A few months ago, we learned AMLogic was working on a Quad core Cortex A9 SoC with the new ARM Mali-450MP6 (8 cores) GPU called AML8726-M8. It turns out AML8726-M8 may not only be one processor, but a family of processors (M801, M802, M803, and M805) according to a recent article in Chinese. This SoC was going to be part of Geniatech ATV1800 Android STB, but specifications were not available. More details have now surfaced. Geniatech (aka Mygica) ATV1800 Enjoy TV Specifications: SoC – AMLogic M801 or M802 Quad core Cortex A9 @ 1.6 to 2.0 GHz + ARM Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND + microSD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p, and composite Audio Output – HDMI, Stereo RCA output, and optical SPDIF (TBC) Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, built-in 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth USB – 4 USB 2.0 […]
The Little Black Box XBMC STB Gets Users’ Feedback, Becomes Available on Amazon
The Little Black Black Box (TLBB) is an set-top box running XBMC powered by AMLogic AML8726-M3 with 1GB RAM, 4GB Flash that comes with a dual sided RF remote control. The device became available for pre-order in April, and the first customers have started to receive the media player, one of them (flipfoelyfe) has uploaded a video, and posted some pictures. After initial issues setting up Wi-Fi (A bug seems to prevent the use of long passwords), his tweets about the device are rather positive, and he uploaded a short video demo showing Sports-a-Holic plugin playing a live NBA match, and a ESPN Boxing program. Whereas you had to pre-order and be patient for the first batch, LTBB is now available on Amazon for $129.99. Considering it also includes a dual sided RF remote control with a QWERTY keyboard, this single core set-top box is about the same price, or […]
JW-11 Android or Linux Media Player Supports Internal 2.5″ Hard Drive
If you’re not simply watching movie streamed from the Internet, one way to store your media files is in a NAS, and another way is to store directly into your media player with an Hard drive. Unless you run a SAMBA or NFS server within your media player, you may lose the ability to access your files from several devices, but by playing directly from the hard drive, you are sure any video will be played smoothly. There are few low cost set-top box that support SATA, and the ones that do, such as Mele A1000 and its successors, simply offer an external SATA connector leaving your hard drive without protection from dust. I’ve just noticed there’s a low cost solution with an internal HDD enclosure thanks to an Android set-top box powered by Amlogic AML8726-M3 called either JW-11 or Slav, and maybe some other names I’ve missed. Here are […]
Geniatech Releases ATV510B Source Code, Teases Dual and Quad Core ATV130 and ATV180 mini PCs
XBMCHUB (not affiliated with XBMC) reports that Geniatech has released the Android and Linux source code for ATV510B, one of Geniatech set-top boxes based on AML8726-M3 Cortex A9 processor. ATV510B is the design used by devices such as Pivos XIOS DS, Jynxbox Android HD, Sumvision Cyclone Nano M3, and MyGica ATV510B Enjoy TV Nano 3, among others. Pivos has made U-boot, Linux and XBMC source code available in github for a little while now, but this new release is a pretty large file (2.39 GB) called xbmcandroid_com-ics-base-M3-20121212.tar.bz2 that includes Android 4.0 source including the kernel and the bootloader. This source code should work with “stvmc” hardware, as found in build.prop’s ro.product.name or ro.product.device keys. I haven’t looked into details, but here’s the content of the root directory of the archive: On a separate note, Geniatech also showed the picture below on their Facebook page, with 2 new Android TV Sticks: […]
G-Box Midnight MX2 Giveaway
I reviewed Matricom G-Box Midnight MX2 Android set-top box about a month ago, and I was pretty happy with the device with regards to performance, stability, and XBMC support. During my initial review, Wi-Fi was really excellent, the best, by far, I had seen in the dozen of devices I had tested, although an upgrade to my router firmware somehow changed that. This is also one the rare device that will support OTA firmware update. There were still some problems in the firmware I tested: some videos could not play, composite output did not work…, but overall I find it’s a pretty good device. The company also seems committed to fix issues, as they even have a public bug tracking system for the MX2. If you plan to use Android app, and not only XBMC, the IR remote provided may not be the ideal input device, and you’ll probably need […]
XBMC Linux Coming to AMLogic AML8726-MX Based Media Players
XBMC now works pretty well on several Android set-top boxes, but if XBMC is the only application you’re going to run on your device, you may prefer running XBMC in Linux to gain a bit in terms of performance. The only catch is that it’s not available yet, but J1nx posted a teaser video showing XBMC running in Geniatech ATV1200 set-top box. The demo above outputs at 720p, hardware video decoding appears to be working, the user interface is rendered at 30fps with a video played in the background, and CPU usage is about 10 to 20%. Under the hood, the box is running Linux 3.0.50, with Linaro 2013.02 armhf rootfs and BusyBox 1.21. An image is not available yet, and there’s no ETA. 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 […]
Geniatech PT115m and PT115e USB DVB-T Sticks Let You Watch Digital TV on Tablets and mini PCs
Last month, I wrote about Geniatech WiTV, a device with a DVB-T or ISBT tuner acting as a Wi-Fi access point that let you watch TV on any Wi-Fi enabled devices. I’ve just discovered Geniatech PT115m (microUSB) and PT115e (USB), tinier and probably cheaper products, which allow you to watch free-to-air channel (DVB-T) by connecting them to the USB or microUSB port of your tablet or mini PC. Both devices have the following key features and specifications: Geniatech HiDTV app for Android Watch DVB-T TV on Android tablet, with support for Electronic Program Guide, HDTV (1080i), and Automatic Station Searching Digital Personal Video Recording Input Terminal – VHF/UHF, Receive Frequency – TV 48.25 ~ 863.25 MHz DVB-T Compliant, 2K to 8K FFT Size, Punctured Codes: 1/2, 2/3, 3/4 4/5, 5/6 and 7/8, Bandwidth: 6/7/8 MHz Stream capture – PES & TS Video Format – mpg-II Main Profile & Main Level/H.264 Mpeg4 […]
Smartvote SmartCandy is a Tiny RK3066 mini PC with an External Wi-Fi/USB Cable
To date, the smallest mini PC I’ve even seen is probably CX-01 powered by Telechips TCC8925 Cortex A5 processor, but Smartvote, a Hong Kong based company, has designed an even smaller device based on Rockchip RK3066 called SmartCandy, a feat achieved by locating the Wi-Fi module and full USB ports in an external cable. SmartCandy specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3066 @ 1.6 GHz + Mali-400 MP4 GPU System Memory – 1GB Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + microSD slot USB – 1x USB OTG Video Output – HDMI 1.4a Dimensions – 68 x 29 x 12mm That’s it, no Wi-Fi, no full USB ports. Luckily, it’s sold with an external cable / box that you can connect to the microUSB port to add: Wi-Fi – 802.11 b/g/n USB – 1x or 3x USB port, depending on model Ethernet – With 3x USB port model only The device runs Android 4.1 […]