lubuntu) in WeTek Play Amlogic TV Box

Last week I reviewed WeTek Play, a TV box with two DVB-S2 tuners, powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor, and running Android 4.2, but the company also released several Linux based images including one with Enlightenment window manager, and another, temporary one, with Ubuntu core which allows you to install Lubuntu or Xubuntu with apt-get. There are also working on OpenELEC, but have not released the binary yet. Today, I’ll try the Enlightenment image because it also supports hardware video decoding via Gplay (gstreamer), and show how to install Lubuntu. The instructions below have been done in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04, but a Windows computer can also be used. Download Wetek-Linux.img.bz2 Connect a micro SD card to your computer, extract and flash Wetek-Linux.img: In Linux using a terminal window:

In Windows, extract the image, and use Win32DiskImager to copy the image to your micro SD […]

UP 7000 x86 SBC