set-top box News - Page 7 of 30 - CNX Software

August 4, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 34 Comments

Zidoo X1 Android Media Player (Allwinner H3) Review

In theory, Allwinner H3 is supposed to be a better alternative to Amlogic S805 processor thanks to more powerful Cortex A7 cores, and support for 4K video output and playback, while Amlogic S805 only features four Cortex A5 cores, and support H.265 up to 1080p60 only. Zidoo X1 is one of the TV boxes recently released with H3 processor. If you’ve not read my two previous posts yet, you may want to check out Zidoo X1 specifications, as well as the unboxing and tear-down post. In this post, I’ll focus on testing performance, stability, and video playback capabilities with Kodi. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions I’ve connected an Ethernet cable, an HDMI cable, a USB hard drive, and a USB hub with a USB webcam, an two RF dongles for an air mouse and a wireless gamepad. The box will boot automatically as you connect the power adapter. Boot […]

July 21, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

Geniatech Showcases Amlogic T866 TV Box with 2 HDMI inputs, 1 HDMI output

Amlogic mostly makes SoCs for tablets, for example the M80x series, and TV boxes such as Amlogic S805 or S812, but they also have a processor family designed for Smart TVs such as Amlogic T866 quad core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.8 GHz coupled with an octa-core Mali-450MP. Somehow, Geniatech has designed ATV1866 TV box based on the latter support two HDMI inputs, and one HDMI output. The box does not appears to support video recoding from the HDMI input, nor time-shifting, but the company showcased picture-in-picture (PiP) functionality, showing either input used in full screen or windowed mode on top of the Android user interface. HDMI version is 2.0 for the output, with H.265 codec supported, but I could not find details about the HDMI inputs. The box is running Android 4.4 for now, but will certainly run Android 5.0 at launch. The company is still developing the product, […]

July 11, 2015June 18, 2018 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments

WeTek OpenELEC Box Comes with DVB or ATSC Tuners for $91

WeTek Play TV boxes are Android set-top boxes with DVB-T2/C2, DVB-S2, or ATSC tuner powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor. Even though the hardware is not the greatest right now, I found that it did a pretty good job with video playback and digital TV playback and recording in my review of the DVB-S2 version. The company also provided various images including one using OpenELEC, a Linux based distribution running Kodi only. But now, if you’d rather have OpenELEC pre-installed in the box, instead other Android, WeTek made an OpenELEC box based on the same hardware platform selling for $90.55 on OpenELEC website. OpenELEC box has mostly the same hardware specifications as WeTek Play: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash + 1x micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, […]

April 27, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Zidoo D1 Android DVB-T2 Set-top Box is Powered by ALI M3733 SoC

We’ve already seen Android set-top boxes powered by ALi M3733 dual core Cortex A9 processor with either DVB-T2 or DVB-S2 tuners. Zidoo, the maker of Zidoo X9 Android HDMI player and recorder, have unveiled a new model based on ALi processor dubbed Zidoo D1 that will come with a DVB-T2 tuner, and they’ve also released a video giving a better glimpse of the user interface used in ALi M3733 media players. The hardware specs are very similar to Uyesee L100T2: SoC – ALi M3733 dual core Cortex A9 processor with a dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512 MB or 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 or 8 GB NAND flash Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p + 3.5mm AV jack Tuner DVB-T and DVB-T2 with male and female IEC 169-24 connectors for loop and output. Frequency – 104-862MHz (VHF/UHF) Demodulation – QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM for DVB-T; […]

April 9, 2015April 10, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

ALi M3733 Dual Core Processor Finds its Way into DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 Android and Linux Set-top Boxes

Ten years ago, I remember ALi was in big player in DVD players, but I had not much heard about them since then. Thanks to a ARMdevices.net I found out they are still around, and their latest Ali M3733 dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor will soon be found in DVB set-top boxes like Uyesee L100T2 with a DVB-T2 tuner, or EKT DSD7045 DVB-S2 hybrid set-top box. The former is running Android 4.4, but the latter is likely based on Linux since it only has 512MB NAND flash. The EKT receiver runs SolidTV middleware with HbbTV, conditional access, and more features, and it does look like an interesting product, but I’ll focus on the Uyesse for this post: SoC – ALi M3733 dual core Cortex A9 processor with a dual core Mali-400 GPU System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 (Option: 1GB) Storage – 4GB NAND flash (Options: 8 to 32GB) […]

April 8, 2015April 9, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 32 Comments

Rockchip RK3368 64-bit ARM Android Boxes Are Coming Soon

Yesterday, Rockchip had an event for their Atom x3-C3230RK SoCs (previously known as Sofia) developed in collaboration with Intel, and upcoming Android 5.1 tablets and smartphones based on the new platform, as well as progress with their first 64-bit ARM SoC (RK3368) that is now integrated into Android TV boxes, albeit still in development. Padnews wrote a summary of the event, but in this post I’ll focus on Rockchip RK3368 hardware. One of the first product will be X6 TV box. Padnews did not have a readable picture with the specs, but Eric of Geekbuying also went to the event, and kindly provided a clear picture with the specs (Mali-600MP is however not the GPU used in RK3368): SoC – Rockchip RK3368 octa core Cortex A53 processor with PowerVR G6110 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 1.x/2.0/3.x, OpenGL 3.2, DirectX 9.3, OpenCL 1.2 EP, and Renderscript System Memory – 1 […]

March 14, 2015March 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 116 Comments

Giveaway Week – HD18T DVB-T2 Android Set-top Box

HD18T is an Android media player powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor and featuring a DVB-T2 tuner, and that’s the device I’m giving away to a lucky commenter today. Since the processor has been around for a while, I haven’t done a full review, but instead I focused on the DVB-T2 part. The results were mixed, as while I could scan and watch SD and HD TV channels fine, the videos recorded did not get any audio, possibly because I switched channels during recording, but that’s strange since the video was recorded just fine. However, some people based in Singapore mentioned that while DVB-T works, DVB-T2 does not work with this device, so your mileage may vary. All accessories above are included in the giveaway except the EU to US plug adapter on the top right. You can find more pictures and full specs in the unboxing […]

March 12, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

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 […]