Rockchip RK3588 8K TV Box Triples as 5G & WiFi 6 Router, Home Automation Gateway

Rockchip RK3588 8K TV Box 5G & WiFi 6

Rockchip RK3588 octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor was only expected in the second half of 2020 for IoT and vision/AI applications, but at least one company is working on a 3-in-1 product based on Rockchip high-end processor with a “5G AIoT 8K TV box” that also works as a 5G and WiFi 6, and with features such as Zigbee can also act as a home automation gateway. “5G AIoT Android TV Box” preliminary specifications: Main SoC – Rockchip 3588 octa-core processor with 4x Cortex-A76 and 4x Cortex-A55 cores in dynamIQ configuration, Arm “Natt” GPU (i.e. NOT Mali-G31 MP2), NPU 2.0, 8K H.265/AV1 video decoder, 4K video encoder System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 64GB?! Video Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 8K resolutions Audio – SPDIF audio output, HDMI audio Connectivity 802.11 b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1 via Qualcomm QCA6391 WiSoC 1x […]

X96Q Android 10 TV Box Shows Up with Allwinner H313 Quad-core Cortex-A53 Processor

X96Q Android 10 TV Box

It looks like Allwinner has come up with a new confusing processor. Allwinner H3 is a popular quad-core Cortex-A7 processor that’s been around for years, but the company has now launched an Allwinner H313 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor that’s found in some TV boxes running Android 10, namely X96Q with 1 to 2 GB RAM, and 8 to 16GB storage. X96Q TV box specifications: SoC – Allwinner H313 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.35 GHz with Arm Mali G31 MP2 GPU with support for OpenGL ES 3.2 and Vulkan System Memory – 1GB/2GB SDRAM Storage – 8GB/16GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, AV port for video composite + stereo audio Video Codecs VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K 30fps  H.265 Main10 @ L5.1 up to 4K 60fps  AVS2 JiZhun 10-bit Profile up to 4K 60fps  H.264 BP/MP/HP @ L4.2 […]

KDE Plasma Bigscreen for TVs and TV Boxes Offers a Linux Alternative to Android TV

Plasma Bigscreen

KDE Plasma is a desktop environment initially developed for Linux Desktop PC or SBCs, but that’s also available on Linux phones with Plasma Mobile (previously known as Plasma Active). The developers have now decided to work on a version for the big screens with Plasma Bigscreen suitable for TVs and TV boxes and offering an open-source, Linux-based alternative o Android TV. Plasma Bigscreen is community supported, completely free and open-source, and offers an interface fairly similar to Android TV launcher. It is optimized for IR remote control use including (experimental) CEC support, as well as voice control through MyCroft open-source AI & voice assistant and Bluetooth or RF remotes with a built-in microphone such as WeChip G20 or W2, or a USB microphone. By default, Plasmas Bigscreen connects to Mycroft’s Home server, which uses Google’s STT (Speech to text) sending anonymized utterances to Google, but it’s also possible to switch […]

SDMC Unveils Amlogic S805Y Full HD Android TV 10 Media Box for Operators

Amlogic S805Y TV Box

The other day when I covered Amlogic A113L IoT/Smart audio processor, I did not realize I missed another processor from the company: Amlogic S805Y. It got brought to my attention today, as SDMC recently launched the “DV9038 Quad Core 2K Google Android TV Media Box” based on the processor that I initially thought was a cost-down version of Amlogic S805X Full HD SoC without Ethernet support since that’s the main difference between S905X2 and S905Y2 processors, but as we’ll see below my first assumption was wrong. DV9038 TV box specifications Let’s first check out what the box has to offer: SoC – Amlogic S805Y quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to  1.5GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU up to 650MHz+ System Memory – 1GB DDR  (2GB optional) Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (16GB, 32GB, 64GB optional) Video & Audio Output HDMI 2.0b with CEC, HDCP2.2, HDR 10, HLG HDR 3.5mm AV […]

Allwinner H616 TV Box Processor Comes with Mali G31 GPU, Supports Android 10

Allwinner H616

Allwinner H6 quad-core Cortex-A53 processor with Arm Mali-T720 GPU was launched in 2017 and made its way into various TV boxes and SBC’s. But last year, we got some news of lower-cost versions of the processor with Allwinner H603 and H6 VC200-OS SoC’s. Allwinner H616 Processor Advantages So the first time, I read about Allwinner H616, I thought it was yet another variant of little interest. But it turns out H616 is the first processor from the company with a Bitfrost GPU, namely Mali G31MP2, meaning it supports Vulkan, and down the line, it could potentially be supported by Panfrost open-source graphics driver. Another positive for the processor is support for Android 10, while AFAIK other H6 processors are stuck to Android 9.0. Another advantage is low power consumption leading to lower CPU temperature. It might be a process change or some other optimizations in the silicon, we just don’t […]

CNX Software is 10 Years Old – Top 10 Posts of the Last Decade

CNX Software Anniversary

Around 10 years ago, I decided it might be a good idea to have an online presence. At the time, I just thought I would write from time to time, and I had no idea it would eventually become my main activity. My very first post was on February 14, 2010 about software development tools such as CVS and Bugzilla. That means today is the 10th anniversary of CNX Software website! So I thought it might be fun to look at the most popular posts of the last ten years. I only installed Google Analytics sometimes in 2011, but it should not affect the results since I did not have many readers at the time, and the post that really started to bring more visitors, and made me switch from a $1 monthly hosting plan to a VPS, was “74 USD AllWinner A10 Android 4.0 Mini PC” published in May […]

Ugoos AM6 Plus Android TV Box is Powered by Amlogic S922X-J Processor

UGOOS AM6B Plus 2021 Dolby Vision TV Box

When I wrote about the official launch of MINIX NEO U22-XJ media hub yesterday, I mentioned it was the first Amlogic S922XJ that I knew of and the first Amlogic TV box to support Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio. But it was rightly pointed out to me that Amazon Fire TV Cube TV box already supported Dolby Vision with Amlogic S922Z processor that looks to be about the same as Amlogic S922XJ. Ugoos is now offering another Dolby Vision/Audio option with an upgrade to their existing Ugoos AM6 TV box replacing Amlogic S922X processor with S922X-J and increasing the memory and storage capacity. Ugoos AM6 Plus specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X-J hexa-core processor with 4x Arm Cortex-A73 cores @ up to 2.2 GHz, 2x ARM Cortex-A53 cores, and an Arm Mali G52 MP6 GPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up to 32GB […]

MINIX NEO U22-XJ Media Hub with Dolby Vision & Audio Support Launched for $170

Buy MINIX NEO U22-XJ Media Hub

MINIX NEO U22-XJ Android 9.0 media hub was first unveiled at IFA 2019 last September. It is the first TV box that I know of equipped with Amlogic S922XJ processor that adds Dolby Vision and Dolby Audio licenses to the more common Amlogic S922X processor. The company has now announced the device will launch on Monday, March 2nd 2020 but without providing any price information. As usual, we know need to wait until the official launch date to find out as MINIX NEO U22-XJ can already be purchased on “MINIX Official Store” in Aliexpress for $169.90 including shipping. MINIX NEO U22-XJ main specifications haven’t changed since the initial announcement, but we do have a few more details:: SoC – Amlogic S922XJ hexa-core processor with four Arm Cortex-A73 cores, two Arm Cortex-A53 cores, Arm Mali-G52MP4 GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage –  32GB eMMC 5.1 flash, microSD card slot Video […]

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