Banana Pi BPI-W2 Open Spec NAS and Multimedia Router

By on April 16, 2018
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Designed for media, storage, and networking application, the SinoVoIP’s Banana Pi BPI-W2 runs on a Realtek RTD1296 SoC with 4x Cortex-A53 cores clocked at up to 1.5GHz with a high-end Mali-T820 MP3 GPU. SinoVoip shows screenshots of test images for Android 6.0, CentOS, Debian 9, Raspbian, and Ubuntu 15.04, and the board is also said to support OpenWrt.

Although limited to dual GbE ports, the board also has a GbE WAN port for router applications. There is an HDMI input in addition to the HDMI output, and a mini-DisplayPort. Four USB ports are available, including single USB 3.0 and Type-C ports, and there’s a 40-pin header that is claimed to support Raspberry Pi 3 add-on boards. Other features include RTC, IR, debug, audio I/O, and a 12V input.

Banana Pi BPI-W2 specifications are listed below:

  • SoC – Realtek RTD1296 quad core Cortex A53 processor with ARM Mali-T820 MP3 GPU
  • System Memory – 2GB DDR4 RAM
  • Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (optional 16, 32 or 64GB), 2x SATA 3.0 interfaces,  micro SD slot up to 256GB
  • Video
    • Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz, mini DP
    • Input – HDMI 2.0 input up to 1080p60
    • Playback – HDR, 10-bit HEVC/H.265 up to 4K @ 60fps, H.264 up to 4K @ 24 fps, VP9 up to 4K @ 30 fps, BDISO/MKV, etc…
  • Audio I/O – HDMI, mini DP, 3.5mm audio jack
  • Connectivity
    • 2x Gigabit Ethernet
    • SIM card slot (requires mPCIe modem)
  • USB – 1x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0 ports, USB type C interface (still no idea if video and power are supported)
  • Expansions
    • 1x M.2 Key E “PCIe 1.1/SDIO” slot
    • 1x M.2 Key E “PCIe 2.0” slot
    • 40-pin “Raspberry Pi” GPIO header
  • Debugging – 3-pin UART connector
  • Misc – Power, reset and LSADC keys; RTC battery connector; IR receiver; fan header
  • Power Supply – 12V /2A via power barrel connector
  • Dimensions – 148 x 100.5 mm (same as Banana Pi R2 board)

Banana Pi BPI-W2 multimedia network and smart NAS router SBC is billed as open source, and should eventually ship with schematics and other documentation. The board can be purchased for $93 + shipping on Aliexpress.

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