A good thread topic. I wrestled with my Mibox for a long time, expecting it would work the way regular Android devices do, which it doesn't in many ways. But in the end, I found ways to make it work more to my liking, though it takes some work.

--Followed the tip above to get rid of the Xiaomi Recommends row of tiles.

--Replaced the MiBox default with the HAL Launcher that is entirely customizeable.

--Tried and failed to use the ATV TuneIn app that lacks account log-in and Favorites, and ended up installing and mostly using the Radio.net app instead, which does allow the saving of Favorite station.

--Went into Home Screen / Recommendations Row settings and turned off almost all of the app permission settings that allow individual apps to put recommended content boxes on the Home Screen, since most of the time, the surfaced recommendations are ones I had no interest in.

--Sideloaded the Amazon Fire TV version of the latest Firefox browser that actually provides an on screen mouse pointer (actually circle) that can be controlled by the MiBox remote clicker. Although, I also added a USB hub to the MiBox's one USB port, so I could plug in USB sticks, a regular PC mouse for when some sideloaded apps need it, etc etc.

--Sideloaded the Amazon app store and then sideloaded a working version of the Amazon Prime Video app that actually works really well on the MiBox. Found it and a link to download it on a recent thread here in the ATV Reddit for the MiBox with a title regarding Amazon Prime Video.

--Sideloaded Terrarium and Mobdro.

--Sideloaded the regular Android apps for Google Drive and Google Photos, providing an easy way to import content into the MiBox, such as screen savers, APK files and such. I keep a folder in Google Drive of all the sideloaded APKs I've used on the MiBox.

--Absolutely sideloaded the TV Repo app that enables you to easily create leanback home screen tiles for non-leanback apps, meaning you can easily access them from your home screen. The same app also allows you to create leanback home screen tiles for individual web addresses that you may have as favorites.

And that's not even the full list of things I wrangled with beyond just installing regular ATV apps from the official Google ATV app store.

Don't understand why people are saying to return and get the Shield. Ok, Shield is better, but is more (more and more) expensive. Where I live (EU) I could get the Mi Box for 60€, the Shield for 180-190€ the base model... Saying to return and get a product that is more then twice expensive is a little... Yeah you get it.

Ignore the hard sale pitches for Shield. They sometimes come out in force here.

One thing you can do is to remove Xiaomi's recommended row. To do it, go to settings, Apps, system apps and find "XiaomiLeanbackCust". Click and disable.

You can also play around with Developer Options by going to Settings, About, highlight Build and hit OK on your remote a few times. That will put Developer Options into your settings. Probably won't need it, but it's there if you want.

For apps, you can use Pluto TV for free legal tv (mostly internet channels) and use the app or Google Live Channels (preinstalled) to watch. PuppetMaster or CumulusTV to add you own channels to Live Channels.

PS Vue for cheap cable, or SlingTV, or YouTube TV. Vue is my favorite starting at $40 a month for most cable channels and locals (missing A&E and Viacom though).

Buying/renting movies would be Vudu or Google Play Movies. Movies Anywhere can link to multiple accounts so you can watch all your movies from different stores.

UPDATED list

Shield userbase is like a cult here. IMO, if you are willing to spend $200 on a box which runs an OS with almost no support from the developers and Google, then add few bucks more and get an Xbox One S instead. Minus chromecast, Plus much more powerful hardware and blu-ray player.

Tips for MiBox

1. Install Aptoide-TV store to install non-TV apps easily.
2. One FTP app to push APKs or may be a File browser app with built-in FTP.
3. Buy this ethernet adapter plus extra USB port combo for best Internet speed.
4. Purchase Mouse-toggle app.
5. Install any free app to force non-TV apps to show in landscape mode.
6. Install Puffin Browser for Android TV.
7. Sideload Android Prime Video TV app from Shield/Sony TV, latest one.
8. Sideload Terrarium (or something similar).
9. Install TV Repo to make shortcuts on home screen for Non-Android TV apps.
10. Retroarch for some basic gaming, who doesn't love playing Contra and Mario!
11. Buy a Gamesir controller (I have a G3S bluetooth) if you plan on playing some basic games. Don't expect too much though, CPU/GPU combination is not that good.
12. Buy (screensaver plugin only) Photo Gallery and Screensaver. Very much worth it, IMO.
13. Few apps are exclusive to Fire TV but work perfectly on an AndroidTV device too. So if you have some apps available in Fire TV, you will have to ask someone who has a FireTV device for their credentials as these apps require Amazon app store installed with the same account they were downloaded from, very much like the play store.
14. You can install actual Mobile verison of chrome (if you need it for some reason) by saying "open chrome" and it will take you to play store and install it. You can use it with a mouse/keyboard or using the mouse toggle app may be ;)
15. tTorrent if you need a torrent downloader for research purpose :P
16. and lastly, MX player and VLC.

Games I can confirm works on MiBox (few needs to be sideloaded)

1. Age of Zombies
2. BB Racing
3. Bomber Friends
4. Bomb Squad
5. Caterzillar
6. Commute
7. Dan the man
8. Diversion
9. EVAC
10. Faily Breaks (I think Mi remote works too)
11. Fast like a fox
12. Card games
13. Geometry Race
14. GTA SA (crashes sometimes, try lowering the graphics)
15. Jetpack joyride
16. JoyJoy
17. Monster Shooter Platinum
18. MouseBot
19. Pac-Man CE DX
20. Pac-Man 256
21. Q*bert Rebooted
22. Riptide GP2
23. Skulls of the Shogun
24. Sonic 1
25. Turbo Dismount
26. Wind-up Knight

Hope this helps!

Clear data and disable apps you won't use such as all those foreign language keyboards and a few other things.

Look into Kodi and terrarium tv. That'll give you plenty to do lol.

Install some emulators and download some classic roms, plug in a gamepad and enjoy many hours on retro systems

MiBox great, recently bought 2nd one at under $50

Netflix, MLB, Youtube, Kodi, Cast from phone or pc. Also great media streamer off network drives.

I never tried any gaming and was unable to locate a Prime Video app but really nothing compares in this price range.

MiBox good for beginners. If funds right go with Nivida Shield. I am not trying to argue with other two guys. But I didn't notice much slow down with mibox. Guess every experience different. OP msg me will send you a good tip list I send to a lot of noobs.

I'd agree with them Shield better then Mibox. My next buy will get Shield. I just don't get shield people hate for Mibox. Idk what yalls set up was, but I rarely get lag. Uninstalled all the worthless apps. Disabled non used apps. Got all the streaming apps + Kodi.

I use mine as a quite capable music player. Audio output to usb dac takes care of audio quality, though line out is ok too. Kodi is my music player of choice, and there is a nifty spotify (actually spotify connect) addon for kodi.

I'm quite happy with this setup.

Hey, just got mine this weekend as well. Been busy reading forums and etc, and Im quite a noob as well. By your nick, I assume you are also a brazilian, so Ill try to tell what I did here.

• First of all, I downloaded and installed the Free Apps I have access. HBO, FOX, Telecine Play. So you need an account(its paid) to have acess to those, but if you have their services on sky/net/claro/whatever, you can have acess to them on your Mi Box as well. Because I have Sky here at home, I just put the login, and voilá, now I have acess to tons of movies/fox sports. Pretty much 90% of what I wanted on my mi box. Sports and movies/series.

• But because we are humans and we always want more, I wanted to take a look at Kodi. I installed Brazuca Play add-on, and I couldnt ask for more. Free live channels on TV(it has delay, and sometimes it needs some buffering, but overall a great experience). Lots of free movies/series/cartoons/animes and etc. What I didnt like about it, its that most of the content its dubbed. But Kodi is a world of content, and most likely there are apps with subtitled movies/series/etc...

Also, Kodi is not very easy to deal with. There are some tutorials on the internet tho, and thats how I leanrt the almost nothing I know so far...

• Emulators: Yeah, I just bought 2 controllers and Im waiting them to arrive. Having SNES at home is probably something to keep me entertained for a long time. Didnt test anything yet, but on the internet/forums I see people run it no problem, so Im excited.

Didnt have the time to look into customization and other stuff, but thats a minor thing I wouldnt worry at all with it. The original Mi Box interface is very beautiful nonetheless.

So, we have a box that gives us(at least gives me) Netflix, Telecine, HBO, FOX channels, YouTube, Kodi and their thousands add-ons, SNES/PS1/other games, and a world of other apps and stuff I didnt look into. Honestly, thats more than enough to keep me entertained. The only thing I would complain here, is that we have no acess to Globosat channels. We have to chromecast it through our cellphones. So watching Premiere/SporTV/Universal Channel/etc.. on a "legal" way is still impossible, or at least not ideal to do. Only by chromecasting. But hopefully we will have an oficial app for Globosat channels soon..

Just wanted to say a thank you to everyone here for their amazing comments. I just bought a Mi Box and all this has been a great help

You can download Soda Player on your PC/Mac and cast torrents/local videos/acestream to your mibox. I find it really convenient as I'm usually using my laptop around my TV. I just find the torrent I want and 20 seconds later I'm watching it on TV.

I'll be honest, I started with a mi box. It was buggy with plex and just slow at times. I moved to an nvidia shield and was so much happier. It's been rock solid. The mi box is a great device but wasnt stable enough to be the main living room tv box.

Return it and buy a shield You wont regret it.

Return it while you can

EDIT: ok, ok. Don't come crying later because it stutters playing anything