There are several new TV Boxes from MECOOL brand on the market equipped with Android TV OS and Voice Remote Control. One such TV Boxes is MECOOL M8S PRO L with Voice Remote, so today we want to introduce you to MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote review. We will not keep you to the end of the review, and now we can tell you that after the Xiaomi Mi Box it is another TV Box worth of interest and purchase. We invite you to read.
We want to say thanks to Geekbuying store for sending us a MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote to review. Now M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote is available on Geekbuying store for $72.99 + free shipping with coupon code: VKPGFBAF.
MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Control Specifications:
- CPU – Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @up to 2.0GHz
- GPU – ARM Mali-820MP3 @ up to 750MHz
- OS – Android TV 7.1
- Memory – 3GB DDR3
- Storage – 32GB eMMC flash and micro SD slot up to 32GB
- Video Output – HDMI 2.0a
- Audio Output – HDMI, and optical S/PDIF
- Video codecs – VP9-10/ and H.265 up to 4Kx2K@60fps, H.264, WMV, MPEG-1/2/4, VC-1, AVS, and RealVideo up to1080p@60fps
- Audio codecs – MP3, WMA, AAC, WAV, FLAC, Ogg, and programmable with 7.1/5.1 down-mixing
- Connectivity – Fast Ethernet, Dual Band WiFi 802.11 b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 4.1
- USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports
- Misc – IR receiver
- Power Supply – 5V/2A
- Dimensions – 10.20 x 10.20 x 2.10 cm
- Weight – 110 g
The box included everything that you need to get started:
- MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box
- Voice Remote Control
- Power Adapter
- HDMI Cable
- User Manual
The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more M8S PRO L TV Box and bundled accessories.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWnABwjYcoc[/embedyt]
First impressions, settings, overview of features
M8S PRO L TV Box is made solidly, with good quality, no glossy plastic. The housing has a lot of holes on the sides, so there should be no problem with ventilation. As mentioned at the beginning of TV Box is equipped with a popular Amlogic S912 SoC, which supports VP9-10 Profile-2 up to 4Kx2K@60fps, H.265 HEVC MP-10@L5.1 up to 4Kx2K@60fps, H.264 AVCHP@L5.1 up to 4Kx2K@30fps, H.264 MVC up to 1080p @60fps, MPEG-4 ASP@L5 up to 1080P@60fps (ISO-14496) and more. TV Box also runs on Android TV OS 7.1.1. The front panel has IR receiver and power LED. On one side are two USB ports USB 2.0 and micro SD card slot. On the rear panel are: AV port, RJ45 Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0 port, DC jack (same as in MECOOL M8S PRO W).
On the bottom there are holes for good ventilation and MAC address. At the bottom of the device there are also four rubber pads to prevent shifting. Below also bluetooth Voice Remote Control which works very well. Recognizes voice commands (in English) without any problem. Just press the button with colored circles and say the command.
Android TV UI / launcher we met on the occasion of Xiaomi Mi Box. Android TV launcher is based on recommendations from many external sources, Youtube, Google Movies, Google Play Games, Google Play Music etc. The recommended content is displayed in rows.
We can choose typical the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution or set the auto switch. Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays. TV Box supports DLNA and Miracast (you can stream your favorite entertainment and apps from your phone, tablet or laptop). We had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to the router and to the Internet. WiFi connection works stable but not quickly, Wifi connection (802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Dual-band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz/5GHz) could be faster (Ethernet: Download – 93.3Mbps Upload – 41.3Mbps, WiFi: Download – 9.90Mbps Upload – 16.8Mbps). In addition to the bluetooth remote control with voice feature, we used a gamepad from iPega called iPega PG-9069 (paired via bluetooth). The device has exactly 32GB eMMC storage. As we mentioned at the beginning of the TV Box is equipped with Bluetooth remote control with voice search button (colored circles), so by pressing the button you can output voice commands. The service works well and fast. Big plus! You do not have to navigate the remote control, just tell what you are looking for. TV Box support YouTube 4K (2160p) and Netflix HD!. The M8S PRO L TV Box comes with the TV Center application based on Kodi 17.4 and MX Player. We also installed the latest Kodi 17.6. 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). As you know Google play store for Android TV OS is a bit limited and you can not find typical applications for Android OS. A big advantage is the preinstalled Aptoide TV store app, through which you can find a typical application available for the usual Android OS (we used to download applications for tests and games). TV Box also has a pre-installed application StbEmu (Pro) for IPTV (stalker MAG25x) we could not find a (working) free source, but you can always use the legal IPTV providers for example: Vontronix (Vontronix.com offers 5% Off on subscription of $29 or three days free trial account), Nuevo Dynamics ($20 IPTV Subscription – Premium or IPTV Subscription – Gold), good prices and a large number of HD channels, they also have their own dedicated IPTV app. Below some screenshots.
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On the MECOOL M8S PRO L with Voice Remote (as well as most other Android TV Boxes) you can play in games from the Google Play store / Aptoide TV store app. You can play without a problem just connect gamepad or keyboard. We used iPega PG-9069 gamepad (paired via bluetooth). Beach Buggy Racing, Real Racing 3, Riptide GP2, Modern Combat 5 works without problem, even with high resolution works trouble free.
Operating system and components
The MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box runs on the Android 7.1.1 (TV) with the Linux Kernel version 3.14.29. The M8S PRO L is not certified by Google TV Box with Android TV OS, and probably runs on TVStock Nexus ROM (Android TV 7.1), which looks and works like a normal Android TV OS and allows displaying content based on recommendations. The M8S PRO L TV Box comes with firmware build number M8S PRO L-userdebug 7.1.1 NHG47L 20180205.111652.V0928. As mentioned before, TV Box is equipped with a SoC Amlogic S912 octa-core ARM Cortex A53 processor @ up to 2.0GHz processor and GPU ARM Mali-T820MP3, CPU speed between 100 MHz and 2.0 GHz (but in CPU-Z app only 1.51 GHz). On the following screens, you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app). Below screenshots.
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After using the DRM info (app) we know that M8S PRO L with Voice Control TV Box supports Google Widevine Modular DRM with HDCP-1.x and support CENC ClearKey, does not support Microsoft Playready DRM, Adobe Primetime DRM, Marlin DRM and Verimatrix VCAS. The device also has root access.
Performance tests and benchmarks
For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark 7.0.7 The result 956. Also worthy of note is that M8S PRO L TV Box did not have not supported codecs.
Video playback by TV Center app (based on Kodi 17.4) Kodi 17.6 Krypton runs smoothly and stable. The M8S PRO L with Voice Control 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. 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 17.6 |
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 | video OK/ sound delays |
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/ artifacts |
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 |
MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote Benchmarks
Below Benchmark screenshots we were able to do: AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 4, 3D Mark: Sling Shot, Ice Storm Extreme / Unlimited, GPUBench, Vellamo. M8S PRO L TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 108.97MB/s – Write 66.20MB/s. RAM copy speed was 2749.70MB/s.
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Conclusions
MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote is really another great TV Box, which can compete with Mi Box and other Android TV Boxes. Android TV OS, bluetooth Voice Remote Control, and specification based on Amlogic S912 should satisfy the majority of users. TV Box handles many different codecs and video formats plays 4K @60fps video without any major problems. The big advantage is also a support of Youtube 4K and Netflix HD. M8S PRO L TV Box in combination with an iPega PG-9069 gamepad provides great entertainment. The M8S PRO L works quickly and smoothly. As we mentioned, WiFi should work faster (too slow for 802.11ac standard). If you are looking for a TV Box for home entertainment that is well-made, easy-to-use (via voice control), runs smoothly and quickly, which also has supported Youtube 4K and Netflix HD, then you should interested in M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote. We recommend a MECOOL M8S PRO L TV Box with Voice Remote Control.
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