MRX TV Box Review: Android TV Box powered by 64bit Amlogic S905

Today we want to introduce you to MRX TV Box review, TV Box which has mounted this popular SoC. In this review we want to bring you the the features and impressions of using MRX Android TV Box and answer the questions: how MRX works in normal use, how copes with video playback at 4K and that we stumbled upon some problems. We invite you to read.

I want to say thanks to Roofull company (SHENZHEN ROOFULL TECHNOLOGY CO, LTD) for sending us a MRX Android TV Box to review. Now MRX TV Box is available on Aliexpress in the official Roofull store for $58.16, and also via the Roofull website, and website on Alibaba.com. Also MRX TV Box  is available on Gearbest for $69.65.

MRX Android TV Box Technical Specifications:

• SoC- Amlogic S905
• CPU  – Quad core ARM 64bit Cortex-A53 @ up to 2.0GHz
• GPU – Penta-core Mali-450MP up to 750Mhz
• Memory – 2GB DDR3
• Storage – 8GB eMMC Flash  + microSD card slot (up to 32GB)
• OS – Android 5.1
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0
• Video Decoding/Format – H.265 10-bit 4K*[email protected], H.264 AVC/MVC 4K*[email protected], AVS+, MPEG1/2/4 ASP, WMV/VC-1, RealVideo8/9/10  / Format – MKV, WMV, M2TS, MOV, MP4, AVI, MPG, MPEG, DAT, VOB, FLV, 3GP, DIVX, F4V, ASF, M2V etc.
• Connectivity – 10/100/1000M, Dual Band Wi-Fi 2.4GHz and 5Ghz 802.11b/g/n (AP6330),
• Interfaces – 1x OTG, 1x HDMI (2.0), DC jack, AV port, RJ45 LAN, TF Card slot, 2x USB 2.0, S/SPDIF jack
• Other – IR receiver, power LED with two – color, Power button
• Power Supply –  DC 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 115 x 115 x 24.5 mm
• Weight – N/A

What’s in the box?

What we find in the box? The box included everything that you need to get started:

• MRX Android TV Box
• HDMI cable
• Power adapter 5V/2A + EU adapter
• Remote control (without AAA batteries)
• Quick Start Guide

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

First impressions, settings, overview of features

The housing MRX TV Box is made of good quality plastic in black color. The upper part of the housing cover is matte with a Power button, the sides of the device are made of shiny plastic. On one side is a two USB 2.0 port, OTG port and micro SD card slot. On the rear panel are: 5V DC jack, AV port, RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0 port and an Optical S / PDIF port.

At the bottom of the device there are a small rubber to prevent slipping device. Below also remote control.

Booting android to the “home screen” takes about 00:40.2 seconds (well enough). “Home screen” launcher MRX looks very simple, easy to use and familiar. In addition to the remote control I used a standard keyboard and mouse, MINIX A2 Lite and Xiaomi gamepad.

The MRX TV Box can additionally be controlled using the application on the smartphone. Download here – RC_Client_Amlogic. The application works with TV boxes  based on SoC Amlogic: S905, S812 and S805. The device worked in the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution (also 4K) or set the auto mode.  The launcher includes 6 large icons: KODI, MY APP, LOCAL, SETTING, RECOMMEND and MUSIC. Below is the access to applications that you can add to your home screen by a plus “+” sign. The  MRX has also DLNA, Miracast and Airplay. I had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to my router. Connections to work fairly quickly. The remote control and A2 Lite works without a problem, Xiaomi gamepad as always worked greate. Everything worked quickly without delays. TV Box also comes with preinstalled Netflix app, which is functioning properly and there is no problem with loading your video content. Below a few screenshots.

The MRX TV Box  is another TV Box which has KODI Jarvis (more precisely KODI 16.0 Jarvis Beta3) with preinstalled addons. As you can see in one of the screenshots, summary information shows resolution of 1280×[email protected], instead of 1920×[email protected] Below Kodi screenshots.

On MRX TV Box you can play without a problem just connect gamepad. I used Xiaomi gamepad.The combination of MRX with Xiaomi gamepad is great fun. Beach Buggy Racing and Jetpack Joyride runs reliably and without problem, even with high resolution works trouble freealso I was able to run Asphalt 8: Airborne which also worked without problems, and well with the game Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride.

Operating system and components

The MRX TV Box runs on the Android 5.1 Lollipop, namely version 5.1.1 and the Linux Kernel version 3.14.29. Received device has firmware build number mx64_100L1. It is now available a new firmware (20151230 for SD card) to MRX download here. TV Box is equipped in the recently very popular a SoC Amlogic S905 Quad core 64-bit  Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor and GPU Mali-450, CPU speed between 100 MHz and 2.02 GHz. On the following screens you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app). Unfortunately,Amlogic S905 is not yet recognized in the applications only detected ARM Cortex–A53. Also, the model device is detected as MRX (p200_2G) and board p200_2G.

After using the DRM info (app) we know that MRX TV Box not supported Google Widevine Moudlar DRM, and unfortunately does not supported Microsoft Playready DRM.

Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing I use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark 6.0. The following screenshots from the video test. The result 897 , worse than T95 (result 906), Minix Neo U1(result 899), K1 Plus TV Box (result 886) and Beelink Mini MX (result 920). Also worthy of note is that MRX did not have not supported codecs.

Video playback by Kodi Jarvis (16.0 Beta 3) and MX Player runs smoothly and stable. The MRX 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 video such as H.264, H.265, MPEG2, MPEG4, RMVB and audio – DTS and AC3. Also I tested several videoformats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of films) and also videos wasplayed without any problems. The tested MRX TV Box plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) without any major problems (Big Plus). The following table compares Kodi and MX Player for some video samples. Also copes well with playing the video on YouTube.

Typical 1080p	KODI	MX Player
MPEG2 / MP2 2.0 – 6.6Mbps	OK	OK
MPEG4 / MP3 2.0 – 7.6Mbps	OK	OK
H264 / AAC 2.0 – 7.2Mbps	OK	OK
VC1 / WMA3 2.0 – 25Mbps	OK	OK
VP8 / VORBIS 2.0 – 7.8Mbs	OK	OK
–	–	–
4K Video
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps	OK	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps	OK	OK
Honey Bees – 96fps	OK	OK
Skyfall – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 10Mbps	OK	OK
Puppies Bath – h264/AAC 2.0	OK	OK
Cinemartin H265/HEVC	OK	OK
Tears of steel – 60fps	OK	OK
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps	OK	OK
–	–	–
H.265/VP9 Video
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps	OK	OK
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p	OK	OK

MRX TV Box Benchmarks

The MRX TV Box  scored 35466 (Sunvell T95 – 28731, MINIX Neo U1 – 37564, Beelink Mini MX – 34123, K1 Plus – 29252, PROBOX2 EX+ –34332, ZIDOO X6 Pro – 30158) on AnTuTu Benchmark v6.0.1. The MRX scored  on AnTuTuand GeekBech 3: Single Core score – 593 and Multi Core score – 1724. Below some of screenshots.

The MRX TV Box scored 4357 (Sunvell T95 – 4300, MINIX Neo U1 – 4326, Beelink Mini MX – 4282, K1 PLUS – 4299, PROBOX2 EX+ – 5834, ZIDOO X6 Pro – 4431) on Ice Storm Extreme.  Ice Storm Unlimited scored 7355 (nice!).

Below screen with the results in Vellamo and GPUbench. MRX TV Box as the internal memory benchmarks: Read 30.42MB/s – Write 12.58MB/s. RAM copy speed was 2330.52MB/s.

Conclusions

The MRX is a small (115 x 115 x 24.5 mm), well and solidly made TV Box with good quality plastic. As we said at the beginning of his heart is a new Amlogic S905 Quad core 64-bit  Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor which supports UHD [email protected] HW decoding, multiple formats including H.265 10-bit, H.264, AVS+ and also FHD 1080p @60fps HW encoding, H.264. Plays typical video content in 1080p and copes very well with the video in 4K (also with 60fps). The MRX TV Box has a very easy to use UI which provides quick and intuitive access to key features. TV Box works well with games, but also web browsing and watching videos. It’s really good equipment with big potential to build a home entertainment center. Of course, TV Box require improvements, but as in most of the available TV Boxes, always something to find. Roofull company for sending us a MRX Android TV Box sample. Therefore, if you are looking for the TV Box with new SoC S905, good support multiple codecs and 4K video playback and also good usability this TV box is for you. We recommend a MRX TV Box.