Tanix TX3 Mini TV box with an S905W inside

Last month I posted a review of a TV box from Vorke, and even then I suspected it looked a lot like one of Tanix's TV box models. No, today's review isn't of its twin; it just so happens that even in this form, the model I'm reviewing has a lot in common with the Vorke. And, on top of that, it's built around Amlogic's new S905W SoC.
Let's take a look, take it apart, test it, and see what makes the new SoC better—or perhaps worse—than the previous versions.


Some time ago, a new processor (SoC) model, the S905W, was released. It's essentially a simplified version of the S905X.
I'm not yet sure what the point of releasing this processor version is, though I was interested in comparing it with other models. Especially since, as far as I know, the TV box I'm reviewing is either the first model to use this processor or one of the very first. And who knows what else is coming.

First, here's how it differs from the better-known S905X. The information is from here

1. Video decoding up to 4K at 30 fps;
2. No support for the VP9 hardware codec;
3. Android 7 support;
4. Maximum YouTube video resolution: 720p.

They also compared it with another budget processor, the Rockchip RK3229, and got these results.


As always, I'll put all the test results in a single table so we can see how its performance differs. But first, let's get on with the review, starting with the specifications.
CPU — Amlogic S905W
Number of cores — 4 (Quad Core ARM Cortex-A53)
Graphics — Mali-450
RAM — 2 GB DDR3
Flash memory — 16 GB
WiFi: 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth: none
LAN — Ethernet 10/100M
Video output — HDMI 2.0
Connectors: 2x USB 2.0, Optical S/PDIF, RJ45, microSD card
Operating system — Android 7.1
Dimensions — 105 x 105 x 15 mm

The TV box comes in a plain black box, with the model name as the only useful information.
Overall, the packaging is completely ordinary, like that of most inexpensive models.


The accessories are nothing special either. The box contains:
1. Tanix TX3 Mini TV box
2. Power supply
3. IR remote control
4. HDMI cable
5. Manual


Looking over the accessories is where what I call déjà vu began. The Vorke Z6's accessories weren't just similar—they were identical. The only difference is that the end of the power supply connector is yellow now instead of red; otherwise, everything is exactly the same.


The remote is identical too. The only thing is, in this case, a cheap remote bundled with a cheap box makes more sense.
The remote itself is quite well made, though; I have nothing bad to say about it.


Like most TV boxes, this model doesn't stand out much in terms of appearance. They rounded the corners here, added an insert there, but overall it's just an ordinary little black box.


It's about average in size; I've seen TV boxes both larger and smaller.


There's a small insert on the front, with the device's LED display behind it.
On the right are two USB 2.0 ports and a slot for a microSD memory card.
All the other connectors are on the back: 3.5 mm audio/video, S/PDIF, Ethernet, HDMI, and the power supply connector.
There's nothing on the left.


There are four rubber feet on the bottom and a hole for the reset button. The feet grip the table well, but it's disappointing that there are no ventilation holes.


What I really liked—and this has nothing to do with how the TV box works—is the proper display. It's not particularly bright, but the important thing is that it's not hidden inside the case, so you can see it from above or below.
The display shows the current time, the operating mode, and any USB storage devices that are connected.


To avoid switching back and forth between the software and hardware sections several times, I'll take it apart now.
Peel off the four rubber feet, remove the four self-tapping screws, and open it up. No clips or other annoyances.


The board is generally neat, but the paper label with the model name surprised me a little. It looks as if it's been lying around in oil. The Vorke had exactly the same issue.


Remove two more self-tapping screws and take the board out of the case. The soldered WiFi antenna makes it impossible to remove the board completely.


A fairly substantial steel plate is used as a heatsink, with heat transferred to it by a piece of thermally conductive rubber.
The antenna surprised me a little. This is the first time I’ve come across one like this inside a device. It looks a lot like the antennas you see when you take apart external antennas for TV boxes and similar devices. I hope it works better than the “printed” ones.


The board looks like a board; I have nothing bad to say about it. Neat and clean.



The store page lists a few features, including protection for the HDMI output and power input.
I can see the protection components on the power input, but the HDMI output is standard: nothing there, just the pads for them.


1. The SoC, Amlogic S905W, in person.
2. RAM made by Micron—nice. It consists of four chips, two on top and two on the underside of the circuit board.
3. The store page listed branded Foresee memory (there’s even a photo), but they installed some unknown Samsung chip instead.
4. I didn’t look up who makes the WiFi chip, but it’s clearly from some Chinese developer, since the much better-known Realtek is used most often.
As stated in the specs, the TV box only has 2.4 GHz WiFi and no Bluetooth.


1. Analog audio output is handled by the DIO2133 chip, which is essentially just an amplifier.
2. The display is driven by an FD628.
3, 4. Several voltage regulators. I’ll also note that the board is marked to show which USB port is used to flash the firmware; in this case, it’s the one closest to the memory card slot.


Let’s put the box back together and move on to the software.

I think many TV box users will recognize this desktop. At least, this isn’t the first time I’ve come across this layout.


And here I got that déjà vu feeling again. Yes, the settings menu is the same as Vorke’s.


There are a few minor differences, but they’re purely cosmetic. Actually, no, I take that back—there are no differences at all.


The same goes for the other menu items. If you’re curious, you can check the corresponding review and see for yourself.


As with Vorke, the menu is “multi-level.” I complained about this back then: to get to Android’s main settings menu, you have to go through several layers, which is extremely inconvenient. On the other hand, the main settings are in the very first menu, while the second one is more conventional.
There are also CEC and display settings.


There are a few minor differences here, such as the missing Dolby vision set option. But that menu didn’t work on the Vorke, so let’s call them the same.
Otherwise, it’s more or less the same: there’s a screen rotation option and a toggle for the navigation bar.


Various video output options, HDMI controls, and, unexpectedly, options for how the power button works—even though this box doesn’t have one, unlike the Vorke.


All right, let’s move on to the third and final menu level: the classic Android 7.x settings menu. This TV box runs version 7.1.2, just like the Vorke.


It has 16 GB of flash memory and 2 GB of RAM. In my opinion, that’s one of the most balanced configurations.


I’ve complained before that on some TV boxes, trying to open the display settings from the main menu makes the Settings app crash. As with the Vorke, there’s no such problem here.


No updates are available yet—at least for now. I tried both update options, from the main menu and from the separate app.


Information from CPU-Z
The first thing that surprised me a little was the display output resolution: 1280x672. The problem isn’t that it ends in 672, but that it starts with 1280. All the TV boxes with Amlogic processors that I’ve reviewed had a resolution of 1920x1080 or 1920x1008, but this one feels like a Rockchip TV box.


Performance tests.

As always, I’ll put all the results into a comparison table, but for clarity I’ll show them all here too. And so they don’t get in the way, I’ll hide them under a spoiler.


WiFi, on the other hand, works only in the 2.4 GHz band, but has no particular speed issues. Through several concrete walls, the speed is around 5 Mbps; if the router is in the same room as the TV box, it ranges from 40 to 80 Mbps depending on the distance.


Now let's move on to the list of installed apps, give a few of them a quick test, and check how well the box works with alternative video players, since that's really what TV boxes are mainly for.
Quite a lot of apps are installed. I don't think there's any point in describing things like the browser, file manager, and so on.


Play-Media Center and Miracast, which have become standard by now.


Mobdro was included for watching online video, but its performance is hit or miss: some channels play fine, while others freeze. The video does keep playing, but it freezes for several seconds at a time, so it's not much fun to watch.


The YouTube app works great. It plays video without the processor overheating, even when you open a 1080 60 fps video. The only catch is that video output tops out at 720p. That's it.


Kodi, called TV-center here.
Overall, it works about 50/50. I watched some channels without any problems. The 80s music video channel was especially good—I got carried away watching it, even though the video quality could have been better.


But some channels either refused to work from the start or returned an error.


There were no problems playing a BD rip at all. Even by the end of the movie, the temperature hadn't gone above 68–70 degrees.


Now let's move on to alternative software.
First up, as usual, is Torrent TV. You could say it works, although I couldn't get a screenshot: all I got was a black screen with the logo. I tried HD channels, but as it turned out, there wasn't much point.


LOL-TV! performed noticeably worse. Some channels broke up into blocks, although Fox-TV, for example, played without any problems.


There are no major issues with support for different formats; it even plays AC3 audio, though only in Kodi. Still, there were problems in some cases. For example, LG_chess_HDR wouldn't play at all, while LG_4k_paris broke up into blocks and stuttered.


The fairly well-known Sony_4K_HDR_Camp.mp4 test clip wouldn't play either—just a black screen with no sound.


"Ducks" played, but smooth playback was possible only at 720p and 1080p; USB 2.0 doesn't have enough bandwidth for 4K.


But all these 4K and even Full HD tests are basically irrelevant, because the box completely failed the "pixel-for-pixel" output test at 1920x1080. Honestly, I can't remember the last time a TV box failed this test. Boxes based on Rockchip output the interface at 1280x720, but have no problems with video. Here, essentially, we have a box that decodes 1080p without any problems and 4K with only minor issues, but then outputs everything at 720p. Go figure...


The comparison table gives a more complete picture—and unfortunately, it's not a very encouraging one.


So, what can we say in the end?
Let's start with the good. The TV box is well built, doesn't overheat, has very good wireless connectivity, and its software is stable.
Now for the bad news. The new processor version performed worse than its predecessors, both in speed and multimedia support. It has trouble playing some video formats, and to top it off, video output is limited to 1280x720. I also have to mention the eMMC memory: it's branded, but slow.
I didn't check whether it can output video at 4K, although that's listed in the specs, but it definitely outputs Full HD at 1280x720. Unfortunately.

So, on the one hand, it's an interesting little box, especially since it doesn't overheat and has decent WiFi—something you don't always get. On the other hand, it has such a serious limitation on video output. The only real use for it is with analog TVs or TVs that support HD resolution.

I really don't understand why they released this processor version when the proven S905X is available for about the same price. If the new version were noticeably cheaper, I could somehow justify it, but as it is...

That’s all for today. As always, I’m looking forward to your questions and would be interested to hear your opinions about this TV box.