Media Players / Streamers Blog, News and Reviews UK

Turn Your Smartphone into a Mobile TV and More

by James Smythe | Jul 29, 2020 | LCD/LED/OLED TVs, Media Players / Streamers | 0

Today’s mobile devices are capable of doing much more than simply making a call or sending a text. In fact, you probably already use your smartphone to check your emails, shop online and take photos when you’re out and about. If you really want to make the most of the technology at your fingertips, take the opportunity to turn your smartphone into a mobile TV. The easiest way to watch the shows you love on your phone is to download the Freeview Play app. Now available on both OS and Android, the vast majority of people can access the...

Google Android TV Stick “Sabrina” will use older Amlogic S905X2 chipset but still a big upgrade vs Chromecast Ultra

by James Smythe | Jun 14, 2020 | Media Players / Streamers, News | 0

It has been two years since the Chromecast 3rd gen was released and nearly 4 years since the Chromecast Ultra, but it looks like we will get some new hardware soon. A recent Android TV dongle, code-named “Sabrina” was revealed in a marketing video. Now a pre-release firmware build for the device has identified some of the hardware specifications by examining the “Device Tree Source” (DTS) files contained within the boot image. The files specify which hardware features of the SoC platform to enable when booting. Google Android TV Stick Specification Withing the code it is revealed the device...

Anker Nebula Capsule II mini projector review – Is it better than the older Capsule, Mars & Benq GV1?

by James Smythe | Feb 16, 2020 | LCD/LED/OLED TVs, Media Players / Streamers, Reviews | 0

Pico and mini projectors have become increasingly popular in recent years, offering big-screen entertainment anywhere you want, at a reasonably affordable price. The Nebula Capsule II is the latest projector from Anker padding out their product lineup to include four projectors in total. Nebula Capsule II Smart Mini Projector, by Anker, Palm-Sized 200 ANSI Lumen 720p HD Portable Projector with Wi-Fi, DLP, 8W Speaker, 100 Inch Picture, 5,000+ Apps, Movie Projector, Home Entertainment £549.99 Buy on Amazon Nebula Capsule II vs Capsule vs Capsule Max vs Mars II Nebula Capsule IINebula CapsuleNebula Capsule MaxNebula Mars II Pro ChipsetAmlogic S905X...

Netflix starts streaming in AV1 but do any chipsets support it? Amlogic S905X4, S908X vs Broadcom BCM7218X

by James Smythe | Feb 7, 2020 | Media Players / Streamers, News, Phones & Mobile | 0

Video codecs are not the most exciting of things but they make a huge difference with the media we consume. Currently, when we watch Netflix they use the VP9 codec by default which was originally developed by Google. This codec is natively supported on Android in both software and the hardware. The hardware support is important as it reduces the workload on the CPU, which avoids performance issues. AV1 is a newer codec which is a royalty-free open codec, so free for anyone to use and it is was backed with some of the biggest names in the business...

Amazon launch Fire TV Blaster – Fire TV Cube functionality for older devices

by James Smythe | Nov 21, 2019 | News, Media Players / Streamers | 0

The stand out feature of the Fire TV Cube is the ability to control you AV equipment using voice commands. With the new Fire TV Blaster, you can combine and existing Fire TV Stick plus Echo and gain full voice control over your gear. The Fire TV Blaster is a small IR blaster that works in unison with your existing hardware and costs just £34.99. When you pair an Echo with a Fire TV device, you can say things like “Alexa, play Stranger Things” or “Alexa, fast forward 20 minutes”. By adding Fire TV Blaster to their set up, customers can extend voice control to...

Nvidia Shield (2019) review – Lower price, Dolby Vision & an improved remote, but let down by 32-bit Android OS.

by James Smythe | Nov 12, 2019 | Reviews, Media Players / Streamers | 0

The original Nvidia Shield TV launched in 2015, with a revision in 2017 using the same system on chip but in a sleeker design and some other minor improvements. In its four years of existence, it has been regarded as one of, if not the best set-top boxes on the market. Impressively, Nvidia has continued to push updates for the system making the Shield one of the longest supported Android devices ever. However, the older model was starting to show its age, for me, the big omission was the lack of Dolby Vision which offers superior HDR performance over...

Is the tubular Nvidia Shield TV 2019 32-bit or 64-bit? Can 64-bit apps run on it?

by James Smythe | Nov 12, 2019 | Media Players / Streamers, News | 0

As I started to write my glowing review of the Nvidia Shield TV 2019 it was brought to my attention that Nvidia has decided to use a 32-bit built of Android on the device. It is claimed that this is for the tubular shaped, none pro model which has 2GB of RAM. It is speculated that this could be due to both Android and its apps requiring a smaller amount of memory in 32bit mode. However, the decision to do this will affect your ability to install some apps because they are in 64-bit only which includes the popular...

Amazon Fire TV Cube 2019 Review – Still one of the best streaming devices on the market, but less impressive than last year.

by James Smythe | Nov 8, 2019 | Media Players / Streamers, Reviews | 0

The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Ultra HD was and still is one of the best streaming devices on the market. With an RRP of £49.99, at the time of launch, it was one of two devices supporting Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and a fraction of the price of the Apple TV. The year has seen the introduction of the Fire TV Cube which takes all the features from the Fire TV Stick 4K bumps up the processing spec then shoves it inside a cube shape along with an Echo Dot. 2,968 Reviews Fire TV Cube | Hands free...

Amazon Fire TV Cube and the Ring doorbell notifications

by James Smythe | Nov 8, 2019 | Media Players / Streamers | 0

Last month Amazon started shipping the new Amazon Fire TV Cube and my review of it will be live shortly. In short, this is an Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K combined with an Echo Dot shoved inside a cube. You pay more than double the price of last years Fire TV but you get more performance, and full voice control over your TV, as well as all the benefits an Echo dot has. It is still one of the best options on the market, but with the increased price and the new lower-priced Nvidia Shield, it is much less impressive...

NVIDIA Shield TV Pro & Standard 2019 vs Shield TV 2017 vs Fire TV Cube 2019 Compared – Which is the best streaming device for 2019?

by James Smythe | Oct 29, 2019 | News, Media Players / Streamers | 0

Yesterday Nvidia finally took the wraps off their new NVIDIA Shield TV and the Pro models with the new tubular-shaped model lowering the price down to £150 compared to the £180 currently charged for the existing model, and making it quite competitive with the new Fire TV Cube at £110. With Black Friday and Christmas coming up people will no doubt be looking for a great deal on streaming devices, and if you want the absolute best which is it? Related Content NVIDIA Shield TV 2019 ReviewAmazon Fire TV Cube ReviewAmazon Fire TV Cube 4K (2019) vs Nvidia ShieldNew...

Nvidia Shield TV Pro expected to launch on October 28th for $199

by James Smythe | Oct 19, 2019 | Media Players / Streamers, News | 0

The Nvidia Shield TV has long been regarded as one of, if not the best set-top streaming boxes on the market. Even though it is several years old the Tegra X1 chipset and regular software updates have kept it relevant compared to many newer devices. Related Content Nintendo Switch Lite Tegra X1 T210B01 vs T210Nvidia Shield with Plex Server and live TV via HDHomeRun Guide & Review Following the update of the Nintendo Switch with a 16nm chip revision of the X1 it has been much rumoured that a new Shield is also on the way. This is now...

Raspberry Pi 4 vs Odroid XU4 vs Odroid N2 – Which is best for Kodi or Plex?

by James Smythe | Sep 27, 2019 | Media Players / Streamers | 0

[Original Post 27-July-19][Updated 27-September-2019] Added new DietPi benchmarks With the early launch of the Raspberry Pi 4, there is a tremendous amount of hype about the single-board computer, and pretty much every online store is sold out of stock. The new model is a huge upgrade from the previous generation with a massive improvement across the board, including a much-improved CPU, more RAM, proper gigabit ethernet and USB 3.0. This makes the RPi4 an appealing prospect for many home networking projects such as a Plex media server, Kodi box, NAS, home automation and many more projects. In recent years,...

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