Alfawise H96 Mini TV box based on the new Amlogic T962E SoC

Another TV box has landed in my hands. Although it’s based on an SoC from the well-known Amlogic, this isn’t the same old S905/912 we’ve seen so many times, but something new to me called the T962E.
This TV box is quite a mixed bag. More on that in the review, which, as usual, will include testing, a teardown, and so on.


I actually ordered this TV box pretty much solely because of its processor. I wanted to get a feel for what it was like and, of course, add a new “player” to the results table.

I’ll try not to drag out the review and will get straight to the specifications.
CPU — Amlogic T962E
Number of cores — 4
Graphics — Mali-450MP
RAM — 2 GB LPDDR3
Flash storage — 16 GB
Wi-Fi: 2.4 / 5 GHz IEEE 802.11 b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0
LAN — Ethernet 10/100M
Video output — HDMI 2.0, CEC and HDCP 2.2, resolutions up to 4K*2K @ 60Hz
Ports: 2x USB 2.0, Optical S/PDIF, RJ45, microSD card, AV, HDMI IN.
Operating system — Android 7.1 64-bit
Dimensions — 100 x 100 x 18 mm

Judging by the specs, you can already guess that we shouldn’t expect particularly impressive test results. The RAM/storage configuration is quite reasonable at 2 / 16 GB; otherwise, it looks like a typical TV box from two years ago.

It comes in a black box made of thick cardboard, with a hint of “premium” styling. Still, I have a strong feeling this isn’t its original packaging—but more on that next time. In any case, the packaging is modest, neat, and sturdy. That’s all I ask of it.


Package contents
1. Alfawise H96 Mini TV box
2. Power supply
3. IR remote control
4. HDMI cable
5. Manual



1. The manual is basic, with pictures and English text.
2. The cable is no less basic than the manual—just an ordinary budget cable.
3, 4. The remote is simple but programmable, which is at least a small plus.
5, 6. The power supply looks like the ones included with most inexpensive TV boxes.


Since the power supply case can be opened (though you can take anything apart; putting it back together isn’t always possible), I of course cracked it open right away while unboxing.



The first thing I noticed was how power is connected to the board. No, the designers haven’t “reinvented the wheel”; I just hadn’t come across this kind of arrangement in a TV box power supply before. It uses spring-loaded sliding contacts that press against pads on the board. To be honest, it’s not a great solution.


The board looks a little basic, though that was to be expected from the power supply’s exterior.


1. There’s a resistor on the input that serves as both a fuse and a current limiter. There’s no input filter, but there is a capacitor across the mains input—an unusual design choice.
2. The input capacitor is rated at 15 µF, which is perfectly adequate for our mains voltage.
3. The Y capacitor is the correct type, so we can tentatively consider the power supply safe.
4. The output has a pair of diodes, a pair of capacitors (1000+470 µF), and a noise-suppression inductor. Apart from the low-quality components, I have no complaints.


The underside is neat, which is perfectly fine for a cheap power supply. By the way, it worked quite well, and the temperature stayed within acceptable limits.


There’s nothing special to say about its appearance—it’s just another box. But it feels cheap: thin plastic that bulges on top, a label that’s coming unstuck, and even a somewhat “cheap” smell (if you know, you know). I understand that this doesn’t really affect how well it works, but it does shape the overall impression.


Average size: 100x100x18 mm.


Connections
Rear
Ethernet, optical S/PDIF, HDMI input and HDMI output, power.

Right side
microSD card slot, AV output, and a pair of USB 2.0 ports.

As you’ve probably noticed, this TV box stands out because it has an HDMI input. I’ll talk about that later in the testing section.
I should also mention the rather inconvenient placement of the analog audio/video output on the right side. And, of course, there are only two USB ports. Lately, that’s become an unhealthy trend.


All the ports in one photo.


The bottom has another thin cover, though this one has plenty of ventilation holes. Since this review is almost a New Year’s review, I’d like to wish the Chinese developers a happy new year—and hope they switch on their brains and realize that there should be holes on top as well as on the bottom. Also, if you want air to get in, the feet need to be at least 2–4 mm high, not 1 mm.
Anyway, I’ll come back to cooling later and make a few more "suggestions".


Teardown

This little contraption is very easy to take apart. There are a couple of self-tapping screws under the sticker; lift the corners of the sticker and you can get to them. Then gently pry open the clips and remove the cover.


Remove one more screw (although there’s room for two) and take out the board. The first thing that caught my eye was a transparent tube.
My first thought was: water cooling?! My second thought was much more pragmatic: the designers made it that way on purpose; you can see it in the product photos in the store. The front of the box is supposed to be faintly illuminated by a strip, but the light is so dim that you can only see it if you look closely. Maybe that’s for the best.


The second thing I noticed was the heatsink: small and very flat, with no familiar plate on top. But since I don’t have any data on this processor model yet, I just made a note of it and moved on. Who knows, maybe it produces very little heat, like the ZTE processor in the box I reviewed recently.


The WiFi antenna is quite large and connected by soldering.


There’s a button behind the AV jack, with one of the power indicator LEDs next to it.


Despite the budget look, the manufacturer added protection to the USB data lines.


The HDMI lines are protected too, but only on the input (right). There’s no protection on the output (left).


To get to the processor and memory, I had to peel off the heatsink. Don’t try this when it’s cold. I first opened the case, then turned on the TV box and ran one of the tests. Once everything had warmed up, I switched off the power and slowly removed the heatsink.
I removed the heatsink after almost all the tests were done, so the results would be accurate.


1. Amlogic T962E system-on-chip (SoC)
2. The 2 GB of RAM is made up of two chips manufactured by SK hynix.
3. 16 GB of eMMC memory manufactured by Samsung. I’ve been seeing this manufacturer’s memory more and more often lately, while Foresee memory has almost disappeared—which is good news.
4. AzureWave aw-cm256sm WiFi/Bluetooth module, something new.


1. ETEK ET4932 analog audio output amplifier.
2. GL823, a USB 2.0 card reader chip. It’s quite unusual to use a separate chip for the memory card slot in a TV box.
3. Unknown chip with no markings.
4–6. Various power regulators—the board is absolutely packed with them.


During the second teardown, I also happened to spot a linear voltage regulator IC, which is also very rare.


Software, interface, settings
When I turned on the TV box, it greeted me with a cheerful error message. The same message appeared on every subsequent boot, regardless of the situation. After about five restarts, another "button" appeared, represented by a row of dots on the right side of the bottom panel. I clicked it, but nothing happened. Still, I never saw the error message again.


In normal use, the desktop looks quite familiar. The bottom panel launches automatically every time the box is turned on. Personally, I found it annoying, so I had to hide it every time.


The settings menu and system information.


Interestingly, the settings menu has no options for configuring sound, video, and so on. You can’t get to the familiar Android menu from there either.
To access these options, there are separate "buttons" in the apps section: Settings (the main menu) and Droid Settings (video and audio). An extremely inconvenient solution.


The resolution options shown on my device, as well as the video output formats.


Audio output settings.


The AFR settings even have three options instead of the usual two: Off, AFR for some modes, and AFR for all modes.


The display settings menu has no familiar “Cast” option.


Of the preinstalled 16 GB of flash storage, just over 10 GB is available to the user.



The test results have been added to the table. Intermediate results are under the spoiler, along with comments on the TV box's temperature.


Under near-ideal conditions, Wi-Fi connection speeds are 72/292 Mbps, depending on the band.


The actual speed is of course lower, but still pretty good. I had no complaints about reception on either band.
2.4 GHz -
25 Mbps - opposite corner of a large room
47 Mbps - 2 meters
40 Mbps, just under a meter away.


5 GHz.
The top three graphs are from 2-3 m from the router, with a small obstacle in the form of a concrete wall.
Two tests at 180 Mbps, one test at 118 Mbps.



Preinstalled software.

There aren't many preinstalled apps. Most are standard apps for using the TV box, along with settings.


A standard set of apps; the only notable difference is Superuser, which basically provides extended access settings.


It comes with TeamViewer preinstalled, which is a nice little bonus.


That said, I wouldn't say it's particularly convenient to use. The response time is longer than when working with computers (which I do every day).


And of course, there's the HDMI video input. To be honest, I was hoping it would actually be a video recording input, like on Realtek-based TV boxes. There was no information about it online when I placed my order.
It turned out to be an advanced video switch, combined not only with a mixer but also with the ability to control the connected device. I connected the output of a Beelink GT1 Ultimate to the input of this TV box and was able to control the second TV box using a keyboard with a touchpad connected to the first one. It seems all the control works through the CEC function, but one TV box can control the other, albeit only with a keyboard.


Video signal processing modes.
The main settings can be turned off with a dedicated button on the remote. The screenshot shows what you see on the TV screen; the signal source was a Beelink TV box.


You can adjust brightness, contrast, aspect ratio, and various other useful settings. The changes apply to the entire incoming signal, whether it's a menu or a video.


Audio processing for sound coming in through the video input. Below are a couple of screenshots of this mode's settings menu.



Here's my demo setup. A Beelink GT1 Ultimate TV box is connected to the Alfawise H96 Mini's input. Both TV boxes are controlled using a keyboard connected to the Alfawise H96 Mini. In other words, the Beelink is connected only to power, an HDMI cable, and a flash drive with video files. This feature is very convenient, except for one thing: pressing Escape or Home closes the input app because the command is sent to both devices. You can see this in the video when exiting the Beelink settings menu.


Another demonstration of the video input's capabilities.


Kodi—what would we do without it? In short, some channels reported errors, or I couldn't even access the episode list.


Most of the channels I tested worked reasonably well, though there were occasional brief freezes.


It played Blu-ray rips without any problems. The only downside was the high CPU temperature, which reached 80 degrees. Playback was from an external hard drive.


To speed up testing, I go straight to Full HD 60 fps videos in the YouTube app. The very first video told me it wouldn't play above 720p.


All the videos after that played at 1080p without any problems. I recently reviewed a Beelink TV box and ran into a similar situation there, but videos that played at 720p on that box worked in Full HD here.


Alternative software for watching online video.
Torrent TV.
Overall, I'd like to give it a thumbs-up, but unfortunately, frequent, if minor, freezes were annoying. Sometimes the video would freeze for 1-2 seconds. Testing was done using the built-in player and the latest version of TorrentTV.


LOL!TV.
Compared with the previous Beelink GT1 Ultimate, buffering here was much faster, more channels worked properly, but there were still occasional freezes. Once, the picture froze until I closed the player, right when I was watching Victoria's video :)


Video file playback.
For the most part, you can simply copy all the test results from the Beelink review.
1024x768_h265_AC3.mkv — no sound
2560x1600_AAC .mp4
3840x2160_AAC .mp4
4096x2160_AAC .mp4
gopro-hero-3-be-avc-high@l5.1-4096x2160-12p-aac-2ch.mp4
GraysPeak8HDR_Dolby AC3.mp4 — no sound
LG 4K Paris_AAC.mp4
LG 4K Story-of-Earth_AAC.mp4
LG_Chess_HDR.mp4
Philips_UHD_supershopdemo_1.mp4
samsung-note-3-3840x2160-high@l5.1-AAC-2ch-2.mp4
4K HD.Club Changhong-Furano-100mbps.mp4
Sony_4K_HDR_Camp.mp4
Ducks.Take.Off.720p.QHD.CRF24.x264-CtrlHD.mkv (20 Mbps)
Ducks.Take.Off.1080p.QHD.CRF25.x264-CtrlHD.mkv (108 Mbps)
Ducks.Take.Off.2160p.QHD.CRF25.x264-CtrlHD.mkv (243 Mbps) — dropped frames

There is also no sound with AC3, and USB 3.0 is sometimes not enough. There is one small difference, though: the Ducks.Take.Off.2160p test played almost normally, only starting to stutter near the end. This is because the Beelink's USB read speed was about 10 MB/s, while the device under review managed almost 30. The ducks need at least 40, so a small cache was enough, and the clip itself is short.
Test screenshots.


While testing the TV box, I kept thinking there had to be something good about it, and I did find something. The TV box handles auto frame rate correctly. I tested all video modes with AFR enabled.
Since my monitor can't switch modes, this took a bit of fiddling, but here's what I found:
1. With AFR off, the monitor works normally; when I try to record video like this, it records at 30 fps.
2. With AFR on, the monitor turns off, and the recorder records at 25 fps (tests were run with Torrent TV).


When I tried to play a video file, this message would sometimes pop up and stay on screen until I stopped the video.

Based on the above, I can confidently conclude that AFR is present and working. The tests were run using the built-in media player. It would be good if other users of this TV box could confirm this.


But Chinese engineers wouldn't be Chinese engineers if they didn't also "spoil the fun." The TV box failed the "pixel-perfect" output test.
The TV box has a video output adjustment, but it changes the horizontal and vertical dimensions together, while the problem is only with horizontal output accuracy.
I assume this problem can be fixed, but the output is incorrect out of the box.


Modification.

From the tests, you've already gathered that one of the main problems with this device is overheating. The heatsink looked far too small to me from the start, but I hoped "it was designed that way." Maybe it was, who knows...
Anyway, I decided to make a small modification. I described how to remove the heatsink in the teardown section; now I'll explain what I did to lower the temperature.
First, I picked out a heatsink. Since I had to secure it somehow, the best idea I could come up with was to brace it against the top of the case. In other words, the heatsink was held in place by the rigidity of the case and the board.
One important point: the heatsink could accidentally short the capacitors, since the processor is about 0.1 mm lower than the capacitors. There are another couple diagonally opposite the ones shown, but those are slightly lower than the processor.


To avoid damaging anything, I put special tape along the edges of the heatsink, though regular tape in two layers would also work. I applied a thin layer of thermal paste to the processor. The photo may make it look like there's a layer as thick as butter on a sandwich, but that's just glare from the flash.


Next, I installed the heatsink and closed the case, but there was a surprise. I chose the heatsink height based on the distance between the processor and the top cover, which came to about 8.5 mm. I found an 8.6–8.7 mm heatsink, but that turned out not to be enough, and it shifted out of place.
I had to stick 3–4 layers of 3M electrical tape to the inside of the top cover so the heatsink would stay pressed against the processor. I know, it's a hack, but I wanted to see if it would work. With a 9 mm-tall heatsink, one layer of electrical tape is enough—and even that is just to keep the heatsink from sliding, since the inside of the lid is slippery.
Anyway, I put the whole setup together in a video like this and moved on to testing.


The difference was immediate: I warmed up the TV box a little and ran EpicCitadel. The results speak for themselves: 67–70 degrees and almost one and a half times as many “parrots” in the demanding test.
Before the modification: 36.3/17.6; after: 45.5/24.0


Bonsai Benchmark also produced a much better result, and, most importantly, without overheating, though the difference was smaller. It went from 1405/20 to 1119/15.9; after the modification, it reached 1638/23.4
Ideally, of course, I would have installed a larger heatsink, but I tried the one I had on hand.


And here’s the summary table with the test results. While putting it together, I wondered whether to include the results from before or after the modification, and decided the original results would be more representative, since that’s how the TV box is sold. But the results can be improved with the modification. In particular, it would improve scores in tests such as EpicCitadel, Bonsai Benchmark, and 3Dmark; the other tests put considerably less heat on the processor. Video playback temperatures would also be lower, but those tests aren’t included in the table.


Now I can sum things up.
It’s clear that the TV box looks better inside than out. Still, there are a few things that, in my opinion, need improvement.
1. Cooling is the device’s Achilles’ heel, but fortunately this shortcoming is easy to fix.
2. Only two USB ports.
3. No USB 3.0.
4. 100 Mbps network. In this case, if you’re near the router, Wi-Fi may be faster than a wired connection.

I mentioned USB 3.0 and the 100 Mbps network for a reason. The TV box handles relatively “heavy” video quite easily, and the limited interface speeds will significantly restrict the maximum video bitrate.
Wi-Fi was a pleasant surprise, both in terms of sensitivity and speed. I wouldn’t call it excellent, but it’s quite good.
The TV box turned out to be quite “omnivorous” when it comes to video playback, but the lack of AC3 decoding out of the box was disappointing.
Despite its ability to play just about anything, I was disappointed by the problem with proper “pixel-for-pixel” output. Most likely, it’s a software issue, so hopefully it will be fixed. I had no complaints about image quality when watching video.

The HDMI input isn’t quite a video input, even though the manufacturer’s website says it can record. That information applies to the T962 model (without the E), which is listed as having FHD 1080p 30fps HW encoding and H.264 support. Here, it’s an advanced video mixer that lets you adjust the signal coming in through the video input for viewing on a TV.

There are some issues with online video playback, although in my opinion it handles this better than, for example, the Beelink GT1 Ultimate.
The HDMI input and USB ports have protection.
The components are decent: SKhynix RAM and a Samsung flash chip.
And I have to mention AFR, which is extremely rare in this price range.

In short, this TV box could have been a good option if it weren’t for the unfinished state of both the software and, to some extent, the hardware. By the latter, I mean the poor cooling. There’s also hope that other companies will release their own TV boxes based on this processor and fix these shortcomings, or that enthusiasts will figure out how to address the issues with this model.
In any case, the TV box is interesting in its own way and offers some unique features.

It’s hard for me to comment on the price, but I’ve heard that some people managed to buy it for $40, which is quite good for this device. The rest is up to you.
With the GBMH96 coupon, the price comes to $56.99

That’s all. I hope you found the review useful. As always, I look forward to your questions and comments—and, of course, Happy New Year to everyone!