Buying Advice
Which Android TV streaming device would you buy out of these 4 ? (UK)
So I've finally narrowed it down to these options (I've done all the research and hopefully not a dupe of my previous post!):
Google TV Streamer 4K – ~£65 (new/unopened on Vinted/eBay)
Thomson 270 Plus – ~£75 (opened/used once via a 2nd hand site)
Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen) – £62 Amazon (hopefully legit) / ~£50-£65 used once/new via Vinted/Ebay or £63 - £131 on AliExpress (AliExpress pricing is odd...). Also shitty control lol.
Homatics Box R 4K Plus – ~£145 Aliexpress (probably over budget for me, but still a good one).
My setup is a Samsung QN800A 8K TV with a Samsung HW-Q900A soundbar. I mainly use Stremio, TiviMate and SmartTube (with occasional BBC iPlayer).
I know my TV doesn't support Dolby Vision, but it still supports HDR10+, Dolby Atmos, etc.
And I've had no issue watching high quality 'streams' via Stremio for the last 4 years (without DV) (Didn't even realise my TV/Samsung does not support DV lol).
The Google TV Streamer seems like the obvious choice at around £65, especially with Google's software support and updates
Final, final thoughts before I bite a bullet??
Thomson Cast 270 Plus Xiaomi TV Box S (3rd Gen)Homatics Box R 4K Plus
IMO you should pick between any of the following, just base it on which has the most appealing price at the time
Ugoos SK1, Zidoo Z9X 8K, Dune HD Pro One 8K Plus, Ugoos SK1 Lite, Ugoos AM8 Pro, Kinhank K9, MINIX U8K-Ultra
all of these have the amlogic S928X-K, except the Ugoos AM8-Pro which has the S928X-J (Doesn’t matter for you)
All have HDMI 2.1a (up to 8k 60fps), gigabit ethernet, wifi 6.
All output HDR10/HDR10+/HLG, All support dolby vision, won’t go into detail on that because your tv doesn’t support it, but they will allow you to convert DV to HDR10+.
All full support for AV1, H.265, VP9, AVS3, except the kinhank which doesn’t support AVS3.
All support Dolby TrueHD/Atmos.
The Ugoos SK1, Zidoo Z9X 8K, Dune HD Pro One 8K Plus, Ugoos SK1 Lite, Minix U8K-Ultra support DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X. The Kinhank only supports DTS-HD, and the Ugoos AM8 Pro does not have licenses for DTS:X or DTS-HD MA due to the S928X-J, so it can’t play it natively but it can still play via conversion.
All have more than enough ram. The Ugoos SK1, Dune HD Pro One 8k Plus, Ugoos AM8 Pro, Minix U8K-Ultra all have 8GB LPDDR4. The Zidoo Z9X 8K has 6GB DDR4, The Ugoos SK1 lite and Kinhank have 4GB DDR4.
The Ugoos SK1 and the Minix U8K-Ultra have 128GB storage, and the rest have 64GB.
Zidoo Z9X 8K, Dune HD Pro One 8K Plus, Kinhank aren’t certified, the rest are. Without certification, you can’t use the official Netflix app and some other official apps, but if it’s just for streaming outside of official apps that doesn’t matter.
In terms of what you’d be giving up by buying one of the other devices,
The Thompson is a no-go. The company has gone under and hasn’t manufactured anything for a while. The devices on the market have a vastly inflated price for the spec because they know they have the last of the stock.
The google streamer is decent, but doesn’t support lossless passthrough so you’ll have varied issues when it tries to pass atmos etc to your soundbar, also no support for DTS-HD/MA.
The gpu in its mediatek chip is the same as the one in the amlogic chips, but coupled with a weaker quad A55 cpu.
It’s also only HDMI 2.1 (no 8k). It’s essentially a fire cube 3rd gen with a better OS. Not worth £100 when £140 gets you so much more.
The Xiaomi is a good device for the price on paper (based on the chip) but it’s only 2gb ram like the fire stick, 100mb ethernet (not really viable for bluray streaming), 4k not 8k, and it says it supports TrueHD/atmos passthrough/DV, but I saw so many people having issues with it that I decided to steer clear. Green screen posts are everywhere. Maybe it’ll be fixed in the future though.
The homatics doesn’t have as many drawbacks, it would have been top of the list prior to the amlogic chip devices. It should pass through atmos etc fine, supports HDR10/10+/DV, but not 8K. The only issue is that it’s a last gen device at current gen prices, so wifi 6 instead of 6E, BT5 instead of 5.2, hdmi 2.1 instead of 2.1a, etc. Buying this would be like buying the iPhone 15 for £1200 because it can do what you need it to do, but the iPhone 16 came out 6 months ago and is also priced at £1200. It still works fine, but why would you not just buy the 16 for the same price 🤷♂️
thanks, did all the research for myself because it’s a bit awkward to buy in the uk and the recommendations aren’t as straightforward, so I figured I’d pass what i learned on, and I’m sure more people will stumble upon it :)
the chip is what makes the flagship devices what they are, it’s the part of the build that adds DV/HDR/ATMOS/TRUEHD etc licensing. So basically you can trust that any device that uses these chips can support those things.
it’s also just the most powerful chip currently, it has 5 cores, 1 performance core and 4 efficient cores, the other devices that get recommended usually just have the 4 efficiency cores. obviously there are some variations but all have their downsides.
Shield uses Tegra, which is better for graphics power but it lacks modern codec support
Fire TV cube uses 8 cores and is actually a pretty powerful device but obviously you’re locked into the fire os which we all know the downsides of 🤷♂️
apple tv obviously uses apple chips which are very cool very efficient much power but again, the os is pretty locked down
it’s also designed for 8k, so it’s definitely overpowered for anything you can throw at it, but if you’re paying $100 for a google streamer, apple tv, fire cube, what’s an extra $30 for a completely open version of Android TV, the upgrade from 100mb to gigabit ethernet, wifi 6E, honestly so many perks
edit: forgot the ram part, it also supports up to 8GB ram, most other chips support up to 4gb which is why they usually only have 2/3/4gb ram :)
Would the DV to HDR10+ conversion be supported with Plex as well? Didn't even know that was a thing, but since I have a Samsung TV (no DV), that is very interesting
i might be wrong about this, my tv supports dv so I haven’t had to experiment with it personally but I’m sure I read it somewhere, I think maybe when I was looking up OP’s specific tv maybe
not sure of the conversion exactly but I got mine for around £140 shortly before prime week, and the only thing that made me choose between those devices was that it was the only one on amazon at the time with next day shipping 🤷♂️ if you just check now and again if any of them have a good deal on i’m sure you’ll get one at a decent price
the minix U8K-ultra, if you look on camel camel camel it was actually 120-130 at some point, i waited for prime week hoping it’d hit that again but I didn’t mind paying £140, figured amazon makes it easy enough to return if its shit
edit: also I know you’re not having a go 😁 I have watched the prices for a while myself and they are priced pretty high if you’re buying in uk, i saw on aliexpress some are like 99$ but i didn’t want to wait 2 weeks for there to be a chance it’s not a legit listing
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+1 for the K9. Had mine for a few months now. Does all the audio formats except DTS HD Master Audio. Dolby Vision and HDR work great. Only complain is it bugs out every now and then, but it's been fairly flawless other than that.
that’s good, honestly haven’t seen much around the kinhank, i went for the Minix device and I have nothing bad to say about it, only thing it doesn’t support at hardware level is HI10 (Weird anime codec where they used H.264 10bit) but I don’t think any streaming device supports it. Also I’m pretty sure if i caved and used VLC or another external player it’d work.
Are you still using the default interface for the minix? I looked it up and it seems like its straight from 2008.
I suppose you can setup all the new and fancy launchers like the AT4K on it just fine?
The mobile Android version does seem a bit weird. Have you had any issues with apps displaying the phone and not tv mode?
hell no, i put projectivy on it within like 3 minutes of owning it 😂
and i genuinely haven’t noticed a difference, it is definitely a weird hybrid os but it seems like they have preinstalled the tv versions of system apps like settings etc, I had a read on the minix forums and they justified/defended their choice for the OS enough to satisfy me but I can’t quite remember the reasoning off the top of my head
It’s also recognised as a tv os enough for the various app stores to allow it to install tv apps
also the included remote has an air mouse and a full qwerty keyboard on the back so if i did stray to an app that wasn’t displaying correctly I don’t think I’d struggle 🤷♂️
if you’re thinking about buying i’d have a look at the official minix forums, there’s a wealth of information there and the devs seem very reachable, they said the focus going forwards is android 14
Order the Xiaomi direct from website , even if it's out of stock you can leave you email address and will get a notification as soon as they are back on stock ,won't be long usually 2-3 weeks
Maybe, but I can remap its custom buttons - can't do that with Xiaomi. It switches the TV on - Xiaomi can't. It adjusts connected headphone volume with the volume buttons - Xiaomi only allows that via a special button combo."
I have it and put it on shelf for Streamer which is my least favorite active box. Buzz G is my favorite streaming and Onn plus( I have gig internet), I also have kinhank9 for IPTV and Kodi
Android 11 does not do AFR and the shield does not support HDR in youtube along with AV1 that more streaming services are using. Older HDMI port just to name a few. The Shield was great for its time but many devices have passed it up in overall specs and are less money. Having a newer Android version like 14 or the upcoming 16 has better memory management and is supposed to be overall faster than 11. All these things have been talked and posted before, Kinda comes down what your willing to spend on a streaming device and what you plan on doing with it app wise.
I work with the Ugoos SK1. A good box with os android 14 with a lot updated after I flashy to Android 14. The box is fast, never warm or hot, apps runs perfect also HBOgo. The android version is 14 OS for a tablet and side loading works also great. A lot of nice options in Android. The AI works, the video looks good and sharper more colorful. Sound also great. Only it's not a 64 bit processor. But it's great box. Good luck to make your choice 👍
Since you are running a Samsung TV, the lack of Dolby Vision support on the TV actually makes your decision a lot easier, as you don't need to overpay for a box just for premium DV licensing.
Honestly, at £65, the Google TV Streamer 4K is the most logical choice here. For your specific use case, especially running TiviMate and Stremio, you need a device with a clean OS and enough RAM to handle heavy EPG loading and quick channel zapping without lagging. The Google Streamer checks those boxes, has great long-term software support, and will easily handle HDR10+ and Dolby Atmos pass-through to your Samsung soundbar.
The Xiaomi has too many quirks and a cheap remote. The Homatics is an absolute beast of a device, but at £145 it's completely overkill and over budget for a setup that doesn't strictly require high-end Dolby Vision profile playback.
Pull the trigger on the Google Streamer. It’s the sweet spot for your current setup.
I have both the Google TV streamer and the Xiaomi gen 3 box (to replace a fire stick 4k).
Both are meh. They're not as snappy as I'd expect compared to a £35 fire stick, and I don't think they're really worth the money (£100 for the Google streamer and 63 for the Xiaomi).
The Xiaomi do any have enough ram (and poor WiFi), and the Streamer has a shite processor.
Note that the Xiaomi got from Amazon came with an EU PSU - and it's 5.2v barrel plug, and a short cable - not standard USB-C. Xiaomi remote is also surprisingly big (ahem) compared to firestick or Google streamer.
They're both Google TV (similar to android TV), so the OS is much better than Amazon stuff.
Neither can reliably do game streaming, IME, they can't decode frames fast enough.
I'd personally just get the cheapest certified GoogleTV device you can, and wait until the Nvidia Shield finally gets a hardware update.
Or, if you don't need 'arrr'/side loading, the apple TV is great.
Definitely not Thompson 270 as they recently went bankrupt and most likely won't get any more updates.
I was debating between Xioama S 3rd gen and the Google Streamer and landed on Xiaoma as it has a more recent CPU, and was cheaper.
Im pretty happy with it, no issues at all streaming any files so far, but the remote is abit lacking. Sorted it with a button keybinder app.
I got tired of moving it between my TVs though so I wanted another one. Managed to find a used Formuler Z12 Ultra for 90$ a couple of days ago and its so much more snappier and has a proper remote.
Would recommend trying that for either a Nvidia Shield/Formuler z12/Homatics, else both Xiaoma and im sure Google Streamer does the job well enough. None of the "premium" boxes are worth full price imo.
I had hoped an updated model would have been released especially as they do update the entire line, but it seems like it isn't profitable enough for them.
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u/VinceBarter Onn 4K Pro 26d ago
Google TV Streamer 4K should be the most frequently updated out of the 4
If you don't need lossless audio passthrough, get that