I tested them on a 1080p TV. I tried different apps and the Shield always has better video quality and contrast. I checked the settings and they both output 1080p. It is not just in videos but also the launcher is more washed out on the Mi Box. Anyone with both notice that?
I have both on the 2 of the exact same tv and see no difference in video i used a few apps that are on both boxes but from what i read here the mibox quality control is lacking
The amount of crap I read on here daily is quite staggering.... The Shield Fanboys are out in force again it seems.
@Nedsc seems to be the only one with any knowledge.
I too have a very strong suspicion that the Shield is setup in this test to output a RGB colorspace.
The AMLogic - Mi Box - outputs a YCbCr colorspace - that is actually superior if you calibrate the TV correctly first and do not have it setup for RGB.
Read this and have a clue: https://www.avforums.com/threads/hdmi-output-rgb-vs-ycbcr.1037514/
There is nothing wrong with the Mi Box's 1080p YCbCr colorspace output.
What all Android TV boxes cannot do is 1080p/4K Auto resolution switching. The Shield actually has well know poor 1080p>4K video upscaling. For a so called Premium 4K Android TV device from a well known GPU/Video card manufacturer I find this staggering.
Yes, I have both and I have the same observation. Especially for the washed out screen.
I planned to replace my shield with the Mibox as I don't play games very often but I finally kept the shield, much less prone to weird freezes/bugs. I gave the Mibox to my parents, it's still a nice android tv box, but if you have a shield, you can't go back.
Sounds like a color range issue. I forget what the settings are called on the Shield and MiBox (I have both), but there's no reason you shouldn't be getting identical video playback on both. The Shield had a firmware bug a while back that actually caused things to be washed out on some TVs, but they later fixed it. Maybe the MiBox is having an issue with certain TVs, but such issues are normally just a software fix away.
A washed out screen is something you wouldn't need a comparison to see. I have 5 different devices hooked up to my TV. None are a Shield and none have different looking picture quality. You can tell the difference in higher or lower bitrate. Could be that the Shield is the only good box on the market and we have all simply gotten used to a crap picture all these years.
On MiBox: Settings > Display > Deep Color Mode > On
Wish the Shield would go for a little less, had a Mibox, got rid of it. Got a Roku Premier figuring its a proven name - constant issues with sound dropping etc. (supposedly a firmware fix might be coming?) - seems like the only device that I'm not reading tons of issues about is the Shield (aside from the Chromecast which obviously doesn't run independently).
assuming you're using different inputs, are both inputs calibrated the same?