Xiaomi Mi Box Launched Today

Lgarvani on 04/10/2016 - 08:58
Last edited 04/10/2016 - 09:00

Is anyone thinking of getting one? Launched for $69usd which is a fairly decent price-point for what your getting.

4K 60fps playback and HDR-10 support
Amlogic S905 SoC clocked at 2.0GHz and Mali-450 GPU
2GB RAM
8GB storage
dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac
Bluetooth 4.0
DTS 2.0 and Dolby Digital Plus output in up to 7.1
Android TV running on android 6.0

No links up to buy yet but suspect a freightforwader will be required or waiting for an international release. Having owned an amazon fire tv for 2 years i have no problems fredightforwarding another android box. Being this is an android tv box its far superior to your run of the mill chinese ebay boxes, also has netflix HD support which all those cheap boxes also lack.

Computing

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 04/10/2016 - 09:58

    Arent cheap Amlogic S905 boxes available ages ago around $50?

    • garvani on 04/10/2016 - 10:04

      yes but not with android tv and certianly not a netflix certified box, all those boxes can only play netflix at 480p (for some people this maybe fine) and they have the phone netflix interface not the tv UI. Being an Android tv box it brings a bunch of features. If your just after basic media playback via Kodi then yes all you probablly need is one of the amlogic boxes from ebay

  • pernunz on 04/10/2016 - 14:05

    I believe the MiBox also contains inbuilt Chromecast support (unsure if other boxes do this)

    • Splurge on 10/10/2016 - 11:18

      Do we know if this will do 4k Chromecast receiving like the Chromecast Ultra?

      Seems silly that Google would limit this sort of thing but these days you just don't know :p

  • TheTeamRanger on 04/10/2016 - 23:39

    Biggest plus would be if this had Netflix in High resolution

    • garvani on 05/10/2016 - 08:23

      which it does

  • slow on 05/10/2016 - 11:51

    Looks good, but no LAN port is a big disappointment

    • TheTeamRanger on 05/10/2016 - 12:13

      Correct, unless we get a usb to ethernet adapter an AC wifi router is a must for any sort of HD streaming.

  • yoshiyoshi on 06/10/2016 - 00:25

    Hey garvani
    How much was it to forward to Melbourne?
    Are you just going to get it off the official website?
    Thanks

    • garvani on 06/10/2016 - 08:40

      i havnt got one yet, the website sold out straight away. Im awaiting a restock or for the wallmart orders to come up.
      For the amazon fire it was like ~$15usd from memory to get it to Melbourne but that was 2 years ago.

      • yoshiyoshi on 06/10/2016 - 10:16

        Yeah I meant the fire stick. Thanks might wait and see if it goes on ebay or something

        • garvani on 06/10/2016 - 10:20

          ahh.. i have the full amazon box not the fire stick.. It has served me well but is showing its age now in regards to hevc files, can play 720p low bitrate but suffers a bit.
          Just this second i was hunting again for a source to buy one of these from but still nothing. Maybe next week they will actually have stock

  • garvani on 09/10/2016 - 09:47

    They are now in stock at Walmart.. Have one on the way to my shipping forwarder (shipitto).. Have guesstimated the shipping to be $20aud to Melbourne based on expected dimensions of the box

    • PVA on 09/10/2016 - 19:20

      so whats the total price?

      • garvani on 10/10/2016 - 08:33
        +1

        i wont know until it reaches the shipping forwarder. but an educated guess sees it at $120aud delivered to melbourne. Which isnt too bad everything considered, but yes you can get a similar specced box on ebay for half the price but again those boxes are not running android tv (only this box and the nvidia shield run android tv on a media player), plus no netflix HD either on those boxes. That to me makes this worth the price vs a nvidia shield at twice the price

      • Titus Afishes on 11/10/2016 - 14:13
        +1

        It looks like you can get one here for $133.72 AU delivered. If this is the same one, it appears to be a lot easier (quicker?) than arranging a forwarding service from US.
        https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Xiaomi-MI-BOX-Streaming-Medi…?

  • MadMaxBargainRoad on 10/10/2016 - 11:47
    +1

    Let us know how the 4K performance is. So far all the reviews are quite disappointing. However, this could simply be a software fix since the S905X chip is capable of HEVC 4K @ 60fps. Xiaomi is also running an official build of Android TV so hopefully improvement patches will be on the way soon.

    • garvani on 10/10/2016 - 12:06

      Ive seen a few updated videos where the reviewer hasn't had any issues with 4k hevc. I do suspect its a software issue, they have already pushed out 1 patch since it was released last week so more should be incoming.
      It will come down to bitrate however, there will no doubt be a certain limit where this chokes and the shield tv is fine. I don't suspect ill have that issue with the files ill be playing.

    • garvani on 10/10/2016 - 12:32

      nice! $10 more expensive than what im doing, and not sure about shipping times for geekbuying but i should have mine by end of next week.

  • BlazinPast on 10/10/2016 - 17:06

    https://youtu.be/3wxTy_QW52U?t=6m7s. Seems like it struggles with 4k? Is the hardware capable of doing it or is it possible a future software update could improve its performance?

    • garvani on 10/10/2016 - 17:28
      +1

      thats netflix and youtube, the hardware is more than capable of playing those at 4k, it will come down to software updates. This device has only been out for two weeks and has already had an update. I have no doubt it will be fine with 4k netflix once it matures.

      Being it can play BBB in hevc 4k that more than meets my expectations (same video at 12:52, 20% cpu usage…)

  • serpserpserp on 10/10/2016 - 20:36

    Does this thing playback the NBA Game Time app well?

  • nstyle on 18/10/2016 - 14:57

    How does this compare to something like a Minix Neo X8-H Plus??

    • garvani on 18/10/2016 - 15:10

      Well form the quick look Xiaomi Mi is half the price and slightly better specs (Android 6 vs 4.4). As stated earlier the Xiaomi Mi has android Tv, this Minix and every other cheap (and in this case not so cheap) android box does not. Andorid Tv brings google cast and a tv operating system to your tv not a tablet based touchscreen interface retrofitted to the tv. You also get netflix 4k and youtube 4k etc as well which these other boxes cant do.

      p.s. the Jb hifi price on that box is horrendus

      • nstyle on 18/10/2016 - 15:17

        Cool, that's what I thought but I wondered if I missing something because of the price difference. I'll keep my eye out for Mi Box stock :D

        Yeah I saw the JB Hifi price o the Minix!! Insane.

        • bunnikins on 18/10/2016 - 15:49
          +1

          Cant wait to get my hands on one also. Waiting for a good price for Australia.

  • KRM123 on 01/11/2016 - 23:37

    I bought one in the US ~3 weeks ago a day after it came out at Walmart.

    Great little box. I find it much more stable running Kodi than my Minix Neo U1, which was more than double the price. The minix will be going on gumtree this week.

    Android google play is a little limited by the apps (Not that many), but you can side load aps. I used easy app installer on my phone and use bluetooth to send files across. You can then download a sideload app on android tv google play so that you don't have to go into a back menu to find the app.

    It's a fast little thing, the wifi works great, remote is good, though a keyboard/keypad is recommended if you want to type in stuff faster. I've got an IPTV client loaded on Kodi, and it's been great so far.

    Highly recommended.

    • garvani on 02/11/2016 - 08:41

      im still waiting for mine, shipping has taken forever and has been in sydney for the last week (im in melbourne).
      From what ive read they are good boxes, there is a fairly substantial thread over on the Kodi forums as well

  • tragic on 25/11/2016 - 06:51

    Is there only one version of this box? As in, not a China market AND an international?
    I want to order one today, found one on AliExpress but want to make sure it's the one I should buy?

    https://m.aliexpress.com/item/32746852141.html?trace=wwwdeta…

  • tragic on 03/12/2016 - 23:31

    So I bought from an Aus supplier (I think) on eBay. All looks legit, great looking little device, but having major wifi issues.

    I have two wifi networks available to connect to (standard Cisco bigpond cable modem) and a TPLink running ddwrt. The tplink is the faster/stronger of the two, but the Mi doesn't even see it. I get very limited connection on the Cisco, and Netflix only plays for a few seconds then says unable to play. Very frustrating, since dropping back to SD regularly on my chromecast was the main reason I decided to buy this device to replace it; now this won't even let me watch for more than a few seconds.
    Firmware is up to date, I've reset it already, but no luck. Already wondering if I should try for a return or replacement.
    I have the option of buying an Ethernet-USB adapter and then running it through PoE adapters (which I already have) but I'm not impressed with the prospect of spending more money ($40 roughly if want one locally) just to get stable connection.

    Not sure how I'm feeling about Xiaomi products right now. If it weren't for KODI I could've just bought an appletv 2 for what I need. I've bought multiple xiaomi products and each has had a share of problems (4 x fit bands, Bluetooth speakers x 2, and a phone that suddenly had screen failure- false screen inputs rendering it useless in less than 10 months).
    Conversely, a cheap notebook/laptop would've done the job considering total cost if I end up having to buy an Ethernet adapter. Most of my library is 1gb MP4 so not hardware intensive.

    A little preemptive since I haven't played with wifi settings much yet, or tested different positions of the Mi Box in relation to wifi strength, but considering a lousy gen 1 Chromecast is outperforming a box which cost me 3 times as much, I'm pretty let down.

    • garvani on 06/12/2016 - 13:53

      From all the posts i have read this is the first such problem. Mine connected fine to my AC1300 router in a very large apartment block, i can see over 15 wireless networks from my lounge and havnt had any issues with the wifi (netflix 4k running fine, although the mi is about 2m from the router).

      The fact that yours is not even detecting the tplink makes me think there is a potential settings issue on the router, try changing band and security settings, ddwrt does have some quirks so it may take some trial and error.

      Overall there is no comparisson between a chromecast and a mi box. Im thoroughly impressed and the only let down i have is that i can't cast a tab from my desktop playing HD video on a webpage to the device without it lagging like crazy, hopefuly i can resolve this when i have some time.

  • tragic on 06/12/2016 - 20:54

    Ahhh… I'd actually forgotten that I posted on ozb about this lol.
    I copy/pasted to whirlpool and half my issue was solved fairly quick; changed wifi channel and gained connectivity.
    I still can't figure out why Netflix won't play beyond a few seconds into any show. It plays trailers perfectly, but movies and tv series just stop after a few seconds.

    Someone has suggested I check the hdcp setups at either end, but I just haven't had the time to do so as yet. I'm winging it, but when I get a chance I'll see if I can figure something out.
    In the meantime it's all iPad viewing or computer connected to the other tv while I let the mi box sit there and hibernate lol

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