Media Extender ebay flood - why?

[tvmaster2]

Any idea why the price of media extenders has dropped and the supply gone up on eBay recently? Is it Plex, or the Android app? Opinions are welcome.

[dgeezer]

I know that for me the android app has proved a good enough replacement for my HD300s. it's funny timing that you mention this because I was just yesterday thinking that I should box up my old SageTV hardware and sell it. I'm sure now that I won't have occasion to need any of it again.

So, of course, about the time I enter the market the prices plummet.

[stuckless]

The Android MiniClient has replaced all 3 of HD300s... I have 3 HD300s, 1 HD200, 1 HD200, and MVP alll sitting in storage.... I should just give them away the Android miniclient is not perfect... but it's certainly perfectly usable for the H264 content that I record.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stuckless

The Android MiniClient has replaced all 3 of HD300s... I have 3 HD300s, 1 HD200, 1 HD200, and MVP alll sitting in storage.... I should just give them away the Android miniclient is not perfect... but it's certainly perfectly usable for the H264 content that I record.

which hardware boxes did you install the miniclient on?

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

which hardware boxes did you install the miniclient on?

NVidia Shield TV and the Mi Box

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by stuckless

NVidia Shield TV and the Mi Box

would these work in remote locations as well, aka on the road in a hotel? Mi Box looks cool - where did you buy it, as there aren't many distributors in the U.S. at least

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

would these work in remote locations as well, aka on the road in a hotel? Mi Box looks cool - where did you buy it, as there aren't many distributors in the U.S. at least

It's sold exclusively at Walmart for now, as far as I'm aware. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Mi-Box-Android-TV/54827138

[panteragstk]

I've also got the Mini Client running on my nexus player with Android TV v7 and it works just fine. Even mpeg2.

The mini client rarely has any issues at all. I had quite a bit more issues when I ran PC clients, but that is another story.

[matt91]

Originally Posted by stuckless

NVidia Shield TV and the Mi Box

mine crashes on the Mi Box quite a bit. The 300 is rock solid, so it's a high bar to surpass, but I can't even get through one or two shows without it freezing and then rebooting the Mi Box.

Wonder if I missed something someplace?

(I had just been assuming that the Android client wasn't ready for prime time yet.)

[stuckless]

Originally Posted by matt91

mine crashes on the Mi Box quite a bit. The 300 is rock solid, so it's a high bar to surpass, but I can't even get through one or two shows without it freezing and then rebooting the Mi Box.

Wonder if I missed something someplace?

(I had just been assuming that the Android client wasn't ready for prime time yet.)

I've been using it for months... I can't remember the last time it rebooted... in fact, for my use, the HD300 would require a restart from time to time... I have about the same success as the Android MiniClient. Sorry it's not working out for you.

[uberpixel]

My guess is that people are unloading their emergency spares.

I have a Mi Box and HD300 sitting side by side in my system and I continue to use the HD300.

The fact that the Android Client won't play my ripped DVD library is one issue (too lazy to convert to mkv I guess).

Also, I feel like the video quality is better on the HD300 for recorded TV. I can't quantify what the difference is exactly but I just prefer watching on the HD300.

Finally, I'm still struggling to get my FLIRC working the way I want with my Harmony remote. I had it working for a while but now it's completely unresponsive. I don't have the time to fiddle at the moment so I keep going back the rock solid HD300...

These all sound like user generated issues/preferences so take my comments with a grain of salt. I don't mean this to be critical of the Android Client work (which is fantastic). It's a huge relief to know there is a functional replacement option out there and I'm enthusiastic about any progress made to modernize SageTV but at this point I still believe that the HD300 provides the best client experience available.

Unless you insist on only using one set top box I can't see why you would replace an HD300 with any of the other options.

All that being said, faced with the choice of buying a used HD300 for $140 on eBay vs. a new Mi Box for $69 I would probably go with the Mi Box to leverage the AndroidTV ecosystem and expect that the Android Client is only going to get better with time.

-uberpixel

[KryptoNyte]

It's possible that some folks recognize that the HD300, as great a device as it is, will be helpless in the event any cable system decides to move to h.265 video (we've already had the conversation in other threads that the HD300 will never handle h.265). The advantage with the miniclient is that it's not totally device specific, so you'd just have to have a device that could handle h.265 ... when the time comes.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by KryptoNyte

It's possible that some folks recognize that the HD300, as great a device as it is, will be helpless in the event any cable system decides to move to h.265 video (we've already had the conversation in other threads that the HD300 will never handle h.265). The advantage with the miniclient is that it's not totally device specific, so you'd just have to have a device that could handle h.265 ... when the time comes.

is that the same for the HD100 and HD200?

[tmiranda]

I like that there are choices now I have more HD300's than I care to admit and they are rock solid for what I do. The Android mini client works really well for most people and opens things up for a wide array of devices to be used. And now _Demo_ is talking about an HD400.

Use whatever works for you.

Choices make the world go around, and the Sage user base go up

[EnterNoEscape]

Originally Posted by tvmaster2

is that the same for the HD100 and HD200?

Definitely.

[tvmaster2]

Originally Posted by EnterNoEscape

Definitely.

well then, we'd better hope h265 stays away from cable and satellite for a while

[BobPhoenix]

Or use something like an HD-PVR and cable box to encode to a format it DOES work with. Not the idea situation if you use Cable Card but could be done.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by BobPhoenix

Or use something like an HD-PVR and cable box to encode to a format it DOES work with. Not the idea situation if you use Cable Card but could be done.

True - IF there is an analog component output on the cable box or you can break the HDCP, neither of which is a given.

But this will likely take years since it would require the cable companies to replace all of their cable boxes.