wetek News - Page 5 of 5 - CNX Software

December 29, 2014December 29, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

WeTek Play Review with Android 4.2.2 Firmware v1.1.1

I had already reviewed WeTek Play Android DVB-S2 STB this summer, but at the time it was still an early sample, so the company asked me to review it again with the latest firmware that includes bug fixes and new features such as WeCloud Antenna IPTV service with over 180 Live TV channels, now that they’ve officially launched WeTek Play with either a DVB-S2 tuner as in my sample, a DVB-T/T2/C tuner, or no tuner at all. You can find pictures of WeTek Play in my unboxing post. As usual the review will include my first impressions, video testing, and various benchmark, but I’ll also have sections for WeCloud Antenna Live TV over IP service, and WeTek Theater for live TV from my satellite dish. OTA Firmware Update But first of all, I’ll test OTA firmware update, as many companies claim to support OTA updates, but you often end up […]

December 27, 2014May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Best Android Mini PCs Awards of 2014

I’ve reviewed quite a few Android media players this year, and as 2014 comes to an end, I thought it might be worth writing a best of 2014. But it’s difficult to announce an overall winner since all have some flaws one way or another, I’ll classified by categories: Best Ethernet, Best Internal Storage, … a bit like for “Oscars ceremony awards, based mostly on objective results from my tests. However, and somewhat oddly for a media player, I won’t select any TV boxes based on their video playback capabilities, as so far I haven’t found one that can play most 4K / H.265 videos reasonably well in Kodi, and video playback tests are also subjective. This is obviously a flawed contest as they all are, because in order to be nominated, the media player must have been reviewed on CNX Software. But it should be fun anyway, so let’s […]

December 20, 2014December 26, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

Android 5.0 Lollipop Running on Amlogic AML8726-MX Based WeTek Play STB

Last month as Android Lollipop was shown booting on a Rockchip RK3188 tablet, and a few days later several companies such as Allwinner and Rockchip announced Android 5.0 ports were in progress for their latest processors, a few people asked me: what about Amlogic? I had no news at the time, but I expected the company to port Android 5.0 to their recent processor such as S802, S805, or S812, so I was surprised when I saw WeTek Play might be the first Amlogic device to boot Android 5.0 (CyanogenMod version), since it features the old dual core Amlogic AML8726-MX processor. The company has just released their latest Android 4.2 firmware, so this Android 5.0.1 version is most probably an early firmware, just not quite ready for prime time just yet, but hopefully they’ll release a stable version within a few weeks. That’s the boot and About WeTek Play video […]

December 13, 2014December 13, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 27 Comments

WeTek Play Android & Linux DVB-S2 / DVB-C/T/T2 Receivers are Now Available for 109 Euros

I reviewed Wetek Play Android media player with a DVB-S2 tuner this summer, and although I found it pretty good for a dual core media player, and liked its PVR functions, more work was needed to fix several bugs, and improve “WeTek Theater Live TV” app. Several months later, they must consider their devices ready, as they’ve now launched their online store selling the DVB-S2 and DVB-C/T/T2 versions for 109 Euros, and a version without DVB tuner for 99 Euros, all including free shipping worldwide. Let’s remind us of the specifications: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with a dual core Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash + 1x micro SD slot Video Output – HDMI, AV (CVBS + R/L audio) Audio Output – HDMI, AV, and optical S/PDIF Tuners – DVB-S2, or DVB-C/DVB-T/DVB-T2 depending on model with two […]

August 24, 2014June 22, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Linux (Enlightenment and Lubuntu) in WeTek Play Amlogic TV Box

Last week I reviewed WeTek Play, a TV box with two DVB-S2 tuners, powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core ARM Cortex A9 processor, and running Android 4.2, but the company also released several Linux based images including one with Enlightenment window manager, and another, temporary one, with Ubuntu core which allows you to install Lubuntu or Xubuntu with apt-get. There are also working on OpenELEC, but have not released the binary yet. Today, I’ll try the Enlightenment image because it also supports hardware video decoding via Gplay (gstreamer), and show how to install Lubuntu. The instructions below have been done in a computer running Ubuntu 14.04, but a Windows computer can also be used. Download Wetek-Linux.img.bz2 Connect a micro SD card to your computer, extract and flash Wetek-Linux.img: In Linux using a terminal window:

bzip2 -d Wetek-LInux.img.bz2
sudo dd if=Wetek-Linux.img of=/dev/sdd bs=1M
sync

bzip2 -d Wetek-LInux.img.bz2

sudo dd if=Wetek-Linux.img of=/dev/sdd bs=1M

sync

In Windows, extract the image, and use Win32DiskImager to copy the image to your micro SD […]

August 16, 2014December 29, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 24 Comments

Review of WeTek Play Android DVB-S2 Satellite Receiver

[Update, December 29, 2014: You may want to read the updated WeTek Play Review with newer firmware including IPTV services, and bug fixes] I’ve already posted pictures of WeTek Play and its boards, and now it’s time to do a full review of this Android DVB-S2 receiver / media player. I’ll start by giving my first impressions, going through the system settings, testing my library of video test files, as well as DVB-S2 support via WeTek Theater, and check most of hardware features. I’ll also test network and storage performance, before running Antutu benchmark to make sure the device runs at optimal speed. First Boot, Settings and First Impressions Contrary to the vast majority of devices, WeTek Play does not come with a basically useless infrared remote, but instead an RF air mouse with an IR transmitter in order to provide true power ON/OFF capabilities. The remote is very nice […]

August 14, 2014August 15, 2014 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 22 Comments

Unboxing of WeTek Play DVB-S2 Android / Linux STB

WeTek Electronics, a company based in Hong Kong, has sent me an Android TV powered by Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 processor. Nothing new here, but I was very very interested in reviewing it because it includes a DVB-S2 tuner, and on top of their stock Android firmware, the company provides various Android and Linux firmware files such as CyanogenMod, ParanoidAndroid, OpenELEC, Linux with Enlightenment desktop environment, Lubuntu 14.04 and so on. Today, I’ll list the hardware specifications of the device, show some unboxing pictures and video, and as usual, open the device to see what’s inside. I’ll provide a full review in one or two more posts. WeTek Play Specifications Apart from the DVB-S2 tuner are the serial port, the hardware specifications sound familiar: SoC – Amlogic AML8726-MX dual core Cortex A9 @ 1.5GHz with Mali-400MP GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 Storage – 4 GB NAND flash […]