Pipo X7 Windows 8.1 Smart Mini PC TV Box Media Player $97.99

[pete]

I saw this box around Christmas time and wondered how they were able to provide a Windows 8.1 license and hardware for just a bit under $100 USD.

I guess too there was a pre release one month prior (December 2014) special price of around $80.00 USD.

I am guessing that little mini tablet with Windows is right around the corner for $50 USD sometime soon.

BTW Here have returned to Microsoft Mobile for my telephone. I started originally with Palm in the late 1990's, then went to MS mobile in the early 2000's, then Android and now back to Microsoft Mobile. The Palm OS is still my favorite.

While now Windows runs on an Arm CPU; Intel now is into this whole little mini pc / tablet (well android) world. The "games" have begun.

I did order the box in around mid January, 2015. I think my order was still a pre-release special price. I wrote to the company a couple of weeks ago relating to my order. I did not get a response back. Rather though I got the box last week. It does show a customs number / tracking on it.

That said its an amazing little device. It is using a quad core Atom CPU on an Intel based motherboard with everything soldered on to the board. IE: 2Gb of RAM and 32 Gb of MMC flash play space. It is similiar to the Joggler in a way as I can triple boot the device into Ubuntu 14.04 and Android and Windows 8.1.

Last night I played a bit with the box / EFI stuff. I can triple boot this box today in Windows 8.1, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Android. Amazing little box.

Everything I did with it I learned right here on the Joggler O2 forum.




PIPO X7 is a smart Streaming Media Player with Windows 8.1 OS. (Also called Internet TV BOX, set-top box, OTT box, etc.) Once connected this player to the HDMI interface of TV, it will converts the regular TV into a Smart TV which likes a PC. PIPO X7 is a great invention that combines TV box and Windows mini PC(Intel chip).

CPU: Intel 3736F quad core up to 1.83GHz
GPU: Intel HD Graphics (Intel® HD Graphics - GPU clock speed 313Mhz up to 646Mhz)
Audio I/O - HDMI, earphone jack, built-in stereo speakers and microphone
System Memory - 2GB DDR3L RAM
System storage - 32GB eMMC
Windows 8.1 with Bing OS, with office 365 Personal, one year subscription
WiFi and Bluetooth
10/100 Mbps NIC
HDMI - (with audio) up to 1080p
USB - 4x USB 2.0 host ports
Power Supply - 12V/2A
Weight - 403g

[hawsey]

Great post , thanks for sharing Pete , you are a bad man , as I now want one of these boxes .
I love the idea of the triple boot , cut down on the clutter ....
The cheap Windows tablets have arrived over the pond , with baytrail processors quite a few under £100 , cheaper for the USA I would think .
How did you set up the triple boot ?
Cheers

[pete]

Triple boot is well, "old fashioned". The box is real metal which is sort of unique these days.

When booting; its just an F7 (well like the Seabios boot), you then get a menu of your OS choices. Each choice is a boot partition.

Its very DOS like and in a way similar to my laptop booting with Grub2 to Ubuntu or Wintel except I have it set to remember which OS booted last.

You can go with the Windows 8.1 boot start manager that will utilize touch and or a mouse which is fancier and easy to use and does also work with this new stuff.

It used the aluminum case metal as a heat sink and has a similar to O2 Joggler rubberized (?) heat sink over the CPU. It is also vented on the sides.

I do not feel any heat or warm areas on the case.

The older PBO NMT CPU would get really hot and used an elaborate means of active (fan) air and duct work to keep the CPU cool. The case was smaller and I did have 1TB 2.5" notebook drives in mine. Well too it had HDMI and analog HD and analog SD ports on it with optical and analog audio out stuff.

The Smart Mini TV box only has a headphone jack in the front with its 2 USB ports and in the back only an HDMI (for audio too), USB ports, power port and mini SD card slot. This does assume that whatever TV you plug it in to can do digital HDMI audio (well I think they all do these days eh?)

The new thing now is the Intel Mini Atom quad core CPU on a stick running Windows 8.1. Basically though that device is pure wireless.

Personally part of this Wintel endeavor relates to the integration of the Microsoft Kinect to my automation doo whats. That said I have been able to get a few Microsoft things running in Linux utilizing Wine. I am better now at it than before. Used to throw the kitchen sink at it installing every thing Microsoft wise and now a la carting these things. IE: SAPI does well. I use Visio all of the time in Wintel and now it works well in Ubuntu 14.04.

[jim_lewis1]

thanks Pete, I have ordered one of these to replace that Digital Engine I fried.

There's a review here:
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac ... 773/review

Which contains a link to a good priced source, which unfortunately I only found after ordering on Ebay for £96.

Apparently it's £80 from 'geekbuying'

http://www.geekbuying.com/item/PIPO-X7- ... 39668.html

Although the discount mentioned in the review article didn't work for me.

[pete]

I have read about running XBMC in Windows 8.1 and have read good things.

That said I did many years ago migrate over to XBMC from Microsoft Media Center.

Yesterday I was able to create an autonomous booting Linux Fedora (Red Hat) 32 bit build on a stick. Still looking though to utilize a little 32Gb SD card I installed on the device if possible and run it at 64 bits. I read some where that its all relating to this 32bit / 64bit UEFI stuff in the EFI BIOS.

The tiny device uses less than 10 watts of power. Ideally if it running just a simple XBMC "the meat" build it should do OK. The one mentioned above with 64Mb of play space will stream 4K (well that is what the documentation states).

[gegs]

I have read about running XBMC in Windows 8.1 and have read good things.

I run Kodi on a Windows 8.1 laptop and it is very good.

I think this could be a great cheap media center PC, especially with the additional storage capabilities. I fancied the Fire TV for a while but was put off by the Amazon-centric nature of the device and no Google Play access (at least, not officially.)

There are quite a few Windows Metro TV/video apps For UK users; Netflix, 4oD, Demand 5, Now TV, Blinkbox, FilmOn, TVCatchup, STV Player (Scottish ITV), Sainsbury's Entertainment, Wuaki, NFB Films, XBox Video etc. There's no iPlayer app but you could run this through a browser or the Kodi addon. I'm not sure why there's an STV Player Metro app but none for ITV Player.

Having said all that, there are a good few Android entertainment apps that don't have Metro equivalents, such as Spotify or Mubi; an Android TV box might suit you better depending on your needs. You don't have to use Metro but it's a better interface for a media centre than the traditional Windows desktop.

Here are a couple of Youtube videos of the Pipo X7, it looks pretty good:

http://youtu.be/1ngFf5FZ8S0

http://youtu.be/knba6JOMM40

[gegs]

I was thinking about buying a new NAS to replace my Iomega one but this might be a better solution. One of these with a portable drive attached (or two) might make a good media server.

I don't think the Pipo X7 supports Wake on LAN, which is a pity (at least, I couldn't find any information that it did.)

[pete]

Yeah I am not familiar with the NIC on the Pipo X7. I do have Linux running on it now. There is a whole development section now on the Intel web site for these new mini motherboards with Intel CPUs. They are all the same.

[gegs]

Crikey! Have you seen the Pipo X8 ? It looks great.

Apparently the Windows licence for a Mini PC was higher than for 7" tablets so they've stuck a touchscreen on and we have a serious successor to, or companion of, the Joggler. It will be the same price or even cheaper than the X7, due to the different licensing costs.

The only down side I can think of is the additional power drain of the screen if you really wanted the Pipo as a headless unit, but other than that it's all good.

http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/19/ ... uchscreen/

[dwl99]

I want a Pipo X8s! (the dual boot version with Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4)

[IndyAudi]

I want a Pipo X8s! (the dual boot version with Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4)

I don't think there is a Pipo X8'S' yet but the Std Version X8 can dual boot Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4.

I've just ordered one from GearBest for about £72 when using the PIPOX8 code, seems to be a reasonable price before they hit the 50 quid mark in a couple of months

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_18415 ... shareasale

There is a place offering the Pipo X8 for 99 Euros but I can't get the linky working.

http://www.unlockpwd.com/pipo-x8-the-mi ... -99-euros/

Daniel

[dwl99]

I want a Pipo X8s! (the dual boot version with Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4)

I don't think there is a Pipo X8'S' yet but the Std Version X8 can dual boot Windows 8.1 and Android 4.4.

I've just ordered one from GearBest for about £72 when using the PIPOX8 code, seems to be a reasonable price before they hit the 50 quid mark in a couple of months

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_18415 ... shareasale

There is a place offering the Pipo X8 for 99 Euros but I can't get the linky working.

http://www.unlockpwd.com/pipo-x8-the-mi ... -99-euros/

Daniel

Thanks, looks good. Just watch you don't get hit for VAT & customs charges!

[pete]

Here purchased one PiPo X7 for some new automation testing.

Guessing if you guys want maybe you can order them from supplier to me here in the US and I can ship them to you there in the UK.

A bulk order and shipping would be more reasonably priced. Set up a group purchase.

You can triple boot the PiPo X7 with Windows 8.1, Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit or Android today. Its just adding the OS's to the base media.

Base for my personal testing is a new 3M 17" dual touch capacitance screen, PiPo X7 and the Kinect.

The 3M screen is very thin with a small section in the back for the USB and HDMI connections. Just right for in wall flush mounting.

This combo will be talking to my automation mothership running on Ubuntu 14.04 64 bit.

I have always had TTS/VR but never used VR. I want to try the gesturing with VR on the Kinect to see how it works.

I did purchase 3 Kinects here around January, 2015.