(Part 3) Best products from r/AndroidTV

http://thewirecutter.com/leaderboard/home-theater/

Your Sonos system is certainly good, but that is mainly in the ease of setup and streaming service support. If you are willing to to run wires to individual speakers and just do streaming from the Shield or any other device you can get a much better system with a typical AV receiver and some good speakers.

I am currently using a Shield and the Denon AVR-S720W with a Vizio TV and the HDMI-CEC functions work great. I can use the Shield remote to turn on the Shield and it will turn the whole system on and switch to the right input. You would not need HDMI-ARC as all your inputs would be on the receiver.

For $1130 you could get:

• 1x Elac Debut C5
  
• 4x Elac Debut B5
  
• 2x Monoprice 9723 subwoofer
  
• 1x Denon AVR-S720W

Right before I bought a mi box I bought an Android box. It was a fairly good one: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LXX1XSX . I got that box for $45 so it was about $25 less expensive than the mi box (I signed up to do a review to get it for $45). The specs are about the same as mi box, but it had two USB ports, ethernet, and a SD card slot as well.

It actually ran as fast or faster to me as my mi box. The apps that I run on my mi box all worked without needing the mouse mode of the remote. There were apps installed that are not Android TV apps that did need mouse mode, but the same is true on the mi box, the difference being I have to use an actual mouse to use them on my mi box since the remote has no mouse mode.

Oh, ironically Amazon Video was easier to install and it ran a much better version than the kludge I am forced to use on the mi box.

Yet I returned that android box and kept the mi box. I really can't say the android box that I had was bad. Indeed there are things I miss, but in the end I preferred the mi box. A few reasons:

1.) Genuine Android TV, which I felt was better supported. This subreddit, for example, is here should I need help. 2.) Google Cast support. 3.) The remote is better (the android box's was very directional IR not bluetooth, and no voice search). 4.) Live TV. 5.) Updates (hopefully!).

It's got 802.11ac/n and both the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. I've never had any trouble. Ours is pretty close to the router, which is right next to our TV setup, though.

Then again, our Chromecast is fairly distant from the router, and it's the old model with 2.4 GHz only, and it does fine with streaming, too.

I mean, even if you're only getting the 2.4 GHz speeds on 802.11n, that's still a theoretical max of 65 Mbps. Even if you halve that to compensate for interference, packet loss, etc, you're still talking roughly 30 Mbps, and even if you've got other traffic on the network, even 1080p HD streams don't tend to go above about 8Mbps or so. So you've got plenty of leeway, unless your 2.4 bands are just super crowded where you live.

If you find that you have wireless issues and there's an ethernet port handy, you can always grab one of these sorts of devices, and pop it into the Nexus's micro USB port. But, really, you should be fine. We've had no network troubles with ours.

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As for these other boxes that ship with Android as media centers...I'm always wary of them. There are just so many questions: Who made it? What's the build quality? What version of Android does it have? Will it get updates? Will TV apps play nicely, or will I be stuck with tablet apps? That stuff.

To use the one that you linked in your other comment as an example, it's actually more expensive than what we paid for our Nexus Player (we got ours for about $70), and it's only running 4.4.2, so it's all the way back on Kit-Kat, which means that it's unlikely to see further updates, and application compatibility might start to become an issue down the line. I'd be worried about ending up with a "tinkering" device, when what I wanted was something to stream Netflix and Hulu on, and occasionally play videos off of a USB drive with.

Don't get me wrong, I like to tinker. But I prefer for it to inhabit its own space away from more recreational stuff.

You know what you're getting with the Nexus, though. It's from Google and Asus, two reputable companies, and it gets steady updates right from Google. The proper full TV interface works really nicely, and you can install the Kodi app, too, if you like. And with the Google Cast receiver software built in, it's more versatile than your average tablet. You can cast any Chrome tab over to it, if you want. And some dev builds of VLC have experimental Google Cast support. You can also sideload any Android APKs that you might have and see if they work, too. They'll probably do about as well on the Nexus as they would on the other device, given that neither has a screen or touch input.

EDIT: One other thing I thought of. If you decide you really don't care for Google's Android TV builds...it's still a Nexus device. And there are other ROMs out there for it, because it's a pretty popular device with an unlockable bootloader. Personally I prefer to stick with Google builds on my Nexus devices. It's easier.

Android TV very good setup and will fit your budget read the reviews from the buyers that's only opinion that matter from people that actually own these products.

TCL 55S405 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart LED TV (2017 Model) $349.99 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MTGM5I9/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

NVIDIA SHIELD TV Gaming Edition | 4K HDR Streaming Media Player with GeForce NOW $199.00 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N1NT9Y6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SiliconDust HDHomeRun CONNECT. FREE broadcast HDTV (2-Tuner) $73.95 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GY0UB54/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[2018 Latest] Amplified HD Digital TV Antenna Long 65-80 Miles Range – Support 4K 1080p & All Older TV's Indoor Powerful HDTV Amplifier Signal Booster - 18ft Coax Cable/USB Power Adapter $27.95 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FVLXHYV/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That would be ideal if I could run Plex on the NAS but my needs are pretty simple so I can't justify buying an overly expensive NAS.

If I was to get a NAS like the Synology one in the link below, which is more of a lower end NAS would I be able to install Plex on it without any need for transcoding since I will only ever be streaming locally to my Android TV device?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01BNPT1EG/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1468320659&sr=8-3&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=synology+nas+2+bay&dpPl=1&dpID=31d8-qntl9L&ref=plSrch

If I wouldn't be able to do that I'd probably go with something cheaper like a WD my cloud + ES File Explorer & MX Player/VLC.

To answer my own question this Amazon page for the controller seems to indicate that it supports Shield Tablets and thus should work on the original Shield TVs too.

https://smile.amazon.com/NVIDIA-SHIELD-Controller/dp/B01N7DQ0L6/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1483601676&sr=8-6&keywords=shield+controller


Another interesting blurb:

The Gateway to Your New Smart Home
Because the SHIELD controller is always on, you can command your living room with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant, completely hands-free. Dim the lights, change the temperature, the possibilities are endless.

So it looks like we are getting Alexa integration as well???

Your Shield tablet isn't really designed for TV use. You could probably pair the Shield remote with it and install a TV focused launcher such as TV Launcher, but most standard Android apps really aren't designed to be used with a remote.

As others have mentioned, there are two new Shield devices on the horizon. One looks to be a refresh of the current Shield model with the more efficient processor they're using in the new Switches, and the other is going to be a lower-end device (possibly a dongle type thing). If you'd like to try out using your tablet on a TV as a stopgap, I'd recommend you get a remote with an air mouse component (something like this should do the trick). Or just set up everything through Kodi.

While I can't claim these will work with the Mi Box, two adapters I can vouch for that work beautifully on the Nexus Player:

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Gigabit-Ethernet-Converter-Network/dp/B00IJU0K2Q
http://www.joybuy.com/329974.html

First, yes they are USB 3.0 adapters and the ports on the NP/Mi Box are usb 2.0, so you might say overkill, but they max out the usb 2.0 port as much as possible and the price is not too bad.

My favourite of the 2 is obviously the one with the extra USB ports.
It's fantastic for adding peripherals such as a hard drive, a mouse, keyboard, xbox controller, etc., while still maintaining an ethernet connection.

Second one I was actually surprised worked. People were saying that the nexus player didn't support adapters that used the RTL18153 chipset.
However it was simple plug and play.

I would not be surprised if both of these worked on the Mi Box as well.

Thanks for the suggestion, I think I will just buy a new router since it will benefit my whole network and be more stable.

I was thinking of purchasing the Asus RT-AC66U as the price is not far off decent powerlines.

Is that an okay router or can you recommend another?

Thanks!

> The Mi Box is the only android box with optical out.

If you don't mind spending a significant premium, then a Nvidia Shield ($180) plus a HDMI audio extractor ($40) can achieve the same thing.

Most importantly, you get the benefits of a Shield: regular software updates, more powerful/smooth hardware, better codec support, flawless 4K/HDR playback.

Granted, this solution would be triple the price of the Mi Box.

Minix Neo A2 Lite is about as good as it gets, not backlit but just an awesome remote.

https://www.amazon.com/MINIX-Control-Wireless-Keyboard-Gyroscope/dp/B0769HF18C

I also have this remote which is good as well, it is half the price and backlit.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B077XX6488

edit
The second is now a different remote, it's not backlit like the one I have.

Including images of both.

https://i.imgur.com/uT9DyoR.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/9nV3mD9.jpg

Have you tried using Xbox 360 controllers, either wired or using this adapter for wireless: https://www.amazon.com/COOLEAD-USB-Wireless-Receiver-Controller-Consoles/dp/B00O9UT9RC/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_lp_t_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YHCK8ST4S6VRM34DSJ3T

Moonlight might need to be calibrated to support Nvidia controllers, but it supports Xinput devices like Xbox from the get go. I've used wireless 360 controllers on my Mi Box to control the GUI as well as play games

Thanks for the reply, you've given me some new ideas I hadn't thought about.

Edit: I tried one of these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IR8R7WQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and it works great. It slides right into the USB slot on the back side of the TV and you'd never know it was even there. From my main viewing location I can speak normally and it works just fine. THANKS!