Less than two weeks ago I mentioned the Rockchip 3288 device coming from Rikomagic.
Folks at RKM officially confirmed me today that we’ll see their RKM MK802-II device up for sale in less than one month.
I will be testing a sample and there will be a full review, so stay tuned 🙂
Monthly Archives: May 2014
RTD1195 production delayed
Realtek was late to the party (bringing a dual core chipset in 2014) and it seems that we might wait more until the first android TV box powered by RTD1195 will be on the shelves.
My sources just informed me that Mele Realtek RTD1195 items will be delayed one month, and Egreat’s – even more – postponed until late August!
So Realtek fans will have to wait more, and perhaps they will be tempted to test and buy the other novelties (Amlogic S802, Mstar MSO9180 and Rockchip 3288)
A few details about Mstar MSO9180
[Update] – list of Mstar MSO9180 Mini PC’s as of January 2015
As said before, May is an interesting month.
Here’s what I’ve learned today:
3 manufacturers are now preparing android TV boxes based on not-so-known Mstar MSO9180 chipset.
Features:
– Quad core, Arm Cortex A9, 1.5Ghz
– Mali 450MP4
– up to 4 GB of RAM
– 4K/2K (up to 4096×2160@30fps)
– NAND or eMMC
– Gigabit ethernet
– USB 2.0 and 3.0
There’s also a Mstar MSO9180-DB2 version, used by Egreat A9, which can support 7.1 RAW audio passthrough.
Minix Neo X8 and X8-H
[Update: Androidpc.es found the prices in USD to be a little lower – $149 and $129 – prices in EUR are still the ones mentioned below.]
Neo X8-H will be available on June 4th and Minix Neo X8 will be available one week later.
Minix just put an end to all rumors and announced that their new Amlogic S802 models will start shipping in early June.
And now we also have the retail prices: 125 € (~ 171 USD) for the top model Neo X8-H and 110 € (~150 USD) for the Neo X8.
You can find below a short side by side comparison between the two Minix X8 models.
| Minix Neo X8 | Minix Neo X8-H | |
|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Amlogic S802 | Amlogic S802-H |
| Processor | Quad core, Cortex A9 | Quad core, Cortex A9 |
| GPU | Octo core, Mali 450 | Octo core, Mali 450 |
| Memory | 2GB DDR3 | 2GB DDR3 |
| Storage | 8GB – eMMC | 16GB – eMMC |
| Wireless | Dual Band (2.4/5.8GHz) + Bluetooth 4.0 | Dual Band (2.4/5.8GHz) + Bluetooth 4.0 |
| OS | Android 4.4 KitKat | Android 4.4 KitKat |
| Remote control | Standard IR Remote | Minix M1 airmouse |
Mele RTD1195 products
A few days ago I mentioned Realtek RTD1195 which seems to be used on new Egreat and Mele products.
And here are some exclusive (from I can tell) info about the Mele Realtek 1195 products:
– 3 products will be launched in June (see below).
– we now know for sure that the GPU is Mali 400MP2
– support for H.256 (3840×2160p / 30fps) and 1080p / 60fps
– Android 4.4
– might feature an HDMI 1.4 input next to the HDMI 1.4a output
– DLNA, Miracast Airplay
– Dolby Digital, Digital Plus, TrueHD passthrough
– DTS 2.0/5.1/7.1 MasterAudio
– XBMC – hardware decoding will be possible via a future update (Q3)
– DRM support: Widevine & PlayReady
– Remote via smartphone
here are the specs for each model
| Mele ? | Mele G09 (G39/G29) | Mele M11 (M23) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chipset | Realtek RTD1195 | Realtek RTD1195 | Realtek RTD1195 |
| Extra function | Small form-factor | Extrenal SATA/Internal 2.5” bay | Internal 3.5” bay |
| RAM | 1GB DDR3 (4x256MB) | 1GB DDR3 (4x256MB) | 1GB DDR3 (4x256MB) |
| Internal – eMMC | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Wireless | Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4Ghz/802.11 ac | Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4Ghz/802.11 ac | Bluetooth 4.0, 2.4Ghz/802.11 ac |
| External antenna | No | Yes | Yes |
| USB 2.0 Host | x2 | x2 | x2 |
| USB 3.0 Host | x1 | x1 | x1 (+1 slave) |
| Gigabit LAN | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DVB-T/DVB-T2 option | No | Available in Q3 | Available in Q3 |
| DVB-T/DVB-T2 option | No | Available in Q3 | Available in Q3 |
Everything about Realtek RTD1195
News surfaced this week about at least two Chinese manufacturers that will release in a matter of weeks android TV boxes based on some little known Realtek processor: Realtek RTD1195
So I’ve asked my contacts for the Realtek RTD1195 specs and here they are:
– dual core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU
– dual core GPU (perhaps Mali-400)
– built-in Streaming Engine for OSD/2D user interface
– Video DSP (with hardware acceleration) – dedicated to encoding/decoding of various formats, including H.265 (“4K2K”), 1080P Mpeg1/2/4, H.264, H.264 MVC, AVC/VC-1, AVS, AVS Plus, HD Jpeg (max 32k x 32k).
(video encoding and decoding can run simultaneously)
– Audio DSP (with hardware acceleration) – with DTTS HD, Dolby Digital Plus, TrueHD. Supports 7.1 channels downmix.
Formats: AAC, WAV, FLAC, OGG Vorbis – LPCM
– HDMI 1.4 receiver and transmitter (with PHY), HDCP, CEC, supporting 3D over HDMI
– MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link) with PHY
– USB 2.0 OTG
– USB 3.0 host+slave
– NAND, eMMC (4.5), NOR controller
– SD/MMC card reader
– Gigabit ethernet
– bluetooth
– IrDA receiver and transmitter
– dual transport stream interfaces
– support for DRM /link protection (PlayReady, Widevine)
Conclusions:
– this CPU is not nealy as fast as the ones mentioned in the news (RK3288 or Amlogic S802).
– based on Realtek past history, android TV boxes using this chipset are likely to have a better image quality than the other chipsets behind the current android TV boxes.
– it will be slightly cheaper than the RK3288 or Amlogic 802 boxes
First Rockchip 3288 device coming soon – Rikomagic MK902-II
May is an interesting month, many new products are (finally) announced and will surface soon.
One of them is the Rikomagic MK902-II – first device announced by a reputable Chinese android TV box manufacturer.
This is an interesting move done by Rikomagic (now known as RKM) since their brand is almost synonymous with HDMI dongles and , for the first time, they announced an full-sized TV box with this new chip.
What to expect:
– CPU: Rockchip 3288 Quad Core (1.8 Ghz)
– GPU: Mali-T764 3D GPU
– RAM: 2GB
– 8/16GB space
– built-in camera (5 Mpx)
– 3G USB dongle support
– Gigabit LAN