Which Streaming Box Handles 4K HDR Without Burning Itself Out

The test

Each box ran a four-hour 4K HDR loop in a closed cabinet at room temperature while we logged surface temperature and dropped frames.

Thermals

Two of the four throttled inside 90 minutes. Both were the models with a sealed plastic shell and no vent on the underside.

Colour accuracy

Only one box passed through HDR10 metadata untouched. The rest tone-mapped internally, which flattens highlights on a capable panel.

What to buy

Pick the box with a metal chassis and a documented HEVC decoder. Headline RAM figures tell you almost nothing about sustained playback.