Amlogic has unveiled three new processors this year with Amlogic S905X, S912 and S905D. The latter is not found in devices yet, we’ve seen Amlogic S905X is a bit slower than Amlogic S905, but surely Amlogic S912 with eight Cortex A53 cores and its “multi-core high performance 3D GPU”, namely ARM Mali-T820MP3 must deliver a significant boost in performance. I now have full benchmarks results for two devices: M12N MXQ Plus and Qintaix Q912. M12N is the fastest devices of the two according to benchmarks, and I’ve been told YokaTV KB2 has about the same Antutu score (41K points) as M12N, so I feel confident enough that we have relevant benchmark’s results to compare Amlogic S912 and Amlogic S905 performance using M12N (MXQ Plus) and MINIX NEO U1 TV boxes. The comparison table below contains scores for Antutu 6.x, Vellamo 3.x, and 3DMark Ice Storm Extreme. MINI NEO U1 runs […]
M12N Amlogic S912 Octa-core TV Box Review – Part 2: Android 6.0 Firmware
Shenzhen Shiningworth MXQ Plus M12N is one of the first TV box powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor also bringing a faster GPU, VP9 and HDR support compared to the earlier Amlogic S905 processor. I’ve already shown the device, its accesories, and its internal degisn in the first part of MXQ Plus M12N review, so today I’ll spend time reporting my finding testing features and performance with Android 6.0 firmware. Setup Wizard and First Impressions Since there are only two USB ports, I connected my USB hard drive to one, and used a USB hub to connect input devices including two RF dongles for an air mouse, and a gamepad, as well as a USB keyboard to take screenshots. I also added Ethernet and HDMI cable, and finally connected the power supply to boot it up. But as you can see from the picture the very first boot was not […]
Using M12N Android Amlogic S912 TV Box as a Game Console (Video)
When Amlogic announced S912 processor, they mentioned it would target not only 4K OTT and IP set-top boxes, but also gaming consoles thanks to a faster and better Mali-T820MP3 GPU compared to the Mali-450MP GPU found in their previous S905 and S805 processor, and we’ve already seen that S912 is indeed faster in 3D benchmarks. So I decided to play several games to show the performance, the pre-loaded retro gaming app, and for people who have never used a TV box to play games show what it looks like, and how to play using M12N TV box, in conjunction with MINIX NEO A2 Lite air mouse and Tronsmart Mars G01 wireless gamepad. I played four games downloaded from the Play Store or Amazon Underground: Candy Crush Saga with air mouse Beach Buggy Racing and Riptide GP2 with the gamepad Dead Trigger with the air mouse in menus, and the gamepad […]
M12N Amlogic S912 TV Box Benchmarks
Since Shenzhen Shiningworth MXQ Plus M12N is my first TV box powered by Amlogic S912 octa-core processor, I’ve decided to write a separate post to show system information with CPU-Z, and benchmark results with Antutu 6.x, Vellamo 3.x, and 3Dmark Ice Storm Extreme. Please note that it may not be representative of all Amlogic S912 boards, as mentioned in the teardown post, there are some concerns about the thermal design of M12N TV box. M12N / Amlogic S912 System Info I’ve merged CPU-Z’ SOC, DEVICE and SYSTEM data into a single table. The app correctly detects an 8 core Cortex A53 processor @ 100 MHz to 2.02 GHz with an ARM Mali-T820 GPU. The brand for this particurlar device is MXQ, and Model m12n. Frame buffer resolution is 1920×1080, and memory and storage data are both OK for a box with 2GB and 16GB flash. The device runs Android 6.0.1 […]
Amlogic S912 Android TV Boxes List So Far
Following up on the tradition to create list of TV boxes with popular processor, such as my Amlogic S905 TV boxes and sticks list, I’ve decided to generate a comparison table for the first ten Amlogic S912 Android TV boxes announced so far. There won’t be any S912 TV sticks, as the processor probably dissipate a little too much heat to be useful in that form factor. All TV boxes in the table below share the same Amlogic S912 octa-core Cortex A53 processor @ 2.0 GHz with an ARM Mali-820MP3 GPU, support for HDMI 2.0a output, HDR, 4K video playback for VP9, H.265 and H.264 codecs, and run Android 6.0, so I only included columns for items that differ between products. Remarks: AV means 3.5mm AV jack with composite and stereo audio, and prices are usually retail prices with shipping by registered airmail from China, except for the ones followed […]
4K VP9, H.265 and H.264 Video Playback in Amlogic S912 M12N TV Box
I’ve received my first Amlogic S912 TV box with MXQ Plus M12N TV box this week-end, and I’ve decided to start testing by showing the media capabilities of the platform that is supposed to support 4K VP9 up to 60Hz, 4K 10-bit H.265 up to 60Hz and 4K H.264 up to 30 Hz. I connected the device to Onkyo TX-NR636 A/V recevier itself connected to LG 42UB820T 4K UHD TV, set video output to 2160p @ 60Hz, and played several 4K video samples from a USB hard drive using the pre-installed version of Kodi 16.1: 4K Hawaii Sunset _ GoPro Hero 4 Black 4k@30fps-I7CycuMpQ3w.webm (Downloaded from YouTube) – OK Beauty_3840x2160_120fps_420_8bit_HEVC_MP4.mp4 (H.265 @ 30 fps – No audio) – OK big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_30fps.mp4 (H.264 @ 30 fps – MPEG1/2 and AC3 audio) – OK big_buck_bunny_4k_H264_60fps.mp4 (H.264 @ 60 fps – MPEG1/2 and AC3 audio) – Video a bit choppy, large audio delay. Expected […]
MXQ Plus M12N (Amlogic S912) TV Box Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing, and Teardown
Shenzhen Shiningworth has just sent me the first Amlogic S912 Android TV box for review with their MXQ Plus M12N model. The first part of the review will focus on specifications, accessories, and hardware design, and in the second part I’ll connect and boot the device to make a thorough review of the firmware. MXQ Plus M12N Specifications The specifications are pretty standard and comparable to the ones of yet to launch Amlogic S912 TV boxes: SoC – Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0GHz with ARM Mali-820MP3 @ up to 750MHz System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash and SD slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60Hz with CEC and HDR support, and AV port (composite) Audio Output – HDMI, AV (stereo audio), and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – Fast Ethernet, dual band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, […]
MXQ Pro (G9CX) Android 6.0 TV Box Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing and Teardown
Most people probably don’t know Shenzhen Shiningworth Technology, but if you’ve ever bought a low cost Android TV box, it may have been made by them. Companies such as Eny Technology, Acemax, Shenzhen Tomato and other are relying on Shenzhen Shiningworth for some of their products, including the popular MXQ series (although other companies are also using MXQ “brand”), and in the past I often found their MAC address in products I reviewed. But this time, the company decided to send their latest product for review directly with MXQ Pro G9CX. I’ll write a two part review starting with specs and pictures, before testing the firmware and providing the second part of the review in a few weeks. G9CX Specifications Let’s start with the technical specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU up to 750MHz+ System Memory – 1GB DDR3 […]