Xiaomi this week introduced its next-generation Android TV-based Mi Box S, offering a library of more than 3,000 apps.
With Android TV, the Xiaomi Mi Box 3 is a contender of the Nvidia Shield, Google Chromecast dongles, Amazon’s Fire TV adapters and Roku’s popular streaming media player family, which supports thousands of apps.
The various platforms each boast large app libraries with support for most of the major apps, like Netflix, Vudu, YouTube, SlingTV, but the Xiaomi Android TV player does not support Amazon Prime Instant Video. The Roku platform remains the largest.
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The Xiaomi Mi Box S, which will be available Oct. 19, is affordably priced at a $60, compared to an Apple TV 4K or Nvidia Shield, but will be up against the new Roku Premiere and Roku Premiere+, priced about $10 to $20 less.
The Mi Box S supports up to 4K/60p resolution and HDR10 high dynamic range (HDR) streaming from app services that provide it. However, it does not support Dolby Vision, like the Apple TV 4K box.
The Mi Box S runs on the Android TV 8.1 platform, with built-in Google Assistant that enables voice control for hands-free operation and program searches, using the included Bluetooth remote.
The Mi Box S is powered by a quad-core CPU and includes built-in Chromecast (60Hz) through the Android TV platform.
New in this iteration, is a revamped remote control that adds dedicated buttons for fast access to Netflix and Google Assistant.
For audio, the Mi Box S passes Dolby and DTS HD audio it does not support Dolby Atmos or DTS:X object-based audio formats.
The Mi Box 3 is equipped with 8GBs of internal memory.
By Greg Tarr
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