What’s up everyone and welcome back to another edition of DIYBOX where
the best TV Box is the one you build yourself. In my last video I promised to return to the
Khadas VIM4 SBC board with an update on its case and a new firmware update granting new features
that will allow us to use it as a full-fledged Android TV Box. The VIM4 is currently ranked
number 4 on my rankings chart and it features the new Amlogic A311D2 Octa-Core chipset clocked at
2.2 GHz with amazing high-end performance. However it came with only the mainboard a
cooling fan and heatsink. And its firmware lacked essential features
that would have allowed us Android box users to use it as a full-fledged TV Box.
So in this review with the assistance of today’s sponsor I’m here to complete my DIY project and
present to you one of the best high performance Android TV Boxs you can assemble for yourself and
do away with those shabby low performance Android boxes that could never seem to get anything right.
So don’t go anywhere you have that right after this.
Today’s video is sponsored in part by KKSB the number one supplier of mini ITX cases. They stock
a wide range of cases and enclosures for top name brands such as Khadas Odroid Raspberry pi
Orange pi and more. They provide both aluminum and plastic cases and they can custom design for any
SBC board in the industry. So if you’re looking for the right case to complement your DIY project
check out their website at KKSB-cases.com or see the link in the description below this video.
Welcome back. So this is the Khadas VIM4 SBC board
and I’ve already completed a full in-depth review featuring its Android 11 operating system its
high performance 3D gaming and emulation gaming its advance active cooling feature and its high
performance benchmarks. And a link to that video can be found in the description directly below.
However as you can see you can’t use this as an Android TV Box sitting next to your
TV looking like this as it needs a proper case that will provide access to its I/O
ports while at the same time providing advance cooling for this high-end chipset
during long usage such as watching movies and TV shows and high performance Android gaming.
This is where KKSB comes in. This is their latest VIM4 aluminum case designed using a
passive cooling heatsink design for quiet yet efficient cooling. The VIM4 comes a cooling fan
and heatsink and there is also a single heatsink you can purchase separately. However to use this
case you will have to remove all stock cooling as it comes with its own building heatsink that
occupies the entire surface of the case. It also comes with its own heat pads and screws.
So I’ll quickly install the board into this new case and have a look at the finished product.
First I’ll start by removing its stock cooling fan and heatsink.
Next there are three buttons in the pack that you need to place into the allocated slots
before installing the board. Before inserting the board
you need to apply the thermal pad onto the elevated square block and
remember to remove the plastic on both sides.
Then carefully insert the board ensuring that the buttons don’t fall out of their
slots and its connecting ports fit into the slots correctly.
The final step is to install the bottom panel insert the screws and hand tighten them.
Once completed stick the antiskid rubber feet onto the bottom of the panel.
However please note don’t try to stick them onto the screws like
I am doing. Find flat sections close to the edges and apply them evenly.
So this is my finished product and the KKSB aluminum case fits
beautifully with the exception of one issue. Firstly to its rear you can access its USB ports
HDMI port LAN port microSD card and type C port. To the front you can access its micro HDMI input
and you have its power LED along with its MIPI serial display connectors.
To its right side you have your power recovery and reset button.
At the top the entire surface is its heatsink and you have a cutout for its GPIO header.
At the bottom you have cutouts for wall mounting and some cooling vents.
And the issue I have with this case is that they
did not include a slot to insert your NVME M.2 SSD.
So now that it’s ready and equipped to sit next to your TV or monitor to assume the role of an
Android TV Box it’s not yet quite ready to perform that function given the cons in my first video.
In my first video its firmware was only available in 32bit mode it has no root access
it had no Google play store or Google play services no screen mirroring function due
to the lack of play services it could not play any 4K HDR videos or surround sound
audio due to a decoder issue it did not have any digital rights to play paid subscription
services in HD or 4K and Android gaming and gamepad keymapping was not possible due to
the lack of play services and root access. That was in August 2022. Since then they
have released two versions of the 64bit version of Android 11 CoreElec and Ubuntu.
However in my case I’m only interested in the 64bit version of Android seeing that my goal is
to apply this SBC as Android streaming TV Box. So I’ll now install the latest 64bit
version of Android 11 and let’s see what improvements or changes were made.
So this is the new Android 11 64bit operating system and you can check
it here under its firmware build information. All its launcher and firmware features remain
the same so I’ll only focus on what features has changed.
let’s first head over to its system and hardware information.
Now that we have 64bit architecture it can now run both 32 and 64bit apps and games
and its Amlogic A311D2 CPU is still clocked at 2.2 GHz. Under codecs it now comes with Dolby
Atmos and Dolby vision decoders that were missing under the 32bit version.
In this new update you now have access to the Google play store and Google play
services however there are some apps and games that are stating that they cannot run on this
firmware but when you sideload them they run perfectly accessing all Google play services
and features. It appears that they use the PICO version of open gaps instead of the full version.
One of the features that has not changed his its DRM information where it still
shows that it has Widevine Level 3 with no HDCP protection. This means that premium
paid subscription services will be limited to 480p resolution even if you have an HD or 4K account.
And for root access one of the features crucial to your Android TV experience after the update
it now shows that you have root access. However there is no root switch in the developer options.
In the previous 32bit firmware you had no access to YouTube because there were no Google play
services. Now you can play both YouTube mobile and Android TV version and 4K 2160p with HDR
You can change its wallpaper using a custom image however live wallpapers do not work.
This latest firmware does not include the official version of Miracast but
you can use the Airscreen app to mirror or cast your mobile devices.
A critical feature in this latest release is
its ability to play self-hosted 4K HDR10+ AV1 and Dolby vision videos.
Using the nexus version of the Kodi media player this is a 4K HDR 10+ video sample.
Next this is a 4K AV1 video sample. This is an HLG video sample.
And this is a Dolby vision video sample.
So question usually is which formats gets triggered on your TV?
So running on this latest firmware it triggers
the HDR 10+ and HLG. It does not trigger the Dolby vision feature.
Now here is one area where they have not yet completed and that is its surround
sound audio output. They have included all the decoders to play Dolby Atmos and DTS
audio however when connected to my AV receiver it could not produce Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital
plus Dolby surround Dolby TrueHD DTS HD-MA or DTS X. All it produce is DTS Neural X.
So
high-performance gaming
is now possible with the availability of Google play services and root access you can now take
advantage of its high performance CPU and GPU with gamepad keymapping working perfectly.
So each of these games played on their highest graphics settings without throttling and those
that required touchscreen functions gamepad or keyboard and mouse keymapping working perfectly.
I attempted emulation gaming but was unsuccessful because Khadas did not allow editing of root files
in this firmware. So copying or loading of ROM iso files to the AtherSX2 directory was denied.
And finally a change from 32bit the 64bit means that you have improved
performance and it was reflected on the Antutu benchmark with a score of 256113.
And with this score it still stands at position number 4 on my ranking chart.
In summary. Now that I’ve completed the assembly of my DIY Android TV Box project using the only
case available to date from KKSB along with the latest Android 11 64bit firmware from Khadas.
There are definitely some pros and cons that you should take note of.
Firstly. There is no denying that with the Amlogic A311D2 Octa-Core
CPU you have superior hardware performance to stream movies and
TV shows 4K video playback and Android gaming on the highest graphics level.
However it does inherit some of the challenges seen in your standard models.
For instance in this firmware they used the limited version of the Android play store so there
are some apps and games that are not available. It has root access but it’s not 100% rooted as
there are some system files that you cannot access.
You cannot apply live wallpapers. You do not get DRM support to play
paid subscription services in HD and 4K so you are limited to 480p.
Even though the board has all the required decoders to play surround sound audio it still
cannot produce Dolby Atmos Dolby Digital plus Dolby surround Dolby TrueHD DTS HD-MA and DTS X.
The good news is this is Khadas and they are a professional SBC manufacturer so
they will look at these issues and work on fixes in the next firmware release.
So that brings to an end another episode of DIYBOX. This is not the last you have seen of
the VIM4 as there is still the active cooling case that can accommodate its cooling fan and
we look forward to another firmware release to fix the cons highlighted in this video.
So special thanks to KKSB cases for sponsoring today’s video and if you
are into SBC boards then be sure to check out their wide range of cases to suit your
project. See the links to the VIM4 case on their website and on Amazon in the description below.
Give this video the thumbs up if you enjoyed this presentation if
you would like to get your hands on the VIM4 SBC board you can do so using the
link in the description below this video where you can get it at the lowest price.
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