Hi everyone. To start with I'm not a technical guy when comes to computer stuff. I can surf the Web, down load and play games on my smart phone and not a lot more than that. I never really even heard of there droid tv boxes until I got an email. The email was for a tic box stating that I could watch any tv show etc. With the allure of being able to get rid of my cable bill I stared looking into droid boxes. There are so many choices out there I don't know where to begin. Are these boxes possible for a person like me not being very tech savvy? I don't know if I should buy higher end or buy a cheaper one and maybe wish I would have spent more. I just want to use it for watching TV. If possible be able to pause tv. Gaming is not important . Any advice would be welcome. If there not as difficult to set as I think they might be. What one should I get? Money is not an issue if I can get it work and no longer need my cable. That being said I don't want to spend more on something that has a bunch of extras that I will never use. Thanks
Need advice
- Thread starter Raydar077
- Start date
Ok. So you've come to the Droidbox forum which is the community for users of boxes supplied by a company called "Droidbox".
So it will be no surprise that most of us on here would recommend their boxes.
But back to your questions.
I'll start by addressing your question about "tech saviness".
There is a learning curve to get the best out of them.
Really there are 2 sides. The regular android side - equivalent to an android phone or tablet. If you can use one of those and use the google play store you should not have too much problem. You'll get access to youtube, google, bbc iplayer, facebook plus unofficial apps for movies and sports (the latter you will need to find yourself and download and install).
Then there is the kodi side you may have heard about. Kodi is a media app, but the beauty is that you can install addons that scan the internet for any content you want from sports, livetv, movies etc.
Kodi itself has quite a learning curve but plenty of guides exist. Some people like to install "builds" where someone else has done the work and put together a package of good addons in one place. A guy called sean on this forum has such a build.
One note - you mention the ability to pause tv, i'm not aware of an ability to pause live tv.
The thing to remember with this type of technology is that most is free (you can buy subscription packages with a more guaranteed service). Because it is free and depends on many factors like developers keeping their addons up to date, you keeping your box up to date, availability of host servers, impact of isp blocking, amount of traffic accessing a stream etc etc you can't expect a quality guaranteed service 100% of the time. If that is essential, stick to cable.
In terms of a box supplier, you will want one that has an established reputation, good support and a user community that can offer help and advice. There are many cheap box suppliers out there offering cheap no-name chinese boxes of dubious quality.
Do your research. If you do choose Droidbox (for the reasons i give above) then the t8 mini is a good box (i have one) The top of the range currently is the t8s plus v2.
Good luck.
So it will be no surprise that most of us on here would recommend their boxes.
But back to your questions.
I'll start by addressing your question about "tech saviness".
There is a learning curve to get the best out of them.
Really there are 2 sides. The regular android side - equivalent to an android phone or tablet. If you can use one of those and use the google play store you should not have too much problem. You'll get access to youtube, google, bbc iplayer, facebook plus unofficial apps for movies and sports (the latter you will need to find yourself and download and install).
Then there is the kodi side you may have heard about. Kodi is a media app, but the beauty is that you can install addons that scan the internet for any content you want from sports, livetv, movies etc.
Kodi itself has quite a learning curve but plenty of guides exist. Some people like to install "builds" where someone else has done the work and put together a package of good addons in one place. A guy called sean on this forum has such a build.
One note - you mention the ability to pause tv, i'm not aware of an ability to pause live tv.
The thing to remember with this type of technology is that most is free (you can buy subscription packages with a more guaranteed service). Because it is free and depends on many factors like developers keeping their addons up to date, you keeping your box up to date, availability of host servers, impact of isp blocking, amount of traffic accessing a stream etc etc you can't expect a quality guaranteed service 100% of the time. If that is essential, stick to cable.
In terms of a box supplier, you will want one that has an established reputation, good support and a user community that can offer help and advice. There are many cheap box suppliers out there offering cheap no-name chinese boxes of dubious quality.
Do your research. If you do choose Droidbox (for the reasons i give above) then the t8 mini is a good box (i have one) The top of the range currently is the t8s plus v2.
Good luck.
I started learning TV boxes a year or so ago, I got a mxq box good boxes but for the price of the t8s plus it's only 20 dollars or something more.
You get up to a 2tb internal drive(you have to buy the drive sometime) but the v2 t8s plus has 32megs on board memory most boxes are 4 to 16
Then in the future it's upgradable with the internal drive if you you tube tv box comparison and reviews that's where my decision to go to droidbox plus having owned the mxq it just makes sense
Droidbox local so to say support, local company compared to China, this forum, constantly updated, too much to list compared to the other boxes i have seen and researched take the time to review research and learn about the boxes and the technology what kodi is builds don't confuse yourself just browse through the information out there at your own pace and speed
But like I have learned almost nothing on these boxes are free YouTube misleads by screaming free free but 80 percent costs 10 20 a month or something like that
But you get millions of movies from any year free most all tv series current and past free music my wife annoys me all the time trying to find a movie because there are to many of them to just browse through
You can also watch Netflix service for free basically the free out ways the stuff that you do have to pay for but you probably want to keep cable for your 10 or so local channels
The type of box depends upon the usage your going to do i don't know why but I guess some people play games on them nvidia and everyone has game and TV boxes in on I hate games and not into sports @Nigelar is knowledgeable in that area so consider what he said and what i said take your time it's allot to take in and like a new car you want to make sure that you make a good decision
You get up to a 2tb internal drive(you have to buy the drive sometime) but the v2 t8s plus has 32megs on board memory most boxes are 4 to 16
Then in the future it's upgradable with the internal drive if you you tube tv box comparison and reviews that's where my decision to go to droidbox plus having owned the mxq it just makes sense
Droidbox local so to say support, local company compared to China, this forum, constantly updated, too much to list compared to the other boxes i have seen and researched take the time to review research and learn about the boxes and the technology what kodi is builds don't confuse yourself just browse through the information out there at your own pace and speed
But like I have learned almost nothing on these boxes are free YouTube misleads by screaming free free but 80 percent costs 10 20 a month or something like that
But you get millions of movies from any year free most all tv series current and past free music my wife annoys me all the time trying to find a movie because there are to many of them to just browse through
You can also watch Netflix service for free basically the free out ways the stuff that you do have to pay for but you probably want to keep cable for your 10 or so local channels
The type of box depends upon the usage your going to do i don't know why but I guess some people play games on them nvidia and everyone has game and TV boxes in on I hate games and not into sports @Nigelar is knowledgeable in that area so consider what he said and what i said take your time it's allot to take in and like a new car you want to make sure that you make a good decision
This question sound suspicion asking questions that u can watch anything on it. Sound very fish to me. Wit all. The crack down going on around, if u want to buy a box why come to the forum and not eBay or amazon
Sent from my SM-G935F using DroidBOX Forums mobile app
Sent from my SM-G935F using DroidBOX Forums mobile app
@Tobi as of yet they don't troll forums and other places there going after kodi and eBay and other sellers of pre loaded 3rd party software boxes the boxes that come ready to do everything
Now this can be confusing because all android tv boxes come with software and droidboxes come with kodi and media center and libreelec
What becomes illegal is what is added to the box like exodus salts all the 3rd party stuff that lets you see Netflix for free movies free even cams shot in the theater that's what is illegal and is being cracked down on
Now this can be confusing because all android tv boxes come with software and droidboxes come with kodi and media center and libreelec
What becomes illegal is what is added to the box like exodus salts all the 3rd party stuff that lets you see Netflix for free movies free even cams shot in the theater that's what is illegal and is being cracked down on