streaming tv consumption globally has been growing at a staggering rate
63 in viewing hours since last year and while you might think that the majority
of new streamers are tuning in on their smartphones it turns out that connected
tvs claimed the most growth with a 103
increase in viewing hours year over year so what's the best way to stream to your
tv a 180 apple tv
a cheap rando Android box off aliexpress
how about something in between that right there is xiaomi's me box s
which you can buy from walmart for 60 bucks it's 60 bucks and it has a 70
chromecast ultra built in you know what else is built in by the
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at first i didn't believe it i mean yes the box and the website both say that
the me box s has chromecast built in but they don't specify chromecast ultra the
4k HDR model so while the me box s is
advertised as a 4k HDR streaming media player i assumed they were trying to
pull a fast one on us and that yes it could stream 4k netflix but then casting
would still be limited to 1080p or something like that so we emailed our
rep he contacted hq and lo and behold it
is a chromecast ultra pretty compelling considering the chromecast ultra on its
own retails for 70 us dollars while this little puppy is just 60.
and with a lot more functionality than just casting it's a full Android tv box
so it gives you an interface to access your streaming services like netflix hbo
now and vudu and if you're feeling particularly masochistic you can even
browse the web on it so all the regular smart tv stuff
with some extra perks for this being a google certified Android box so first of
all netflix actually works and so does the remote if
you have experience with off-brand Android sticks you might have actually
run into both app installation issues or even this one's pretty good discovering
that the only way to control it from the couch is with a bluetooth keyboard and
trackpad second you've got a microphone built
right into the remote with support for the google assistant so it basically
acts the same as a google home except instead of having all these on
microphones it has a dedicated button on the remote allowing you to execute
commands to help you adjust your smart home lights browse the web more easily
and even automatically find content across the multiple streaming services
that you subscribe to third you'll benefit from having access
to the google play store which is not something that you typically get with
competitive offerings from roku amazon or
well obviously apple tv and then finally it's part of google's
project treble initiative to have all official devices receive updates quickly
so this one ships with Android tv 8 but it should get 9 by december 2018 which
means slick new features like native support for a webcam for video
conferencing and the ps4 dualshock controller for gaming and there are lots
of games actually that are playable on the me box s with even more selection if
you sideload other marketplaces like the amazon app store
now of course the me box s at one third the price of an NVIDIA shield
doesn't have the same power as that kind
of a box but it wasn't specifically made for gamers
and it does still offer a fairly decent experience
as long as you don't push it too hard because spec wise the s is nearly
identical to the original me box from
2016. so other than improved thermals and
bluetooth 4.2 it's still got a four core
1.5 gigahertz cortex a53 CPU a mere two
gigs of RAM and just eight gigs of onboard emmc storage of which you will
just have 5.4 gigs available out of the box
as for expanding that unfortunately you can't uninstall the default apps that
you don't use but at least you can expand the device's
storage via the box's single usb 2.0 port just don't expect it to be fast
while we're in the neighborhood there's also an audio out port with integrated
spdif and a single HDMI 2.0 a port which
supports 4k at up to 60hz and HDR with
static metadata which i guess actually brings us nicely to our list of
complaints about the me box s while it does support HDR 10 it does not support
dolby vision which okay dolby vision is more rare on tv
sets and content but the s comes with
voodoo pre-installed that's where most of the dolby vision content is
so for most people like raise your hands those of you who
use voodoo i don't it's probably a non-issue but
the point is that competitive offerings like the amazon fire tv stick which is
ten dollars less by the way do support it it also has some gaps in its support
for high-end audio so you do have dts master and it'll be true hd but there's
no atmos and if that's not a deal breaker for the
av enthusiasts this next gripe will be
there's no built-in Ethernet port now there are workarounds here like
using a usb to Ethernet adapter but that means that you have to choose between
expandable storage and uninterrupted high bandwidth streaming unless of
course you have a sick wi-fi access point and no local interference or
network congestion so then with those caveats in mind
should you buy this streaming solution well if you're in the market for a
chromecast ultra then the me box s is basically a 10 off coupon not to mention
that at the time of writing walmart is actually offering it in a bundle with a
google home mini for just another 15 that
is an awesome value if you want an official google certified
Android tv box well the NVIDIA shield is more powerful which is good for gamers
and it has proper support for amazon prime video something that is notably
absent from this Android tv box but given its much higher price for
anyone else the me box s is basically a no-brainer and if you care about local
live tv the s can actually help you there too as long as you have something
like an hd home run you can jump to your favorite college basketball game with a
dedicated button on the remote it's a pretty sweet little box a big step up
from the imported Android boxes of yester past but thanks to its laundry
list of limitations we just can't quite
recommend it to the hardcore av enthusiasts
pia hides your true ip address and allows you to bypass geo restrictions
and censorship by making you appear as though you're connecting from somewhere
else and you can use up to five devices
at once it also helps prevent attacks by blocking unwanted connections it
autoblocks all traffic if the vpn disconnects and it keeps your data out
of the hands of advertisers and other activity tracking snoops so go try it
out at the link in the video description today it's affordable and it works so
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