Review of MINIX NEO U1 Media Hub

We’ve already seen that MINIX NEO U1 has some impressive hardware to offer with a good thermal solution, and high-end chips for storage and WiFi, as well as some neats additions like RTC support. But obviously the most important is to find out how the box performs, so I’ve put it through it spaces with video playback and features testing, as well as some benchmarks. First Boot, OTA Firmware, Settings and First Impressions The device has three full-sized USB 2.0 ports, which become four once we had the provided USB OTG adapter to the remaining micro USB port. So I’ve connected a USB 3.0 hard drive, the RF dongle for NEO A2 Lite air mouse, a USB hub with a USB webcam, a USB keyboard, and the RF dongle for Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad, as well as USB powered speakers to the micro USB port. After inserting HDMI, optical audio […]

K1 Plus Amlogic S905 TV Box Review

Videostrong KI Plus is one of the first Amlogic S905 TV boxes to be launched on the market, and it also happens to be one of cheapest model selling for around $45 on various sites, and it’s even available for $39.99 on GearBest for Black Friday / Cyber Monday. I’ve posted the specifications and pictures of the device previously, and after updating the firmware, I’ve finally completed the review. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions As usual, I’ve connected a whole bunch of cables and peripherals to the device to make the power supply can handle it, including a USB hard drive, a USB webcam, a USB keyboard, a USB hub with two RF dongles for Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad and MeLE F10 Deluxe air mouse, as well as a HDMI, optical audio and Ethernet cables, and a speaker connected to the 3.5mm AV jack and powered by one of […]

DRM Info Android App Reports Widevine and Playready DRM Information

I test a fair amount of features in my Android TV boxes review, but I usually don’t test Netflix and other premium online video services since I don’t have any such accounts. These kind of applications appear to be limited by the DRM features enabled in Android. For example, Full HD and 4K video streaming in Netflix requires Google Widevine Level 1, and most devices only come with Level 3 which only supports standard definition, due to cost reasons. So I decided to look whether I could find an app that would list DRM features, and DRM info appears to be it. The app will report both Google Widewine and Microsoft Playready DRM information. The screenshots above show Google Nexus 5 and 6 firmwares include Widevine Security Level 1, but no Microsoft Playready support. So it looks like a neat and easy way to test DRM features of Android device, […]

DV7810-T2 is a Quad Core DVB-T2 Android Receiver with a CA Slot, Conax and Novel-SuperTV Support

There are a few Android TV boxes on the market with digital tuners (DVB-T2, DVB-S2, ATSC..), such as WeTek Play or VideoStrong K1, but unless you install some “special” app like OSCAM, you’ll only be able to watch Free-to-air channels. Shenzhen SDMC Technology DV7810-T2 Android set-top box adds a conditional access smartcard slot to work with the built-in DVB-T2 tuner. DV7810-T2 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 2.0GHz with an octa core Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 (1GB optional) Storage – 8GB NAND flash (Options: 4, 16 or 32GB), SD card slot Video Output – HDMI 1.4b, AV Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100/1000M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi (dual band optional) with external antenna, and Bluetooth 4.0 Tuner – DVB-T / DVB-T2 Tuner (MXL608+AVL6762) with RF In and Out Conditional Access – CA smartcard slot. Supports Conax and […]

Android TV Overview – Linaro Connect US 2014

Google announced Android TV and ADT-1 devkit last June, as the company wants to bring user-friendly Android user-experience to TVs, set-top boxes and game consoles. Mark Gregotski, head of the Linaro Digital Home Group (LHG), has provided a technical overview of Android TV during the on-going Linaro Connect US 2014. You find a summary of yesterday sessions on Linaro’s blog, and the even will last until Friday, where several demos will be showcased. SoC companies currently involved in Android TV include Nvidia, Marvell, Qualcomm, Mediatek, Intel, Broadcom, and ST micro, so none of usual Chinese Android TV Box players (Rockchip, Amlogic, AllWinner…) are represented. Android (for smartphone) currently support video playback but you may experience dropped frame from time to time, where in the STB market requirements are not stringent. For example, NTT is said to only allow one frame dropped per month! So Android TV aims to improve video […]

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