Android/Dream Box [ Illegal discussion = Ban ]

levi

Considering pulling the trigger on a Mi Box unless there's something better I should be considering for similar money.

A friend has a nvidia shield and it does look very slick but can't justify the money for it. From reading this thread the Mi Box is a good compromise for price vs. functionality. I've no interest in playing games just watching Netflix etc. Should the Mi Box be able to handle that.

Looking at purchasing from this seller on Ebay - http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Xiaomi-Mi-Box-4K-Google-Android6-0-TV-BOX-HDR-International-Version-Voice-Remote-/122355472779?hash=item1c7cf4598b:g:PS4AAOSw241YhXlS - item is located in Dublin apparently so shouldn't be hit by customs.

What do people think of the Zoomtak boxes? Are they any good or better off with Android TV on the Mi Box?

eamonnq

levi wrote: »

Considering pulling the trigger on a Mi Box unless there's something better I should be considering for similar money.

A friend has a nvidia shield and it does look very slick but can't justify the money for it. From reading this thread the Mi Box is a good compromise for price vs. functionality. I've no interest in playing games just watching Netflix etc. Should the Mi Box be able to handle that.

Looking at purchasing from this seller on Ebay - http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Xiaomi-Mi-Box-4K-Google-Android6-0-TV-BOX-HDR-International-Version-Voice-Remote-/122355472779?hash=item1c7cf4598b:g:PS4AAOSw241YhXlS - item is located in Dublin apparently so shouldn't be hit by customs.

What do people think of the Zoomtak boxes? Are they any good or better off with Android TV on the Mi Box?

Based in Singapore, ionorchard has been an eBay member since 16 Sep, 2016

Would expect quicker delivery if the item is in Dublin. Would nearly pick one up myself if it is.

ongarite

Ì think the Mi box is the best Android box available at the moment for the price range.

Benefits of the Mi Box over other Android boxes:
Official Android TV OS which is far superior to the Android tablet interfaces of other Android boxes.
The BT remote is excellent with integrated voice search.
Official Netflix HD/4K support with 5.1 DD sound available, other Android boxes besides the Wetek boxes don't have the required DRM capabilites and will only give you 480p/stereo sound.
Android TV app versions of Youtube, Spotify also.
Kodi 17 works really well with full support for HD audio formats, DTS-HD MA, Dolby Digital True HD/Atmos.
The wireless chip in it is excellent, dual 2.4/5Ghz support, no issues streaming HD rips from my NAS.

levi

Thanks - I've just ordered one from ebay so I'll let ye know how it goes!

iMuse

Just went to buy a fire stick and see they aren't selling the current one anymore on Amazon. A newer version is launching soon. Anyone have any details if Kodi will be able to run on the new one yet?

vibe666

two thumbs up for the mi box 3, can't fault it for the money for all the same reasons mentioned by ongarite, fantastic bit of kit.  i want to get a shieldTV to play with, but i just can't justify the extra spends over what the mi box costs, plus with the mi gamepad (or any other BT gamepad) it's actually a nice little android gaming box too, pretty nippy, plus with the 'adoptable storage' feature in android6 you can use any usb stick or hard drive as 'internal' storage on it.  i would have liked to have seen more than one usb slot, and a microSD (the old version had it), but tbh i'm nit picking on an almost perfect box, even as someone who've set up about 30 of them for friends and family at this point.

oh, actually, would like to see remote control capabilities in teamviewer (currently remote view only) for remote support (like you get with the shieldTV), but again it's nitpicking and that's not down to Mi to fix i don't think.

BandMember

This can't possibly be legit, can it?

http://www.dx.com/p/minix-neo-u9-h-amlogic-s912h-octa-core-android-6-0-1-google-tv-box-459533

Alf Stewart.

Strange one, but I'm now the proud owner of a 500GB Nvidia Shield. Apparently completely and utterly gratis.:D

One arrived yesterday from Amazon, yet I never ordered it. It's not on my Amazon account, and no money has been taken from me.



Has my name on the parcel, addressed perfectly etc etc etc.

I will let the hare sit a few days before I get too attached to it.

NATLOR

eamonnq wrote: »

Based in Singapore, ionorchard has been an eBay member since 16 Sep, 2016

Would expect quicker delivery if the item is in Dublin. Would nearly pick one up myself if it is.

I messaged the seller to ask about item location, he said its Manchester with a 5 day delivery timeline

coldfire1x

^^ Gift from someone?

coldfire1x

BandMember wrote: »

This can't possibly be legit, can it?

http://www.dx.com/p/minix-neo-u9-h-amlogic-s912h-octa-core-android-6-0-1-google-tv-box-459533

Probably legit. There's no mention of A3 Airmouse remote, which adds another €25 to the cost.

So the price looks fine without the remote.

BandMember

coldfire1x wrote: »

Probably legit. There's no mention of A3 Airmouse remote, which adds another €25 to the cost.

So the price looks fine without the remote.

I don't need or want the remote as I have my own one. If I could be sure that site/seller is legit, I'd pull the trigger now at that price!

Unless Alf can work his magic and get Amazon to send me one for free.... :P

NATLOR

BandMember wrote: »

I don't need or want the remote as I have my own one. If I could be sure that site/seller is legit, I'd pull the trigger now at that price!

Unless Alf can work his magic and get Amazon to send me one for free.... :P

DX are legit alright but AFAIK they are based in China so a possible hit for customs charges

BandMember

NATLOR wrote: »

DX are legit alright but AFAIK they are based in China so a possible hit for customs charges

I knew there would be a catch..... Looking at Amazon.com, it works out at €130 with free shipping and no customs charges so that might be the best bet...

NATLOR

BandMember wrote: »

I knew there would be a catch..... Looking at Amazon.com, it works out at €130 with free shipping and no customs charges so that might be the best bet...

Did you sign in to Amazon? I don't think that free shipping applies to Ireland plus just as much chance paying customs on items coming from US as China

yabadabado

BandMember wrote: »

I knew there would be a catch..... Looking at Amazon.com, it works out at €130 with free shipping and no customs charges so that might be the best bet...

Amazon.com ? They wont ship to Ireland.

Its £134.90 plus Parcel Motel from amazon.co.uk. About €165 all in.
Its odd that Minix wont ship to Ireland.

colly10

I'm picking up and android box shortly and going on what I'm reading i'd either go for the Mi or the minix U9.
There's a huge difference in price between them and am wondering if functionally their much different.

Also I heard if ye don't need 4K or Dolby, ye'd be better off choosing the U1 over the U9, the U1 has lollipop, that much of a drawback?

I bought a gbox Q2 for my parents a while back and i find the performance frustrating so want to avoid something like that.

Does anyone have experience changing the Minix x8h plus to openelec?
Seeing as it's not compatible with krypton, I'm thinking of switching the Minix over. Is it a straightforward process or will it take a lot of tinkering?

vibe666

Cake of Tremendous Power wrote: »

Does anyone have experience changing the Minix x8h plus to openelec?
Seeing as it's not compatible with krypton, I'm thinking of switching the Minix over. Is it a straightforward process or will it take a lot of tinkering?

I've done a couple of weteks and it's just a case of sticking the firmware etc. into a folder on a usb or sd card and rebooting holding down a particular button to reboot into a kind of 'safe mode' to update it and following onscreen instructions afair, can't imagine a minix would be too much different.

vibe666

colly10 wrote: »

I'm picking up and android box shortly and going on what I'm reading i'd either go for the Mi or the minix U9.
There's a huge difference in price between them and am wondering if functionally their much different.

Also I heard if ye don't need 4K or Dolby, ye'd be better off choosing the U1 over the U9, the U1 has lollipop, that much of a drawback?

I bought a gbox Q2 for my parents a while back and i find the performance frustrating so want to avoid something like that.

what you *need* is going to be entirely subjective.
if you have or plan to eventually have a 4K TV and a Dolby surround system, you're probably better off buying something that can make the most of them, but if you're watching on a 10 year old aldi specially telly with only the internal speakers with no intentions of upgrading any time soon, they're not going to be that important.
but what you also have to bear in mind is that KODI are dropping support for a lot of older chipsets now due to problems keeping the codebase up to date (minix we're staring at you right now!), as the mfg's aren't updating their firmwares/OS's and even some that are are using 3rd party drivers that are also being dropped from support.

frankly, i'd be avoiding minix altogether at this point, their users have been crying out for an updated kernel for years for the older boxes, but it's falling on deaf ears. their 'if it's not broke don't fix it' mantra has made a lot of boxes that should be good for years to come pretty much obsolete overnight now that KODI krypton is out, and that would lead me to think they'll do the same again in the future.  

i'd hate to be in a position now where i had a mid to high end quad core android box with 2GB/16GB that might only be a year old, but can't run the current version of KODI.

the mi box 3 is already running android TV and Mi have openly said they will be upgrading to Android N in Q1 2017 (which will probably mean April in reality), so there's plenty of support there, esp. when you look at the google/amazon/netflix etc. 4K compatibility, they really do want to keep on top of things, and pretty much everything i've bought from them to date has all been top notch kit (cameras, battery packs, fitness bands, headphones and other gadgets).

Alf Stewart.

coldfire1x wrote: »

^^ Gift from someone?

Don't think so. It's not my birthday for almost six months. I've been asking but no one seems to even know what a Nvidia Shield even is.

the_syco

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Don't think so. It's not my birthday for almost six months. I've been asking but no one seems to even know what a Nvidia Shield even is.

Anyone looking to get in your pants lately?

Alf Stewart.

the_syco wrote: »

Anyone looking to get in your pants lately?

:pac:

dodzy

Alf Stewart. wrote: »

Don't think so. It's not my birthday for almost six months. I've been asking but no one seems to even know what a Nvidia Shield even is.

Don't overthink it. Enjoy. And you deserve it anyway.

dodzy

Cake of Tremendous Power wrote: »

Does anyone have experience changing the Minix x8h plus to openelec?
Seeing as it's not compatible with krypton, I'm thinking of switching the Minix over. Is it a straightforward process or will it take a lot of tinkering?

Why bother ? I've the x8-h since launch and it's a great bit of kit paired with a logitech K400. Would never go openelec when Kodi is flawless running in Android. Would hate to lose my other apps

r3nu4l

vectra wrote: »

When I do that. I point the mouse cursor at the bottom of the screen and drag it back up.

Thanks to vectors and the_syco but unfortunately I've tried that and it doesn't work for me. Tried with my handheld touchpad and a logitech wireless mouse, no joy Also watched a YouTube video of a guy doing the same thing but doesn't work for me at all.

UsedToWait

r3nu4l wrote: »

Thanks to vectors and the_syco but unfortunately I've tried that and it doesn't work for me. Tried with my handheld touchpad and a logitech wireless mouse, no joy Also watched a YouTube video of a guy doing the same thing but doesn't work for me at all.

Not a fix, but a workaround - same happened to me - installed an app called Handy Soft Keys, which gives the same functionality...

dodzy

dodzy wrote: »

Why bother ? I've the x8-h since launch and it's a great bit of kit paired with a logitech K400. Would never go openelec when Kodi is flawless running in Android. Would hate to lose my other apps

I can live without my other apps. My Minix is essentially a kodi machine, so seeing as they won't release an OS update I'll have to upgrade it sooner or later I'd say

kleefarr

r3nu4l wrote: »

Thanks to vectors and the_syco but unfortunately I've tried that and it doesn't work for me. Tried with my handheld touchpad and a logitech wireless mouse, no joy Also watched a YouTube video of a guy doing the same thing but doesn't work for me at all.

What works for me, is unplugging it from the mains over night.

torrevieja

Im having a prob with a minix 5 just comes on with the logo nothing happens any ideas , the guy i bought it of wasnt realy interested