Hey, I have an old Philips TV ( https://www.philips.ro/c-p/32PFL5322_10/flat-tv-digital-panoramic-cu-pixel-plus-hd ) and I was thinking of making it smarter with a Xiaomi MI TV Stick which is basically a Android TV stick. But I am afraid that the image will look bad because this is not a full HD TV. I see in the specs that it supports 1080p video formats but I don't know what that really means. Can you guys help me?
Thx a bunch!
Don’t do it.
The 1GB RAM Xiaomi Stick is one if the worst Android TV devices on the market. There are all sorts of problems with it because it's so underpowered.
Get GoogleTV dongle instead or a cheaper 2020 Amazon FireTV Stick which are much more powerful:
The recent Amazon devices have very good, reliable, AC Dual Band MIMO WiFi.
Your TV supports 720p and 1080i, the mi box will look fine on it. The mi stick supports upto 1080p.
You just won't be able to achieve the highest resolution the stick supports is all.
I would also recommend getting the Chromecast with Google TV.
I bought a Mi TV Stick for my dumb TV in my bedroom and it is very, very slow. After being off for a while it also won't turn on with the remote, I have to unplug and plug in to get it to turn on, it pains me to say this as I usually can't fault Xiaomi products.
The new Chromecast has just gone on sale here so I'll be picking one up soon.
Thank you for your responses. My first thought was to buy a chromecast with Google TV but in my contry on sale it's like $100. I think i am going with a Amazon Fire TV Stick because I have recently bought an Echo Dot 3 and I can get some functions out of it.
cheapest Xiaomi Mi TV Stick https://amzn.to/2MsHsKE
The stick and any other Android TV device will detect automatically the maximum resolution of the TV and set it accordingly, everything higher than what your TV support will be downscaled.
In case you want to have more options besides the stick, here's a recommended list:
- Chromecast with Google TV
- Dynalink TV Box (Available at Walmart)
- Ematic Jetstream (Engel EN1015K for Europe)
- JBL Link Bar
- Mecool KM6 Classic Edition (Prime Video only. 10/100 ethernet. AV1 hardware decoding. 2GB of RAM. Available at mecoolonline.com )
- Mecool KM6 Deluxe Edition (Prime Video only. Gigabit ethernet. WiFi 6. AV1 hardware decoding. 4GB of RAM. Available at mecoolonline.com )
- Minix Neo T5 (No Netflix/Prime Video. Gigabit ethernet. Remote control doesn't have a microphone)
- Nvidia Shield TV (The most expensive but powerful)
- Xiaomi Mi Box S/4K
For more info about all certified Android TV devices, head over to Android TV Guide website.