Hey all:

Just wanted to post my own Ematic Jetstream experience and also see if I can get some help for some of the issues encountered.

tl;dr version: Box is nice except for major flaw with wifi (craps out after 15-30 mins) and plex problems with hardwired connection. :(

First, I purchased the Jetstream box about a week ago (purchased 3 of them actually, with the hope that they would be relatively dummy proof so I could give it to less tech-savvy relatives). I've tried 2 boxes just in case there was a HW defect with 1, and have encountered the same problems across both.

First the positives:

• Wifi, when working (see below) is great. I have Fios, and Wifi connected to my Asus rt-ac68u router (tmo version, flashed to latest firmware) shows about 170 Mbps up and down. This is as reported by Analiti.
  (As an aside, I also get this on my Mibox3 2179 build.)
• Hardwired network works great, mostly (see below). 100mbps is plenty for everything I need.
• Power off/on works great.

Negatives/Issues:

• Software is rather buggy:
  • (minor) During the initial setup, when using an existing account to setup, it'll ask which of the previous apps you have to install on the box. Even if you deselect any of them, they will all be in the queue to be installed.
  • (annoying) Google Play Store update (during initial setup + during any later updates) will hang on "Install Pending". You have to go to the "Stop" and "Update All" several times before it unblocks from that.
    BTW, it's annoying because this appears to happen frequently with the updates too. e.g. when you bring up your box the next day, some of the apps/icons will be greyed out in an updating state. If you open Google Play you'll notice that it's because it got stuck (yet again) in that Install Pending state.
• Not really an issue but figured I'd raise it. WIFI found networks but when connecting, couldn't connect with "Not able to find XYZ SSID". I was originally connected to the network via a network cable, but finally figured out that both wifi and a hardwired connection wouldn't work together. Unplugging the network jack allowed the WIFI SSIDs to connect. (wasn't expecting to have BOTH working at once, but was at least thinking I could choose which network adapter to use). Anyways, no biggie.
• Wifi works great initially (as mentioned, speeds are great 170Mbps up/down). But, when I left Live Channels (connected to HDHomeRun Prime) on for about 15-30 minutes, the image would start to distort (for about 1-2 minutes?) before correcting itself, and then it would periodically go bad here and there, and then eventually crap out (no wifi)
  Note, this is NOT happening when I have use the hardwired network connection.
• Even worse, I suspect Wifi is the root cause to the box hanging (stuck in a black screen state) or restarting. So far it's happened to me 2 times with Wifi on.

So I figured - if Wifi is flaky, at least I have the hardwired cable.

• Testing of the hardwired cable resulted in a much more stable experience - stable image, no hanging/black screens, no distorted images. All stable. I've actually been on a hardwired connection for the last week, and it's been pretty good... with the exception of Plex. :(
• For some reason (that I'm hoping the community can help out with), the Plex android client is mis-identifying that I'm connected to my local server with a slowest connection. So my server is transcoding down to 720 kbps ALL THE TIME, I'm never able to get direct streams for a HD source.
  • Note, when I connect on Wifi, I direct stream all the time. But due to the Wifi going flaky and the box restarting/hanging, I try to avoid wifi.
  • Yes I've confirmed in my Plex settings my Home AND remote streaming are at max speed.
  • I've even tried setting them away from Max speed, to 20Mbps, but it still switches to transcoding to SD.

So there you have it. Was really hoping this box would be "it", but alas probably not.

If I can resolve the Plex issue (help?), I may keep 1. But if not, I'll probably return all 3. (I have 4 of the Mibox3s stashed, with about 50 days remaining on the 90 day return policy. Hoping that Xiaomi will get its act together on the Oreo fix....).

If you made it all the way down here - thanks for reading!