Tronsmart Prometheus - media player with Android 4.2 on board

The idea of ​​mini-computers smoothly extends to the development of media players with the Android operating system. In fact, these are the same mini-computers, which have added some details for ease of use. Namely: several USB ports, Ethernet, AV-out.
In this review, we will look at one of these devices called Tronsmart Prometheus and try to determine how successful the extension of functionality has been.

Specifications

Dual-core video accelerator Mali 400MP4
Amlogic 8726-MX dual core processor on Cortex A9 architecture
1 GB of RAM
Android 4.1.2 operating system (upgrade to Android 4.2.1)
4 GB user memory + microSD card slot
Connectivity: Wi-Fi (802.11 b / g / n), Ethernet

Appearance and equipment

The media player comes in a large cardboard box:


On the side, the device features are briefly listed as icons:

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And in the back, in large print in English, a description of the very possibilities:


In the box we find such a device in the form of a spacecraft:


And accessories:

• Charger
• HDMI cable
• AV cable

It would be nice to have the control panel included.

The instruction is completely in English with many illustrations:


Neither the box nor the manual contains Chinese characters, which hints about the orientation of the device to the external market.

Tronsmart Prometheus is made of rubberized plastic (soft-touch), which is very surprising when you first take it in hand.


No gloss, only a small decorative insert from plastic in front:

Probably it would be possible to invent a functional purpose for this insert. For example, set a small screen and display time. By the way, due to the lack of a battery, the date and time in the media player constantly get off when you turn it off. You need to install the utility ClockSync, which will synchronize the time on the Internet every time you turn it on.
If there was a battery, here would be the clock ...

So that the media player does not slide on the surface - rubber feet are installed on the bottom:

Inputs / Outputs

There are 3 USB ports in the front right for connecting various devices: mice, keyboards, flash drives, external hard drives and other USB devices.


Also in front is the SD card slot:

It should be noted that the slot is for SD memory cards, not microSD. But it does not matter if you have only microSD cards. You just need to use the adapter.

Activity Indicators:

There are only 4 of them, all in different colors. But it is very easy to get rid of them; when disassembling, I accidentally damaged one without even noticing it.

Located behind:

• power switch
• reset button
• AV output
• HDMI
• LAN port
• charger input

View from the monitor:

Performance

Tronsmart Prometheus is equipped with an Amlogic 8726-MX chip, which consists of 2 Cortex A9 cores with a frequency of up to 1.3 GHz and a 2-core Mali 400MP GPU. The amount of RAM - 1GB, constant - 4GB.
This chip is often used in Chinese tablets. By performance, Rockchip Rk3066 loses a little.
In the Antutu 3.2.2 performance test, the media player scores 7725 points:


HTML5 Performance Test - Vellamo:

Quadrant benchmark tests unfortunately did not start.

Parse

Prometheus is very easy to understand: you need to unscrew 6 screws from the bottom, 2 of which are under the rubber feet.


Inside is a large fee:


Turn over:


Hynix RAM Modules:


The “heart” of the system is the Amlogic 8726-MX chip


As you can see, there is not even the simplest radiator on the chip - and this leads to very strong heating with prolonged use. Without an additional radiator, using the device 24/7 is extremely dangerous. One of the forums provides one of the options for installing a radiator:

I contacted the store to clarify whether the manufacturer knows about this heating problem. And I received the answer that in new batches cooling radiators are already used.

Ethernet:


Realtek RTL8188 Wifi Module:

Wifi Ethernet

The level of reception of the Wifi signal is good, but if you plan to watch online video, then you should not hide the router further than one wall.


And to watch online video in HD is very convenient even when connected to a Wifi router with support for only 802.11g.


Connecting a LAN cable to an Ethernet connection does not automatically raise. You need to go to the settings and enable the corresponding option.
You can configure to get an IP address via DHCP, or assign it manually:


It is possible to automatically create a PPPoE connection:

Software

Android 4.1.2 was installed out of the box, which was immediately updated to Android 4.2.1 in the following way:
1. Download archive
2. Unpack and copy 6 files to the SD card
3. Clip the Reset button, turn on the device. The blue diode will flash 3 times, the clip can be released. The firmware will be updated automatically.
The firmware from Android 4.2.1 is in beta testing, with respect to 4.1.2 the following features have been added / corrected:
1. Fixed error in decoding DTS sound
2. Hardware video decoding in XBMC
The manufacturer claims support for USB Bluetooth dongles and USB webcams. Unfortunately, I did not have a webcam, but a simple Bluetooth dongle did not want to work.

When we first turn on, we are greeted by the wizard settings, which will offer to select the system language, adjust the image frame, configure Wifi and LAN connections.


Android 4.2.1 Desktop:


System Information:


Google Play is already preinstalled in the system:


Convenient update installation system:

True update via the Internet constantly produces an error connecting to the server. But updating from a local file works fine.

Video

The list of output modes is present in both 720p and 1080p. But in fact, only 720p mode works.


AV output also works very peculiar. Taking the media player out of the box, I connected it to the old TV, but was immediately disappointed - only black and white stripes appeared on the screen. The solution to this problem is the following: connecting the device via HDMI, you need to select 480p mode. After that, connecting the media player to the TV via the AV output will work correctly.

Browsing the Web

Scrolling pages is a little thoughtful, it’s unusual to look at pages on a big screen, the font is large and we read well.

Xbmc

In the updated firmware from Android 4.2.1, the manufacturer boasts XBMC with support for 1080p hardware decoding.
The archive with the firmware contains the installation apk-file for XBMC version 12.0


Let's check how well the video is decoded in various formats and create a table of results:

No	Resolution	Bitrate	Codec	Sound	Result
one	480p	1800K	H264	AAC	Ok
2	720p	3400K	H264	AAC	Ok
3	720p	3600K	MPEG2	MP2	Ok
four	720p	3300K	MPEG4	MP3	Ok
five	1080p	7200K	H264	AAC	Ok
6	1080p	6600K	MPEG2	MP2	Ok
7	1080p	7600K	MPEG4	MP3	Ok

We also tested video with various audio codecs. Namely:

• AC3
• Dolby Digital 5.1 / Dolby Digital 7.1
• TrueHD 5.1 & 7.1
• DTS-MA and DTS-HR

In general, everything looks good, but on some AVI and MKV video files, audio out of sync is observed. And quite large - about 1 second. So watch normal rips movies in XBMC will not work.
Let me remind you that this only applies to watching movies through XBMC. Through third-party players (for example, MX Player) - there are no problems with sound and video.
By the way, in order for XBMC not to have a black bar in place of the status bar and the video was played on the full screen - you need to install this one patch

Advantages and disadvantages

Android 4.2
hardware decoding of 1080p video in XBMC
3 USB ports
Ethernet
1080p image output not supported
heat

Tronsmart has a very interesting product. Android 4.2, FULL HD hardware decoding in XMBC, good Wifi reception, connectivity to an Ethernet network. Perhaps the disadvantages can be attributed to a fairly high price - about $ 90.

You can purchase Tronsmart Prometheus at Geekbuying.com . With an extra coupon for FLEMHJIO discount , the price will be $ 89.99 with delivery by Singapore post.

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