Looking to get decent Android TV box

I believe that when this arrives, it will lead the market (Nov 1st)

https://wetek.com/product/wetek-core

I would disagree personally. There are a multitude of boxes out already that have a near identical spec. This one from Aliexpress matches it easily ..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...368069195.html

You can get it for £37.95 with express DHL delivery inside a week. It's the one i've got and I haven't had any trouble with it at all. The one and only downside of it is that there isn't a version of OpenELEC for it.

ssr · 22-10-2015, 11:04

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I would disagree personally. There are a multitude of boxes out already that have a near identical spec. This one from Aliexpress matches it easily ..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...368069195.html

You can get it for £37.95 with express DHL delivery inside a week. It's the one i've got and I haven't had any trouble with it at all. The one and only downside of it is that there isn't a version of OpenELEC for it.

The wetek core has openelec on a sd card so you have the choice of either kodi varieties.

Support is very important. Does the cheap Chinese model have this from aliexpress?

BanziBaby · 22-10-2015, 11:08

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I believe that when this arrives, it will lead the market (Nov 1st)

https://wetek.com/product/wetek-core

Is that the one from Australia? Was looking at one called Extreme from there & the spec was great but it was a bit too pricy.

Quote:

I would disagree personally. There are a multitude of boxes out already that have a near identical spec. This one from Aliexpress matches it easily ..

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Origi...368069195.html

You can get it for £37.95 with express DHL delivery inside a week. It's the one i've got and I haven't had any trouble with it at all. The one and only downside of it is that there isn't a version of OpenELEC for it.

I'm looking for a decent spec one that gets updates, The Minix gets great reviews & I can get it with the air mouse A2 lite that has the keypad on the back. Will check out the one you mentioned.

Cheers for the replies.

Maccadanny · 22-10-2015, 12:54

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Originally Posted by Maccadanny

I'm looking for a decent spec one that gets updates, The Minix gets great reviews & I can get it with the air mouse A2 lite that has the keypad on the back. Will check out the one you mentioned.

I have the Minix and can thoroughly recommend it. There is a very helpful forum if you ever get in trouble and there are regular firmware updates (ota) that keeps the model up to date. There is even a version of Kodi that was developed with the help of Minix.

BanziBaby · 22-10-2015, 13:41

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I have the Minix and can thoroughly recommend it. There is a very helpful forum if you ever get in trouble and there are regular firmware updates (ota) that keeps the model up to date. There is even a version of Kodi that was developed with the help of Minix.

Yeah that's why the Minix was my first choice, seems to be a great box with none of the dropped connection issues that some of the cheaper boxes have. I would have it connected by ethernet. Also would like to know if it can be easily rooted?

Still looking for others advice before I spend that much though

Maccadanny · 22-10-2015, 14:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maccadanny

Yeah that's why the Minix was my first choice, seems to be a great box with none of the dropped connection issues that some of the cheaper boxes have. I would have it connected by ethernet. Also would like to know if it can be easily rooted?

Still looking for others advice before I spend that much though

Whatever you do don't buy this one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ilpage_o06_s00
I made the mistake of buying it and it was nothing but trouble, constant freezing up and generally poor performance. I sent it back after two weeks of frustration with it.

BanziBaby · 22-10-2015, 14:43

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Whatever you do don't buy this one.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ilpage_o06_s00
I made the mistake of buying it and it was nothing but trouble, constant freezing up and generally poor performance. I sent it back after two weeks of frustration with it.

Yeah I see a lot of bad reviews on Amazon for some of the cheaper ones. I don't have a 4k set so that isn't really important to me at the moment only reliability, stability & good support.

JasonWatkins · 22-10-2015, 15:11

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Originally Posted by Bill Clinton

The wetek core has openelec on a sd card so you have the choice of either kodi varieties.

Support is very important. Does the cheap Chinese model have this from aliexpress?

I've never had any need for support for my "cheap chinese model" so I couldn't really tell you.

JSemple3 · 22-10-2015, 16:14

My dad (and his brother) have the Minix Neo-Z64. Does the job. Not had any complaints from either of them

jkwelly · 22-10-2015, 16:36

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I'm looking to get one too, as I have a cheap one where I cannot actually watch anything in 720 or 1080p on a Sony HDTV as the picture keeps flicking on and off, I actually have to set it down to SD resolution and watch channel streams that way, shouldn't have to do that so I'm looking to replace it.

This looks good but quite expensive. Many lower models will get Kodi etc but how many of them will have this annoying HDMI problem? The box I have now has something called Cloud TV and its premium channels option is interesting, from the free trial I could get Fox Movies, HBO, National Geographic, CI etc as well as a lot of interesting free TV streams from around the world from many different countries and languages but I didn't really want to bother having to subscribe just to have to watch in SD.

So does anyone know of other models that feature this "Cloud TV" otherwise I'm looking at manual setup which I've no idea how to do because I couldn't find the APK or where it got its channel list from, it seemed designed only to be integrated into this box and not available on your Android phone/emulator etc, if I got a box without this Cloud TV and its channel list preloaded how would I get it set up?

This is what I've currently got and looking to replace, warning don't buy with a Sony TV it seems, although mine is from 2010. A mate with a Toshiba TV didn't have the picture going on and off problem with the same box.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B...ilpage_o09_s00

Raspberry PI, the new one Openelec + Kodi, i have the old PI and can watch Ccloud tv and everything you could wish to watch, saying that i only use mine for DVD and box sets.

ssr · 22-10-2015, 17:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tassium

I've never had any need for support for my "cheap chinese model" so I couldn't really tell you.

Let's be honest and accept that all the android tv boxes are made in China. Minix and Wetek however support kodi directly.
I am also buying a new box for Xmas, and have narrowed it down to the Minix above, Wetek core or the Droidbox T8s (embedded openelec )

Tassium · 22-10-2015, 17:57

The Sumvision Cyclone is a cheap box but Sumvision do provide a rooted firmware for it which I put on it and it has worked well.

Kodi 15.2 runs well.

Maybe a bit too cheap for some (only 1GB/8GB) but I have used it with an external HDD and also all the Kodi trimmings.

The only issue is the poor remote.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-An...vision+cyclone

http://www.sumvision.com/product/cyc...x4support.html

BanziBaby · 22-10-2015, 20:39

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The Sumvision Cyclone is a cheap box but Sumvision do provide a rooted firmware for it which I put on it and it has worked well.

Kodi 15.2 runs well.

Maybe a bit too cheap for some (only 1GB/8GB) but I have used it with an external HDD and also all the Kodi trimmings.

The only issue is the poor remote.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sumvision-An...vision+cyclone

http://www.sumvision.com/product/cyc...x4support.html

Will check it out cheers, think I did see a video review of it & it mentioned that the main interface as a bit laggy, hopefully they have fixed that with updates.

JasonWatkins · 22-10-2015, 20:57

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Let's be honest and accept that all the android tv boxes are made in China. Minix and Wetek however support kodi directly.
I am also buying a new box for Xmas, and have narrowed it down to the Minix above, Wetek core or the Droidbox T8s (embedded openelec )

So how are they supposed to "support Kodi directly" ??

Amlogic have provided direct support to the Kodi developers with libraries and drivers and it's generally accepted that amlogic devices are the ones to go for if you want maximum compatibility with Kodi.

But if you've convinced yourself that Minix and Wetek boxes are somehow a higher level of quality and compatibility to the rest of them then that's obviously up to you.

Tassium · 22-10-2015, 22:11

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Will check it out cheers, think I did see a video review of it & it mentioned that the main interface as a bit laggy, hopefully they have fixed that with updates.

Yes, it was clearly not properly supporting the graphics chipset out of the box. The firmware update on the Sumvision website was vastly better.

Strangely the firmware on the website is listed as the first version. So perhaps the version actually pre-installed was merely a beta.

ssr · 22-10-2015, 23:09

Wetek and Minix are desigated as XBMC foundation sponsors.

http://kodi.tv/xbmc-sponsor-page/

JasonWatkins · 22-10-2015, 23:22

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Wetek and Minix are desigated as XBMC foundation sponsors.

http://kodi.tv/xbmc-sponsor-page/

Just because they're sponsors doesn't automatically make their boxes any higher quality than those currently available.

BanziBaby · 30-10-2015, 15:24

Just wanted to say thanks to the posters in this thread. I have just ordered the Minix Neo X-8 H Plus with the free A2 lite airmouse & it should be delivered tomorrow.

Many thanks

Money4oldRope · 15-11-2015, 15:47

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I've never had any need for support for my "cheap chinese model" so I couldn't really tell you.

Yes, these cheap Chinese models are very good, my only suggestion would be is to buy the M8S+ Plus Android TV box from Aliexpress and shipped by DHL - the only difference I can see from the M8S box is the Gigabyte Ethernet connection and your almost guaranteed to get the later/better remote with 2 Red buttons in the top left corner.

This is one of them with 5.1 Lollipop

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/2015-...420206686.html

Mark A · 18-11-2015, 10:08

Wouldn't the Nvidia Shield be the best bet at the moment?

Regards

Mark

BanziBaby · 18-11-2015, 22:55

Does anyone know a good free or cheap VPN service for Kodi?

JasonWatkins · 18-11-2015, 23:41

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