Posted 29 March 2017

Android or IPTV? which box?

Few months back purchased a firestick and installed kodi. Now looking to upgrade and buy something similar for my parents. I’m also trying to factor in cost (sub £50 maybe more for iptv) and longetivity. Looking to access all free material and pay a sub for live football.

A cheap, straightforward upgrade I think would be a Chinese android box. I don’t have money for nvidia shield, could push to the xiaomi mi box. I’m thinking the Nexbox A95x, Beelink Mini MX3 v2, Mini M8S2 etc…all around the £40-£50 range 2gb/16gb. Does anyone have any advice as to which Chinese brands may provide ongoing support / updates? Which are recommended?

The alternative is to go IPTV, I think the main advantage here is stability and UI. I keep hearing about the mag 254 box, is this the one to get? Also, would I be able to get VOD such as something like exodus? Or is iptv mainly for live tv?

I think the service (football) is down to the provider, so a good provider on kodi would beat an average one on iptv?

Any opinions would be appreciated.
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  1. Toon_army's avatar
    You can get IPTV on your stick, theres loads out there I'm using Prime used to be Solar IPTV. Or if you have a Smart Tv use Smart IPTV
    (edited)
  2. holidayinn's avatar
    Author
    Thanks Toon, I want to upgrade from the stick. It does the job but generally slow and lacking user friendliness, looking for something quicker and easier to use. Thinking about using the stick in the spare room.

    Re - IPTV, I would have thought a dedicated unit would be the way to go, but maybe an android box would suit my limited tech prowess.
  3. AndyRoyd's avatar
    OS updates? In the sub-£50 pricepoint a product is verging on consumable considering the short time to end-of-life before the manufacturer moves on to a modified / tweaked / mildly upgraded model. That doesn't mean the product will be unusable though. You can achieve your suggested minimum spec from China for £22 which kinda makes updates irrelevant, or maybe around £36 if you want benefit of Amazon-fulfilled service amazon.co.uk/gp/…YB/ or less than additional £1 for Marshmallow amazon.co.uk/dp/…C7/
  4. dcx_badass's avatar
    A95X (or other S905X/2GB) box for under £30 with LibreElec on a decent micro SD card will out perform most things this side of £100.

    You need a microSD card with fast 4k rand read/write though, the normal read/write speeds are useless for this, the Samsung Evo/Evo+ is good for this and under £6 for the 16GB Evo+
  5. superted2008's avatar
    keep it simple, mag254 and get a decent IPTV subscription.

    once you put in your server address, that's it your done. no real technical knowledge needed.

    you will get most channels in HD and all football in HD. VOD (series and movies) and also catch up.

    If you go this route, do your research and get a 24 hour test off the provider (try and make the test during a decent game that you know the server will be busy). you will have a good idea how stable the server is under load then.

  6. ceanth's avatar
    dcx_badass

    A95X (or other S905X/2GB) box for under £30 with LibreElec on a decent … A95X (or other S905X/2GB) box for under £30 with LibreElec on a decent micro SD card will out perform most things this side of £100.You need a microSD card with fast 4k rand read/write though, the normal read/write speeds are useless for this, the Samsung Evo/Evo+ is good for this and under £6 for the 16GB Evo+



    Specs look really good on this box. Is this much power needed to setup IPTV?
  7. holidayinn's avatar
    Author
    Thanks for the responses so far.

    I'm leaning towards spending c.£40 on a beelink android box, S905x 2gb 16gb. I can get this directly from UK quite quickly.

    I’m only really interested in sports and vod.

    I think Kodi does this fine for me whereas iptv seems less flexible, more of a replacement for iks.

    Mag 254 – the VOD/video club has the same kind of content as exodus?

    Apart from people suggesting IPTV streams are more stable, are there other advantages of IPTV over using kodi? If the quality is down to the provider (e.g. buying a sports sub), does it really matter which one you use?

    I see the Satellite and IPTV thread, hundreds of pages long, are most of these people using kodi? or an iptv box?

    Thanks,




  8. .MUFC.'s avatar
    holidayinn

    Thanks for the responses so far.I'm leaning towards spending c.£40 on a … Thanks for the responses so far.I'm leaning towards spending c.£40 on a beelink android box, S905x 2gb 16gb. I can get this directly from UK quite quickly. I’m only really interested in sports and vod.I think Kodi does this fine for me whereas iptv seems less flexible, more of a replacement for iks.Mag 254 – the VOD/video club has the same kind of content as exodus?Apart from people suggesting IPTV streams are more stable, are there other advantages of IPTV over using kodi? If the quality is down to the provider (e.g. buying a sports sub), does it really matter which one you use?I see the Satellite and IPTV thread, hundreds of pages long, are most of these people using kodi? or an iptv box?Thanks,


    I use an Android app for my IPTV rather than Kodi, Much less of a resource hog, quicker to load etc.. My supplier has it's own app and it's got an epg too.

    They pretty much use the same streams, If they're down on Kodi, they'll probably be down on IPTV.
  9. dcx_badass's avatar
    holidayinn

    Thanks for the responses so far.I'm leaning towards spending c.£40 on a … Thanks for the responses so far.I'm leaning towards spending c.£40 on a beelink android box, S905x 2gb 16gb. I can get this directly from UK quite quickly. I’m only really interested in sports and vod.I think Kodi does this fine for me whereas iptv seems less flexible, more of a replacement for iks.Mag 254 – the VOD/video club has the same kind of content as exodus?Apart from people suggesting IPTV streams are more stable, are there other advantages of IPTV over using kodi? If the quality is down to the provider (e.g. buying a sports sub), does it really matter which one you use?I see the Satellite and IPTV thread, hundreds of pages long, are most of these people using kodi? or an iptv box?Thanks,


    You need to do more research. IPTV means Internet (Protocol) TV, it is IPTV if you are watching it live through Kodi. If you are using Kodi though then LibreElec is much better.
  10. wakkaday's avatar
    Good post do you think would need a TV license if you get one of these boxes
  11. danfr's avatar
    a wetek play 2 is a good choice, as it has a satellite TV or freeview input, so not always using up bandwidth, but for IPTV, i recommend progtv app.
  12. holidayinn's avatar
    Author
    dcx_badass

    You need to do more research. IPTV means Internet (Protocol) TV, it is … You need to do more research. IPTV means Internet (Protocol) TV, it is IPTV if you are watching it live through Kodi. If you are using Kodi though then LibreElec is much better.



    Sure, but the terminology thrown around forums muddles this and iptv comes in the form of a m3u file on something like a mag box, whereas kodi is known as a media player with access to several add-ons such as Exodsus.,

    If you had to choose out of the two - xiaomi mi box or a mag 254 box? and why?

    Wetek play 2 seems an interesting choice, although not sure you can watch and record other TV channels at the same time.
  13. toonarama's avatar
    What did you go for in the end and why? I'm in the same situation Chhers.
  14. holidayinn's avatar
    Author
    I went for the cheap option, android box, m8s pro for about £25. So it's not as quick as the options described above, but it works and has helped my understanding. If buying now I would try to purchase something with more RAM, some menus can take a while to load up compared to my Xiaomi 4gb redmi. Make sure to go with 2GB minimum.
  15. loyalblue's avatar
    holidayinn09/01/2018 13:50

    I went for the cheap option, android box, m8s pro for about £25. So it's no …I went for the cheap option, android box, m8s pro for about £25. So it's not as quick as the options described above, but it works and has helped my understanding. If buying now I would try to purchase something with more RAM, some menus can take a while to load up compared to my Xiaomi 4gb redmi. Make sure to go with 2GB minimum.



    Hi Guys,

    Found the thread looking for the same question. Whether to buy A95x or Mag 254 ? I like the idea of having a stand alone box for IPTV due to already have smart tv with apps but not convinced that £65 it only has 512mb ram.

    Hows your pick going a year later ? Would you still choose the A95x (edited)
  16. deleted126783's avatar
    loyalblue19 h, 58 m ago

    Hi Guys,Found the thread looking for the same question. Whether to buy …Hi Guys,Found the thread looking for the same question. Whether to buy A95x or Mag 254 ? I like the idea of having a stand alone box for IPTV due to already have smart tv with apps but not convinced that £65 it only has 512mb ram.Hows your pick going a year later @holidayinn ? Would you still choose the A95x


    H96 Pro max+ 4gb ram, 32gb storage - £38 on ebay
  17. holidayinn's avatar
    Author
    Hi, I purchased the mecool, but then wanted something more wife friendly so recently purchased a z7+ and a mag 322.
    The z7+ gets used the most, followed by the 322 in the bedroom, mecool box is basically a backup box atm.

    Z7+ runs iptv the best out of these boxes/formats due to its mytvonline app which is the best app I’ve used for iptv. I have another thread here discussing this in more detail, if you do go this route ensure you buy from official seller because the biggest issue with these boxes are bugs/glitches, I’ve had to send one back after 2-3 months.
    hhotukdeals.com/dis…975

    H96 as above is a good box if going for an android box.
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