[sdsnyr94]

I honestly don't see the target market for the Core after the Hub is released. Less features for twice the price? Am I missing something?

My Core is just over 60 days old and I feel like it's an antique!

I'll be keeping my eye on the Play2S and the Hub for the future.

[hdmkv]

I honestly don't see the target market for the Core after the Hub is released. Less features for twice the price? Am I missing something?

Have to agree. Except for 1GB RAM on Hub vs. 2GB on Core, Hub looks better specs-wise. And, RAM difference shouldn't matter I'm guessing.

[droidelec]

http://wetek.com/blog/view/53/news-from-...2016-dubai#
So here revision C is disappeared for wetek hub and also wetek streamer 4K without "H" in the processor name... A bit Confusing

WeTek Hub is based on S905-H Revision C. Actually all our product are based on S905-H Revision C, except Streamer and Streamer 4K which are delivered per B2B requirements.

[anthonytex]

http://wetek.com/blog/view/53/news-from-...2016-dubai#
So here revision C is disappeared for wetek hub and also wetek streamer 4K without "H" in the processor name... A bit Confusing

WeTek Hub is based on S905-H Revision C. Actually all our product are based on S905-H Revision C, except Streamer and Streamer 4K which are delivered per B2B requirements.

Thank you very much for your clarification can't wait for the release. Excellent work.

[droidelec]

Love the new announcement and I think I will be able to finally ditch my custom built AMD A6-3500 APU OpenELEC box with this platform.

Here are my needs:

Passthrough HD audio 5.1 at least
MPEG2 TV (Mythtv backend with HDHR Primes)
Decent Network speeds since all my media is on a NAS
4K Proof (not there yet but looking to invest in late 2016)

I do have a few questions since I read the other WETEK split thread and maybe someone can help answer them here:

1) I saw the dual boot option mentioned but what is the value add for that? Would it be better to just live in the Android space purely to get the full media experience and use kodi out of that place?
2) Do you think there will be an upgrade to Marshmallow in the future here before the release?
3) I saw mention in the WETEK split thread of some Video sync issues potentially but will that not be the case here and what is the likely hood in this newer SoC chipset or release?

Thanks!

Please find answers below:

Passthrough HD audio 5.1 at least

A: Yes, Dolby TrueHD and DTS Master HD audio passthrough is supported on Core, Hub, Play 2S, Play 2. For more information check here http://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=...pid2252235

MPEG2 TV (Mythtv backend with HDHR Primes)

A: So far AMLogic decoder implementation in OpenELEC is giving great deinterlace, and we are working on new v4l decoder which will be even more efficient (This week will be available first internal and beta tests for Play/Core).

Decent Network speeds since all my media is on a NAS

A: Core, Hub, Play 2, Play 2S are equipped with Gigabit Ethernet. In case You preffer WiFi Hub & Play 2S are equipped with Broadcom AP 6335 802.11 AC wifi chip, while Core and Play 2 are using Broadcom AP 6330 802.1 B/G/N.

4K Proof (not there yet but looking to invest in late 2016)

A: Hub, Play 2, Play 2S support decoding of 4K UHD HEVC 10-bit profile, while Core is limited to 4K UHD HEVC 8-bit profile.

1. All current and future WeTek devices support dual-boot option, where users are prompted to select through Boot menu from where they want to boot. Options are Internal Storage or microSD card. Why is that needed? Answer on that question is simple. By this way, users can easily reboot from Android to OpenELEC, or vice versa directly from sofa, without need to remove microSD card with OpenELEC or Enigma 2 (Play, Play 2, Play 2S since they will support it) on it.

2. Yes, WeTek have early access to Android 6.0 Marshmallow for S9xx, and there for sure will be update once when it is ready to be launched.

3. I am not sure or aware of video sync issues.

[bigjess007]

I honestly don't see the target market for the Core after the Hub is released. Less features for twice the price? Am I missing something?

The core has optical audio out for surround sound whereas I don't see any of the other devices having that. So for those of us who don't want to buy a HDMI compatible receiver, we'll need the core (unless your HDMI TV can do optical out, or you want to go the kludge route of a HDMI optical audio extractor). Yes I know, my days with this receiver are limited, going to have to purchase a new HDMI receiver at some point.

The core is also the only one with AV (composite video + stereo audio) out as well, but I could be wrong about that. Not everyone has a HDMI compatible tv, lots of tubes still in the world. And if you don't want to kludge HDMI to composite adapter, having the box be able to export the signals the old way is nice.

There was also the ram argument (core 2gb, hub 1gb), personally I think more will make a smoother experience, but I'm not jumping in on that one.

[wrxtasy]

As has been repeated quite a few times now, greater than 1GB of RAM for a Kodi Android/OpenELEC media player would come down the list of priorities. The GPU/VPU combo is very important, especially if you want to Hardware decode 4K / 1080p demanding video codecs, such as HEVC and get high quality Hardware deinterlacing from the VPU (Visual Processing Unit).

A powerful GPU/VPU running at a decent GHz, fast DDR3 RAM, a 2Ghz Quad Core CPU with large L2 caches are what you should be looking for. (This is why I'm actually a bit disappointed with the new RPi3's hardware tech specs)

I've run an AMLogic S805 GPU in Mali(450) Turbo (Overclocked) mode now for 6 months on an Odroid C1(+) and it makes a big difference to Kodi GUI operational speed when using OpenELEC, its pretty snappy. RPi2 owners would be very aware of the OE Kodi performance gain once you Overclock and increase the CPU/GPU and SDRAM speeds.

---

WeTek Hub vs Core:

As already mentioned the Core has a S/PDIF Optical and A/V port that is missing from the Hub, one more usb2 port as well.

Now has anyone spotted the tiny Elephant in the room yet, one that eats cheese ?
I'm talking about the excellent, super responsive, RF/IR Wireless Air Mouse that the Core comes packaged with. I'm not sure how Hub and Play2 users are going to go navigating about various Android Tablet Apps like a Web Browser with just an D-Pad IR remote control.

WeTek how do you plan to address this, what do you have up your sleeve ?

---

Also worth mentioning is the GPU/VPU combo in the Core's AML S812-H (8 Core) is actually more powerful than the S905-H (5 Core) in the Hub. In reality there is not much between the two so far as Android Kodi speed is concerned. The Android Kodi GUI on the S905-H is a little bit smoother.
The optimised Android Lollipop OS now works well when running quality Firmware on ARM devices, decreasing the performance gain gap compared to running a Linux OS such as OpenELEC.

If you were playing 3D games, then the older S812-H is the one to go for over the S905-H, CNX-Software have an interesting comparison chart HERE

10-bit 4K HEVC decoding at up to 60Hz means points scored for the Hub. Faster eMMC Flash Storage as well.

[wrxtasy]

Double Post !

[bigjess007]

WeTek Hub vs Core:

As already mentioned the Core has a S/PDIF Optical and A/V port that is missing from the Hub, one more usb2 port as well.

Now has anyone spotted the tiny Elephant in the room yet, one that eats cheese ?
I'm talking about the excellent, super responsive, RF/IR Wireless Air Mouse that the Core comes packaged with. I'm not sure how Hub and Play2 users are going to go navigating about various Android Tablet Apps like a Web Browser with just an D-Pad IR remote control.

WeTek how do you plan to address this, what do you have up your sleeve ?

We didn't, but you did. Excellent point on the remote wrxtasy. WeTek seems to be trying to market everything as all in one, one stop shop. So killer hardware plus sucky remote equals horrible user experience. Sure you can add your own remote on, but then if you want to remap keys, it's more work than it just working out of the box. And more cost.

Can the UI be changed to be more D-Pad friendly? Don't know, but may be possible. But more development work I would think.

Maybe, (hopefully) they offer to sell the great air mouse remote separately? Or rethink this angle completely? Like a pick which remote you want to buy type deal cause if you know you're going third party, you don't need the better remote. But if you want it to just work out of the box, get their remote designed to work with it.

[nsomlai]

I honestly don't see the target market for the Core after the Hub is released. Less features for twice the price? Am I missing something?

The core has optical audio out for surround sound whereas I don't see any of the other devices having that. So for those of us who don't want to buy a HDMI compatible receiver, we'll need the core (unless your HDMI TV can do optical out, or you want to go the kludge route of a HDMI optical audio extractor). Yes I know, my days with this receiver are limited, going to have to purchase a new HDMI receiver at some point.

The core is also the only one with AV (composite video + stereo audio) out as well, but I could be wrong about that. Not everyone has a HDMI compatible tv, lots of tubes still in the world. And if you don't want to kludge HDMI to composite adapter, having the box be able to export the signals the old way is nice.

There was also the ram argument (core 2gb, hub 1gb), personally I think more will make a smoother experience, but I'm not jumping in on that one.

LOL, I missed the optical out. And I need it too. Thanks for spotting it.

I still think less would be more though. Three well-defined products would be less confusing than six with lots of overlaps.

[Theetjuh]

Looking good!!
Really liking the Android 6.x support aswell!!

Will there be a product in the near future with the upcoming S905X or S912?
Something like a Core2?

I'm really looking for a device for my main room with HDR.

Last question, is DSD on the list to get passthrough support like on the HiMedia Q10 Pro?

[wrxtasy]

I believe there may be a Mini Core, a Mighty Core and for power users like you Theetjuh - a Megalomaniac Core, You know just to be sure you have all bases covered.

The MM Core comes shielded in a special Lead Case due to its electromagnetic radiation output !

[JustAnotherUser]

Do any of these have HDMI 2.0a? (HDR, WCG) Or is that spec bump reserved for the unreleased S912 SoC later in the year ?

[JoBcn]

I believe there may be a Mini Core, a Mighty Core and for power users like you Theetjuh - a Megalomaniac Core, You know just to be sure you have all bases covered.

The MM Core comes shielded in a special Lead Case due to its electromagnetic radiation output !

Jajajaja The new sockets S912 S905x,S905M, S908, ... are including a DAC, so a new box with a DAC included ready to connect to the amp to listen the music directly from Spotify, Tidal... would be a nice feature for me.
But as those sockets are not available now (?) but in the (short) near future I think I have to wait a little

[Theetjuh]

I believe there may be a Mini Core, a Mighty Core and for power users like you Theetjuh - a Megalomaniac Core, You know just to be sure you have all bases covered.

The MM Core comes shielded in a special Lead Case due to its electromagnetic radiation output !

Wooww thanks, you made my day right there