Computers & Electronics

What's a good streaming device?

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  • Feb 28th, 2017 12:25 am
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Deal Addict
Dec 14, 2008
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Toronto
What's the best box one would recommend for around $100? Also, I hear that 905X is better than 912, is this still true?
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Oct 13, 2009
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Iqaluit, NU
Gunnerheadboy wrote: What's the best box one would recommend for around $100? Also, I hear that 905X is better than 912, is this still true?
what are you using it for? Just streaming?

Honestly my cheap $55 Leelbox MXQ Pro connected via wifi streams just as good/fast/reliably as my ethernet connected Shield. Not as polished or powerful as the shield or other expensive boxes but you throw STB emulator on their coupled with Kodi and you can stream anything you want.
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
infinityloop: Lying to your SO seems like an unhealthy long term strategy
nasa25: lmao
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Oct 13, 2009
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Iqaluit, NU
venividivici wrote: Good to know the nVidia Shield is worth the cost. I do have excess funds to get one, but last I heard they were sort of scarce.
They're down to $270 plus tax from amazon.ca ($20 off).
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
infinityloop: Lying to your SO seems like an unhealthy long term strategy
nasa25: lmao
Deal Addict
Dec 14, 2008
1397 posts
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Toronto
nasa25 wrote: what are you using it for? Just streaming?

Honestly my cheap $55 Leelbox MXQ Pro connected via wifi streams just as good/fast/reliably as my ethernet connected Shield. Not as polished or powerful as the shield or other expensive boxes but you throw STB emulator on their coupled with Kodi and you can stream anything you want.
Just running an IPTV player and Kodi. Bought one with 1GB Ram, but it's slow when I have multiple apps running, always need to be closing them. Looking to get one with 2GB and Bluetooth if possible.
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Oct 13, 2009
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Iqaluit, NU
Gunnerheadboy wrote: Just running an IPTV player and Kodi. Bought one with 1GB Ram, but it's slow when I have multiple apps running, always need to be closing them. Looking to get one with 2GB and Bluetooth if possible.
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01DKJWMXU?psc=1

$99.99
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
infinityloop: Lying to your SO seems like an unhealthy long term strategy
nasa25: lmao
Deal Fanatic
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Oct 13, 2008
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Durham
Just build a desktop and hook it up to the TV ... there's way more that you can do with a desktop than a dinky little streaming box that requires apps.
16'x11' Living Room 11' Cathedral Ceiling. Hisense 65Q8G. Denon AVR-S740H 7.2 setup. Jamo Classic 10 280W Towers - FR+FL; Polk S35 - Center; Klipsch R51M - RR+RL; Klipsch R14M - Dolby FHR+FHL; Polk HTS10 Subwoofer x2. Unlocked Android Boxes from Taiwan x2
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Apr 25, 2013
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AV-Fishing wrote: Just build a desktop and hook it up to the TV ... there's way more that you can do with a desktop than a dinky little streaming box that requires apps.
a regular PC wouldn't even have a HDMI port, so you're going to spend another $200 to get a GPU with a HDMI port when you could have bought a dozen Android boxes ?
Deal Addict
Feb 25, 2014
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EdT586 wrote: a regular PC wouldn't even have a HDMI port, so you're going to spend another $200 to get a GPU with a HDMI port when you could have bought a dozen Android boxes ?
What's your definition of regular PC? Pretty much any PC costing over $300 has an HDMI port.
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Oct 13, 2008
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EdT586 wrote: a regular PC wouldn't even have a HDMI port, so you're going to spend another $200 to get a GPU with a HDMI port when you could have bought a dozen Android boxes ?
Where have you been???

You can be cheap and get a motherboard ( ASRock Z97 Anniversary Socket 1150 - Intel® Z97 Chipset, SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, USB 3.0, ATX Motherboard ) that has built-in HDMI with it's on-board video .. or get a minimum of a 1GB Video Card ( MSI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 (R5450-MD1GD3H/LP) - 650/400 MHz Clock, 1066/1334 MHz Memory - PCI Express x16 2.1, DVI, HDMI ) that has HDMI (which I prefer because the card has it's own video processor that does not use the System RAM so your desktop is going to run faster, uninterrupted).
16'x11' Living Room 11' Cathedral Ceiling. Hisense 65Q8G. Denon AVR-S740H 7.2 setup. Jamo Classic 10 280W Towers - FR+FL; Polk S35 - Center; Klipsch R51M - RR+RL; Klipsch R14M - Dolby FHR+FHL; Polk HTS10 Subwoofer x2. Unlocked Android Boxes from Taiwan x2
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Iqaluit, NU
AV-Fishing wrote: Just build a desktop and hook it up to the TV ... there's way more that you can do with a desktop than a dinky little streaming box that requires apps.
yeah but most people only care about kodi and possibly an IPTV app like STB Emulator. You buy a cheap china android box and basically plug it in and it's good to go. You can't compare that to building your own rig. Most people just want a small box that goes beside the tv and requires no customization whatsoever.
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
infinityloop: Lying to your SO seems like an unhealthy long term strategy
nasa25: lmao
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Dec 23, 2006
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Oshawa
nasa25 wrote: They're down to $270 plus tax from amazon.ca ($20 off).
Yeah, I saw the thread and was really pondering it (although now it's back to $290). Although I was then reading up on the difference between the regular and the pro version and really besides a couple connections that were lost on the newest version of the regular version (and the 500GB internal storage) I'm not sure it is worth the extra ~$120+, so I'm still very undecided. With XB1 getting Kodi at some point I may just hold off and see how that pans out.

I'm not sure if any of the gaming aspects of the Shield would be utilized by me. I have this habit of buying games from Humble Bundle or Steam sales and never playing them, heh.

I have an i7 930 rig that could be used in place of an Android box, however I'd want to retire my GTX470 as it's got a Frankenstein cooling setup (fans that are slightly too big being held in place with zip ties). So many options the more I explore and read that it sways me from one notion to the next. I already have a hard enough time making a decision as it is, so this is not helping, heh.
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Oct 13, 2009
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Iqaluit, NU
Yeah I don't see the point in getting the pro unless you want to store tons of media on the device. I guess the remote is rechargeable instead of battery operated which is good.

If you're not in rush I'd just wait and see how the other options pan out. Gaming is probably the biggest reason to get the shield over say a cheap China android box. So if you're not using it for gaming then might not be much point to it (other than the fact that it's extremely polished/well designed and the best android box you can get right now).
Re: Procurement, Life & RFD
nasa25: say you won it in a raffle. That's what I do with like 86% of my purchases
infinityloop: Lying to your SO seems like an unhealthy long term strategy
nasa25: lmao
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Apr 25, 2013
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AV-Fishing wrote: Where have you been???

You can be cheap and get a motherboard ( ASRock Z97 Anniversary Socket 1150 - Intel® Z97 Chipset, SATA3 6.0 Gb/s, USB 3.0, ATX Motherboard ) that has built-in HDMI with it's on-board video .. or get a minimum of a 1GB Video Card ( MSI Radeon HD 5450 1GB DDR3 (R5450-MD1GD3H/LP) - 650/400 MHz Clock, 1066/1334 MHz Memory - PCI Express x16 2.1, DVI, HDMI ) that has HDMI (which I prefer because the card has it's own video processor that does not use the System RAM so your desktop is going to run faster, uninterrupted).
I don't buy the newest motherboards or CPUs anymore, I buy new old stock motherboards and CPUs that are 2-3 years old.
I don't spend more than $50 on my PCs, so basically a new PC that would have cost $1000 2-3 years for $50, $950 is one heck of a depreciation in 2-3 years !
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Dec 23, 2015
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Newmarket, ON
If you're just running kodi, why not get a raspberry pi? It's cheaper than most china android boxes and runs kodi very smoothly. Then another $20 for a remote for it. And you don't have to worry about the menus in the setup being in chinese.
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Apr 25, 2013
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nasa25 wrote: yeah but most people only care about kodi and possibly an IPTV app like STB Emulator. You buy a cheap china android box and basically plug it in and it's good to go. You can't compare that to building your own rig. Most people just want a small box that goes beside the tv and requires no customization whatsoever.
You know "common sense" is not so common with most people !
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Apr 25, 2013
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BeapChastard wrote: If you're just running kodi, why not get a raspberry pi? It's cheaper than most china android boxes and runs kodi very smoothly. Then another $20 for a remote for it. And you don't have to worry about the menus in the setup being in chinese.
By the time you dress up your RPi it will be close to $100 plus the time you wasted in getting and assembling all the parts together !
You can get media player for Android box for under $18usd !
Sr. Member
Feb 28, 2015
738 posts
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Toronto, ON
I've had all kinds of android boxes, my favorites out of all of them are my $29 Fire tv stick, and $79 Fire tv. I find they have the best remote for Kodi period!
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Apr 25, 2013
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skoalman123 wrote: I've had all kinds of android boxes, my favorites out of all of them are my $29 Fire tv stick, and $79 Fire tv. I find they have the best remote for Kodi period!
Who uses the stock remote anyways no matter how good it is it doesn't have a built in keyboard and is most likely an IR not RF type of remote.
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Feb 28, 2015
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Toronto, ON
EdT586 wrote: Who uses the stock remote anyways no matter how good it is it doesn't have a built in keyboard and is most likely an IR not RF type of remote.
Click play, click pause, click exit, one thumb to type, ya I ca see how that feature sucks. I'd rather waive my arm around to move the mouse, and use two hands on a keyboard that's only big enough for kids. to use
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Dec 22, 2010
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BC
I hear that the Xiaomi Mi Box is one of the best Android Boxes on the market, second only to the Shield. It costs US $69 (app $100 CDN), very fast and rel;iable.
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