DStv Explora Ultra vs Android TV boxes

[Herr der Verboten]

No Tubi TV
No Spotify
No Deezer
No Plex
No Joox
No Yupp TV
No Crunchy Roll
No Twitch.TV
No Podcast player
No DAZN

+no built in chrome cast
+no twitch
+no steam link
+no game stream

 

[cpu.]

The best Android TV boxes, but no nvidia shield pro

They only mention boxes that's available in SA.

 

[Herr der Verboten]

They only mention boxes that's available in SA.

Geewiz.co.za?
Quite a few people selling it normally...

 

[cpu.]

Geewiz.co.za?
Quite a few people selling it normally...

Wish I had money for this. I don't know what they consider officially available.

 

[Herr der Verboten]

Wish I had money for this. I don't know what they consider officially available.

Local pricing was about 5k start Jan 2020. I've only pulled the trigger on this because I got it for 3k via amazon black friday (was bout 3800 with expedited shipping). Note that geewiz had it at 5k for their black friday specials....

Was it worth it?

Few "cons" but nothing that's a deal beaker:
1. No Appletv - Just flick back to my tv's smartbox. I use appletv for movies.
2. SmartDNS - No it just doesn't work, but you can now load a vpn app. I use ExpressVPN with split tunneling for netflix and chruncyroll.
3. Sideloading - Not really one push button if you haven't done this at all. However if you have basics down it is kinda easy.
4. USA plug - Minor, just get a plug converter.
5. GeforceNow - Minor, I now can use GameStream which is a lot better then steamlink. (Geforce now isn't in ZA yet, but that is the same for cloudx, and the rest)

Pros (so far)
1. App choice - There is just so many app choices on android tv. Finally, let there be chruncyroll and twitch.
2. GameStream - It is just so much better than steamlink.
3. "app seed" - Finally, no more "lag" when you do things (I have samsung Qled 7FN, 55).
4. Fidelity - So AI up-scaling is kinda cool to a niche.
5. Dolby Atmos - actually a con because now I need a proper avr + speakers/sound bar with speakers

 

[cpu.]

Local pricing was about 5k start Jan 2020. I've only pulled the trigger on this because I got it for 3k via amazon black friday (was bout 3800 with expedited shipping). Note that geewiz had it at 5k for their black friday specials....

Was it worth it?

Few "cons" but nothing that's a deal beaker:
1. No Appletv - Just flick back to my tv's smartbox. I use appletv for movies.
2. SmartDNS - No it just doesn't work, but you can now load a vpn app. I use ExpressVPN with split tunneling for netflix and chruncyroll.
3. Sideloading - Not really one push button if you haven't done this at all. However if you have basics down it is kinda easy.
4. USA plug - Minor, just get a plug converter.
5. GeforceNow - Minor, I now can use GameStream which is a lot better then steamlink. (Geforce now isn't in ZA yet, but that is the same for cloudx, and the rest)

Pros (so far)
1. App choice - There is just so many app choices on android tv. Finally, let there be chruncyroll and twitch.
2. GameStream - It is just so much better than steamlink.
3. "app seed" - Finally, no more "lag" when you do things (I have samsung Qled 7FN, 55).
4. Fidelity - So AI up-scaling is kinda cool to a niche.
5. Dolby Atmos - actually a con because now I need a proper avr + speakers/sound bar with speakers

I will save up for next Black Friday.

Thank you for the pros and cons.