TV box News - Page 16 of 108 - CNX Software

April 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

FCC: That Cheap Chinese TV Box may end up Costing you $147,000

Buying inexpensive TV boxes from China is fun, but in order to provide the lowest possible price, some manufacturers may cut corners, and forgo things like FCC certification. It seems the FCC has noticed an issue an enforcement advisory / public notice entitled “VIDEO TV SET-TOP BOXES, INCLUDING THOSE THAT STREAM INTERNET CONTENT, MUST COMPLY WITH FCC EQUIPMENT AUTHORIZATION REQUIREMENTS” with the threat of fines exceeding $147,000. If you are an individual you may think that you are safe since you are not “marketing” anything, but a footnote explains the meaning of marketing: Importing, advertising and selling are three aspects of “marketing” under the Commission’s rules. The text of the notice further mentions that even just operating the device is a violation, and anyone doing so should stop immediately. The document explains a little more about the fines: Users, manufacturers, importers, and retailers that violate Commission marketing or operating rules […]

April 9, 2019April 9, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

T96G 4G LTE TV Box Sells for under $80

We’ve already covered several 4G LTE TV boxes in the past, but none of those were easy to buy since the manufacturers would mostly sell to distributors and resellers, and there was no way to easily purchase the device online. But this morning, I found out Geniatech started to sell their ATV329A model online for $129 on their own website, so I decided to look for it on Aliexpress, and instead I found out T96G 4G LTE TV box was selling for just under $80. T96G specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905W quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.5 GHz with penta-core Arm Mali-450 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 RAM Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, microSD card slot up to 32GB Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDR support, AV port for composite video Video Decoding – 10-bit H.265, H.264 up to […]

April 7, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

Google OTT Turnkey Solution to Deliver Fast-to-Market Pre-Certified 4K HDR Dongles

Despite Google offering Android TV for an optimized big screen experience, many TV boxes are still running a heavily modified version of Android for smartphone, since it’s not that trivial for manufacturers and TV operators to get certification for Android TV. Operators normally just want their own branded hardware with their own streaming app and/or launcher, and “Google OTT Turnkey” aims to help this section of the market by providing pre-certified OTT (Over-The-Top) hardware with low investment and a quick time to market. The dongle/TV box will come with a voice remote control, include certified for Google services and Netflix, receive firmware from Google, while still allowing operators’ customization. The solution would allow a time to market of about 2 to 3 months. We learned about Google OTT Turnkey in the first part of “the Android TV Workshop” at the Connected TV World Summit 2019. The solution is quickly mentioned […]

April 4, 2019April 5, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 17 Comments

MECOOL KM3 Android TV 9.0 Certified TV Box Sells for $65.99 (Promo)

Several Amlogic S905X2 TV boxes have been launched in the last few months, but most of them are still running a modified version of Android 8.1 for smartphones. MECOOL KM3 is said to be a Google certified TV box running Android 9.0, which has to be Android TV 9.0 since Google will not certify a TV box without their TV optimized operating system. MECOOL KM3 hardware specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905X2 quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor with Mali-G31 MP2 “Dvalin” GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR4 Storage – 64GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot up to 32GB Video & Audio Outputs HDMI 2.1 output up to 4K @ 75 Hz with HDR/HDCP 2.2/CEC 3.5mm AV port (composite + stereo audio) Video Codecs – VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K 60fps, 10-bit H.265 up to 4K 60fps, AVS2-P2 up to 4K 60fps, H.264/AVC up to 4K 30fps, H.264 MVC up to […]

April 2, 2019May 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Ugoos AM6 Fan-Cooled S922X TV Box Coming Soon

We’ve reported about the first Amlogic S922X TV box – Beelink GT1-K – last week, and unsurprisingly more are coming starting with Ugoos AM6. The former appears to the passively cooled, but Ugoos AM6 will include a fan for cooling providing optimal performance for the new Amlogic processor. While we do not have photos of the enclosure so far, Ugoos share with us some pictures of the board and the specifications. Ugoos AM6 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores, Arm Mali-G52 MP6 GPU; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 2GB LPDDR4 RAM (3GB/4GB optional) Storage – 16GB eMMC flash (8GB/32GB optional), micro SD card slot Video Output HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @ 75 Hz with CEC, HDCP 2.2, HDR support 3.5mm AV port for composite video (and stereo audio) Video – 4K UHD H.265/VP9/AVS2 video decoding […]

March 27, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 29 Comments

Beelink GT1-K TV Box Features Amlogic S922X SoC, Android 9.0 OS

Amlogic S922 processor was first shown in roadmaps in early 2018, and since then we know there are at least two variants with Amlogic S922X and S922D processors both coming with Cortex A73 & A53 cores, and an Arm Mali-G52MP GPU, but the latter adds a Neural Network co-processor. So far the only hardware announced with Amlogic S922X was ODROID-N2 SBC, but since most Amlogic processors are primarily designed for TV box, it was just a question of time before we see some Amlogic S922X TV boxes hit the market, and the first model to surface is Beelink GT1-K “King” TV box running Android 9.0 OS. Beelink GT1-K specifications: SoC – Amlogic S922X hexa-core big.LITTLE processor with 4x Arm Cortex A73 cores @ up to 1.8 GHz, 2x Arm Cortex A53 cores @ 1.9 GHz, Arm Mali-G52MP GPU @ 846MHz; 12nm manufacturing process System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 RAM Storage […]

March 11, 2019March 11, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

Phicomm N1 Android 7.1 TV Box Supports Multiple Linux Distributions

I like to look at new hardware platforms supported by Linux mainline, and recently covered MapleBoard MP130 SBC which I found in Linux 5.0 changelog. Today, I had a look at another device. Phicomm N1 is an Amlogic S905D powered TV box running Android 7.1 with a user interface geared towards to the Chinese market. Nothing that interesting so far, but a topic on Armbian forums made it more interesting as the box comes with a larger heatsink than most other cheap TV boxes, a 12V/2A power supply which should allow you to connect several USB hard drives, and potentially more importantly, it became popular among Chinese users, with the community releasing several Linux based distributions for the device including CoreELEC, LibreELEC, Alpine Linux, CentOS, Debian, Deepin, ArchLinux Arm, and more. Phicomm N1 hardware specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905D quad core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.5 GHz with Arm Mali-450 […]

February 20, 2019May 10, 2019 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Tanix TX6 Allwinner H6 TV Box Gets Android 9.0 Firmware

The first Android 9.0 TV boxes appeared a few months ago in some Rockchip RK3328 based models, Amlogic also showcased Android 9 Pie in S905X2 / S905Y2 TV box reference platforms, but so far I don’t think I had heard about Android 9.0 for Allwinner processors. But GeekBuying and Aliexpress are now listing Wechip / Tanix TX6 Allwinner H6 TV box previously launched with Android 7.1, with Android 9.0 Pie instead for $39 and up. Here’s a reminder of Tanix TX6 hardware specifications: SoC – AllWinner H6 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.5 GHz with Mali-T720MP2 GPU System Memory – 4GB DDR3 Storage – 32GB eMMC flash, micro SD card slot up to 128GB Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60hz with HDR support Audio I/F – HDMI, coaxial S/PDIF Video Playback H.265/HEVC Main/Main10 profile @ level 5.2 high-tier up to 4K @ 60fps / 6K […]