Purchasing an Android TV box can prove to be quite baffling. Honestly, it’s a hectic market, and the features, specs and the actual boxes change almost on a weekly basis. Luckily, all is not lost because here is a breakdown of the 5 top features you’d want in an Android TV streaming box.
5.1 Audio Pass-through
This is perhaps one of the most sought-after features of a good Android TV streaming box. But you’re probably wondering what 5.1 audio pass-through is. In simple terms, it is when you want to transmit the signal from the player via another device without essentially doing anything to the signal. If you have media files with DTS, 5.1 surround, or Dolby Digital sound, and the receiver you are using can decode that signal, you will enjoy better quality sound with the audio pass-through instead of having your TV box do it.
H.265 Hardware Decoding
H.265 or High-Efficiency Video Encoding (HVEC) is a video compression standard. Given the large size of video files, it becomes harder to transmit them over a network. H.265 will help to compress the picture into smaller fragments with fewer details in order to achieve approximately 50% better compression efficiency.
Android 5.1 Lollipop or Higher
There is a simple reason why you’ll want an Android TV streaming box with Android 5.1 Lollipop or higher. In a nutshell, whenever you purchase a device, you always expect it to come with the latest stuff. Android 5.1 Lollipop offers several advanced features including:
• Audio output and input through USB devices
• It can support Open GL ES 3.1 for enhanced 2D and 3D graphics rendering
• A whole new programming library that minimizes startup time, handles memory better, and saves more disk space
Dynamic Refresh Rate Switching
This feature serves to automatically regulate the refresh rate between the TV and the source. This helps to ensure that you receive the best picture quality and you don’t realize the blinking when your TV is a 50Hz while your source is a 24Hz.
HDMI 2.0
If you want Ultra High Definition 4K video at 60 frames per second, it is important to get a HDMI 2.0- enabled Android TV streaming box. HDMI 2.0 comes with the extra bandwidth to support UHD 4K video at 60 frames per second.
If you’re thinking of buying a new Android TV streaming box in the near future, these are some of the essential features you should look out for. However, these are not the only features as there are numerous other features and specs to consider.
