4k News - Page 77 of 85 - CNX Software

October 5, 2015October 5, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Zidoo X6 Pro Unboxing and Teardown

There are so many Rockchip RK3368 TV boxes on the market that it’s difficult for products to stand out. But Zidoo X6 Pro might be one of these products bringing a little more, as beside frequent firmware updates, Zidoo’s RK3368 TV box may be the first to officially run Kodi 15.x, while most others manufacturers have decided to stick with Kodi 14.2 in their latest firmware, and the company also released Kodi source code modifications for 7.1 audio pass-through, 3D MVC support, and hardware video decoding in compliance with Kodi’s GPL license. As usual, I’ll start by taking some pictures of the device and board, before writing a full review in the next few days. Zidoo X6 Pro Unboxing I got the following package via DHL, which somehow decided to take my picture as I received the parcel… The package includes some of the key features of the device include […]

October 2, 2015July 7, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux Review

Most TV boxes on the market are running Android, but if all you’d want to do is watching online or local videos in Kodi, a Linux box may offer a more streamlined experience, and that’s exactly what ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux is offering as an Amlogic S812 TV Box running Kodi 15 Linux. In my “Arnu Box Mach 10 specs, unboxing and teardown” post, we’ve already seen the box bascially uses the same PCB used in Eny M8S, but with some different memory and storage chips. But that’s the software that’s mostly interested in this box, and today, I’ll go through the first time setup and Cloudword, before testing video playback capabilities. Setting Up ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux So I’ve just connected an HDMI cable, an Ethernet cable, and the power adapter to get started, and the very first time you’ll go through a detailed setup […]

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Nvidia Shield Android TV vs Apple TV vs Roku 3 vs Fire TV vs Nexus Player – Video Capabilities and Features Comparison

Since Nvidia released the Shield Android TV box, I’ve heard several people saying Nvidia raised the bar and even disrupted the TV box market by bringing a powerful HTPC and gaming console to the market for just $199. The company has now released OTA 2.0 firmware that improves HTPC capabilities, including under Kodi and Plex, and the box supports for 10-bit HEVC, H.264, and VP9 @ 4K, and audio pass-through for HD audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. As part of the release announcement, Nvidia also compared the Shield TV media capabilities to the ones of other US centric media players, namely Apple TV (2015), Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV (2015), and Nexus Player. Since it comes from Nvidia, it was also going to show the Shield TV in a good light, but I’m very surprised to see that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku would ship a […]

September 29, 2015June 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux TV Box Specs, Unboxing, and Teardown

Theater in a Box sent me not one – as expected – but two of their latest “Pure Linux” Kodi media player: ARNU Box Mach 10 powered by Amlogic S812 SoC, and ARNU Box Q based on Amlogic S805 processor. The former has a faster processor, and supports 4K, while the later is cheaper but is limited to 1080p. Today, I’ll have a look at the hardware of both devices, starting with ARNU Box Mach 10, before completing the S812 Linux box review in a few days. ARNU Box Mach 10 Specifications The hardware specifications are pretty similar to what the rest of the market is offering: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2.0 GHz with octa-core Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB flash, SD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6330 wireless module) […]

September 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Zidoo 12K Video Player Plays…12K Videos (on 3 Synchronized 4K UHD TV)

Zidoo Android TV boxes have often been featured in this blog, but the company also has products for the industrial market such as their 4K streaming player outputting the same video to up to 8 monitors, and a “12K video player” that outputs a video to three monitors @ 3840×2160 resolution. Zidoo strength is software and support, and they are not a hardware company, and while so far they have partnered with Kaiboer for their Android media players, if the picture above is any indication, they are using Skydigita SDG-3112 player as the hardware platform. The list of specifications and features currently released are unfortunately quite sparse: Video Playback Single 12K video outputted to three 3840×2160 monitors @ 30Hz max, 1080p also supported Codecs – H.265 and H.264 decoding. Containers – TS, MKV, AVI, VOB, MPG, MPEG, MOV. Iimage formats – JPG, JPEG, GIF, PCX, PNG. Video Output – 3x […]

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Open Hour Gecko 4K Android Player Features Hisilicon Hi3798M Processor

Cloud Media has just introduced yet another media player with Open Hour Gecko, an Android TV box powered by Hisilicon Hi3798M quad core Cortex A7 processor supporting H.265 and video output up to 4K @ 30Hz. Open Hour Gecko specifications: SoC – HiSilicon Hi3798M quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.5GHz with a quad core ARM Mali-450MP GPU. System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD slot Video Out – HDMI up to 4K @ 30Hz, and 3.5 mm jack AV jack Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, built-in 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with external antenna USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 host port Misc – Power switch (On/Off) Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – N/A The device ships with a power adapter, HDMI and AV cables, a remote control with batteries, a Quick Start […]

September 10, 2015September 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Zidoo X6 Pro Android TV Box To Support 4K Videos @ 60 fps, 7.1 Channels Audio Pass-through, and 3D Blu-ray Movies

With their X9 and X1 models, Zidoo selected entry-level hardware, but their latest Zidoo X6 Pro Android TV box, the company went up to mid-range devices with a Rockchip RK3368 octa-core 64-bit processor, 2GB RAM, 16GB eMMC, Gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11ac WiFi. Zidoo X6 Pro technical specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor @ 1.5GHz (or is it 1.2GHz?) with PowerVR G6110 GPU System Memory- 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB flash (Meta). micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0 up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC and7.1CH pass-through support, 3.5mm AV jack (Composite shared with stereo audio) Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo), optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 a/b/g/n + 802.11ac (AP6335 module), Bluetooth 4.0 USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports (including one that supports OTG) Misc – Power button, IR receiver Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 10.8 x […]

August 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

Ubuntu 14.04 / 15.04 Tested in Tronsmart Ara X5 Cherry Trail Mini PC

After reviewing Tronsmart Ara X5 with Windows 10, I decided to give a try at Ubuntu. Initially I downloaded Ubuntu 15.04 Desktop 64-bit ISO image, and prepare a bootable USB drive with UNetbootin in my computer running Ubuntu 14.04. But after inserting the USB flash drive into Ara X5, and pressing F7, there was no options to select the drive, so I went to UEFI settings, and the drive was clearly detected, but not available as a bootable device. Finally, having heard one company booted Ubuntu on MeegoPad T04 using Rufus, and Tronsmart confirming Ubuntu 14.04 could boot on Ara X5 using Pendrive Linux USB installer, I decided to try again with Windows tools, and prepared an Ubuntu 15.04 image with Rufus. Great! Pressing F7 would show the USB flash drive, and I could boot Ubuntu 15.04. But unfortunately audio output is not working (only Dummy output), nor is WiFi […]