At Google I/O, Xiaomi unveiled its new media player for the living room. The Xiaomi Mi Box is built on Android TV 6.0 and comes packed with support for 4K, HDR, ac WiFi, and HDMI 2.0a. It is coming “soon”.
Let Mi entertain you
Xiaomi’s new box is very capable and appears to have been built with 4K and HDR video playback in mind. It will support popular services such as Netflix and YouTube in 4K.
But that it not all. It is also the first media player with support for VP9-Profile2, which means that it will also stream YouTube in HDR, in addition to Netflix. Xiaomi says that it will get support for HDR10 (the open format) and HLG (broadcast format) HDR processing on a system level later this year. 4K is supported at up to 60fps, made possible by the HDMI 2.0a port.
It runs the latest Android TV 6.0 and supports all the standard features, including Google Cast and voice search. The user interface will look like any other Android TV device and you will have access to apps such as Netflix, Plex, TED, Hulu, Vudu, and Vevo from the Google Play Store.
A Bluetooth Remote that takes cues from the Nexus Player remote is bundled in the box.
Housed within is a quad-core CPU, a 3+2-core GPU, and 2GB RAM, says Xiaomi. You can buy a Mi Game Controller to enjoy games, too, but be aware the he box only has 8GB of built-in storage. You can expand storage by connecting a hard drive to the USB port.
Xiaomi did not announce pricing details but says that the new box is coming “soon”. You can learn more about the new device here.
Specifications:
| Dimensions: 101 x 101 x 19.5mm |
| Wight: 176.5 grams |
| Color: Black |
| Resolution: Up to 4K 60fps |
| HDR: Supports HDR10, HLG (software update required) |
| Video formats: HEVC MP-10 (up to 4K 60fps), VP9-Profile2 (up to 4K 60fps), H.264 AVC (up to 4K 30fps) |
| Sound: Dolby Digital Plus, DTS 2.0, up to 7.1 passthrough |
| WiFi: 802.11 ac – 2.4GHz/5GHz |
| Bluetooth 4.0 |
| Processor: Quad-core Cortex-A53 2.0 GHz |
| GPU: Mali 450 750 MHz |
| RAM: 2GB DDR3 |
| Flash storage: 8GB |
| Android TV 6.0 operating system |
| Bluetooth remote included |
Connectors:
1x HDMI 2.0a (HDCP 2.2)
1x USB 2.0
SPDIF Out + 3.5 audio output |
