This $20 Android TV Streaming Box is Great for Pirates - Android TV Device Roundup

[TannerMcCoolman]

Walmart's $20 Google TV streaming device is an absolute game changer, especially as a last-minute holiday gift idea. But how does it compare to other Google TV and Android TV streaming devices? We took a look a look at 9 different models of official devices running some version of Android from companies like Google, Amazon, and... mecool? Mecool? Is that even official?

 

Check out the Products from this Roundup:

Google Chromecast: https://lmg.gg/Ed6of

Google Chromecast 4K: https://lmg.gg/jo7t1

onn. Google TV 4K Streaming Box: https://geni.us/dtocLBv

Mecool KD3: https://geni.us/LoBW6Nl

SEI Robotics TiVo Stream 4K: https://geni.us/eN54mE3

Xiaomi TV Stick 4K: https://geni.us/PzlEuuI

Xiaomi TV Box S 2nd Gen: https://geni.us/AtseSbP

Fire TV Stick 4K Max: https://geni.us/6MGkLPW

Fire TV Stick Lite: https://geni.us/Hx1P

 

Buy an Amazon Basics 30W One-Port GaN USB-C Wall Charger: https://geni.us/bcuMtU

Buy a UGREEN Revodok 6-in-1 USB-C Hub: https://geni.us/dh1gBk

 

Purchases made through some store links may provide some compensation to Linus Media Group.

[aoxomoxoa]

plex enters the chat

[DrMacintosh]

My AppleTV and Plex server chillin right now.

[SorryBella]

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Was shopping for smart TV sticks, dont know what to buy within seas of sticks and malware boxes

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Linus and other TV enthusiasts recommends Chromecast, bought it in January

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December

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Linus makes new google tv video

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Still recommends Chromecast

 

The year is 40,023. Linus Sebastian the 5th Recommends Chromecast with Google TV 4K for your media consumption needs.

[cadenarcher]

Vestel is a Turkish brand btw

[themrsbusta]

49 minutes ago, cadenarcher said:

Vestel is a Turkish brand btw

Turkey isn't Europe?

[themrsbusta]

I own a 1st gen Chromecast and a Mi Box S since last year when I get rid of Cable TV, I play anything even games over steam link...

[ARandomPerson]

The Onn seems nice. But that would mean dealing with Walmart. 

[DJboutit]

This option might be best for a lot of people but it is not the cheapest at all

 

If you have a smart tv from 2021 or newer with a UBS port get a 8tb to 12tb external hd then get a Usenet and a indexer account for $7 to $8.50.  With Usenet and a indexer you can download old wresting PPVs newest movies and concerts then copy these videos to the external hd and hook it up to your smart tv.  Most smart tv can not load H265 or AV1 videos they can load H264 AAC videos just fine you can also load most audio and image types too. 

[TheQuietPlace]

I know cost is a factor however are there any downsides with using an x86 mini PC or raspberry pi for Android / Android TV?

[jsnotlout1]

2 hours ago, TheQuietPlace said:

I know cost is a factor however are there any downsides with using an x86 mini PC or raspberry pi for Android / Android TV?

No Remote. higher power consumption

[Portoflander]

I'm gonna be the odd one and say that a steam controller + my PC + Linux distro with tilling manager is what I use and couldn't be happier. A tilling manager is for people with keyboards for fingers but you can set it up so you need only a few commands or a few buttons here and there. Is closer to how Android handles apps view than other windows like WMs.

[MarkPol88]

9 hours ago, TheQuietPlace said:

I know cost is a factor however are there any downsides with using an x86 mini PC or raspberry pi for Android / Android TV?

Additionally to what was stated above (remote and power consumption) you lose a way to get Dolby Vision if my understanding is correct.

[ToboRobot]

21 hours ago, themrsbusta said:

Turkey isn't Europe?

"country located at the juncture of Southeast Europe and West Asia. It is mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in West Asia, with a small portion called East Thrace on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe."  source: wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey

Not really, no.  

[TaylorRobinson]

For my money, A Google TV HD is £35, but I'd rather spend the extra £20 on a used Apple TV HD, especially if you have an iPhone, for the much better ecosystem integration than anything I've seen anyone else do, smart home hub capabilities & a UI that isn't trying to sell you a video door bell every 5 minutes (looking at you, Amazon). I will say the remote & assistant capabilities on the Google TV is much nicer than the old ATV black remote.

[MarkPol88]

8 minutes ago, ToboRobot said:

"country located at the juncture of Southeast Europe and West Asia. It is mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in West Asia, with a small portion called East Thrace on the Balkan Peninsula in Southeast Europe."  source: wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey

Not really, no.  

Wikipedia also states that that Turkey is transcontinental country so - yes, actually yes - Turkey is in Europe. Same as Russia.

It even was a candidate to join European Union but Erdogan flipped whole democracy on its backside and the negotiations were severed.

[ToboRobot]

1 hour ago, MarkPol88 said:

Wikipedia also states that that Turkey is transcontinental country so - yes, actually yes - Turkey is in Europe. Same as Russia.

It even was a candidate to join European Union but Erdogan flipped whole democracy on its backside and the negotiations were severed.

If I am 5 percent one thing, and 95% the other thing, it is disingenuous to claim to be the thing that I am the thing that I am only 5% of.

Turkey geographically is partly in Europe, but it is not European.  Lots of history to support this.

[starsmine]

2 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

If I am 5 percent one thing, and 95% the other thing, it is disingenuous to claim to be the thing that I am the thing that I am only 5% of.

Turkey geographically is partly in Europe, but it is not European.  Lots of history to support this.

Yea, the history is it was the roman empire (byzantium)
Cant get more European then that. 

[jsnotlout1]

I bought the ONN one today. Set it up. Added jellyfin and pluto TV. It runs great so far. Performance is good. UI is pretty good. The build quality is decent. And it's easy to set up. Plus the included remote worked great and used a button remapper to make a jellyfin and pluto button. Suffice to say I wlll NOT be returning to my orange pi with an ir remote that had no functional back button. 10/10 so far. Will see how it holds up.

[themrsbusta]

22 hours ago, ToboRobot said:

If I am 5 percent one thing, and 95% the other thing, it is disingenuous to claim to be the thing that I am the thing that I am only 5% of.

Turkey geographically is partly in Europe, but it is not European.  Lots of history to support this.

To be true, not even Europe is in Europe, since it's hard to find where ends Europe and starts Asia... Some says is on the Volga River but a real continent should be surrounded by sea on every side.

Europe is more like a big country named European Union than a real continent because of it's land connection with Asia. They even have it's own laws for the little states inside it.

 

In the end it's all Asia and you can travel by train from London to Beijing.

[n0stalghia]

On 12/21/2023 at 8:17 PM, themrsbusta said:

Turkey isn't Europe?

In the same way as Panama is a North American country, yes. Kinda, sorta, technically yes.

[GodAtum]

This video is a bit misleading.

 

Chromecast 4K only support E-AC-3 audio with Atmos, if you are trying to play TrueHD then it won't work now and there's a pretty good chance it never will. Chromecast because it technically supports Atmos, just only from E-AC-3 audio tracks. You will have to use another device with TrueHD Atmos support if you want to get Atmos from those tracks. Devices with TrueHD Atmos support includes: Nvidia shield tv, Xbox and a computer.

 

The Fire Stick 4K & 4K Max have always supported passthrough for DDP Atmos. Passthrough for TrueHD has never been supported. TrueHD will be transcoded by Plex Media Server to another format. The Cube v3 supports passthrough for both TrueHD Atmos and DDP Atmos. AFAIK, it is the only Amazon Fire device to do so.

[nether1234]

On 12/22/2023 at 11:22 AM, TaylorRobinson said:

For my money, A Google TV HD is £35, but I'd rather spend the extra £20 on a used Apple TV HD, especially if you have an iPhone, for the much better ecosystem integration than anything I've seen anyone else do, smart home hub capabilities & a UI that isn't trying to sell you a video door bell every 5 minutes (looking at you, Amazon). I will say the remote & assistant capabilities on the Google TV is much nicer than the old ATV black remote.

If you're already in that ecosystem, then yes, that would makes sense. However, I would venture to guess that most the people that watch LTT videos do not own an iPhone.

[Skipple]

On 12/22/2023 at 3:13 PM, starsmine said:

Yea, the history is it was the roman empire (byzantium)
Cant get more European then that. 

By this logic, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Libya are European too. 

 

Ah yes, the great European metropolis of ^{*checks notes*}.... Cairo? 

[demonix00]

TBH I wouldn't recommend a google chromecast to anyone considering the amount of times I've had to force stop and restart the youtube app because the audio stopped working along with the number of times I've had to relaunch said app because it crashed back to the home screen when coming out of screensaver mode.

 

I was going to upgrade to a 4K TV with google/android TV built in, but considering the problems I've had with just one application I'm going to get either a fire TV stick 4K or 4K max to see how that fares, and if it doesn't take massive dumps in its panties every few minutes the TV upgrade option will be moved to one that has fire TV built in.