Recently, the system that comes with the old TV at home has some cards, and the cost of changing the TV is relatively high. If you add a TV box, the cost will be much lower. But with so many TV boxes on the market, how should you choose?
If the budget is between 300 and 500, among the mainstream products, the three boxes of Aurora 5S, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro and Dangbei H3S are considered to be close in configuration. Since the general target has been selected, I simply start all at once, and tell you which one is more worth buying through comparison and evaluation.
In order to save everyone’s time, let’s come to a conclusion this time:
Tmall Magic Box 8Pro not only has better hardware parameters, but also performs better than Aurora 5S and Dangbei H in actual measurements. 3 S is even better and is the king of the three TV boxes.
In order to facilitate a more intuitive comparison, I have summarized the hardware parameters of the three TV boxes and some measured data.
After comparing the parameters in the chart with the actual measurements, you should have a general understanding of the three products. If you want to further understand the detailed process of this comparison, you can continue to read.
Performance comparison:
Like all smart devices, the quality of the TV box experience depends first and foremost on "performance", and as a user, the most intuitive perception of "performance" is nothing more than four aspects: one is the score score; the other is the boot speed; the third is the APP loading speed; and the fourth is the video startup speed. I also focused on the comparison test of the three TV boxes from these four aspects.
[Performance score] Performance score is the most intuitive performance embodiment. The higher the score of a TV box, the stronger its overall performance. Using Antutu score measurement, the score of Tmall Magic Box 8Pro reached 55,812 points, the best score among the three TV boxes, followed by Tencent Aurora 5S, and Dangbei H3S.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S
[Boot Speed] In the actual experience, the perception of the performance of a TV box actually starts from the moment you press the "power button". The faster the boot, the shorter the time we need to wait, and the faster we can see the program we want to watch. In the actual boot speed measurement, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro only took 17 seconds to boot, while when Bei H3S took 30 seconds, it was still at the bottom.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S
[APP loading speed] APP loading speed is also a side reflection of performance, reflecting the scheduling of TV boxes for "performance". In order to ensure the accuracy of the test, I cleaned the background of each box before the test, and then turned on Kiwi TV, Cloud Audio-Visual Aurora and Mango TV respectively. In the test results, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro still leads in all aspects, even surpassing the second-place Aurora 5S in the loading speed of Kiwi TV and Cloud Audio-Visual Aurora by nearly 1s; while Aurora 5S and Dangbei H3S win or lose each other.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S
[Video Startup Speed] The video startup speed reflects the optimization of a TV box for a certain video APP to a certain extent. It is easiest to ignore, but it also tests the TV box manufacturer’s attention to details. Here, Kumeow is used as the test APP to test the opening speed of the same video for three TV boxes. The measured Tmall Magic Box 8Pro took 1.28s, Aurora 5S took 1.72s, and Dangbei H3S took 1.93s.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S
[Conclusion] After four rounds of testing, it is not difficult to see that the Tmall Magic Box 8 Pro performs better in all tests, making it the king of performance. Although the price of the Dangbei H3S is similar to that of the other two models, its performance is much worse.
So what is the reason for the "performance gap"? In fact, it mainly comes from three aspects: the processor chip, the random access memory and the storage space.
The first is the processor chip. It is the core hardware of the TV box’s performance, and its performance not only determines the running speed of the TV box, but also determines the decoding ability of the TV box. Among the three TV boxes, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro uses Amlogic S905x4, and its theoretical performance is the strongest among the three boxes, while the RK3566 used by Dangbei H3S, whether it is 22nm process or 512K cache, is far behind the other two TV boxes.
Secondly, random access memory and storage space. The random access memory determines the fluency of the APP during continuous operation, and the storage space, as the hub of data storage and transmission, determines to a certain extent the number of APPs that can be installed on the TV box and the speed of reading and writing content. These two also have an important impact on the performance and user experience of the TV box, so generally when purchasing smart devices, the same price, we should tend to choose these two configurations larger. Among the three TV boxes, Aurora 5S and Tmall Magic Box 8Pro both give 4GB random access memory + 64GB storage space configuration, while Dangbei H3S is only 3GB + 32GB, which is also an important reason why Dangbei H3S is lagging behind as a whole.
Audio-visual performance comparison
As a TV box, its "audio and video performance" is more a test of the decoding ability of the processor chip and the support for audio standards.
In terms of decoding capabilities, in the past, due to outdated technology, some old TV boxes could only support 1080P video decoding at most, so we had no way to output some 4K film sources through it. The three TV boxes tested this time were able to support 8K video decoding, which is completely sufficient for the mainstream 4K and even 8K source videos currently on the market.
In terms of clarity, this time using an external U disk to play the local 4K 60fps Blu-ray original video to test, by comparing the three TV boxes to play the same frame of the same film source, it can be seen that the three TV boxes all support HDR 10 + Under the premise, the difference in image quality is actually not big.
In addition to the image quality experience, the sound experience is equally important. Among the three TV boxes, Aurora 5S and Tmall Magic Box 8Pro have comprehensive support for audio standards. At present, Dolby Audio and DTS audio in mainstream movies can be output perfectly. When Bei H3S lacks support for these, when playing some movies using DTS audio, there will be only pictures and no sound, which will greatly affect the use experience.
[Conclusion] In the audio-visual comparison, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro = Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S, if you like to watch some original movies or videos, then Tmall mill box The 8Pro and Aurora 5S would be better options.
Other comparisons
In addition to performance and sound and picture, these three TV boxes also have some differentiated experiences in other aspects. As part of the overall experience, I have included them here to illustrate.
[Network Support] A major application scenario of the TV box is to play videos on major video APPs or other networks. In addition to performance, it also has a strong dependence on the network. In terms of wireless network, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro adopts an omnidirectional three-antenna module design, which is better than the other two network signal stability In addition, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro and Aurora 5S provide an RJ45 standard gigabit wired network port more than Dangbei H3S, which is more stable than wireless network transmission. We use TV boxes every day. If possible, it is recommended that you choose a wired network for networking as much as possible, so that it is more stable when watching online videos or using a home NAS to watch local videos.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S > Dangbei H3S
[Remote Control] In addition to supporting Bluetooth connection, The remote control of Tmall Magic Box 8Pro also supports the "infrared learning" function, which can learn the infrared signal of the TV remote control, so that only the remote control of Tmall Magic Box 8Pro can realize the functions of turning on and off the TV and the TV box respectively, adjusting the volume, etc., which well solves the trouble of controlling the TV and the TV box to switch back and forth using two remote controls. This is also more user-friendly than the other two TV boxes.
[Summary] Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S = Dangbei H3S
[Interface] In terms of interfaces, although all three TV boxes come standard with HDMI interfaces, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro and Dangbei H3S support HDMI 2.1 protocol, which is faster and more comprehensive in terms of transmission rate, resolution, and HDR and audio support than the HDMI 2.0 protocol supported by Aurora 5S.
Although the USB ports on the three TV boxes "seem" to be 3.0 standard, in fact, only Tmall Magic Box 8Pro and Dangbei H3S are USB 3.0 standard, and the blue USB port of Aurora 5S is only USB 2.0 standard, which is reflected in daily use. If external storage is connected, then obviously the data transfer rate of Tmall Magic Box 8Pro and Dangbei H3S is much faster, and the video and file opening speed is also faster.
[Summary] Dangbei H3S > Tmall Magic Box 8Pro > Tencent Aurora 5S
[Appearance design] In terms of design, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro is the smallest of the three TV boxes, and it borrows the design style of vinyl record player, which looks very delicate. In contrast, Tencent Aurora 5S and Dangbei H3S are not only larger in size, but also relatively simple in design.
experience summary
In these three TV boxes, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro is better in terms of hardware configuration and real-world experience, and the price is lower than the other two. If you want to buy a TV box at this price, Tmall Magic Box 8Pro is undoubtedly a better choice.