Xiaomi announced their tiny Mi Box Mini media player powered by Mediatek MT8685A quad core processor in January, and the power plug sized box sells in China for 199 RMB (~$32 US). The good news is that I’ve just found out it listed on GeekBuying for $54.99, and several sellers also offer it for just under $50 on Aliexpress, so it’s available worldwide now, as long as you are comfortable purchase it online. [Update: Gearbest has it for $42.98 with coupon MIBOX]
Mi Box mini specifications:
- SoC – Mediatek MT8685(A) quad core ARM Cortex A7 @ 1.3GHz with Mali-450MP4 GPU (4 fragment + 2 vertex cores) @ 416MHz
- System Memory – 1GB DDR3
- Storage – 4GB eMMC 4.5 flash
- Video & Audio Output – HDMI 1.4 up to 1080p with Dolby 2.0 and Digital Plus pass-through
- Video Codecs – H.265, H.264, H.263, MPEG 1/2/4, VP8 (Up to 1080p30)
- Connectivity – Dual band 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth 4.0
- Power Supply – Integrated into device. 100-240V 50/60Hz input
- Dimensions – 46.8 x 46.8 x 38 mm
- Weight – 73 grams
The device comes with a 1.5 meter HDMI cable, a Bluetooth remote control,. and a user’s manual. It runs MUIU TV based on Android 4.4.2, and the bad news is that the user interface is exclusively in Chinese, so the box is reserved to Chinese speakers, and possibly tinkerers who may want to experiment with the platform and/or create custom firmware / ROMs. However, the box is Google certified (CTS) meaning Google Play is pre-loaded with Google’s “blessings”.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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What about the power suppy connector? Only US I presume, need an adapter for Europe?
@gromez
Yes, correct. I forgot to include a picture of the plug. Two straight flat plugs as in the US.
http://www.cnx-software.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Mi_Box_Mini.jpg
I can’t understand that this device has no SD slot or USB port. What are they thinking?
@JCDOM
obviously they think NAS.
damn saw this a while ago but the only thing is if the Chinese restriction cannot be changed it’s $50 for a plastic ball
how does xbmc play with this box
Does it support hardware video decoding in XBMC/Kodi?
Gearbest sells Xiaomi Mi Box Mini it for $42.98 with coupon MIBOX -> http://shrsl.com/?~87fz
There seems to be a workaround to switch to English -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyKe9F_mn14
@Harley
Hi Harley, I just got my hands on one yesterday (I’m in HK so it was fairly easy to get out of China, however Xiaomi doesn’t ship outside of China, not even to HK).
Anyway, initial testing with Kodi is that it can handle full 1080p videos without issues. I have no frame rate problems. The only issue I’ve seen so far is that the DTS/DD audio seems to get turned into PCM even though Kodi’s passthrough setting is enabled.
However if you use the native player built into the unit, it plays and passes through the audio perfectly to my receiver. I need to test some more. Also HEVC plays perfectly in the native player (fully HW decoded), but comes to a grinding halt when played via Kodi (dammmit!!)
Oh forgot to say, I changed the UI to English, following the instructions above. And the only thing Kodi seems to crash is on a BD rip. The native player seems to play BD rips fine, however the one that Kodi crashes on isn’t even visible in the native player for some reason! (odd!!!)
@sam
I’ve also tested Kodi on it, and many videos won’t play properly…
http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/04/04/xiaomi-mi-box-mini-review/
@cnxsoft
That’s the demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg2yFIZNReU
@cnxsoft
Oh yeah I read that yesterday when I got the box and was worried also. I need to test it out further since it’s only been a day but so far, my highest bit rate ones work really well.
I’ll keep updating back here in the next few days!
Oh and also I’m using 5Gig dual band to my Totolink A2004NS, that might help the bandwidth. And a small combination kb/mouse BT that helps a lot. At least I can press O in Kodi to get the playback stats.
Another update, got some more time to mess around. There is another way to get the Shafa market onto it. I’ll post back, basically you end up installing an app whose QR code is in the manual. Once that’s running it can detect and connect to the MiBox, let you use the remote control/soft keyboard etc. It also lets you push APKs up to the box. Very useful since I reset mine and forgot to downgrade, so now the only option is for me to update from .76 to .80! Neither option allows the side load.
Haha…
More updates later 🙂