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M8 4K TV Box – stylish, powerful Android TV box delivers 4K ultra high resolution Internet, games and more to your television [Review]

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We’ve been covering Android TV boxes for a while, and they’ve come a long way since the early days of under-powered, over hyped gum-stick units. Nowadays the best of them are really cool, and can turn your television into a beast of an Internet enabled multimedia device. Now the manufacturers have stepped up the game and introduced the first of the ultra high resolution models, which can deliver 4K to your compatible TV.

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Our first test of the genre involves the OTT M8 TV Box, which is a very cool piece of kit indeed. As you’ll see from the video, it runs impeccably and comes with enough functionality, and a strong enough specification to ensure that it will deliver just about everything you’ll need if you ever decide to cut the cord and make the Internet your media channel of choice.

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First impressions
The M8 comes in a professional package, complete with a power block and cable, a simple remote control, HDMI cable and a fairly rudimentary user manual. We would have liked to see a slightly more detailed manual, but to be honest, we guess that anyone who’s buying one of these boxes by now, should have a basic understanding of what the functionality is all about. And as we’ll see, the user interface is so delightfully simple to grasp that it should be a cinch for most folk to get going.

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What we’re specifically missing though are detailed instructions about the more esoteric functions, such as Miracast, Airplay and DLNA connectivity. The box itself is very meaty, featuring a 2 GHz quad core processor, 2 GB of RAM, 8 GB of onboard storage and support for SD cards (not microSD as it says on the sales page!) up to 32GB. It also features, Bluetooth, Ethernet and twin USB ports, as well as optical in and A/V out for connecting to external high quality audio. The box runs Android KitKat (4.4.2) and also supports (i.e. has installed) XBMC (via hardware encoding), Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Skype (without camera), and email, so it’s ready to cope with a huge set of services immediately.

In use
The most impressive thing about the M8 is the fact that the developers have hidden the typical Android front end behind a really nice, colorful UI, which immediately encourages you to explore and use the box to its fullest. They call it a Windows 8 interface in the blurb, but thankfully it only has a passing resemblance to Metro. In use it’s just a matter of cycling through the menu box icons to get to your function, and if you need to do more detailed setup stuff you can get to the stock Android Settings page via the front screen Setting option.

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The box has full access to the Google Play store, and you can also add your own favorite apps and games using a handy .apk installer built into the system. It’s fast and easy to navigate around the system, and things like connecting to your WiFi network takes a matter of seconds. It all just works. One thing we would strongly recommend though, is you have a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse or trackpad of some sort handy, since the remote control in cursor mode is excruciatingly slow, which makes entering set up text like WiFi passwords or browser URLs a real pain.

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Once you’re all set up and running, using the box is a lovely experience (especially compared to the older slower TV sticks). Menus flash past, and accessing functionality is almost instantaneous. The browser is also fast, and there are plenty of options available to let you customize the interface to have your favorite apps and games up front where you need them. But we’ve really got to tip our hat at the Mali-450 8-Core GPU, because the graphics and resolution of the M8 box are first class.

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The HD quality video coming from some of the channels on XBMC and YouTube is excellent, although we found that you really need a really good WiFi connection (which preferably means the router should be in the same room as your TV) in order to get the best results. We can see why hooking it up to an Ethernet cable might be preferable (and probably mandatory?) for seamless 4K resolution. Speaking of which, we were unable to test out the 4K res because we don’t have access to a 4K television, so we’ll have to take their word for it that it works properly. Judging by the general quality of the video we saw, we’d say that it’s a pretty safe bet.

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Conclusion
The OTT M8 4K TV Box elevates the Android add-on Internet box to a whole new level of functionality and sophistication. The integrated XBMC hardware support on its own is worth the price of admission, as it brings one of the coolest apps on the market front and center into the living room, without needing to fiddle about with complex installations (and yes XBMC is still not ready for prime time consumer use for that very reason) and add-on setup.

Add to that a fabulous interface, with clear and easy navigation, superb performance from the processor and RAM combo, and video resolution which rivals any standard HD terrestrial broadcasts and you’ve got a stonking great product which really defines the market right now. Yes. we’re impressed, and no sign of over-heating either, which we’ve found with just about every other unit we’ve ever reviewed. Recommended.

editorschoice4

Price:
US: $130.33
UK: £75.90

Specifications

General
OS Version: Android 4.4
CPU: AML8726-M8 Quad-Core Cortex-A9
GPU: Mali-450 8-Core GPU
Processor Speed (max): 2.0GHz
RAM: 2GB
ROM:(internal + external) 8GB, up to 32GB
Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth
Skype App
Miracast
4K.2K Decoding
XBMC Hardware Decoding
Google Play
Adobe Flash
Power Source: Power Adapter

Ports
HDMI OUT
Micro SD Card Slot: Up to 32GB [SD!!!]
2 x USB Port
LAN
AV OUT
OPTICAL
DC IN

23 Comments

  • I’m a video cameraman in transition to 4K delivery , so let’s see… 32gb of 4k video = 45 minutes ahh could it be a typo?

    • I guess you can hook-up an external drive of what-ever capacity (1 TB or even more) and then … do the same calculation .. :-)

  • How to update the TV box? is there a custom ROM for this TV box?

    • Well there’s an update section in the Settings of the graphical UI, but it looks like it is solely triggered remotely. I have no idea about other ROMs, but no doubt someone’s going to hack it soon. :)

  • is this the same box for £60 http://tinyurl.com/q3qscya

    • Definitely looks like it.

  • Hey guys, what’s the difference between this and MXIII 2G/8G S802?
    I am planning to buy one up to $100 and MXIII catches my eye. :)

    http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Android-4-4-Smart-TV-Box-MXIII-2G-8G-Quad-Core-S802-4K-WIFI-HDMI-XBMC-1080P-/251614474093?pt=US_Internet_Media_Streamers&hash=item3a95642f6d

    • approve .

    • Not sure about the model you’re mentioning, but we’ve just reviewed an identical looking product called the Probox2 EX and given it an editor’s choice award – https://www.redferret.net/?p=45891

    • Wow, awesome, great box and great review, thanks. But a little expensive for me. Looking upto $100.

    • I think the extra cost is because of the rather delicious air-mouse. :)

  • this is make by ENY?

  • I have the same box , one day I had a powercut and when i restarted the box I am now in TeamWin Recovery Project screen and have no idea how to get out, please any help is appreciated

  • I have one and the VPN is absolutely rubbish and I can’t get my keyboard to pair with it! I tried PUREVPN and still it didn’t work properly. I am disappointed in mine, it looks like it would be great if it worked properly.

    • root it?

  • Unfortunately no BBC iplayer or BBC news channel live, a real issue that
    needs fixing asap, just sound if your luck, does anyone know of an
    update for this, also ITV player does to display correctly. So tv out of
    the box not really for most in the UK mainstream. Wifi is pretty poor
    the little controller is next to useless but the gaming controller with
    the box, interface is ok, but being rooted means no sky go ;-( so media
    struggles again. Got to try my 5 TB disk to see if it all good with
    movies but online media Needs serious work to get this to the top of the
    pile, my 2 year old box at least does terrestrial TV & News, but has other hiccups so needed the upgrade so far not overlay impressed.

  • I am very new to this and would like to download to an external hard drive but how do I as it just keeps doing it to the M8 box instead of my hard drive

  • I am very new to this and would like to download to an external hard drive but how do I as it just keeps doing it to the M8 box instead of my hard drive

  • The Android version of the same box on Kit-Kat can be added too,by means of App’s for most Satallite channels,comes with a built-in 1-Gig of room. A good freind just bought one at £75 and it’s a chipped version basically added more movie Apps and Sky Channels as it it’s a tv-reciever it can be manipulated ,why i love Tivo for the past 6 years cable never fails on a Laptop + Dyno-Dock from TV to Laptop to play games on as this time next year it will be the size of a iphone 3 you plug+play what you need as Tech is all moving towards monitors + televisions so fast with 4k ,HD,3D,Smart-TV,and there is an App to change your own Sky Box now on Android ….Love it all : )

  • Hey guys how do you watch the adult movies on here

  • Hi everyone.
    I now have Samsung UHD 4K smart TV, and. MXQ. 4.42 android box, do I need to change to my android box for the OTT M8 4K android box.
    Thank you
    SImon

  • I can’t even get it to turn on!! The triangle is red not blue!! Any suggestions

  • hello! I would like to know if this box supports VPN and DNS?

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