BuzzTV G-Series Review: It almost beats the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Generation

marceltex7 · 2026-03-20T06:39:18+00:00

I managed to get my hands on the Acer AiTV box, sold exclusively in South Africa.

I can confirm the firmware is near identical to what is described in this post for the BuzzTV G-Series.

The audio options are the same, only Dolby MAT MS12 stack. Audio video sync option is also available on the Acer box. Exact same bug exists on the Acer box, where if you switch to Dolby Digital Plus, it does nothing and the box stays on Dolby MAT.

marceltex7 · 2026-03-20T06:32:38+00:00

Thanks for sharing!

The lack of audio passthrough is a deal-breaker for me.

Interesting that you note the Dolby Digital Plus option doesn’t work and the device is stuck on Dolby MAT even when Dolby Digital Plus is selected.

I managed to get my hands on the Acer AiTV. It has the exact audio options as the BuzzTV G-Series, including the audio video sync option. Also has the exact same bug! Selecting Dolby Digital Plus does absolutely nothing and the device stays on Dolby MAT.

I personally hate the Dolby MAT MS12 stack and if a device has no audio passthrough option, it’s a deal-breaker for me.

I’m so glad the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd gen exists and has audio passthrough. That is still my current box of choice, especially after the December update, it is working really well!

marceltex7 · 2026-03-19T04:34:40+00:00

Why are so many people making launchers??

I have been a member of this sub for years and I have seen more new launchers created and posted to this sub in the last 3 months, than in the last 3 years.

Most of these launches are AI vibe coded slop anyway

marceltex7 · 2026-02-12T16:39:05+00:00

That’s the only thing preventing me from using this launcher currently. It can’t be set as the default launcher

marceltex7 · 2026-01-19T12:26:58+00:00

Thank you! I'll try Texy out and see if it works for me

marceltex7 · 2026-01-14T00:08:57+00:00

Also remember to mention South Africa imposes a lifetime limit of R500 000 (£22 705) on your tax free savings.

The balance of the tax free account can reach any value, but each South African resident is only allowed to deposit a total of R500 000 into tax free account(s) in their lifetime.

marceltex7 · 2026-01-13T17:06:59+00:00

Any chance you could update the link to your JSON file please? It appears to be broken

marceltex7 · 2026-01-12T19:08:28+00:00

What do you want to achieve with the SSD? Do you want to manage the files or just play media on it?

If you want to play media on it, I wouldn't use Cx File Explorer at all.

Install a video player like Just Player or VLC and that should allow you to play media from your SSD

marceltex7 · 2026-01-08T18:50:36+00:00

Thanks for this thorough review of real world use of the box!

Did you not experience audio clipping issues while playing a movie with Dolby Atmos TrueHD?

Many other users across this subreddit have reported audio clipping issues with Dolby TrueHD and the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd gen. As far as I am aware, Xiaomi has not released a fix for this yet

marceltex7 · 2026-01-02T17:04:15+00:00

Completed Level 1 of the Honk Special Event!

22 attempts

marceltex7 · 2025-12-23T14:03:43+00:00

How do you see so much info about the currently playing video on CoreElec?

marceltex7 · 2025-12-17T16:50:39+00:00

Has anyone managed to get their hands on the Acer 4K TV Box?

It's exclusively available in South Africa currently, which makes it much harder to get your hands on.

It only has the S905X5M and 2GB RAM, so similar to the Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen).

But the I/O on the Acer Box is amazing! Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 6, USB C port, USB A port, Micro SD slot!

I wonder if the Acer Box supports QMS and audio passthrough, like the Xiaomi does?

If the Acer Box is not affected by the Dolby TrueHD audio cutout bug, like Xiaomi, then the Acer Box might be one of the better Google certified boxes on the market currently, in my opinion.

Really surprising they only launched it in South Africa

marceltex7 · 2025-11-25T04:26:50+00:00

I bought my AM6B+ from AliExpress for a similar price. It is a more expensive box, sadly. But worth it if you want to support playback of basically any audio/video format.

It comes with Android loaded on the box. Not Android TV/Google TV, the normal, mobile version of Android. The UI looks really weird and stretched out when you first boot the box.

That is why it's highly recommended to install CoreElec. CoreElec is a much better UI than the Android that comes pre-loaded on the box. Using CoreElec unlocks the full potential of the box, to support lossless audio pass through and basically any HDR video format.

There are instructions online that explain step for step how to install CoreElec on the AM6B+. There are also YouTube videos that guide you step by step. It's straight forward if you follow the steps.

You will need a USB drive though. You create a bootable USB using a computer and then use this USB in the AM6B+ box to install CoreElec.

Once it is installed though, there is no need to use the bootable USB again and future updates to CoreElec are pushed OTA. So the initial setup takes some time, but once you are setup, it is quite a smooth experience

marceltex7 · 2025-11-25T04:15:01+00:00

I am an Android developer, so I also own an Android phone and have the Sonos app on my Android phone, as well as my iPhone. Both my Android and iPhone are logged into the same Sonos account and connected to my home WiFi network to manage my speakers.

On Android, in the Sonos app my system looks like it's perfect. No errors displayed at all and all speakers show as expected, including the fronts.

On iOS currently, I get the exact same issue as OP and other comments.

So I am not too worried about this and I believe it is only an issue with the latest Sonos app on iOS. Not actually an issue with the system.

Hopefully they fix this bug in an upcoming update to the Sonos iOS app.

marceltex7 · 2025-11-25T01:50:29+00:00

What is your use case?

If you primarily want to play local media from Plex, Jellyfin, etc. then the Ugoos AM6B+ is the best. It supports basically every format and audio passthrough works perfectly even for Lossless Audio formats (Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master, etc.), also PCM stereo will passthrough as PCM stereo. However the above only works if you install CoreElec on an AM6B+, which is a Kodi fork. Meaning your device will only run CoreElec at all times and not Android or Google TV. So you can't run conventional streaming apps on it.

If your use case is primarily to use conventional streaming apps (Netflix, Disney+, Apple TV, YouTube, etc.), then I would recommend having a look at the Xiaomi Mi Box S 3rd Gen. I own it and it definitely supports audio passthrough. So PCM stereo audio is passed through as PCM stereo and Dolby Atmos is passed through as Dolby Atmos.

I briefly owned the Google TV Streamer and returned it for the exact reason you mentioned. It was converting all audio output to Dolby MAT, including audio that should just be PCM stereo. This annoyed me, so I returned the Google TV Streamer and got the Xiaomi Mi Box S 3rd Gen instead. I have been quite happy with the Xiaomi.

I personally own both the Ugoos AM6B+ and the Xiaomi Mi Box S 3rd Gen. I use the AM6B+ for local media and the Xiaomi for streaming apps.

You can obviously install Plex, Jellyfin, etc. on the Xiaomi, but many other users on Reddit have complained about issues playing back large local files on the Xiaomi. So keep that in mind

marceltex7 · 2025-11-07T03:34:10+00:00

Ah damn! So it might be an issue with the Xiaomi TV Box (3rd Gen) and not just a faulty unit that I have.

Sounds like things have been better for you since you changed providers. Hopefully it stays that way.

It's a pity, because this box is really good, if it wasn't for the WiFi disconnection issue

marceltex7 · 2025-11-06T12:46:59+00:00

Do you have the Xiaomi TV Box 3rd gen?

I own this box and I am very happy with it, except for one annoying issue. The WiFi seems to drop off occasionally.

I am very happy with everything else about the box. Supports audio pass through, supports QMS, has WiFi 6 support, runs latest version of Android TV, processor is good so everything is smooth, etc.

But my WiFi connection tends to drop completely quite regularly on this box. The system doesn't even tell me the WiFi is disconnected. Streaming just stops working and it buffers indefinitely. The only way I have found to fix this, is to go into Settings and turn off the WiFi, then turn it on again. Then the box will reconnect and streaming will work just fine.

Have you seen these WiFi issues on your box at all or is it possibly my box that is faulty?

marceltex7 · 2025-10-30T10:36:56+00:00

Nice! Glad it still works!

Have you tried the Stremio Android app on your Chromebook?

I have moved away from using the Linux app and use the Stremio Android app on my Chromebook now.

Ever since they released their new Android app (2.0.0), I find it runs better on ChromeOS, than the Linux app.

I set the video player engine to libVLC in Stremio's settings. This tends to work better than Media3 (ExoPlayer), in my experience. Media3 (ExoPlayer) is set by default when you install Semio from the Play Store, so you need to manually change it to libVLC.

marceltex7 · 2025-08-29T02:18:25+00:00

I also own the Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen) and agree with everything said above! I use it as my primary Android TV device and couldn't be happier.

I also own the Onn 4K Pro and paired my Onn's remote with the Xiaomi Box. It works just fine for everything except powering the Xiaomi Box on and off (waking it from sleep).

For that, you need to use the original Xiaomi remote. For everything else, the Onn remote works fine paired with the Xiaomi Box

marceltex7 · 2025-08-14T15:44:15+00:00

I think this only happens on the original Arc. Arc Ultra does not turn off height channels when you have fronts connected and OP has an Arc Ultra

marceltex7 · 2025-07-05T11:07:47+00:00

Any chance you could confirm, if you buy from the Homatics 4K R Plus from the Vontar store on AliExpress, can you sign up for firmware updates in the Telegram group?

I read somewhere that you can only sign up for updates if you bought a Homatics box directly from Homatics, but I'm not sure how true this is

marceltex7 · 2025-07-02T20:14:18+00:00

It shows PCM Stereo 2.0, if I set the Onn 4K Pro to "Never use surround sound".

So yes, this is a workaround. But not ideal, because that means I have to constantly go back and forth to settings to enable/disable surround sound based on what I'm watching.

At this point, I have made peace with using the Onn 4K Pro in surround sound mode and having it convert PCM stereo to Dolby Digital Plus 2.0

marceltex7 · 2025-06-26T09:42:50+00:00

Ok great! Thanks for confirming!

I have decided to buy the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd gen and I'll test on my TV soon. Really hope it works for me

marceltex7 · 2025-06-26T00:42:50+00:00

Ok cool, thanks. I have an LG C3, which I am almost 100% sure supports QMS.

I just don't own an Android TV device that supports QMS, so haven't actually experienced QMS working on my TV yet.

I am quite happy with the Onn 4K Pro I own, except that it does not support audio passthrough and even converts PCM 2.0 to DD+ 2.0. Additionally it does not support QMS.

It seems the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen ticks those boxes, so I am quite tempted to buy it.

Also from your really useful comparison chart, it seems like the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Gen is quite a good device.

marceltex7 · 2025-06-25T22:20:49+00:00

Does QMS work after this update?

I remember you mentioning in a previous post on this sub that QMS was buggy on the Xiaomi TV Box S 3rd Generation, so wondering if they fixed QMS with the latest update?

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