Last year we reviewed a Bluetooth speaker from a company called Divoom and it actually surprised us, it was original and sounded pretty good. So when Divoom reached out to see if we would be interested in their latest product, we were certainly intrigued. This right here is Pixoo 64, it is a multi-functional LED panel that has a lot of great features and some limitations, so let's get into it.
So…. Divoom - who they are and what do they do? Divoom have been making different speaker and lighting products for a little while now and they are known for retro looking speakers as well as displays suitable for 8-bit pixel art animations. As far as standalone LED displays are concerned, this is their third and largest unit. Their previous releases include 16 by 16 and 32 by 32 LED matrix displays.
Pixoo 64 (as you may have guessed) is 64 by 64, totaling 4096 LEDs while staying at a pretty reasonable size. It is just a smidge larger than 26cm tall and 26 cm wide, weighing just 740g.
This LED panel comes in a very nice matte black box which also includes USB type C cable to power it. Do note - it does not have any battery backup so you will need to have cable connected at all times. Also, it does not come with a power brick - it seems the trend that started in mobile phones is now spreading. You will need a 2 AMP USB power brick to power this panel. Make sure to use the right power supply, it will keep power cycling with anything less than 2 AMP.
In terms of mounting, it has a built-in kickstand that can be stored at the back. It also features a few wall mount holes like a picture frame as well as three tripod mounts (one at the top and two at the bottom). This allows you to place it pretty much anywhere, providing you can hide the cable, or alternatively use a power bank.
Other features include full RGB support on all of the lights, microphone for tracking room loudness and audio visualization as well as Wi-Fi support. This is actually one of the biggest upgrades, because it can directly communicate with the internet - it opens up loads of use cases which include:
Financial trackers, whether it is stocks, crypto currencies or exchange rates.
Gamer stats - current supported games are League of Legends, Overwatch, Apex Legends and Fortnite.
My favourite one is social media tracker, this includes YouTube subscriber counter or view counter for a specific video - but there are options to also view your stats on Twitter, Twitch, Billi Billi and more.
Right now you are at the mercy of Divoom and what they support but they have mentioned to possibly expand this project to become more open source which would help speed up support for all kinds of platforms.
They are also working on adding integration for IFTTT, as well as Amazon Alexa, but this is not something that is available just yet. Divoom has also promised to be working on REST API via URL with expected completion towards the end of the year - once all of these are done - the LED panel will be even more versatile.
And of course we have the display itself - you can use it as a show-piece in your home to display 8-bit pixel art, which you can design yourself or pick one from the thousands of user submitted designs. Alternatively it can also be used as a world clock, calendar or even whether forecast - the options are basically limitless.
One of the features that seems cheesy but kinda cool is to set-up dates until a special event such as Christmas or even your wedding anniversary, and Pixoo is going to display a countdown till that special event.
We left a YouTube subscriber counter up on the wall and surprisingly found it very motivational.
There are a few concerns that need to be addressed too - this is a new device on the market for Divoom and there are still some kinks. Our early unit had issues picking up results from YouTube, but after a bit of troubleshooting with the tech team - they sent through an update which resolved the issue. We noticed that there have been updates coming through pretty often which is good to see.
Another concern is this system being limited on what the app currently supports and what the Divoom team is working on. I hope they do follow through with the promise to go open source or at least provide the tools to do some more customisations within the existing tools and also provide integrations to more systems.
With all of this said, I like this product and I can see a lot of potential here. If you are interested to find out more - feel free to check out their Kickstarter page, where currently it is expected to be shipped out to the backers in October. It should go without saying - Kickstarter projects are always a risk, but this is not the first project from Divoom and so far we have had good experience with their equipment. Check it out and judge it by yourself.
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