Media TV box- help deciding

zerocool2009 · Aug 22, 2020

I got the miBox S after reading up about players for a while. Not regretting it for one second to be honest. Best money on a gadget spend

Crowley · Aug 22, 2020

Kashman said:
I have the Apple 4K tv... I don’t regret it and would highly recommend it.

I had a mygica which as everyone says does not work anymore. Highly annoyed by that..

Apple TV always gets updates, added a vpn service and able to watch Hulu+Disney and American Netflix and I stream my movies from a home server. The 4K hardware always me to stream 60GB UHD H.265 movies with a smile..

yes it’s expensive but I truly believe it’s well worth it and I won’t even bother considering another tv box.

Waiting to see if I can get a second one for my older TV in bedroom.

The Ematic can do all of the above without the Apple tax.

deesef · Aug 22, 2020

upup said:
View attachment 898262
This is what I mean

Read the descriptions. There is an increased cost of about R700 for a 32 gig SD card. (R800 more if you shop around).

That is some scally advertising, where they hope they will catch people who think that higher cost = beter machine.

killerbyte · Aug 23, 2020

upup said:
View attachment 898262
This is what I mean

That last one is a reseller on Takealot who is bundling a 32GB microSD card with the Ematic and charging a higher price. I can assure you that the Ematic boxes themselves are the same. Nology only brings in one model.

squirrel · Aug 25, 2020

I've got about $100 in Amazon credit, thinking about using it on the Ematic AGT419. Is there something better in this price range if I'm buying abroad? And is the Amazon model the same (compatible with DSTV now, etc)

TheMightyQuinn · Aug 25, 2020

This box looks like a potentially good replacement for my current EM95X, especially since it has SPDIF and ethernet.

But I am "old school" and download stuff to me PC and then KODI does the rest. I cannot even remember how I managed to set up the SAMBA share between KODI and my W10 pc...

Can this box do the same, or does it only stream directly from the internet? I also do not see KODI listed anywhere, but that would probably be a side load?

Some advice would be appreciated...I'm always slightly nervous my system will suddenly fail me and then I do not have a proper replacement ready.

Sinbad · Aug 25, 2020

squirrel said:
I've got about $100 in Amazon credit, thinking about using it on the Ematic AGT419. Is there something better in this price range if I'm buying abroad? And is the Amazon model the same (compatible with DSTV now, etc)

Spend a bit more and get a shield TV.

Raphael123 · Aug 25, 2020

yes Nvidia Shield is the way to go.

killerbyte · Aug 25, 2020

squirrel said:
I've got about $100 in Amazon credit, thinking about using it on the Ematic AGT419. Is there something better in this price range if I'm buying abroad? And is the Amazon model the same (compatible with DSTV now, etc)

Just note that if you buy an Ematic AGT419 overseas you will receive no local support.

killerbyte · Aug 25, 2020

MightyQuin said:
This box looks like a potentially good replacement for my current EM95X, especially since it has SPDIF and ethernet.

But I am "old school" and download stuff to me PC and then KODI does the rest. I cannot even remember how I managed to set up the SAMBA share between KODI and my W10 pc...

Can this box do the same, or does it only stream directly from the internet? I also do not see KODI listed anywhere, but that would probably be a side load?

Some advice would be appreciated...I'm always slightly nervous my system will suddenly fail me and then I do not have a proper replacement ready.

The AGT419 has been tested with Kodi and Plex. Both are available from the Store in Android TV.

Furthermore you can also install VLC on it and play content off a USB hard drive

TheMightyQuinn · Aug 25, 2020

killerbyte said:
The AGT419 has been tested with Kodi and Plex. Both are available from the Store in Android TV.

Furthermore you can also install VLC on it and play content off a USB hard drive

I definitely want to play content off of my networked PC where all the downloading happens.

Sinbad · Aug 25, 2020

MightyQuin said:
I definitely want to play content off of my networked PC where all the downloading happens.

Kodi can do that on pretty much any android media player.

killerbyte · Aug 25, 2020

MightyQuin said:
I definitely want to play content off of my networked PC where all the downloading happens.

As you've said, you like and use Kodi, and Kodi is supported on the Ematic.

Adhvik · Aug 25, 2020

Raphael123 said:
yes Nvidia Shield is the way to go.

this is true - If you can wait a bit for Black Friday - these will get discounted by a further 50 dollars as per previous deals on Nvidia on Amazon

SHL · Aug 25, 2020

Kashman said:
I have the Apple 4K tv... I don’t regret it and would highly recommend it.

I had a mygica which as everyone says does not work anymore. Highly annoyed by that..

Apple TV always gets updates, added a vpn service and able to watch Hulu+Disney and American Netflix and I stream my movies from a home server. The 4K hardware always me to stream 60GB UHD H.265 movies with a smile..

yes it’s expensive but I truly believe it’s well worth it and I won’t even bother considering another tv box.

Waiting to see if I can get a second one for my older TV in bedroom.

My Ematic 4K can do all of the above and I paid R1000 for it.

Gudnews · Aug 25, 2020

I bought the Ematic to stream proof my future. I use it to play stuff off external HDDs for now with Kodi. It plays my 4TB powered HDD with no issues and I suspect it will play any size HDD as long as it's powered up.

Taqyon · Aug 31, 2020

I've used my ematic now a few times, I must say it's nice to be able to access all main media platforms. I just need to find a good way to play DLNA sources? I've got plex running on my file server and I can access it using VLC, but it's a bit of a dig to find. The plex android client does not seem to be able to access DLNA shared devices.

killerbyte · Aug 31, 2020

Taqyon said:
I've used my ematic now a few times, I must say it's nice to be able to access all main media platforms. I just need to find a good way to play DLNA sources? I've got plex running on my file server and I can access it using VLC, but it's a bit of a dig to find. The plex android client does not seem to be able to access DLNA shared devices.

If you have the Plex server running on your file server why are you using DLNA?

Taqyon · Sep 16, 2020

@killerbyte just for compatibility, some of my devices like the older TVs can only play DLNA. I also don't want to commit to a specific proprietary platform because they inevitably start charging/limiting features.

On the media player I do have Plex client installed, but it's full of online streaming services but, ironically, can't find my personal media that's actually shared by Plex Server!

Any app suggestions to playback on the Ematic?

killerbyte · Sep 16, 2020

Taqyon said:
@killerbyte just for compatibility, some of my devices like the older TVs can only play DLNA. I also don't want to commit to a specific proprietary platform because they inevitably start charging/limiting features.

On the media player I do have Plex client installed, but it's full of online streaming services but, ironically, can't find my personal media that's actually shared by Plex Server!

Any app suggestions to playback on the Ematic?

So you have a Plex server? And the account you are using on the Ematic Plex app is the same one as the one signed into the server?

You should find a option in the app menu to add teh server to the media sources.

Media TV box- help deciding

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