00:00What's up viewers and welcome back to the channel. For today's review, we have a special box called
00:07the VC Box Alpha 1. And if you don't know by now, when it comes to live streaming of network
00:13channels, movies, and TV shows, one name stands out above the rest, and that is VC Box. However,
00:20with that said, I've been in this business for almost 11 years now, and it became clear to me
00:25that not everyone is interested in all the Android features and segments featured in my videos.
00:32During a quick survey, it shows that almost 90% of Android TV Box users don't care about Android
00:38gaming, hardware specs, performance benchmarks, root access, Google wide find level, and side loading
00:44ap keys. All they care about is that when they switch on the box, they can watch live streams of
00:50movies and TV shows in high quality with no buffering. And for some advanced users achieve
00:564K HDR with surround sound audio. So with this information, VC Box decided to create something
01:03tailored to those type of users in this latest model called the Alpha 1 that's designed to perform
01:09one job. And it's the one job they are extremely good at, which is streaming with no buffering.
01:16What's even more interesting, is that in this latest model, it's not even running on Android,
01:21but a new Linux operating system. So to find out all there is to know about this model, stay tuned.
01:28And that's up next.
01:44And welcome back. So after that quick unboxing, in this purchase you get the new VC Box Alpha 1 model,
01:53you get one infrared remote control, one HDMI cable, a 5V to amps DC power supply, and a user guide.
02:05So its design consists of a plastic outer shell with an LED display at the front.
02:12It comes with one HDMI port, two USB 2.0 ports, one Ethernet LAN port, one AV port, and its
02:22DC input socket
02:23all to its rear. And to its base has four rubber feet with no ventilation holes.
02:30So on first startup you have the VC Box Plus screen, followed by a first startup wizard,
02:37and once completed you are taken to the launcher.
02:43So here we are at the launcher. And to be quite honest, I really like the simplicity of the layout.
02:50But don't get too excited because this is not your usual Android launcher.
02:55Firstly, it does not feature a navigation bar or status bar. That's a feature that belongs to Android.
03:03Secondly, it cannot be navigated with a mouse cursor, even if you plug in a PC mouse.
03:09And the infrared remote itself does not feature a mouse cursor.
03:14At the top of this launcher you get a date and weather widget.
03:18And to the bottom right corner is where you get a barcode for VC Box's customer service center.
03:26So the only thing to navigate is the heat live app, heat VOD app, an apps section, its settings area,
03:34and YouTube application. If you open the apps section, you will only find four apps.
03:41YouTube, a file browser, weather widget, and Okula speed test.
03:47Unfortunately, there is no app store, or any way to sideload any application of sorts.
03:53So for Android users, this may be a deal breaker. However, if you don't care too much for Android apps,
04:00you will be quite contented with the streaming features provided.
04:04In the apps section, starting from the top, under language settings,
04:09these are the various languages you can switch to.
04:13You have some OSD settings, these are the popups when you are streaming.
04:19Under audio and video, you get up to 4K 2160P at 60Hz resolution.
04:25You get auto frame rate switching.
04:29This is a new one. You can change the TV's aspect ratio from 4 by 3 to 16 by 9.
04:36But does it actually work? I didn't see any change.
04:40Along with that, you have aspect ratio conversions.
04:44And again, selecting different options doesn't change anything.
04:48Under digital audio format, you can select between PCM and bitstream.
04:54I will check in just a moment for surround sound audio output capabilities.
04:59There is a new feature called channel change freezing.
05:03I'm not quite sure what it is, but I'll be sure to look out for what it does.
05:08You can adjust its brightness, contrast and saturation.
05:13You can change its HDMI color between 8-bit and 12-bit.
05:18You have HDMI CEC options. And the final option is HDMI-HDR output.
05:26Where you can select between SDR, Auto, Dolby vision, HDR10 and HLG.
05:33You can simply leave it set to auto to automatically output the required display.
05:38Back to the main menu, you have network state option where you can view the details of your LAN connection.
05:44You have your Wi-Fi settings. You can perform an Eaukla Wi-Fi speed test.
05:52You have your date and time settings. Miscellaneous settings.
05:57You can program the hotkeys on the remote.
06:01You can change the behavior of the front LED display panel.
06:06You have firmware updates. Factory default settings.
06:10And system information. That does not give you anything much about its system and hardware info.
06:20Those who are familiar with the VC box streaming apps, you get Heat Live and Heat VOD.
06:26And those are the only two apps along with YouTube that you get in this model
06:30as they wanted to keep it very basic and direct.
06:34In the Heat Live app, you get a total of 1905 network channels across the US and local networks.
06:43You get some Canadian, Latin American, UK channels, 24-7 channels, pay-per-view channels,
06:49all news and major sporting networks, all in HD quality with EBG guide.
06:55For movies and TV shows, the Heat VOD app provides 48,489 movies across various categories all in HD 1080p
07:05resolution.
07:06And 16,180 TV series across various categories in HD 1080p quality.
07:14So this begs the question, why are these boxes so expensive?
07:18Well here is your answer.
07:19With this service you can enjoy unlimited streams of movies and TV shows with no restrictions.
07:25And cut the cord at the same time.
07:28For watching YouTube videos, you get up to 4K 2160p at 60Hz and it shows HDR.
07:35However, when connected directly to my TV it does not trigger the HDR feature.
07:41And it's best played at 1080p resolution as switching to 4K freezes up.
08:01For watching self-hosted videos you do not have the luxury of using my special Android apps.
08:08So you have to use its built-in media player.
08:11With this media player you get HDR10 and HLG.
08:15You don't get Dolby Vision, AV1 or HDR10+.
08:19So this is HDR10.
08:35This is the AV1 format that does not give you a display.
08:40This is the AV1 format that does not give you a display.
08:45Dolby Vision falls back to HLG.
08:54Dolby Vision falls back to HDR10.
08:56Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos gives you HDR10 with Dolby Atmos.
09:08HDR10 plus falls back to HDR10.
09:16And you get HLG.
09:28The M2TS DVD format produces no audio.
09:38On the audio side of things, the Alpha 1 can play all surround sound audio formats.
09:43Let's check it out.
09:44So this is Dolby Atmos.
09:53This is Dolby Atmos.
09:56The world's first object-based cinematic audio.
10:01With powerful moving audio that transcends from channels.
10:06To moving around you with pinpoint accuracy.
10:12Dolby Digital Plus.
10:22DTS HD Master Audio.
10:36Dolby Surround.
10:46Dolby SD-D mod.
11:01Dolby TrueHD
11:02DTS-X HD Master Audio.
11:25And M2TS file format with DTSX.
11:47So unfortunately this is all the information I can give you as I cannot check or confirm
11:53its hardware specs or performance benchmarks, and on the box this is all the information
11:58you get.
11:59So in summary, as outlined in the intro, if you do not care about any of the other stuff,
12:04and all you want is the best streaming for live TV and video on demand, then this is
12:09the model you get.
12:10It's very basic and minimalistic, and there is nothing to complicate or confuse you.
12:15On top of that, you get the best in the industry at live streaming with no buffering, and that's
12:21from VCBOX.
12:22So if you would like to get your hands on this specific model, I placed a link in the
12:27description, along with 10% off when you enter the coupon code TVBOXSTOP upon checkout.
12:33So once again the link and the affiliate coupon can be found in the description below, and
12:38thanks for your support.
12:39Also if you would like to purchase the model featured in this video at a second hand price,
12:44send me an email at tvboxstop at gmail.com or you can purchase directly from my online store.
12:50As always thanks for taking the time to watch this video, don't forget to like and subscribe
12:55to the channel for my latest videos, second hand prices, and giveaways.
12:58So stay connected, and I'll be seeing you in the next one.
13:20Thank you for watching!
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