Z68 TV Box Review: Android TV Box powered by Rockchip RK3368

Most commonly we show you reviews of TV Boxes with Amlogic S905. Today, a little variety. Today we want you show a review Z68 TV Box powered by Rockchip RK3368. How will compared to currently presented TV Box with S905 chipset, you will see in this review. Also in this review we want to bring you thethe features and impressions of using Z68 and answer the questions: how Z68 TV Box works in normal use, how copes with video playback at 4K , whether appeared any problems and whether you should buy Z68?. We invite you to read. Together, we follow the standard stages of our review.

I want to say thanks to Gearbest for sending us a Z68 TV Box to review. Now Z68 TV Box is available on Gearbest for $64.77 + free shipping.

Z68 TV Box specifications:

• CPU – Rockchip RK3368 Octa Core up to 1.5GHz (Cortex-A53 64bit)
• Operating System – Android 5.1
• GPU – PowerVR SGX6110 up to 700MHz (DVFS),OpenGL ES3.1, OpenCLES3 and DirectX 9.3
• Memory – 2GB DDR3
• Internal Storage – 16GB eMMC Flash  + MicroSD card，Max to 32GB
• Connectivity – 2.4GHz/5GHz WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (AP6335), Gigabit Ethernet (10M/100M/1000M), Bluetooth 4.0
• Video output  – HDMI OUT(2.0 ) to support maximum [email protected]
• HDMI Port – Standard HDMI female, v2.0 Support [email protected] Support HD Audio(7.1CH)
• Interfaces – 1xHDMI 2.0 (Support 4K×2K decode output), 2x USB Host, 1x SPDIF, 1x TF Card, 1x RJ45, 1x DC Jack
• Power – DC 5V/3A
• Dimensions – 10.5 x 10.5 x 1.5 cm
• Weight – 0.101 kg

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

• Z68 Android TV Box
• HDMI cable
• Power adapter 5V/3A (EU)
• Remote control (without AAA batteries)
• Product Manual

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more Z68 TV Box and bundled accessories.

[embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI9WpSAbJQ8[/embedyt]
First impressions, settings, overview of features

The Z68 TV Box is a very small (10.5 x 10.5 x 1.5 cm) well and solidly made TV Box with good not shiny plastic. As we said at the beginning of his heart is Cortex-A53 Rockchip RK3368 Octa-core 64-bit processor which supports 4K*2K H.265/H.264 hardware decoding, 4K*2K UHD video playback, [email protected] and HD Audio (7.1CH) passthrough. Device runs on Android 5.1 Lollipop. The front panel has IR receiver and power LED. On one side is a two USB 2.0 ports (1x OTG USB 2.0) and micro SD card slot. On the rear panel are: RJ45 Gigabit Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0 port,  Optical S / PDIF port and 5V/3A  DC jack.

At the bottom of the device is a hole to reset. At the bottom of the device there are rubber pads to prevent shifting. Below also remote control.

As we said at the beginning of Z68 is a very small TV Box and extra thin. Below we include the Z68 photos in combination with a matchbox, so it was easier to see the size of Z68 Android TV Box.

Booting Android to the “home screen” takes about 00:29.9 seconds (nice!). Unfortunately, there is no typical launcher or in other words the launcher to which we are used to, that is, large tiles on the home screen. Appearance “Home screen” without customization manufacturer, pure android. In addition to the remote control I used a standard keyboard and mouse, MINIX A2 Lite and Xiaomi gamepad. Z68 also has an onboard battery that you can charge by using an adapter. Simply plug in the adapter in the DC port to charge it.

The installed firmware (more later) like the firmware tablet than a TV Box. Browsing the settings we came across some information about battery (below screenshot). 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. Z68 TV Box has also DLNA, Miracast and Airplay. I had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to my router and to Internet. Below screenshot from SPEEDTEST. On the right side test, after updating the firmware – build 20160305.

In the specification, you can see that the Z68 has 16 GB of internal memory, but internal storage was divided into 8.73GB and 3.74GB (screen below).The remote control and A2 Lite works without a problem, Xiaomi gamepad as always worked greate (in Android devices). Remote control well in the hand. We know him from UGOOS UT4. Everything worked stable and quickly without delays. Below a some screenshots.

The Z68 TV Box has SPMC 15.0 (based on KODI) version. The updated firmware has Kodi 15.2 Isengard. However, from the Google Store I installed also the latest version of Kodi 16.0 Jarvis. Below Kodi screenshots.

On the Z68 you can play without a problem just connect gamepad or air mouse and keyboard. I used Xiaomi gamepad. Beach Buggy Racing works without problem, even with high resolution works trouble free.

Operating system and components

The Z68 TV Box runs on the Android 5.1 Lollipop, namely version 5.1.1 and the Linux Kernel version 3.10.0. Received device has firmware build number rk3368_box-userdebug 5.1.1 LMY48G eng.yanghui_test.20160128.090114 test-keys. For further testing we updated the firmware from 20160315 (here) with a build number – rk3368_box-userdebug 5.1.1 LMY49F eng.yanghui_test.20160305.192139 test-keys. TV Box is equipped with a SoC Rockchip RK3368 Octa-core 64-bit Cortex–A53 processor and GPU PowerVR G6110, CPU speed between 312 MHz and 1.5 GHz. On the following screens you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app). 

After using the DRM info (app) we know that Z68 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 6.0.1 The following screenshots from the video test (on firmware – build 20160305). The result 442.  MemoBox MX MAX  (result 913), MXV+ (result 903),  PROBOX2 Z (result 910), 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 Z68 TV Box did not have not supported codecs, but also some are not smooth.

Video playback by Kodi 16.0 Jarvis runs smoothly and stable (beyond 4K samples). MX Player runs smoothly and stable. The Z68 without problem seems plays movies with the resolution of 480p,720p and1080p (24fps,30fps, 60fps) but unfortunately, not cope with the video in 4K (60fps). Plays video, not smoothly. Device also plays 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 videos was played without any 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	Not smooth	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps	Not smooth	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	Not smooth	OK
Tears of steel – 60fps	Not smooth	OK
HD Club Chimei – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 60Mbps	Not smooth	OK
–	–	–
H.265/VP9 Video
Tears of steel – H265-HVEC / AAC 2.0 – 15Mbps	Not smooth	OK
Youtube – VP9 / 1080p	OK	OK

 

Z68 TV Box Benchmarks

The Z68 Android TV Box  scored 27053. ( MX MAX – 35024, MXV+ – 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 – 504 and Multi Core score – 1672. Below some of screenshots.

The Z68 TV Box scored 3319 (MX Max – 4349, MXV+ – 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.  5136 scored on Ice Storm Unlimited.

Below screen with the results in Vellamo and GPUbench. Z68 TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 84.79MB/s – Write 27.54MB/s. RAM copy speed was 1529.52MB/s.

Conclusions

The Z68 is a very small and nicely made TV Box which you can easily take with them and put it into his jacket pocket. The heart of Z68 TV Box is a Rockchip RK3368 octa-core 64-bit Cortex-A53 processor which provides fast and stable operation, and supports H.265 / H.264 video playback in hardware decoding and output 4K @60fps resolution video. Plays typical video content in 1080p and copes well with the video in 4K (beyond kodi). The device does not have a tiled launcher, whether it is good or bad depends on your taste. The device is stable even when playing. Z68 has potential, but needs support firmware. How often will updates hard to say. Unfortunately, problems with playback via Kodi, adversely affect on advantages of the Z68. Price Z68 also is not very attractive for the price of $64  you can buy a device that works better with S905 or RK3229 chipset. At the moment, we can not recommend the Z68.