This is the Magabox MG4 Max Android TV box which is the newer version since I reviewed the older Magabox MG4 Android media box. In this video, we will be looking at its functions, hardware and software, including options for live TV and Video-on-Demand (VOD). I will show you how to set and use this Android TV box as an entertainment device.
This video is made into these sections so that you can easily find and watch the information from this video. Continue watching to learn about the Magabox MG4 Max Android TV box. If you’re new to this channel and like my detailed review style, click the subscribe button to follow my future contents.
This is the Magabox MG4 Max product box with the brand, the model and the image of the product printed here. Some of the features including voice control are printed too.
At the side, the main specifications are printed.
Let’s open the box to see its contents.
These are everything that came in the box.
The Magabox Android TV box, the remote control, the user guide, a power adapter and a HDMI cable.
The Magabox MG4 Max has a full metal body construction and a beautiful blue finishing. I actually love this shiny color. At the top, the brand name is printed and in front is the LED display panel.
On the side, this is a MicroSD card slot, two USB 2.0 ports and a restore pinhole in case you need to reset this device.
At the back, these two antennas can be adjusted to get the best possible Wi-Fi signal.
Most of the ports are at the back.
This is for the IR, SPDIF digital audio, AV port, HDMI out port, LAN ethernet port and DC IN power port.
On the other side are ventilation holes.
At the bottom, there are four anti-skid rubberized feet that provide good grip on flat surfaces. In the middle is the product model name, MAC address and serial number.
This remote control has all the standard buttons plus more. There’s dedicated TV control buttons, Live and VOD buttons, dedicated streaming app buttons for YouTube, Prime Video, Disney+ and Netflix, a mouse cursor button and voice control button.
The front plastic looks glossy and cheap, I would have preferred if it matched the plastic from the back.
Here, there are instructions to program the remote to control your TV.
This remote requires two AAA batteries.
The user guide is very simple with only diagrams and specifications. Continue watching this video and I’ll explain about this Android TV box in detail.
Now let’s get this device started. Connect the HDMI from the Android box to a display such as TV or monitor. Connect the provided power adaptor and turn on power. The Android boot splash screen took 22 seconds and then it went straight to the Magabox Android home screen.
The interface looks simple and straightforward with a line of icons for installed apps, a line of recommended apps and a line for settings and options. Device Info displays hardware details of this box, File Browser to manage files, Delete App to uninstall app, and Clear Memory to clear cache and RAM.
Before using this box, connect to the internet via ethernet cable or Wi-Fi. I usually connect using Wi-Fi. The moment the internet got connected, the screen displayed a ‘DEVICE PROHIBIT’ message and I was unable to do anything in the system. I restarted the box and the error remains. I’ve contacted the company and will continue with this video if the problem is resolved.
Magabox responded back and asked me for the MAC address. They resolved the issue by remotely activating the box and I can now continue using the device. If you encounter a similar issue, please contact the company and they should be able to fix it for you.
This Android TV box has more than 50 system language options to choose from.
Under Input, it supports Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) functions. You can enable or disable the options here.
Under Advanced Display Settings, there are more settings for you to choose from.
For Audio, you can select audio output mode. And there is Advanced Sound Settings to choose from too.
Let’s look at the Magabox MG4 Max hardware specifications. The device hardware is H618. The processor is a 4-core ARM Cortex-A53 running between 480MHz and 1512MHz.
The GPU is ARM Mali-G31 with OpenGL 3.2 supported. The integrated graphics processing unit supports Vulkan API 1.1 which is a low level, low overhead, cross-platform API and open standard for 3D graphics and computing.
Current display is FullHD with 60Hz refresh rate as the one it’s connected to right now. It has HDR10 and Hybrid Log-Gamma support.
The RAM size is 4GB and the storage is 128GB which is sufficient for most usage scenarios.
The box supports Bluetooth 4 to connect to supported devices.
As for the device, it uses an exdroid board and the operating system is Android 12 which is also called Snow Cone.
This device is rooted and that allows a user to perform actions such as changing the operating system, replace or alter settings and system applications, install custom themes, and download specialized apps.
Google Play Store is available on this device and you can get a lot of Android apps. If you are into movies or video streaming, there’s a wide variety of app selection that you can install and use.
Now, let’s look at the live TV and VOD apps called Maga Live, Maga VOD and Maga Replay. The links on the screen do not work by default. To comply with platform guidelines, I will not show you how to install or activate these apps. But, as part of testing this Android media box, I will be checking these apps.
Once installed and activated, the Maga apps shortcuts on the home screen works. Let’s check the Maga Live app first.
The app will load the first channel or last viewed channel. Although I’m connected to Wi-Fi, the channels that I tested loaded reasonably fast. Pressing the OK button on the remote control will display the TV channels guide which shows the channel names and the programs that are running at the moment.
There are more than 4000 channels listed here and it was a little difficult to scroll such a long list. I wish the channels were grouped in categories that can be scrolled and selected to view channels under them. The good news is that you can bookmark your favorite channels and they will appear under the Favourites tab which can be accessed easily.
The channel list covers various countries and regions, American channels, Canada, UK, Spain, Philippines, India, Caribbean, Russia, Poland, Italy, Denmark, France and many more.
Now let’s look at the Maga VOD app. This loads a simple and straightforward looking interface.
The major part of the screen consists of icons of movies. On the left are search, favorite and history.
Search allows you to search for movies and there is also an on screen keyboard if you don’t have a physical keyboard connected.
Favorite is where all your bookmarked movies and TV series will appear. At the moment, I don’t have anything bookmarked.
History is where your watch history is recorded. You can always keep track and go back to watch a movie again.
At the top are the menu for the pages. Currently it is in the Recommended page. You can navigate to the Newest page, Movies page or TV Series page.
Under the Movies page, it has a similar movie icon based interface. Clicking on this Movies button will load a page with Movie categories on the left and the movie lists on the right.
Currently there are more than 29,000 movies in all genres.
You can select each genre and it will show how many movies are in each category.
As per my random movie playback tests, the video quality was good and without buffering during playback.
If you go to the TV Series page, it has a consistent look. Clicking on the TV Series button will load a similar interface as Movies.
There are more than 2800 TV series and clicking each genre on the left will list the TV shows under the category.
You can find your favorite shows, with seasons and episodes listed. Playback was good too.
Maga Replay is the app for you to catch-up on TV shows that you have missed. There is a 7 day program history that you can watch and at the moment, there are 101 channels listed here.
Let’s test playing YouTube videos in this box. The video playback starts with a lower quality. But when I selected 4K quality, the video playback did not play at all. I did multiple tests and it failed to play 4K and can only play FullHD video resolution and below.
DRM or Digital Rights Management is a way of protecting contents from piracy. To stream and play HD quality videos from services like Netflix, Disney+ or Prime Video, the device needs to have DRM Security level L1. This Android TV box is only certified for L3, so you can’t stream HD or 4K quality videos from those protected services.
If you don’t have a Netflix, Disney+ or Paramount+ account, you can get them at a discounted rate at this website. Check out the link in the comment or description to enjoy the discounted price.
Now let’s test playing 4K video files and see the playback performance of this Android TV media box. This is a 4K trailer of a movie and the video playback seems to be good. Fast forwarding works pretty quickly too. The Magabox MG4 Max plays 4K quality local video files without any problem. If you like to watch 4K quality movies, this Android media box seems to handle local files really well.
Let’s look at an internet browser app. Google Chrome is installed by default and the shortcut can be found on the home interface. I use Chrome on a daily basis, so this is one that I’m very comfortable using on this Android TV box.
You can also install and use other internet web browsers shown here as they are available in the Google Play Store.
Let’s test playing a 3D game in this Android TV box. The game is called Asphalt 8 Car Racing Game and this is just a demonstration of game performance and graphics in the Magabox MG4 Max Android TV box. The graphics do not appear to be very smooth but I did not experience lag, so this 3D game is quite playable. Although you can play games in this box, it is not suitable for heavy 3D gaming performance.
To summarize, Magabox MG4 Max TV box is a great Android media box for live TV and video-on-demand (VOD) playback.
4GB installed RAM and 128GB internal storage space is sufficient for most users.
When the Maga apps are installed, you’ll have thousands of live TV channels, movies and TV series updated frequently for endless entertainment.
Applications are generally loaded quickly and provide a good experience.
4K local video files such as movies generally play well.
3D games play reasonably well and without any lag.
But I also have some concerns about this TV box.
The Android home interfaces icons scrolls horizontally which feels awkward to find apps, I would have preferred scrolling up or down approach.
The TV box does not have the DRM security level support to play Netflix in HD or 4K.
YouTube 4K did not play at all, only 1080P managed to play well.
I will continue to test this box and may report any updates on its reliability and updates in my future videos, so stay in touch.
That’s all for this review and I hope this video has been useful for you.
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