in today's video we're gonna check out
the me box s the latest Android TV box
from Xiaomi let's get started
hey everybody welcome to you tech with
Bret where I help tech work for you if
you own an Android TV box or a
chromecast device make sure you hit
subscribe below as I'm all about helping
you learn how to use these products
better so before we begin talking about
the me box s I want to do a brief
history lesson on Google and the smart
home TV so years and years ago I had the
first Google TV which was a Sony TV and
it was all built inside the TV so if you
wanted to upgrade the software you had
or upgrade the hardware you added buy a
brand new TV then years down the road
Sony came out with this little box here
that you had a full remote so you have
all the keys there and then you have
this touchpad on screen and you could
change the volume and everything right
from one remote and I just loved the
Google TV platform but it essentially
died out and Google did not support it
anymore so then a few years later Google
made their Android operating system work
on the TV and they called it Android TV
so I picked up the Nexus player which is
an Android TV box and allows you to play
and run Android applications that are
formatted for the TV now I use this for
many years and just over time it slowed
down a little bit and hasn't been able
to keep up with the latest and greatest
applications and that brings us to today
where there are a bunch of different
Android TV boxes available some of them
aren't certified with the Google Play
Store you can find a lot of those on
Amazon but here we have the me box S
which is a fully certified Android TV
box you have full access to the Play
Store it brings 4k and there's a lot of
other features so today we're going to
talk about all the things that it can do
and a few things that it can't and some
of the benefits of using this over a
chromecast or vice versa so let's get
into what is in the box now I did reach
out to Xiaomi to send this me box s to
me so that I could review it for you
guys so starting off looking at the box
so up here you can see that it does have
chromecast built in and it supports up
to 4k it also has access to the full
Google assisted so then here at the
bottom there are a bunch of different
applications that you can use it with
now I do want to mention one of the main
things that this does not have is Prime
video so if you're a big Amazon
subscriber you will not be able to
download the prime application to the me
box s now one really cool thing is it
comes with a free HDMI cable which I
thought was pretty cool so getting this
set up will be pretty easy you just
attach through the HDMI connect to the
internet and we can begin streaming here
on the back I do want to show off that
it does have chromecast built-in it
supports 4k Ultra HD and HDR it has
Google assistant built-in and it has a
quad-core CPU so you can play some games
and it's just very fast in its overall
performance so on the back of the may
box you have an audio out jack a HDMI
USB and the power cable and then here
inside the box we have the me box s we
get the Bluetooth voice remote the HDMI
cable and the power adapter now next let
me talk about the remote and all the
benefits of this little device so here
at the top you do have a power button
that does allow you to turn on and off
the device you can put it in sleep mode
or if you turn on the cec options you
can actually turn the device fully off
and fully on if your TV is supported
next you have the Google assistant
button so you just press that and then
you can do voice activations here you
have a d-pad that goes up down left and
right and click in the middle and then
here you have an all apps button a back
button and then a home button you do
have a dedicated Netflix button a live
TV if you have a live TV support like
the HD home run and then you have volume
controls and this will control the
Android system volume which is right
within the me box so you don't actually
control your TV volume but I'm really
glad that this option is available so
that you don't need to find your remote
and you can still have volume controls
now that you have everything plugged in
getting the me box s set up is super
simple all you need to do is go into the
Google application of your phone or your
Google assistant and ask it to set up my
device and then once you do that it will
automatically find the Android TV box
sync up your
Google account and get everything set up
once you do that it will go through some
updates and then it will fully reboot
and you are ready to go so now let's
talk about the main menu of the me box s
so usually behind me I have a chromecast
playing a bunch of different pictures
but right now I actually have the me box
s so here you can see that it's going
through pictures and this is in its
sleep mode or its ambient mode over here
on the side you see the time and where
the picture is coming from even the
weather and then over here it will show
that it has chromecast built in so we'll
get into all of those features in a
minute but then when you want to go to
the home screen all you need to do is
press the home button and it will remove
the screen saver and here you are on the
main page of the applications so running
through how this operates at the very
top you have this menu you can customize
exactly which applications are there
this is something I really like because
no matter what these are your favorite
apps they will always be in the same
location and then as you scroll down you
have these different card menus so you
can set up where different applications
are showing different items so down here
I have a Netflix row that shows a bunch
of different Netflix recommendations or
here I have a YouTube recommendation row
and you can go through and customize
exactly what's showing up and remove
these if you don't want to see those or
just see the applications that are
showing a new content there is one menu
here that shows play next so it will
show movies that you were just recently
watching maybe you need to finish them
they will show up right here now at any
time if you want to go and see all of
the applications you can just press the
application button and then those will
pop up on screen and then if you hold
down on one of these it will give you
the option to open it move it remove
from favorites info and uninstall so you
can actually move these around right
within that little menu so you can
customize this menu as well so that's
pretty much the basic navigation of it
and then you can hit home or back at any
time
and then up here at the top you do have
options to activate Google assistant you
can also type in a Curie and then over
here you have the full settings which
there are a ton of different settings
available on the Android TV or in the me
box
next let's talk about the resolution on
the me box s so it does support up to 4k
at 60 frames per second so if you don't
have a 4k TV you can still use this you
just need to go into the settings and
adjust it down to 1080p and because 4k
does take a little bit more time to
buffer it doesn't look great in the
beginning but then once it loads up
everything looks super smooth very crisp
and clear so if you don't have the
fastest internet you could default it to
1080p so you don't have as much
buffering going on and some applications
just don't support the 4k features
anyway so I did make sure that I went in
at the beginning of setting this up and
I went and set it into the 4k options so
I could have the best experience
possible and it just really looks
amazing now let's talk about the content
that is available so like I said in the
beginning prime video is not available
on this device even if you're mirroring
from your phone you cannot see Prime
video on here but you have full access
to your Google Play Movies your Netflix
or Hulu your YouTube all of those
applications that you're normally used
to using will be available on the
Android TV box and you can even use the
Google assistant to be able to search
through that content and it will find
where different videos are available and
it will tell you if you already own it
and then you can just play it right
there I actually use movies anywhere
where it links all my movies from Vudu
and Google Play movies and even my
itunes account so that I have all those
movies in one place and I can access
them all right on the TV and they just
look really good in any of those
applications now one thing you do have
access to when you are using the me box
s is being able to play supported
Android TV games now if we go to our all
apps menu and we scroll all the way down
here we can see a little row just for
games so this does support really good
at gaming so I played crossroads I
played a bit of this Real Racing 3 and
the graphics are actually pretty good
one of the things you can do is pair a
Bluetooth controller so here I have an
Android Bluetooth controller that I can
pair up and then I have full access to
be able to control the games with the
controller or you can actually just
control the entire device with this
because
has the same Android buttons that you
would see on the remote
there's just no voice commands on here
so for gaming I thought it worked really
excellent maybe a few drop frames here
and there it's not a full gaming PC but
overall definitely worth it and some fun
casual gaming was going on now next
let's talk about the voice control so
here we have the Google assistant button
right on the remote so that gives you
access to the full Google assistant you
would have on your phone so that's
really convenient let's say you're just
browsing for something you don't want to
type in a big answer you just press the
Google assistant button and it can give
you the notification right on screen
that's the weather like tomorrow
tomorrow in Linden there will be rain
and snow with a high of 40 and a low of
27 so it gives you the answer right on
screen shows you a few notifications and
then I really like down here at the
bottom you can actually go through and
select other things that it is
suggesting like add to gallant calendar
view more schedule so depending on what
you ask it will show different responses
you can use so I could also turn off my
lights and everything just with this
remote and you have all those commands
that you're used to with your phone
right here on your TV remote so it makes
it really convenient and they sync
together so if you had a reminder over
here that's going to add a reminder on
your phone as well showing videos of
tech with Brett on YouTube playing tech
with Brett videos on YouTube so I'm
perfectly pleased with the abilities of
the Google assistant built right within
Android TV next up let's talk about the
chromecast built-in feature so right
here I do have a chromecast ultra so the
chromecast ultra supports 4k it cost
about 69 dollars and it does really good
job in playing videos but one of the
downfalls of the chromecast is it
doesn't have applications built in to
use a remote with so that's one of the
reasons I really like Android TV is
because you have this remote at any time
you can pick it up push the home button
navigate what to what you want to watch
and press play with the chromecast
all it is is the screen and then you can
use your phone as the remote to cast
things to it but with the Android TV me
box s you have the casting built-in so
you can go to any of those same apps you
would cast to to cast the chromecast
ultra you can cast those to the me box s
as well so first off one of the cool
things you can do is you can actually
mirror your phone screen write to the me
box s all you need to do is go down into
the Google home application and now
you're going to go to the accounts tab
on the very far right go into mere
device and then if you have an Android
phone you can actually mirror your phone
to the TV and that works really good so
that's something a chromecast can do and
this can do that as well you'd also be
able to mirror your computer if you are
using Chrome as well one of the other
benefits of using a chromecast device is
being able to quickly do voice commands
from your Google home so let's say I
can't find my remote to use the Google
assistant button from across the room
I can just activate my Google home and
have it do certain things on the me box
s so in the settings you can change the
name of yours I've just called mine me
box so now all I need to do is activate
my Google home and then I can control
the TV open Netflix on me box okay
launching Netflix on the me box and
there you go it popped up the
application so previously when I was
trying these features with like the
Nexus player a lot of things weren't
working you weren't able to play Netflix
videos on the TV you couldn't change the
volume but now with new updates all of
those things are working with the Google
home and the me box s so now I can
actually change the volume as well mute
me box and there at the top you can see
that it did a mute unmute me box sorry
something went wrong when you're ready
give it another try sometimes you will
have that happen and then you can also
just grab the remote and push the volume
back up now a few other things that
should work when casting from the Google
home you should be able to use Netflix
Play Movies
you also should be able to do pictures
from your google photos library and even
YouTube but in my experience a few of
those have not been working like YouTube
casting as well as casting from play
movies so let's try it out real quick
play infinity war on the me box so it
will start to Avengers infinity war from
Google Play movies & TV and then on me
box it will give you a notification that
it can't play so I'm not sure why it's
giving that notification hopefully over
time that is able to be fixed but right
now out of the box that's not working
next let's try YouTube play tech with
Brett from YouTube on me box sure
playing tech with Brett from YouTube on
me box from YouTube on me box sorry
something went wrong when you're ready
give it another try and that is the air
I keep getting so I'm not sure why
YouTube and Play Movies isn't working
but everything else seems to be working
with voice for years you couldn't cast
Netflix to the TV which was super
annoying but now you can do that play
The Office from Netflix on the me box
sure the office from Netflix playing on
me box so there it popped it up on the
TV pause me box and there you have
controls over pause and play that's one
other voice command that I found is
super nice to have on this at any time I
can just ask it to pause whatever is
playing so before if I started it from
the remote on the Android TV and then I
went about my day and then I wanted to
pause it it wouldn't pause that video
from the Google home but now I am able
to do that with anything that is playing
and then the last thing being able to
turn off the TV with the meet with
Android TV wasn't possible but now I can
do that
turn off me box and there you can see it
shut off my TV and over here there's a
tiny red light indicating that the TV is
fully off so I'm very impressed with the
new features you can do with the Google
home and the me box s but there are a
few
things that do need to be worked out
there so if you're looking forward to
those features working you will most
likely need to use your phone to cast to
the TV instead of using the Google home
to be able to do that so that's the main
difference you're gonna see when using
the chromecast ultra versus the me box s
is this has all those applications built
in and you have Google assistant
everything where this is going to be
better at doing some of the voice
commands with the Google home I haven't
had any of those problems with this
device so there you go that is the main
difference between maybe a chromecast
ultra and a me box s one other thing
that the me box s isn't doing is the
background that shows up on the TV you
cannot personalize it to your own Google
photos albums where with the chromecast
ultra in the ambient mode you can choose
personalized albums from your google
photos library and display those on the
TV where the me box s is not currently
supporting that you go and select it it
just doesn't work and that's an Android
TV feature that's not working one other
really neat thing is if you have a smart
display you can actually come in here
and control the me box right from your
smart display so I can turn it on/off
pause play mute and even change the
volume right from the screen if I don't
want to use my remote or use voice you
are able to do that with a smart display
device so that is pretty much my review
of the me box s if you're an Android TV
fan definitely pick one of these up or
if you're just looking for a new way to
smarten up your TV maybe you have a
chromecast and you're looking for a way
to control it with a remote picking up
one of these is going to be the best
thing to do so usually these retail for
about $69 but right now you can get one
for $40 I just checked Walmart I'll
leave a link in the description below
and you can see the price there so I'm
really excited to see that compared to
maybe the $69 price of the chromecast
ultra if you have further questions
about the mean box s please let me know
in the comments below and if this is
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and I will see you guys over on the next
video or check out the full playlist all
about other chromecast features that you
can use
thanks so much for watching we'll see
you on the next one