What would be your ideal specs of an Android Set Top Box?
#1
Just wondering what everyone's opinion would be on the ideal set top box, and what accessories would it include, and what would the firmware be like?
Reply
#2
let's see....

CPU
---------

the Rk3066 chip already proved it can perform like king in benchmarks..
it can handle pretty much any android game there is to date and it's cheap to buy....
on the quad-core side, RK3188 chip is said to be as powerful as a samsung exynos quad-core chip.
but so far, i see only tablets popping out on the market with RK3188 chip...

samsung exynos 4412 quad-core is powerful too, just check the odroid-u2 device.

and of course, there's the ouya box that uses nvidia tegra3 chip.
altho a quad-core, it seems less powerful then the exynos a bit...

so, you choose, but, for me,best buy fo price vs performance ratio = RK3188


RAM
------------

1GB is ok but would prefer to have 2GB...


STORAGE
----------------

well, the more the better but these days, with sd cards, storage is easily expendable so, no worries..
but to house the android o/s, something like the odroid-u2 has, the emmc module, would be cool.


WiFi
------------

well, of course, we all want reliable wifi, nothing more frustrating then having signal disconnect issues,,,


SHAPE
--------------

i prefer a setup box more then a usb stick.
mainly because it looks better but thats me.
i dont like the usb sticks look with all cables plugged into it..
looks like a mess... but its portable so, depends on what you wanna do with your device...


ACCESSORIES
---------------------

A simple MELE F10 Fly mouse like controls... seems perfect..
they should only optimize it for android use by rethinking certain buttons
and make the buttons backlit like on those ipazzPort wireless keyboards...


MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL
----------------------------------------

A good company that works constantly to improve the firmware for its device.
powerful hardware with buggy firmware = nightmare experience.
poor firmware development pretty much means you'll be stuck with the issues your experiencing...
thus making your purchase a bad one....
Also, a company that has an easy way to be contacted, preferably using a FORUM
where people can exchange easily and help each other...
Reply
#3
For me :

Set top box form-factor
Decent IR remote control

Multiple frame rate outputs (23.976/24/50/59.94/60) at 720p and 1080p
(Ideally also allowing for native interlaced output at 480i, 576i and 1080i)
(3D not a big issue for me - but I guess frame packed 1080p at 23.976/24Hz would be useful for many?)

HDMI HD Audio bitstreaming (Dolby True HD / DTS HD-HR and MA)
HDMI PCM Multichannel audio (for multichannel PCM and multichannel AAC audio - as used for some DVB broadcasts)
HDMI AC3/DTS bitstreamed output and decoded to PCM 2.0
Toslink PCM2.0/AC3/DTS bitstream output

Ethernet
WiFi
USB2.0 Host x 2 minimum
(Nice to have either SATA or USB3.0 for higher speed disk access.)

And be brilliant if it had either USB DVB (and I guess ATSC/ISDB) adaptor support or was available with integrated DVB-T2 or DVB-S2 tuners.

RAM - 1GB should be fine, and a Dual Core CPU to allow for PVR recording duties as well as playback? (TV Headend integration would be good)

CPU/SoC choice - whoever provides decent OpenSource support for their GPU and their VPU such that it can decode 1080p, 720p, 576i/p and 480i/p at up to 60Hz (1080p could stop at 30Hz), and do decent de-interlacing from 1080i to 1080p at full refresh rate (i.e. 1080/50i to 1080/50p not 25p).

(And to be honest - either Linux or Android would be fine for me. In fact I think Linux may be preferable?)
Reply
#4
(2013-02-13, 11:02)eskro Wrote: let's see....

CPU
---------

the Rk3066 chip already proved it can perform like king in benchmarks..
it can handle pretty much any android game there is to date and it's cheap to buy....
on the quad-core side, RK3188 chip is said to be as powerful as a samsung exynos quad-core chip.
but so far, i see only tablets popping out on the market with RK3188 chip...

Isn't there no Hardware decoding on Rock Chip though?
Reply
#5
(2013-02-13, 11:02)eskro Wrote: MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL
----------------------------------------

A good company that works constantly to improve the firmware for its device.
powerful hardware with buggy firmware = nightmare experience.
poor firmware development pretty much means you'll be stuck with the issues your experiencing...
thus making your purchase a bad one....
Also, a company that has an easy way to be contacted, preferably using a FORUM
where people can exchange easily and help each other...

Couldnt agree more...
and i think only Pivos offers that
(unless there is someone else i do not know Smile )...
Reply

Logout Mark Read Team Forum Stats Members Help
What would be your ideal specs of an Android Set Top Box?0