Date: Dec 20, 2020

This is the latest Xiaomi TV Box remote control. And you will notice that there are 3 new buttons there. The Google TV shop button, the Netflix button and the Prime Video button.

Yes, Xiaomi now ship TV media box a.k.a. Xiaomi TV box with Google TV installed on it. And yes, it is totally English. The Xiaomi UI (User Interface) as well as the Xiaomi OS is gone. This is a pure Android box that runs the Google TV software on it. Since it is Google, you still can install all the applications on it.

This is how the box looks like. This MiBox “S” can output to 4K TV. There is another version which is the “TV Stick” version, that one can only support 1080p videos. You can easily get this from any Xiaomi shop for S$99. (It is much cheaper than Apple, and you can install Android app on it).

Yup, it runs the latest Android TV software. And it has Quad-core CPU with 3+2 core GPU installed on it.

Standard offering. The media box, the remote, HDMI cable and power adapter.

Looks similar to previous version.

Interesting, there is a LED light behind. Not sure why they put it behind. One USB for you to plug in the thumbdrive to install all the Android APK files. hiak hiak hiak…

And this version of Netflix actually works well with the remote. Android App has this problem, same as Microsoft OS. It is very hard to find a correct version that works well with your remote control. For example, my LG TV has a version of Netflix running on the TV, and it works well for my TV remote. But I still cannot find a good Netflix app that works well on majority of the media box. Most ports did poorly on the navigation part and some times I need to use a mouse to navigate on the Media box. hahaha

So, you might wonder why do I need this? Well, I have 2x Xiaomi 4S TV at home. One for my karaoke and the other one is for my domestic helper room.

Both TV somehow running very slowly. Not sure the reason. I checked the memory still OK.

My home Internet is fine, all the WiFi is wired and the Access mesh is just 1 meter away from the TV. So, there is no reason at all that the TV can run slow after using it for 1.5 years. It could be the processor is slow for the new Xiaomi TV OS. As you know the more updates they have the more heavier the firmware. It could really be the Xiaomi TV really comes with lesser RAM, etc. Who knows.

So, I just quickly hook up the Mibox S to the Xiaomi TV 4S. And setup the HDMI CEC so that I can turn on and off the TV using the remote. I can turn on and off the Mibox S and the TV. So, I think I can safelly keep the original Xiaomi TV remote away. Unless I want to sing song.

And the box is fast. Playing movie is fast. So, I think I will keep this as my main remote control.

And If I want to use my Xiaomi MIC for karaoke, I just simply use the original remote control to turn on the Xiaomi TV OS back on again. I still don’t know how it works yet. But it seems that this is what I will do from now on.

And I tried to plug the Mi Microphone USB dongle into the Mibox S USB port. And it does not work. Because it is running Android TV OS. Cannot sing song using this Mibox S.

So, Youtube also works well too. So, I will connect this box for my helper. So that she also can watch Korean shows with English subtitles on Netflix or Prime Video. With the remote working of course.