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Dangbei Super Box H5: a budget media player with an appetite for 8K and NAS

Dangbei Super Box H5: a budget media player with an appetite for 8K and NAS

The Chinese brand Dangbei, which is usually associated with premium projectors, has decided to update its fleet of TV set-top boxes. The new Super Box H5 64GB model looks like an attempt to give the user maximum memory and network capabilities for adequate money. While competitors are greedily counting every gigabyte of storage, they decided not to be petty here.

Hardware without illusions

The heart of the device is the Allwinner H618 chipset. If you expected the performance of a game console from it, then it is better to immediately postpone these dreams. This is a classic "workhorse" with four Cortex-A53 cores and Mali-G31 MP2 graphics. There is only 2 GB of RAM here, which by the standards of 2026 seems to be the necessary minimum for the survival of Android 12. However, the real emphasis is on flash memory - 64 GB. This allows you to not only install a dozen streaming services, but also download several movies directly to the device's memory.

Video and network tricks

Marketers proudly claim support for 8K decoding at 24 fps. It sounds solid, although there is little practical benefit from this, considering that the output signal via HDMI 2.0 is still limited to 4K at 60 fps. However, support for the H.265 codec and HDR10 and HDR10+ technologies makes viewing content quite comfortable. The integrated player deserves special attention, which "digests" more than 300 formats, including heavy Blu-ray ISO and MKV.

For those who keep their own media library on home servers, the Allwinner H618 provides stable operation with NAS and SMB protocols. To ensure data is transmitted without delays, the device is equipped with three Wi-Fi antennas, which should improve signal reception in remote rooms and stabilize the connection when streaming heavy content.

Software and connectivity

The Super Box H5 runs on Dangbei OS, which is built on Android 12. This means access to most modern applications and support for voice control with elements of artificial intelligence. The set of ports is standard: USB 2.0 for external drives, HDMI and even good old AV for those who decided to connect modern technology to an old TV. Power consumption does not exceed 10 W, which makes the device almost invisible in electricity bills.
The asking price in China is 449 yuan - this is about $ 62 (2700 UAH). For this money, the user gets a completely adequate entertainment center that does not try to seem like something more than it really is. The device supports AirPlay, DLNA, and Huawei Cast+, which solves the issue of screen casting from any smartphone

Black has become deeper: XGIMI has taken Titan Noir projectors from software illusions to physicsImage

XGIMI has introduced a line of Titan Noir projectors, deciding not to play software tricks, but good old physics. The series includes three models: Titan Noir, Titan Noir Pro and Titan Noir Max - and they all rely on one feature, which the manufacturer calls the first of its kind for the mass segment.

When "black" is not just a setting

At the heart of all the new products is a dual-diaphragm system. If earlier manufacturers preferred to "finish" the contrast with algorithms, then XGIMI went the other way. The diaphragm regulates the flow of light in real time, adjusting to what is happening on the screen.

The result looks at least convincing on paper: dark scenes become really dark, and bright ones do not look as if they were slightly dimmed for the sake of balance. The declared native contrast reaches 10,000:1 - a figure that usually makes marketers smile and engineers nervously adjust their glasses.

Flagship with gaming monitor ambitions

The older Titan Noir Max model has everything that can be placed in a projector body without violating the laws of common sense. Brightness reaches 7000 ISO lumens, a triple RGB laser light source is used, and the list of supported formats looks like a list of fashionable abbreviations: Dolby Vision, IMAX Enhanced and HDR10+.

The projector covers 110% of the BT.2020 color space, and at the same time tries to make friends with gamers. A refresh rate of up to 240 Hz and a response time of 1 ms hint that the device is not averse to replacing a monitor - at least in the manufacturer's fantasies.
Inside is a MediaTek MT9681 chipset, supplemented by 4 GB of RAM and 64 GB of built-in memory. This is enough not only to show movies, but also not to think too long before launching applications.

The younger models look more modest, but retain the key dual-aperture technology, which, in fact, is the basis of the entire concept of the line.

Sales have already started on Kickstarter. The Titan Noir Max is priced at $5,999, the Pro version will cost $2,699, and the base model costs $2,499. Judging by the prices, the black color this time turned out to be not only deep, but also expensive.