Xtreamer Hardware Specifications
From Xtreamer
Contents |
CPU and Architecture
The Xtreamer comes with a Realtek RTD1283 32 bit MIPS (Release 2) CPU. The RTD1238, also called 'MARS', is an enhanced PBGA (Ball Grid Array) version of the RTD1073, or 'VENUS', chip, which is part of the 'Galaxy' family of Realtek SoCs.
Overview
The RTD1073/1283 represents Realtek’s third generation media processing technology and incorporates three major HD specifications.
- BD HD: Supports all three video encoding formats of Blu-ray Disc. Currently H.264, VC1, and MPEG2 take around 55%, 30%, and 15% market share each. The RTD1073/RTD1283 supports 1.25x 1080P HD decoding, ensuring decoding capabilities provide top quality viewing pleasure.
- RMVB HD Support: RMVB (RealMedia Variable Bitrate) is a multimedia container format developed by RealNetworks. Widely used in Asia and the Chinese market, the RMVB playback requirement has been raised to 720P (1280*720).
- Full HD: Offers 1080@60p, 32-bit HD OSD, advanced DNR (Digital Noise Reduction), MADi (Motion Adaptive De-interlace), and Multi-Tap Scaling Filter to ensure that RTD1073 picture quality matches Full HD TV set quality.
The RTD1073/1283 integrates HDMI 1.3, USB2.0 Host and Device, SATA, Fast Ethernet MAC and PHY, 12-bit Video DACs, and Digital Audio Output. It supports a Wireless LAN IEEE 802.11b/g/n in-house total solution, as well as rich network protocols for advanced Internet functions development. The RTD1073/1283 simplifies design and lowers cost via a NAND-boot feature, and is supplied in a 256-pin LQFP (RTD1073) or 416-pin PBGA (RTD1283) ‘Green’ package.
CPU General Features
- MIPS32 Release 2, with DSP Application-Specific extra core(s?) (MIPS32 24KE for main core, and LX5280 for A/V)
- 416-Pin PBGA IC Package
- 405 MHz Frequency (internal 15x multiplier from external 27.0 MHz clock)
- Secure boot with OTP and embedded boot-ROM
- Up to 256MB DDR2 SDRAM with 32-bit data interface
- Supports up to 32 MB Parallel Flash with 8-bit data interface
- Up to two 16550 compatible UARTs
- Up to two I2C ports (I2C1/UART0 are shared)
- Two USB ports
- Two SATA ports
- One HDMI port (with HDMI-CEC support?)
- One IR port (with low power support)
- 10/100 Ethernet PHY
- eFUSE
- EJTAG
CPU Consumer Features
The Audio and Video features of the RTD1283 are provided through independent firmwares, and include:
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Player function
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Encoder
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Board Layout
Datasheet
The first generation Xtreamer is very close to the original Realtek RTD1073 Demo Board layout, whose datasheet can be downloaded here
Pictures
- Xtreamer
(Picture credits: Pawel)
- Xtreamer Pro
Interfaces
Serial
Both the Xtreamer and Xtreamer Pro include a 4 pin serial port on the motherboard, located near the fan connector. As this port uses 3.3V TTL signals, a converter, like the MAX232, must be used before you can connect to a PC RS232 port.
This serial port, which is directly linked to UART0 on the CPU, can be used to access the embedded Yamon Bootloader as well as the internal Linux console.
- On the Xtreamer, the serial port is labelled J2 and uses a standard 2.54mm spaced 4 pin connector
- On the Xtreamer Pro, the serial port is labelled J1 and uses a Molex PicoBlade connector. It is however possible to use the cable connecting the faceplate USB, to access this UART more easily, as illustrated here
EJTAG
On the Xtreamer, the port labelled T1 can be used for EJTAG access. It uses the same pinout as described on page 6 of the RTD1073 demo board datasheet
On the Xtreamer Pro, EJTAG access does not appear to be available.
IR Remote
The Xtreamer uses a standard infrared remote. For the list of programmable IR codes, as sent by the remote, see the IR_Codes page.
Yamon Bootloader
If you have a serial connection to UART0 (115200n8r), the Yamon Bootloader can be accessed by pressing 'Esc' while booting the device.
This custom version of the MIPS Bootloader uses slightly modified command names, as they must either be prefixed by 'xx' (eg. 'xxcontinue') or have their first letter replaced by 'x' (eg. setenv -> xetenv).
Bootloader Recovery
The RTD chip provides Bootloader update facility through serial using the YModem protocol. To enter the Bootloader Serial Recovery console, you need to press the Space Bar in your serial console while the unit boots. The bootloader recovery mode is accessible even if the Yamon bootloader or the whole flash has become corrupted.
To be able to update the bootloader, one must provides a HW register settings file ("s"), to setup Flash memory access, as well as a bootloader dump file ("d"), and a serial recovery application for the flash. The rtdsr recovery utility can be used for such a purpose. Additional information can also be found here.
Linux Info
CPU
# cat /proc/cpuinfo system type : Realtek Venus processor : 0 cpu model : MIPS 24K V7.8 BogoMIPS : 269.51 wait instruction : yes microsecond timers : yes tlb_entries : 32 extra interrupt vector : yes hardware watchpoint : yes ASEs implemented : mips16 VCED exceptions : not available VCEI exceptions : not available
Despite what cpuinfo reports, the proper designation for the CPU in the Galaxy line of SoC seems to be "Mars" rather than "Venus".
RAM and Flash
On the Xtreamer, we have 128 MB DDR RAM (2x64MB Nanya NT5TU32M16CG) and 256 MB flash (Hynix HY27UF082G2A).
On the Xtreamer Pro, 256 MB DDR RAM is installed (2x128 MB Elpida E1116AE8G) with 256 MB flash (Hynix HY27UF082G2B).
/ # cat /proc/meminfo MemTotal: 120312 kB MemFree: 1588 kB Buffers: 1008 kB Cached: 25920 kB SwapCached: 0 kB Active: 12832 kB Inactive: 28368 kB HighTotal: 0 kB HighFree: 0 kB LowTotal: 120312 kB LowFree: 1588 kB SwapTotal: 32 kB SwapFree: 32 kB Dirty: 4372 kB Writeback: 0 kB Mapped: 18592 kB Slab: 6324 kB CommitLimit: 60188 kB Committed_AS: 23908 kB PageTables: 656 kB VmallocTotal: 1048548 kB VmallocUsed: 888 kB VmallocChunk: 1047052 kB
