suggestions needed for Android TV box needed

[tonyvr4]

I am looking for suggestions on a quality Android TV box. I bought two DQ6 boxes and there are issues. Most I can work with.
But the major issue is that it does not play live sports well. The picture is chopping and skips. The motion is not smooth.

It seems that anything that I can afford is cheap and not supported. It seems like none of the boxes can get firmware android updates.

Others, like the Nividia shield at $200 are way more expensive than I can afford. Especially considering I need three boxes.

I am switching from the firestick and hate it. I was so tired of the cluttered interface and amazon garbage everywhere. Plus the memory was incredibly limited.

I have been looking around and have not found a decent box. I will not order from China and wait two months for a product that may be defective. I have seen this happen many times on ebay and amazon.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated
Thanks

 

[tube517]

$300?

Nvidia shield is 149
Nvidia shield pro is 199

What country are you in?

 

[tonyvr4]

I am in the US. Sorry that was a typo. Should have been a 2 not a three

 

[tube517]

I can understand if the Nvidia Shield is out of your price range. I waited and jumped when Walmart put the shield (regular not pro) on sale. It's worth every penny.

The only other box I can recommend is the Mi Box S. It is made in China but I bought from Walmart so I didn't wait long. It was also on sale at the time. It's a decent device not as powerful as the Shield but does the job and cheaper.

Shop around. I'm no expert but I love both of my boxes.

 

[tonyvr4]

I can understand if the Nvidia Shield is out of your price range. I waited and jumped when Walmart put the shield (regular not pro) on sale. It's worth every penny.

The only other box I can recommend is the Mi Box S. It is made in China but I bought from Walmart so I didn't wait long. It was also on sale at the time. It's a decent device not as powerful as the Shield but does the job and cheaper.

Shop around. I'm no expert but I love both of my boxes.

Rats. Not good news. I have not seen the nvidia around here at any price.
I haven't even been able to find one used at a deven price. Used Nvidia are going for about $20 less than new

Isn't there something in between the two options?

 

[tube517]

Yeah the Nvidias are usually ranked high and so the resale price for used ones will probably retain their value.

Check websites like woot and also slickdeals. Sometimes good deals come up but you just have to keep an eye out.

Good luck.

 

[tonyvr4]

Yeah the Nvidias are usually ranked high and so the resale price for used ones will probably retain their value.

Check websites like woot and also slickdeals. Sometimes good deals come up but you just have to keep an eye out.

Good luck.

Aren't there any options in between these ?

 

[tonyvr4]

What about this box? Specs look good for what I need it to do
https://www.amazon.com/pendoo-X12-P...0&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU6929903#customerReviews

 

[tube517]

What about this box? Specs look good for what I need it to do
https://www.amazon.com/pendoo-X12-P...0&ascsubtag=UUacUvbUpU6929909#customerReviews

I know nothing about it personally but it has Android 10 and reviews overall look good

 

[tonyvr4]

I know nothing about it personally but it has Android 10 and reviews overall look good

That was my opinion also. Looks like progress. I am going to take another look tomorrow and may buy one.

 

[tonyvr4]

Aren't there any options in between these ?

I was looking over the Nvidia boxes and was incredibly disappointed in the specs.
It seems that you can have a microsd slot or USB but not both.

 

[tube517]

I was looking over the Nvidia boxes and was incredibly disappointed in the specs.
It seems that you can have a microsd slot or USB but not both.

I don't use the microsd or the usb. Just straight streaming for me. Don't need it.

 

[tonyvr4]

I don't use the microsd or the usb. Just straight streaming for me. Don't need it.

Found out a couple of interesting things from Nvidia support.

1) It no longer supports third party launchers. In other words the option to install or set another launcher has been disabled.

2) The shield does not have the real play store. It has a crippled version that only allows you to see apps approved for the shield

 

[tonyvr4]

Since I was having problems with the DQ6 Android TV boxes I purchased, I started looking at others.
Many recommended the Nvidia Shield but there is no way I could afford that.
The shield is no longer as interesting considering the responses I got from Nvidia
support on how the box is locked down.

Today I got the X12 Pro box by Pendoo. In short, STAY AWAY form this box.
I was excited to get my new X12 Pro TV box and that was as far as it lasted.

Out of the box the unit would not allow me to add my google account.
I had to reset it twice and then it finally showed the google account menu and
allowed me to enter my google account.

Then it got worse...This box has some strange version of Android, play store or whatever.
It will not allow you to see any apps on the play store. Also, you can not download any of
your existing apps that you downloaded or purchased.

I was able to download some apps from the included apkpure app.
But apkpure s LOADED WITH CONSTANT ANNOYING ADS.

Basically nothing worked as well as the manufacturer listed, if it worked at all.

1) Box was supposed to support 6K and HDR. NOT TRUE
HDMI Auto would only set to 1080 with my 4K HDR TV.
If I manually set the HDMI mode to 4K the video slowed to a
crawl and all video paused and skipped.

2) HDR Mode - box would not allow setting to HDR. It just displayed an
error "HDR mode failed". I know my TV is HDR compatible since HDR works with
other devices including the firestick. I have a Monster Cable Gold 4K HDMI cable

3) Play Store - you can not access any of your existing apps or see any others
on the play store.
The first time I opened the play store I got a message stating that the device
is not Play Protect Certified.

As I mentioned previously, I was able to download SOME NOT ALL of my apps
from the apkpure app. But I could not download any of my premium apps that
I purchased. They did not appear in the apkpure search.

The premium/paid apps that I did download did not recognize or run as the purchased version.

The apkpure app and only runs in portrait mode and the keyboard is cutoff making it
impossible to enter any name to search for.

Overall, I am incredibly disappointed. I had been emailing pendoo support for weeks,
asking questions. NONE OF THEIR ANSWERS OR ADVICE turned out to be true.

Not sure what my next box will be since I had tried others and they all turned out to be just as bad.

 

[tonyvr4]

Well I received the Mi Box S today and am incredibly disappointed. It is going back for a refund tomorrow.

It has an incredibly annoying interface loaded with garbage just like the firestick.

The remote would not work. I had to swap batteries and reset the box a few times before it recognized the remote.

Then when I got it setup I found out that Xaomi lied when they told me it had the play store and that I could download any of my apps. I COULDN'T DOWNLOAD ANYTHING. My file manager, weather app and widget and launcher would not come up in the search.

It does not have ethernet either. Plus the memory is limited even with the few apps that it did install.

Well looks like the search goes on