Which device? Help needed!

[QuadronicParadox]

Hi, I’m new here

I’m in the market for a new android tv box after my m8s got fried in a lightning strike.

I’ve been wanting an nvidia shield. It’s overkill for my needs (just streaming) but I’m getting fed up of needing to replace boxes that need updating because I can’t easily find updates for the android version or firmware. My budget doesn’t quite stretch that far though. Also I’m a full time working mam so I really don’t want to spend hours trawling the internet looking for updates and figuring out how to load them onto a memory card to transfer onto the box, I’ve not got time for all that
I’ve also lost several remote controls when they’ve hit the wall because something isn’t working right, is too slow or some other reason (husband likes to click something and expects desired outcome immediately)

I use a 38mb wired connection but The m8s was struggling with live football streams so I need a box which will be reliable for this with a bit of future proofing included.

I don’t use Kodi, just a few choice apps, mostly installed using APK files

So packing a punch, easy OTA updates, and user friendly after setup. Budget of £100, anything over that and I’d start thinking about the shield again.

What are your recommendations?
TIA.

 

[Nigelar]

Review the Droix home page. They have Android boxes to suit all budgets.
Regarding football, the main cause of stuttering and freezing is host server contention not the box itself. Little you can do about that other than strike lucky with a stream or use a subscription service

 

[Nigelar]

In addition, you need to consider one of the realities of Android boxes.
Very often, processors do not have an upgrade path. In other words you cannot always upgrade to newer versions of android because the processor does not support the new version. In some cases, unofficial upgrades seemingly work but with reduced functionality e.g WiFi doesn't work properly..
The reality is however, updating the OS doesn't make much difference in my experience. I happily watch football on an old Droix box running Android 5.

 

[QuadronicParadox]

Review the Droix home page. They have Android boxes to suit all budgets.
Regarding football, the main cause of stuttering and freezing is host server contention not the box itself. Little you can do about that other than strike lucky with a stream or use a subscription service

Thank you. I do use a subscription service for sports. I’m starting to wonder if it’s my vpn that’s eating too much bandwidth although I hooked up another box last night to watch the match using my subscription app and usual vpn and it was flawless.

I’m a bit out of my depth looking at the specs of the devices on the website that’s why I’ve come here to ask. Usually I’d aim for the highest cost within budget and hope it’s the best for what I need but that strategy doesn’t always work out. I’m looking at the A95X max for this reason but I’m not entirely sure

 

[Nigelar]

The T8 SE is probably their premium box. It's a bit old now, but newer than my old one which works perfectly (for reference mine is a t8s plus V2.)
Right now I'm watching a perfect football stream on Kodi - and via a VPN.

 

[QuadronicParadox]

The T8 SE is probably their premium box. It's a bit old now, but newer than my old one which works perfectly (for reference mine is a t8s plus V2.)
Right now I'm watching a perfect football stream on Kodi - and via a VPN.

I had discounted the T8 SE because of the android version not being the latest, but I’ve had another look and it’s out of stock anyway, d’oh!
I think the one I’m looking at I’d be paying the extra money for features which aren’t actually important to me, huge built in storage and expandable with an HDD. So I’m now looking at the ones with the latest android version and processor speed.
Do you know if all of their boxes have OTA updating?

 

[Nigelar]

I don't know. Maybe Droix staffers can answer when they are back in on Monday.
But note what I said earlier, android version is pretty irrelevant for performance.

 

[QuadronicParadox]

I don't know. Maybe Droix staffers can answer when they are back in on Monday.
But note what I said earlier, android version is pretty irrelevant for performance.

Thanks for all your help, it’s given me a lot to think about

 

[kylkimry]

I've just renewed my box, I got a h96 max and its great, easy and fast enough for football streams, I also use surfshark VPN which is by far the best I've used over the past year, h96 was only £35 and its 32gb, surfshark was £45 for 2 years .

Sent from my A7Pro using Tapatalk

 

[BenDroiX]

I'd recommend the 4/32 version of the X96 Max out of our current lineup, since you're looking to stay below £100 and aren't really enthused with the sheer storage space that the A95X can offer.
It's a nice, versatile box that should meet your streaming needs. And if you need more space, you can always buy a microSD card and double your storage on the spot (since it supports SD cards of up to 32GB in size).
It runs Android 8.1 as well. Which isn't the latest version, but it'll still be supported for many, many years to come.

All our boxes have OTA updating, but there's currently no updates available or necessary since the current firmware out there is very stable. It won't stop you from updating your apps via the Google Play Store either.