Hey folks, been busy with normal life and have taken side jobs which hinders me from keeping my blog updated. Anyways back to my normal vs blog. This time i tested OpenElec and CrystalBuntu on my old AppleTV 1st Gen (ATV1 - Silver).
I upgraded my ATV with CrystalHD card and removed internal wifi card. I am currently using Edimax 300Mbps card which is great compared to internal draft n card which runs at half the speed. I must say 720p videos run flawless, and 1080p from hard drive run great w/o stuttering.
Now back to OpenElec vs CrystalBuntu.
OpenElec 3.2.4 & 4.0.x (catered to various devices)
Pros:
- Faster Bootup time.
- OpenElec system settings.
- Support for Wi-Fi (we all hate wires, but wired is faster unless you tweak your Wi-Fi).
- up to date XBMC Software.
- Fast shutdown.
- CrystalHD support.
- Faster Scroll through list
Cons:
- slight lag at interface
- Slow playback - this happens when you start a movie it takes approx. 15-20 (for OE 3.2.4) to nearly 1 minute (OE 4.0.2) to stream 720p video.
CrystalBuntu 2.x (catered to AppleTV1 and possibly Raspberry Pi in future)
Pros:
- CrystalHD Support
- Little to no lag at interface.
- Faster Playback (playing HD movie takes approx. 3-5 sec to start).
- Stable XBMC build.
Cons:
- takes longer to boot up to OS/Interface
- no native support for Wi-Fi only for Wired. You have to rely on addon (network manager - outdated) to connect to Wi-Fi.
- Drops Wi-fi connection over the time and requires either reboot or reinsert USB Wi-Fi Adapter.
- CB2 takes longer to shutdown (i know these devices are meant to stay on, but still).
I would say it is a tie in between both, however I prefer CrystalBuntu since i have option to hardwired (Cat 6), this gives me slightly stable/faster connection. I also have edge over playing movies faster than OpenElec.
If you do not have any option to go with Wired Connection, i'd suggest sticking with OE 3.2.4 for now until OE 4.0.x sorts out playback issues with ATV and various other devices.
Next i will try to bring vs thread for Raspberry Pi 512MB Model OC'd to 950 to 1000Mhz (xbian vs OE).
May 30, 2014
April 2, 2014
FireTV Set Top Box by Amazon - $99
 |
| FireTV |
The online retailer-turned tech company and content provider announced its new Amazon Fire TV product today at an event in New York. The $99 device is available for order now on Amazon.com.
Amazon Fire TV is a tiny box that connects your HDTV to a world of online entertainment. With a huge selection of TV episodes and movies, voice search that actually works, plus exclusive features like ASAP and Amazon FreeTime, it’s the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, low-cost movie rentals, music, photos, games, and more.
March 31, 2014
Raspberry Pi - XBMC
Finally got my hands on Raspberry Pi Board. I always wanted to buy one unit to test it out, but me being always busy with spending money on other stuff didn't get me down to pi board. So now i have it in my possession, i have installed OpenElec XBMC utilizing SD Card. I have read if you split the storage to USB Stick, it works a lot better. I will be trying that shortly. I have ordered plenty of stuff for my Pi Board, once it arrives i will post pics of unassembled then an assembled version of it. I must say with all the tweaks, XBMC runs pretty good and stable. I am able to stream videos without any issue.
Update: I will be picking up 2 more units. I am thinking of making one firewall and nas server. I will post tutorials of how it is done.
JS
Update: I will be picking up 2 more units. I am thinking of making one firewall and nas server. I will post tutorials of how it is done.
JS
February 26, 2014
Google Watch Prototype Leaked
A few days ago, we published a story about Google's possibly upcoming smartwatch. Current rumors suggest that the watch may be ready in time for Google I/O, and
that it might be made by LG. We also mentioned that we had heard of a
Motorola prototype previously - a prototype that may have been scrapped
in favor of a new design from the manufacturer who made the Nexus 4 and
5.
We've decided to put a few of our cards on the table and give readers a peek at the Motorola prototype that never became a real product. According to our anonymous source, the device was allegedly going by the name Google Watch, with the official code name Gem, and fell into the Nexus category of devices. Whether a future watch will keep the codename Gem is uncertain.
It's important to note that what we are looking at here is a prototype, not a finished product. The photos we have are of a model believed to exist in 2013. It is likely that, had this become a real product, consumers would have seen significant hardware and software differences. First, let's look at the photos.
What we can see in the first photo is most of the device - the
rubberized band (which looks like it has a pin for detachment), a square
display with a sizeable bottom bezel, a rocker of some sort up top, and
a button on the lower left face of the device. There's also a
capacitive back button on the front face, opposite a Motorola logo.
The second photo shows a brief snippet of a settings screen. This screen is presumably not final, as Date & Time are below the trigger for Developer Mode. We're not sure what "3 Bit mode Apps" is referring to, and without seeing any other parts of the interface it's hard to draw any conclusions. One possibility is that 3 Bit mode would allow apps to display in 8 colors, and that the rest of the interface would be monochrome. Again though, without seeing more it's impossible to say.
What we also see, though, is that the rocker buttons have symbols embossed on them. On the left is a running human figure, and on the right is what looks like a microphone icon. They're a bit hard to make, but here's the rocker enlarged:
Again, without seeing the actual interface or testing out the watch
for ourselves, it's hard to say how these would behave, but assuming one
is a running man and the other is a microphone, it would make sense
that one would put the device into fitness mode (whatever that may
entail) and the other would trigger a voice Search. Google Now
integration would (hopefully) be a given.
Here's one more image, showing (as a commenter rightly points out below) that the piece at the end of the band which snaps into the holes in the band flips out to reveal a USB connector, used for charging the device.
If you find the blurrycam image hard to look at, I've made a basic drawing of the device:
Motorola Mobility has confirmed via Twitter today that the
manufacturer is working on a watch that will be available "this year."
Whether Motorola is continuing to develop this prototype or
working on a completely new concept after leaving Google we can't be
certain. But the fact that Motorola is evidently working on its own
watch to debut this year may just lend some credibility to rumors that
Google is now working with LG on its own watch effort.
Source: androidpolice
We've decided to put a few of our cards on the table and give readers a peek at the Motorola prototype that never became a real product. According to our anonymous source, the device was allegedly going by the name Google Watch, with the official code name Gem, and fell into the Nexus category of devices. Whether a future watch will keep the codename Gem is uncertain.
It's important to note that what we are looking at here is a prototype, not a finished product. The photos we have are of a model believed to exist in 2013. It is likely that, had this become a real product, consumers would have seen significant hardware and software differences. First, let's look at the photos.
The second photo shows a brief snippet of a settings screen. This screen is presumably not final, as Date & Time are below the trigger for Developer Mode. We're not sure what "3 Bit mode Apps" is referring to, and without seeing any other parts of the interface it's hard to draw any conclusions. One possibility is that 3 Bit mode would allow apps to display in 8 colors, and that the rest of the interface would be monochrome. Again though, without seeing more it's impossible to say.
What we also see, though, is that the rocker buttons have symbols embossed on them. On the left is a running human figure, and on the right is what looks like a microphone icon. They're a bit hard to make, but here's the rocker enlarged:
Here's one more image, showing (as a commenter rightly points out below) that the piece at the end of the band which snaps into the holes in the band flips out to reveal a USB connector, used for charging the device.
Source: androidpolice
February 18, 2014
VH1 app now available for Android
VH1 has released their app for Android this afternoon, finally bringing the popular iOS program to hundreds of millions more eyeballs.The app will play your favorite shows from the VH1 network, like Basketball Wives and Couples Therapy, as well as content like musician interviews and mash-ups from the VH1 blog. There's even some music tucked in there with VH1 Divas and the upcoming summer music festivals.
In addition, VH1 says there will be exclusive content for the Android app, like the re-release of VH1’s original movie CrazySexyCool: The TLC Story, as well as a full episode preview of the next episode for Basketball Wives: LA after its season 3 premiere tonight.
February 11, 2014
ARM Announces New Mid-Range Designs, MediaTek Already Has Chips Ready To Go
ARM technology powers the vast majority of mobile devices in the
world, and the company has just announced some new designs to continue
that tradition. The ARM Cortex-A17 is a new mid-range CPU core that
offers improved speed and efficiency for budget devices. That's not all –
there is also a new version of the Mali GPU for a complete
price-conscious package.
The Cortex-A17 is not meant to replace the A15 – that's still the
flagship CPU core design from ARM. The A17 is a mid-range part that
should give chip makers a better option than continuing to use older
A9s, the limited A12, or just a bunch of low-power Cortex-A7 cores.
Cortex-A17 supports full-system coherency for ARM big.LITTLE with the
CCI-400, which means it can operate alongside low-power cores like the
A7. ARM licensees will also have the option to integrate the Mali-T720
GPU with this and other CPUs. The Mali-T720 GPU is a "cost-optimized"
GPU that supports Open GL ES 3.0, OpenCL, and RenderScript.
This seems like a design that would be right up MediaTek's alley, and indeed the company has announced a chip that will use the A17. The MT6595 will be an eight-core chip – four A17s and four A7s. The A7 cores will the the LITTLE half of the big.LITTLE configuration, and the MT6595 will support Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP). That means all eight cores can operate at the same time. This system-on-a-chip will also have built-in LTE, which could be a big deal in mid-range phones and tablets.
ARM expects Cortex-A17 to be big in 2015, but MediaTek is going to start producing the MT6595 in the next few months, and is targeting devices for late 2014.
This seems like a design that would be right up MediaTek's alley, and indeed the company has announced a chip that will use the A17. The MT6595 will be an eight-core chip – four A17s and four A7s. The A7 cores will the the LITTLE half of the big.LITTLE configuration, and the MT6595 will support Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP). That means all eight cores can operate at the same time. This system-on-a-chip will also have built-in LTE, which could be a big deal in mid-range phones and tablets.
ARM expects Cortex-A17 to be big in 2015, but MediaTek is going to start producing the MT6595 in the next few months, and is targeting devices for late 2014.
February 7, 2014
Kernel Source Released For Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 (SM-P900) by Samsung
The new Samsung Galaxy NotePRO 12.2 might be really expensive, but you know what isn't? The kernel source. That's available for download on Samsung's open source site right this minute.The download clocks in at 1.1GB and contains all the open source KitKat bits that will ship on the tablet, specifically the SM-P900 variant. This download isn't really of much use to regular consumers – it's more of a developer goody bag. But developers tinkering with a product is actually good for everyone in the long run.
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