REVIEW: TANIX TX6S an lamentable Box with SoC Allwinner H616

• IMPORTANT: To fix this device INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE.

PRODUCT DETAILS

Unboxing TANIX TX6S

The TANIX TX6S comes in a generic cardboard box with a image of the device in the top, inside we found the TV-Box, IR remote, HDMI cable 4K@60fps compatible, Manual and a DC 5V 2A adapter.

Description

This model TANIX TX6S is made in plastic and has a box design that stands out only for the reliefs on the top. On the front we have an LED display that indicates the time, on the sides and in the back area we have all the connectors in a classic configuration. This model includes a simple IR remote control that allows us to perform basic functions in apps like KODI but is limited for more complex ones.

The update button is hidden next to the microSD card, is NOT the back hole. On the motherboard we can see the Wifi a/b/g/n Dual Band + Bluetooth 4.1 (SP6330) chip little known and has one internal Wi-Fi antenna, the 2GB model only mounts Wifi b/g/n without Bluetooth. The cooling system is simple, an aluminum heatsink attached to the SoC that as we will see fulfills its function.

• Remote Control: Basic IR Remote with copy keys/ NO microphone / We can choose other alternatives.
• Alternate control: Does not have its own control app / We can try Cetusplay in our smartphone.

SYSTEM AND PERFORMANCE

Environment and Android system

We connect the TANIX TX6S that starts automatically, we get to the ALICE UX launcher that Tanix usually installs, it is valid for use with the default controller and has a lower row that we can customize with the icons of the apps we want. In the installed apps Miracast and TVCenter stand out, which is a version of KODI full of movie and series addons. The performance of Android 10 is quite poor since as we will see the processor is limited in speed. In addition, we find the unpleasant surprise that Google Play for Android TV has been installed, which reduces the amount of apps we can install. To fix the factory problems INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE.

If we are going to play and make intensive use of this model we recommend buying the variant with 4GB of RAM, if we want to adjust our budget and we are only going to use it as a media player we may have enough with the 2GB model.

• Launcher: As an alternative we have Pixel launcher to use mouse or Ugoos for IR control / Android UI rendering at 1080p.
• Multitasking and access: Multitasking NOT available / NO lower or upper Android bar.
• Languages and Google Play: All the international Android classics / Google Play for Android TV installed.

• On/Off Controls: If we keep press the power button we have reset and power off option / Configurable in settings.
• System version and root: Android 10 (32 bit) / YES root by default / NO root menu / Build 2020-02-15 / Model TX6S.
• Support: Tanix have a site with some firmware / Firmware available / Custom firmware not available yet.

Network, storage, RAM and ports

This new Android TV-Box TANIX TX6S has eMMC memory for internal storage and DDR3 RAM, it has two USB 3.0 port and SD card reader. In the network section it has a wireless adapter Wifi a/b/g/n Dual Band + Bluetooth 4.1 (SP6330) and Ethernet 10/100 port. As we can see in the tests the results are very poor, the wifi does not reach decent speed figures and the adapter never connects good speed in 5G.

• Storage: Total 32GB  – Free 29GB / NTFS + exFAT compatible / Expandable with a USB or SD external memory.
• RAM: Total 4GB – Free 3GB / DDR3.
• Network: Low speed with one external wifi antenna / Range 42dBm, low. / Bluetooth OK.
• We recommend reading our Tutorial SAMBA on Android networks if we are going to use files from our network PC.

Power and performance

At the performance level the TANIX TX6S has installed the Allwinner H616 a Quad Core SoC with ARM Cortex-A53 processors and in the graphic section a Mali-G31 MP2 GPU that is in the mid-range. This SoC is manufactured in 28nm, as we have seen the cooling system is basic and the temperatures are high, the processor does NOT scale the speeds correctly and this gives us very low performance. In short: firmware is a disaster. To fix the factory problems INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE.

• Check our Allwinner H6 SoC Comparison against all SoCs in the sector for more details.

• CPU performance: Min 500 MHz / Working  1ºC / Max ? MHz
• Thermals: Min. 49ºC / Working  70ºC / Max. 80ºC / Maintains performance up to 87% / Heat zone on the top / Noise 0db
• Consumption: Off 0.6W / Min 3W / Working 6.1W / Max. 6.9W
• Games and emulators: IS possible to play titles such as PUBG with low settings / Emulators up to Wii / NO Vulkan support.
• Controls: Compatible with Gamepads by cable or bluetooth.

VIDEO AND AUDIO TEST

Video playback test

In the video playback aspect, the TANIX TX6S features the Allwinner H616 SoC that on the one hand has the Allwinner Phoenix 3.0 VE Engine that allows us to decode H.265 / VP9 and on the other hand we have the Smartcolor 3.0 DE Engine that is responsible for controlling HDR modes such as HLG and HDR10, although Dolby Vision is missing. It does not have an app for video quality settings, but the image quality is good. We can use players like KODI or PLEX without the slightest problem, the system comes by default with a version of KODI full of addons that we recommend uninstalling. At the audio level we can play DD and DTS sound up to 5.1 through the HDMI port. Check our Allwinner H6 SoC Comparison against all SoCs to see more details about A/V aspects of this SoC.

• Video Settings: Image quality settings / RGB and SDR / HDMI-CEC available, see manual / Automatic refresh rate with root + AFRd.
• Audio Settings: HDMI and SPDIF up to 5.1 audio / Stereo Jack.
• Media sharing: GoogleCast No* / Miracast YES* / DLNA with BlubblePnP / Airplay YES* / *With Airscreen.
• LibreELEC: This model is NOT compatible with LibreELEC or CoreELEC.
• Tutorials: Install add-on in KODI / Judder effect, how to fix it / Multi-channel audio guide / Correct dark video playback in Android.
• We recommend reading the Setup Guide of our TV to get the best picture quality.

Video results

• The maximum bitrate depends on the port used to connect or the limitations of SAMBA Networks.
• SW = does not have hardware acceleration and may have have some frameskip in very heavy files.

Audio test results

• PCM – Stereo only doing downmix from DD or DTS
• Core – Only the core of the format is played back with what we passed to the Dolby / DTS base system
  * Our AV receiver does not support these native formats but we verify that it is played back to 7.1

Streaming services

In our usual tests with streaming services we see how the most popular services work. The TANIX TX6S presents the classic configuration without certifications which limits us in quality in several streaming services, in addition to bringing installed Google Play Services from Android TV also limits us to Android TV apps and gives us problems.

• DRM: Google Widevine L3
• Certification: No
• Tutorials: Change the size of the captions and the mouse pointer on Android / Install Addons in KODI in a simple way

CONCLUSIONS AND BUY LINKS

Score

Opinion

As we see in our analysis the TV-Box TANIX TX6S is one of the low-cost models that has given us the worst result in a long time. In this Android TV-Box we have the Allwinner H616 SoC with the classic Cortex-A53 CPU cores and the improved Mali-G31 MP2 GPU but since the speed of the CPU has bad controller and we cannot get all the performance that it should. Video decoding also leaves something to be desired because YouTube in VP9 freezes if we playback videos in 4K.

As for WiFi connectivity, the TANIX TX6S has quite low performance with its Wifi a/b/g/n Dual Band adapter with limited speeds and its 10/100 Ethernet port is not the best to get the most out of our network local. With this model we also have a very basic IR remote, we don’t have Android navigation bars or root selector. The basic cooling system does not work properly to eliminate the heat generated.

In short, the TANIX TX6S is undoubtedly one of the worst TV-Box we have reviewed in a long time, the Tanix brand has done a terrible job with the firmware and does not show any interest in the product. We recommend buying any other model that we mentioned in our buying guide. To fix the factory problems INSTALL THIS FIRMWARE.

Where to buy

• Consult our recommended models to see other alternatives.

Add-ons

TANIX TX6S

0.00

3.7

DESIGN AND CONNECTIVITY

7.0/10

HARDWARE

4.5/10

SYSTEM

1.0/10

SUPPORT

4.0/10

PRICE/QUALITY

2.0/10

Pros

• Good picture quality
• Android 10

Cons

• Very bad firmware
• Low performance, bad wifi
• No android bars
• Hot
• Problems with VP9 videos