The Xiaomi 4k tv box s 2nd Gen or the Nova 4k ultra hd android tv box. There are some good specials going on and there isn't much different in price at the moment. Going with general reviews incl stuff.co.za both boxes are both seem very good or on par. I'm just wondering if I should be aware any issues for either one and mybroadband's general experience with these streaming tv boxes.
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Which one of these streaming boxes better?
- Thread starter KatieKim
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elf_lord_ZC5
Honorary Master
Feel both are very good for thr price, tho my vote will be with the Mi-Box S 2nd Generation, by a small margin. Will be buying one tomorrow, regardless of the special at Makro.
naughty001
Expert Member
i had the Nova - it was great - i now have the Mi Box 2nd gen and its also great - i want to have both because of minor differences in functionality and in subjective image quality but if you have both - you wont be missing any functionality or performance and will be having everything at your disposal - so i am collecting up spare cash that is not required for anything else by selling off items i don't need - so by Jan i should have both - IMHO you wont go wrong with either but the advantage of the Mi Box is that it is using the stronger CPU of the two but they are using identical GPU's
the CPU can handle playing DV but Netogy did not pay the DV license - so it doesn't officially support DV - when i had mine i tried playing DV with KODI but that did not work BUT i subsequently found out that KODI ver.20 doesnt support DV but it is slated to arrive in KODI ver.21 which is in beta form now and could be officially released soon - so for now i use Just player in the Mi Box for DV - when i get another Nova i will try Just Player and see if that makes DV work in the Nova unofficially (it might unless they are actively preventing it from happening) - i have guys owing me money and if they pay up i should have the Nova in my hands soon
the biggest advantage of the Nova is that it has 16GB of storage as opposed to the Mibox having only 8GB - if you want to add lots of apps for increased functionality then the Nova is obviously the one to have because i added apps to the mi box and had to delete all just to do the last update because it kept on telling me that i did not have sufficient storage space to do the update (i did try to add a 32 GB flash drive as system storage but it did not work on the mi box - need to see if it works on the Nova - in which case the Nova is the clear winner for storage space ..... remember with the mi box around almost 4GB of storage is used up for the operating system so you only have 4.1GB usable - whereas with the Nova you would have close to 12GB usable after accounting for the operating system so you can add a fair amount of additional apps to do everything else you need done
the CPU can handle playing DV but Netogy did not pay the DV license - so it doesn't officially support DV - when i had mine i tried playing DV with KODI but that did not work BUT i subsequently found out that KODI ver.20 doesnt support DV but it is slated to arrive in KODI ver.21 which is in beta form now and could be officially released soon - so for now i use Just player in the Mi Box for DV - when i get another Nova i will try Just Player and see if that makes DV work in the Nova unofficially (it might unless they are actively preventing it from happening) - i have guys owing me money and if they pay up i should have the Nova in my hands soon
the biggest advantage of the Nova is that it has 16GB of storage as opposed to the Mibox having only 8GB - if you want to add lots of apps for increased functionality then the Nova is obviously the one to have because i added apps to the mi box and had to delete all just to do the last update because it kept on telling me that i did not have sufficient storage space to do the update (i did try to add a 32 GB flash drive as system storage but it did not work on the mi box - need to see if it works on the Nova - in which case the Nova is the clear winner for storage space ..... remember with the mi box around almost 4GB of storage is used up for the operating system so you only have 4.1GB usable - whereas with the Nova you would have close to 12GB usable after accounting for the operating system so you can add a fair amount of additional apps to do everything else you need done
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Corelli
Executive Member
Neither. Get a better TV
Alternatively an XBOX rather.
Apple TV and Ematic is ok otherwise.
backstreetboy
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Nova is the new version of the ematics…
naughty001
Expert Member
you are IMHO a bit outdated in your info - both the Mi Box 2nd gen and the Nova are newer and more functional than an Ematic and will probably play far more codecs and formats of locally stored files (the latest Apple TV is great but almost three times the price of the other boxes)
as for a better TV - IMHO its not going to have a good enough CPU and GPU to play stuff as a local media player because in my experience even higher end TVs use inferior hardware to TV boxes - though it might just work fine for streaming but you could still have some functionality issues and inconsistencies with a TV used as a media player for locally stored files even with the latest operating systems
i haven't used an XBOX ever so i can't really comment accurately on that BUT as a streaming box and as a media player IMHO it MIGHT not do everything that the latest TV boxes do easily given the state of tech when it was designed - so when it comes to tech stuff the newer it is the more it will do - and the Mi box 2nd gen and the Nova are around the latest items that can be found so they add a fair amount of stuff that they can do extra into the mix
Crowley
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The newer TVs have zero issues playing locally store content. I use Plex on my samsung TV streaming from my micro server and it works perfectly.
Crumbl0x
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According to a lot of research I did, the 2nd Gen Xiaomi Box seems to be on track for being a perfect all-rounder:
+ Passing-through bitstream audio sources, all HDR formats sans Vision Profile 7 as most do,
+ Certified app support
+ AV1 to solidify it
+ Respectable performance
Unfortunately, until potential software updates clear this up, it cannot do the following at the moment:
- Matching framerates
- Full third-party app spec exposure for pass-through and matching content
Lacking dedicated ethernet and 8GB of storage is also a major minus in my book - but if those small qualms I mentioned get rectified, for the price, it's a really strong box. I could still recommend the Ugoos AM8 and Nvidia Shield if local media bitbang support is a top priority, but they're easily 5x the cost unfortunately, and the no nonsense Apple TV mainly for streaming content.
+ Passing-through bitstream audio sources, all HDR formats sans Vision Profile 7 as most do,
+ Certified app support
+ AV1 to solidify it
+ Respectable performance
Unfortunately, until potential software updates clear this up, it cannot do the following at the moment:
- Matching framerates
- Full third-party app spec exposure for pass-through and matching content
Lacking dedicated ethernet and 8GB of storage is also a major minus in my book - but if those small qualms I mentioned get rectified, for the price, it's a really strong box. I could still recommend the Ugoos AM8 and Nvidia Shield if local media bitbang support is a top priority, but they're easily 5x the cost unfortunately, and the no nonsense Apple TV mainly for streaming content.
FiestaST
Honorary Master
Picked it up last week when it was R899, currently it’s R999.
It’s better than the Xiaomi Box (any) imo, a big part of that is the 2nd USB port + ethernet.
www.takealot.com
It’s better than the Xiaomi Box (any) imo, a big part of that is the 2nd USB port + ethernet.
Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store
South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
naughty001
Expert Member
i tried 4k mp4 and DV and i never got those working on a TV - most streaming boxes have issues with those - first time i ever had a DV file playing properly was with the Mi Box S 2nd gen using just player - if you say you got those working on any other streaming box besides for the apple TV or Nvidia shield you never really tried it or you are lying - they don't work on any older boxes - and i have never gotten 4k mp4 content to work on any TV or even most of the older streaming boxes - so up to 1080p content you probably wont have issues - once you get to 2160p HDR10+ and above DV with Atmos etc you will have your TV seeing its own ar5e - i know cos i have been trying for ages to make these things work .... HINT : they generally don't
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naughty001
Expert Member
Picked it up last week when it was R899, currently it’s R999.
It’s better than the Xiaomi Box (any) imo, a big part of that is the 2nd USB port + ethernet.
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View attachment 1638031
not anywhere close to being better than the Mi Box S 2nd gen - i had two of the Mecool KM2 which is a clone of this exact device - the description in the Mecool settings even calls the mecool a skyworth leap - 20% of the content i had did not work on them (any 4k mp4 files you download do not work only 4k mkv worked) - i sold those mecool (which is more-or-less the Leap S1) to replace them with the Nova and the Mi Box S - the Leap S1 uses the AM905X2 2nd generation CPU while the Nova and Mi Box S 2nd gen are using the 4th generation of AMlogic CPUs (AM905x4 and AM905y4)
the hardware of the Skyworth leap S1 doesn't have compatibility for loads of differing new codecs and also functionality - if it did i would have saved loads of money instead of selling my KM2's for R500 each to buddys in order to get newer hardware - there were just too many files that refused to play (some did not even recognise as existing on my hard drives in the file explorers)
EDIT : the lack of USB ports can be compensated for by using a powered USB hub whereas not playing codecs will never be compensated for besides by changing hardware .... which means getting rid of the unit with the incompatibilities and buying a new unit with a newer CPU sooner or later - and you will eventually come across files which wont play in the older gen AMlogic CPU based units if you are a torrentgalaxy or MagnetDL user ...... conclusion being if you are buying a TV box unit anytime now - the ones to go for are the ones with the 4th gen CPUs (AM905x4 or AM905y4 4th generation) not things like the leap S1 that use the AM905x2 (2nd generation)
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Lupus
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Xbox minimum uses 33w to stream, a TV box uses about 3w
Lupus
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Except it's only Android 10, doesn't support AV1, if you're saying it's better then the MI box gen 2, I'm thinking you've not used the gen 2. Perhaps the older gen 1Picked it up last week when it was R899, currently it’s R999.
It’s better than the Xiaomi Box (any) imo, a big part of that is the 2nd USB port + ethernet.
Takealot.com: Online Shopping | SA's leading online store
South Africa's leading online store. Fast, reliable delivery to your door. Many ways to pay. Shop anything you can imagine: TVs, laptops, cellphones, kitchen appliances, toys, books, beauty & more. Shop the mobile app anytime, anywhere.
View attachment 1638031
Speedster
Honorary Master
4k mp4s work just fine on my Samsung, direct stream from Plex.
naughty001
Expert Member
never worked on my Hisense BUT no surprise there cos Vidaa is utter garbage as an OS - and it doesn't work on majority of the older generation of TV boxes either ..... but as far as the TV is concerned i only use the TV as a screen anyway - i play and stream my content from my TV boxes - besides i never got into Plex - the first time i tried to use Plex it started giving me cr@p about registering it etc - never ever tried it since and its a software i love to avoid since it never seemed to be the thing for me
another thing to remember is that it might work if you are direct streaming those files into some form of compatible software - but i generally use 4k video downloader to download these things (mainly off youtube - but i have had to use MKV instead of mp4 and if i want to extract the audio out of the video i have to then use other software to convert the file to mp4 (which doesn't play in any of my set top boxes besides the new ones) and then only can i use dbpoweramp to extract the audio in mp3 or flac format so it was a whole load of schlep for my purposes ie either do lots of conversions for the functionality i needed or download things in duplicate in different formats and codecs which will hammer your harddrives or whatever form of storage you use
naughty001
Expert Member
the lack of enough storage is a biggie - out of that 8 gig around 4 gig is used by the O/S and everytime there is an update there has never been one smaller than 732 MB - so you constantly need around another 1GB free permanently just to do the O/S updates - which leaves only around 3GB for apps and individual app updates - if you are using an app like Kodi - take out another gig at least to install and update it for the first time - which leaves very little space for anything else
so the Mi Box S 2nd gen does have some unassailable issues also it has only a single USB port (which is only USB2 anyway and while it does work fine it might have been better to have USB3) and a lack of ethernet ports are also another huge gap in its arsenal so depending on what you need to do with the box you have to decide whats more important for you - i went for the Mi second gen because right now there is no known codec that it can't play - it just plays everything out of the box including things that barely came into existence a few months ago plus it has the Dolby Atmos and DV capability if you have software capable of DV playback .... VLC plays MP4 DV files but it cant play mkv DV files - though soon KODI will sort everything out ie ver 21 is going to allow playback of mkv DV files on units that have the hardware capability BUT the main reason why i went Mi Box is that even buying two Mi boxes and two novas all at the same time will still cost less than a single Nvidia Shield TV pro
so if you really want the ultimate android based player that still has to be the Nvidia Shield as you correctly say though that uses an older operating system instead of Google TV but as you also correctly pointed out that is going to come at a cost - you rarely see it anywhere below R5k new (if at all) but the 3 gigs of ram is IMHO one of the things that will make it more stable and less choppy than most other similar boxes ..... wish i could afford one
BBSA
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I own both and am satisfied with them. The only problem I have with the Nova is that it lacks an opt-out feature.
elf_lord_ZC5
Honorary Master
Busy setting up my Mi-Box 2nd gen at the moment
Jean Claude Vaaldamme
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Well when I was looking for another tv box the Nova and Mi box was both around 1.2K
I got a secondhand 4k Apple tv 2nd gen 64gb with ethernet for 1.8k and it even was still under warrantee. Much better and faster than all these Android boxes.
Yes they are a bit overpriced, but I don't think I will look at the cheaper/mid range Android boxes again. Especially now that you can run a VPN on Apple tv.