Turn your idiot box into a smart TV with VidOn Box

By now, we assume that most of you must have definitely upgraded your old CRT-based television sets with newer LCD and LED panels. If you have upgraded already, there are higher chances that your LCD TV can only play a few media formats, including video, music and photos. Newer television sets are equipped with wireless connectivity, which enables one to access media from the internet as well as gives one the ability to stream content via their smart devices. However, these smart televisions are a bit pricey and almost useless when it comes to additional apps and services. So what do you do? Well, upgrading your television with the latest series or model every time could amount to a huge expense. So why not opt for a device that can convert your idiot box into a smart one?

The option is a media streaming device and the best one could be an Android TV box. We had a chance to use and play around with VidOn Box for a while and found it worthy enough to suggest one of these to the masses.

There are plenty of Android TV boxes in the market. While some have bare minimum features, others are advanced. VidOn Box seems to settle in between, but with a budget price. The device costs just $69.99 (Approx Rs 4,200) inclusive of all shipping charges along with a $15 one-year subscription to their membership. You can also buy it for a cheaper cost of just $49.99 or you could opt for a bundle pack of the air mouse and keyboard combo remote for just $59.99.

The VidOn Box is a simple Android-based set-top-box. Consider it as an Android smartphone or tablet without a display screen. So all you are left with is the hardware (SoC) and a power adapter. The VidOn Box is a simple electronic gadget, approximately the size of a large soap dish. It camouflages more like a mini router for those who see it for the first time. Built with a sturdy and stylish aluminum shell with a matte-finished golden exterior, the Box will easily blend into your home interior without looking like a bulky (extra) device near your television set. With rounded sides and flat ends, the VidOn Box sports rubber feet on the bottom to avoid sliding around the place.

The front panel is a simple translucent dark surface with a dimly lit white LED as the power indicator. All the connectivity ports are placed conveniently on the rear I/O panel. This comprises of an Ethernet port (10/100 Mbps), an HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, and one optical audio out. Apart from these is a power port for the external power brick, a wireless antenna and a small hole with the reset button below it. The build quality is excellent and we bet you will also admire the aesthetics as much as we did.

Below the hood lies a powerful hardware to run all the necessary media conversion and computing power the device needs. The VidOn Box is built using an Allwinner A31s chipset featuring an ARM Cortex-A7 quad-core processor with PowerVR SGX544 MP2 graphics, 1GB RAM, and 8GB of internal storage. There are no micro SD card slots for storage expansions, but the device has two USB 2.0 ports, which can support up to 3TB external storage drives each. So you can build your own media player with a whopping 6TB huge collection of movies, music and photos.

Moving ahead, the device sports an HDMI out for connecting it to your television or monitor. Connectivity to your local network or internet can be done via the wireless or Ethernet (802.11 b/g/n) options. The VidOn Box supports AC3/DTS 5.1 SPDIF and DTS-HD/TrueHD HDMI pass-through output. This will allow you to enjoy lossless audio output.

Bundled along with the device is a sleek flat remote control which features almost everything you would need to control the VidOn Box. Well, we said almost because we think that the manufacturer should have incorporated a keyboard and an air mouse feature in it to complete the entire usability experience. The remote control is a simple comfortable unit with the d-pad button for directions, menu, back, home, volume and power buttons (almost similar to what an Android smartphone or tablet features). Sadly, since this is a media player, the main downside of the device is that there is no play/pause or media seeking buttons available for media control.

Installing the device is a cakewalk—simply plug in the HDMI cable (which you need to buy separately) to the TV or monitor and plug in your power brick and power on the device. The initial display will take you to the setup application which will help you setup the Android Box for your use. Here you will need to specify your details required for use. We suggest you connect a USB keyboard and mouse to the VidOn Box initially since using the onscreen keyboard with a feature-limited remote could cause you to lose patience. The setup includes personalization, connectivity and others. Once connected, you will be asked to update the set-top-box to the latest version of the firmware. Make sure your internet is connected and you have a good speed internet plan so that you can enjoy speedy downloads and smoother media content playback.

We noticed that the older firmware had fancier user interface as compared to the new update. However, the older firmware lacks major features, such as Google Play and a few, which could give you a tough time installing additional apps. Oops! We forgot to mention that the Vidon Box runs on Android KitKat v4.4. The operating system is based on stock Android with minimal features and apps, except that VidOn has included some of their own. The VidOn Box features XBMC, which is the main app that you will use for your entire media playback. Once the firmware is installed, you will see Google Play installed—aah! Now you can go ahead to install all your additional applications that you think you would need.

You can use the VidOn Box as a basic computer for internet surfing, social media, entertainment and casual office use. You can download Gmail, Google Docs, Google Drive, YouTube, Quick Office, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and everything else that you think you would need for your daily work. Install Skype and convert this streamer into a video conference box too. All you would need is a USB keyboard, mouse and camera to proceed with using it as a computer. In short, the VidOn Box can also be used as a simple budget computer by using your TV as a monitor.

Moving ahead, you can now connect your USB storage drives to the VidOn Box and start XBMC, one of the most powerful and feature-rich media players for Windows, Linux and Android. This is a one-stop application for all your media content, in-house and online. All you need to do is configure the XBMC app to locate your media content—be it on the internal storage, via USB, over the local network (samba, local folder sharing FTP or UPnP) or internet. Once done, hold on to the remote and sit back and enjoy your flicks. Sadly, as we mentioned earlier, the lack of playback controls on the remote could be a little irritating when watching a movie and trying to forward through playback time. However, you will get the hang of the remote in a few tries and should be comfortable thereon. We suggest you use a wireless keyboard and mouse for additional comfortable control over the content playback and usability. The VidOn Box supports up to eight USB devices, if you can manage to plug in a USB hub with an external power source.

If you don’t like XBMC or find it a bit difficult to handle, you can also install your own video player (MX Player or VLC Player) for a comfortable experience. XBMC, as we said, is one of the best media player software on the market. You can watch your movies and photos or listen to your music from anywhere—USB, internet or even your UPnP-based local network streamer or computer. You can also stream content from your PC, laptop, smartphone or tablet, as long as they are connected in the same local network.

XBMC is powerful—you can install additional add-ons to give you more access to different content online. This includes channels streaming movies, TV serials, radio stations and even a few adult content channels. Note: for adult content, you will need to download the add-ons from a third-party website and install them manually.

XBMC works flawlessly—it will play almost all formats that are available out there. You can throw TS, MP4, MKV, AVI and VOB files and it won’t stutter—thanks to the 4-core processor and 8-core GPU. With a free $15 one-year subscription on the VidOn Box (a card inside the box helps you register for it), you can ensure free updates to the firmware and add-ons for a year.

The VidOn Box can flawlessly play full HD 1080P videos. We managed to play H.264 format files as well as Blu-ray title files right off the external hard drive. The device also supports media playback from ISO files. Additional support for DVD menu navigation and 3D Blu-ray are also available. Sadly, we did not have any 3D content or a 3D TV to check this out, but we are sure it will pass the test too.

There will be further updates to the XBMC firmware, which will make the experience of media entertainment even better. XBMC is under development of a feature which can automatically organize your movies, music and photos in smart and easy-to-manage categories.

Specifications in short:

• Hardware: Allwinner A31s Cortex A7 quad-core CPU, PowerVR SGX544MP2 GPU, 1GB DDR3 RAM, 8GB storage, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, 10/100 Ethernet, Optical audio out, HDMI x 1, USB 2.0 x 2.
• Software: Android KitKat 4.4, XBMC
• Storage: Up to 3TB hard drive/USB host, can support up to 8 USB devices via USB Hub with separate power supply
• Remote: Support IR remote, can also remotely control through your iPhone and Android Phone
• Video support: M2TS, TS, MP4, MKV, AVI, VOB, H264, MPEG2, RMVB, FLV, WMV, etc.
• Music support: AC3, DTS, MP3, PCM, etc.
• Photo support: JPG, JPEG, BMP, GIF, TIFF

Shown above: The VidOn Box is available with a bundled air mouse and keyboard remote combo for $59.99 on geekbuying.com

Rounding up the entire review, we were surprised at the quality of the hardware and the performance of the VidOn Box when compared to the price and would definitely like to recommend one of these units to all. However, there are a few areas of concern which we would definitely like to highlight. The IR remote lacks adequate buttons for media playback. Additionally, you would have to spend a little extra for an HDMI cable. The VidOn Box is available on the company’s own website for a price of $69.99. Shipping is entirely free and if you are in India, you should get the device within two-weeks of purchase.