ZIDOO H6 PRO Review: Android TV Box with Netflix HD powered by Allwinner H6 SoC

We had the opportunity to test the new ZIDOO H6 PRO also with the latest firmware, so today we want to introduce you to ZIDOO H6 PRO review. This is another great TV Box from ZIDOO, which also has a new Allwinner H6 as one of the few on the market. The new ZIDOO H6 PRO has many features, one of which is Netflix HD support and (and at the moment) Youtube 2K and others. Of course, the TV Box, and more precisely the firmware still requires optimization, as you will find in the review. Together we follow the standard stages of our review. We invite you to read.

I want to say thanks to ZIDOO for sending us a ZIDOO H6 PRO TV Box to review. Now ZIDOO H6 PRO is available on Gearbest for $89.99, Geekbuying for $87.99, Amazon DE for €99.

ZIDOO H6 PRO Android TV Box Specifications:

• SoC – AllWinner H6 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.8GHz
• GPU – Mali-T720MP2 GPU
• Memory – 2GB DDR4
• Storage – 16GB eMMC flash, micro SD card reader up to 32 GB
• Video Output – 1x HDMI 2.0a up to 4K @ 60hz with HDR support, AV port (composite)
• Video Decode:
  • HDR10 and HLG video processing
  • H265/HEVC Main/Main10 [email protected] High-tier ;[email protected], up to [email protected]
  • H264/AVC BP/MP/[email protected], MVC, [email protected]
  • VP9，Profile 0/2, [email protected]
  • VP6/VP8, [email protected]
  • MPEG1/MPEG2 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]
  • MPEG4 [email protected] 0~3, [email protected] 0~5, GMC, short header format, [email protected]
  • AVS+/AVS JIZHUN [email protected] 6.0, [email protected]
  • VC-1 [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 0~3, [email protected]
  • Supports Frame Buffer Compression（FBC）Output pixel format configurable,YUV420/YV12/NV12/.
• Audio I/F – HDMI, AV port (stereo audio), optical S/PDIF; DTS and Dolby supported
• Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.1
• USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports including on OTG port, 1x USB3.0 port on other side. An external power needed if USB connects to over 1TB mobile HDD.
• Misc – IR receiver, reset/recovery button behind AV port, front panel display (TBC)
• Power Supply – 5V/2A
• Dimensions – 105.6mm x 105.6 mm x 17.5 mm

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

• ZIDOO H6 PRO Android TV Box
• HDMI cable
• Power adapter 5V/2A (EU)
• Remote control (without AAA batteries)
• Simple Manual
• Guarantee card
• Qualified certificate

The following video from our YouTube channel where you can take a look at more ZIDOO H6 PRO TV Box and bundled accessories.

First impressions, settings, overview of features

ZIDOO H6 PRO is a small TV Box, and looks very elegant and aesthetically. The top cover is made of glossy white plastic and protected by a protective film (pre-scratch). Also on the white cover will not be seen fingering, as in the case of a black cover (ZIDOO X7). The sides of the TV Box and bottom are made of aluminum (gold color), as in the case of top flagship TV Boxes from ZIDOO: X9S and X10. As mentioned earlier, H6 PRO TV Box is equipped in new Allwinner H6 (CortectA53 architecture and up to 1.8GHz) which supports [email protected] ultra-HD video decoding and low-latency H.264 4K encoding and supports 6K video. There is also supports for HDR10 and HLG HDR, integrated Smartcolor 3.0 display system, more in H6 brief here. The front panel (in a small window) has IR receiver and power LED. On one side there are two USB 2.0 ports (one USB 2.0 OTG) and micro SD card slot. On the next side there is a USB 3.0 port. On the rear panel are: 5V DC jack, AV port, RJ45 Ethernet port, HDMI 2.0a port, and an optical S / PDIFport.

At the bottom of the device there are rubber pads to prevent shifting and warm air outlet. Below also remote control. H6 PRO comes with Bluetooth wireless remote control.

The bluetooth remote control from ZIDOO H6 Pro is great and well placed in the palm of your hand. You do not have to precisely target the remote control to the TV Box to be able to use it because it works on bluetooth (up to 10m). Unfortunately the remote control does not have an air mouse feature (small minus 🙂 ), then it would be great. Below simple manual:

As we said at the beginning of H6 Pro is a small TV Box and extra thin (105.6mm x 105.6 mm x 17.5 mm). It’s a bit smaller than the ZIDOO X7, below the pictures where you can see ZIDOO H6 PRO compared to ZIDOO X7.

The ZIDOO H6 PRO has a new ZIUI that you can see in the ZIDOO X7.

We can chose typical the resolution of FHD 1920×1080 (1080p 60Hz) but you can also adjust the preferred resolution ( also 4K 60Hz) or set the auto switch. Everything worked stable and very quickly without delays. We had no problem with Ethernet and WiFi connection to router and to Internet, but Wifi connection could be faster (hopefully the next firmware will be better). Ethernet: Download – 318.04Mbps Upload – 40.88Mbps, WiFi: Download – 3.72Mbps Upload – 4.49Mbps). In addition to the bluetooth remote control (from H6 PRO), we used a standard keyboard, mouse and two gamepads from iPega: iPega PG-9069 and iPega PG-9076.  Although the device in its specification has 16GB eMMC, storage has 10.22GB of data. TV Box  support also DLNA and Miracast, but the pre-installed miracast application does not work well. You can download other app from the Google Play store or install the application called CetusPlay (Install CetusPlay On TV/Box app on TV box and open, Install CetusPlay on a smartphone). ZIDOO H6 PRO has a pre-installed Netflix app (Netflix_v4.16.1 version). In the current firmware version (v1.0.10) H6 PRO supports Netflix HD (Big Plus!).  Also in this firmware version of the TV Box supports Youtube 2K 1440p (hopefully the target will be 4K 2160p). We have not seen any problems with local area network connections with other devices (network share). We also installed the latest Kodi 17.4. Below some screenshots.

The ZIDOO H6 PRO has several great features including ZIUI Media player which allows for many video settings, subtitles, audio and smart color engine with compare model (standard, soft, vivid, custom). The ZIDOO H6 PRO has several great features, including the ZIUI Media player, which allows you to set multiple video, subtitle, audio and smart color engine modes with compare model (standard, soft, vivid, custom). Another feature known from previous ZIDOO models is ZIDOO remote control app installed via QR code. Allows remote operation of the H6 Pro via smartphone (WiFi). The H6 PRO also provides three different Power options. Of course, on the ZIDOO H6 PRO you can play in games from the Google Play store, as on other Android TV Box. Games run smoothly with maximum settings.  Just connect gamepad or keyboard. We used two gamepads (iPega PG-9069 and iPega PG-9076) and played Riptide GP2 and Beach Buggy Racing, and other famous games Asphalt 8, Real Racing 3. Below the screenshots.

Operating system and components

The H6 PRO TV Box runs on the new Android 7.0 Nougat and the Linux Kernel version 3.10.65. TV Box comes with TV Box received from firmware v1.0.8b, which we updated via OTA to v1.0.10. TV Box is equipped with the new a SoC AllWinner H6 quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 processor up to 1.8GHz and GPU Mali-T720MP2, CPU speed between 480MHz and 1.8GHz. On the following screens, you can see exactly the components used and their specification (Information taken from the CPU-Z app).. Below screenshots.

After using the DRM info (app) we know that ZIDOO H6 PRO TV Box supports Google Widevine Moudlar DRM with HDCP-2.2, but unfortunately does not support Microsoft Playready DRM, Marlin DRM and Verimatrix VCAS. The device also has root access in this firmware (v1.0.10).

 

Performance tests and benchmarks

For testing, we use the AnTuTu Video Tester 3.0 app and AnTuTu Benchmark.  The result 938. The test showed problems with 2 video samples.

Video playback by Kodi 1.4 runs smoothly and stable. The H6 PRO without problem 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. 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 17.4. As we mentioned, TV Box supports Youtube 2K (1440p).. Also, we tried to play VP9 4K video runs smoothly.

Typical 1080p	Kodi 17.4
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
–	–
4K Video
Sintel – H264 / AAC 2.0 – 24fps	OK
BBB Sunflower -H264 – 60fps	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
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
Demo Samsung 2014 TS/HEVC 10bit – 51.4Mbps	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

 

ZIDOO H6 PRO TV Box Benchmarks

Below Benchmark screenshots we were able to do: AnTuTu Benchmark, GeekBench 4, 3D Mark: Ice Storm Extreme / Unlimited, Sling Shot Extreme. H6 PRO TV Box has the internal memory benchmarks: Read 51.15MB/s – Write 57.51MB/s. RAM copy speed was 3404.69MB/s.

Conclusions

The ZIDOO H6 PRO is another successful TV Box from ZIDOO, although its firmware still requires optimization and improvements. First of all, the improvement requires WiFi (it is too slow). Big plus for ZIDOO team because it decided to use the new Allwinner H6 SoC in its new TV Box. The big plus also supports Netflix HD, Youtube 2K (hopefully soon Youtube 4K 2160p) and bluetooth remote control. If you are looking for a good TV Box that has many features, frequent updates also via OTA, then you should consider buying the ZIDOO H6 PRO.