Nexus Player to Mi Box 3 upgrade?

by Caubs

Hi all,

Hoping some of you with a bit more knowledge on these devices than myself can chime in. I've owned a Nexus Player for about 2ish years now and it has been pretty reliable until recently. The included remote broke (100% my fault, slipped in between the couch and snapped), and the remote app is just horribly unreliable in fact it will no longer connect.

I'm also experiencing issues where the entire device just freezes while playing a show on Plex or watching something on Kodi. The only way to fix it is to unplug and restart the device. Super annoying, but it's had a good run...

I'm in Canada, so my selection of devices is very limited. I was thinking of purchasing the Xiaomi Mi Box 3 which seems to have pretty good reviews though while searching for a similar topic on this subreddit, I'm seeing a lot of various issues with it (netflix freezing, sleep mode problems, etc) which is casting some doubt on my plans

Just want to get some opinions on this, is it a worthy upgrade? Ideally, I would love to get the Nvidia Shield but the cost is a bit much (not sure I can convince the wife, or myself tbh).

Thanks!

Andrroid

It's definitely an upgrade, with the shield even moreso.

Regarding how long you've had a Nexus player, its actually only been no longer than 2.5 years.

matthebe

As someone who has all three, it's definitely and improvment from the player. Better hardware and a better remote. If you have the money for a shield that would be the best choice. But if the Nexus player worked for you then the mibox is gonna good device for you. Only thing I would check on is whether you use any Android 7 features, as the mibox still hasn't received it.

ezmobee_work

I have not had any issues with my Mi box. Netflix, Kodi, youtube all work fine as does casting to it.

jerome80

If you have the money, opt for the Shield. I had a Mi Box and had too many issues when using Plex. I had a few other issues with video playback from the Google Play Store and Netflix. I got rid of the Mi Box and purchased a 2017 Shield. My biggest (and only) complaint so far with the Shield is the remote. It occasionally disconnects when you're not using it so it takes a little bit to wake it up. Still, hands down is better than the Mi Box. Also, the support from Nvidia is significantly better than Xiaomi.

ddanchev

I like my mibox, but it really bothers me that Google released Android O beta for it's nexus player, and I'm still waiting for the Nougat update. That said if you get mi box you should be prepared to not get much support or SW updates.

Tired8281

I notice you call it "Mi Box 3". Mind linking us to the one you are talking about, I have a feeling we're not on the same page.

andy2na

have they fixed the stuttering and frame drops in 4k/hdr content on the mi box?

I heard running at 4k had a whole slew of issues, but this was at launch

LawHero4L

I have both the Nexus Player and the Mi Box. The Nexus Player is a bit more sluggish than the Mi Box and had some strange quirks. Plex playback was really inconsistent but worst of all was that it got to the point where I had to force close Sling TV from the settings menu between every use. The Mi Box cured those issues.

Bodycount9

No issues with both my Mi boxes. It's well worth the $70 I paid for them. I got my money's worth I'm trying to say. If I bought a shield, I would feel I didn't make that money back yet because it's three times more than one Mi Box.

So what is it doesn't have nougat yet. It plays fine with the factory operating system.

JimboLodisC

We went from $100+/month cable bill to adding Netflix, Hulu, and Usenet for about $35/month. So I've got about $65 per month freed up that went into paying for my Shield TV. 4 months later and I'm pocketing cash.

[deleted]

I don't know if i would call it an upgrade i went from nexus to mibox and they seem to have roughly the same performance

infinitesmoke

Would not call it an upgrade. The hardware is the same, software mi box is still on marshmallow.