Beelink GTmini-A Review: TV Box with Voice Remote

Beelink GTmini-A is another new TV Box from Beelink brand. You could read the Beelink GT-King review recently. Whether the new Beelink GTmini-A is worth of interest you will learn from this review. We encourage you to read the Beelink GTmini-A review. Together we follow the standard stages of our review.

GTmini-A looks the same as Beelink GT1 mini, is powered by Amlogic S905X2 SoC and also supports voice remote control, but runs on Android TV 8.1 OS.

I want to say thanks to Beelink brand (Shenzhen AZW Technology Co., Ltd company) for sending us a Beelink GTmini-A to review. Now GTmini-A Android TV Box with voice remote control is available on Gearbest for $69.99 (4GB/32GB) with coupon: GBCNWM0, $75.99 (4GB/64GB) with coupon: GBCNGT1MINI-A, and at official Beelink Amazon stores: Amazon US, Amazon CA

GTmini-A Android TV Box details

Beelink GTmini-A TV Box Specifications:

• CPU – Amlogic S905X2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor
• GPU – quad-core Arm Mali-G31MP2
• Memory – 4GB DDR4 RAM
• Storage – 32GB, or 64GB eMMC flash, Micro SD slot
• Video & Audio Output – HDMI 2.1 up to 4K @60 Hz with HDCP, 3D support, 3.5mm AV jack for composite video (480i/576i) and stereo audio
• Video Playback – 10-bit H.265 up to 4K @ 60fps, VP9 Profile-2 up to 4K @ 60fps, AVS2-P2 up to 4K @ 60fps, H.264/AVC up to 4K @ 30fps, H.264 MVC up to 1080p60, MPEG-4 ASP up to 1080p60 (ISO-14496), etc..
• Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, dual-band 802.11 b/g/n/ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0
• USB – 1x USB 3.0 port, 1x USB 2.0 port
• Misc – upgrade pinhole
• Power Supply – 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 77 x 77 x 17mm
• Weight – 125 grams

The box included everything that you need to get started:

• GTmini-A TV Box
• Power Adapter 
• HDMI Cable
• Remote Control with air mouse feature
• User Manual

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more Beelink GTmini-A TV Box and bundled accessories.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUr8FnAENLo[/embedyt]

First impressions, settings, overview of features

TV Box is solidly made of good quality plastic. The Beelink logo is located on the top cover. On the front panel is an IR receiver. On one side there is a USB 3.0 port, USB 2.0 and TF card slot. On the rear panel are DC jack, Gigabit RJ45 Ethernet port, HDMI 2.1, and AV port. At the bottom of the device, there are also 2 rubber strips to prevent shifting, holes, reset hole, and information about the serial number.

Beelink GTmini-A also comes with 2.4G wireless remote control with an air mouse feature. Voice Remote Control works very well. Recognizes voice commands without any problem. Just press the button with the microphone symbol and say the command. All you have to do is put the USB receiver in the USB port at TV Box.

Impressions from the use

The launcher is known for models equipped with Android TV OS, based on recommendations from many external sources, Youtube, Google Movies, Google Play Games, Google Play Music, etc. The recommended content is displayed in rows.  Resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution or set the auto switch. TV Box works stable and very quickly without delays. The TV Box has a built-in Chromcast, but unfortunately, it does not work. In addition Miracast also. WiFi connection works stable and quickly, but not faster considering the dual-band WiFi 802.11ac. Ethernet: Download – 318Mbps Upload – 36.6Mbps, WiFi: Download – 24.7Mbps Upload – 34.6Mbps. In addition to the bluetooth remote control with voice feature, we used a standard keyboard, mouse, and a gamepad from iPega called iPega PG-9076 (paired via bluetooth).

TV Box supports YouTube 4K (2160p) and Netflix HD and 4K (information on this subject can be found in other reviews). To tests video playback we installed the latest Kodi 18.2 “Leia”. If you need to control the TV Box through a smartphone, you can use the Android TV Remote Control appl or our favorite CetusPlay (Install CetusPlay On TV/Box app on TV box and open, Install CetusPlay on a smartphone). You can play in games without a problem just connect gamepad or keyboard. We used iPega PG-9076 gamepad (paired via bluetooth). Below some screenshots.

Beelink GTmini-A: Operating system and components

The GTmini-A TV Box runs on the Android TV 8.1, Kernel version 4.9.76. The TV Box comes with firmware build 114N0. TV Box is equipped with Amlogic S905X2 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 @ processor up to 1.8GHz and GPU Mali-G31MP2, CPU speed between 100MHz and 1.8GHz. On the following screens, you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app, the application does not yet recognize Amlogic S905X2 SoC). However, an interesting fact is that the TV Box is recognized as GT1-mini, and the manufacturer is Xiaomi.

After using the DRM info (two version app) we know that GTmini-A supports Google Widevine and Microsoft Playready DRM. Marlin DRM, Verimatrix VCAS nor supported. The device also has root access. Below screenshots.

Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark 7. 2.0. The result 1067! Video playback by Kodi 18.2 Leia runs almost smoothly and stable.

The TV Box without problem seems plays movies with the resolution of 480p,720p, and 1080p (24fps, 30fps, 60fps) and also 4K (60fps) with various codecs videos such as H.264, H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB, and audio – DTS and AC3. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. Also, we tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of movies), ISO and also videos was played fine. The tested TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) almost without any major problems. The following table of video samples tested for Kodi 18.2. TV Box also copes well with playing the video on YouTube, videos play in 4K (2160p). We tried to play VP9 4K video and also runs smoothly. 

Typical 1080p	Kodi 18.2
MPEG2 / MP2 2.0 – 6.6Mbps	OK
MPEG4 / MP3 2.0 – 7.6Mbps	OK
H264 / AAC 2.0 – 7.2Mbps	OK
VC1 / WMA3 2.0 – 25Mbps	OK
VP8 / VORBIS 2.0 – 7.8Mbs	OK
Jellyfish 1080p HEVC 10bit – 90Mbps	OK
4K Video
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 30fps	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps	OK
Honey Bees – 96fps	OK
Skyfall – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 10Mbps	OK
Puppies Bath – h264/AAC 2.0	OK
Cinemartin H265/HEVC	OK
Tears of steel – 60fps	OK
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps	OK
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 140Mbps	OK
Jellyfish 4k uhd HEVC 10bit – 200/250/300/400Mbps	Not smooth
LG Demo – Istanbul 3840×2160 MP4/H264 8bit – 116Mbps	OK
Sony 4K – Camp HDR MP4/HEVC 10bit – 75.8Mbps	OK
Demo Samsung 2014 – USA Road Trip TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps	OK
Samsung UHD DUBAI TS/HEVC 10bit – 51Mbps	OK
H.265/VP9 Video
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps	OK
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p	OK
VP9 / 4k – Eye of the Storm 4K Ultra HD.webmv	OK
VP9 / 4k – 10 Incredible 4K (Ultra HD) Videos.webmv	OK
VP9 / 4k – Australia – Land Down Under in 4K.webmv	OK

Benchmarks

Below Benchmark screenshots we were able to do: AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 4, 3D Mark: Sling Shot Extreme, Sling Shot, Ice Storm Extreme, GPUBench. GTmini-A TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 116.86MB/s – Write 65.16MB/s. RAM copy speed was 3511.06MB/s.

Beelink GTmini-A: Conclusions

Beelink GTmini-A is another a great Android TV Box with Voice Remote Control from Beelink. Supports Youtube 4K, Netflix HD and 4K (information from other reviews, we do not have 4K TV). Very good video playback of 1080p and 4K (various codecs and file types). Of course, TV Box requires some fixes. In other words, Chromcast does not work, dual-band Wifi 802.11ac is not fast. However, if you are looking for an easy-to-use TV Box, with voice control, as well as manufacturer support (available updates) and an affordable price then you should consider purchasing the Beelink GTmini-A.