Android TV Device Comparisons

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

I just ordered one from Amazon for $30. Will get it on Wednesday, and see what happens. I hope 1GB on Android 6.0 will be fine for the SageTV Miniclient.

Has anybody else tested this yet?

(Edited: the s905x is $30, corrected above)

I'm very curious to hear about your experences here... I was a friend's house the other day, an he had the GBox, I think... and the android experience on that was horrible. I actually showed him the ShiedTV and he ordered one on the on the spot.

Most of the "Android" tv boxes that I see are just running table/phone version of Android and the user experience it horrible.

I'm hoping this unit is actually running the "Android TV" version of Android with the Leanback UI which is designed for TV.

While I'm curious as to whether or not the MiniClient runs, ok, on this... I'd be interested in knowing how well the other apps like Netflix, YouTube, etc run on this.

Keep us posted.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by dinki

Do you have MPEG2 files that you can test on this box? I've found this always to be problematic with the Android boxes I've tried.

Yes, all of my recordings are MPEG2 .ts based from HDHR Prime, so I will definitely have results for you.

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by stuckless

I'm very curious to hear about your experences here... I was a friend's house the other day, an he had the GBox, I think... and the android experience on that was horrible. I actually showed him the ShiedTV and he ordered one on the on the spot.

Most of the "Android" tv boxes that I see are just running table/phone version of Android and the user experience it horrible.

I'm hoping this unit is actually running the "Android TV" version of Android with the Leanback UI which is designed for TV.

While I'm curious as to whether or not the MiniClient runs, ok, on this... I'd be interested in knowing how well the other apps like Netflix, YouTube, etc run on this.

Keep us posted.

Will do. I have low expectations, but for $30, I would be happy if it only ran SageTV Miniclient well. The other stuff would be icing on the cake.

[mikejaner]

OK, so I got the device today.
TLDR, it's nice. Not a bad little device for $30

First I didn't realize this little box is so small. Its like a little square half height hockey puck.
The remote is a little cheap but basically functional.
The first thing I did is boot it up and explore the installed software and interface. It basically has that bastardized Xbox 360 modern interface, and a bunch of pre-installed software, which seems to be centered around a push for some trial streaming software, and Kodi. As a matter of fact, a button in the middle of the remote launches Kodi specifically. I launched that first. After about five minutes of Kodi booting up and updating a bunch of preinstalled plugins, I started testing it. Kodi runs every video I threw at it, and the interface is smooth and fast. The plugins which are pre installed are every type of streaming service you hear about (Phoenix, Exodus etc....) They work great and pretty smoothly, after they update their stuff too. Again, this is after five minutes of it updating the plugins, because during, it seems like an Amazon Fire TV Stick trying to run the Kodi Interface. After playing that for a little while, I launched and played with Netflix, and YouTube, both pre-installed, and working fine.
Next I downloaded and installed the SageTV miniclient using the web browser, because I was a little leery of logging into the google play store on a device clearly geared to streaming content of the questionable legality. Anyways, installed it and noticed right off the bat, animation is not great on that app with this device. I turned off the animation and treated it like an HD100. It played all of my MPEG2 recordings with no issues, and it played all of the movies I have, mostly MP4/MKV etc.. I have since left it on LiveTV for the past three hours, and it has not skipped a beat transitioning between shows etc...

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

OK, so I got the device today.
TLDR, it's nice. Not a bad little device for $30

First I didn't realize this little box is so small. Its like a little square half height hockey puck.
The remote is a little cheap but basically functional.
The first thing I did is boot it up and explore the installed software and interface. It basically has that bastardized Xbox 360 modern interface, and a bunch of pre-installed software, which seems to be centered around a push for some trial streaming software, and Kodi. As a matter of fact, a button in the middle of the remote launches Kodi specifically. I launched that first. After about five minutes of Kodi booting up and updating a bunch of preinstalled plugins, I started testing it. Kodi runs every video I threw at it, and the interface is smooth and fast. The plugins which are pre installed are every type of streaming service you hear about (Phoenix, Exodus etc....) They work great and pretty smoothly, after they update their stuff too. Again, this is after five minutes of it updating the plugins, because during, it seems like an Amazon Fire TV Stick trying to run the Kodi Interface. After playing that for a little while, I launched and played with Netflix, and YouTube, both pre-installed, and working fine.
Next I downloaded and installed the SageTV miniclient using the web browser, because I was a little leery of logging into the google play store on a device clearly geared to streaming content of the questionable legality. Anyways, installed it and noticed right off the bat, animation is not great on that app with this device. I turned off the animation and treated it like an HD100. It played all of my MPEG2 recordings with no issues, and it played all of the movies I have, mostly MP4/MKV etc.. I have since left it on LiveTV for the past three hours, and it has not skipped a beat transitioning between shows etc...

It's too bad that this unit doesn't function well (animations) for the miniclient... I'm thinking that with some tweaking maybe I could get it to perform better. A couple of friends of mine that don't use sagetv is looking for a decent streaming box, and this sounds like it could fit the bill.

I'll pick one up myself, and play around with it.

thanks for the update.

[ranger]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

OK, so I got the device today.
TLDR, it's nice. Not a bad little device for $30

Which unit did you purchase? The units I found on Amazon @ $30 appear to be what might be an older model running Andriod 5.1, while there clearly is a model with Android 6. Geekbuying also has a $50 Andriod 6 version with 2GB instead of 1GB. Just curious what you actually received.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

After playing that for a little while, I launched and played with Netflix, and YouTube, both pre-installed, and working fine.

Is Netflix working in HD? I'd expect a device like this to be limited to 480p.

(You can check what resolution it's streaming at by searching for a title called "Test Patterns")

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

Is Netflix working in HD? I'd expect a device like this to be limited to 480p.

(You can check what resolution it's streaming at by searching for a title called "Test Patterns")

Just curious why you expect it to be 480p for a device like this. My guess is that the Netflix app that is installed is the Netflix app from the play store, same with youtube, etc. But it would be interesting to get the answer, but I would think this would stream whatever the bandwidth could support.

@mikejaner - are you using WIFI or Ethernet?

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by stuckless

Just curious why you expect it to be 480p for a device like this. My guess is that the Netflix app that is installed is the Netflix app from the play store, same with youtube, etc. But it would be interesting to get the answer, but I would think this would stream whatever the bandwidth could support.

While I think the Netflix app will run on just about anything, the Netflix service will only stream HD videos to certified devices.

Specifically, devices need: 1) a Widevine certification, and 2) be certified by Netflix (that's the harder one).

There's a relatively small set of Android devices that support HD streaming. It's covers practically all the major devices, but that's about it. Surprisingly- I ran into this problem with my Nexus 9. It wasn't until earlier this year that Netflix would serve HD videos to it.

You can find a list of support Android devices here, under the "Netflix in HD" tab.

I can't find a definitive list on Netflix's site for what media streamers support HD, but other sites online indicate it's only:

• Apple TV
• Google Chromecast
• Roku
• Amazon Fire TV
• Google Nexus Player
• NVIDIA Shield

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by reggie14

While I think the Netflix app will run on just about anything, the Netflix service will only stream HD videos to certified devices.

Specifically, devices need: 1) a Widevine certification, and 2) be certified by Netflix (that's the harder one).

There's a relatively small set of Android devices that support HD streaming. It's covers practically all the major devices, but that's about it. Surprisingly- I ran into this problem with my Nexus 9. It wasn't until earlier this year that Netflix would serve HD videos to it.

You can find a list of support Android devices here, under the "Netflix in HD" tab.

I can't find a definitive list on Netflix's site for what media streamers support HD, but other sites online indicate it's only:

• Apple TV
• Google Chromecast
• Roku
• Amazon Fire TV
• Google Nexus Player
• NVIDIA Shield

Thanks... I had no idea that Netflix worked that way... good to know.

[mikejaner]

@stuckless - I am using Ethernet.
@reggie14 - I can check. It looked HD, but that is not a scientific result.
@ranger - it's the Android 5.1 version

[mikejaner]

Originally Posted by reggie14

While I think the Netflix app will run on just about anything, the Netflix service will only stream HD videos to certified devices.

Specifically, devices need: 1) a Widevine certification, and 2) be certified by Netflix (that's the harder one).

There's a relatively small set of Android devices that support HD streaming. It's covers practically all the major devices, but that's about it. Surprisingly- I ran into this problem with my Nexus 9. It wasn't until earlier this year that Netflix would serve HD videos to it.

You can find a list of support Android devices here, under the "Netflix in HD" tab.

I can't find a definitive list on Netflix's site for what media streamers support HD, but other sites online indicate it's only:

• Apple TV
• Google Chromecast
• Roku
• Amazon Fire TV
• Google Nexus Player
• NVIDIA Shield

Yup, it's definitely 720X480. I ran their test pattern video. I plan to use this in our bedroom where the TV is 15 feet away from us, so it won't bother me, but it would be nice if that changed at some point.

[reggie14]

Originally Posted by mikejaner

Yup, it's definitely 720X480. I ran their test pattern video. I plan to use this in our bedroom where the TV is 15 feet away from us, so it won't bother me, but it would be nice if that changed at some point.

Thanks for checking.

I think it is extremely unlikely that Netflix will open HD streaming to uncertified devices, and I think it is equally unlikely that cheap Android boxes will ever be certified. The recent exploit against Chrome's DRM makes it even more unlikely, IMHO, since it raised awareness to the threat.

At least the 480p streams are open now. There was a time when only a handful of devices could stream Netflix at all.

[trk2]

Originally Posted by reggie14

While I think the Netflix app will run on just about anything, the Netflix service will only stream HD videos to certified devices. [/LIST]

But you can use PlayOn and tmiranda's PlayOn plugin to stream Netflix to an uncertified device at 720p.

[samgreco]

Originally Posted by trk2

But you can use PlayOn and tmiranda's PlayOn plugin to stream Netflix to an uncertified device at 720p.

But without 5.1. Stereo only.

[Flips]

This looks like something I need to try... I have a SFF computer and the power supply just died, and the replacement I put in sounds like a jet engine... That's what I get for buying a pripority computer...

Mike, I am having trouble figuring out which device you got there are so many on amazon with similar names, is it this one:
[2016 Newest] NEXBOX Android 6.0 TV Box A95X Pro Amlogic S905X Quad Core 2.0GHz XBMC Fully loaded KODI 16.1 Pre-installed 1GB/8GB VP9 Ultra 4K HDR HEVC Streaming Media Player Rooted with Spdif Wifi
http://amzn.to/2b3xvQp

flips

[NetworkGuy]

Originally Posted by Flips

This looks like something I need to try... I have a SFF computer and the power supply just died, and the replacement I put in sounds like a jet engine... That's what I get for buying a pripority computer...

Mike, I am having trouble figuring out which device you got there are so many on amazon with similar names, is it this one:
[2016 Newest] NEXBOX Android 6.0 TV Box A95X Pro Amlogic S905X Quad Core 2.0GHz XBMC Fully loaded KODI 16.1 Pre-installed 1GB/8GB VP9 Ultra 4K HDR HEVC Streaming Media Player Rooted with Spdif Wifi
http://amzn.to/2b3xvQp

flips

Did you end up ordering the box?

I am thinking of replacing one of my HD300 with an Android TV box and using the mini-client. I was going to get the Nexus Player until it was discontinued.

Now I am back to figuring out which box to buy for less than $100.

[jm9843]

Originally Posted by NetworkGuy

Now I am back to figuring out which box to buy for less than $100.

Whatever you decide, I'd recommend an official Android TV box and not a generic Chinese box with AOSP installed, never to be updated again.

Keep your eye on the Mi Box which should be better than Nexus Player, under $100, and launching anytime now: http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/

[NetworkGuy]

Thanks, that does look interesting.

I wish they had a release date. I have seen too many sites say "coming soon" for for almost a year.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by jm9843

Whatever you decide, I'd recommend an official Android TV box and not a generic Chinese box with AOSP installed, never to be updated again.

Keep your eye on the Mi Box which should be better than Nexus Player, under $100, and launching anytime now: http://www.mi.com/en/mibox/

Did I read correctly that it is coming in May? That is a bit far off. Especially since it appears Nvidia is (maybe) building a new shield.