Judging by similar threads, it seems like the Nvidia Shield is the best quality option if you can afford it, with the Mi Box being second choice at a lower price point. Since I'm looking to buy my first box for a home with 2 TV's, I was planning on ordering the Mi Box off Amazon.ca, and consider buying the Shield and cut my cable if it goes well. But I haven't seen any Canadians ask about ordering a box from a website mentioned in a CBC News article. Should I get this instead of the Mi Box?
I started using an nVidia Shield on my main TV, and a MiBox in the bedroom. I use my Shield for the DVR and gaming. The MiBox does the following things for me absolutely beautifully: Netflix, Hulu, HBOGo, Showtime Anytime, Live Channels (via HDHomerun), Crackle. I also use sideloaded DirecTVNow and Amazon Video and both work great. For now I'm thrilled with it, even on android 6.0.
Are you astroturfing? Anyone who has an awareness between Nvidia Shield and MiBox would know better than to consider, much less link to a generic, non-differentiated no-name ill-supported over-hyped POS box.
Canadian here; I had a MiBox I picked up in the US when they went on sale at Walmart. After 6 months I sold it for a Nexus Player because I hated it so much.
If I could have afforded a Shield, I would have bought one, but I couldn't. Plus I had one Nexus already, now I have 2. Hurrah!
What are your typical uses? Online streaming services (Netflix, etc), playing local media content via local storage, gaming?
Our options are somewhat limited. I ended up getting a used ShieldTV locally and run that on my main TV, with the MiBox on the secondary TV. I use Kodi for local content and IPTV, and then run Netflix also, that's it. Both boxes run these things without issue, but the ShieldTV has more RAM and is somewhat speeder in the menus. Maybe try a MiBox first?
Stay away from that other box
Shield
Mi box has it's issues(finicky on occasion) but works well for me. It does the whole using external storage as internal thing pretty well which puts above the Nexus player. I can't speak to the Shield TV having never owned one but I would say unless you are into games it might be overkill on your wallet. Mi box for tv, console for gaming.
I wouldn't recommend it. That box does not run Android TV; it runs basic Android, which really isn't designed for TV use. Trust me, you don't want to futz around with an air mouse if you can help it; I did it for a while with an HTPC, and switching to something designed for TV use was such a blessing. It would likely be missing appropriate DRM support as well, which will limit what apps you can use.
If you're looking for another alternative to the Shield and the MiBox, you might check out the Channel Master Stream+. It comes with an integrated TV tuner to use with the Live Channels application, so you can watch and record OTA TV without any additional adapters. Downside is that it's not certified for Netflix yet. They say they're working on it, but I always take promises of post-sale feature adds with a grain of salt.
That box runs Android, not Android TV .