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I have now had a chance to spend some time with this box through the Easter Holidays and I must say that I absolutely love it. It has probably been used for over 10 hours a day in that period between the kids and myself and I have not encountered any problems with it at all.

The PCG03 stands out from some of the other boxes that have been released recently by including dual monitor support and also including a vesa mount on the base of the machine to connect to the back of your TV if required. I only tested the Dual monitor support for a few minutes but it worked exactly as I expected it to.

A special thank you to my friends at Gearbest for providing me with my review model. I had been wanting to test a windows box for a while to see how it performed with Kodi and I am so happy that it turned out to be this model.

Here is a code that I asked for to go along with the review to get you a nice discount.
http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_145288.html
10% OFF DISCOUNT CODE : MPCG03

• OS: Windows 8.1 with Bing (32-bit)


• Processor: Intel Atom Z3735F (quad-core, 1.33 GHz), Burst freq up to 1.83 GHz


• GPU: Intel HD Graphics


• RAM: 2GB DDR3 1333MHz


• Storage: 32GB eMMC, SD card slot up to 512GB


• LAN: 10/100Mbps Ethernet


• Connectivity: 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth


• Video Out: HDMI 1.4, VGA (Dual Monitor Support)


• Audio Out: HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack


• USB: 3 x USB 2.0


• Extras: VESA Mounting


• Other: Power button, Power LED


• Power Supply: 12V/1A


• Dimensions: 150 x 120 x 40 mm


• Weight: 360 grams

The PCG03 comes well packaged with just the machine, the power supply and a quick start guide. Please note that it does not come with any remote so you will need to control the device with an accessory (More info on this below). It also does not come with a HDMI cable so you will need to supply your own or a VGA cable.



The build quality is superb. This has to be one of the best looking boxes I have received in a long time. I mainly use Ethernet and don't require the Aerial so it is nice that I can fold it out of sight when not in use. It does block one of the USB ports on the rear when it is fully down so if you need 3 ports you will still have to raise the aerial slightly.



Another first that I have seen with these boxes is the option to swap out the daughterboard from the mainboard which contains the CPU/RAM. If they choose to release upgrades with just the daughterboard in the future this could save you money in the long run.



Opening up the box we see that the quality was not just kept for outgoing appearances.









The PCG03 comes with Windows 8.1 installed and fully activated by default. I am not a great fan of Windows 8.1 so one of the first things I did was to install Windows 10 preview. Windows 10 worked extremely well on here and would be ideal for people who mainly use a PC for web surfing, email and media playback etc. (More on media and Kodi below)



Microsoft has announced that all Genuine users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will get a free upgrade to Windows 10 as long as you upgrade within the first year so you will not have to buy it again.

Here is a link to a driver pack I created for upgrading to Windows 10. https://www.androidfilehost.com/?fid=95916177934548826

Installing Windows 10 and doing the updates took about an hour. I did delete all the partitions on the device before installing so this included my 8.1 recovery partition. If you want to go back to 8.1 at a later date then just install Windows 10 over the top of your 8.1 leaving your partitions intact.




Once I had Windows 10 all set up which included Kodi, Steam, Photoshop and all my normal day to day apps I was left with about 15 Gig of space. You can expand this by adding an external hard drive or by simply putting an SD card into the slot.






My next step was to try to get Kodi to start as soon as the PCG03 was turned on and power off from within Kodi to make it easier for the family. This turned out to take a lot longer than I thought but I eventually found Kodi Launcher HERE and that allowed me to set Kodi as the shell. This is brilliant as it doesn't even load explorer (windows interface) and loads instantly into Kodi. You can either select shutdown in Kodi to shut the whole machine down or you can select exit and it will load you into proper Windows 10 interface (explorer).





This is where the box shines in my eyes. Apart from using my normal PC I have not had this experience in Kodi. Everything just responds better than my android boxes and moving around the interface is so much faster.



It played every one of my normal rips perfectly along with all the streams which were in multiple formats. Having the ability to set Kodi to switch the TV refresh rate to match the playback rate made the whole experience stutter free. The only problems I encountered was with higher res HEVC encodes which are part of my test files as the processor is not strong enough. Below are some results using H264 and HEVC. I am only showing the higher res results as anything below these work as well.


H264 720P

All H264 720P content played perfectly for me.



General : h264_720p_hp_5.1_6mbps_ac3_unstyled_subs_planet.mk v
Format : Matroska at 7 066 Kbps
Length : 95.0 MiB for 1mn 52s 832ms

Video #0 : AVC at 6 478 Kbps
Aspect : 1280 x 720 (1.778) at 23.976 fps

Audio #0 : AC-3 at 448 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz


H264 1080P

Again all H264 1080P content played perfectly. Even the 40mbps Birds.



General : h264_1080p_hp_4.1_10mbps_dts_unstyled_subs_monster s.mkv
Format : Matroska at 11.3 Mbps
Length : 81.0 MiB for 1mn 0s 146ms

Video #0 : AVC at 9 570 Kbps
Aspect : 1920 x 1080 (1.778) at 23.976 fps

Audio #0 : DTS at 1 509 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz



General : bbb_sunflower_1080p_30fps_normal.mp4
Format : MPEG-4 at 3 481 Kbps
Length : 263 MiB for 10mn 34s 533ms

Video #0 : AVC at 3 000 Kbps
Aspect : 1920 x 1080 (1.778) at 30.000 fps

Audio #0 : MPEG Audio at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Audio #1 : AC-3 at 320 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz



General : h264_1080p_hp_4.1_40mbps_birds.mkv
Format : Matroska at 39.9 Mbps
Length : 110 MiB for 23s 65ms

Video #0 : AVC at 39.1 Mbps
Aspect : 1920 x 1072 (1.791) at 23.976 fps


H264 4K

I wasn't holding my breath on this one but again a flawless performance.



General : bbb_sunflower_2160p_30fps_normal.mp4
Format : MPEG-4 at 7 981 Kbps
Length : 604 MiB for 10mn 34s 533ms

Video #0 : AVC at 7 500 Kbps
Aspect : 3840 x 2160 (1.778) at 30.000 fps

Audio #0 : MPEG Audio at 160 Kbps
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz

Audio #1 : AC-3 at 320 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz


HEVC 720P

The PCG03 had no problem playing back HEVC at 720P



General : hevc_TearsOfSteel_720p_24fps_27qp_831kbps_720p_GPS NR_41.65_HM11_2aud_7subs.mkv
Format : Matroska at 1 601 Kbps
Length : 140 MiB for 12mn 14s 58ms

Video #0 : HEVC
Aspect : 1280 x 720 (1.778) at 24.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz

Audio #1 : AC-3 at 448 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz



General : hevc_Sintel_720p_27qp_24fps_1aud_9subs.mkv
Format : Matroska at 627 Kbps
Length : 66.4 MiB for 14mn 48s 64ms

Video #0 : HEVC
Aspect : 1280 x 544 (2.353) at 24.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz


HEVC 1080P

The processor is just not powerful enough to handle HEVC at 1080P and above and can only do about 18fps.



General : hevc_TearsOfSteel_1080p_24fps_27qp_1474kbps_GPSNR_ 42.29_HM11_2aud_7subs.mkv
Format : Matroska at 2 244 Kbps
Length : 196 MiB for 12mn 14s 58ms

Video #0 : HEVC
Aspect : 1920 x 1080 (1.778) at 24.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz

Audio #1 : AC-3 at 448 Kbps
Infos : 6 channels, 48.0 KHz



General : hevc_Sintel_1080p_27qp_24fps_1aud_9subs.mkv
Format : Matroska at 1 070 Kbps
Length : 113 MiB for 14mn 48s 64ms

Video #0 : HEVC
Aspect : 1920 x 832 (2.308) at 24.000 fps

Audio #0 : AAC
Infos : 2 channels, 48.0 KHz




If gaming is your thing and you already have a steam account set up on another PC then Steam Streaming will allow you to play them games on the PCG03 somewhere else in the house.

I was connected to ethernet using powerline adapters and I could not notice any input lag at all on the few games I tested. Even Team Fortress 2 responded instantly which I did not expect. Using an xbox controller and putting Steam into Big Picture mode adds to the experience.

Note that you must have your main Steam PC on and connected to do this. It does all the hard work on the main PC and streams it to the PCG03.










If you find yourself needing some android apps or just want to play some android games then Duos runs on the PCG03 extremely well and launches in about 10 seconds. You can install Google Apps (gapps) package into it which will give you full access to the play store.

It is a paid app of .99 but I think that is very cheap for what it does, Plus there is a 30 day full trial period for you to test it.

I did change the DPI in Duos settings otherwise all the text looked very small on a 1080P TV and I increased the amount of ram it could use up to maximum.











The PCG03 normally sits at around 57 degrees when in normal use. The box was located about 4 feet away from a radiator during testing so these could be slightly lower or higher depending on your climate.




I then used Prime95s Torture Test to put the machine under full load for 20 mins and it seemed to even out at around 73 degrees. The moment I stopped the test the temperatures dropped back down to normal within a minute.






As mentioned in the Introduction the PCG03 does not come with any way to control the device out of the box. Below are some of the accessories I used while doing my testing.


Logitech K400



This a great little portable keyboard/touchpad. It comes with its own receiver and during a recent discussion between the devs here and myself it seemed that 90 percent of us owned one and the other 10 percent wanted one. There is probably a reason for this ;)


FLIRC



Where has this been all my life?

I only recently discovered flirc while looking for a way to control Kodi on the PCG03. The Logitech K400 is a great controller for windows but my family just wants to pick up a remote. I could find plenty of MCE remotes reasonably cheap with receivers but it just added another remote to the collection.

Flirc allows you use any remote you like that uses IR and lets you program each key to a command or a key/combo. I set up one of the inputs on my universal remote to be a random device and then taught flirc what each button should do.

The first time setup is very easy using their interface but once it is programmed it can be plugged into any device as it just acts as a HID controller.






Controllers

I used a Microsoft Wireless Adapter for Windows along with a wireless 360 controller while testing Steam. It worked very well using Big Picture Mode as well as in game.

Any controller that works on windows should work exactly the same.






Overall I am extremely happy with the PCG03. I cannot fault the performance in Kodi and it has proven stable all the way through my tests.

The added bonus of being able to drop into full blown Windows whenever I feel like has made this a box I wont want to give up in a hurry. Going back to my other android boxes now and using Kodi just feels so slow in comparison.

If you are looking for a Kodi device and don't require HEVC at 1080P and above then look no further.

Special thanks to my friends at Gearbest once again for the review model. (I refuse to give it up, you will have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands ;) lol)

http://www.gearbest.com/tv-box/pp_145288.html
10% OFF DISCOUNT CODE : MPCG03