A TV box is a device that can turn your old TV (tube coffins from the last century don't count) into a home multimedia station for just $60. To give it a second life, just use one HDMI connector. Thousands of TV channels, which are conveniently sorted by categories (sports, news, children's, fashion, etc.), watching recorded TV programs (if you missed the series), YouTube, online movies, games, music, and even weather forecasts, alarm clocks, quick search information - all this is easy and convenient, using your home TV. Moreover, you can even connect a webcam to organize a video surveillance system for your apartment. To understand a little better what we are talking about, we recommend watching our video on this topic.

In this video we talked about the Xiaomi Mi Box device, its problems, and also looked at what we thought was a better alternative from the unknown Chinese manufacturer. But immediately after the release of this video, many of our subscribers paid attention to one very important nuance, which we, for some reason, forgot: when you are dealing with equipment from Xiaomi, you need to roll up your sleeves and create your own happiness with your own hands. In general, the situation is the same as with smartphones. This does not mean that Xiaomi is a bad brand. On the contrary: it is quite stupid to scold a designer for the fact that it is delivered in disassembled form. The manufacturer provides excellent hardware for minimal money, and scolding the brand for its ideology is, to say the least, wrong. Therefore, we are forced to admit that we did not understand the issue deeply enough, but this time we will try to improve.

We are grateful to the subscribers who pointed out our mistakes and suggested solutions to the problems that arose. Now we are correcting ourselves and publishing our configuration option. It’s worth noting right away that everything is not as bad as we thought, but it’s not perfect either. In addition, everything listed below can be done on any other TV box, so Xiaomi Mi Box still has virtually no advantages over its competitors. Moreover, in our opinion, it still loses to the MX10 box, because the latter has 7 times more free memory (28 GB versus 4 GB for the Xiaomi Mi Box), 4 USB port, a full-fledged Android with a normal market and Root rights, a slightly more powerful processor (although also not a fountain), an Ethernet port and a lot of other advantages. However, Mi Box also has the right to life, because, thanks to the recommendations of our subscribers, you can now quite comfortably watch movies online on it, even stream torrents, and the box also has a nice appearance and a good remote control, which can be used on an ongoing basis, but for absolute comfort it would still be much better to separately purchase a special remote control with a full-fledged keyboard, joystick and gyroscope (or touchpad).

Setup instructions

So, below is a list of steps that will make “candy” out of your Xiaomi Mi Box. Let's start from the very beginning (first launch):

Download the archive from the link. Unpack it onto a USB flash drive. Insert the flash drive into the TV box.

We turn on the TV box, connect it to the TV via HDMI and go through initial setup: select Russian language, connect WiFi, log into your Google account.

Go to settings - About device - System update - check for update.

Let's launch Google Play, install ES Explorer.

Launch ES Explorer, open the LeanKey + Rus installer from the flash drive.

Go to settings again -> Applications -> System applications-> go to the end of the list -> select XiaomiLeanbackCustomizer - select “Disable notifications”, then click “Disable”, confirm and reboot the system.

Install MX Player (from a flash drive or Google Play). Required for some programs to work.

Install HD Video Box (from a flash drive or Google Play).

Install Movian (from a flash drive or Google Play).

In the Movian application, go to the Plugins section and install everything that may be useful to you (On-screen keyboard - Cyrillic, Video streaming - Rutor, etc.).

Functionality

Thus, only 2 applications (“HD Video Box” and “Movian”) can almost completely solve almost all problems and deploy a real multimedia station in your home. On the other hand, you become hostage to only two applications from, to put it mildly, not the most famous developers, and if these applications for some reason stop updating (and there are prerequisites for this), then the situation may become much less rosy. Of course, there are other alternatives, like the same “ProgTV” and others like it, but all of them cannot be compared. And when I decided to delve even deeper into the topic: create my own library quick access, change video decoding parameters, configure audio streaming through other wireless devices (not through a TV), etc. - I immediately started catching various errors and slowdowns, even freezing the application, so this whole story can be described as follows: installed and used. Changing some superficial additional parameters usually does not entail any sad consequences, but some deeper settings are extremely unstable and you should probably know about this before you decide to dive headfirst into this whole idea of ​​buying a TV box .

conclusions

In general, a TV box is certainly not just a toy, but a truly useful device that you will enjoy using for many years. As for the Xiaomi Mi Box, it’s a pretty good device that’s really capable of a lot. It is worth admitting that initially we greatly underestimated it and were wrong when we called it a useless device. On the other hand, other similar devices for the same money can offer you all the same, and even more. The only objective advantage of the Xiaomi device is its remote control remote control, but, as mentioned above, for real convenience it would still be much better to separately purchase a special 3-in-1 remote control for the box: keyboard (Russian/English) + game joystick + gyroscope (or touchpad). Such a gadget will cost around $10 - $30 (depending on the model), and you will enjoy using it for several years.

Xiaomi TV set-top boxes are unique devices whose capabilities have already been used by thousands of users. Small size, excellent functionality, practicality and impeccable quality of materials and workmanship make the gadget easy to use.

Features of Xiaomi consoles

• Design. Since the set-top box is a device that will be in a visible place, great importance has a design. High-quality materials are used for production; the main colors are white and black.
• Equipment. Having opened the box with the console, the user will find everything necessary for comfortable use. For example, a remote control that has high-quality assembly and is easy to control;
• Easy to install. The manufacturer has taken the necessary measures to make operating the Xiaomi TV set-top box as simple as possible. Even an inexperienced user can easily install the device and begin using it immediately.
• Compactness. Small dimensions allow you to install the device in any convenient place. You can take the gadget with you on a business trip or travel.
• Performance. The consoles are equipped powerful processors, operate under optimized operating system, providing a large number of convenient functions.

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Xiaomi TV set-top boxes are devices that provide complete comfort of use:

• Equipped with a powerful filling that works smoothly;
• Wide functionality;
• Simplicity and ease of use;
• Stylish design;
• The gadget is able to provide a unique vacation in the company of your favorite films!

Rumikom offers to purchase set-top boxes from a Chinese manufacturer. The company store presents best models, implemented by affordable prices. Once you place an order, you will soon be able to appreciate all the benefits of Xiaomi technology!

show in full

Xiaomi and its partners produce almost everything for China. Only the most popular devices come to us, but the company has worthy little-known gadgets in its arsenal. Take, for example, the Mi TV Box line of media players. These little boxes are the best among their counterparts. For just $90, the lucky buyer of the Xiaomi Mi TV Box 3 Enchanced gets all the possible features (even a branded joystick) and access to one of the most thoughtful ecosystems on the market.

Specifications

CPU	6-core 64-bit MT8693 (2 × Cortex-A72 + 4 × Cortex-A53)
GPU	Power VR GX6250
RAM	2 GB LPDDR3
Storage device	8 GB eMMC 5.0
Interfaces	Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac; Bluetooth 4.1+EDR
Connectors	1 × HDMI 2.0, 2 × USB 2.0, power interface
Output Resolution	4K (3,840 × 2,160)
Available codecs	HD MPEG 1 / 2 / 4, H.264, H.265, Xvid / DivX 4 / 5 / 6
Playable video formats	3GP, AVI, FLV, M2TS, MKV, MOV, MP4, MPEG, TS
Playable audio formats	AAC, APE, FLAC, MP3, OGG
Playable photo formats	BMP, GIF, JPG, PNG
Dimensions	100 × 100 × 25 mm
Weight	190 g

Appearance

Most Xiaomi devices in their design can be compared with Apple technology. Xiaomi Mi TV Box 3 Enhanced is no exception.

The delivery set, as always, is very simple: only the essentials. The recycled cardboard packaging contains a small set-top box, a branded remote control, a power supply and an HDMI cable. The cable is short - most likely you will have to buy a longer one. But the remote control is beyond praise. Firstly, it works via Bluetooth. And secondly, it has a gyroscope and an accelerometer, with the help of which the usual control device turns into a rather convenient joystick.

Interestingly, Xiaomi has chosen white for most of its multimedia players. Analogues are predominantly made in black.

The stylish white box will fit well into any interior. It's a pity that you can't attach it to the wall - in some cases it would be useful. We'll have to come up with something additional. And this is a serious task for anyone who has a TV mounted to the wall, because after Xiaomi purchases Mi TV Box 3 Enchanced, most other TV companions can be thrown away. This means you won’t need any stands for the equipment.

The lack of wall mounting is perhaps the only drawback. The device looks stylish, has an indicator with a pleasant matte light and generally evokes an extremely pleasant feeling.

Connection is easy: plug the power into a power outlet and the HDMI cable into the TV. Everything is ready to go.

Performance

Hidden inside Mi Box 3 Enhanced is a special single-chip platform for media boxes from MediaTek MT8693. Powerful, with high heat dissipation. So hot that the developers had to equip the console active cooling- cooler.

The chip includes two Cortex-A72 cores with clock frequency 2.0 GHz, four Cortex-A53 cores @ 1.6 GHz and GPU PowerVR GX6250. Productivity with this combination is very high.

This non-standard solution gives 61,000 points in AnTuTu and can compete even with a mid-range smartphone. Of course, the real performance of such devices is not measured by clock speed and number of cores, but by the availability of hardware support for decoding the necessary audio and video formats. See for yourself: not everyone flagship smartphone can handle this test.

Plays 4K video H.265 / HEVC Main 10 (color depth - 10 bits) at 60 fps, H.264 / AVC High Profile (color depth - 8 bits) at 30 fps. There is support for Dolby (DTS) and 5.1-channel audio.

Volume random access memory LPDDR3 is 2 GB, flash storage is 8 GB. Peripheral USB ports 2.0 and HDMI 2.0 with 4K support allow you to connect flash drives up to 128 GB in NTFS and 2.5-inch drives without additional power.

Wireless interfaces allow you to connect to any type of device without restrictions, including a variety of manipulators (joysticks, mice, keyboards) and access points (including NAS systems and routers with external storage). There is support for AirPlay.

Software shell

Xiaomi Mi TV 3 Enchanced runs MIUI 7 based on Android 5.1. C full functionality you can install a browser or an office suite.

Playback streaming video- within the limits of hardware support, but depends on the type of browser selected. It can slow down or, conversely, work very well. For specific formats, you can install separate codecs.

However, no one is stopping you from using branded applications from online cinemas, YouTube and other similar resources. It's Android! There is everything your heart desires here. You can install Google Play if needed.

A set-top box with a completely Chinese OS is arriving, but specialized resources will tell you quick way Russification.

After this it turns out that in stock firmware Almost any series, films and TV shows are already available in any required language. You don’t even need to download anything - just a stable Wi-Fi connection and an Internet channel of suitable speed.

Among the pleasant bonuses is the ability to configure playback of content from your home Wi-Fi networks. Not necessarily from a router or NAS - even from smartphones, computers or any device connected via a USB port. FAT, NTFS and Linux formats are supported.

If the file is not readable, you can go to the application store and find a suitable one. In fact, this player can replace home computer, since Android has everything a modern user needs. The games work, and how!

conclusions

The Xiaomi Mi TV Box 3 Enchanced turns any TV into a smart one. You only need an HDMI port. Connected, set up the network, set the Russian language - ready.

The functionality is very wide. Only the most expensive Smart TVs have this, and the Mi TV Box 3 Enchanced costs only $90.

The only direct competition for the set-top box is the new line of similar Xiaomi devices on Android TV: Mi 3C for $63 and Mi 3S for $80. But that's a completely different story.

There are a great variety of TV set-top boxes with Android inside, among them there is a whole line Mi Box from Xiaomi. With one of its representatives, the company enters the Western market, choosing Google as a partner and changing its proprietary system to Android TV. It was the interest in this platform that became the main reason for writing this review.

Design, connectors and configuration features.

Technically and externally, the international version is no different from the Chinese one. This is the same exact black box made of black rough plastic with an embossed Mi logo on top. There are no other unnecessary elements on the console, but it looks quite nice due to the curves of the body.

There is an activity indicator on the front, which fortunately is not very bright and not at all annoying. There are only four connectors on the back: power, full-format USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0 and a paired port (SPDIF+mini‑jack) for connecting a separate audio system. There is no Ethernet in the set-top box, which for some may seem like a serious disadvantage. The USB port is designed for connecting external media, and its bandwidth is enough to play a 4K movie from a flash drive. Wired controllers, mice and keyboards are also plugged in there, which Mi Box recognizes without problems.

The set-top box comes with a compact Bluetooth remote control made of the same rough plastic with an extremely ascetic, but sufficient set of elements to control. In addition to the power button, there is a cross made in the form of a circle with a confirmation key in the middle. Just below are navigation elements (back, to the home screen, calling the voice assistant) and a paired volume control. At the top end of the remote control there is a microphone hole through which you will communicate with Google Assistant. There is no QWERTY keyboard or numeric keypad; the focus is on voice commands and the simplicity of the system interface.

Xiaomi included a power supply and an HDMI cable with the console, but this is not enough for carefree use of the device - the kit lacks two AAA batteries (“pinky”), so you will have to worry about purchasing them separately.

Filling

This version is built on the Amlogic S905X platform, equipped with four Cortex‑A53 cores with a frequency of up to 2 GHz and a five-core Mali‑450MP accelerator. It’s strange to expect ultra-high performance from such a solution; this is a multimedia chip with support for hardware decoding of 4K video, including the increasingly popular H.265 and even VP9 Profile-2. It works with all popular video containers and audio formats, including Lossless. There is also support for DTS (digital multi-channel sound), which is natural for a multimedia device.

The Xiaomi console also received 2 GB of DDR3 RAM and 8 GB storage media, of which a little more than 5 are available to the user. Those who like to download 4K movies from torrents will have to get an additional external USB drive or get used to frequently reconnecting flash drives.

The modem integrated into the set-top box supports Wi‑Fi a/b/g/n/ac; it can operate in both the 2.4‑GHz and 5‑GHz bands. There's more than enough bandwidth for seamless 4K video streaming. In addition to the included remote control, controllers, mice and keyboards can be connected to the Mi Box via Bluetooth.

System

The main feature of the international Xiaomi versions Mi Box is Android TV inside, which has replaced the company's own shell. At the time of writing the review, the console had an assembly based on Android 6.0 installed. There is no information about an update to Nougat yet; its appearance depends on the release of drivers by Amlogic.

The shell and most applications are controlled using the remote control described above, but you can also use compatible game controllers. The search engine abandoned icons on the television platform, moving to those familiar to users SmartTV tiles-pictures.

Russification is almost complete, although in the settings there are items in English, and for some reason the called-up keyboard is only in English language. There is a suspicion that the problem is inherent specific device, and not the system as a whole. Something was broken at Xiaomi.

The initial setup of Mi Box requires the user to connect to a Wi‑Fi network and Google account, which is typical for the platform. The easiest way to do it is through your Android smartphone; it will require just a couple of clicks, even the password for home network you don't have to enter it manually. By the way, this process will prompt you to install the remote control application for Android control TV. There is also a manual initial setup, which I even had to use once, since the smartphone did not want to see the set-top box. It is also simple and well explained right on the TV screen.

The entire Android TV interface is divided into several zones. At the top is multimedia content selected specifically for you by Google in all installed applications, be it YouTube, Google Music or other programs and services. You can take away this opportunity from any program, for which you will have to go into the menu.

To be honest, I didn’t like Google’s “smart” mechanism; for some reason it is sure that if I live in Russia, then I’m interested in funny videos in my native language. But the system has data about my subscriptions and watched videos on YouTube. Over time, Mi Box adjusted the content in the “recommended” block to suit me, but the starting algorithm is frankly bad.

The recommended area is influenced by selections from all smartphones and tablets connected to the console, on which the same applications are installed, and especially the content that was launched on it. So the sudden appearance of a selection there best songs The “Combination” group is not worth it. This all applies to Google applications, but third-party programs sometimes behave strangely. For example, Twitch, even after authorization, shows videos from the general global Top in this area, and not let’s plays of those I subscribe to.

In the same area, tiles of background active applications are also displayed, for example, the cover of the track being played in Play Music with the title. Unfortunately, there are currently very few programs working in this area.

The second section from the top, called " Mi Box Recommends", is practically useless for a Russian-speaking owner. It contains only undeletable Netflix and RedBull tiles that send to Play Store to install applications. Next comes the section with games, which appears if at least one is installed, and the last one is the application. This is where the Play Store is located.

At the very bottom of the shell there are two icons. The first opens the system settings, again made in the form of tiles, albeit smaller in size, and the second is responsible for connecting to the Wi-Fi network.

Overall impressions of the main screen Android TV positive, but there is a flaw on Google's part. The search engine should impose more stringent requirements for interaction with the shell, at least for large services that launch their clients on the platform.

Applications

Straight out of the box, the Xiaomi Mi Box for the international market comes with basic Google apps, including YouTube, Play Music, Play Movies and Play Games. Their interface has been redesigned for TVs, which is primarily expressed in moving the list of sections to the left and some recoloring. Most of third party programs for Android TV it has the same design, which is generally convenient to control from the remote control.

However, some discomfort is sometimes felt due to the need to make many clicks on the “back” element to move from one section to another, which is especially noticeable in Play Music. This problem of interaction with the interface can be solved by highlighting a separate button on the remote control to call up the side menu, but for now it is as it is.

There are currently very few applications for Android TV in the Play Store, and some of the existing ones are not rewritten for TVs. However, there is still a certain basic set in the store, the famous player MX Player, the popular media server Plex, gaming Twitch, clients of domestic and foreign streaming services and even a couple of Russian channels. From mobile operators So far, only Beeline has bothered to launch its own application for watching channels on the platform.

It is noteworthy that Android TV does not have Chrome or other web browsers. Google probably doesn't believe in browsing on TV.

Games

Surprisingly, there are more games to choose from for Android TV than regular programs. The store has platformers from Disney, hits from OrangePixel, Despicable Me from Gameloft, several decent games that were once exclusive to the OUYA console, and even a number of classic Final Fantasy releases. True, for the purchase of many of the titles presented you will have to pay a tidy sum, sometimes exceeding 300 rubles. There are also races, including Asphalt, although only the old Airborne. But due to the not very rich filling of the Mi Box, it works only at medium settings.

Some of the available games can be controlled directly from the remote control, while others require connecting a gamepad to the Xiaomi Mi Box, which is warned about in the description. I regret to add that not all games with native touch controls are well ported; in the Despicable Me runner, for example, you sometimes have to scroll through the results lists to start the next run. However, this can only be explained by Gameloft’s disregard for the platform, since other developers managed to resolve this issue.

By the way, even if an application or game is not in the store on the console itself, they can often be officially installed from the Play Store from a computer. Android TV also supports downloading third-party APKs, just like any other Android device. Although not all applications installed in this way will function normally on Mi Box. For example, the button that starts testing in the AnTuTu benchmark does not work.

Chromecast (Google Cast)

Like all devices with Android TV, the Xiaomi Mi Box has a full-fledged software Google Cast built in, called there Chromecast. It works in the same way as with a separate “dongle” for TV - click the broadcast icon in compatible application on your smartphone or tablet and the stream starts broadcasting on your TV. There is also a full display mirroring mode mobile device, launched in Google program Home. Judging by some indirect signs, the Google Cast layer seems to be parallel to Android TV, that is, the device essentially has two operating systems.

This is also confirmed by the fact that Mi Box uses the same images as a screensaver as in individual Chromecast devices. They can be configured in the same way from Google Home, for example, by telling the set-top box to display the user’s own pictures from the Google cloud.

Google Assistant and voice input

An important part of Android TV at the current stage of its development is the built-in Google voice assistant, launched by the microphone button on the remote control. It recognizes requests well and provides answers, but it cannot conduct a dialogue in Russian, which makes it less interesting. However, you can ask your assistant for the weather forecast or Mikhail Boyarsky’s height.
To a greater extent, voice input is interesting for searching multimedia content within applications, for example, in YouTube. It perfectly replaces the much less convenient virtual keyboard.

Summary

If we look at it from a purely technical point of view, the Xiaomi Mi Box is nothing more than another set-top box with support for 4K and a large number of formats, which is provided by the processor. The Android TV built into it left ambivalent impressions. On the one hand, it does not require additional steps to set up and even has its own store, but on the other hand, there is still not enough compatible content in the Play Store. You can also feel some dampness in the interface and the logic of working with it, but you still don’t expect such childhood problems from a Google product.

However, when choosing between an expensive TV with a built-in SmartTV shell and a simpler one in conjunction with the Xiaomi Mi Box, I settled on the second option. Despite Google's love of killing projects, I believe in the viability of Android TV, and its capabilities are much greater - just look at the support for Android applications and games.

Starting recently, the set-top box can be bought in Russia from an official partner, who asks 7,990 rubles for it. Xiaomi Mi Box price in Chinese stores constantly floats around $80 (4,750 rubles). Analogues with an identical set of hardware (processor, RAM and storage media) start somewhere from $45 (2,670 rubles) - the difference is more than serious. Whether it is outweighed by the nice-looking shell on the big screen and the design of the device itself, as well as truly working voice input, everyone will decide for themselves.

I needed a set-top box, not an Android computer, so the choice fell on this Mi Box option. The most important factor was full support for Google Cast, since the whole family was very accustomed to Chromecast. Those who like to dig deeper and read forums should pay attention to alternatives that will cost less.

The best way to buy a Xiaomi Mi Box TV set-top box is in the GearBest store, with a discount coupon: TOPCN2 its price will be only $66.99.

Just like other gadgets Xiaomi company, TV set-top boxes are created with the latest technology. Their stylish appearance in the spirit of minimalism allows you to place the device in a prominent place. They will look advantageous in any interior and attract the views of everyone who enters your home. The console will not take up much space, because its dimensions are so minimal that it fits in the palm of your hand. The device works perfectly, without interruptions or other defects. High-quality materials used in production of this product, will ensure its excellent operation for many years.

The smart TV set-top box broadcasts the image from the phone to the TV screen, which is simply ideal for gamers who value comfort while gaming and want to enjoy the game on the big screen. The Xiaomi TV set-top box will provide a reliable connection to the device, while guaranteeing high speed data transmission and constant signal. You can buy a TV set-top box in our store in Moscow at an affordable price.