Best Budget Smart TV Box - Xiaomi, Vontar or Reflect?

It is foolish to choose a Smart TV box, focusing on its design. In any case, a product is waiting for you, the body of which is made of ordinary black plastic. Devices with a pattern on the top panel and atypical lighting are found only in a higher price segment.

In terms of appearance, it can be noted that the Xiaomi product is not only inexpensive, but also the smallest. It is slightly larger than a standard USB flash drive. The only difference is that the gadget is not inserted into the USB port, but into the HDMI input. But you will most likely have to power it from USB. Either from what the TV has, or from built-in to any network adapter.

Worst of all looks, oddly enough, SberBox. Its insides did not fit in a very compact case, so the box would be ridiculous to hang on a short HDMI cable. In fact, the problem is solved by using an HDMI extender, but this leads to additional costs.

At such a low cost, you expect to get a smart set-top box with the simplest remote control that works via infrared. Fortunately, some manufacturers did not save on it. And how else, if, for example, SberBox and Xiaomi are behind the TV? That is why their remotes send a signal via Bluetooth. Most of all, accessories are similar to those that come with smart TVs from Samsung. Here, too, the minimum number of buttons is used. And there is also a microphone, thanks to which voice control is implemented. And how nice any of these two remotes lies in your hand! Even though the case is made of plastic.

As for Reflect and Vontar, their remotes are also similar to each other. But to call them the best language does not turn. They turned out to be a little wider, and therefore they are no longer so comfortable in the hand. They also received a large number of buttons, many of which seem completely unnecessary. I am glad that at least the microphone has not disappeared anywhere. If you had to type text with such a remote control, it would be even more fun. And without this, Android is nowhere.

Many people connect a smart TV set-top box to an old TV. Alas, this can not be done with each of the models we are considering. If the TV is a CRT, then it probably will not be equipped with an HDMI input. And only such a connection option is provided by budget devices from Xiaomi and Sberbank.Their dimensions simply did not allow placing any other connectors on the case, designed to transmit audio and video. On them you can find only micro-USB, which is mainly used to provide power. However, this should suit the owners of modern LCD TVs, since HDMI is a completely familiar interface for them.

Smart consoles Vontar and Reflect are fairly large boxes. Therefore, do not be surprised that they found a place for all the necessary connectors. In particular, there are full-sized USB ports. They allow you to read data from external drives. It should be noted that Vontar copes with this task a little better. The high bandwidth of one of the interfaces allows you to play even 4K content with a decent bitrate. However, problems can still arise - already because of an insufficiently powerful processor.

It is curious that both "boxes" are capable of outputting digital sound to speakers or a soundbar. They can also be connected to the router with a cable, if suddenly Wi-Fi is not enough (in the case of Reflect, this really saves). Finally, the devices received a composite video output and a stereo audio output. In a word, they can be connected to old TVs using the well-known "tulips".If we continue the barely begun conversation about wireless modules, then all four set-top boxes have Bluetooth support at their disposal. And this is the most convenient way to output sound to headphones. Also, this module is used to connect, for example, a keyboard. We remember that Android allows this, right? Only SberBox remains behind - a set-top box that works with its own firmware.

Any smart set-top box is essentially a smartphone, devoid of a display, battery, and SIM card slot. Therefore, do not be surprised that for its ideal operation, very powerful components are required. And they cannot be here by definition, because we are comparing budget models. Therefore, Sber decided to develop StarOS, a simple operating system designed to solve strictly defined tasks. It is quite enough for the Mali G31 graphics accelerator, the Amlogic S905Y2 processor, and a couple of gigabytes of RAM. This set-top box also includes 16 GB of built-in storage, which can be filled, for example, with photos. Usually the buyer will use online services, so this volume is enough.

In fact, almost all four smart TV boxes have a similar processor.Only Xiaomi has a slightly older chip. But this device is sharpened exclusively for Full HD resolution, so, again, there is enough power. Especially if you use only recommended applications. But still, sometimes it feels like 1 GB of RAM is very little. And you won’t be able to download a lot of media data on a Xiaomi product, because only 8 GB of built-in storage is used here.

The best prefix of this kind, if we talk about inexpensive models with Android on board, is the Vontar X96 Max +. She does not have the oldest version of the “green robot”, and she received a slightly more powerful processor. And under its body hides a decent amount of memory. And there is even a slot for a memory card! Of course, slowdowns will still occur. But they occur less frequently than in the case of using competitors. In a word, it is felt that the hardware is adapted specifically for 4K resolution.

As mentioned above, three out of four devices are powered by Android. Alas, in this regard, Reflect ZW 2.16 shows itself worse than the others. The fact is that only the seventh version of the “green robot” is used here. Whatever one may say, but it is already outdated. Because of this, the system slows down and does not support some modern versions of applications. But if you try to use only the basic functionality of the set-top box, then you will not notice any special problems.

Devices from Xiaomi and Vontar are running Android 9.0. At the same time, their interface is adapted for remote control. Despite the larger memory capacity, the Xiaomi product turned out to be more reliable. The prefix Vontar may freeze at some point.And on the network, you can easily find reviews that describe the problems that arose a few months after the purchase of the device. As for Xiaomi, the TV stick from this company behaves noticeably better. I can’t even believe that such an inexpensive device shows itself so stably.

SberBox is a berry in a different field. It uses the voice assistant Salyut, which is gradually developing. It is tailored for voice commands that are popular in Russia. And more and more online stores are cooperating with him. As a result, now you can use your voice not only to start playing a movie in Okko, but also, say, order a pizza. The problem lies in the proprietary nature of the platform. Sber will not let Kinopoisk HD and other online services come here, as it does not want competition to arise. Because of this, we simply cannot give SberBox a very high rating.

The most inexpensive set-top box is now SberBox. But you need to understand that using it without a subscription to Okko is almost pointless. If you have one, then this is really the best choice! There is also an excellent service for watching TV channels via the Internet. Games are also available. In a word, it is rather not bad for such money!

The rest of the smart set-top boxes are usually sold in online stores for 4,000 rubles. This is also a very low price. It is surprising that now for such money you can buy a gadget that can play video in 4K resolution. However, Xiaomi is limited to 2K picture. For a clearer image, this company sharpened another TV set-top box. But she did not get into our comparison due to the fact that she can no longer be called budget.

Initially, it might seem that the winner should be a TV stick from Xiaomi. And he really became the best in three nominations, while the closest competitor - only in two. But the device sold under the Vontar brand won the highest average score. It does not heat up, its hardware is enough for stable operation of Android, and the number of connectors will definitely suit most buyers. And let's not forget that the functionality of Xiaomi and SberBox is limited precisely because of the lack of some ports - for example, they will not be able to play the contents of a USB flash drive.

The foregoing does not mean that you need to urgently look for the prefix Vontar. It doesn't come up very often in stores. And if you got a subscription to Okko at a low price, then you can think about buying Sberbox. In a word, everything is not as clear as it seems.