TV box News - Page 63 of 108 - CNX Software

October 1, 2015October 1, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Nvidia Shield Android TV vs Apple TV vs Roku 3 vs Fire TV vs Nexus Player – Video Capabilities and Features Comparison

Since Nvidia released the Shield Android TV box, I’ve heard several people saying Nvidia raised the bar and even disrupted the TV box market by bringing a powerful HTPC and gaming console to the market for just $199. The company has now released OTA 2.0 firmware that improves HTPC capabilities, including under Kodi and Plex, and the box supports for 10-bit HEVC, H.264, and VP9 @ 4K, and audio pass-through for HD audio codecs such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master. As part of the release announcement, Nvidia also compared the Shield TV media capabilities to the ones of other US centric media players, namely Apple TV (2015), Roku 3, Amazon Fire TV (2015), and Nexus Player. Since it comes from Nvidia, it was also going to show the Shield TV in a good light, but I’m very surprised to see that Apple, Amazon, Google, and Roku would ship a […]

September 29, 2015September 29, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

ARNU Box Mach Q Kodi 15 Linux TV Box Specs, Unboxing and Teardown

After having a look at ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux earlier today, I’ll move on to its little brother ARNU Box Mach Q featuring an Amlogic S805 processor with support for H.265 video playback at Full HD. I’ll start by listing the specs, then I’ll take a few pictures, and finally check the board. ARNU Box Mach Q (Pure Linux) specifications Again, the hardware specifications are pretty standard: SoC – Amlogic S805 quad core ARM Cortex A5 @ 1.5GHz with quad core Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8 GB storage + SD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Video Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p60, AV output Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports Misc – IR sensor, Status and Net LEDs Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – 107.5 x 107.5 x […]

September 29, 2015June 11, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 14 Comments

ARNU Box Mach 10 Pure Linux TV Box Specs, Unboxing, and Teardown

Theater in a Box sent me not one – as expected – but two of their latest “Pure Linux” Kodi media player: ARNU Box Mach 10 powered by Amlogic S812 SoC, and ARNU Box Q based on Amlogic S805 processor. The former has a faster processor, and supports 4K, while the later is cheaper but is limited to 1080p. Today, I’ll have a look at the hardware of both devices, starting with ARNU Box Mach 10, before completing the S812 Linux box review in a few days. ARNU Box Mach 10 Specifications The hardware specifications are pretty similar to what the rest of the market is offering: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2.0 GHz with octa-core Mali-450MP6 GPU System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB flash, SD card slot Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 (AP6330 wireless module) […]

September 28, 2015January 18, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 8 Comments

Infomir MAG Linux & Android Set-top-boxes Feature STMicro or Broadcom Processors, Support Open Source IPTV Solution

Infomir is a group of companies that specializes on the development, design, production and maintenance of equipment and client support for IPTV, OTT and VoD services, with offices in Ukraine and the US. They’ve been selling their Linux based MAG set-top-boxes based on STMicro STB SoC for a little while, and their upcoming model include either STMicro or Broadcom processor, and have support for “Stalker” open source IPTV middleware that allow their customers to setup their own IPTV services for thousands of clients. Their upcoming MAG products fit into three categories: Basic IPTV set-top boxes (no tuner) MAG257 – STMicro STiH301 single core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.5GHz with 512 MB RAM, 512MB storage, USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports, Ethernet, HDMI 1.4. The box runs Linux, and supports HEVC decoding up to 1080p. Hybrid set-top boxes MAG277 – STMicro STiH301 single core Cortex A9 processor @ 1.6GHz with 1 GB […]

September 28, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Zidoo 12K Video Player Plays…12K Videos (on 3 Synchronized 4K UHD TV)

Zidoo Android TV boxes have often been featured in this blog, but the company also has products for the industrial market such as their 4K streaming player outputting the same video to up to 8 monitors, and a “12K video player” that outputs a video to three monitors @ 3840×2160 resolution. Zidoo strength is software and support, and they are not a hardware company, and while so far they have partnered with Kaiboer for their Android media players, if the picture above is any indication, they are using Skydigita SDG-3112 player as the hardware platform. The list of specifications and features currently released are unfortunately quite sparse: Video Playback Single 12K video outputted to three 3840×2160 monitors @ 30Hz max, 1080p also supported Codecs – H.265 and H.264 decoding. Containers – TS, MKV, AVI, VOB, MPG, MPEG, MOV. Iimage formats – JPG, JPEG, GIF, PCX, PNG. Video Output – 3x […]

September 25, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Android TV Box and OpenELEC Video Tutorials

WeTek has released several video tutorials explaining how to configure WeTek TV boxes such as WeTek Play or WeTek OpenELEC, as well as the upcoming WeTel Core. The tutorials includes instructions for both Android and OpenELEC available in 6 languages: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and German. Some tutorials are clearly specific to WeTek products, such as “How to Activate WeTek Play membership”, but many of the tutorials are more generic starting from simple configurations steps like configuring HDMI output resolution and framerate, or configuring the network, to more advanced tasks such as configuring a DVB-S2 tuner on TVHeadend in OpenELEC. I’ve embedded the latter video tutorial below for reference. Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011. www.cnx-software.com

September 22, 2015September 22, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 18 Comments

A Look at Android and Windows Mini PCs’ Power Consumption in Power Off, Standby, Idle, and Video Playback Modes

I’ve previously measured power consumption of Amlogic S812 and Rockchip RK3288 based TV boxes using a multimeter. This provides relatively accurate measurements, as well as neat power consumption profiles of devices, but it’s a little complex and time-consuming, so it’s not something I would do for all devices. The easiest way to measure power consumption is to use a kill-a-watt type of device, but my first one broke after only 3 months last year. I purchased a new one recently, so I run run some power measurement tests on several devices. I selected five devices for this test: MeLE PCG01 HDMI stick with Intel Atom Z3735F processor running Windows 10 Zidoo X9 TV box with Mstar MSO9810 running Android 4.4 Open Hour Chameleon TV box with Rockchip RK3288 processor running Android 4.4 Tronsmart Orion R68 Meta TV box with Rockchip RK3368 processor running Android 5.1 Tronfy MXIV TV box with […]

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 3 Comments

Open Hour Gecko 4K Android Player Features Hisilicon Hi3798M Processor

Cloud Media has just introduced yet another media player with Open Hour Gecko, an Android TV box powered by Hisilicon Hi3798M quad core Cortex A7 processor supporting H.265 and video output up to 4K @ 30Hz. Open Hour Gecko specifications: SoC – HiSilicon Hi3798M quad core ARM Cortex A7 processor @ 1.5GHz with a quad core ARM Mali-450MP GPU. System Memory – 1 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND Flash + micro SD slot Video Out – HDMI up to 4K @ 30Hz, and 3.5 mm jack AV jack Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, built-in 802.11 b/g/n WiFi with external antenna USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 host port Misc – Power switch (On/Off) Power Supply – 5V/2A Dimensions – N/A The device ships with a power adapter, HDMI and AV cables, a remote control with batteries, a Quick Start […]