Stick Mini Clients

[will]

I'm mounting a TV in the kitchen and I'm curious if there are any stick android clients that can run the mini client?

I was planning on mounting a HD300 to the back of the TV but that doesn't seem like the most elegant solution.

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by will

I'm mounting a TV in the kitchen and I'm curious if there are any stick android clients that can run the mini client?

I was planning on mounting a HD300 to the back of the TV but that doesn't seem like the most elegant solution.

Use a Mi Box http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/

It in only 4" x 4" and less than an inch thick. You can also get all of the streaming services.

[btrcp2000]

except amazon (...he said hoping someone who has figured it out would chime in)

mibox is also a chromecast, so worst case you can cast your phone's screen to it for any apps that aren't androidtv yet. I have two of them, and they have grown on me once i figured out the nuances.

[will]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

Use a Mi Box http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/

It in only 4" x 4" and less than an inch thick. You can also get all of the streaming services.

Looks promising, about an inch smaller than the HD300 and it looks a lot thinner and lighter with built in WiFi .

In my current kitchen, I currently use an iMac that runs a VM of Windows 7 with a SageTV client - after years of tinkering it works brilliantly now. In my new kitchen there isn't really a place for a computer so I would be thrilled if the Mi could replace the iMac (TV, basic web browsing, and recipes).

I have zero experience with Android TV and very little experience with Android in general (Apple fanboy here )... so:

1. Are there any limitations with Mi vs HD300? For example, can I play blu-ray ripped MKVs with it?
2. Can you use a different remote? Like the Tivo remote; I also own a bluetooth version of the same remote.
3. Can you hookup a bluetooth keyboard/mouse
4. Can you install Android apps on the Mi? I currently use a recipe manager that works across all platforms (Paprika Recipe Manager - highly recommended) and it would be great if I could install the Android version.

[Taddeusz]

We have a MiBox. It will work fine if all you want is stereo out. I have yet to be able to do DD passthrough and get watchable video. For other purposes it also doesn't have built-in DD+ to DD conversion so if you want to do passthrough in other apps and have an older receiver it won't work.

Otherwise it has hardware support for pretty much every CODEC including H.265/HEVC. It plays ripped Blu-ray MKV's with no problem. It is a pretty nice device for the price.

We also have an Amazon Fire Stick. The SageTV Client will run on it but it is a tad slower and it will not play MPEG2. H.264, even Blu-ray rips, play fine. Not sure about other CODEC's.

[will]

Originally Posted by Taddeusz

We have a MiBox. It will work fine if all you want is stereo out. I have yet to be able to do DD passthrough and get watchable video. For other purposes it also doesn't have built-in DD+ to DD conversion so if you want to do passthrough in other apps and have an older receiver it won't work.

For all my movies, I currently make sure the first track is a simple DD 5.1. I do this so I can support an old HD200 which can't decode DTS or DD+. The stereo only shouldn't be an issue since I'm hooking it up to a kitchen TV without a sound system. However, if I end up loving the Mi I'll be said that I can't use it in the family room with the Sonos system

[malbec]

I got it work on an Amazon Fire TV (not the stick) which seems to have similar dimensions to the Mi box listed here.

Link to instructions I followed here

I then needed to change some of the hardware/audio decoder settings.

[SWKerr]

Originally Posted by malbec

I got it work on an Amazon Fire TV (not the stick) which seems to have similar dimensions to the Mi box listed here.

Link to instructions I followed here

I then needed to change some of the hardware/audio decoder settings.

I have never been able to get HDHR files to playback in the FireTV devices using the mini client. These files playback ok with Kodi but are a problem with SageTV. The HD-PVR files are h.264 and generally work fine but MPEG2 files are problematic. Some HDHR will play ok but complex audio seems to be a problem. I try to convert everything to h264.mp4 when possible as they play everywhere.

The Mi Box does seem to work fine with the HDHR files in the Mini client but did take some playing with in the setup depending on the TVs audio codec capabilities.

Not sure what link is for?

[rockertv87]

Yeah, I was about to use the Mi box and the amazon fire tv for my setup.

http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/

Found some useful setup guides on this website
http://techdroidlife.com
http://www.techdroidlife.com/complet...-krypton-17-0/

We've tried the amazon fire tv stick but was a bit too slow for the client. I love android, so the amazon fire devices is a stripped down android os.

Hopefully that helps

[Taddeusz]

Originally Posted by rockertv87

We've tried the amazon fire tv stick but was a bit too slow for the client. I love android, so the amazon fire devices is a stripped down android os.

The Fire TV Stick also doesn't support the MPEG2 CODEC which limits its use as a SageTV client unless you transcode everything.

The MiBox works well but I could never get it working with audio pass-through.

[Jackass]

I have had mixed results with my Mi-Box and my Amazon devices. If I could do it over again, I would have picked up additional FireTV boxes over the Mi-Box. I am finding the Mi-Box to be too limited in what I can actually watch on it.

Mi-Box
- neat, cheap little Android TV box
- "issues" with various other streaming apps (Netflix and HBOGo don't work on it anymore)
- minor stability issues with Sage Mini-Client (stutters on skips, pukes at times, inability to connect to server after sleep/idle)
- no access to Amazon Prime Video

Amazon FireTV (Gen1)
- so far, haven't found any problems with my uses
- mostly watching HDHR recorded content

Amazon FireStick (Gen1)
- it works, but not quite enough CPU to keep things smooth
- really curious if the newer Gen sticks have enough CPU to be useful

[wayner]

The MiBox Netflix issues seem TV dependent and appear to be HDCP handshaking issues. See this reddit thread for more info: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidTV/c...etflix_issues/

[Jackass]

Good to know...but still less than optimal user experience. It worked like a champ for several weeks, then decided it was done. Eventually I will reset it and test, but in the mean time, I will probably end up picking up another FireTV since it has been solid across the board.

[will]

So since I started this discussion, I'd thought i give a quick update on what I decided to do.

I decided that the TV mounted in the kitchen looked bad and ended up removing the mount and power outlet completely. I still wanted a TV in the kitchen though and just didn't have the right counter space for a small TV so I purchased a Lenovo ZA1N0007US Yoga Tab 3 Plus to use as a counter tablet/TV.

I have been really happy with the tablet - it plays everything great, has a built in stand, and surprisingly loud speakers. I plan to hookup an old Tivo bluetooth remote and it should be a perfect solution for me. This is my first entry into the Android Mini Client and it's impressive - you can really see all the hard work that has went into this app.

[btrcp2000]

For me the Mibox sleep issue was solved by unchecking (or checking??) the setting related to terminate on pause from the miniclient settings (BEFORE you connect to the server)

[DigiDAD]

If you have wired network jacks, some of the S912 based boxes have gigabit Ethernet which would be faster and more reliable than WiFi for some applications like streaming large MPEG2 TS recordings.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by DigiDAD

If you have wired network jacks, some of the S912 based boxes have gigabit Ethernet which would be faster and more reliable than WiFi for some applications like streaming large MPEG2 TS recordings.

What's an S912 box?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by wayner

What's an S912 box?

There are 100s of boxes that run the Phone/Tablet version of Android but connect to a TV. This is one of them. Generally it refers to the SoC that is used.

https://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_sb_ss...d=QJPJMGN38Z6H

In general I'd never recommend that anyone use these Android based boxes... My experience is that they are crap.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by stuckless

In general I'd never recommend that anyone use these Android based boxes... My experience is that they are crap.

That's what I thought - you want a device that runs AndroidTV, not plain Android.

Speaking of that, I posted this question in another thread - has anything changed in the recommended AndroidTV devices for SageTV - namely the Nvidia Shield or MiBox? Has nothing new come out in the last 15 months? (Other than a bit of a refresh on the Shield)

[DigiDAD]

Originally Posted by stuckless

In general I'd never recommend that anyone use these Android based boxes... My experience is that they are crap.

I am actually quite happy with mine. Cost less than $100 and runs the Miniclient flawlessly. I have it hard wired on gigabit Ethernet. Android TV will have other benefits but strictly as a SageTV extender, it is great.