MXV+ (MXV Plus) Review: Android TV Box powered by 64bit Amlogic S905

Today we want to introduce you to MXV+ (MXV Plus) TV Box review. This TV Box has well known to us from previous reviews and articles SoC Amlogic S905. In this review we want to bring you the the features and impressions of using MXV+ Android TV Box and answer the questions: how MXV+ 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 Gearbest for sending us a MXV+ TV Box to review. Now MXV Plus TV Box is available on Gearbest for $51.55 + free shipping.

MXV+ (MXV Plus) 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 – 1GB
• Storage – 8GB NAND Flash  + microSD card slot
• OS – Android 5.1
• Video Output – HDMI 2.0
• Audio – Optical SPDIF
• Video Decoding/Format – H.265 10-bit 4K*2K@60fps, H.264 AVC/MVC 4K*2K@30fps, 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 – 10/100M, Wi-Fi 2.4GHz 802.11b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
• Interfaces – 3x USB 2.0, TF card, HDMI (HDMI 2.0), LAN RJ45, RST hole, SPDIF, DC jack
• Other – IR receiver, mini LED digital display,
• Power Supply –  DC 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 120*120*36mm
• Weight – 0.254 kg

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

• MXV Plus (MXV+) Android TV Box
• HDMI cable
• Power adapter 5V/2A (US)
• Remote control (without AAA batteries)
• User Manual
• All-in-1 (110 – 240V) Worldwide Universal AC Charger Adapter (we received extra, not included in the package)

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more MXV Plus (MXV+) TV Box and bundled accessories.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XETx_MdpH98[/embedyt]
First impressions, settings, overview of features

The MXV Plus TV Box measured 120*120*36mm and is made of high quality plastic. Compared to the last presented PROBOX2 Z is thicker (3.6 cm thick). As we said at the beginning of his heart is a an Amlogic S905 Quad core 64-bit  Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor which supports UHD4K@60fps HW decoding, multiple formats including H.265 10-bit, H.264, AVS+ and also FHD 1080p @60fps HW encoding, H.264. As the sample MXV+ TV Box that we have received has a an US adapter, Gearbest additionally attached to the TV Box All-in-1 (110 – 240V) Worldwide Universal AC Charger Adapter Conversion Socket. As we have seen it is a great, affordable universal adapter ($5.30) that can be used all over the world, below pictures.

The MXV+ TV Box on a front panel has LED digital display with IR receiver. On the front top of the cabinet, is the Power LED that illuminates the word “FORFUN”. On one side is a microSD card slot and reset hole. On the rear panel are: 3x USB 2.0 ports, HDMI 2.0 port, RJ45 Ethernet port, Optical S / PDIF port and 5V DC jack.

LED display shows only current time and only in Power ON mode. In standby mode illuminated only the word “FORFUN”. Real photos below.

At the bottom of the device you see four corners of the small rubber to prevent slipping device. Below also remote control.

Booting Android to the “home screen” takes about 00:51.7 seconds. “Home screen” launcher MXV+ TV Box looks very simple, easy to use and familiar, we could see it inother TV boxes (e.g Beelink Mini MX, MX Plus). In addition to the remote control I used a standard keyboard and mouse, MINIX A2 Lite and Xiaomi gamepad.

The MXV+ (MXV Plus) 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, with 4 of those (Online Video, Recommend, Music, and Local) being some folders for apps, and My Apps providing access to all installed app, and Settings. Below also we have access to the most important features and apps: Kodi, media player, music etc. MXV+ has also DLNA, Miracast and Airplay. I had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to my router. In the specification, you can see that the MXV+ has 8 GB of internal memory, but the device shows the total memory 4.43GB (screen below). The remote control and A2 Lite works without a problem, Xiaomi gamepad as always worked greate. Everything worked quickly without delays, but sometimes it happens that during a the running application, there has been a return to the “Home screen”. Below a few screenshots.

The MXV+ TV Box has KODI Jarvis (more precisely KODI 16.0 Jarvis Alpha4) version. However, from the Google Store I installed the latest version of Kodi 16.0 Jarvis because of minor problems with video playback (about this later). Below Kodi screenshots.

On MXV+ Android TV Box you can play without a problem just connect gamepad. I used Xiaomi gamepad. The combination of MXV Plus with Xiaomi gamepad is great fun. Beach Buggy Racing works without problem, even with high resolution works trouble free, also I was able to run Asphalt 8: Airborne which also worked without problems. Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride works also greate.

Operating system and components

The MXV+ 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 p201-userdebug 5.1.1 LMY47V 20151111-1521 test-keys. 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). The device is detected as AOSP on p201 (p201) and board p201. Below screenchots.

After using the DRM info (app) we know that MXV+ TV Box supports Google Widevine Moudlar DRM, but unfortunately does not support 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 903, slightly worse than PROBOX2 Z (result 910), better than MX Plus (result 892). Other MRX (result 906), 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 MXV+ did not have not supported codecs.

As I wrote earlier video playback by Kodi Jarvis (16.0 Alpha4) did not work smoothly (mostly on the sample 4K HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps). After installing the latest version of Kodi 16.0 Jarvis, everything was ok. MX Player runs smoothly and stable. MXV+ TV Box without problem seems plays movies with the resolution of 480p,720p and1080p(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. Dolby Digital 5.1 passthrough worked fine via HDMI. Also I tested several video formats – AVI, MKV, MP4 (typical formats in which it holds the majority of films) and also videos was played without any problems. The tested MXV Plus plays video files in 4K (also 60fps) without any major problems. The following table compares Kodi (latest version of Kodi 16.0 Jarvis) 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

 

MXV+ TV Box Benchmarks

The MXV+  Android TV Box  scored 34208 (PROBOX2 Z – 35996, MX Plus – 35808, MRX – 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 MXV+  scored  on AnTuTu and GeekBech 3: Single Core score – 591 and Multi Core score – 1687. Below some of screenshots.

The MXV Plus TV Box scored 4218 (PROBOX 2 Z – 4333, MX Plus – 4300, MRX – 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 – failed to complete the tests.

Below screen with the results in Vellamo and GPUbench. MXV Plus TV Box as the internal memory benchmarks: Read 19.32MB/s – Write 11.02MB/s. RAM copy speed was 2262.77MB/s.

Conclusions

The MXV+ Android TV Box is a solidly made TV Box with good quality plastic. As we said at the beginning of his heart is a an Amlogic S905 Quad core 64-bit  Cortex A53 Up to 2.0GHz processor which supports UHD 4K@60fps 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). MXV+ (MXV Plus) TV Box has an easy to use UI which provides quick and intuitive access to key features. TV Box works well in simple games, but also web browsing and watching videos. Unfortunately, it happens that the device responds slowly and that during a the running application, there has been a return to the “Home screen”. At the moment, the lack of updates that resolve this issue. Of course, TV Box require improvements, but as in most of the available TV Boxes, always something to find. The device also has a display on which, unfortunately apart from the time (only in Power On mode) nothing is displayed. Once again I want to say thanks to Gearbest for sending us a MXV+ sample. Therefore, if you are looking  TV Box with new SoC S905, good support multiple codecs and 4K video playback, LED digital display and also good price this TV Box is worth considering.