It seems the only Android TV device officially supported in Australia was the Nexus Player. Even if the Shield was supported here it's a bit out of my price range anyway.
Do you think there's any likelihood of a Nexus Player refresh happening in the short term? Or should I just cough up the horribly inflated prices on ebay since it was discontinued?
I was also thinking of the Xiaomi Mi Box, but I seriously doubt it will be launched in Australia anyway.
If it really is just "a bit" out of your price range, get a Shield TV. It's far better than any of the Rokus or Apple TVs I have used. It runs Kodi like a dream and is just generally blindingly fast. I actually replaced a full on HTPC with it and have no regrets.
If nothing else, the 4k support, 3GB of RAM and USB3 give it a level of future proofing few other STBs have.
Google is too unpredictable with devices unfortunately. They don't typically make a profit on them; they're mostly used to get devs in the ecosystem so it can grow. The phones have only recently been stepping up, with the introduction of the Nexus 6 and the Nexus 6P (Premium) the following year. I don't personally think they see the future of Android TV in set top boxes - I think they see it in actual TVs. And they're probably right. They're going to do to the smart TV market what they did to the phone market.
What are the ebay NP prices up to?
The Asus store seems to have them for 70$ us so about 93$ aud
I have a minix x7, and is great. Was thinking of upgrading it to a minix u1 but have decided to try out a shield. So yes if you can't afford a shield try the minix u1.
Personally I would seriously only consider the nvidia shield. Make friends with an American or something and get one. That MI box is trash. Unless it cost less than $75 dollars, I wouldn't buy it. The storage is terrible (be ready for external) It has zero USB 3 ports. S that hard drive will be slow. No Ethernet hook up. Who makes a 4K streaming device with no ethernet? The hardware installed is also less then stellar and will probably not be supported past marshmallow or very limited updates past 6.0.
What are your exact needs and what do you wish to accomplish. I may be able to make suggestions to save you from buying a mi box.
I would not be surprised to see a new Nexus Player launch this fall. Certainly, Google isn't giving up on Android TV. I think the only reason the current model was discontinued so early is because Intel discontinued the processor.
I know lots of people stand by their nexus player, but to me it is started to get more outdated as developers are pushing the envelope.
The Shield (of course) works wonders. The only thing I could suggest is wait for the Xiaomi Mi and hope it is launched there (or if not import it if allowed).