Mi Box, you can do a lot with it and it is quite cheap and reliable. Just my 2c

Wait for the Oreo patch update before you drop the bones see what people have to say then. It's not as it is. Mostly minor annoyances with almost all having some sort of temp work around. But it would be enough for me to return if I knew an update wasn't coming. If by some chance I do return I'm just gonna fork out for a shield.

My dad has been having problems with his, just got him an nvidia shield instead

Yes if you don't need 4k, otherwise get the shield.

Fire TV 3 or cube is also good and will do 4k but doesn't have built in Chromecast.

Yes, but you should wait a bit for the Oreo kinks to get worked out. Should be a nice little media player then.

Yes

Yes but don't update it to Oreo.

Well if you really need one right now then there's no doubt, you should get it and obviously any comment in this sub won't be complete without mentioning THE Shield. If have extra $$$ then you can always go for the shield instead of the mi box.

And in case you can wait, then wait for a month or two. Not for the oreo bugs to get sorted but for the newer upcoming model that was recently discussed in the sub.

And in case you can import, then there's a Japanese company selling a full android tv stick, yes stick! It has better hardware. Worth it if final price isn't very high in comparison to MiBox. Better processor, more storage, inbuilt Ethernet and also supports Netflix.

I got a mi box recently, and I'm not impressed. Mine crashes a lot, loses sound, doesn't turn on after some time on stand by, voice search is slow, won't go to 4k sometimes.

Should have bought a shield instead.

DO IT! Awesome box for the price.

yes !! the mibox is awesome and cheap, i love it

I'm a big fan of the Beelink GT1 or a number of them. Not a big fan of Mibox but it's Xaomi, so, it's fine. Check out Gear best and just run down the best ARM proc with the most Ram and newest version of Android. GT1 has kicked ass for me.

My 2cents:

Do you have money and like games, or just want a powerfull device? Buy a Shield.

Do you live in a place were Amazon or Roku have coverage? Buy one of their sticks.

Do you just want to watch some shit at netflix/youtube, that's cheap and has basically stock os? Buy the Mi international.

I have the Mi Box, as /u/GoodMerlinpeen said, it's cheap and reliable. The only problem I had with it is the sound not working after the Oreo update, but they're rolling an fix this week. I love the Mi Box, here's what I do with it in a daily basis: netflix, youtube, some android games, some emulators (psx, snes, nes, gba), prime (sideloaded) and plex (could be better). HBO also works very good with it, even tho I don't have a sub anymore.

Go for it. You can get good deals on Mi box if you can wait a bit, and price is a concern. You can purchase a Mi Box from places like Ali and BG or LITB for $60-80. Between sale and regular price. I have 2 that I purchased in the range. vs 120 from amazon, for a housewarming gift, just cause time was an issue.

why so much hate in this sub, if one says "no to MiBox" he's downvoted right away, for example i bought in 2010 a Xtreamer Mk1 (not even on android, but on some kind of linux) and it's still alive, i watched movies and IPTV, but with progress i bough two years ago for my parents from the same company two boxes, Xtreamer mxV and Pro on android, still alive, and now i bought for me a Sunvell T95Z Plus. with 3 RAM and 32 ROM if the box is having problems (reboots, freezes) first replace the power supply, it's the No.1 problem

I got it and its working way better than I expected. If you're into the latest and greatest then just know that a new Mi Box with AndroidTV is about to get announced. If not, go for it :)

I would wait to see if the Shield is discounted on Prime Monday coming up next Monday.

Until the recent update I would have given an unreserved yes.. Was a great little box..

Since the update its simply not possible to recommenced this box any longer. The bug list has everything for usb issues, network issues, sound issues, display issues... With such a poor release you have to wonder if they are even capable of fixing it, and how many months (ha the admin of Xiamoi.eu had the front to say 'days') it will take to get it even halfway stable.

Also consider the ethics of a company who would force such a rollout, with zero user agreement, and then leave those customers with a useless box rather than admit the error and allow manual roll backs.

> Given the above, would you advise me to go the Mi box route instead ?

In it's current Oreo Firmware state the Mi Box is unstable and even the basics do not work.

By Basics I mean stable WiFi, NTFS Hard drives and HDCP - needed for 1080p/4K Netflix.

Audio passthrough if you have a AVR / Soundbar is an absolute mess and there are wake from sleep issues too.

You can read all about the Mi Box Oreo Bugs in the following Post:

https://xiaomi.eu/community/threads/mi-box-3-master-bug-list.44784/

The problem with Xiaomi at the moment as outlined below is they cannot be trusted.

Deceptively forcing a really buggy Oreo Firmware update on users is simply unacceptable.

So at the moment the answer would I buy one is NO - not until basic bugs are sorted out.

I just got one myself. Had it for less than 24 hours so far and it does what I expect it to do with no issues so far. The buggy Oreo update has been halted so you won't have to worry about that when picking up a new box now although who knows if something like that could happen again. Overall I'm happy with mine so far but I am a very basic user. Using it just for online streaming at the moment (Youtube and a local satellite TV providers Android app). No home media integration etc yet.