Xiaomi TV: To Root or Not To Root

3 February 2018

Introduction 

This is always a frequently asked question.  This article will attempt to give some answers but the decision to root or not should rest with the users  

What is Rooting? 

 It is actually a jargon term used for “Jail Breaking”.  It is a term used to describe the removal of the   restrictions often installed in smart device for some reasons. Take Xiaomi TV for example, the manufacturer is forcing every user to watch a 20-second advertisement whenever one starts up the TV.   Because of this,  some users went "rooting".    There are also others who want to remove the restrictions so that they can watch free movies.

How To Root?

Rooting involves a change in the software stored inside the Read Only Memory (ROM).  This ROM is actually non-volatile flash memory microchip that one can program and re-program to control  the operation of smart devices.  It contains the operating system (OS) and the manufacturers usually do not recommend one to modify and change the software in the ROM.

What are the Main Advantage of Rooting? 

For Xiaomi TV, besides having the ability to remove the 20 seconds advertisement at TV start up, one will be able

a) to move some software to the external memory devices like SDcards or hard disks, freeing the system memory for better performance;
b) to release the restrictions so that some restricted Apps can be installed;
c) to have freedom to modify the ROM allowing the TV to perform as you like them to perform .

What are the Main Disadvantage of Rooting? 

a) There is always a risk that that rooting might go wrong, making the TV unusable; 
b) Even after successful rooting, there is no guarantee that  TV might not be able to run the way you wanted them to run;  
c) There is no software support for the operating system after rooting;
d) There was report that 90% of  Xiaomi TVs failed to work properly after the TV was upgraded with to the latest OS released by the Xiaomi and there were no recourse to restore the OS unless one has a copy of the original factory firmware to "unroot" the TV;   

To Root or Not to Root? 

In the early stage before 2016, Xiaomi TVs cannot play Youtube Videos and also run Google Chrome.  Then,  there was an urge for users, particularly, those resided overseas, wanting to root their TVs.  However, Google has now made Youtube and Google Chrome playable on Xiaomi TVs, thus  this urge to root the TV has died down. Very likely that users will have a hard time finding suitable rooting software that could work well in the new models.

 In view of the above, it is advisable not to root the Xiaomi TV but to wait until the manufacturer can improve its operating system if the TV cannot meet the user’s requirement.

 Working Around

Remember that if there is a restriction,  there is always a possibility that someone, somewhere will find a workaround and share with the communities on how to overcome the restriction. The worse come to the worse, one can always install an external TV box and uses HDMI input to overcome these restrictions. Although this method is crude, it is one easy way to solve the problem than to root the TV.

Other Articles About Xiaomi TV or Box 

Can be found here

tinyurl :  https://tinyurl.com/y9kk36sl