Mecool M8S Plus L TV box based on the S912

Today I’m reviewing another Mecool TV box built around the long-familiar S912 SoC. There’s nothing unusual about it, except for a slight sense of déjà vu that stayed with me while using the box, and especially while inspecting it.
Why? Read on for the review, which, as always, includes an inspection, teardown, a few tests, and my conclusions.



Over the past couple of years, almost no new SoCs for TV boxes have come out, so manufacturers have been focusing more on coming up with new cases and SoC/RAM/flash/WiFi configurations. This TV box is no exception, since there’s not much inside to distinguish it from its “siblings.”
There’s been some news about the Amlogic S922, but I haven’t come across any TV boxes with it yet, though I’d really like to get my hands on one.


But let’s take things in order. First, the specifications:
CPU — Amlogic S912
Number of cores — 8
Graphics — Mali-T820MP3
RAM — 2 GB DDR3
Flash storage — 16 GB
WiFi: 2.4 GHz
Bluetooth: No
LAN — No
Ports: 2x USB 2.0, HDMI, AV
Operating system — Android 7.1
Dimensions — 102 x 102 x 21 mm

I’ll probably come back to some of the details in the specs, but I’ll say right now that I was very surprised to find no 5 GHz WiFi or Bluetooth in this TV box. That already seems rather strange in this day and age.

If the recently reviewed Mecool KM8 came in a nice, almost gift-worthy box, this one is packaged very cheaply: just a plain cardboard box.


The package contents are nothing unusual either. It includes:
1. Mecool M8S Plus L TV box
2. Power supply
3. IR remote
4. HDMI cable
5. Manual.


The manual is very basic, with illustrated setup instructions. The cable is also from the budget range and is quite thin.
The remote has no number pad, but at least it looks neat. I like it.


The power supply, on the other hand, looks like the kind that comes with very budget models. Since it wasn’t too difficult to open, I decided to see what was inside.


But when I opened it, I was a little surprised. It has not only an output inductor, but also an input filter, although there’s no interference-suppression capacitor.
The capacitor between the primary and secondary sides is the proper Y type. The output capacitors are a little unusual, though. In the last photo you can see there are two capacitors, one clearly larger than the other, but both have the same capacitance of 470 µF and are rated for the same voltage, 16 V. Of course, you could say they might be from different series, but they have identical markings too :)

In any case, this power supply is perfectly usable. It doesn’t get very hot in operation and does its job.


The TV box has a very simple, no-frills design: a small black square box.


It’s very compact, and even at this point it reminded me of one of the models from a well-known Chinese manufacturer.


The case edges are rounded, which makes it look thinner than it really is.


This is what I was talking about at the very beginning. Apparently, the success of Xiaomi’s TV box—which I’ve already criticized in one of my reviews—has been keeping other manufacturers up at night. Mecool couldn’t think of anything better than simply copying it.
Yes, like the Xiaomi MiBox 3, this one has no wired network connection and no memory card slot. The MiBox did at least have Bluetooth, while this one has two USB ports, though both are USB 2.0. Otherwise, the models are very, very similar.


There are quite a lot of ventilation holes on the bottom of the case, but again, only on the bottom—there are none on top. The feet are practically nonexistent too, since they’re molded into the case and slide merrily across the table.


Opening the TV box is just as awkward as opening the MiBox 3, with very tight clips all around the perimeter.


Inside, though, there are more differences than on the outside. For example, the MiBox 3’s board filled all the available space and had metal shields. At the bottom you can see the remote’s IR receiver and the power LED. It isn’t too bright or annoying—a plus.


Undo a couple of screws and take out the board. Note that there are two self-tapping screws, but four holes for them. Where did the other two screws go? A mystery...


The cooling system is also mostly copied from the MiBox. There’s a large steel plate at the top of the case, with heat transferred to it through a 2 mm-thick thermal pad. The MiBox’s pad was larger, though, and carried heat away not directly from the processor but from the metal shield. So I’d say the Mecool’s cooling is just as good, if not better.


Overall, the build quality is decent. They could have connected the antenna through a connector, of course, but it’s not a big deal.


There seems to be some kind of protection on the power input, but I wouldn’t count on it too much.
There’s no protection on either HDMI or USB, though the HDMI data lines go through resistor arrays rather than being connected directly, as is more often the case. As usual, the reset button is located behind the 3.5 mm jack.


Power is handled not by a dedicated multi-channel PWM controller, but by five small ones, four of which are grouped together.


1. SoC S912
2. RAM consists of four Micron chips, two on the top of the board and two on the bottom.
3. Toshiba flash memory.
4. S9082C Wi-Fi module. I’m not familiar with it, but I think I’ve seen it in one of Mecool’s boxes before.
5, 6. PWM power regulators.



When the TV box is switched on, a modest splash screen appears; there’s no video intro. But even at this stage, I was a little surprised to see the video output set to 4K at 30 Hz.


The desktop looks familiar, though with a few changes, at least in its color scheme.


The control menu is accessible from the desktop, but it’s so stripped down—I really wasn’t expecting that.


The first tab lets you configure network and VPN access.
The second tab contains video and audio settings, as well as the CEC function, which is disabled by default.
The third tab lets you choose the language, set the time, and access your Google account.


The last tab contains system update options, system information, a factory reset, and the manual.
A separate note about the manual: if it were in Russian, it would unquestionably get five stars right away. Unfortunately, despite being quite detailed, it’s only available in English. Still, the idea is a good one.


As the description indicated, the TV box has 2 GB of RAM and 16 GB of flash storage, with about 12 GB available for installing apps.
As I often mention in my reviews, a 2/16 configuration is currently considered the most practical, at least in my opinion.


At first, it may seem like a lot of apps are installed, but that’s not really the case. I’ll cover this separately in the section about the preinstalled software.


CPU-Z didn’t reveal anything new. This processor has been well known for about two years, so this screenshot is included mainly for reference.


Since this processor is so well known, I’ll hide the benchmarks under a spoiler, especially since the results will be included in the summary table anyway.


Unlike the MiBox, the manufacturer decided to cut costs here and installed a single-band Wi-Fi module, which is rather odd, although the more expensive Mecool KM8 also had single-band Wi-Fi. On the one hand, you could say that routers with 5 GHz bands aren't all that common, but the price difference isn't big enough to justify skimping on this.

Judging by the first test, sensitivity is average or slightly below average.


The data transfer speed test didn't show anything special either; the results were pretty much as expected:
1. Router in the opposite corner of a large room, no line of sight: 3.5–4.5 Mbps
2. 2–2.5 meters from the router: 45–50 Mbps
3. About one meter from the router: 25–35 Mbps.

I ran the tests four times, and the results were roughly the same each time. The optimal distance for maximum data transfer speed is about 2–2.5 meters.


There's not much to say about the software. There's the Play Market, software for AirPlay and Miracast, a browser, and so on. The only unusual things are the preinstalled MX Player and a Russian IPTV emulator app. You can read about it here.


The YouTube app is preinstalled, but it's included with almost every TV box.


YouTube works fine. Most of the videos I tested played smoothly, though one or two did stutter occasionally. The maximum resolution YouTube supports is 1080p; by default, videos initially played at 720p.
I tested both Full HD and 4K videos. The temperature while watching was around 75–77 degrees; in the screenshots you can see it reaching 80 degrees. It only climbed that high while I was taking the screenshots—a well-known effect. Still, that's a bit much, if you ask me.


The equally well-known TVcenter, better known as Kodi, is also installed. Overall, it's not bad: video playback works, although compared with YouTube there are more stutters, and some videos won't play. In this case, though, that's not the TV box's fault; it's more likely a limitation of TVcenter itself.


And here's something interesting: early on, I complained that the settings menu was extremely limited and didn't provide access to the full settings. It turns out the full settings are available, but you can only get to them from... Kodi.
TVcenter has the standard gear icon, which opens the regular settings menu. From there, you can see and do a lot more than in the main menu. You can also get to the main (white) menu from here.


Along with the odd way of accessing the settings, I ran into a problem uninstalling apps. I'm used to doing this from the main menu under Installed Apps, where everything is listed, but that option isn't in the general settings menu here. It turns out you're supposed to uninstall apps from the apps menu itself. Nothing unusual, really—maybe that's how some people are used to doing it. Still, it may be useful to know that this is all covered in the manual, which, of course, I didn't read all the way through.



Alternative software.
Torrent TV wouldn't update and kept showing an error. In the end, I managed to see a few channels at most, but playback stopped after 5–10 seconds anyway.


LOLTV! refused to show me anything at all, getting stuck in an endless buffering loop. The app was updated to the latest version.


I tested a large number of different video file types and formats.
1024x768_h265_AC3.mkv
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
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)
4K HD.Club TCL-super_car-Part-1-HEVC.mp4
Colours Of Culture Bali (6K.3240p.x264).mkv

Overall, everything worked fine. Even AC3 audio played without any problems, but there was still a "fly in the ointment."
Ducks.Take.Off.2160p.QHD.CRF25.x264-CtrlHD.mkv (243 Mbps) — severe stuttering, whether the file was played from a flash drive or internal storage, while the Full HD video played beautifully.
Sony_4K_HDR_Camp.mp4 — a few dropped frames.
Colours Of Culture Bali (6K.3240p.x264).mkv — does not work, but that's normal in this case.



Playback was also tested with 4K video at 60 fps.
hdr demo 60fps wildlife video - 1920x1080
hdr demo 60fps wildlife video - 2560x1440
hdr demo 60fps wildlife video - 3840x2160
Peru HDR 60FPS - 1920x1080
Peru HDR 60FPS - 2560x1440
Peru HDR 60FPS - 3840x2160
Peru HDR 60FPS - 7680x4320

A few dropped frames were visible only in the Peru HDR 60FPS - 3840x2160 video, which did not always play smoothly. Peru HDR 60FPS - 7680x4320 would not play at all, but again, that's normal in this case.

During these tests and those listed above, the processor temperature ranged from 60 to 67 degrees. I tested all three preinstalled players; there was no difference in either playback or heat.


The Full HD pixel test caused no problems, though S912 devices usually handle it without a hitch.


When I connected the box to my "TV emulator," I got something a little different from what I expected. First, CEC—controlling a device over HDMI—works fine here. At least, I controlled the TV box using a keyboard connected to the "TV," which was actually another TV box.
The resolution is another story: the best I could get was 4K at 30 Hz. This TV box also lacks AFR; there isn't even a setting for it, although even on devices that do have it, AFR often doesn't work.


Comparison of test results with other TV box models. The reviewed TV box is highlighted in yellow, models with the same processor in orange, and the Xiaomi MiBox 3 in green—it clearly served as a kind of prototype for the model under review.
Overall, I can say there's performance potential here, but noticeable overheating gets in the way.


Conclusion.
You could call this TV box "one of many." It would be decent in terms of performance and could even outperform its "prototype," the Xiaomi MiBox 3, if not for the shortcomings in its cooling system. I wrote above that these two TV boxes are very similar, even having comparable case dimensions and heatsink designs. But the Xiaomi MiBox 3 has a less powerful processor, and its heatsink is enough. Here, the manufacturer tried to improve things to some extent, but it turned out as usual...
Otherwise, this TV box is very similar to its "siblings" from Mecool. The settings menu is a little awkward, and some video files have a few dropped frames, though it's barely noticeable. I also couldn't get it to run at 4K 60 Hz, which is a little strange. I won't claim with 100% certainty that it tops out at 30 Hz, though; I'd be more inclined to expect solid Full HD performance.
Also, the lack of high-speed interfaces means you won't be able to watch high-bitrate 4K video. You'll have to stick with either Full HD or 4K at up to 80 Mbps.

Speaking of interfaces, what's disappointing isn't so much the lack of wired Ethernet as the lack of 5 GHz Wi-Fi. And it's downright strange that there's no Bluetooth at all.

I had no stability issues. The TV box rebooted by itself just once during testing, when I tried connecting an external hard drive. Even after rebooting, it still couldn't handle the drive, though it was a 7200 rpm hard drive.


The store provided coupon GBM8SL1, which brings the price to $44.99.

That's all for now. I hope you found the review useful. As always, I'm looking forward to your questions and comments—and perhaps someone can recommend some tried-and-tested IPTV viewing apps.