Uses will primarily be:
I'm in Canada so I will be importing one of these and paying a bit more than the USD price but I am okay with that. Just wondering which one would be best.
I was looking to get the Xiaomi box but then the initial reviews didn't seem that great (at least the ones I read).
If you want proper Kodi/SPMC, and you care about things such as lossless audio passthrough and proper frame rate support, do yourself a favour and get the Nvidia Shield. It's worth the extra.
I own two Nexus Players, a Mi Box and I've helped a friend set up Kodi on his FireTV. The Mi Box is definitely my favorite of the devices.
It's just super stable, performant and doesn't have the visual interface bloat that Amazon's FireOS does with its Android TV interface. It's basically just stock AndroidTV Marshmallow with one little extra app row that you can disable.
I've had zero issues with Netflix, YouTube, Kodi (playing from network or local from USB thumb drive) or any of the other apps I use, but I use 5ghz wireless AC and stick to 1080p content. The only gripe I have with it is that I have some trouble using voice search with the Mi Box remote compared to the Nexus player, but I actually prefer the Mi Box remote button layout with the volume buttons.
I picked up the Mi Box and while I am pretty happy with it for YouTube and even got Amazon video working on it, I have not been able to get Netflix to work at all. I'm not the only one either. Not sure why it works for some and not for others.
fire TV stick 2nd gen
I have a Mi Box and a Fire TV 4K, and honestly.... I'd pick the Fire TV if I were buying another.
The Android TV UI is vastly superior, but the hardware on the Fire TV is definitely better. The UI is faster, it's got an ethernet connection, and I haven't noticed the stuttering I occasionally see on the Mi Box.
If Amazon actually follows through on the UI upgrade they've promised by end of year, the decision will be even more clear, IMO. If that happens, I'll probably sell the Mi Box and get another Fire TV.
MI box 100%.if nothing else than for the Android TV experience being far better than amazons. Fire TV stick is out. Garbage device really. Slow as shit and painful even to navigate.