Saturday, September 15, 2018

4K Android TV Box

Kodi 4K 

My H96 Pro 4K Android TV Box has just arrived - Kody 16.1 fully loaded. It's the one with the Amlogic S912 / Octa Coretex A53 SoC (System on a Chip) CPU, and comes with 3GB of RAM and 16GB ROM. Its powered by Android operating system "Marshmallow"  (Android  OS 6) and sports 3 USB ports, Gbit LAN, AV out, HDMI out, and Wi-FI.

This is certainly not the best system available nor the worse but sits somewhere in the middle.  Even if I have to say it myself, this is a really cool Mini PC TV Entertainment Box ideally suited for video streaming and gives you BfYB (bang for your buck).



At the higher end, the H96 TV Box is also available in the Pro+ version installed with Smart Android 7.1 "Nougat" running the same S912 chip with the same amount of RAM (3GB) but sports a 32GB ROM. Then there is also the H96 MAX Smart Android 6.0 TV Box with the  RK3399 Rockchip chip with 4G RAM and 32G ROM. Not forgetting the newer Quad Core 4K TV Box systems with 4+32GB Android 8.1.0 Oreo  sporting HDR 18.0.


However the S905 and S912 chips from Amlogic are not the only Chip powering Android H96 TV boxes. There is also Android devices from Realtek like its RTD1295; and the Hi3798C V200 from HiSilicon compete with 64-bit ARM Processor. Older Android boxes sport Android 5.11 "Lollipop" and Android 4.4 "kitkat". The newest incarnation is the TV-Fire-Stick 2nd Gen with Alexa voice remote.



OTT Box

Most of these entertainment boxes are available with either US Plug or EU Plug, have several USB ports, a SD/Micro SD /MMC slot, AV and HDMI  out as well as Ethernet. A few years ago they were termed Set-Top Boxes but they been renamed as Over The Top (OTT) boxes. When you turn it on, it displays a cool blue LED. Is fully compatable to wireless mice and keyboards. Several of them come fully installed with Kodi addons like  Phoenix , Genesis, Netflix, Exodus, Navi, TED, You Tube


CASTWARE

Software like Allcast, AirpinCast, Multicast and Miracast are wireless protocols that are standard designed for mirroring a smartphone, tablet, or PC's screen onto a television without requiring any physical HDMI cables. It rivals OTT boxes if you have kody installed on your handheld Android device. Regardless of this, I still think Andoid boxes are nifty gadget and really great gizmo to play with.