What’s up, guys? Today, I’ve got my hands on the Xiaomi TV Box, second gen. Now, I know a lot of you guys have requested this review, so here it finally is. This is a new 4K streaming box running official Google TV, so we can stream licensed 4K content from all the popular streaming apps, including Netflix, Prime, Disney, Hulu, and lots more. And in this video, my aim is to find out exactly how good this box is and what it can handle.
Now, first of all, inside the box, you will find a user manual, an HDMI cable, power supply, and I’ll give you a quick close-up of the voltage information. We have a Bluetooth remote control powered by two AAA batteries, which are not included in the box. You can see we’ve got shortcuts here for Netflix, Prime, and YouTube, and we’ve got the Google Assistant button. So there is a built-in microphone for your voice searches. And last but certainly not least, the TV box itself.
Alright, let’s quickly run through the specs. So this box is powered by a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor. For graphics, we have the Mali G31 with 2 gigs of DDR3 RAM and 8 gigs of eMMC storage. This does support up to 4K 60 with HDR10 plus Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. This is running official Google TV, which means you get that built-in Chromecast and Google Voice Assistant. You’ve got 5 gigahertz Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, HDMI 2.1, and this does also support 5.1 and 7.1 pass-through.
Now, the box itself is very similar to the previous Xiaomi MI Box designs. Matte finish, Xiaomi logo engraved on the front. We’ve got nothing on the side, nothing on the back. We’ve got an audio jack, HDMI 2.1, a USB 2 port, and a power socket. If we keep going, nothing on this side. And that brings us back to the front. And this is what the bottom of the box looks like. The limited connectivity there is just one USB port. Limited RAM and limited storage, but this is an official 4K licensed product.
So let’s get it all hooked up and see what this thing can do. Now, first of all, I’ve run a boot-up speed test, and this box took just over 35 seconds to fully load the home screen from a cold start. And this is Google TV UI. Now, there is a lot of content crammed across five pages, which is probably the reason why it took so long to load up the home screen. Now, each page, you’re going to find lots and lots of recommendations on what to watch next. Those recommendations are carried across in categories, so you’ve got the 4U page, you’ve got the movies page, TV shows page, and yeah, there are just—and I would say there are actually too many recommendations, which is one of the reasons why I’m not a huge fan of the Google TV UI.
You’ve got an app page where you can see a whole bunch of apps that you can download. The second row will show you your current apps installed on this box. You can search for apps with your voice or keyboard. You’ve got app categories, so this box basically has the limited Android TV version of the Play Store. So all apps are designed to work with Android TV, and most mainstream apps you’re going to see are available. The ones that are missing, you can actually sideload, and you’ve got a USB port on the back, so it makes sideloading a little bit easier.
Now, if we quickly head over to the main system settings, and if we scroll down to system settings and then scroll down to system storage info. Now, you know that this box has 8 gigs of internal storage, from which 4.6 gigs are actually usable, and from that, you’ve got 3.6 gigs free to use. Now, if we have a quick look in ‘About,’ you will see that this box is indeed running Android TV OS version 11, but of course, with that Google TV UI on top. Now, the features dimension under ‘Display and Sound,’ you have your HDMI CEC settings. Under ‘Resolution,’ you can see we are set to 4K 60, and you can see HDI is supported. But if you connect this to a TV that supports Dolby Vision, over here, it will actually show Dolby Vision, and I’ve already tested that with my main TV, and it works great.
If we scroll down to ‘Advanced Sound Settings,’ I just want to show you automatic is selected for formats. And you also have AC4 dialog enhancer. So you’ve got your various Google TV options. You’ve got ambient mode for your screen saver. You can show various galleries, etc. You’ve got power and energy-saving. And then you’ve got Google Chromecast built in. And then you’ve got Google Chromecast built in. So we’re going to quickly test that with my iPhone 14 Pro, which I’ll grab right now.
So Xiaomi TV box has come up. I’ve selected it. You can see what’s happening on the TV box. I’m just going to open up one of my current videos and hit the play button. So that video will cast immediately. Bye! [Music]
As soon as I saw that large NZXT box coming through my door. So, as you guys just saw, Google Chromecast working absolutely fine. So, I just showed you the main settings worth talking about on this box. Now, let’s have a quick look at the complete system app. So if I just go scroll to the end, hit enter, it will show you all your apps available on this box. So we’ve got Xiaomi TV Plus, which is basically a free TV service that you get. You open the app, and you’ll be able to watch a whole bunch of free-to-view TV channels.
Patchwall is currently only available in the Indian market. So if you’re in India, you’ll be able to use the Patchwall. I tried opening it. I even tried changing my region, but I wasn’t able to access it. It says Patchwall isn’t available in your country. And if you’re in India and you’ve got this TV box, then let me know if Patchwall is working for you.
Now, other apps that I selected during the setup process, I’ve got Netflix, Prime, YouTube, Disney, and VLC Player. Now, we tested out Google Chromecast, and you can cast video from your phone to the TV box with no issues. This box also comes with Miracast. Now, you don’t usually get Miracast installed for you natively. This box has it. So we’re going to test it out, connecting to S23 Ultra, and the connection has succeeded, receiving data, and the screen has been mirrored. So there is a slight delay. I’m not going to say it’s super fast in operation. There is a slight delay. I can inform you it was quick and easy to connect, and it’s doing the job. It’s working. So Miracast Android screen mirroring working fine.