In many countries, people get broadband Internet via ADSL or “fiber to the home”, but in some regions, notably the Middle East and Africa, there may not be such option, and people instead rely on cellular networks like 4G LTE for their Internet access. I’ve already covered SDMC TV boxes with a 4G LTE connectivity, but there’s now one more option thanks to Geniatech ATV329 Android TV box powered by Amlogic S905 processor, and including a 4G LTE modem & a SIM card slot. Geniatech Enjoy TV Nano ATV329 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S905 quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 1.5 GHz with a penta-core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, SD card slot Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.0 port Connectivity Ethernet 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6212) with one external antenna GSM, 3G, and 4G connectivity with one external […]
Zidoo X10 Android & OpenWrt TV Box with 3.5″ SATA Bay Sells for $229
Zidoo has sold two TV boxes based on Realtek RTD1295 so far with Zidoo X9S and Zidoo X8, and the company has done a pretty good job based on my review of Zidoo X9S. Both models run Android 6.0 with HDMI input recording and broadcasting functions, as well as OpenWrt for NAS functions, with X8 model relying on USB 3.0 storage, and X9S adding an external SATA port. It would be nice to have a model with an internal SATA bay, and it’s exactly what Zidoo X10 brings to the table. Zidoo X10 specifications with highlights in bold showing differences with Zidoo X9S: SoC – Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + micro SD slot up to 32GB + SATA 3.0 bay for 3.5″ hard drives Video I/O – HDMI 2.0a output up to […]
Sen5 Dual Tuner Android Set-top Box Review – Part 1: Unboxing and Teardown
There are only a few companies manufacturing Android TV boxes with tuners with names like VideoStrong and WeTek coming to mind. Shenzhen Sen5 Technology is another one, and the company sent me one of their DVB combo Android TV boxes for review without providing that many details. So let’s have a look at what I received. Sen5 Android Combo STB Unboxing The product might be not ready for retail just yet, as I received it in an old carton box. Once I remove all the bubble wraps, I ended up with the device, an IR remote control, and a 12V/1.5A power supply. Once the product is actually launched I’d expect you’d receive a retail package and a user’s manual too. The box itself is made of plastic with plenty of randomly arranged (ventilation) holes on the top. The front panel comes with an IR window and a “Standby button”, one […]
Clarity Android Speaker with Touchscreen Display Supports Both Alexa and Google Assistant (Crowdfunding)
Android speakers with a touchscreen display has been around for a while, but Clarify speaker adds support for both Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant’s “OK Google”. The 5W stereo speaker also comes with a quad core processor coupled with 16GB storage and 1GB RAM, a 7″ touchscreen display, and a battery. Clarity specifications: SoC – Unnamed Quad core processor System Memory – You wish you knew Storage – 16GB flash + micro SD slot Display – 7″ touchscreen display with 1280×800 resolution Video Output – HDMI output (added with $250,000 stretch goal) Audio – 2x 5W speaker, built-in microphone, AUX port Connectivity – Dual band WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0 Camera – 2MP front-facing camera USB – 1x mini USB port Misc – Control buttons Power Supply 12V/1.5A via power barrel 1.600 mAh / 7.4V LiPo battery good for 6 hours of music playback or 2.5 hours of video playback. Dimensions – […]
Allwinner H6 Processor for 4K HDR Set-Top Boxes Supports USB 3.0, PCIe, and Smart Card Interfaces
Allwinner H6 is a new quad core Cortex A53 processor designed for 4K set-top boxes. It will support “6K” video decoding for 10-bit HEVC, VP9, and H.264, integrate HDR10 and HLG video processing, support high speed interfaces like USB 3.0 and PCIe, as well as security features like two ISO7816 smart card interfaces and DRM solutions. Allwinner H6 specifications: CPU – Quad-core ARM Cortex A53 with NEON, hardware Java acceleration, and FPU 3D GPU – Dual shader ARM Mali-T720 with support for OpenGL ES3.1/3.0/2.0/1.1, OpenCL 1.1/RenderScript, Microsoft DirectX 11 FL9_3 Memory I/F – DDR4/DDR3/DDR3L interface Storage I/F – 1x eMMC 5.0 flash interface, 1x NAND Flash interface for SLC/MLC/TLC flash memory with up to 80-bit error-correcting code (ECC), 1x SPI NOR Flash interface, 1x SD Card 2.0 Multimedia via Allwinner Phoenix 3.0 VE Engine Video Decoder H265/HEVC Main/Main10 profile@Level5.1 High-tier ;4K@60fps, up to 6Kx4K@30fps H264/AVC BP/MP/HP@level5.1, MVC, 4K@30fps VP9,Profile 0/2, […]
MeLE V9 4K Android TV Box Comes with a 3.5″ SATA Slot, a Cooling Fan
We’ve seen several devices based on Realtek RTD1295 processor. They all come with a SATA interface, either via an external connector like Zidoo X9S, a 2.5″ SATA bay like Beelink SEA I, or a 3.5″ SATA bay as found in Eweat R9 Plus. However, all those devices are fanless, and at least one person expressed concerns when using a device with an internal hard drive without active cooling. MeLE V9 fills that gap, as the RTD1295 TV box features a 3.5″ SATA slot and an active fan for cooling both the device and the hard drive. MeLE V9 specifications: SoC – Realtek RTD1295 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash + 3.5″ SATA slot + SD/SDXC card slot Video I/O – HDMI 2.0a output up to 4K @ 60 Hz with 10-bit HDR support, AV port, and […]
Instreamer App Streams Zidoo X8/X9S/X10 HDMI Video Input to YouTube Live / RTMP Servers with FFmpeg
Zidoo X8, X9S and the upcoming X10, are TV boxes powered by Realtek RTD1295 processor with an HDMI input. The stock firmware already supports UDP broadcasting, but robbi5 decided he needed more, and designed Instreamer “HDMI IN Streamer” app leveraging work from Danman’s ZidoStream app for Mstar TV boxes and Zidoo’s own VideoAndHdmiIN app. Instreamer app supports the following: Streaming as MPEG-TS to network (unicast/multicast) Streaming in FLV format to RTMP server (e.g. Youtube) No need for intermediate recording file – thus no length limit Streaming runs in background HDMI out is usable as pass-through That looks good. Installation is easy. Download and install the latest Instreamer APK release Download and extract FFmpeg Android binaries to /mnt/sdcard You’ll be able to adjust a few video and audio settings after launching the app (not tested as I don’t have X9S anymore). You can now start a terminal, and stream HDMI input […]
Mecool KIII Pro Hybrid STB Review – Part 2: Android Firmware, TV Center, and DVB-T2 & DVB-S2 App
Last year I reviewed K1 Plus T2 S2, an Android TV box powered by Amlogic S905 quad core processor with DVB-T2 and DVB-S2 tuner support, which worked with some caveats. VideoStrong has now send me an updated model with Amlogic S912 octa-core processor, which I presented in the post entitled Mecool KIII Pro Hybrid Android STB Review – Part 1: Specs, Unboxing and Teardown, where I listed the specifications, and showed photos of the device and the boards (main board + tuner board). I’ve now had time to play with the device, and in many respects the user experience is very similar to the one I got with KI Plus T2 S2 models, but there are also some tweaks, and a few bugs which I’ll report in the second part of the review below. KIII Pro Hybrid TV Box Setup, Settings, & Power Consumption The four USB ports are really […]