New android media player

[venkataramani]

Woximedia has introduced android based media player SmartPod recently . Has anyone in our forum purchased this and if so what is the experience ? Is it better than amkette Evo TV ? The relevant link is http://www.woximedia.com. Thanks .

 

[Dirac]

Appears to be feature packed. Also it could be terrific for playing games.
But whether it has good upscalers for youtube and other videos on internet, to output to TV, can only be found after a demo.
If the upscalers are not good, the youtube videos might appear to be smeared.

 

[venkataramani]

Thanks for your reply . I have sony Bluray player S190 . When I see you tube videos , through that , via internet , I do not find any up scaling . I was under the impression that up scaling is done for DVD playback only . Do you mean to say all the media players in the market up scale the internet videos to 1080 p before displaying them on the screen ? I will be thankful for further info on this subject .

 

[Dirac]

All video players like BDP and media players which support HDMI interface HAVE to first probe the resolution of the display.

If the display's native resolution is 1080p, then the player has to upscale the content to 1080x1920 pixels and send the frames to the display.

If we have a cheap media player that does not have a good upscaling chip inside, then it is better to set it to play the native resolution of the content.
In such a case, the display device has to upscale(a good TV will have a good upscaler built into it) the input from the player.
We should always see which is doing a good job of upscaling player or the display itself, and set the player accordingly.

Hope I am understandable.

Thanks.

 

[Dirac]

Thanks for your reply . I have sony Bluray player S190 . When I see you tube videos , through that , via internet , I do not find any up scaling . I was under the impression that up scaling is done for DVD playback only . Do you mean to say all the media players in the market up scale the internet videos to 1080 p before displaying them on the screen ? I will be thankful for further info on this subject .

Yes, even my sony S360 was a very bad upscaler of youtube videos.

 

[venkataramani]

Thanks Dirac . Does your Denon BDP 2012 up scale Youtube video better than Sony ? Do you have any media player and if so what is your experience of their up scaling with specific reference to youtube videos ? thanks .

 

[spirovious]

Specifications says GPU 3D accelaration,but it has HDMI 1.3 only-
Woxi Media: Connecting Everyone - Specifications

 

[Dirac]

Thanks Dirac . Does your Denon BDP 2012 up scale Youtube video better than Sony ? Do you have any media player and if so what is your experience of their up scaling with specific reference to youtube videos ? thanks .

That's what I exactly tested JUST now. I got a new BEAM cable internet 16Mbps connection today.My BDP has only ethernet connectivity and no wifi. An hour ago I could connect it through my new internet(existing one is from airtel) due to the placement of the router near the BDP.
Denon is too good when compared to Sony S360. Very less video noise, sharp images, neutral colors. But I was testing only 720p videos(telugu) on youtube.

The upscalers are usually good(denon uses Arcambay chip for this purpose) in high end models. I guess this is true for even high end BDPs of Sony also.

BTW , if you have an internet ready TV which can connect to Internet directly, the BDP can be bypassed.

 

[Dirac]

Specifications says GPU 3D accelaration,but it has HDMI 1.3 only-
Woxi Media: Connecting Everyone - Specifications

The ARM processor that is used(I feel 400hz is very low speed when even smart phones are coming with a minimum 1Ghz processor) has by default built-in hardware accelerators for processor intensive operations like 2d graphic and 3d graphic algorithms .
Many a times 3d graphic engine is leveraged for enhancing the depth of a 2d image!.
So I think Hdmi 1.4 was not given . This is just my understanding. I may be wrong.

 

[venkataramani]

Thanks . I have a 40 inch sony HDTV . but it is not internet ready . I view youtube videos through Sony Bluray player through a wired net connection . I was interested in the media player , to make it a smart TV capable of playing games and using the applications available in Android platform .

 

[vivek.saikia]

Isn't Android 2.3.6 is a bit outdated by today's standard.
The hardware specification will also not allow for any future Android upgrades.

 

[sub]

Thanks . I have a 40 inch sony HDTV . but it is not internet ready . I view youtube videos through Sony Bluray player through a wired net connection . I was interested in the media player , to make it a smart TV capable of playing games and using the applications available in Android platform .

Hi

I think for what you need you can try this much advanced device from Measy.

Link : U1A Android TV Dongle--Measy Electronics - Measy Eletronics Co.,Ltd.

Regards

sub

 

[Dirac]

Ok. Firstly, if you have any Android smart phone, try to pair it with the BDP. This will reduce the pain of typing the name of your favorite video names on youtube , from the remote. Once paired, you can type quickly on your phone and youtube will send the video to your BDP which will stream it to your TV.

I think you can search for "pair device " option when you go to "My youtube" from your BDP. A code number is displayed there. Now connect your android phone to youtube.com/pair using a browser in the phone and enter the code. Youtube will pair your phone and your BDP.

Now coming to Android stick, as suggested in the previous post you can try the device mentioned.

BTW, did you try connecting a laptop with "hdmi out" to your tv directly?

 

[venkataramani]

Thanks a lot Mr . Sub . That Dongle is really good . Can you please any info on the price and availability of the dongle in India ? Will be thankful for the details .

 

[venkataramani]

Thanks a lot Mr. Dirac . I have not tried connecting my TV through HDMI from my laptop . Also I have not tried pairing my android phone with my bluray player , as suggested by
you for streaming videos to my TV .

 

[sub]

Hi

It is available in ebay.in and also for your information Micromax has a dongle like that which is available in india for 4990/-.

Link -http://www.ebay.in/itm/U1A-Android-4-0-Mini-PC-Smart-TV-Dongle-Box-RC12-Air-Mouse-2-4G-Keyboard-Black-/330825268573

Hope this helps

Regards

sub

 

[gadgetfreakindia]

btw, I did purchase woximedia smartpod from snapdeal. So far have been happy. I have posted my detail review at
Woxi SmartPod - Buy Home Audio / Video Online at Lowest Price | Snapdeal.com

the big diff I observe compared to the similar products in ebay.in is, it is not a phone/tablet on TV, but the woxi s/w over 2.3 give a good and easy experience on tv which makes user not to worry about underlying OS, just like any smartTV. .. does not matter 2.3 or 4.1, the experience is seamless, not sure why woxi did not go with 4.1 for the sake of check mark of saying 4.1..