You’ve probably heard of MyGica before – especially if you live in Canada. They’re one of the most popular Android TV boxes for Canada.
MyGica is one of the most popular manufacturers of Android TV boxes in the True North. Like most companies, they’re based in China, but unlike most of the others, they’ve made their Canadian customers a top priority.
They were nice enough to send me a sample of their flagship device, the ATV 1900 Pro, to review and tell you about.
Unfortunately, here’s the part where I need to apologize. You see, they sent me the box back at the beginning of January and, here we are in May and I’m only just now hitting “publish” on this review.
So why the delay?
Well, I bought a house at the very end of 2016, and if any of you are homeowners, you know how much work your first house can be.
To try to make it up to you (and to MyGica), I’ve gone all out with this review. It’s hands-down the most in-depth single device review I’ve ever written – almost 3000 words long.
So, sit back, get comfortable and let’s find out just how good the ATV 1900 Pro really is.
Specifications
| CPU | AmLogic S905, ARM Cortex A53 quad-core CPU CPU frequency up to 2.0GHz |
| GPU | Mali450 penta-core |
| Memory | 2GB RAM & 16GB EMMC |
| Operating System | Android 5.1 |
| HDMI | 2.0 |
| USB | 4x 2.0 ports |
| SD card | TF Card up to 128GB |
| Audio Interface | SPDIF Optical |
| Internet | 802.11ac Dual band WiFi & Gigabit ethernet (10/100/1000) |
| Keyboard | MyGica KR41 2.4G AirMouse with keyboard |
Unboxing and First Impressions
Depending on where you live, you might see something very unfamiliar when you pick up the ATV1900’s box: French.
If you’re Canadian, like me, that probably elicited a “ho hum” response from you. We’re pretty used to seeing multilingual packaging. But South of the border, it’s a lot more uncommon.
That being said, the packaging for the MyGica ATV1900 feels…solid. The cardboard box is heavier, with raised, glossy images and super-bright orange lettering. It gives the packaging a more professional, higher-end feel to it. Once inside, the box continues the orange overdose. But, at least it’s not that boring, recycled cardboard, right?
There are three pieces of documentation with the MyGica ATV 1900: the warranty card and two quick-start guides. I’l get into more details on the warranty card in a little bit. The quick start guides (one in English, one in French) walk you through the initial setup process of hooking up the ATV1900 and running through the configuration steps. It will also cover changing some basic settings, adding apps to the favorites section, performing a reset and some basic Kodi setup information.
The rest of the box’s contents fall pretty much in-line with what you’d expect from a major TV box. You’ll find the power adapter, HDMI cable, remote control and two AAA-batteries.
Warranty
Remember that sheet with the big red stop-sign? That had the MyGica warranty information, and you’ll want to hang on to it.
MyGica gives a one-year fix or replace warranty with every device that covers both software and hardware. If the unit breaks and can’t be fixed, they’ll replace it for you. Accessories like the power adapter and remote are covered by a 30-day warranty. Even the HDMI cable has it’s own warranty, although, they’re cheap enough that you can just replace a faulty cable for cheaper than shipping.
The warranty won’t cover things like obvious abuse or neglect, so don’t get too abusive with your device. Still, it’s nice to see them trying to take care of their customers and making sure that they love their devices.
Unlimited storage…
OK. Maybe not “unlimited.” But, one of the game-changing features that the MyGica ATV1900 Pro has is that it can connect a SATA hard drive for additional storage. It’s not a unique feature to the ATV1900 PRO, but it’s certainly not a common feature either.
One small screw on the bottom of the device will get you easy access to a compartment large enough to hook up a 2.5 inch SATA hard drive. As with most of the Amlogic S905 based devices, this uses a USB 2.0 to SATA controller. That means you shouldn’t expect blazing performance, but you’re still going to get enough bandwidth to stream your videos in HD quality.
Remote Control
How many times have you seen a really nice TV box but they include some cheap generic remote control. Why? Just so you’ll pay to upgrade it. It’s an easy way to get an extra $10 or $20 out of you at checkout.
That’s not the case here. MyGica didn’t skimp on the air-mouse remote that they included with the ATV1900. They included their KR-41 air-mouse remote.
First of all, let’s get the obvious out of the way: its an air-mouse, not just a static remote control. If the remote is sitting in your hand its an easy stretch to hit the button on the top-right hand corner of the remote to toggle between airmouse and D-pad configurations.
Speaking of sitting in your hand, the remote has a pretty good feel to it. It doesn’t have any ergonomic curves to it, but that’s because there’s a full QWERTY keyboard on the back side. The keys have a soft feel to them, like the front buttons. There’s a quiet click to them as you press down. From a tactile point of view, the keys feel good and solid. I just wish there was a backlighting option that you could enable, just in case you’re trying to type in a dark room.
The front of the remote has all of the usual buttons that you need on a TV box remote: Home, Back, Menu, Volume Up and Down, Play\Pause and Stop. There’s also a Page Up and Page Down button to help make scrolling a bit easier. There’s no microphone on the remote, however. Any voice activated commands that you’re used to using won’t work.
Since the KR-41 air-mouse remote can be used with several different devices, even ones that aren’t MyGica branded, you’ll have to plug in the USB adapter before using it. The adapter is stored neatly in the battery compartment when it’s not in use. Powering the remote are two AAA batteries, which are included.
MyGica Launcher
Let’s start with this: Most Android TV box launchers look very similar to each other. If the box is running Google’s official Android TV interface then it’s got the vertical scroll with your recommendations, apps and settings at the bottom. If the box is running a mobile version of Android (this is most of the boxes out there, btw), then it’s going to have a side scrolling format with your main apps on the first page, major settings on the second page and a third section that will show all of your apps at once.
The MyGica Launcher falls into the second category, meaning there’s a lot of competition from other TV boxes.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you’ve used any Android TV box before, then you’re going to feel right at home with the MyGica ATV1900 Pro.
The main screen (shown above) puts content front and center. MyGica puts large, colorful icons in two horizontal rows which act as shortcuts to your favourite apps. Interesting to note is that both the Google Play Store and the MyGica Market app are included prominently. I’ll get into the MyGica Market more in a later section.
Unlike some of the other boxes I’ve seen lately, Kodi isn’t given the front-and-center primary spot. MyGica went for a more universal direction and used that main spot to get you to all of your apps (image left). Don’t worry. Kodi still has a special place in the very first spot in the top row.
Personally, I like this direction. There’s more to using a TV box than just Kodi. Some manufacturers hide their “All Apps” section, so it can be difficult to get to an app that’s not on your home screen. This layout takes care of that issue.
A quick swipe to the right will get you to the main settings screen. The MyGica launcher takes a queue from Google’s Android TV operating system. It’s got the familiar large, material design icons to help change your Wi-Fi, Display, Date & Time settings. It’s also where you’ll be able to update the software in the MyGica ATV1900 Pro.
All-in-all, the MyGica launcher provides an easy to use, seamless interface designed to be used comfortably by experienced users and new users alike.
MyGica Market
One of the cooler features of any MyGica streaming device is the MyGica Market.
You might be thinking…why would I need another app store?
Normally, I couldn’t blame you. The Google Play Store is installed by default in just about every single device I’ve ever tested. And for good reason. It’s got the largest number of apps that are guaranteed to work on your device. And that’s part of the problem. The apps have to be certified to work on your device, so if you’ve got a less popular device – say, a generic TV box, for example – then you might not have a good selection of apps.
That’s why it’s popular to sideload Android apps like the Amazon App Store, which give you access to thousands more apps. The MyGica Market blends the best of both those ideas. You’ll get apps which are guaranteed to work on your device, but not certified on any specific device.
Let me explain: All of the apps on the MyGica Market will work on any MyGica streaming device. They’ve been specifically chosen because they work. But…you’re not going to be locked out of specific apps just because the app store thinks you have the wrong device. Anything you find on the MyGica Market will install, without the hassle.
As a bonus, you can also find some apps that you won’t find on the Google Play Store, like the Amazon Instant Video app.
Benchmarks
I always have to start the benchmarks section by saying that great performance in a benchmark doesn’t necessarily translate to great performance in real life.
Put simply, benchmarks are a good starting point, but there’s more to a great streaming device than great benchmarks.
Overall, the benchmarks for the MyGica ATV1900 Pro fall in line with where I expected them to be. The major competition for the ATV1900 Pro is the MINIX NEO U1 and the SkyStream One. Both are based on the exact same chipset: the AmLogic S905.
AnTuTu Benchmark
The most common overall benchmark test for Android devices is the AnTuTu benchmark. Here the MyGica ATV1900 Pro scored an impressive 36,354 in the overall test. By comparison, the SkyStream One scored 36,454 and the MINIX NEO U1 scored slightly higher at 38,378. It’s worth noting that the NEO U1 was on an older version of AnTuTu, so the scores aren’t necessarily an apples-to-apples comparison.
3DMark Ice Storm
3DMark has been creating gaming benchmarks for as long as I can remember building my own PC’s. They’ve brought out a couple of generic benchmarks that will work on multiple platforms like Ice Storm, which have become a staple in the Android community.
Here, the MyGica ATV1900 Pro pulled in an overall score of 4307. By comparison the SkyStream One scored slightly less at 4194, while the MINIX NEO U1 scored slightly higher at 4317.
Benchmarks Overall
As I mentioned, the performance difference between the three leading AmLogic S905 devices is negligible, which I think is a good thing. If there was a large difference in one of the devices, then I’d be questioning whether one of the manufacturers was tweaking their firmware in order to artificially game the system. Since that didn’t happen and there were no surprises, we can focus on more important things like features and video performance. 🙂
Video Playback
Speaking of video playback…
Kodi
Kodi v17 Krypton comes standard with the MyGica ATV1900 Pro. Unlike many other devices, this is a bare-bones installation so it lets you setup Kodi however you’d like. The new interface looks familiar to anyone who’s used Netflix or Plex, but it may take some getting used to from long time Kodi users. If you want the old look back, you can always change back to the Confluence skin fairly easily.
Video performance in Kodi is good. It was able to play my network files fairly easily, with only a couple of hiccups with the larger files. 4K movies are fairly large files, so it’s easy for a network to become congested and slow down the playback. In my case, most of my house is hardwired with 100 Mbps Ethernet, but I am wireless to my testing area. 1080p and lower resolution videos worked extremely well. The challenges were when I tried to watch 4K videos of longer than a few minutes. This problem isn’t unique to MyGica though. Anything short of the NVIDIA Shield TV will usually have issues with uncompressed 4K video files.
Plex
I’m a fan of Plex. Why? Because Plex always works beautifully – mostly due to how Plex handles video playback. If you’re not familiar with Plex, I’ll give you a little summary here. My Plex server will automatically convert the video file to a resolution that the playback device can handle. It doesn’t matter if the playback device is a mobile phone, a PC or an Android box. The goal is for the end user to have seamless video playback at the best resolution that the device can handle.
Specifically for the ATV1900 Pro, playback looked great with only a couple of seconds of buffering at the beginning of the video. The interface was slick and smooth, just what you’d expect from a polished streaming platform.
Netflix
Like most other Android boxes, Netflix on the MyGica ATV1900 Pro has its limitations. You won’t be able to get true 4K or even full HD resolution. That has more to do with Netflix certification restrictions than with MyGica though.
The included Netflix app was easy to operate. As I was testing on different size screens, the picture became more and more distorted as I moved up in screen size.
YouTube
Even though Netflix is being stingy with their certifications, MyGica was able to get several major DRM certifications. One of those is Google’s Widevine certification which lets you watch 4K YouTube videos on the MyGica ATV1900 Pro.
I watch a lot of YouTube video, so this was really important to me. Most of what I watch are the official clips of shows like The Late Show or on Comedy Central, so I don’t have to worry about the actual production quality of the videos. So it’s great when the ATV1900 Pro was able to accurately reproduce the video without any loss of quality. Those particular clips are in HD, but I also fired up some amateur 4K videos of nature shots, which looked amazing.
Amazon Prime Video
One of the nice things is that the Amazon Prime video app usually looks terrific, no matter what device you’re on.
The MyGica ATV1900 Pro was no exception.
I watched a few Amazon Prime videos as a test…cough…OK…I binge watched for an entire weekend.
The quality was great. For every video, the system seemed to quickly determine my network speed and set the maximum resolution accordingly. There was minimal buffering on the front end while this happened, and no stoppages during the shows. Everything I’d expect from a premium streaming service. Click here for a free trial of Amazon Prime Video.
The Verdict
You can’t really go wrong with the MyGica ATV1900 Pro. It’s a really solid streaming device based on the AmLogic S905 chipset. That means you can tell two things about it right off the bat. You know that the performance is going to be stellar, and you know that it’s going to have the best compatibility with media centers like Kodi.
But what sets this device apart is the ability to add an extra SSD hard drive to really bump up the storage capacity. Let’s face it, storage is the Achilles heel of most devices…and I’m not just talking about Android boxes. If you’ve outgrown those 16GB boxes, then the ATV1900 Pro is the next logical step. It’s also pretty nice having an official custom app store filled with apps that you know will work because MyGica put them there.
If you’re looking for a great streaming device that gives you the flexibility to add additional storage all for a price that is at, or even cheaper than its main competitors, then I’d recommend checking out the MyGica ATV1900 Pro.
For the best price on the MyGica ATV1900 Pro, you can buy direct from MyGica.com here or find it on Amazon.com here.
I am very pleased with my MyGica ATV1900 Pro. The one improvement I wish for is backlighting on the air mouse remote control so I can stop hitting the wrong buttons at night. Love the box though.
Looks like a great box but im confused on one thing, is it a S905 or S905X? At the top in specs you have S905B which I’ve never heard of and I test boxes for 3 companies.
Next the remote is one if the best I have seen cone with a box, very impressive. I do have to say I’m happy and disappointed that it only runs the android 5.1 software because 6.0 boxes and amlogic S912 chips have been out for a while and are much faster in most cases.
The option for the addition of SSD is an incredible feature. Its probably one of the smartest designs I’ve seen for this.
I’m glad to see your review of 4k because most android boxes advertise 4k playback when in reality most files we watch in 720 are compressed to 300 to 900+ mb and run no problem at all. 1080 usually is 1gigabyte or maybe higher if not compressed very well. But 1 to 2 gig I don’t see as a problem if you have good internet as you and I do. Mine is 150mbps but I haven’t upgraded my N900 router so I get roughly 98mbps wired to the main router and all my other boxes I use a Wi-Fi extender even though its not needed just to be able to have the box wired because it doubles my speed in each of those rooms from 30mbps to 60mbps but the Wi-Fi extenders I use are N600 so that would explain the lower speed yet its still double what I get from Wi-Fi of everyone even if sitting next to my main router the Wi-Fi of every box I have used does not get the speed I do by using Ethernet. I’m going to get around to converting all router’s/extenders to A/C so I will get the extra speed from them I just haven’t done so because everything works fine, even 3D on my 1080 3D tv. I never wanted 3D but I got a very large 1080 tv for a great price on a sale that happen to come with 3D and the 3D Blue ray player
But back to the 4k those files are huge if you find one at 20 gigabytes you are lucky but I see them at 40 and 50 gig and these other android boxes, even the us $35 ones claim 4k ability which is a joke. It may have the codec but not the hardware to play it. What most people don’t realize is anything you play on a 4k tv is going to look great and they all have an upconversion so the picture is going to look really good and people believe they are watching 4k when in reality they just have a good tv that will have a good picture but if you could do a side by side of a true 4k video and a 4k from your average android box you will notice a distinct difference.
This was a very good review and I still like android 5.1 because one of my favorite apks seems to play fine on a 5.0+ box but will not play on any of the 4 or 5 android 6.0 boxes I have which I cannot figure out and have contacted the developer multiple times with no response. Funny though it will play on my phone running android 7.0 and another android phone running android 6.0 it just will not work on any of my 6.0 boxes. It will open and look like its working until you hit play for the media you want to watch and it bounces you back to the home screen and this is an apk that’s been around a long time with an IOS version with a different name , but this is about this box so that would allow me to play that apk which makes me happy. I have over 60 apks right now and rarely use kodi at this point, I do still like it but I also have PLEX running and many other things.
Ill have to check out the price on this box. Even though I get free boxes for review I still purchase boxes that I want to try. And this brand is well known and one that is trusted such as matricom, both are known for quality. One last question is does this box receive any OTA updates? Thanks for your great review.
Eric.
Hi Eric. Thanks for the detailed comment. I appreciate it!
You’re right about the S905-B. I can’t find anything on it either on any site except for MyGica.com. Shame on me for not digging a little further on that. Judging by the info I’ve found, it looks as if this is an S905 box, not an S905X. I say that because of the featureset of the chip itself: it’s running Android 5.1, not 6.0 and it does not have HDR capability. Both of those point me in the S905 direction vs the S905X direction. But thanks for catching that. I’ve updated the post.
And to your last comment, it does have OTA updates You can also manually download the firmware through the MyGica site. My one gripe about the firmware update process is that if you already have the latest firmware you’ll get an error message saying “connection failed” instead of telling you that you have the latest firmware, which is deceptive.
Interesting that it it’s made for Canadian consumption but amazon.ca doesn’t carry it !
Hi Harold. It’s not necessarily made for Canadian consumption, but MyGica has a very strong following in Canada. When I talk to my family and friends who still live North of the border about what I do, they immediately say “Oh…like a MyGica box?”
Hi Tim, I’ve been reading through your articles, and they are fantastic! Thank you for providing the information in such an easy-to-follow & understand manner.
I’m looking to purchase an Android TV Box for my parents, but I’d like to find one that can also support Cravetv (being in Canada, we have a subscription).
What would you recommend as a device that could support Netflix, Kodi and Cravetv? Is there such a thing right now?
Thank you!
Alanna
Hi Alanna. That’s a great question. I hadn’t heard of CraveTV before, but thanks for letting me know about it. I’ll have to see if I can trick it into thinking that I’m still living in Canada. 🙂
Unfortunately, I don’t think there’s an option that can run CraveTV, Netflix and Kodi except for a PC or a jailbroken Apple TV (which I don’t recommend). CraveTV doesn’t explicitly support Android and it says that it will not work on browsers on mobile devices. It doesn’t mention anything like a Fire TV or Roku either. It will work on Apple TV, but Kodi won’t without a lot of extra work.
I wish I had better news for you.
Hi Everyone: I think I’ll sound like just an end-user here, simply because I am. I think I’ve come a long way from the beginning of last October just to be able set up Android TV boxes and perform the tweaks reported to avoid some common problems. “Avoid” is too strong of a word though. And please forgive me for not completely understanding some of the techy side of streaming namely packet size and the hardware’s ability to handle 4K. I handle 3 boxes here at home and do my best to keep my brother’s boxes the way he favors at his house. He has a gorgeous 4K television by the way, so naturally, he wants 4K streaming content. Unfortunately the success for 4K streaming has been bleak at best from developer’s 3rd party addons. I was quick to apply the cause to a lack of server space for 4K content viewing and the possible congestion as a result, not knowing that hardware capability can be a factor. Yes, he has Netflix and watches YouTube, and there are certain paid accounts that claim to offer more high definition content including 4K, but I’ve read mixed reviews about how well they work. There may be other specifications important to Android tv boxes that might be more important, or unknowingly overlooked, but several factors came into play for me about the MyGica box, and I’m not sure how much weight each spec may carry in the overall assessment of these boxes. In the advent of Octacore microprocessors, increased ram to 3 gigs, and 32 gigs of storage space, why would I consider anything less when choosing a box, and at pricing less expensive? This question alone leads me to believe that there is something amiss somewhere between my left and right ear. I’m far more quick to first blame my lack of understanding than anything else. Hopefully someone can fill that void for me in my quest to become an educated consumer as it applies to the ever popular tv boxes. And I suspect that, in the not too distant future, that the free content enjoyed today will be squeezed out in lieu of paid content, at least in part. Thanks for this platform Tim, your work is certainly appreciated.
Hi Bill. Thanks for the comment!
Let me give a quick answer to your question about octacore processors. This will apply to your desktop\laptop PC as much as it will to an Android box, by the way:
Overall performance of a processor (all other things being equal) has to do with how well the apps (or programs) that you’re running are multi-threaded. In short, being multi-threaded is an app’s way of giving instructions to individual cores of a CPU while other cores get different instructions. This is getting more common, but not every app is programmed this way. Surprisingly, not every app NEEDS to be programmed this way.
If an app is robust enough (think of an app that is very math-heavy like Excel), then it will benefit from being multi-threaded. Photoshop is a good example of an app that’s not necessarily math-heavy, but has good optimization for multiple cores. By contrast, many of the apps that we use for streaming simply don’t need to use 8 cores. They can get by just fine with 4.
Side note: There’s also the question about the architecture of the 8-core CPU itself. Some will use “Little-Big” technology which is a combination of 4 high-performance cores and 4 low-power cores. In that case, it’s rare for a program to use all eight cores at the same time.
To make a long story short, with current programming and technology, there are diminishing returns for adding more cores. To give you an example, by laptop runs on a new Intel Core i7 which only has 4 cores. Even in the PC world, not much needs more than that at the consumer level.
RAM on the other hand… 🙂
With RAM my advice is, and has always been, buy as much as you can afford. All other things being equal, a box (or PC) with more RAM will outperform something with less RAM. And usually, it won’t just be a “benchmark outperform.” It will be something that you will notice in the real world.
I hope this helps!