What AndroidTV??

by Drackeo

So im hoping to drop my cable bill and go to just internet. Right now im on a TV,Phone,Internet package and its going up to about $175 a month... Way too much for me. Im hoping to cut the cord (insert Shinedown here). Did a bit of research and it looks like AndroidTV has a good amount of the major networks (mom likes to watch those) and plex support for my movie addiction. My question is what box to get?? There seems to be a lot ranging from $200 for the Nivida Shield down to like $30 from china... Sounds like the MiBox is good but wana here more opinions.

Andrroid

Keep in mind the apps for major networks often do not have any free content but rather require a cable login to get access.

Ausernameneeded

To cut traditional cable, you can look at a few Internet TV services. My favorite is PlayStation Vue. It does NOT require a PlayStation and is available on Android TV. It also may have your local channels. That starts at $30 a month for 60+ mainstream channels.

There is also Sling, DirectTV Now (not sure if they have an AndroidTV app yet), YouTube TV Beta (certain areas), and Hulu Live TV. All should be way under your traditional cable costs.

As for boxes, the three main choices would be Mi Box, Shield, and FireTV (it's Android based, but tweaked and separate marketplace).

If you just want streaming than the Mi Box is the best for the price ($70). If you are heavy into Prime than FireTV Box is great ($90 for box, don't get the cheaper stick as it lags like crazy). If you are heavy in Android or PC gaming than Shield is a great piece of hardware ($200+).

npaladin2000

There isn't a lot. The $30 boxes from China don't count. You have the SHIELD and the MiBox these days. The MiBox can handle 1080p pretty well, but it's pretty much WiFi only and I wouldn't try doing 4k content with that setup. The SHIELD is hard to beat, it's a very flexible and powerful box, esxept for the volume control on the remote sucking. That and the price, it's pretty expensive. I personally don't regret it though: I find it to be very worth it.

battierpeeler

sit on it till after I/O in case there are any new product launches. as is, i'd only recommend the mibox or shield. also fox, abc, abc family (freeform), cw, cw seed, and comedy central have free content without cable login. on top of this, i'd add a digital antenna for over-the-air channels (we spent 100 on ours because the towers were pretty far away ~35 miles). you also might want to look into a skinny bundle (the 35ish dollar packages that are offered by playstation, youtube, sling, hulu, and directv now). look at what channels they offer and compare/contrast them. i think they all have 7day-1month free trial too to try them out.

if you are ok with pirated streams, then there is mobdro and kodi stuff to look into as well.

secesh

I had a mibox. didn't like it. Had trouble playing netflix and hbo. I had to stop using it and just cast everything instead.

Shield is getting a bit old. I/O starts wednesday. "Google hardware" was a bit of a letdown last year, but if they introduce a fully-google androidtv this year....

fervidfly

Plex is essentially non functioning on MiBox, the Shield is really only option, but has it's own issues I have the new 2017 version and the remote is essentially unusable.

goldenboymd

I have T95Z very good, fast good reviews and it was easy to use. I am first time Andriod user and enjoy not having $200 a month cable bill.

Emily_zhou

I am using MyGica, it not only can play DRM 1080p or 4K video streams, but also can receive digital live tv, so i can watch unencrypted cable TV sometimes.