Example boxes would include G-Box Q2, Minix Neo U1, M8S Pro, etc. I'm basically trying to weigh my options in comparing these models to the new Xiaomi Mi Box. A Youtuber compared the new Mi box to the internals of cheaper Chinese $35 counterparts. However, I'm looking to always use the Leanback launcher only. I'm not a fan of the other crappy launchers.

Just purchased a memobox ufo android tv box. as usual it comes 2gb lpddr3 ram, mediatek s905 cpu and mali 450 gpu. Not sure if i chose a good android box but hope its gonna be good. I can still cancel it so waiting for reviews. ()

Assistant manager at my local Walmart called me and told me that she got an answer back from UPC/Sales support - release date is supposedly October 7th.

Take it with a grain of salt, but it's the closest thing we have to a release date at this point.

UPDATE:

The store manager just called me (about my issue on Saturday with the failed purchase...cant knock Walmart on their followup customer support) and said it's supposed to be in stock by October 7th, with an on the shelf date of October 10th (cant make this stuff up).

Just a heads up.

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We all know AdBlocker for our internet browser, i was wondering if such an app could be build for Android TV. Not to block ads in apps and the Opera browser, but to block or mute commercials on live television.

I've read some articles on 'commercial detection' but they are all based on detecting changes in color or sound patterns and don't seem very accurate. I'd figured in this digital age, there must be more advanced (or simple) ways of detecting commercials in the digital tv signal?

Would be lovely to have a Android TV app that could detect a commercial and that can automaticly change to a different app / channel / video / what ever.

Any thoughts on this?

Has anyone tested any codec support on it? VC1 MPEG2 etc.

If I had one I'd do some testing but I can't located one here in BFE.

Considering a Mi Box if price is correct.

My main sources of media are Netflix and an external hard drive.

Right now use a Roku 2 which has a built in "Media Player" to browse the drive and play the various media files.

Is there an Android App which will preform this function, maybe read the drive and give an "User Interface" to play the various movie files?

I am thinking about switching over to an android TV device from a Roku but I am wondering about the differences in the o.s

When streaming from Netflix or Hulu on Android does it have the same functionality as google play movies in that you can see info on the actors and so forth or is it the same as on a Roku?

Voice search, just how good is it? Is there also a way to search via text from a phone?

If you go to the CW website it has an ad for its upcoming app release for the different platforms. Practically everything is listed, except for Android TV. It lists Android as a platform, but that generally means the mobile Android OS. What's the deal?

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a) from what I am reading, the pro does 4k right? How good is it? Am i relatively future proof with the 4k, i understand it has hdmi 2.0 as well. I can just go with the regular shield, since it has all the same features except larger drive?

b) I sometimes stream from r/soccerstreams or r/ballstreams. In order for me to do this, I pull up the browser on my computer. Can I do this on the shield?

c) I also have subscription for hboshare which I use vpn for. Can I run xfinity comcast through browser alongside vpn so I can access the content? Will the shield restrict me from doing this? Right now i just do it through chrome browser on computer

d) Can I run the shield to my receiver?

last but not least, regular shield or pro?

I know these are not well received but I use a cheap cable box that provides nothing more than just access to channels. I think it would be a little better setup if I had something like an android tv over the top of it. Problem is it dosent look like anyone makes anything like that. Ive tried a cable card with an HD Homerun but Time Warner limits what you can use cable card for.

Because the Mi Box is in the wild, I wanted to start a thread to discuss it. I have one, and I'll be checking this thread if anyone has particular questions.

One thing I've noticed is that the power cable is unreasonably short. Like 3 foot or so. I've never seen such a short power cable for a media streamer.

I am trying to compile a list of DVR options for AndroidTV and the pros/cons for each. Please suggest additions/edits.

AndroidTV Native App DVR

• Plex DVR (beta) - Requires PlexPass, can run entirely on ShieldTV (possibly other AndroidTV boxes) no live TV view or pause support, average quality and ease of use. Includes EPG as part of Plex Pass in addition to the other pre-existing Plex Pass features, (also as annual and lifetime), currently only supports HDHR tuners

• HDHomeRun DVR app (beta) - $60, buggy, no live TV pause support. Active, albeit slow development, will have a $30/year subscription that will enable all the DVR services and a 14 day EPG, will support multiple HDHR devices

PC Server-based DVR

• Plex DVR - see above

• Emby - Media server, works with Kodi or Emby player apps. Supports Live TV, DVR features.

• NextPVR - Good, requires Kodi or Emby and guide costs $25/year

• MythTV - Integrates with Kodi, supports live pause, rewind, auto commercial skip

• SageTV - Server app with native Android TV client app. Capabilities?

Hardware-based DVR

• Tablo - All-in-one device supports DVR, LiveTV, Pausing. active, albeit slow development, really benefits from $5 monthly subscription (also available as annual or lifetime), available as in a 2-tuner and 4-tuner model. No 5.1 audio support.

• Other options?

Observations

• None of the native Android TV DVR apps support live viewing or pausing. These solutions are very new and should improve with Android 7.

• An ideal solution would be for a native Android TV app to provide both the server and client software (supporting multiple tuners) and work well to support multiple transcoded streams. This is hardware dependent and currently only the ShieldTV has the hardware power. Plex server is currently the only native server option but my testing with multiple streams did not work well. I was able to watch a BR rip MKV from the ShieldTV while simultaneously streaming a transcode of a similar MKV to my phone but I had to be careful which movies I selected. Anything with a high bitrate resulted in frame drops. I was not able to get 3 streams working but YMMV.

I've reset everything. Tablo works on everything except my android TV. reset tablo, TV, internet. It works on my phones and tablets just not my TV.