little Android set-top boxes with HDMI in
Scott brought his Tronsmart Pavo M9 to the last GTALUG meeting. <http://www.tronsmart.com/products/tronsmart-pavo-m9> This looks like one of many Android TV boxes. But it has a unique feature: it has HDMI-in as well as out. So, Scott, how's the hacking going? I ask because there seems to be a very good deal on these for the next 3.666 days: <http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tronsmart-Pavo-M9-4K-TV-BOX-Android-4-4-2-Mstar-MSO9180D1R-1GB-8G-802-11-b-g-n-LAN-H-265-USB3-0-HDMI-347691.html> US$49.99. Free shipping (slowly, from China). This is based on the MSTAR MSO9180D1R chip. There is a theoretically better box based on this chip (and also with HDMI in), the Zido X9. It has 2G of RAM (vs 1G) and might have better I/O (I haven't checked). But it seems to be ~US$120.00. I guess (without making any attempt) that hacking on these cheap Android boxes is more trouble than it is worth. Especially since hacking on cheap Windows boxes is so much easier (at least the ones with 64-bit UEFI). But nothing else that I know of has HDMI in. Scott: can you summarize what you've learned about the box and how you feel about it so far?
I wonder how DRM works on the hdmi in? that stuff is all at a chip level now, not in software? [This isn't to say anyone should ever defeat drm for use to make a illegal copy, I was just interested in the technology. ] -tl On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 1:30 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh@mimosa.com> wrote:
Scott brought his Tronsmart Pavo M9 to the last GTALUG meeting. <http://www.tronsmart.com/products/tronsmart-pavo-m9>
This looks like one of many Android TV boxes. But it has a unique feature: it has HDMI-in as well as out.
So, Scott, how's the hacking going?
I ask because there seems to be a very good deal on these for the next 3.666 days: < http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tronsmart-Pavo-M9-4K-TV-BOX-Android-4-4-2-Mst...
US$49.99. Free shipping (slowly, from China).
This is based on the MSTAR MSO9180D1R chip. There is a theoretically better box based on this chip (and also with HDMI in), the Zido X9. It has 2G of RAM (vs 1G) and might have better I/O (I haven't checked). But it seems to be ~US$120.00.
I guess (without making any attempt) that hacking on these cheap Android boxes is more trouble than it is worth. Especially since hacking on cheap Windows boxes is so much easier (at least the ones with 64-bit UEFI). But nothing else that I know of has HDMI in.
Scott: can you summarize what you've learned about the box and how you feel about it so far? --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
| From: ted leslie <ted.leslie@gmail.com> | I wonder how DRM works on the hdmi in? that stuff is all at a chip level | now, not in software? HDMI DRM is done through HDCP standards. These have always been done in hardware. And they have been done in a way to make it hard to tap into a clear signal (at least that has been the intention). <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-bandwidth_Digital_Content_Protection> HDCP uses three systems:[5] 1) Authentication prevents non-licensed devices from receiving content. 2) Encryption of the data sent over DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, GVIF, or UDI interfaces prevents eavesdropping of information and man-in-the-middle attacks. 3) Key revocation prevents devices that have been compromised and cloned from receiving data. Steps 1 and 3 probably use a processor on the HDMI chipset I'm 99.999% sure that the HDMI input on this box does not support HDCP. So you won't be able to record from your DVD player or your Rogers set-top-box or your Bell STB. You probably can record from your OTA boxes (but it is better to record from an ATSC source -- more compressed). You might be able to record gameplay on consoles. | [This isn't to say anyone should ever defeat drm for use to make a illegal | copy, I was just interested in | the technology. ] Get too interested and talk about it in a way that could be used and you will be a criminal. Part of the anti-circumvention measures in the Copyright Act revisions passed by the Harper Government a couple of years ago. --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
Nice android box. Well at least you know it will boot and run linux. The question would be is it better to extend it with some custom apps or hack it to run a standard distribution? For me the deal ends in 03days. :( Has anybody used geekbuying? On 01/27/2016 01:30 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
Scott brought his Tronsmart Pavo M9 to the last GTALUG meeting. <http://www.tronsmart.com/products/tronsmart-pavo-m9>
This looks like one of many Android TV boxes. But it has a unique feature: it has HDMI-in as well as out.
So, Scott, how's the hacking going?
I ask because there seems to be a very good deal on these for the next 3.666 days: <http://www.geekbuying.com/item/Tronsmart-Pavo-M9-4K-TV-BOX-Android-4-4-2-Mstar-MSO9180D1R-1GB-8G-802-11-b-g-n-LAN-H-265-USB3-0-HDMI-347691.html> US$49.99. Free shipping (slowly, from China).
This is based on the MSTAR MSO9180D1R chip. There is a theoretically better box based on this chip (and also with HDMI in), the Zido X9. It has 2G of RAM (vs 1G) and might have better I/O (I haven't checked). But it seems to be ~US$120.00.
I guess (without making any attempt) that hacking on these cheap Android boxes is more trouble than it is worth. Especially since hacking on cheap Windows boxes is so much easier (at least the ones with 64-bit UEFI). But nothing else that I know of has HDMI in.
Scott: can you summarize what you've learned about the box and how you feel about it so far? --- Talk Mailing List talk@gtalug.org https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
-- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 01:44:35PM -0500, Alvin Starr wrote:
Nice android box. Well at least you know it will boot and run linux.
No, you know it will boot and run some android build. Maybe you can even get the source code to the kernel (although tons of these small media devices don't give a shit about GPL violations).
The question would be is it better to extend it with some custom apps or hack it to run a standard distribution?
For me the deal ends in 03days. :(
Has anybody used geekbuying?
-- Len Sorensen
I was pretty sure that all the android kernels were linux. Your right about things like device drivers and hardware not being GPL and meaning that you can't recompile a kernel from source. I would rather a fully rebuildable OS but a hardwired base OS that is linux rather than some small proprietary embedded kernel is a good second choice. On 01/27/2016 01:52 PM, Lennart Sorensen wrote:
On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 01:44:35PM -0500, Alvin Starr wrote:
Nice android box. Well at least you know it will boot and run linux. No, you know it will boot and run some android build. Maybe you can even get the source code to the kernel (although tons of these small media devices don't give a shit about GPL violations).
The question would be is it better to extend it with some custom apps or hack it to run a standard distribution?
For me the deal ends in 03days. :(
Has anybody used geekbuying?
-- Alvin Starr || voice: (905)513-7688 Netvel Inc. || Cell: (416)806-0133 alvin@netvel.net ||
| From: Lennart Sorensen <lsorense@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> | On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 01:44:35PM -0500, Alvin Starr wrote: | > Nice android box. | > Well at least you know it will boot and run linux. | | No, you know it will boot and run some android build. Maybe you can | even get the source code to the kernel (although tons of these small | media devices don't give a shit about GPL violations). As I understand it, Fedora and probably Ubuntu and debian can run on Linus Kernel releases. I would have thought that it would be easy to plant a conventional Linux distro on top of Android's Linux kernels. That turns out not to be the case. It has been tried by Ubuntu with apparently much effort and limited success. I don't know what the key problems are. One issue is video. Not only are the video interfaces proprietary, but for Android, no X is needed. They use something called SurfaceFlinger. There have been attempts to layer Wayland or Mir(?) on top of SurfaceFlinger.
participants (4)
-
Alvin Starr -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
Lennart Sorensen -
ted leslie