Mi Box S vs. Nvidia Shield TV - The difference is real!

by danrvm

A friend uses YouTube TV and so do I. He was complaining that when he switches channels when using his Roku Ultra it took at least 6 seconds. I tested this on my Nvidia Shield TV and it took less than 2 seconds. I then tried Mi Box S and it took at least as long as the Roku Ultra.

​

UPDATE: At the suggestion of Bodycount9 I hooked up the Mi Box S using a USB to Ethernet adapter and it made a big difference in how quickly it switched between channels on YouTube TV. It wasn't quite as good as the Nvidia Shield but it was significantly better than the Roku Ultra connected via WiFi. I then connected the Roku Ultra via Ethernet and found no improvement over WiFi.

simiwood

1/3rd the price and take 3x longer I'm cool with that.

arthurfla

You get what you paid for

Andriusdude

I don't know about YouTube TV, but when watching IPTV channels on Live Channels, my Mi Box needs like half a second to show the next channel, can't complain.

ZjaZjoe

Nobody says there is no difference in speed. Just price/functionality ratio is heavily favoured for mi box.

When the video is playing there is for me 0 difference. And navigation is fast enough (I don’t use youtube tv btw) but iptv takes like half a second max to switch channels.

If you play games on it then shield is much better too.

Bodycount9

With my mi box, changing channels takes about two seconds. It depends on the incoming data stream also. I assume you have the mi box wireless and the shield with an ethernet cable? My mi box is wired.

PalebloodSky

Had the Mi Box for years it was decent for the money but yea, you get what you pay for with Shield TV it's so fast and smooth. And is better supported by updates.

jovyflow1

The nvidia shield tv is twice as much, but it's worth it. I had the mi box before until I ran into so much problems and the processor on it was slow compared to the tegra X1 on the shield. If your going on a budget and want to buy something cheaper, then I would choose the Amazon firestick 4K over the mi box any day since there both in the $50+ price range.

danrvm

FWIW: I tested the Jetstream Android TV box from Walmart and like it much better than the Mi Box S. It is very quick to load channels and has many more useful ports. Highly recommended!

DexterDJ2

Man...you guys are not fair comparing any NVIDIA SHIELDS to any products. Lame. NVIDIA Shield is superior because a GPU maker made it. Classifying this product in my opinion as a PC. You can't compare any TV box to it. Not by price pont or quality or performance. The differences that also are software related cant be compared either. You have to sideload your actual paid google play apps to the Shield because NVidia also is setup for cloud gaming via NVidia experience versus Mi Box with Chrome cast and Google Stadia. Truly, you're wrong for comparing lower class devices with higher class devices. Soon as Nvidia stamp goes on, its in a whole different class. Mobile gpus made from anywhere else doesnt count. The performace comings 40% from its GPU. The visuals and graphic performances rely on RAM and GPU and both items on the Shield are waaaay superior.