Rockchip RK3566 is a serious competitor to Amlogic S905X3 in the TV box market. Therefore, the TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 immediately drew attention to itself. Upon detailed examination of the technical specifications, it turned out that the gadget has something to surprise. Only the manufacturer’s claims about the capabilities of the box are confusing. Everything looks too good to be true.
TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 – technical specifications
| Manufacturer | X88 (Chinese brand) |
| Chip | Rockchip RK3566 |
| Processor | 4x ARM Cortex-A55 (up to 1.99 GHz) |
| Video adapter | Mali-G52 2MP |
| RAM | 4/8 GB (DDR3, 2133 MHz) |
| Flash memory | 32/64/128 GB (eMMC Flash) |
| Memory expansion | Yes |
| Operating system | Android 11.0 |
| Wired network | 1 Gbps |
| Wireless network | 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 2.4GHz/5GHz |
| Bluetooth | Yes, version 4.2 |
| Interfaces | 1x USB 3.0, 1x USB 2.0, HDMI 2.0a, SPDIF, LAN, DC |
| Memory cards | microSD up to 128 GB |
| Remote control | BT, voice control |
| Price | $50-90 |
Besides the powerful RK3566 chip and the current Android 11 operating system, attention is drawn to the memory sizes. You can buy the TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 in the classic configuration of 4/32 GB, or opt for 8/128 GB. The latter looks impressive, but it costs an extra $40. It seems unfair from the manufacturer’s side, as two chips cost a maximum of $5 combined. But it is priced at $40.
Review of TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 – first impressions
There are no questions about the appearance and assembly, nor about the cooling system implementation. It’s clear that the Chinese paid attention to current issues faced by competitors in the TV box market. This is great news for users planning to install the TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 behind their TV.
The interface set of the box is standard. The wired RJ-45 port at 1000 Mbps was a pleasant surprise. The package includes an HDMI cable, power supply, and remote control. The remote control implementation is interesting but impractical. Fortunately, it has voice control, and the most used buttons are accessible with the thumb. By the way, there are many useless buttons on the remote that are not programmable.
Advantages of TV-BOX X88 PRO 20
- Rockchip RK3566 does not overheat at all and can handle many demanding games.
- High-quality playback of Full HD 60FPS content from any source.
- Supports 8K@24FPS decoding.
- Well-implemented internal control (menu, settings).
- Good throttling test results.
- Excellent wired network performance and Wi-Fi 5 GHz module.
Disadvantages of TV-BOX X88 PRO 20
- The box does not support 4K@60FPS content.
- No ROOT rights and auto frame rate.
- HDR support only works in the proprietary X88 player.
- Third-party video players do not work for playback.
- Support for HDR works only in the official X88 player.
- Cannot handle torrent files larger than 15 GB.
Summary of TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 on Rockchip RK3566
The implementation of the box is really interesting. The hardware part of the TV-BOX X88 PRO 20 is beyond question. However, the software component is very low level. It seems that the Chinese simply forgot to install a working firmware. There are two possible outcomes: either an update will be released over the network and everything will work properly, or the box will be blacklisted and lose demand in the market.
An interesting point is that Rockchip RK3566 demonstrates better color transmission and dynamic picture quality at the hardware level than Amlogic S905X3. This is noticeable when comparing the X88 PRO 20 with gadgets like Ugoos. If an average user notices this, then the competitors of X88 are surely aware of it. There is a belief that we will soon see something more interesting and desirable from the leaders in producing flawless TV boxes based on RK3566.
