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On the test deck, the H96 Mini TV Box

On the test deck, the H96 Mini TV Box

Thanks to Geekbuying, we are now able to show you an Android media player, our new partner for the first time offered us this product, and even added a unique coupon for our readers to buy it cheaper!

 

On the test deck, the H96 Mini TV Box

 

Named for its noble simplicity, the H96 Mini is built on the Amlogic S905W SoC, with 2GB of DDR3 memory and 16GB of internal storage, so we won’t be dealing with an unaffordable miracle. Of course, this has both advantages and disadvantages. Let's start with the specifications as usual.

Full specification

Model

Name: H96 Mini
SoC: S905W (Quad-Core, ARM Cortex-A53 1,50 Ghz)
Operating system: Android 7.1.2 (December security package)
Memory: 2 GB DDR3 RAM and 16 GB ROM (Micro SD support up to 32 GB) 
GPU: Mali-450MP

Profile: Link

MediaVideo formats: H.265, AVI, H.264, VC-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DIVD / DIVX, Real8 / 9 / 10, RM, RMVB, PMP, WMV, 4GP, MKV
Music formats: MP1, MP2, MP3, WMA, OGG, AAC, M4A, FLAC, APE, AMR, RA, WAV
Picture format: JPEG / BMP / GIF / PNG / TIFF
anther1 × HDMI 2.0 output 
2 × USB 2.0 (External HDD support, checked!)
1 × TF CARD (Upgradable to 32 GB)
1 × AV output
1 × RJ45 LAN Ethernet
1 × DC (5V / 2A)
Networkdual band Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11 b / g / n), Bluetooth 4.1

Package contents

1 × H96 Mini, 1 × EU Power Charger, 1 × HDMI Cable, 1 × English Owner's Manual,
1 × remote control (without batteries)

Wrapping

No chinks, no reckoning, we expected a bit more intricate knife: a simple black cardboard box with a separating paper inside it - a trademark, a technical description nowhere. The accessories have been summarized in the table above (visual image is recommended for our readers) so we can swing further.

package 02

The tiny device is surrounded by a glossy plastic cover and protects itself with a clear plastic sheet on top. It’s quite eye-catching, in a sleepy state, a mysterious red light filters through it, which is absolutely captivating in the dark. It has a TF slot and two USB 2.0 ports on the side, and the AV jack (internal reset switch), HDMI, Ethernet (10/100) and DC power supply socket on the back. Looking at the bottom, we can read some technical descriptions (CPU, RAM, OS, ROM), and we can observe that the air movement necessary for cooling is provided from here - the cover is not closed here. Speaking of heat production: there is some warming under a heavier load - I’m especially sensitive to this kind of thing - so in the summer heat, it might not hurt for him to lie a little raised at his heels. It is not excluded that I will move into the soon-to-be introduced spider-shaped holder, at the same time a unique look will be guaranteed.

H96 Mini Amlogic S905W 2GB 16GB Android 7 1 2 TV BOX 667540 1 

Startup

The operation did not take long: after the H96 Minit was powered down, and of course the connected display, it was booting right away. This procedure took place within half a minute and is already the main screen - you can see this in the picture below:

20180903 092901 screenshot

The resolution of the user interface is 1920 × 1080 pixels, the bottom line can be customized to your liking, but not all the other tiles, so you have to get used to it. We also get a status bar and a notification bar, the former of which I immediately closed as part of an unfortunate move. It was a bit awkward, I couldn’t even spell it back with the factory remote control (I should have produced a swipe gesture), luckily I managed to fix the problem with a wireless mouse. We also have some leeway in the notification bar when it comes to cosmetics: we can place some shortcuts here. You can see the list of factory apps in the following pictures:

20180903 092939 screenshot20180903 093112 screenshot

You can see AirPlay and Miracast as well, but otherwise they may be screen mirrored, there are many Android applications for this feature. DLNA media sharing has not been left out (AirPin (PRO)), I'm old-fashioned on this issue, so I'm handling FTP server data transfer.

configuration

I ran a few laps between settings before using the widget more thoroughly. Let’s start with the fact that the media player wasn’t afraid to give the user full control: in addition to root rights and the Google Play Store, we can also install apps with default settings. In the first round, however, I did not grossly abuse his soul; the arming of the Hungarian language came (at least mostly Hungarian language), then I climbed to WiFi, and then the exact time could come. For the latter, the thing needs some explanation: the H96 Mini was put in a bad time zone, which is why the weather wasn’t good on it. By the way, this was far from the only strange phenomenon: the screen saver resisted all attempts, and I couldn't make it work at all. Somewhat more inconvenient than this, the OTA update was unable to connect to the server, so software support is not really expected from this direction. At this price level, let's say we are not pampered by the manufacturers anyway, so then… 

20180903 093508 screenshot

At this stage of fine-tuning, I switched to the wireless mouse because things went faster and faster - thanks to the designer, my 3,5 sweet rodent was running without problems. If required, otherwise, the latter will be placed on the test bench, and now turn to the subject of our article. 

The basic configuration options are shown in the image above, the advanced settings include HDMI CEC, audio output encoding, resolution configuration, HDR conversion and the function of the power button here: sleep and restart. And now we will characterize the user experience with respect to the remote switch.

The remote control

remote controller

I don’t care, the remote didn’t give the impression of a quality piece, which might be because it might be too light. I would point out that he took the obstacles correctly nonetheless. Of course, there were obviously situations where I had to let you know my intention twice, it certainly didn’t hurt to include a normal element, because that’s really good enough with it anyway. For the attentive readers, it's not a big surprise after the picture above that the settings can be called up with a shortcut, there is a virtual mouse, then the number bar, the dedicated application center, but all in vain, because I'm much more agile with a mouse, so I didn't mess with it. I kept it by my side, but still raced with the mouse.

20180904 124120 screenshot

Use

Personally, I was pretty curious as to how much multitasking will fit this little little thing, since 2,0GB of memory isn’t a bit of a big capacity - the system is chirping around 400-500MB by default. It was a huge surprise that the H96 Mini handled shifts smoothly in the vast majority of cases, bouncing between running tasks. Of course, I rarely stopped for some milling, but these (usually) happened when I was already working within the program. At such times, I ran around the task changer directly, but to my surprise, the stuff didn’t fetch anything out of memory. So it’s not perfect (surprising, is it?), The SoC still performed well for me in terms of system speed. On paper, it’s really not a killing machine, this would probably be proven by synthetic measurement programs, ready for luck that a media player is rarely bought for record tilting… 

20180903 093520 screenshot 

The Google Chrome browser is up to date because the media box has automatically updated Google applications. Because it is factory rooted, it is easy to make. You might get LibreELEC later, I want to explore the factory user experience in the first round, plus then this test would have been out at least 2-3 days later. The main question for now is why with the Mercusys router (MW325R) presented earlier, the little thing can’t better understand itself; It reaches roughly half of 30,0 Mbit, with approx. it is two meters from it. A small consolation is that Bluetooth has been much better.

20180160806 1 screenshot

The capabilities of the media player are PROHARDVER! free download (extended) test package for more details here you can read. We crossed the simplest cases out of a bite, it was quite clear that there would be no problems with a 480 × 272 pixel material. We focused on factory players, because VLC Player isn’t a bad solution anyway, and the same is true for KDMC - it’s a Kodi fork anyway.  

FilenameFormat ResolutionVideo Encoding
audio coding 
bitrate
(Mbps) 
Result
 Xvid_720p Xvid 720pXviD AdvSimple @ L5 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, MP33,7 good
 H.264_1080p High bitrate - Jellyfish H.264 (MKV)1080pCVA [email protected] (no audio) 120good
H.265-HEVC_4K_120fps_- BeautyH.265 (TS) 120 fps2160pHEVC Main12,7good
H.265-HEVC_4K_- Kazu.mkvH.265 (MKV) 23,98 fps2160pHEVC 44,1 KHz, 2 channel, AAC LC9,9image defects
VP9 4K - Test FootageVP9 4K (WebM)2160pVP9 (no audio)13,7good
H.264_1080p Main profileH.264 (MKV)1080pCVA [email protected] 44,1 KHz, 2 channels, AC-33,8good
10bit H.264 1080p - SuzumiyaH.264 (MKV)1080pAVC High [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, MP310,6image defects
H.264_720p High profile - SerenityH.264 (MKV)720pCVA [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, AAC LC4,2good
Quicktime_1080p @ 10MbpsQuickTime1080pCVA [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, AAC10,0good
VC-1_1080p @ 8MbpsWMV HD1080pVC-1 MP @ HL 48,0 KHz, 6 channels, WMA38,3good
[email protected]H.264 (TS)1080CVA [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, MPEG26,6good
BDAV_1080pHD TV1080pCVA [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 6 channels, AC-38,0good
H.264_1080p Main profile GI JoeH.264 (MKV)1080pCVA [email protected] 48,0 KHz, 2 channels, AAC LC9,7good

You can see that we didn’t treat the H96 Mini with gloved hands, nor did we ignore the 4K resolution. KDNC and VLC Player were used in a mix, with the former and the latter being effective. Somewhat surprisingly, the H.265-coded “Kazu” caught on the small box, but the more heavily loaded “Beauty” is no longer - maybe 23,98 fps may be to blame. “Suzumiya” presumably failed due to 10-bit encoding, with no problems in the other cases.

Do it yourself - Linux, gaming machine

Entrepreneurial users can also get something quite surprising out of the stuff. The MXQ Project will help us a lot in this, they will present detailed instructions on how to replace the operating system. The popular LibreELEC can be installed as follows:

Now hold on for a retro gaming machine! ScottELEC's installation process looks like this:

 

Of course, the above operations can only be done under our own responsibility. For downloads, please note the correct SoC selection, which in this case is S905W.

H96 Mini Amlogic S905W 2GB 16GB Android 7 1 2 TV BOX 667543 1

Summary

After the table above, we became quite annoyed. Here is a fairly priced TV Box that in some respects performs beyond strength; the 4K HEVC material at 120 FPS laid it smoothly on the computer I’m writing about these lines, whereas the H96 Mini took the hurdle loosely. So it’s not a sort of media at all, though the Amlogic S905W system chip may not have the best reputation in professional forums. I admit that this is one of the reasons why I used such a versatile and stressful test package (thanks to PROHARDWARE! In retrospect), let that SoC! We made a good decision and we can definitely say that we have met with exemplary relevance in terms of multimedia capabilities! Then why are we “angry”? Because the garnish still lacks some caution, a little more extensive thoroughness. There are some annoying little things at stake here, these have been mentioned above. If we had managed to clear these out, we might have come across something really special here now. After some deliberation, we have come to the conclusion that DIY users should take a look at this media player, with the right professional knowledge, up to two systems can be installed on it. Considering the latter, it is recommended with some tendency to experiment, and not counting it, I liked the H96 Mini.

liked v1

H96 Mini TV Box 1 on test bench

The H96 Mini is still available on Geekbuying right now (click on the picture!) For only $ 39,99 (special offer!), But since this is our first test for Geekbuying, our readers will also get a special coupon to make it even cheaper! When shopping, use the hoc.hu code at the coupon to carve a few more dollars out of the otherwise chunky price!

If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. 

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