Mele A1000 Android set top box

[gunni]

Just received one of these today, not done much so far except upgrade the firmware and have a little play around.


Specs:

CPU: ARM CortexA8 1GHz Memory: DDR3 512MB RAM / 2GB Nand Flash OS System: Android 2.3 External Storage: Supports SD card up to 32GB, supports 2.5" SATA HDD up to 1TB, Supports max 16GB USB flash disk Video coding: HD MPEG1 / 2 / 4.H.264.HD AVC / VC-1,RM/RMVB, Xvid/ DviX4 / 5 / 6, RealVideo8 / 9/10, VP6 Video Format: ts / m2ts / tp / trp / mkv / mp4 / mov /avi /rm / rmvb / wmv / vob / asf / flv / da / mpf / mpeg Audio Format: MP3/WMA/WMV/OGG/FLAC /MKV Subtitle Format: SRT/SMI/SSA/ASS Network interface: RJ45(10/100Mbps) WiFi: 802.11b/g/n Interfaces: SD/SDHC + 3 x USB HOST + OPTICAL +LAN + HDMI + VIDEO + L + R + VGA Features: HDMI 1.4 and support for 3D playback. Internet TV box, Software application supported, 1080P media player, QQ/MSN/Skype etc.

Downloaded Ubuntu and Puppy Linux SD images for it, gonna give them a try tomorrow. So far seems like a nice little device (64 quid from DX) though typing with an on-screen keyboard with the remote is a bit tedious - should have been less lazy and went upstairs for the usb keyboard!


Doesn't seem to like my ext4 formatted usb hard disk which is a shame (although I didn't really expect it to) I'll have to transfer some movies across to something else for testing it out.


Attached some unboxing pics

 

[JeFF]

Looks Cool !

 

[Nintendo]

I like it!

 

[gunni]

now I've had a chance to play round with it, it's actually a pretty good little machine. Video playback seems to be good, tried out a couple games using a wireless mouse. unfortunately my usb bluetooth dongle doesn't work with it (why it doesn't have it built in is beyond me) so I was unable to test the icp with it.


Booted up a sd image of Ubuntu which seems quite responsive but as the onboard wifi doesn't seem to be supported by the ubuntu image not really put it through its paces, lacking the codecs to try out the video playback under ubuntu. I'll probably download stuff later and transfer it by usb stick to mess around further.


(Ubuntu IS running on the Mele - just out of shot - not the Dreamcast! lol)

 

[Nintendo]

Show us more games please.

 

[gunni]

here's a vid I found on youtube of the A2000 model (which I have noticed is now on DX for less than £5 more than the A1000 for double the memory and storage!)

https://www.youtube.com/embed/oBWN3DD1gCI?feature=oembed

I'm downloading some games now so I'll get back to you...

 

[SNESFAN]

i'm getting seriously pissed off at dx fast forwarding all their videos... you can never tell what the device actually performs like

 

[gunni]

https://www.youtube.com/embed/wYwY6RU5O3U?feature=oembed

mouse in one hand, cell phone in the other was not the best way to go about this I think!


Edit: Wings of Fury is actually quite playable and not as frustating as the Amiga version, Air Attack HD works well also. Played Sonic the Hedgehog on gensoid using the remote control as a controller which was quite tricky but playable.

 

[Nintendo]

Thanks, I loved Plants Vs Zombies on that.

i'm getting seriously pissed off at dx fast forwarding all their videos... you can never tell what the device actually performs like

Yeah, the Chinese love doing that.

 

[Prometheus]

you can never tell what the device actually performs like

Sadly, I would imagine that this is the idea.

 

[Nintendo]

It's false advertising almost to the point of fraudulent behaviour.

 

[gunni]

somewhat addicted to Air Attack now, so no new goings on with it. being stuck with mouse control pretty much dictates scummvm should be next on the test list. or maybe something non-android...

 

[Nintendo]

ScummVM would be awesome on the big screen.

 

[gunni]

haven't tried it yet I'm afraid Sony, been messing around with the Ubuntu image... used synaptic to generate a download script for various codecs to try video playback under ubuntu. bit jerky to say the least, sound doesn't appear to be supported under the image I have. time for some serious googling I think...

 

[Nintendo]

Ah ok, please let us know if or when you do. Cheers.


I love my Broken Sword.

 

[gunni]

installed Scummvm and flight of the amazon queen, you can click and drag the pointer round with a mouse or use the remote control. works quite nicely


also wrote the puppy linux image to my sd card which seems to work better than the ubuntu one (wireless works!)

 

[Nintendo]

Aww, so it's accurate with the pointer, becuase it's not optimized properly for tablet?

 

[gunni]

moving the pointer with the remote is accurate enough, using the mouse the actual mouse pointer and the in game one don't exactly stay together so if you use a mouse to drag the in game pointer right across the screen you're going to end up with a bit of separation. that being said, keeping your eye on the right pointer isn't a problem and I found playing quite enjoyable.

 

[Nintendo]

Well, for me I can't seem get used to that little bit of separation, because I literal pin-point accuracy on my touch screen.