There is new information about the future SoC Amlogic S905X4, which will replace the popular S905X3, used today in numerous TV boxes. This new chip will finally replace the current Amlogic SoC, as it provides full compatibility with Android TV 10 and the directives that Google sets to play content.
The new Amlogic S905X4 SoC on the hardware level is very similar to the S905X3, contains four Cortex-A55 cores and a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU. The most important changes are observed in the following aspects:
- A slight increase in power from 19700 DMIPS to 21800 DMIPS
- Switching to Vulkan 1.1 (if activated in firmware)
- Crypto RSA Support
- NPU removed or optional
- Support for decoding video AV1 (future streaming)
- Sound Enhancement with DSP2xHiFi4 Support
- Support for HDCP 2.3 (compatible with 8K and HDMI 2.1 functions)
All these changes are aimed to ensure that the hardware meets the requirements of Android 10, which is an important point for obtaining Google certification on devices that require official global distribution or meet the requirements of future Netflix verification. The most interesting change in support of AV1 equipment, which gives us compatibility with the future system of codecs Youtube, Prime Video, or Netflix, as we saw in our article on the AV1 codec.
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Technology |
12nm |
12nm |
|
CPU |
Quad-Core Cortex-A55 |
Quad-Core Cortex-A55 |
|
Up to 19700+ DMIPS |
Up to 21800+ DMIPS |
|
|
GPU |
ARM Mali-G31 MP2 |
ARM Mali-G31 MP2 |
|
OpenGL ES 3.2 |
OpenGL ES 3.2 |
|
|
Vulkan 1.0, OpenCL |
Vulkan 1.1, OpenCL |
|
|
2 |
2 |
|
|
Cas |
VMX, Widevine CAS, Irdeto MSR 3.2 |
VMX, Widevine CAS, Nagra NOCS3.2, Irdeto MSR3.2 |
|
DRM |
Widevine, Playready, VMX |
Widevine, Playready, VMX |
|
Crypto engine |
AES / TDES / SHA-1 / SHA-2 / HMAC / SM4 |
AES / TDES / SHA-1 / SHA-2 / HMAC / SM4 / RSA |
|
Neural network |
1.2 TOPS CNN and 8X RNN |
|
|
inference accelerator (optional) |
– |
|
|
Memory |
32-bit DDR3 / 3L / 4, LPDDR3 / 4, Up to 4GB, DDR3200 |
32-bit DDR3 / 3L / 4, LPDDR3 / 4, Up to 4GB, DDR3200 |
|
Storage |
eMMC 5.0, NAND Flash, SPI NOR / NAND, SD |
eMMC 5.0, NAND Flash, SPI NOR / NAND, SD |
|
Video decoder |
4Kp75 10bit: H.265 / VP9 P-2 / AVS2 |
4Kp120 10bit: AV1 |
|
4Kp30: H.264 |
4Kp75 10bit: H.265 / VP9 P-2 / AVS2 |
|
|
4Kp30: H.264 |
||
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HDR / WCG |
HDR10 / 10 +, HLG, Dolby Vision, TCH PRIME |
HDR10 / 10 +, HLG, Dolby Vision, TCH PRIME |
|
BT.709 / 2020/2100 |
BT.709 / 2020/2100 |
|
|
Video encoder |
1080p60 H.265 / H.264 |
1080p60 H.265 / H.264 |
|
Ethernet |
10/100/1000 MAC + 10/100 PHY |
10/100/1000 MAC + 10/100 PHY |
|
USB / PCI-e |
1x USB 2.0 + USB 3.0 / (PCIe Gen-2 + USB2.0) |
1x USB 2.0 + USB 3.0 / (PCIe Gen-2 + USB2.0) |
|
Voice & Audio Processing |
VAD, ASRC / EQ / DRC |
VAD, ASRC / EQ / DRC, |
|
2xHiFi4 Acoustic / Audio DSP |
||
|
Audio In / Out |
Stereo DACs, SPDIF-in & out, |
Stereo DACs, SPDIF-in & out, |
|
8Ch PDM, 12 + Ch I2S in, 12 + ch I2S out |
8Ch PDM, 12 + Ch I2S in, 12 + Ch I2S out |
|
|
Video output |
4Kp60 HDMI 2.1, HDCP2.2, CVBS |
Kp60 HDMI 2.1, HDCP2.3, CVBS |
|
DVB |
2x TS in, ISO7816 |
2x TS in, ISO7816 |
The appearance of new TV boxes based on the new Amlogic S905X4 SoC can be expected around the end of the year if the situation with the spread of coronavirus normalizes. Without a doubt, this SoC can be a great platform for the new Xiaomi Mi Box or other products awaiting these new hardware features. With the transition to Android 10, Amlogic will finally be forced to offer its system in the 64-bit version, which is already mandatory.
Actually, there is no significant difference between the Amlogic S905X3 and S905X4 in terms of TV box performance.
