Recommendation for an Android TV box or is the Beelink i68 the right choice ?

[Defendor]

Hello, I’m actually searching for an Android TV Box which I want to use to play Videos, Music, Pictures from my external hard drive or USB-Sticks and for some streaming from Youtube or with the Apps from my local TV-Stations. Later maybe Netflix and Amazon Prime,too.

I was very near to buy the Beelink i68 Android TV Box from Gearbest which has a lot of good feedback on their webside and on some others, too. So it seems to be a good box at all.

But then I started to read on this website here about the product and the user talk about many problems with the streaming, sound stuttering and some more. On Youtube you can see crashes while watching movies with Kodi and on Amazon are a lot of very very positve ratings, too. (maybe fakes ?)
But also bad ones where the writer warns about the issues oft the box like crashes, very slow Wifi, Ethernet, Streaming problems and so on.
Actually I’m not sure if this box is still the right choice for me. I think from the manufacture you can’t expect much updates or improvements in the future, so the problems maybe never get fixed. I’ve seen someone on this webside build an alternative firmware but I’m not sure how good this one works.

So can you tell me how problematic this TV box actually still is ?
Or can you give me a hint for a better working TV box if there is one ?

The requirements are these:
Price: 50-60$ (also depends on from where it will be shipped. The i68 from Gearbest can be shipped from EU-Warehouse without customs duty.)
Proc: Quad or Octa-core
USB-Ports: 3-4
Ram: 2GB
Wifi: 2.4G & 5.8G
Ethernet: Gigabit
Memory: 16GB
Infrared remote control
Working for Streaming, H.264 & H.265 videos

Thank you for your answers and help.

[RISCy Dude]

Hello Defendor, Welcome to Freaktab.
I don't make specific recommendations, as user needs and expectations vary wildly.
The i68 is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth, which likely means support will be waning.
Please see here if this is your first Android TV box experience.
Cheers.

[scooter2014]

😁 Good response.

[RISCy Dude]

Thanks. As you know, this question is asked many times. I wish I had an answer that was little less ambiguous.
I like all of my boxes, but for different reasons. Now, if I could merge them all in to one, I guess I would have the Shield. Funny, if I added their costs together, I could have had the Shield.

[scooter2014]

Dont add i have shield and if i add i just knowing i have an issue🙈🙉🙊

[bluesmanuk]

OP, as you have discovered, when it comes to Android boxes, there are still many issues with the difference between the advertised capability and actual ones, particularly when it comes to the use of everybody's favourite video player, Kodi.

WiFi performance can be a big influence, especially if your box is a fair distance from your router, so whatever you buy I would ensure that you are in a position to use ethernet.

Echoing what RISCy Dude has said, your actual requirements are key, especially knowing what is not that important to you.

Based on your own stated requirements, playing videos from your external hard drive and USB sticks should not be great issue for most boxes (although some may have issues with hard drives due to lacking enough ability to deliver due to insufficient power distribution), provided that you are not talking about high end video formats with high end surround sound audio output.

With Android you will very likely be tinkering more than you may wish to with mods, ROM's etc

So I would seriously consider a Wintel box that for most purposes works straight out of the box (especially with Kodi, where Youtube also works very well as an addon) and the long term support benefits from Windows also means that your box won't be out of date quickly with the next Android release that on the whole is either never likely to come or take so long that the next iteration is already out,

You will pay a little extra for a Wintel box and it may not have the same hardware features such as HDMI 2, higher end surround audio support (Atmos etc) and perhaps gigabit ethernet (not being an issue unless streaming very high bitrate files) but you will get greater stability and a longer life expectancy.

As RISCy Dude has also stated, the amount of money spent on various Android boxes would have bought him a Shield, so think about the real cost of use, including all the time that you may have to spend getting something working to your satisfaction.

[Defendor]

Thank you for your answers.
Well, you can find some problems with every device I think, expect the very expensive ones like Nvidia Shield. But the Shield has a price that I don't really won't to pay for a device just used for playing media and some streaming from time to time.
I now bought the Beelink i68 and give it a try. I hope this wasn't a bad decision.

[bluesmanuk]

Well make this thread your first port of call when it arrives.

http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-support/rk3688-devices-aa/beelink-rk3368/firmware-roms-tools-ap