Be careful which Android TV box you buy

[Bradley Prior]

Be careful which Android TV box you buy

An Android TV box can be a great purchase, especially if you have a high-speed Internet connection and are tired of paying high monthly instalments for satellite TV.

There are a lot of Android media boxes available in South Africa, however, with many of them not certified by Google, despite their use of the Android operating system.

 

[Anakha56]

This article would have been more helpful before you sent out this article: https://mybroadband.co.za/news/gadgets/312979-the-best-google-certified-android-tv-boxes-you-can-buy-in-south-africa.html my mom saw that article and bought herself a MediaBox Ranger and guess what? Not Netflix certified, is it mentioned anywhere on their site? Nope. Only after the purchase is done do you get an email about the device not being Netflix certified and you have to download and install a version of Netflix to work on it. Dont know if it is even Dstv Now certified...

 

[Takkies]

Nology as usual would like you to think that theirs is the only high quality product. They push the specs on their product as if theirs is the only one you can be sure of. Not true, there are others.

 

[ISP cash cow]

Do you writers get paid by the word?

How many times do you need to mention that bad android tv boxes have bad security?

 

[Ppretor]

Maybe dumb question, does this essentially do the same as my Xbox and/or Smart TV?

 

[STORMERSFAN]

When buying an android box I was always told the first question you ask.. Is the box Google certified?

 

[system32]

When buying an android box I was always told the first question you ask.. Is the box Google certified?

Also check that it can run Netflex in HD.
http://chigztech.com/charts.html
is a useful site

 

[backstreetboy]

Nology as usual would like you to think that theirs is the only high quality product. They push the specs on their product as if theirs is the only one you can be sure of. Not true, there are others.

Paid for Nology advert.

While these devices usually support some content applications – such as YouTube, Twitch, and Kodi – many do not officially support apps like Netflix and DStv Now, as these applications require certain certifications to be implemented.

Who cares? The reason I got my Mygica 495x with regular android is to run Kodi with addons and easy installation of other apps.

 

[FiestaST]

The Skyworth is 50/50.

Google =
Netflix = ✘

 

[P924]

Nology? Seems like they took the tech out of technology?

 

[Hemps]

All these TV boxes and having to "fiddle" to get them working only to break weeks later, I'd rather just stick with boring Apple TV, at least I get updates and know that it'll play most things and the apps just work.

Edit: Seems the best Boxes are Shield (Pricey), Mibox (Can be buggy), FireTV Stick 4K (Seems decent, supports everything incl. Audio, 4K everything, cheap)

 

[backstreetboy]

All these TV boxes and having to "fiddle" to get them working only to break weeks later, I'd rather just stick with boring Apple TV, at least I get updates and know that it'll play most things and the apps just work.

Edit: Seems the best Boxes are Shield (Pricey), Mibox (Can be buggy), FireTV Stick 4K (Seems decent, supports everything incl. Audio, 4K everything, cheap)

Have to jailbreak or jump through hoops to run Kodi still? If so, no thanks.

 

[Soul Assassin]

All these TV boxes and having to "fiddle" to get them working only to break weeks later, I'd rather just stick with boring Apple TV, at least I get updates and know that it'll play most things and the apps just work.

Edit: Seems the best Boxes are Shield (Pricey), Mibox (Can be buggy), FireTV Stick 4K (Seems decent, supports everything incl. Audio, 4K everything, cheap)

Fire TV for 4K streaming is fine, local 4K not so much, it can't handle above 25Mbps.

 

[namzsteve]

Anybody picked up the Ematic box?

 

[backstreetboy]

Anybody picked up the Ematic box?

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/ematic-4k-ultra-hd-android-tv-box-agt419-feedback.1037133/

 

[namzsteve]

https://mybroadband.co.za/forum/threads/ematic-4k-ultra-hd-android-tv-box-agt419-feedback.1037133/

Thanks, didn't think this existed.

 

[Hemps]

All these TV boxes and having to "fiddle" to get them working only to break weeks later, I'd rather just stick with boring Apple TV, at least I get updates and know that it'll play most things and the apps just work.

Edit: Seems the best Boxes are Shield (Pricey), Mibox (Can be buggy), FireTV Stick 4K (Seems decent, supports everything incl. Audio, 4K everything, cheap)

That's just Kodi though, the other apps like Discovery, Animal Planet, Hulu, Netlfix, History, on and on , the ATV seems to always get an app released which functions at it's full potential.
You can live without Kodi

 

[Hemps]

Fire TV for 4K streaming is fine, local 4K not so much, it can't handle above 25Mbps.

When I upgrade I might be looking at something to replace my ATV4, ATV4K is expensive.
But looking at all the hassle to get the other boxes actually working seems I might have to go either Shield or ATV4K when I upgrade my TV.
Or get decent TV with webOS like LG or samsung.

 

[Dolby]

ATV seems to always get an app released which functions at it's full potential .... You can live without Kodi

Well ... I think there is YouTube too. I don't think it can do YouTube UHD either ?

 

[backstreetboy]

That's just Kodi though, the other apps like Discovery, Animal Planet, Hulu, Netlfix, History, on and on , the ATV seems to always get an app released which functions at it's full potential.
You can live without Kodi

Not me. I often find episodes of series not even on torrent sites with Kodi addons.