Please recommend a good Android TV box

[bigbossman]

The one I have is freezing and hanging, so I need to replace it. Any good ones out there that don't' cost too much?

[sholling]

Before this thread takes off and someone else gets fooled into buying an abortion of an Android box thinking it's an Android TV device let's get one thing perfectly clear. The only truly good Android TV boxes are NVIDIA Shield TVs. I know that there are lots of cheap mouse dependant Android based Kodi boxes sold as Android TV boxes but few if any of them are anything close to fully functional Android TV boxes and none of them have the power of the ShieldTV.

If you are just looking for an Android based Kodi box that's a different animal and I'm sure that someone or several someones will be along soon with some decent suggestions. I'm not into watching pirated feeds so I don't stay on top of those devices.

[remusrm]

Try a ROKU!

[WTSGDYBBR]

The one I have is freezing and hanging, so I need to replace it. Any good ones out there that don't' cost too much?

Buy a modem that can support faster down and upload speeds.

[bigbossman]

Buy a modem that can support faster down and upload speeds.

That is not my problem.

[LAKevin]

I use the Nvidia shield. I haven't used any other android based tv boxes, but I have experience Apple Tv's, Fire Sticks, and boxes with kodi preinstalled. I can say that Nvidia shield is the cleanest and easiest box I have ever used.

[nine mil thrill]

i agree with the previous posters. invest now in the 16gb nvidia shield. you will save yourself a bunch of grief. your speed is better than what i used to have...(20mb) with att. the on big thing that people do....is connect wirelessly. you want to be connect with a hdmi cable. you are more likely to get buffering issues with wireless. also...rebooting your modem at least once a week keeps the performance up. i started with a firestick, fire tv, droid box mini.....and the nvidia shield is the homerun. the nvidi shield also comes with a game controller, and you can play free games supplied by nvidia. it is a great all around package.....and it has been great on updating itself.

[NYT]

Before this thread takes off and someone else gets fooled into buying an abortion of an Android box thinking it's an Android TV device let's get one thing perfectly clear. The only truly good Android TV boxes are NVIDIA Shield TVs. I know that there are lots of cheap mouse dependant Android based Kodi boxes sold as Android TV boxes but few if any of them are anything close to fully functional Android TV boxes and none of them have the power of the ShieldTV.

If you are just looking for an Android based Kodi box that's a different animal and I'm sure that someone or several someones will be along soon with some decent suggestions. I'm not into watching pirated feeds so I don't stay on top of those devices.

xbox one x is now the best android platform. kodi 18 alpha 1.

[sholling]

xbox one x is now the best android platform. kodi 18 alpha 1.

Best Android platform or Kodi platform? Kodi in the form of XBMC originated on the Xbox so it's no surprise that it still runs great on an XBOX. FWIW Kodi also screams under Windows since a 7th gen i7 with a good video card is a lot more powerful than an Xbox. People run Kodi on a generic Android box if they just want the cheapest platform possible. On the other hand people run Kodi on on a Shield TV if they want a fast and compact platform with solid apps for under $200. I'll be ordering an Xbox One S soon but only because I need a good 4k Blu-Ray player, I'm just not a huge Kodi user.

[bigbossman]

While I do have Kodi on the current box (and even use it once in a while), as a family we mostly stream from Netflix, Hulu, And Amazon. So, this wouldn't be a Kodi platform per se, but Kodi would be loaded on whatever I end up with.

Right now I have one of the myriad of cheap Android boxes available everywhere for $60 or so. I bought it a year ago, and it worked fine up until recently. Now it hangs, freezes, auto-pauses at random, and throws up the "handler has stopped" error here and there. It does this regardless of what service is being streamed. Also, it kept dropping the wireless network connection - but I fixed that with a Cat 5 patch cable to the router.

Googling the brand of box brings up a slew of similar complaints, so it appears that the box is dying.

[sholling]

While I do have Kodi on the current box (and even use it once in a while), as a family we mostly stream from Netflix, Hulu, And Amazon. So, this wouldn't be a Kodi platform per se, but Kodi would be loaded on whatever I end up with.

I highly recommend an NVIDIA Shield TV. Yes it's pricey but it's well worth it for a device that just works without any messing about and does not require a mouse.

[D-M]

Another vote for the Shield. Lag free, stutter free, bug free, full HD (and some 4K), LAN connection, simple remote, fairly future-proof. Nvidia loaded this thing with solid hardware that can handle just about anything us regular shmoes can throw at it. Sadly, the best sales ($149.99) all pretty much gone for now. $30 more currently.

There's 1,000's of different "Android boxes" out there, a lot of them loaded with god-knows-what by god-knows-who. You're putting this on your home network and every connected device could be put at risk. You could go with a FireTV box (not stick, last gen) for around $100, but Amazon's forked version of Android is always going to be buggy, laggy, and chew up memory. Roku uses an OS that isn't compatible with Kodi, but may be with Terrarium, I don't know.

Buy once, buy well. And factor in the savings with TV subscriptions and movies, and this thing pays for itself in a matter of months.

[nine mil thrill]

"Buy once, buy well. And factor in the savings with TV subscriptions and movies, and this thing pays for itself in a matter of months."

Homerun !!