RockTek GB1: Google-Certified 4K Streaming Revolution or Overhyped Gimmick? You Decide!

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Rocktek GB1 TV Dongle Review  Amazon US - https://amzn.to/4n5Mrhk  Aliexpress - https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_oo8cdmQ   USB Type- C Thunderbolt docking station - https://amzn.to/4n0C6TX    #rocktek #tvbox #tvboxstop   📊 2025 TV Box Rank Chart - https://wp.me/P7Izmk-1E3   🖥️ TCL TV w/Dolby Vision - https://amzn.to/3ymiBjY   🔊 Surround Sound used in the video - https://amzn.to/2TyylsH   🌐 TV Box Stop OPEN BOX DEALS SHOP - https://shop.tvboxstop.com/   Rocktek GB1 Features:   Realtek RTD 1315C 4X A55 CPU Mali G57 GPU  Android 12 TV OS  Netflix ESN license  Google Widevine level 1 / HDCP 2.2  Sideloading allowed  Not rooted  No Malware  4K HDR/AV1/Dolby Vision (Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+)  Auto framerate switching  Dolby Atmos/Dolby Surr/DD+  Good benchmarks  Bluetooth remote with Google Assistant  Built-in Chromecast  Good 3D gaming (Heating warning)  Works with certain USB Type-C hubs  4K HDR video playback ( USB Type-C hub required)   Time stamps:   00:00 - Intro  01:03 - Unboxing  01:30 - Design/ I/O Ports  02:28 - Launcher layout BT remote pairing  03:04 - Malware scan  04:15 - DRM info/Root access/Netflix ESN  04:56 - Google Assistant  05:29 - Firmware and Features  09:54 - System and Hardware info  11:22 - YouTube Quality  11:40 - 4K Video playback  13:59 - Dolby Atmos/DTS Audio  15:35 - 3D gaming quality  16:21 - Benchmarks  18:11 - Ranking Chart  18:48 - Pros and Cons  15:00 - Deals and Discounts     Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61563980692792  Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/tbsreviews/  Twitter – https://twitter.com/tvboxstop1  Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-john-9a5152125/  Pinterest – https://www.pinterest.com/tvboxstop/tv-box-stop/  TV Box Blog – https://tvboxstop.com  Email – tvboxstop@gmail.com   Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. We are participants in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and other affiliate advertising programs designed to produce a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and other affiliated sites. post.

Transcript

00:00What's up viewers and welcome back to the channel. Today's Android streaming device

00:14comes from the Roktek brand who has been making waves recently in the Android TV box market.

00:20They are here with another release called the Roktek GB1 TV dongle. And even though it's

00:26categorized as a TV dongle it has the appearance of a mini Android TV box and it's one of the

00:32smallest I might add. So in this review we look at what this mini device has to offer,

00:38its design, firmware features, hardware performance, and its pros and cons.

00:42And you'll get to decide if this is the mini streaming device you have been waiting for.

00:46Don't go anywhere. That's up next.

01:03So I'm back after that quick unboxing. So in this purchase you begin to see why it's classified as

01:10a TV dongle. You get the GB1 TV dongle itself. A G10 model Bluetooth voice remote with Google

01:17assistant feature. You get a very short 6 inches HDMI cable. One USB A to USB type C power delivery cable.

01:28And a user manual. So take note that it does not come with a DC power adapter and a long HDMI cable.

01:37This is because it's designed to sit behind your TV or monitor and be powered by one of the 5 volts USB

01:43ports. And the 6 inch HDMI cable is sufficient to reach one of its HDMI ports. And it also provides a

01:50neater setup. You do however have the option of using a separated DC power adapter and a longer 36 inches

01:57maximum HDMI cable. Anything longer might lose signal. So for dimensions. It measures just two and three

02:06quarter inches wide and just about half inch thick. It's made entirely of plastic with a swirly pattern

02:12and the Realtek branding at the top. It's got just two IO ports. One HDMI port and a USB type C power

02:20delivery slash data port. At the front you have an LED power light and to its base has no ventilation holes.

02:27So its first boot up starts with a very simple TV dongle splash screen. Followed by the pairing of

02:35the Bluetooth remote. Then you have to complete the Google TV first startup wizard by connecting to your

02:41home Wi-Fi network and your Google account. Then you're taken to the launcher. So let's take a look at

02:49its basic system information. This TV dongle has a Netflix ESN license. It's running on Android tvOS version 12.

02:59And this is its current firmware build information with access to developer options.

03:05So before we proceed first and foremost I will perform two malware scans before I install any apps

03:11to check for any malicious scripts or bad bots. For this I'm using Bitdefender mobile security a paid

03:17solution. And DefSquid a free malware scanner on the Google play store. This segment is a new addition

03:24to my android box reviews in light of the recent FBI public bulletin about their findings of malware

03:32on certain android boxes. So the Bitdefender app found no malware on this box.

03:41And the DefSquid app also did not find any malicious applications.

03:47So I recommend the Bitdefender mobile security paid subscription as one of the best user friendly

03:58antivirus services for android boxes. You wouldn't use your PC or Mac computer without antivirus wouldn't

04:04you? So why would you use an android box without one? The annual subscription is very cheap and affordable

04:11and I placed a link in the description for you to check out their service.

04:15Staying on the topic of security. For Google certification and protection for subscription

04:21movie services such as Netflix, Prime Video, Disney Plus, and Macs, it has Google Widevine level 1 with

04:28HDCP 2.2 protection. Its firmware is also not rooted as shown here by the root checker app. With this level

04:36of DRM and no root access, it presents the right environment to attain a Netflix ESN license,

04:43and to show movies in HD and 4K with Dolby Atmos. Here is a Netflix movie description which shows

04:49that it has 4K HDR with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

04:54You get all Google's smart home features such as voice search and voice commands. Turn off the office

05:04lights. Sure, turning three switches off. Turn on the office lights. Okay, turning on three switches.

05:18You must press the microphone button on the remote to initiate a command as the box does not have a

05:26built-in microphone for Google's far field feature. Now a quick look at its firmware features. You get 4K

05:342160P display up to 60Hz. You have up to 12-bit color depth.

05:43The HDR display section can be a bit confusing, so pay attention so that you can select the best

05:49option suited to your display. The first option is auto, which is supposed to be your adaptive

05:55HDR and Dolby vision feature. What I found is that when selected, it's actually an auto Dolby

06:02vision always on feature and always on HDR feature. It's not like all features are off,

06:08and then the auto option activates them when needed. When connected to a TV that does not support Dolby

06:15vision but has HDR, the auto feature will automatically enable the HDR always on. But once a

06:22TV has Dolby vision which is the superior format, it will select Dolby vision over HDR and have it always on.

06:29The next option is Dolby vision on. Well this mode is self explanatory. Once you select it,

06:37you force Dolby vision to be always on and it overrides all other HDR features.

06:43Next you have picture quality HDR. This is simply your HDR always on option.

06:50Next you have SDR. This is quite the opposite. This is your HDR and Dolby vision always off feature.

06:58The next option is called future. Well this is a new one and it enables HLG display only while disabling

07:08all other HDR and Dolby vision features. The input option is your auto HDR feature.

07:15But it only works for HDR and not Dolby vision. There is no auto Dolby vision feature in this list.

07:21Dolby vision low latency 12 bit forces the display into Dolby vision with a 12 bit YCBCR422 color depth display only.

07:34Dolby vision HDR10 forces the display into HDR10 bit mode only with no Dolby vision.

07:41So if you only have an HDR TV with no Dolby vision when connected some of these features will not be available to select.

07:58You have 95% screen zoom option. HDMI range mode. The option to continue playing a video even if the HDMI cable is unplugged.

08:11And you have some custom brightness and color settings. You have HDMI CEC options.

08:18Text scaling options. Text scaling options. Auto frame rate switching.

08:25And advanced display settings where it shows that enabled formats include HDR10, HLG, and Dolby vision.

08:36Four audio options. You have audio output mode. Where you can switch between HDMI adaptive sync

08:42to EDID output and optical audio. You have MS-12 preferred audio output whether Dolby MAT aka MS-12 or

08:51force Dolby Digital Plus or Dolby Atmos only. You have audio playback effects. You can get audio output via

09:00its USB port. An option to force formats such as Dolby 3HD and Dolby Digital Plus to Dolby Digital.

09:08And under advanced audio settings. And under advanced audio settings you can enable HDMI pass-through.

09:16And under advanced audio settings you can set it to auto, disable surround sound audio,

09:23or you can set it to manual selection. Under supported formats it supports Dolby Digital,

09:29Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos with Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Atmos with Dolby TrueHD,

09:40Dolby AC4, DTS Audio, and DTS HD. So it actually supports all surround sound audio formats.

09:48The question is which of the media players do you use to get these formats to work?

09:53So let's now take a look at its system and hardware information.

09:59So the manufacturer of this chipset is Inopea built using the Realtek hardware.

10:04It comes with 2GB of DDR4 RAM and 10GB of internal storage with Bluetooth 5.0.

10:11It's CPU is the Realtek RTD1315C, a quad-core Cortex-A55 processor clocked at 1.7GHz configured in 32-bit mode.

10:25The Mali-G57 GPU powers its display with OpenGL ES version 3.2 support.

10:31Its network adapter is a Wi-Fi 6 model and it provides dual band 2.4 plus 5GHz AX Wi-Fi connectivity.

10:41Its Android version is Android 12 and you already saw that the firmware is not rooted.

10:48Under devices it shows that its GPU does not have Vulkan support.

10:54They disabled the temperature sensor.

10:56And for audio and video decoders, for video you have HAVC, AV1, VP9, and Dolby vision decoders.

11:06For audio you get Dolby Atmos EAC3, but I don't see any DTS-HD decoder.

11:13I will however check for all surround sound audio formats in just a moment.

11:18And that's its system and hardware information.

11:21For watching YouTube videos, the Android TV version delivers up to 4K 2160p with HDR display.

11:40Watching 4K HDR and Dolby vision self-hosted videos I believe is the most challenging.

11:46Firstly, to read external storage, you have to connect the TV dongle to a USB type C hub.

11:53This is the one I'm using, and you can get a link to this one in the description below.

11:58The regular USB type C hubs like this one does not work.

12:05So to play 4K HDR videos, the media player I recommend is the Kodi media player.

12:11All other media players have some issue in some way or the other processing a particular audio or video format.

12:19In the Kodi settings area, you have to enable export mode.

12:24Set audio channels to 7.1.

12:27And enable all Dolby and DTS audio under audio passthrough.

12:32You also have to set the HDR display to input mode.

12:42This is to set it to adaptive HDR.

12:45And if your TV has Dolby vision, you can set it to auto.

12:48So with this video it triggers the HDR10 feature.

13:07This is an AV1 video and it also triggers the HDR10 feature.

13:18This is a Dolby vision video and it triggers HLG.

13:30This is Dolby vision and it triggers HDR10 with Dolby Atmos.

13:35This is HDR10 plus and it triggers HDR10.

13:49And this is official HLG format.

13:59For surround sound audio, I recommend that you enable audio passthrough in the audio

14:05settings area and that you use the VLC media player or the Kodi media player

14:11with the box connected to your surround sound audio system.

14:16So with the available decoders, you get Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital Plus, and Dolby Surround.

14:23You don't get Dolby TrueHD, DTS-HD Master Audio or DTS-X.

14:30So this is Dolby Atmos.

14:35This is Dolby Atmos.

14:41The world's first object-based cinematic audio.

14:46With powerful moving audio that transcends from channels.

14:50Next, Dolby Digital Plus.

14:52When you try to play DTS-HD Master Audio, you get PCM.

15:07You get Dolby Surround.

15:09When you try to play Dolby TrueHD, you also get PCM.

15:26And if you try to play DTS-X, you get PCM.

15:30Android Gaming is not recommended for this TV dunger, but you know what I tried it anyway.

15:41Here is Shadowgun Legends, and with its Mali-G57 GPU, it plays on high graphics settings really well.

15:49Also, when connected to the USB Type-C hub, you can sideload any app or game using APK files from external storage or via APK app stores.

15:57Now, a look at its benchmarks and where it ranks on my TV box rankings chart.

16:12First, a look at its RAM and internal storage.

16:31It has a RAM copy speed of 2930 MB per second.

16:37Its internal storage has a read speed of 188 MB per second, and a write speed of 47 MB per second.

16:47Next, I recorded the speeds of its dual WiFi 6 bands.

16:52Based on my internet speed of 300 MB per second, its 5 GHz band averaged around 200 MB per second.

17:00And its 2.4 GHz band averaged around 83 MB per second.

17:06I connected a LAN cable through the USB Type-C hub and it works.

17:11It reached the maximum speed of my network provided that the port on the hub is a gigabit LAN port.

17:18So you have that as an option to get internet.

17:20In benchmarking its Realtek RTD1315C CPU's single core and multi-core threading performance.

17:30The Geekbench 5 CPU benchmark produced a score of 140 single core and 437 multi-core.

17:38Due to it only having 2GB of RAM with no Vulkan GPU support, it didn't qualify for any of the 3DMark

17:48wide life tests. It only qualified for the old Ice Storm extreme test which is not a good comparison for my chart.

17:56And in the Antutu benchmark version 10.5.1, it produced a score of 126,369.

18:06So with these benchmark scores, let's see where it ranks on my TV box rankings chart.

18:11So at the time of recording this video, the Roktek GB1 is at position 22 based on its Antutu benchmark score.

18:21But please keep in mind that its Antutu benchmark score will be higher each time a new version of

18:27the Antutu benchmark is released. So don't expect this TV dongle to outperform let's say a hexa core

18:34or an octa core Android TV box as shown here on the chart.

18:38To gain access to this chart you can use the link provided in the description below.

18:42You also have quick access to its purchase link right here. So see the link in the description.

18:49In summary, now I'm not going to tell you for the sake of views or affiliate commissions

18:56that this TV dongle is a high-end model. In fact it's a very cheap $60 Google certified TV

19:02dongle designed solely for streaming paid subscription movie services and a bit of

19:08APK streaming and nothing else. What you saw me do in this video is experimental

19:13and will only interest the hardware enthusiast who would like to see the limits of its hardware.

19:18With that said, if you are a hardware enthusiast you can get some good performance with its Mali

19:24G57 GPU. But don't expect it to last very long if you intend to use it that way, for which it was not intended.

19:33So that brings to an end this review. So once again special thanks to the Rocktech brand

19:40for providing today's Android device for review. If you would like to grab one of these inexpensive

19:46streaming TV dongles, I placed a link in the description below so you can check it out. So if

19:53you like these types of videos then click the like button as it helps with the search engine rankings

19:57and YouTube recommendations. If you would like to keep updated about the latest Android TV box hardware

20:04and releases then click the subscribe button and ring the notifications bell to be notified each time

20:10I release a new video. Or for one of these boxes featured in my videos at second hand prices.

20:16Or decide just to do a simple giveaway. Thanks for taking the time to watch this video.

20:20Stay connected and see you in the next one.

20:40Bye.

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