Sunvell T9 Android 8.1 TV Box Review

[blinkone]

Sunvell T9 Android 8.1 TV Box HD Network Media Player Set-top Box RK3328 Bluetooth 4G Memory 32G Android 8.1 USB3.0



The tv box in this review came direct from the guys over at Sunvell who have been building TV box's for a few years now and do a good job of it.





Hi Guys,Another Tv box to take a look at and review,The Sunvell T9 a Rockchip powered TV box yes i here your alarm bells ringing (Rockchip) arhhh lol lol.The T9 im testing is the 4/32GB version that should be more than enough room for most users,Running Android 8.1 out the box.Theres no top and bottom bars in the UI i should mention too.


Info from webpage

¤ "Android 8.1 Oreo TV Box With Built-in Cortex A53 Quad Core Processor With WiFi Perfect For Home Entertainment. Massive 4GB Ram, 32GB MMC Flash storage make sure the system is running fast and stable, ensure a smooth user experience. The H.265 and VP9-10 Profile-2 decoding provide nice streaming for large files. Best for playing 3D Games and Videos.

¤ T9 comes with a very capable hardware configuration that allows it to play 4K videos even at 60fps smoothly. Powered by RK3328 CPU along with Mali 450MP2 GPU support, the latest Android device provides you a glimpse of the future of television.

¤ USB Host: USB 2, support USB DISK and USB HDD, TF Card: Support TF Card supports up to 32GB. ( Not included), SPDIF: SPDIF optical output, AV: Composite AV output, DOLBY TrueHD and DTS HD: DOLBY TrueHD and DTS HD Bypass through HDMI, Mouse/ Keyboard: Support mouse and keyboard via USB; Support 2.4GHz wireless mouse and keyboard via 2.4GHz USB dongle, Bluetooth keyboard or mouse via Bluetooth. ( Not Included).

¤ HDD file system: FAT16/FAT32/NTFS, 3D: Hardware 3D graphics acceleration, Support Subtitle: SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB, OSD type of languages: English/French/German/bish/Italian/ etc multilateral languages, Power Supply: DC 5V 2A, Power Consumption.: 10W, Power Type: External Power Adapter, Power Indicator (LED): Power ON Blue, sleep: Red.

¤ Media Supported, Decoder Format: H.265, Video format: 4K,ASF,AVI,DAT,FLV,ISO,MKV,MPEG,MPG,RM,RMVB,TS,VOB ,WMV, Audio format: AAC,AC3,APE,DDP,DTS,FLAC,HD,MP3,OGG,TrueHD,WAV,WMA , Photo Format: BMP,GIF,JPEG,PNG,TIFF, Interface: DC Power Port,HDMI,RJ45,SPDIF,USB2.0, Remote Controller Battery: 2 x AAA Battery ( not included )

Looks and feel

It comes with just the one launcher installed.A tv box launcher (Nova launcher dont work)
The device itself is a very nice looking black tv box at 10.5cm by 10.5cm square with 4 rubber Pads,Lots of venterlation holes on the underside & both sides.Front facing clock 24h or 12h,It has 2 full sized USB ports one USB3 & one USB2,Micro SD card slot that is hidden next to the USB port,HDMI port,Power input,AV port,RJ45 port & a Spdf port.The IR remote has good range & works ok (Air mouse is better)There is a recovery button hidden behind the AV hole on the rear.


Front of the T9 is the clock



Right hand side is nothing but venterlation holes



Left hand side is the USB2,USB3 & SD Cart slot along with more venterlation holes.



Rear is the SPDF,AV,LAN,HDMI & Power port Not forgetting the hidden recovery button behind the AV hole



Underside plenty of the venterlation holes again



The T9 is very easy to take apart,Just remove the 4 rubber pads and undo the 4 screws on the bottom.

Some internal photos

Bottom cover removed




No screws or clips hold in the PCB, just lift out









Ports





Hidden Recovery button





Right then so lets have a tinker,the device takes around 50 seconds to boot up to the home screem (Shown below)



The T9 is running Android 8.1 and is doing the job so far,The device is also rooted.

A different looking UI to what we are used to that can be changed to some extent, like adding your own apps to the home screen.


Theres no crap installed just the basic stuff to get you going (App Draw below)



Chrome
KDPlayer (Kodi 18 beta)
Netflix
playstore
Youtube

Google play store is pre installed and working fine showing apps that i like to see on a tv box

Tested out KDPlayer crashed 3 or 4 times so removed that and installed kodi 17.6 Now kodi works great set up a good build and it is running very well even 4k seems ok but the device does get rather hot up to 92c showing on CPU Monitor.



Netflix,All good there working fine.

Amazon Prime Video dont work.Installs ok but once you click on anything you want to watch it returns to the main menu.

Youtube,All good and working fine



Some teck stuff

CPU Z











Antutu Bench mark



Antutu Video Tester







DRM



AIDA 64









WIFI
My connection speed should be around 40MBPS



Now some games testing

Beach buggy blitz (Wont load)
Ashpalt 8 loads and plays ok
Ashpalt 9 (Wont load)
Sixaxis app (dont work)

Things tested
Logitech c230 (Dont work)
Sixaxis app (Dont work)
Samsung 1TB external HD (Works)
Tronsmart Mars G01 gamepad (Works)
32GB micro SD card (Works)
HDMI CEC (Works very well)

FIRMWARE
The device in this review came with FW V4.20180904 & this review is based on this FW

Below is a updated FW v4.20181018 (Tested and working fine)
FW https://mega.nz/#!u3ZDkazS!DGHbow90znhYZKD8AWHUsteWq1mw8ztulCcavNh 9kPI

Driver assistant
https://chinagadgetsreviews.com/download-rockchip-driver-assistant-v4-5.html

RK factory tool

http://geekbuying.mediafire.com/file/hu9om2doyuf9310/FactoryTool_v1.6.zip

The FW is very easy to flash as on most rockchip devices (No power lead is needed)
1.Download Fw to pc
2.install the rockchip driver assistant (Click uninstall driver first then install driver)
3.Install RK factory tool & run it with admin rights
4.Load FW into RK factory tool & press run
5.Locate and press recovery button on tv box
6.Connect USB lead to the USB port closest to the SD Card slot
7.Flashing will start if you have installed the drivers correct

FW Flashing video

Model: T9
Type: TV Box
CPU: RK3328
Core: Cortex A53,Quad Core
GPU: Mali-450MP2
RAM: 4GB DDR3 SDRAM
ROM: 32GB eMMC
System: Android 8.1 Oreo
HDMI: HDMI 2.0 CEC, HDCP
WiFi: 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n
Lan: 100Mbps RJ45 Port
Bluetooth: Bluetooth: 4.0

USB Host: USB 2, support USB DISK and USB HDD
TF Card: Support TF Card supports up to 32GB. ( Not included)
SPDIF: SPDIF optical output
AV: Composite AV output
Mouse/ Keyboard: Support mouse and keyboard via USB; Support 2.4GHz wireless mouse and keyboard via 2.4GHz USB dongle, Bluetooth keyboard or mouse via Bluetooth. ( Not Included)

HDD file system: FAT16/FAT32/NTFS
3D: Hardware 3D graphics acceleration
Support Subtitle: SRT/SMI/SUB/SSA/IDX+USB

OSD type of languages: English/French/German/bish/Italian/ etc multilateral languages
Power Supply: DC 5V 2A
Power Consumption.: 10W
Power Type: External Power Adapter
Power Indicator (LED): Power ON Blue, sleep: Red

Media Supported
Decoder Format: H.265
Video format: 4K,ASF,AVI,DAT,FLV,ISO,MKV,MPEG,MPG,RM,RMVB,TS,VOB ,WMV
Audio format: AAC,AC3,APE,DDP,DTS,FLAC,HD,MP3,OGG,TrueHD,WAV,WMA
Photo Format: BMP,GIF,JPEG,PNG,TIFF
Interface: DC Power Port,HDMI,RJ45,SPDIF,USB2.0
Remote Controller Battery: 2 x AAA Battery ( not included )

Dimension and Weight
Product weight: 0.2000 kg
Package weight: 0.4500 kg
Product size (L x W x H): 11.50 x 11.50 x 2.20 cm / 4.53 x 4.53 x 0.87 inches
Package size (L x W x H): 43.50 x 30.50 x 30.00 cm / 17.13 x 12.01 x 11.81 inches

Package Contents:
1 x TV Box
1 x Remote Control
1 x Power Adapter
1 x HDMI Cable
1 x English Manual

Unboxing Video

To purchase the T9 Look here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FYB2HK4

To view more Sunvell products look here www.sunvell.com

[Creativeguy]

BlinkOne,
I bought a similar box from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1. It looks like the same box. I hate the build. You cannot alter the home screen at all. It is really boring as well. I have loaded firmwares and even unbricked a box a few times, so not scared to do it, but do you think I could load the firmware from this box or even one from Sunvell, which looks the same and it will work? have been looking if anyone might have a more exciting build but can't find one. Not sure I am looking in the right places. I really wanted to hook up my Logitech C615 webcam, but it didn't work at all and I know it might not ever work.
Creativeguy

[blinkone]

BlinkOne,
but do you think I could load the firmware from this box or even one from Sunvell, which looks the same and it will work? have been looking if anyone might have a more exciting build but can't find one. Not sure I am looking in the right places. I really wanted to hook up my Logitech C615 webcam, but it didn't work at all and I know it might not ever work.
Creativeguy

Hi there,
The sunvell firmware should work but you need the 4/64GB firmware, I don't have that firmware but will ask for it :-)

Blinky

[Creativeguy]

Thanks for the info and finding out if it is available.

[blinkone]

Thanks for the info and finding out if it is available.

Hello again Creativeguy

Sunvell have sent me the 4/64GB Firmware I requested (I have not tested it)

https://mega.nz/#!oTZ0kQpC!o0KZxqspVF9u_TZTrdG8TG8-OAEw4MlEWQfQbgB_45E

Blinky

[Creativeguy]

Blinky,
I am not sure what I have done. I flashed the new image. Doesn't seem to work or even load. It starts up showing the original start up screens and continues to boot to what looks like the original build, but now doesn't work correctly. Shaky/grainy video. The sunvell build looks completely different when I saw it on line. It just seems like it just isn't taking.

[Creativeguy]

I found this image for a alfwise. Seemed to load but still not operating correctly.

https://www.mediafire.com/folder/wao6lccbl9s27/T9_Firmware