Media box suggestions

Willis · 12 May 2016 at 09:25

At the moment I have a xbox one that I use the media player app to watch MKV movies. I've noticed that some content will not play because of the audio file format that the xbox one does not support. To be honest the xbox is over kill as I never play any games on it so thinking of selling it and replacing with a media box.

What would people recommend to use if it only to watch movies from a USB drive and maybe use apps etc like netflicks

sHo0sH · 12 May 2016 at 12:36

Try one of the many readily available Android tv boxes on Amazon. Spend around £40-50 on a nice quad core one, and you'll be laughing. You can install Kodi on them, and also run apps like netflix etc.

Cyclone · 13 May 2016 at 17:30

Ive read a few times that an M8S Android box is very good for the price, around £50.

nicknack35 · 14 May 2016 at 12:14

What you need to do though when buying one of these boxes is asking what size HDD can be plugged via USB my T8 V3 from droidstick can only have a 2TB drive plugged in via usb which is pants if you got a large HD collection. Some of the skins look nice on Jarvis i use SPMC now instead of kodi. I use a Pi 3 now though for my HD collection and music via Rasplex

dtsrules · 16 May 2016 at 06:22

Cyclone said:
Ive read a few times that an M8S Android box is very good for the price, around £50.

For £35 on ebay these are fine. I have one running on wi-fi in the bedroom and have had no problems.

jpaul · 16 May 2016 at 12:12

what is the benefit of an M8S over a nowtv box (other than 4k/hvec decode) can you plug a drive, will it run the iplayer etc replay services ?

The only issue I have with nowtv w/kodi is inability to access directly via http links web radio services eg http://stream-uk1.radioparadise.com/aac-128 would M8S do that ?

just adding I am aware of tunein type apps which have some radio stations (or pay options where maybe they add your custom url's) but I already know URL's and just want to play them like I do with VLC on a genuine windows laptop

dbmzk1 · 16 May 2016 at 20:34

They are all much the same. I got one from China for £30 and it's pretty decent, quad core, 2gb ram etc.

More important than the machine itself is the remote - some are shockingly bad!

The Amazon Fire TV box/stick are slicker though.

flowrider99 · 16 May 2016 at 21:01

All these cheap boxes are a false economy, most run on buggy firmware and lack the ability to be updated to the latest Android version. There are some great devices though that have good aftersales support......

NVidia Shield TV
Wetek Core
Munix U1

Check them out.

nicknack35 · 18 May 2016 at 20:00

flowrider99 said:
All these cheap boxes are a false economy, most run on buggy firmware and lack the ability to be updated to the latest Android version. There are some great devices though that have good aftersales support......

NVidia Shield TV
Wetek Core
Munix U1

Check them out.

I agree these cheap china fleabay android boxes i wouldn't touch them at all. Very poor customer support no updates out the box very buggy. To name a few problems. As said above apart from the NVidia shield the other 2 are great Android boxes. Same as Droidsticks and Droidbox

The reason i say the Shield is not that great it has the best Hardware specs then any box. But software lets it down if your after the full Android experience then the shield is a no go if your wanting the ability to get all the apps from the playstore or have a web browser

robfosters · 19 May 2016 at 20:45

flowrider99 said:
All these cheap boxes are a false economy, most run on buggy firmware and lack the ability to be updated to the latest Android version. There are some great devices though that have good aftersales support......

NVidia Shield TV
Wetek Core
Munix U1

Check them out.

I agree too. I've had a couple of £40 Chinese boxes and they had problems like crashing, slowness and the remotes didn't last long either. Not worth the hassle. Most went in the rubbish bin within a few months.

I then bought myself the shield TV and it's a completely different world. Well built, quick, responsive and overall much nicer to use. Kodi is awesome on it. The only thing that annoyed me is as its called the shield TV, I think you should be able to choose between the controller and the remote, not be forced to pay another £40 for the remote.

Cheap boxes are a false economy though.

Vimes · 19 May 2016 at 21:49

Rasp Pi 3 or Odroid C2 need to be considered, the Shield could be considered OTT for the ops needs.

nicknack35 · 19 May 2016 at 23:51

I would never go with the Shield the best hardware but very poor software a lot the games you can play on the Minix Neo U1. Plus how can they call it an Android box with no playstore and there is no Web browser if that is something you would like

Vimes · 20 May 2016 at 09:10

I returned my Shield and got a refund. Unlike what many others found I wasn't that impressed with it.

robbobloke · 20 May 2016 at 17:19

Vimes said:
Rasp Pi 3 or Odroid C2 need to be considered, the Shield could be considered OTT for the ops needs.

I'd agree with this if it wasn't for netflix. With power block, memory card and case, a PI3 is 1/3 price of a Shield. Will play almost anything (unless you want 4k 10bit H265 stuff). Kodi support is much better with the PI, given the likes of OSMC, openelec etc..

I guess you can use the xbox for netflix if needs be.

nicknack35 · 21 May 2016 at 11:22

The Pi 3 is deffo a great option i use one for Rasplex i prefer the interface exc and the ability to have the PLEX pass for trailers exc. But i also have a T8-V3 from droidsticks if i want to play the odd game and be able to use the playstore and web browser if needed and also use SPMC

flowrider99 · 21 May 2016 at 20:42

If Netflix is a requirement then the Wetec Core is the only one of the 3 i suggested that supports Netflix in HD.