T95 MAX+ Android TV Box

Peter Scargill4K TV31 Comments on T95 MAX+ Android TV Box
T95 Max TV Box

I could not tell you how many TV boxes I’ve had over the years. I’ve had ROKU 2 (no VPN, restricted, takes over everything), “proper” “Android TV” boxes with pathetically restricted PlayStore and severe limits on what you can install, through to a range of “full Android” TV boxes and I’ve pretty much settled on the latter, even though in the UK, that pretty awful Sky NowTV app won’t “stream” through these or any other Android boxes I’ve tested.

The title of this new unit is the and it came from . As you might know, I’m not interested in WIFI-only sticks as WiFi, specially for HD is invariably inferior to hardwired Ethernet (or even over-the-mains Ethernet if you simply cannot get a wire to the TV). The box does of course have WiFi as well but I won’t got into that here for the reason I’ve just described..

Ok, so if you look at older entries in the blog you’ll find a number of half-decent boxes including the very pretty, round H96 MAX box, the rectangular low-height A95X box, the A5X Max box, the Windows-based Ace PC – which turned out to be rubbish.. and many more for which I may have made videos or put on a previous version of the blog.

When I started this blog entry I was generally using The H5X in Spain and the A95X here in the UK. I was planning to move to the H96 Max when the new T95Max+ turned up. Now, I won’t claim that setup is the easiest thanks to the (typical) sparse remote control, but before I started setting it up in my office, I fastened it to our 4K TV and watched some of those YouTube 4K and 8K videos – beautiful – the latter clearly scaled down as my TV is able to handle 4K and downwards only. I have to tell you, given the right material, the picture is SUPERB – and to verify it is 4K you merely have to sit up near the TV and watch the edges of the likes of skyscrapers.

Test Videos

In particular, I watched this video – the most stunning 4K footage by Bashir Abu Shakra with Han’s Zimmer’s “Time” from one of my all-time favourite movies “Inception” if this is all new to you – get your 4K on, turn up the volume and be prepared for a treat. The video is incredible, the music was good on its own but coupled Zimmer’s music use in “Inception” it becomes emotionally outstanding and the whole lot works together brilliantly. Even if this TV box is of no interest I strongly recommend both the clip above and the movie Inception itself.

I’ve included a link to Bashir Abu Shakra’s video up here, if anyone gripes I’ll pull it down – let’s hope not. If you have a quality PC and large 4K monitor (I know many of you do) – you will be better off pulling the video down from YouTube and make sure you select 4K. If I were selling the T95 Max+ (which I am not) it would be as good a demo as any. It handles everything very well.

That out of the way, my next question was “and what is this box compatible with?” as so may of these Android boxes won’t work with this, that or the other App. First off, Netflix, then Amazon Video, BBC i-Player (in a browser – full screen – excellent), Movie HD, Cinema HD V2, “Curiosity Stream”, the list goes on… everything I tried WORKS and works fine.

I’m not convinced about that remote – I still ended up using a mouse and keyboard to enter credentials but then every box I’ve had has faced that issue and better remotes are dirt cheap and once the credentials are done (hopefully a one-off setup job) the normal remote works ok,.

T95 Max+

Summary

Well, there it is, I won’t insult you by attempting to show 4K video footage in a little browser window – you’ll just have to take my word for it that video output is GREAT (for those who’ve been living in a cave (I do from time to time) – 4K is rapidly becoming the norm and even 8K is just starting to emerge.

Don’t forget to check out the link at the top of this entry for the specs of the T95 MAX+

Having now installed the T95 Max+ in the living room, watching a movie remended me that quality depends heavily on a combination of the source quality, processor and Internet speed consistancy. The movie quality was disappointing – and as I have 80Mbps Internet and the box is great, it came down to the App providing the movie. Then we decided to spend an hour on the “Curiosity Stream” App – learning about “The networks within our bodies”, in which the kidneys play a major role in determining lifespan (more so it seems than we imagined in the past) – the quality was so good that the fact we were watching a recorded program seemed to fade into the distance as we learned fact after fact about bodily networks. Watching such documentaries in 4K without distraction is very rewarding.

And no, of course this image doesn’t reflect the stunning quality of that particular show – but here it is anyway – I’d put up a video but I’d rather not get prosecuted, brilliant thought the show is, it’s not free.

"The Networks within our Bodies" - Curiosity Stream - viewed on the T95 Max+

Right, enough of that. Now for some WLED and flashing lights and maybe even some sleep. I like this new TV box.

31 thoughts on “T95 MAX+ Android TV Box”

    1. Hi Brian

      I wrote about the H96 MAX round unit – certainly is a beauty. Both units have come a long way from earlier Android boxes – I am currently using the T95 box on a daily basis.

  5. so, continuing the Pi4 update…..Its PMV is reinstalled on the pi4 and the LAN/USB3 has made a big difference, the local LAN switch I’m running it on allowed me to transfer my media lib from my laptop to the pi at anything between 30-7Mbs, not bad.
    Now I need to figure out the bottle necks in the rest of the house LAN.
    The TT router is a Giga-lan, as is my local office switch, but.

    The other two AP’s I have in the house are old repurposed BT hub-4 routers acting as AP……these are 10/100 and as yet I’m not sure everything is negotiating speeds correctly.

    1. use iperf3 between each couple of devices and search for the slowest of them… put the server (iperf3 -s) on a known fast device, then on the other use the various clients (they exist for EVERY platform), using the -c parameter and the “server” ip as its value…

  6. Seems to be functional now across the above box and my Windows machines (w10)…next task will be access for the MAC users in the house.

    One question I do have is, how do you customise the homes screen…..Ive seen the three favorite buttons but want to either make Kodi start by default on boot or make it the nice big option on the home screen.
    I cannot find any way to do this at all.

    1. I’ve not even tried customizing the home screen. When you figure it out, be sure to let us know.

      1. Sorry Peter, looks like it cant be done as is, looks like we are stuck with it unless you take the rooting ‘route’……no pun intended 🙂

          1. Thank you, would you have a recommendation please?

            Anyone use the facebook app for watching ‘lives’, my Partner just asked if its possible through the TV 🙂

            1. don’t know, i’m fine with stock launchers because i just open vlc or mx player and that’s it, no need for anything fancier… i usually use nova launcher on phone, but maybe you should search for more “tv style” ones, try searching the store for “big tiles launcher” or the likes… for facebook, i think you can just use the standard app and put the videos full screen, i never watch streaming stuff other than youtube…

  7. Well, after playing for a few week….I cant get any current SAMBA to work on this box as most of them as SMB1 so cant be seen by windows 10.
    Picked up old BT4 and 5 router to use as NAS from scrap pile, again all SMB1.

    Settled with Pi3 and OMV5, tested last night and works, so will get a Pi4 for the USB3 and hook my drive to that….the pi3 ewthernet transfers across the network at a relaxed 11MB/s so I’m hoping that the bottle neck is both the USB and the LAN port.

    Ant thoughts on this……its been quite a learning curve.

    1. yes, on pi3 bus is shared between usb and eth, so slooooow…
      pi4 is better… for samba on that, i usually ignore the included file explorer and use something like es explorer, or some programs can browse the network directly, i think both kodi and vlc for example…

  8. So, got the box, its running some quite old stuff, Kodi wont update either (im new to TV boxes BTW).

    I have a 500g HDD slung on the USB3 port, how can I make this share on my network so I can dump films in as I need please

    1. I can’t help there, others may comment. Using Kodi and downloading movies is not something I’ve done for years. For reference I use the BBC iPlayer, Youtube (mainly for 4K demos and movie trailers), subscribe Curiosity Stream, Netflix and Amazon and use the likes of MoviesHD, so in other words I stream everything, mostly in HD or better.

  9. This will be my first box….I think I’m going to take a punt on this one……for an all-in-one keyboard and mouse, whats the recommendation…

    2. My comment would be identical to Antonios – I use that black `All In One` every day several times a day. Works well. Only BRIEFLY tried on the T95 Max+ but it worked – has it’s own dongle, you can use either USB input for it.

        1. If you want to send the actual links in here we can compare… is that PRIME hence no post? Also, check out my Bangood link for the Actual T – £38.11 + fifteen pence – sorry my keyboard is being awkward – postage – max business days but they usually manage much better than that. Depends how much of a hurry you are in.

          1. Android TV Box,T95 MAX+ Android 9.0 TV Box 4GB Ram 64GB Rom Amlogic S905x3 Quad-Core 64 Bits Support Dual WiFi 2.4G/5G Bluetooth 4.0 4K8K Ultra HD H.265 3D Internet Smart Set-Top Boxes
            by ZSRBOX UK
            Learn more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082TXTKYW/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ccBMEbW746RWB

            Zanza MX3 Air Mouse 2.4GHz Wireless Keyboard
            by Zanza
            Learn more: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07YX77H84/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_meBMEbY96B4XW

            Its Prime, yes…..
            If I’ve got to last another 3 weeks+ in iso, I’m going to put my works projector to good use in our covered BBQ area 🙂

            1. Yup, for the UK, someone in a hurry and not concerned about higher pricing, that is clearly a great option.

              Thinking internationally of course, subscribers to this blog are spread all over. I’m sure my pal Antonio can get a good price also at Amazon Italy.

              For reasons beyond me, Amazon Spain often seem to have less available and getting stuff from China is easy – usually not much slower than from the UK (I say that with a decade of owning a home in Spain and having stuff shipped from both countries). My WORST nightmare was having something shipped frorm China to Spain by DHL – BAD mistake, now I just use standard delivery and Spanish Corrios.

              1. I fully agree with you and I’m usually quite happy to wait for my booty from CH.
                I work around EU a lot so waiting for a couple of weeks is not an issue.
                I just had to scratch this itch though…..

                1. I just realised – there’s no way to put images in these comments inline – I was going to add the Correos logo just to pretty up my reply – but no. THAT’s annoying. Oh well, there’s always a way around things.

    3. Nvidia shield best Android box you can buy unlike all the other android boxes I’ve had and I’ve had a few always being updated to latest firmware

      1. I’m sure it is nice being nvidia – but I just spotted the price at Amazon – WELL out of line for a TV box.

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