Xiaomi Mi Boxes have been available in China for a couple of years, and the only way to ship them to the rest of the world was to purchase via Chinese e-retailers. Xiaomi and Google have now worked together to bring Mi Box with Android TV 6.0, instead of the usual Chinese MIUI TV interface, to the US, and possibly to other countries.
Xiaomi Mi Box (US) specifications:
- SoC – Amlogic S905X-H quad core ARM Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz with penta-core Mali-450MP GPU @ 750 MHz
- System Memory – 2GB DDR3
- Storage – 8GB eMMC flash
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60 Hz with HDCP 2.2 and CEC support
- Audio Output – HDMI, optical S/PDIF and 3.5mm audio jack
- Video Codecs – VP9 Profile-2 & H.265 MP-10 up to 4K @ 60 fps, H.264 AVC up to 4K @ 30 fps, H.264 MVC up to 1080p60
- Audio Codecs – DTS 2.0+ digital out, Dolby digital plus up to 7.1 pass-through
- HDR – HDR10 and HLG HDR processing
- Connectivity – 802.11 b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0
- USB – 1x USB 2.0 host ports
- DRM – Widevine L1 + PlayReady 3.0
- Power Supply – 5.2V/2.1A
- Dimensions – 101 x 101 x 19.5 mm
- Weight – 176.5 grams
The device will run Android TV 6.0 and ships with a Bluetooth voice remote control powered by two AAA batteries, an HDMI cable, a 100/240V 50/60Hz to 5.2V power supply, and a user’s guide. Mi Game controller can also be purchased as an option. The device obviously supports all DRM options to get 1080p and 4K video playback for YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and so on.
The company did not mention Amlogic S905X processor by name, but given the specs, and the fact that a contact told me Amlogic designed S905X for Xiaomi, because Android TV now requires VP9, there’s no doubt it’s the one. That’s probably also explain why they did not go with a more powerful solution as found in their latest Xiaomi Mi Box 3 Enhanced Edition. The H is S905X-H is for Dolby license.
The TV box is coming soon at an undisclosed price. For reference, the (hardware-wise) similar Xiaomi Box 3 TV box based on Amlogic S905-H, 1GB RAM, and 4GB storage, is sold for 299.00 CNY (~$46 US) in China, so I’d not be surprised if the price ends up being around $60. Further details can be found on Xiaomi Mi Box page.
Via Liliputing and Hugo Barra
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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And here we go again: 8GB space without any SD card expansion. Where would my apps will be installed?
USB stick? The website says “USB unlimited storage expansion”… ??
An interesting alternative to Apple TV, would be cool to try it.
If the price will be right & availability too then this could be good choice for a media player.
Do you think netflix will allow this box to show their 4k content ?
If i remember correctly an older blog post of yours, their decision is not only based on the device DRM capabilities.
@nobe
You’re right about needing other licenses, but L1 DRM is one requirement, and considering that’s a Google certified device targeting the US market, I’d be surprised if Netflix 4K is not supported just like on Nvidia Shield Android TV -> https://shield.nvidia.com/apps/netflix
no Ethernet?
@TC
Nope. Xiaomi must loathe Ethernet, none of their boxes have it.
I have two Android TV boxes at the moment
Mbox s802 M8 android 4.4
Mbox s905 mini m8s android 5.1
The M8 is faster in 3D Mark. While the Mini M8S feels quick during browsing, both cost less than 30.00 GBP off eBay. I would not the Mini M8S runs cooler. These are bottom of the market brand boxes with limited support do wonder if Android 6 will come to these one day.
Anyway given they both have 2GB ram and memory card slot I hope the Mi Box will not be silly priced? I note the $46 US mentioned above.
What comes to my mind is how over priced they make a Raspberry PI 3 look.
These deliver double the memory, 8GB emmc, a modern operating system, a case, manual, power supply and a remote while running at 2GHZ. Yes its a different market but still silicon and a PCB under the hood.
That’s me out then.. WiFi is well and good but Ethernet always works.. Pity, would have liked a 6.0 box…
@Methanoid
If all you want is “Android 6.0”, and don’t care about “Android TV 6.0”, then you’ll soon get plenty of choices.
@Methanoid
USB to Ethernet adaptor?
You could wait for this
Amlogic S912 processor is based on Cortex A53 Octa-core @ up to 2.0 GHz, but the GPU will be much more powerful.
Which a advert on cnxsoftware lead me too.
http://www.inexbox.com/nexbox-s912-tv-box/
Well, still the Mi Box 3 Advance is choice for me, in terms of processor, but I would like to see International version of software support for it.
@Methanoid
Look at Nexbox, they have some Android 6.0 boxes coming out.
@theguyuk
Didn’t see this before posting, but yeah, i also clicked on that ad actually and learned about the their boxes with Android 6.0 🙂
@Methanoid : Yeah no ethernet just sucks, but i guess most people will just accept it… after all people actually sensitive to emr are extremely rare. at least brand new buildings nowadays have ethernet in every room as a standard baseline… but i don’t know whether that’s the case in the usa/asia…
@Fossxplorer thx looks nice! seems like the nexbox a5 is the same as this mi box just with an ethernet port, since it’s using the same soc (no drm worries) it should be great to watch that netflix 4k hdr stuff. the A1 looks even nicer though but what about netflix drm?
its not only the radiation…
if my tv is near the router, why i should use wifi?
unstable speeds, clogging bandwith, box has to be in free sight for optimal signal
@TC i hear ya! i’m of the same opinion. wired my tv box (& every other stationary network connected equipment) & put three ceiling mounted accesspoint’s in our home. *poof* superb speed & signal all over the place… 🙂
Any chance this image will run on last year’s s905 mi box?
http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/53443/how-to-use-an-usb-attached-wired-ethernet-adapter-through-usb-otg-on-an-android
You must have weird WiFi in USA because in UK you can sit on a bus and use free WiFi, sit in a city centre and use free WIFI and no line of sight. As mentioned just connect Ethernet adaptor to USB port.
@theguyuk
I remember reading than a good wifi router can provide a usable link over ~1000m radius (1000m seems crazy but that’s the figure I recall, and I found it crazy too but it came from EE/radio engineers so I’d trust them). In dense areas I’m not surprised one can just hop from free hotspot to the next one with almost no down time.
@theguyuk
I think the problem is sustained bitrate to watch videos over WiFi.
This may be a bigger problem if you live in a building with many competing WiFi access points.
@bernstein
You can’t assume all Amlogic S905X TV boxes will support Netflix 4K wih HDR. Actually most won’t because it requires it to be certified by Netflix, and the company is not keen on working with most Chinese companies.
@agumonkey
nominal wifi antenna tests can’t be trusted in densely populated areas, especially not in the 2.4G band which is completely saturated now days.
Wifi 2.4GHz b/g/n versus wifi 5GHz ac, is much like 3G vs 4G cell networks, it’s not only that 4G is faster technologically but the 3G network and band is saturated so you can’t get a nominal 3G link anymore in large cities.
It’s basically the same thing with wifi b/g/n, 2.4GHz band is overcrowded, which makes it more unreliable that is should normally be.
So although it was not specified in the specs above, the wifi has 802.11 ac so the device is 5GHz compatible (aka “dual” band) as most middle/high end wifi devices should be today.
I still don’t trust wifi enough even with 5GHz AC to use it in multimedia applications because not only is it not stable enough (which is okay for any wireless protocol) it also introduces “massive” latencies when transferring ip traffic, as “burst” traffic is much more difficult to achieve with wifi.
You can see that heavily here with ISP dropping wifi for their video (tv) boxes in favor of powerline technology.
I’m just speculating here, but maybe Xiaomi designed their product for the chinese market and decided that wifi only was good enough for small flats and maybe with wifi routers that will allow higher wifi power but relying only on wifi can be extremely hazardous in my opinion, especially when you consider that adding 100Mbps ethernet can be done for most certainly less than 1$ on an s905 board.
I have been told they are base on amlogic s908 soc, not s905x.
The soc is special design for mi box. similar like S905X, but follow the rules about google/netflix.
If they use s905x, They can’t make android TV on it.
Eric
also if you want to “hide” the box somewhere in the TV-furniture, this can get tricky as especially metal (cases of receiver, appliances, consoles…) block wifi. even worse with 5ghz which can be stopped just by wood already
i bought xiaomi mi box 3 pro ( hexa core 2 gb … )
i want to upgrade android 6 tv
how can i do
@hello
Sorry, you can’t do that.
@cnxsoft
thanks
which is better?
mine or that?
@hello
Hardware wise Mi Box 3 Pro is much better, but the software in the Xiaomi Mi Box with Android TV 6.0 has a firmware more suitable to people who prefer English, and especially in the US (since it supports online video streaming services geared to US consumers).
Some store with 0 feedback is already selling this box for $90:
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Original-xiaomi-Mi-Box-Android-TV-Box-4K-60fps-Amlogic-Cortex-A53-Quad-core-Mali-450/32678564382.html
@Gabe
Hmm, and the name of the store is “Xiaomi Authorized store”… We’ll see…
GeekBuying is (pre) selling it for $99.99 -> http://www.geekbuying.com/item/-Official-International-Version–XIAOMI-Mi-Box-4K-H-265-Android-Box-371297.html
Shipping scheduled for 2016-09-30.
@cnxsoft
On geekbuying site it states that it has LAN PORT (RJ45*1), but I don’t think that it has.
Available at Walmart for $69 -> https://twitter.com/garrettdotcom/status/779390972081868800
Official launch in the US for $69 -> http://en.miui.com/thread-375106-1-1.html
Xiaomi have an accessory selling in their website that can switch usb into LAN PORT（RJ45）cost 39 RMB