CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

February 16, 2015February 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

M9 Android TV Box Based on Amlogic S812 Sells for $63 (Promo)

M9 (aka E8 Plus) is yet another Android media player powered by Amlogic S812 with 2GB RAM and 8GB flash, but it’s currently selling for $62.71 including shipping on Aliexpress from a seller with positive feedback. The offer is valid for 17 hours more. M9 specifications: SoC – Amlogic S812 quad core cortex A9r4 @ 2 GHz with octa-core Mali-450MP6 GPU @ 600+ MHz System Memory – 2 GB DDR3 Storage – 8GB NAND flash + SD card socket Connectivity – 10/100M Ethernet, dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4b up to 4K2K @ 30 Hz, AV port Audio Output – HDMI, AV, optical S/PDIF Video Codecs – 4k2k H.264, H.265 UHD, HD MPEG1/2/4, AVC/VC-1, RM/RMVB, Xvid/DivX3/4/5/6, RealVideo8/9/10, Audio Formats/Codecs – MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, APE, AC3, AAC etc… Dolby TrueHD & DTS-HD pass-through USB – 3x USB 2.0 host ports Misc – Power […]

February 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 9 Comments

HD18T Android DVB-T2 Receiver Mini Review

I’ve had HD18T Android TV box with a DVB-T2 tuner for several months, but I’ve only installed a roof antenna recently, so I’ve decided to give it another try since my indoor antenna did not pick-up any signal with that box. The set-top box is also known as EM6-T2 or HD18T2, and features Amlogic AML8726-MX dual Cortex A9 processor which has been used in numerous boxes in the past, so I will only focus on my experience with the DVB app in this mini review. If you want to use DVB-T2 go straight to the right and click on DVB app. Where you’ll then be greeted with a pop-up windowsasking if if you want to scan channels. You can do autoscan, manual scan (for one frequency), select the area (France/Taiwan/UK/Italy/Australia only), and enable/disable LCN (Logical Channel Numbering). At first I selected “Australia”, and the system did not find any channels, […]

ArmSoM CM5 Raspberry Pi CM4 alternative with Rockchip RK3576 SoC

February 16, 2015September 25, 2016 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 11 Comments

HiSilicon D02 Server Board Supports up to 64 ARM Cortex A57 Cores

HiSilicon has showcased their latest server SoC and board at Linaro Connect Hong Kong 2015, with up to two processors with 32 Cortex A57 cores @ 2.1GHz, 8 DIMM DDR3 slots (up to 128 GB RAM), 12 SATA ports, 4 PCIe slots, 10GbE / GbE ports. D02 board specifications: SoC – Hisilicon PhosphorV660 Hip05 with 16 to 32 ARM Cortex-A57 cores @ up to 2.1GHz and 1MB L2 cache/cluster, 32MB L3 cache System Memory – 2x Memory channel 4x DDR3 DIMM(4x DIMM per processor) Storage 12x SAS 3.0 ports @ 12 Gbps (8 for the first processor, 4 for the second). SAS port are compatible with SATA drives. You may want to read SAS vs SATA post for more details about SAS. 2x SPI Flash 158Mb BIOS/UEFI 1Gb NorFlash Connectivity – 2×10/100/1000Mbit/s Gigabit Ethernet ports, 2x xGE SFP+ ports (10Gb/s) Expansion – 2x 8x PCI express interfaces per processor (4 […]

February 15, 2015February 16, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 37 Comments

EZCap 280 Records Videos up to 1080p via HDMI or Component

The recent release of Mstar 9810 based media players with video recording capabilities via HDMI input such as Zidoo X9 and Egreat A9, as made me wonder about standalone 1080p HDMI recording boxes, so I’ve had a look, and several products are available, but EZCap 280 seems one of the most affordable and popular, and beside HDMI input, it can also take component input. Some of EZCap 280 specifications: Video / Audio Input HDMI 1.4 Component video connector with YPbPr and stereo audio; 3.5mm jacks for LINE IN and Microphone Video / Audio Output – HDMI, and LINE OUT Recording Format – MPEG4 AVI with AAC stereo audio. Up to 18 Mbps @ 1080p30. Input Standards Supported – 720×480@60Hz, 720×576@50hz, 720p50/60, 1080i50/60, 1080p24/25/30 USB – 1x USB 2.0 Host port for USB mass storage connection. Misc – LED, REC button Dimensions – 11 cm x 7.4 cm x 2.5 cm […]

February 13, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

Advantech UBC-220 Freescale i.MX6 RISC Compact Box Is Made for Wall-Mounting

If somehow you need a fanless ARM Linux / Android computer with lots of mounting holes, Advantech UBC-220 might be what you are looking for. The company’s “Freescale i.MX6 RISC Compact Box” features a Freescale i.M6 Solo or DualLite processor with up to 1GB RAM, 4GB eMMC, Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI and LVDS, a COM port, and more. Product specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Solo/DualLite up to 1GHz with Vivante GPU System Memory – 512MB to 1GB DDR3 @ 1066 MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC for OS, 4MB SPI flash for Advantech bootloader, 1x SD card slot Video Output / Display – 1x HDMI, 1x 18/24-bit LVDS Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet (limited to 470Mbps due to i.MX6 internal limitation). Optional 3G/Wi-Fi via mini-PCIe slots. External antenna connector included. USB – 1x USB 2.0 type A, 1x micro USB 2.0 OTG Serial – 1x 4-wire UART Expansion 1x full size mini PCIe […]

February 13, 2015February 14, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 16 Comments

Egreat A9 Quad Core Android Media Player Comes with HDMI Input, a 3.5″ SATA Bay

Egreat A9 was first shown in spring last year with a Realtek RTD1195 processor, but it’s only now that I could see it for sale. But just like Zidoo X9, the device is now powered by Mstar MSO9810 quad core processor, and features an HDMI input port with PVR capabilities, but adds an internal 3.5″ SATA bay, double the internal storage (16GB eMMC), as well as a Gigabit Ethernet port. Egreat A9 specifications: SoC – Mstar MSO9180-DB2 quad core Cortex A9 processor up to 1.5GHz with an ARM Mali-450MP GPU System Memory – 2GB DDR3 Storage – 16 GB eMMC flash + 3.5″ internal SATA bay Video Output / Input – HDMI 1.4b output up to 4K30, HDMI input (1080p) with PVR support Audio I/O – HDMI Out and In, and optical S/PDIF Video Containers & Codecs DAT, MPEG, MPE, MPG, TS, TP, VOB, ISO, AVI, MP4, MOV, 3GP, FLV, […]

Rockchip RK3568, RK3588 and Intel x86 SBCs abd SoMs

February 13, 2015August 30, 2015 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 47 Comments

How To Install Ubuntu 15.04 on MeLE PCG03 Intel Mini PC

I’ve already spent some time to test MeLE PCG03 Bay Trail-T mini PC in Windows 8.1, including a detailed video and audio review in Kodi 14.1. Since I don’t have anything else to do with Windows on the machine, I’ve decided to install Ubuntu instead, completely wiping out Windows 8.1. Since you pay around $30 for the Windows license, MeLE PCG03 is not the ideal platform computer for this little exercise due to the extra cost, but it should also work with other Intel Atom Z3735F based computer that may not come with a license. At first I planed to go with Ubuntu 14.10 Mate ISO image, and it boots fine, but was curious to try from “scratch” with another ISO, so I went with Ubuntu 15.04 Alpha 2 (64-bit) image. I just went to the first link Google Search provided me and did not pay attention enough, and ended-up […]

February 12, 2015May 29, 2017 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Raspberry Pi, Banana Pi, and ODROID-C1 Boards Power Consumption

Mikronauts has recently reviewed MIPS Creator CI20, ODROID-C1, and Raspberry Pi 2 Model B. R-PI 2 review is especially interesting since this is the last one, and the reviewer goes to compare all Raspberry Pi models (A, A+, B, B+ and 2 B) with Banana Pi, Banana Pro, MIPS Creator CI20, and ODROID-C1 development boards. The benchmark results are good to know, and expected with ODROID-C1 the fastest of the bunch both in terms of CPU and storage performance, but here I’ll just share the results of his power consumptions testing. Since all platforms are powered by a 5V power supply, I’ve converted the results into watts. Model Max (W) Avg (W) Off (W) A 1.07 0.80 0.15 A+ 0.76 0.48 0.125 B 2.45** 2.12 0.62 B+ 1.20 1.15 0.35 2 B 2.25 1.55 0.325 Banana Pi 2 1.25 0 Banana Pro 2.3 1.62 0 Odroid-C1 2.3 1.62 0.735* * […]

Boardcon Rockchip RK3588S SBC with 8K, WiFI 6, 4G LTE, NVME SSD, HDMI 2.1...