The Thomson THA100 is a small Android TV box that does exactly what is asked of it. Discreet and efficient, it allows you to enjoy all audio-video content on a 4K television while remaining very easy to use.
To give a facelift to an aging television for which its manufacturer has abandoned updates, there are several solutions. You can equip it with a Chromecast with Google TV, add an Amazon Fire TV Stick or opt for an Android TV box. It is a small box to be connected to the television on an HDMI socket and connected to the home network via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. From then on, the big streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, Molotov TV etc. And since the machine runs with an Android version specially designed for televisions, you can also take advantage of many other apps on the big screen in the living room, such as VLC to play your own video files, Spotify or Deezer for music or even a large quantity. of games available on the PlayStore, Google’s online app store.
Android TV boxes are nothing new. It has been around for several years and the major e-commerce sites have plenty of them on their shelves. Prices start at around thirty euros for extremely basic models, with little RAM, very limited storage space and powered by an antediluvian version of Android; and they can climb to almost 200 euros as with the Nvidia Shield, the Rolls of Android TV boxes. Because in addition to the standard functions mentioned above, the Nvidia box is equipped with electronic components cut for the game such as a powerful graphics card, which allow it to be transformed into an Android game console. If gaming isn’t your cup of tea, there’s no need to spend so much on an Android TV box. For a much more reasonable price, the Thomson THA 100 does its job perfectly. It rises to the level of the Mi Box S 4K box from the tenor of the Xiaomi market but which runs with an old version of Android TV. We were able to test it for a few weeks. Here is our verdict.
Thomson THA 100: quick and intuitive start-up
Connecting the THA 100 to the TV and enjoying Android TV only takes a few minutes. The small box of 11 cm sides and 2.2 cm thick fits easily under a TV or in a TV stand. We were surprised by its rather rich connectivity. On the back, there is an HDMI port to connect it to the TV (the cable is supplied), an optical socket (S/PDIF) for the audio connection, a 100 Mb Ethernet port for the connection to the wired network and an AV socket to connect it to old televisions without an HDMI socket.
On the side are a microSD memory card reader and two USB ports (1x USB 2 and 1x USB 3) to connect an external hard drive or USB key. Fortunately, moreover, since the internal storage space is limited to 8 GB of which more than 3 GB are already occupied by the system and the applications already installed. Finally, the box is equipped with a WiFi 5 module for connection to the wireless network) and a Bluetooth 4.2 module to connect a headset, for example.
In short, the THA 100 is ready for almost all situations, especially since it also includes the Chromecast function to receive content from a smartphone, tablet or computer in order to broadcast it on the TV screen. Everything is powered by an external box to be plugged into an electrical outlet and accompanied by a Bluetooth and infrared remote control equipped with the Google voice assistant. Once plugged in, turned on and synchronized with the remote control (two AAA batteries are supplied), all that remains is to configure the THA 100. You must start by indicating the Google account to be used then indicate its accounts for the different services streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, etc. The operation is carried out from the remote control. It’s sometimes a bit laborious but we get there.
Thomson THA 100: all the comfort of Android TV
Thomson’s small multimedia box is powered by Android TV in version 10. Unfortunately, this is not the most recent version (the system offered by Google is now available in version 11 and version 12 will be available soon). Nevertheless, the interface remains very comfortable. Depending on the streaming services installed, there are content suggestions. The programs currently playing (such as episodes of a series started) are also displayed, which means that you do not have to launch the relevant app to find them. Practice.
And, of course, we also appreciate the very wide range of applications offered by Android TV. You can thus install VLC, Plex or even Kodi to play your own video or audio files, audio streaming services or even games. However, be careful not to be too ambitious in this last area. The small Amlogic processor and its four Cortex-A53 at 1.8 GHz supported by a Mali-G31 graphics circuit and 2 GB of RAM can quickly be out of breath when it comes to animating games a little fast. For everything else, browsing the Android TV interface, launching streaming or local videos, the Thomson THA 100 remains up to scratch without noticeable slowdown. Finally, we appreciate the integrated Chromecast function which allows you to broadcast content directly from a smartphone, tablet or computer.
Thomson THA100: a perfectible remote control
The THA 100 comes with a small remote control. It sports buttons for direct access to three streaming services – Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube – as well as Android TV’s online store, Google Play Store. At the top is a button to launch the Google voice assistant through the microphone embedded in the remote control. Quite complete, the remote control could however have been more open. Even if, from the settings, it is possible to designate it so that it also supports the ignition of the television for example, it is not possible to reassign the functions of certain buttons to other services. In the same way, there is a Favorites button without much use, which we would have liked to entrust with another task such as direct access to an application.
Thomson THA 100: the test
We plugged the Thomson multimedia box into an LG 4K LED TV from 2016. The Korean manufacturer hasn’t been providing system updates (WebOS) on this TV for a long time, so until then we were using a simple Google box. Chromecast to enjoy content from different streaming services such as Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime Video. The versions of these apps are no longer up to date on the television and impractical to use from the Internet box.
First observation: the use of this small box greatly simplifies access to these services. Everything is centralized there. No need to switch from one app to another on the smartphone. Practice. We also liked the simplicity and fluidity of Android TV. Even in its version 10, this system does not lack comfort and we find ourselves there quickly. Playing back 4K HDR video content was not a problem. The box was able to display them without flinching. The internal storage space (8 GB of which only 5 GB is available) remains quite narrow and fills up fairly quickly. Fortunately, you can add a memory card, a USB key or a hard drive or an SSD not only to store content to be played on the TV (such as videos or photos) but also to use this external medium as storage space by default. However, we did not find any possibility of reaching this medium through the local network to transfer data to it. It will therefore be necessary to connect the USB key or the disk to a computer to copy content there, which is a real shame. Be careful to use media formatted in FAT32 or, even better, in exFat if you plan to copy large video files (over 4 GB).
Note that like all Android TV boxes, the THA100 accepts a large number of audio-video file formats. And for good reason, they are managed directly by specialized applications such as VLC, Kodi or MXPlayer. So there’s no need to worry about compatibility or codec issues: whether it’s videos in h.264, h.265, Mpeg-4, AVI, MKV or MOV, or audio files in MP3, AAC, Wave or Flac, it reads everything!
This small box therefore advantageously replaces a Chromecast box and even a Chromecast TV (since the Chromecast function is included) by offering many more possibilities. And if you don’t need to access streaming content, it can do without an Internet connection, which is not the case with Google boxes. Convenient to take on vacation or when the Internet connection is down! Finally, there is the monitoring of system updates. The problem is quite common and recurring on this type of hardware, the components of which often remain at the limit of the specifications imposed by Google to run Android TV. But manufacturers also sometimes drag their feet to offer them. Version 10 of Android TV which powers the THA 100 is not the most recent version of the system. But that’s no big deal, as long as Thomson continues to deploy at least security updates.