The best media players with Ultra HD 4K support

In the segment of "smart" TV boxes, products from the Xiaomi brand are always at the peak of popularity. For a very long time, this was the Xiaomi Mi Box S model, but in 2023, it was replaced by the second edition of the smart set-top box.

The Mi Box S 2nd Gen modification is virtually indistinguishable from its predecessor in appearance — it is assembled in the same compact case measuring 95x95x17 mm and has absolutely the same communication interfaces (one USB, HDMI, audio output, power connector). What is new in the second version of the set-top box is a more powerful Amlogic S905X4 processor (with Cortex-A55 cores), Bluetooth (up to v 5.2) and HDMI (up to v 2.1) specifications have grown. From now on , the TV box has support for Dolby Audio and DTS-HD audio, as well as Dolby Vision and HDR10+ video (in resolutions up to 4K at 60 fps).

The media player menu is based on the Google TV system, which provides flexible recommendations for viewing content from all installed applications directly on the main screen. However, in terms of menu customization, Google TV is inferior to the usual Android. An integral attribute of the model is support for the Google Assistant voice assistant.

The player comes with pre-installed streaming services YouTube, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Xiaomi TV+. Moreover, each of these applications is called up by a separate button on the remote control. The model has frankly little memory (only 8 GB), and 2 GB of RAM is provided here. Nevertheless, the media player works quickly and almost without lags. In addition, the model is capable of playing media files from USB drives and duplicating the picture from paired mobile devices on the TV screen (using Miracast, Google Cast and DLNA technologies).

Previous generations of Google Chromecasts did not have their own smart shell and were a kind of hub for connecting a smartphone to a TV. Everything changed with the announcement of the Chromecast with Google TV dongle - a completely independent media player with advanced functionality.

As you can easily guess from the model name, the set-top box uses the Google TV platform. This is a launcher based on the Android 10 operating system, the main space of which is allocated to recommended content from installed services. Software for the device can be downloaded from the Play Market brand store or third-party sources, but the user cannot do without “dancing with a tambourine” in installing apk files. The dongle “sees” them through a USB hub or some specific applications that still need to be found in the store. The device has only 8 GB of memory.

The "whistle" is connected to the TV via an HDMI connector. Power is supplied to it from the USB C port. The model communicates with the World Wide Web exclusively via Wi-Fi 802.11ac (2.4 GHz / 5 GHz). High-quality components allow the set-top box to play videos with a resolution of 3840x2160 pixels at a frequency of up to 60 fps. The device also claims to support common HDR specifications and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound.

The dongle comes with a miniature remote control with a five-position "pad", separate buttons for calling the Google Assistant voice assistant, launching YouTube and Netflix clients. The remote "controls" both the media player itself and the TV itself. The smart player boasts a fast and convenient menu interface, support for the main licensed streaming services, acceptable performance and ultra-compact dimensions, making it invisible against the background of the TV.

The Mecool KM2 Plus Deluxe portable network media player was released at the beginning of 2024 and runs on the popular Android TV 11 operating system.

The TV box is based on the quad-core Amlogic S905X4-J processor and has 4 GB of RAM. The capacity of the internal storage is 32 GB - part of the space in it is reserved for the needs of the operating system, and the remaining disk space can be used to install applications and store media content. Programs are supposed to be downloaded from the pre-installed Google Play Market store.

The Mecool set-top box supports video playback in resolutions up to 4K with HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vivison technologies. The model's video engine provides hardware decoding of the AV1 compression codec. Two communication options are used to access the Internet: cable via a gigabit Ethernet port or wireless via Wi-Fi.

The model received a popular set of communication ports, acquired a built-in card reader and support for convenient voice control - a microphone for this purpose was built into the standard remote control. At the same time, the media console has a non-trivial design. Its upper part of the case is covered with a decorative overlay made of transparent plastic, on which the manufacturer's logo is applied.

The Apple TV 4K 2022 media console will serve as an excellent addition to any 4K TV. And it can be recommended to owners of "apple" devices, because the device is fully adapted for use in the Apple ecosystem.

The basic version of the 2022 media player connects to the Internet only via Wi-Fi and has an internal storage of 64 GB. At the same time, the older modification of the set-top box is additionally equipped with an Ethernet port and carries 128 GB of memory on board. At the helm of the model is a powerful six-core Apple A15 Bionic chipset - the same processor is installed in the iPhone 14.

Playback of videos using a TV set-top box is possible in resolution up to 4K, while stream output in HDR10+ and Dolby Vision is supported. The software platform for Apple TV 4K 2022 is the proprietary tvOS operating system with the App Store application store and convenient voice control via the Siri virtual assistant.

Thanks to the transition to a passive cooling system, the media console has significantly lost weight - 208 g versus 425 g for the previous generation. The powerful Power VR GX graphics subsystem deserves special mention in the model, providing serious gaming potential when connecting a proprietary controller or joysticks from PlayStation 4 or Microsoft Xbox One to the console. In the end, the TV console will definitely appeal to fans of Apple technology.

NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro is more than just a set-top box. It can handle up to 4K video streaming and deliver cloud gaming on your big-screen TV.

The heart of the device is a powerful NVIDIA Tegra X1+ processor, supported by 3 GB of RAM. The data storage inside the set-top box has a capacity of 16 GB, and the model runs on Android TV 9. It has a built-in Chromecast, the ability to download applications from Google Play Market and the Google Assistant voice assistant.

In order to squeeze the maximum out of streaming video broadcasts, NVIDIA SHIELD TV Pro has been equipped with support for popular HDR standards (in particular, HDR10 and Dolby Vision), as well as Dolby Atmos and DTS sound. But the main thing in the model is its expanded gaming potential. On the set-top box, you can run Android games, stream games from your computer to the TV screen, and even use the GeForce Now cloud gaming platform. All graphics calculations are performed on cloud servers - the client device receives a ready-made video stream. This way, you can run hits Fortnite, Cyberpunk 2077, Dota 2, World of Tanks and many others.

The media player has a stylish design in the image and likeness of gaming routers. The communication ports on board are represented by a gigabit Ethernet connector, two USB 3.2 gen1, one HDMI v 2.0. Also, viewers are kindly provided with wireless communications Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth v 5.0. For ease of control in games, you can connect gamepads from PS4 and Xbox One game consoles to the TV set-top box.